WestGate Church Teaching

Beautiful Day is a wrap! Local Compassion pastor Finny Abraham stops by to talk about how and why compassion and service projects expand “the kingdom of God.” Then Finny and David nerd out on Jesus’s parable of the mustard seed in Matthew 13 like the world-class theologian botanists that they are. As a bonus, David shares a sermon clip from last year where he deep-dives into the parable of “yeast”...

This past weekend was Beautiful Day, with 1,380 volunteers from WestGate Church donating more than 5,000 volunteer hours at 18 high-impact service projects across Santa Clara county. Local Compassion Pastor Finny Abraham stops by to share stories from Beautiful Day, and insights into how this weekend grows the Kingdom in ways that no one can foresee or expect.

St. Francis of Assisi. Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Augustine of Hippo. Saints are always attached to particular places. Jay Kim stops by to talk about the importance of “place” in the life of a person. We examine what it’s like to feel like an exile in a culture that’s often indifferent - and now, increasingly hostile - to allegiance to Jesus. And we talk about why the prophetic words of Jeremiah t...

A recent study conducted by Harvard in 2021 found a rising epidemic of loneliness, with more than a third of Americans (36 percent) saying they’re “lonely all of the time.” David Kim stops by - forming an all-Dave podcast - to share practical ways that Christians can reverse that trend. We tackle why the Bay Area’s culture leads to so much isolation (hypermobility, busyness because of the economic...

More than 600 years before Jesus, the Israelite people found their lives in confusing shambles. Their capital city, Jerusalem had fallen, their city had been sieged, and they were led off in chains as war captives far away from their home to Babylon. This was a judgment by God and from God - the previous leaders of Israel had abandoned God. But now, as people faithful to God, they expected God to...

One of Jesus’ most famous teachings is the story of the Good Samaritan, in which Jesus dramatically challenges the ethic that love is best spent only on people you love and like, and that some people are worthy of self-sacrificing love, and others are not.  In this story, Jesus purposefully links the idea of “loving God” to “loving your neighbor.”  We examine why this teaching is so important and...

It’s been said that in modern America, the question people are asking is not “is Christianity true” but rather “are Christians good?” In Luke 10:27, Jesus forever links loving God with loving other people, saying “love your neighbor as yourself” and then doubles down with the famous story of the Good Samaritan. Steve Clifford and Andy Gridley stop by to unpack why this is so important and so diffi...

One of Jesus’ most famous teachings is the story of the Good Samaritan, in which Jesus dramatically challenges the ethic that love is best spent only on people you love and like, and that some people are worthy of self-sacrificing love, and others are not.  In this story, Jesus purposefully links the idea of “loving God” to “loving your neighbor.”  We examine why this teaching is so important and...

Jay and David take some time to attempt to answer the question posed by the 90s Eurodance hit song from Haddaway, “What is love?” First, they work to come to a proper definition of the word love. Then, they explore why the Bible repeatedly and emphatically says that when it comes to loving God, it’s critical to remember that God loved us first. And finally, Jay shares some practical advice to help...

By one measure, the Silicon Valley is filled with success. We have more than we’ve ever had. But we’re also working more than we’ve ever worked. We believe the myth that we can achieve and accumulate our way to the lives we want, and then when we’re exhausted with that chasing, we run to our preferred habits (Netflix binges, weekend getaways, coffee crawls, yoga, et al), believing that the relief...

The title of this sermon series is THE LIFE WE WANT, which implies that it’s possible for us to live in such a way that our choices are taking us toward a life we DON’T actually want. Jay and David talk about the primary cultural values in Silicon Valley and how these can deform us, if we’re not careful. We’ll examine the modern idea that community means carefully curated groups filled only with p...

By one measure, the Silicon Valley is filled with success. We have more than we’ve ever had. But we’re also working more than we’ve ever worked. We believe the myth that we can achieve and accumulate our way to the lives we want, and then when we’re exhausted with that chasing, we run to our preferred habits (Netflix binges, weekend getaways, coffee crawls, yoga, et al), believing that the relief...

For the past three weeks, we’ve examined not only the reality of a spiritual realm, but also the idea that all of humanity is locked in spiritual battle with a vicious, lying spiritual enemy - the Satan. This week, Steve Clifford stops by to talk about the good news - we have a God who is not only immeasurably more wise and powerful than the Devil, but equips His children to win this war. Speaking...

In the book of Ephesians, Paul, after warning the early church about the dangers of the spiritual war they are in, offers a long series of encouragements, saying to “be strong” and “stand.” Paul then enters into an extended metaphor, using a Roman Centurian’s battle armor to explain how those who follow Christ are not only equipped well in the battle against the Satan, but are set up to be more th...

Dr. Gerry Breshears, professor of theology at Western Seminary in Portland, OR, drops by to drop some knowledge about what the Bible says about the spiritual realm. Dr. Breshears dives into the tough questions about angels, Satan and demons and tackles some perplexing passages of Scriptures that seem particularly strange to our modern ears.

Lies - in the form of deceptive ideas - are the devil’s primary method of enslaving human beings. And yes, this impact individuals but those lies also become normalized in culture and society, and pretty soon, up is called down and down is called up and entire human societies in a vicious cycle of ruin. Jay and David talk about what big lies have become normalized in our society, and, in general,...

Jesus says, in John 8, that the Devil’s primary method of warfare against humanity in the war of good vs. evil is lies. Lies. We examine how this has been the Devil’s strategy since the beginning, and how the lies that Satan told in the Garden of Eden to the first humans are the lies that he still tells us today. Lies about what the truth really is (did God really say…), lies about outcomes if we...