WestGate Church Teaching

Way back in 1988, one-hit-wonder Bobby McFerrin topped the charts with his feel-good song “Don’t Worry. Be Happy.” Solid advice. But how exactly does one go about doing that? Saratoga Campus Pastor Lisa Averill sits down with David to talk about anxiety, how worry and anxiety are fundamentally different from stress and how to get free from worry using Jesus’ advice and words from Matthew 6.

Lisa Averill

Last weekend, more than 1,380 volunteers from WestGate Church donated more than 5,000 volunteer hours at 18 high-impact service projects across the city and the results were…well, you sort of have to see it to believe just how much was accomplished. In this message, we share photos, videos and stories from Beautiful Day. We also zone in on a brief parable from Jesus about how the Kingdom of God is like a giant mustard plant, which comes from one of the tiniest of seeds - reminding us that small acts of service done with great love can be used by God to make a big impact.

Beautiful Day is a wrap! Local Compassion pastor Finny Abraham stops by to talk about how and why compassion and service projects expand “the kingdom of God.” Then Finny and David nerd out on Jesus’s parable of the mustard seed in Matthew 13 like the world-class theologian botanists that they are. As a bonus, David shares a sermon clip from last year where he deep-dives into the parable of “yeast” showing that Jesus appears to be deliberately doing a Scriptural hyperlink back to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis - and what that means for followers of Jesus.

This past weekend was Beautiful Day, with 1,380 volunteers from WestGate Church donating more than 5,000 volunteer hours at 18 high-impact service projects across Santa Clara county. Local Compassion Pastor Finny Abraham stops by to share stories from Beautiful Day, and insights into how this weekend grows the Kingdom in ways that no one can foresee or expect.

St. Francis of Assisi. Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Augustine of Hippo. Saints are always attached to particular places. Jay Kim stops by to talk about the importance of “place” in the life of a person. We examine what it’s like to feel like an exile in a culture that’s often indifferent - and now, increasingly hostile - to allegiance to Jesus. And we talk about why the prophetic words of Jeremiah to “seek the good of the city” looks like. And we examine why community projects like Beautiful Day are actually one of the strongest apologetic for Jesus to our city that wonders not (only) if Christianity is true, but if it’s *good.* Also, Jay (who has never lived anywhere besides here) and Dave (who moved here 21 years ago) swap reasons why they love the Bay.

Speakers: David Tieche + Jay Kim

A recent study conducted by Harvard in 2021 found a rising epidemic of loneliness, with more than a third of Americans (36 percent) saying they’re “lonely all of the time.” David Kim stops by - forming an all-Dave podcast - to share practical ways that Christians can reverse that trend. We tackle why the Bay Area’s culture leads to so much isolation (hypermobility, busyness because of the economic demands of the area, etc). Then, David shares principles from his new book “Made to Belong,” outlining five practical things you and I can do to build strong, healthy, transformative friendships and communities where we’re known, where we’re seen and where we can grow. Also, DK makes a weird Titanic reference because that’s his all-time favorite movie. So tease him about that later.

Speakers: David Tieche + David Kim

More than 600 years before Jesus, the Israelite people found their lives in confusing shambles. Their capital city, Jerusalem had fallen, their city had been sieged, and they were led off in chains as war captives far away from their home to Babylon. This was a judgment by God and from God - the previous leaders of Israel had abandoned God. But now, as people faithful to God, they expected God to bring them right back home. The prophet Jeremiah, however, delivered a message from God Himself that said something different, telling them to “seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.” God says to put down roots, and work for the good of the people around them, even if they’re Babylonians. “I’m up to something good,” God promises. We examine these prophetic words and find the call is the same to us, today. Work for the good of the city. And in doing so, we find that God is (again! still!) up to something good.

One of Jesus’ most famous teachings is the story of the Good Samaritan, in which Jesus dramatically challenges the ethic that love is best spent only on people you love and like, and that some people are worthy of self-sacrificing love, and others are not.  In this story, Jesus purposefully links the idea of “loving God” to “loving your neighbor.”  We examine why this teaching is so important and discuss some ways to practice living this out in a world that’s filled with people who have contempt for their neighbor.

It’s been said that in modern America, the question people are asking is not “is Christianity true” but rather “are Christians good?” In Luke 10:27, Jesus forever links loving God with loving other people, saying “love your neighbor as yourself” and then doubles down with the famous story of the Good Samaritan. Steve Clifford and Andy Gridley stop by to unpack why this is so important and so difficult - before sharing pastoral advice on how to grow in this crucial area. Andy shares a moving story about a difficult-to-love neighbor and how the lesson isn’t always “the outcome will be perfect” but rather “God is trying to grow you in the area of love.” Also: Also, David is left speechless when Steve questions his love for yogurt when in fact, David is very pro-yogurt.

Speakers: David Tieche + Steve Clifford + Andy Gridley