WestGate Church Teaching

We all stand on the shoulders of past generations. And if we slow down for even a moment, the impact of the people in our past on our present is nearly overwhelming. And personally, we all have people who have poured into us and sacrificed for our benefit. Especially as Christians. Jay and I reflect on Saints who have gone before us who have impacted us, on the difference between “results” and “faithfulness” and on how humans are more like trees than we’d like to admit.

Speakers: David Tieche + Jay Kim

Speakers: David Tieche + Jay Kim

Every church has to answer the question “Why are we here?” For years, the short answer on that was that WestGate Church exists to be and to make disciples, learning and living the way of Jesus. Summarized in a word, the way of Jesus is LOVE—we exist to love God, one another, and our neighbors. But for the past few years, our leadership team and elders have been praying and asking God the question, “What does it mean to live this vision out faithfully, right here and right now?” And as we enter 2024, the particulars are becoming more clear. This message is the launch of the Here to Stay Campaign. Jay Kim and Steve Clifford explain the heart behind this campaign, and why it is WestGate’s prayerful commitment to be a church that’s truly here to stay…with God and for the good of all.”

SPEAKERS:

Jay Kim + Steve Clifford(Saratoga), Jay Kim (video South Hills)

At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, this past weekend was a big one for WestGate Church. We launched a massive campaign, called Here to Stay (the first in more than a decade) to raise $35 million. But even though this is the first weekend many people might have heard about it, it’s been in the works for years. Literally years. Jay Kim stops by to offer some behind-the-scenes info about how the vision for this campaign came from, why it’s not really about money at all, and why one of the driving forces behind the campaign are the values of “hospitality” and “kindness.”

Speakers: David Tieche + Jay Kim

For Christians, the Bible isn’t nice to have, it’s vital. Central. Christians believe that the Bible is not just a book, but the divinely inspired Word of God, spoken for us, to lead us in the way of truth and love, down the path toward God’s glory and our good. But it isn’t about intellectual ascent; it’s about transformation. And we find, in the Bible, that the Word of God is referred to as a number of things: it’s bread (life-giving, necessary to our selves for life), a lamp (guides our path in a world that’s dark, a sword (protects us in a world where we’re under assault from lies that assail us) and a scalpel (it does surgery on us to heal us).

For Christians, the Bible isn’t nice to have, it’s vital. Central. Christians believe that the Bible is not just a book, but the divinely inspired Word of God, spoken for us, to lead us in the way of truth and love, down the path toward God’s glory and our good. But it isn’t about intellectual ascent; it’s about transformation. And we find, in the Bible, that the Word of God is referred to as a number of things: it’s bread (life-giving, necessary to our selves for life), a lamp (guides our path in a world that’s dark, a sword (protects us in a world where we’re under assault from lies that assail us) and a scalpel (it does surgery on us to heal us).

In Luke 15, Jesus tells one of His most famous series of stories, and starts by painting a stirring picture of the human condition. Jesus says that humanity is like a sheep that’s been lost. This isn’t an indictment on the sheep necessarily. It’s not that the sheep is bad. It’s that the sheep is bad off. Traditional Christian language is that we are hopelessly lost in our sin, which blinds us to our true condition and even to the reality that we even need an outside intervention from God. But as the story continues, Jesus reveals the most startling truth: that God is like a good shepherd, who leaves the 99 other sheep, and goes off into the night and dark to find that one sheep. This is very good news.

SPEAKERS:

Andy Gridley (Saratoga), David Tieche (South Hills)

Luke 15 is one of the most famous series of stories that Jesus tells, including one in which Jesus compares humanity to a sheep that is lost. The point of this story - that we are in trouble and need saving - grates at the central story that we modern people tell one another: that humanity is actually stunningly capable of solving nearly every problem that faces us. We aren’t sheep. We are capable. Strong! Smart! Andy Gridley stops by to talk about why Jesus uses this metaphor of sheep. We also trace this theme of God calling Himself a shepherd through the Scriptures - and find it everywhere. All in all, this conversation about sheep isn’t half baaaaaaad.

Speakers: David Tieche + Andy Gridley

The 613 laws of the Old Testament are intended to remind us about who God is, and what kind of people He wants us to become. But they’re also there as a sobering reminder: there’s no way for us to keep all of them. Which means, there’s no way for any human to summon up the moral fortitude to earn a perfect score, and earn their way onto God’s good graces. This is beyond reach. And Biblically-speaking, Christmas is about the solution to this problem. Where

SPEAKERS:

Jay Kim (Saratoga), Andy Gridley (South Hills)

Bible Passages):

Galatians

What do circumcision, the Book of Galatians and Baby Jesus have in common? MOre than you’d think. In the Book of Acts, chapter 15, we have one of the first real church conflicts. A group of Jewish leaders were conviced that this new Jesus movement was basically a new form of Judaism, with a Messiah tacked on. But others said, “No, no. This a brand new thing altogether.” So…are the laws and customs of Moses still binding, or…no? Paul, writing to the Galatians with passion and emotion says Jesus is doing a new thing, because the law, as great as it was, could never really be kept by anyway. This is good news to these fledgling Jesus communities because it means that no one is granted this gift of Jesus Christ on the grounds of their ethnic worth, or their adherence to any sort of religious tradition – even Judaism! And that means that no one of any ethnicity or background is excluded from God’s saving reach.

Speakers: David Tieche + Jay Kim + Andy Gridley

Nobody likes folks who are arrogant. We even invented a word for people who try to draw attention to themselves while pretending they’re not: humblebrag. But while we don’t like arrogant people, being a person who is humble - well, that takes a LOT of work, too. Does being humble mean we’re a punching bag? Does it mean we have to pretend we’re not good at things? Lisa Averill stops by to talk about humility lived out - what it is and what it isn’t. And we give a brief overview of humility in the Old Testament and new.

Speakers: David Tieche + Lisa Averill