WestGate Church Teaching

In Acts 4, we see the disciples Peter and John pray for boldness. Now, we hear the term “boldness” or that someone is “bold about their faith” we often think that means they’re loud, or bullish, or aggressive or even confrontational. But Finny Abraham, our Local Compassion Pastor, explains why the baggage of that word isn’t accurate to the Biblical story, and how boldness really is about courage in the face of situations that evoke fear and anxiety, and far from leading to insufferable egos, true Biblical boldness is filled with humility and a deep and abiding peace.

In Acts 4, we see the disciples Peter and John thrown in jail for talking about Jesus, which is something the local government and religious leaders don’t like. They’re told if they don’t stop, bad things will happen to them, and after watching what Rome did to Jesus, it’s clear the early church knows what that means. And yet, we see Peter and John and the early church do something amazing: they pray, and instead of asking for protection, or safety, they pray for boldness and courage. Finny Abraham stops by to talk the lessons from Acts 4 and how to gain confidence and courage in times of fear and anxiety.

Keivan Tehrani, our Global Compassion Pastor, sits down with New York Times Best-selling author and philanthropist Bob Goff to talk about justice, Jesus, Rubik’s cubes, and all sorts of other topics.

New York Times Best-selling author, lawyer and Christian philanthropist Bob Goff offers a special message to kick off our annual Compassion Immersion 2021 series. The new year is a common time for people to think about changes they want to make in their life. In light of that, Goff challenging us to examine what we want, why we want it and what we plan on doing about it. But not only that, Goff challenges us to focus our attention and lives not on what *we* want, but on what Jesus wants. Doing this takes tremendous courage, and humility, but leads to Life.

Jay and Steve drop in for part 2 of their conversation about hope, in which they talk about the role that suffering always plays in the development of Christian hope. Jay shares about how the profound hardships and struggles of his immigrant, single-mother shaped her (and him) toward real, tangible Christian hope - and Steve shares how the passing of his youngest brother earlier this year steeled him toward hope as well.

So often, when we hear the word “hope” we think it means “wishing” - or perhaps even more weakly “wishful thinking.” I “hope” the Raiders can turn it around this year. But Jay Kim explains that Christian hope is different than that - Christian hope is a grueling grip on that which has happened and will happen based upon the very real and very historical work of Jesus Christ. And as such, because of the gritty, real-world truth of Jesus, Christians can sit in very real and very terrible circumstances with real hope that all this will someday be put right by God Himself.

Jay and Steve drop by for a conversation about the new sermon series TAKE HEART which is about hope. They explain why they chose that topic for the end of 2020 and the beginning of the new year (not rocket science) - and why hope is so elusive and so important in the life of a Christian - and what they’ve learned about hope during this challenging past 365 days of 2020.

In 1 Samuel 14, we see a bold and audacious action by Jonathan, the son of the King of Israel who picks a fight with a rival army which on its face seems foolish at best. But upon closer examination, this story helps us learn how to live out hope because Jonathan’s actions reveal a fundamental belief in the goodness of God and the belief that He has better days planned for His people. It also reveals a general “bias for action” which can help us get unstuck when we don’t know what to do. And all of this can help us enter this New Year with real, tangible hope.

The conclusion of Advent & Merry Christmas

An Advent devotional on Matthew 1