Garden City Sermons

We shouldn't feel like we are one bad day away from being rejected . . . when we see the Gospel as a new set of rules to follow that's exactly what happens. When we see the gospel as God's hospitality we can respond and come home.

How does God relate to us? Is He “cool but distant”? Is He “tough but fair”?  If we believe God is tough but fair, we feel tempted to fix our problems so we don’t get in trouble. We often feel like a mess to be fixed. If we believe God is cool but distant we feel tempted to settle for what is, since God is distant. We often keep our hopes low. Jesus reveals a God who relates to people not through...

Churches help us follow Jesus. Following Jesus includes two things: be with him and do what he does. Learn more. 

What do you think about when you think about the future? Jesus invites us to imagine the future from a place of abundance. How do you do that?

God's bigness and nearness creates safety so we can go out into the world. Since Craig and Luke launched Garden City we had dreams that we would be part of a movement. Too many people believe church doesn't work. Instead of rearranging the furniture on a sinking ship we want to build something new. Garden City is that new thing. We reach out with hospitable orthodoxy. We worship Jesus as L...

We all feel like outsiders from time to time. If Taylor Swift feels like an outsider, why would we think we wouldn't? How does God feel about outsiders? Psalm 87 makes a bold claim, God re-narrates outsiders' histories to make them insiders. What does that mean for us?

What if our insecurity and anxiety come from trying to hold onto things that were never ours to carry? In Psalm 131, we see an invitation to let go of what isn’t ours so we can make room for what is, and discover what happens when we do.

When the world around us feels unstable, it often reveals how fragile the things we lean on really are. In Psalm 23, David points us toward a different kind of security, one not rooted in a place, a circumstance, or our ability to hold everything together, but in the presence of a Shepherd who sees what we cannot see and loves us with unfailing love.

In the book of Psalms we receive a gift we need to stay sane when the world is going crazy - Poetry. In this first week of this series, Craig asks the question, "What if your desires aren't the problem but they are the path to experiencing God?"

Why do so many of us have a hard time asking for help? Could beliefs and expectations about God be keeping us from admitting our need? Jonah knew that God C.A.R.E.S. God is Compassionate, Abounding in Hesed, Relenting from Calamity, Enduring in Patience, and Showers us with Grace. Jonah couldn't stomach the idea of that grace being extended to his enemies. Finally, we apply this to our own liv...

Religion uses others to protect ourselves from failure. Humility sees others as heroes in God's story and serves them. Humility changes the world. How do we practice humility? We land back in Jonah 3, where God shows up a second time not reacting, not apologizing, but commissions a reluctant prophet to a city that has every reason to expect judgment and no reason to expect mercy. Turns out, th...

From Abraham's tent to the Last Supper to a wedding banquet at the end of history, the Bible tells the story of a God who keeps throwing parties and keeps inviting people nobody expected. His strategy for changing the world has always been the same: welcoming people who expect judgment. What if the most important thing you did this week wasn't at church, but at your kitchen table? God thro...

Has anything you can't explain happened to you? Your mom dies, and suddenly you're asking about your purpose. You don't believe in God, but you feel profound gratitude when you watch a sunset. "Who do I feel gratitude towards?" you wonder. If you're like most of us, something strange happens when we move on. Disruptions are wild. Too often, we either move on or try to dom...

On Palm Sunday, Jesus rides a donkey into Jerusalem to a celebrating crowd. Like Clark Kent removing his glasses, Jesus finally goes public with the fact that he is Israel’s long-awaited Messiah who has come to free them.  Luke tells us the crowds are ecstatic. But Jesus cries. Jesus knows that he cannot give the crowd the good things they want. They want him to be a political force, a nationalist...

Fewer things are more dangerous than passivity disguised as faith. Are you praying for clarity or simply afraid to make a move? Passivity says "I can't." Ownership says, "I am responsible for my life. " How do we move from passivity to ownership? Jonah helps us get there with his Prayer of Passivity.

Do modern people like us struggle with idols? Would you be surprised to learn that an idol is not just a little statue you worship but it's also anything we give power and authority to that doesn't naturally possess that power? Relationships can have power over us they were never meant to have. Our jobs can have power it wasn't meant to. The opinions of our peers, etc. How do we find f...

How does God view the people around you? Do you see the people around you like God sees them?

...by protecting what is. 90% of people can't get excited about what they haven't seen. God invites Jonah into a new thing he is doing. But Jonah resists. Why? And how does Jonah's resistance help us face what we're resisting?

We wrongly believe that if we resist hard things, they go away. But as the old proverb says, "That which we resist persists." There's an Old Testament story about a prophet who resisted God's plan. Jonah is meant to be a Bizzaro Jesus. Called called Jesus to rescue people. Jesus obeyed. God called Jonah to preach his kindness to his enemies. Jonah resisted. His resistance did not...

There are few things worse than going through life with limited options. Sin limits our options. It makes our worlds small. Sin tells us to stay hidden. Sin doesn't help us move toward God and others, but deeper into hiding. Confession is a tool God gives us to expand our options. Confession is telling the truth. In today's we talk about three essential elements to confession and how to ex...

Too many of us learned that to belong among God's people we need to behave a certain way. What if that's not true?

It's easy for us to see that others are good for the world. But what about me? What about my ambition? What about my perspective? How can I be good for the world? Today Luke discusses how we can come to trust that what God put in me, is good for the world.

Information doesn't create the connected life. So what does?

Do we really have more time for connection? Life moves so fast. Don't we just need more "me time?" The connected life doesn't have to violate your nervous system. We can experience presence without pressure. But how?

Have you noticed that more and more people are growing comfortable being alone? In 2020 we were in a "loneliness epidemic." Today we've made peace being alone. We are hardwired for connection. What keeps us from experiencing the connected life? Find out