SunWest Church Weekly Sermon Podcast

Like most parables in the Bible, there is more to the story of The Great Banquet than meets the eye. Unlike most parables, this is one of the most autobiographical of Jesus’ stories. We walk through Jesus’ joy, disappointment, and passion in his role as Host. If we dig a little deeper, we’ll realize that like the guests in the parable, we are full of excuses… and that our excuses actually reveal t...

Have you ever wondered why “game-changing truths” don’t change your life very often? Let’s discover why that is--and how to steward God’s truth for maximum life-change.

Lloyd & Carol are disciple-makers with a passion to see lives transformed on mission with Jesus. Working out of the Central Canada office for Multiply in Winnipeg, they give leadership to an enthusiastic team across the prairie provinces. Multiply is the mission agency of our MB denomination.

My heart rate is on the rise, I’m sweating, nervous, worried, and anxious about everything. I avoid areas and people in my life that once brought me joy. I’ve lost hope for the future, I can’t sleep, and I’ve lost motivation to face the day. There must be more to life than this. God cares deeply for your mental health and wants you to experience life, and life to the fullest. This Sunday we will b...

Kelvin Block is a counsellor specializing in areas including marriage counselling, grief, and loss. Kelvin and his wife have been members of the SunWest community for many years. We are excited to learn from Kelvin's professional expertise in our new series "I'm Still Not Okay".

Work. A human condition? A curse? A good gift? Depends on who you ask. This week we will be looking at how Jesus went about His life and handled what one might call a very high demanding job (establishing the Kingdom of God on earth and all), to discover a few implications for ourselves and how we spend our time and energy.

Willy and Gwen Reimer started SunWest Christian Fellowship in August 1994 out of a vision to grow a Christ-centred outreaching church in south Calgary. Willy served as lead pastor of SunWest for 19 years. He is passionate about developing Spirit-led Christ-followers who develop and grow other Spirit-led Christ-followers. Willy and Gwen have a deep love for the church and desire to use their gifts...

Willy and Gwen Reimer started SunWest Christian Fellowship in August 1994 out of a vision to grow a Christ-centred outreaching church in south Calgary. Willy served as lead pastor of SunWest for 19 years. He is passionate about developing Spirit-led Christ-followers who develop and grow other Spirit-led Christ-followers. Willy and Gwen have a deep love for the church and desire to use their gifts...

Apologizing is one thing... but confession? In a world where fear seems to be what keeps us from taking responsibility or being transparent, Jesus reminds us that God is not an angry God, but one who is filled with compassion, forgiveness and a willingness to embrace the totality of us, even the broken parts... He reminds us that confession is not only perhaps an awkward conversation to be had, bu...

"Then they began to argue among themselves about who would be the greatest among them". In a world of differences in thoughts, opinions, appearances, beliefs, and actions, who is the greatest? Who is right? Who is wrong? Who is in? Who is out? In a world that constantly compares people, ranks them, and separates them, it’s hard to believe in a love that doesn’t do the same. What does it look like...

This week we will be talking about commitment. We live in a culture where people reply to every request with a maybe. Even though we are afraid of commitment it's to our detriment if we don't learn to commit to one another. We look forward to exploring this with you.

Canadian culture is a culture of comfort. It’s being sold to us everywhere we look. We’re encouraged to do what we want, when we want, with whomever we want. If something is uncomfortable, we want to avoid it at all costs. The Christian faith, though, is just that: uncomfortable. This week we begin a four-part series called Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community....

Following up from his Vision message earlier this year, listen in as Pastor Matt encourages us to “Encounter”.

On this day we celebrate with all of creation the joyful resurrection of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. And Jesus's work expanding this new world extends to you! Join us as we see what Jesus is doing today for all the world.

Today, on Good Friday, join us as we reflect on the love of Jesus, His sacrifice, and how we all are a bit more like Judas that we care to admit.

On this Palm Sunday we look at Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. This event was loaded with fanfare and celebration. Yet one week later Jesus would die alone with no fanfare. What happened? Join us as we look at the political and religious expectations that the crowds had on Jesus. We’ll see that their world was not that different than ours. Is it possible that our expectations on God will cause us to...

Jesus taught that his followers were a part of a different world. Yet he told them that they were to be in the world, but not of the world. Everyone had to work out the tension of what that actually meant. Despite how unique the current situation in our world may seem, it’s actually no different, than what the first followers of Jesus had to navigate. To follow him had different implications polit...

This week we deeper dive into Shalom with the World. As we peel back layers of systems that make our world work, we can also see some of the systemic injustices at play. One of those systems is religious identity. Only what appears to be a religious identity is really a racial identity that shapes religion, which is why we often see behaviours at odds with the teachings of Jesus. Join us as Jesus...

We have now looked at Shalom with God, self, and others. This week we will begin looking at Shalom with the world. From creation, to politics, to systemic issues of injustice, the word “world" in the bible means many things. Join us for this three-week series as we explore how God invites us to partner with him to both rebel against and redeem the world.

Our world is full of examples right now of how people or groups are using power to control, manipulate, and dominate. The pain we experience as humans is often linked to how power is used or abused. Jesus both demonstrates how to use power and how to respond when you feel powerless. The truth is, we are never powerless, and the Kingdom of God can be most powerful when it looks most powerless.

Justice has turned into a "buzz" word in recent years. We cry out for justice and we cry out about injustice, and rightfully so. The God of the Bible is a God of justice. But justice is not the ultimate end point. Join us this week as we discover how, when we stop at justice, we stop short of experiencing the fullness of God's life for us.

This week we move from talking about Shalom with Self to talking about Shalom with others. As we’ve noted throughout the Shalom Project, the word Shalom doesn’t simply mean peace or the absence of conflict; it is the experience of deep life and fulfillment when our relationships function in the way God intended. When we look at the world around us, we don’t have to look very far to see that there...

The world’s definition of freedom is vastly different than the Bible’s definition of freedom. Many people think freedom is about being able to do whatever you want. Yet the choices we make eventually make us. When we pursue this idea of freedom we ironically become increasingly enslaved. Listen in as we rediscover the upside down freeing invitation of Jesus.

Jesus, Paul, Peter and others all spoke of war going on inside our body. This is a war within ourself. Paul described it as a war between the flesh and the spirit. It is often the case that our deepest desires are not the same as our strongest desires. Every choice we make contributes to the person we are becoming. The choices we make will eventually make us. So, who are you becoming, and who do y...

We have spent the last three weeks looking at the importance of our relationship with God. We now shift to looking out our relationship with ourselves. Our understanding of our identity anchors on the voices we give authority to. Our world is obsessed with the idea of identity and being our true selves. Yet it seems the more we try to determine who we are for ourselves, the more lost we become. Jo...