Cultivate NJ

Church, in a world obsessed with control, efficiency, and measurable outcomes, the Kingdom of God calls us to hope and patient participation. We need not know the effects of our work to be faithful today. And we don’t need to be impressive to be good. Because friends, the Kingdom of God grows on its own. So, join the underground movement of King Jesus and wait as he subverts the ways of this world...

Jesus is building a new family amongst those learning to live out the will of God. His family is not based on rightness, goodness, or status… No, his family is made up of those who are desperate for an advocate. Friends, Jesus is our advocate. This means you are free to receive the advocacy he gives even as you learn how to advocate for others in his name.   Friends, we don't have to find the perf...

Jesus is building a new family amongst those learning to live out the will of God. His family is not based on rightness, goodness, or status… No, his family is made up of those who are desperate for an advocate. Friends, Jesus is our advocate. This means you are free to receive the advocacy he gives even as you learn how to advocate for others in his name.  

Jesus confronts the social forces that enslave, isolate, and stigmatize those of lowest standing. He is moved with anger towards the things that threaten us. And he moves with compassion to re-humanize those who’ve been stripped of their humanity. Anger and compassion are two ways that love works in our world. Jesus risks everything to bring liberation and forgiveness to those who need it most. Le...

Though it's often hard to see, Jesus has confronted and conquered the forces of death that seek to enslave and oppress. And now the fact is, God is simply present and at work, lavishing us and the whole world with holistic healing for mind, body, soul and society. God is not ignoring you. God has not forgotten you. God is with you, even now, in your pain, your confusion, your struggle, speakin...

Jesus does battle against the forces of evil that run our lives and our world. But he does not come to conquer evil with evil, he overcomes evil with Good. He lovingly separates us from lies and restores the image of God in us so that we can live again according to his authoritative love. As hard as it may be, friends, to look at the ways you've been demonized and conformed by the forces of ev...

The good news of Jesus is an immediate opportunity, a here and now real-world invitation into God's reign and rule, into God's political economy, where people and possessions and politics are now organized in the love and justice of God. Change your hearts and lives today. Cease evil behavior. Knock it off. Do not begrudge God's mercy and compassion. Let's trust in God's way of being human togethe...

In the midst of political upheavals, twisted truths, and abuses of every kind, Jesus brings us the light of his salvation, illuminating the path before us: Creator becoming creation to show us the way of love and truth and justice. Let his baptismal waters wash over you today.

The Good News is that the scriptures ARE disturbing… They're wild and terrifying at times, confusing and confounding at other times… Jesus himself, the Word of God, confounded and disoriented almost everyone he met. Let us receive disturbing scriptures, letting them disturb us in our violence and abuse, delivering us from our evil.

In Christ, we are delivered from the devastating effects of Sin’s work in and through us. Do you need rescue from the things you’ve wrought on yourself and others? God has not abandoned you, nor had he condemned you. But he has put Sin to death and given life to those who see no way out. Set your mind on the Spirit today and allow him to lead you to the security of forgiveness, life and peace that...

We have been joined to God in Christ to bear the fruit of the Kingdom and to become who God has always envisioned us to be. Rules and regulations cannot do the work of the Spirit. So, look upon each other, your neighbor, your kids, your parents, yourself with New Creation eyes today and see the work that’s already begun. Thanks be to God! We have been set free from the need to control so that we c...

At our baptism, we step into New Creation. We're not just saved for a future reality, but we’re empowered today to live from our New Story. We're no longer slaves to the destructive will of Sin but we’re authorized agents of the Risen Jesus, bringing the justice and rectification of God’s beautiful kingdom right into the old. We don't just get saved but we get to live out and declare a...

Through Jesus’ faithfulness, God brings the reign of His grace right into the most broken parts of our stories. He rescues us from the tyrants called Sin and Death that defile God’s good world and cause us to turn on each other. In Jesus, God writes a new story over us: One of vindication and justice. Be assured, nothing in your story is wasted. Where Sin seeks to enslave you unto Death, God’s pow...

In Christ we are given a new operating system for navigating the inevitable conflicts and struggles we face. No longer are we left to endure division alone or navigate it with the same old methods. Because today we stand in the secure grace of knowing that God has poured the love we need into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. This Holy Spirit leads us to face and befriend conflict as the ground...

In Christ, we are secure in the lineage of God’s generational faithfulness. Today, there is a cloud of witnesses who know and trust in the promises of God surrounding us with the message that we belong! So, rest in the confident hope of your identity as God’s children as he teaches you how to trust him like those who've come before.

Our God is faithful. He keeps his promises. God’s faithfulness to us is seen most clearly in Jesus’ faithfulness to God. In Him, God fulfills his promise to redeem us, and He ransoms us from the sin that separates us from each other. This faithful God invites all to trust him, even when we can’t comprehend how he chooses to show his faithfulness. Sermon by Jay Francoeur.

God’s judgment leads us to the truth that his presence can be found in every image bearer. So resist the temptation of superiority that leads to destruction and instead receive the gift of learning, even from those you consider beneath you. Blessed are the teachable, for they will receive the praise of God. Sermon by Jay Francoeur. (We apologize for the lack of audio quality in this recording)

God is so committed to making peace that he will lovingly and directly confront our biases and prejudices. Because there is room for everyone in New Creation, there is no room for judgmentalism. We are invited to reckon with our assumptions around who’s bad and who’s good, who’s in and who’s out. All are subject to the kindness of God. Let that kindness lead you to repentance so that you can stand...

God is present and at work even in the most broken of relationships. He gives both his Word & Himself as a gift to those who are hopeless & divided. Through Jesus, we too are invited to trust again in God’s right-making, reconciliation-forging, justice-dealing peace. In what relationships do you need this power today? Will you believe the new word & trust in the new thing God is doing...

God is our redeemer, not just buying us back from the consequences of our sin but delivering us and freeing us from our brokenness, weakness, confusion, and misconceptions. He surprises us with revelations that expose the truth. Whatever confronts us He is our rock. When our reality is shaken, He alone is our anchor, our sure foundation.

God's presence and power have no boundaries. God's presence and power transgress old divisions in surprising and even terrifying ways for those who love God. God's Spirit moves us in love to discern this presence and power even in the most unlikely places. Let us be led by love into new creation today. Preached by Jay Francoeur

In a world where we’re taught to hustle & scheme to get what we want, the good news is that God's powerful love meets us in our wants and delivers us from using others and using God. Receive the Spirit, with all the belonging, significance & security that comes with him, so that you can learn to trust God & others with your needs today. Preached by Jay Francoeur

The introduction is missing from this episode. The passage being discussed is Acts 6:1-7..... Life in the Kingdom of God reckons with power because God's love sees how power is used and misused in our world. In communities where Jesus is Lord, the ignored, the silenced, the voiceless… They aren't just included; they are empowered… given equity & agency. They aren't just problems to...

Jesus is the pioneer and the savior. He’s Lord. His power at the right hand of the Father is used to GIVE repentance & forgiveness. And we participate in this life as we Gospel with the apostles: As we announce/witness that Jesus is the pioneer & savior of the whole world. This is a gift to us. Where can you wake up to this gift today? Where are you being invited to receive the gift of lif...

God is present and at work in our world. He's given us the gift on prayer to open us up to his compassion and authority, to participate in the healing, justice, and deliverance of the world. Sermon by Jay Francoeur.