WestGate Church Teaching

The Bay Area is one of the most wealthy and resourced areas in the world and as a church in that area, WestGate Church has made an intentional commitment to give money outside of our walls. But why? Why do we give so much outside of the walls? Global Compassion pastor Keivan Tehrani shares why the Great Commission matters, and how living it out can change us.

Missionary Tom Randall stops by encourage us all to focus on the global Kingdom of God. Through his stories, Tom gives us a glimpse into the powerful redemptive work the Lord is doing across the earth - and challenges us to pray for and engage with missionaries and projects around the world and right here in the Bay Area.

In a letter written in the first century to a young leader named Timothy, the Apostle Paul wrote, “Those who want to get rich fall into a trap.” Loving money, Paul says, is a trap that plunges people into ruin and destruction. Eesh. But in that same letter, Paul instructs his young protege how to escape that trap. Steve examines Paul’s advice of using contentment, humility and generosity as a way to truly be rich.

Steve Clifford

One of the most troubling stories in the entire Old Testament is a moment when Abraham is asked by God to sacrifice his own son, Isaac. What is going on here? Is God a murderous psychopath? How is this loving, let alone moral? But if we take the time to look, we’ll see beyond the surface of this story and see that in the story of Abraham and Isaac, God isn’t doing what you - at first glance - it seems that he’s doing.

One of the toughest things about life is waiting. Nobody likes it. But sometimes, waiting is more than inconvenient: it’s painful. When you have a dream, or a deep desire, and the months pass. In Genesis 11-21, we see Abraham waiting to have a child. Earlier in the story, God promised Abraham he’d have a son, but it doesn’t seem to be happening, and he’s not getting any younger. This goes on for 25 years. And yet in this story, we discover when it seems like nothing is happening, something IS happening and God is up to something.

In Genesis 13-14, we see two moments in Abraham’s life where he messes up.  But what’s unique about these stories is not that Abraham messes up: it’s how he messes up.  Yes, he falls.  But Abraham falls forward, learning from his mistakes, and falling toward God’s love and leadership in his life.  In this message, we’ll look at two moments where Abraham “falls forward.”  And the lessons Abraham learns are ones that can guide us, even today.

In any relationship, there is a real risk because to love anyone at all means being vulnerable. So it is with God. But very early in the story of God’ relationship with mankind, we see God make a promise to a man named Abraham - that God would be Abraham’s God and that Abraham would be his person. But Abraham asks a question that all of us might ask. “How can I know?” And in Genesis 15, we see God’s amazing answer to that honest question, and in the process we find out that one of Yahweh’s great character traits is that he is a covenant-making, covenant-keeping God. And this stability and steadfastness is what makes relationships possible with God.

In Genesis 11 (and 12), very early in the story of God’s dealings with human beings, we discover something powerful and true: the “call” of God brings life into lifeless and hopeless situations. Without the call of God, there is no hope for the human race.  Or for us.  Worship pastor Josh Fox examines this giant moment in the life of Abraham, and how God is still in the business of calling out to people, still in the business of inviting people to walk with Him, and still in the business of re-writing individual stories from dead ends to life.

In this roundtable discussion, WestGate Church’s lead pastor Steve Clifford, David Tieche and Josh Shipp all share about learning about fatherhood, despite the fact that each had different, non-traditional father situations (one the product of divorce and abandonment, one adopted and one a product of the foster care system). Their stories reveal a remarkable Grace, and show that no one is disqualified from being the man (or the father) that God intends them to be because of a dysfunctional family of origin.