WestGate Church Teaching

The ability to communicate might be the most valuable gift we have in this life. And the most meaningful communication we can experience is the sort of conversation that maximizes relational connection. Life with God offers us the tremendous gift of being able to talk with God. And yet, we so rarely do. And yet, in the Scriptures, we find a God eager to connect with us, inviting us to share with H...

There’s a saying that “people who talk to God are religious, but people who hear from God are certifiably insane.” And yet, the idea that God is trying to communicate with human beings is actually a central assumption of the Christian story and the Christian Scriptures. Jay Kim and Steve Clifford stop by to share their wisdom and thoughts about what it means for us to be a people who earnestly des...

In our modern world, we are conditioned to believe that the most important thing we can do - indeed the thing that we must do – is BE HEARD. That’s what will give our lives meaning. And as a result, many of our lives today involve so much talking and so little listening. Is it any wonder that we have difficulty listening to God? This week, examine what it’s like to be a people who WANT to hear fro...

This week, David Tieche debriefs Beautiful Day with Jay Kim. And they talk about the ancient spiritual practice of The Examen (which Dave is disappointed to learn has nothing to do with “The X-men.”) We then discuss a book that some scholars think might be the most widely read Christian book in the past 300 years that’s not the Bible - a book by a French lay monk who spent all his life in obscurit...

We live in an age of hurry and distraction. There are, at any given moment, 100 things pinging and dinging and vying for our attention (mostly, things trying to get us to buy something). And we live in a time where there is a lot going on. Both hurry and distraction are great enemies to spiritual growth and connection with God. God is not in a hurry. And as we see from the earliest pages of the Bi...

About 1600 people served at one of our 20 different worksites around Santa Clara County and beyond last weekend, all for the purpose of showing Christ's love to our neighbors. We call this effort Beautiful Day.

THE AFTERWORD | Beautiful Day Celebration About 1600 people served at one of our 20 different worksites around Santa Clara County and beyond last weekend, all for the purpose of showing Christ's love to our neighbors. We call this effort Beautiful Day.

THE AFTERWORD | Matthew (Season 8) - Week 5 - What is Greatness Description: In every culture, the people who get celebrated and honored the most shape that society’s view of what it means to be “great.” For example, the Bay Area’s culture of ladder-climbing and going-public-striking-it-rich inevitably sinks into our souls, and malforms our ideas about greatness. Jay Kim stops by to talk about why...

In Matthew 20, the mother of two of the disciples (James and John) comes to Jesus and makes a particular request: can her boys have the seats of honor next to Jesus in His Kingdom. The other disciples are indignant, probably because they wished they’d thought to ask first. But amidst this immature, self-centered bickering, Jesus pulls them all aside and gives them a new definition of greatness. It...

One of the most shocking and provocative things Jesus is ever recorded saying is found in Matthew 19, when Jesus says “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Woah. Andy Gridley and Steve Clifford join me to talk through this passage, what it means, and what it doesn’t mean. And we find out that while this passage might...

In most times, in most places, having money opens doors and opportunities. For education, health care, recreation and even more wealth. Most of the time, having a lot of money is a real benefit. But in an astonishing conversation recorded in Matthew 19, we see that for one young man, money is actually a barrier. In an account recorded in three Gospels, Jesus has a conversation and then a confronta...

There may be no idea in our culture today that’s more universally applauded and less examined than the idea of vengeance. It’s embedded, almost unquestioningly, in our culture. Our most popular stories are based around vengeance. John Wick. The Equalizer. “My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die.” Even the biggest movie franchise in history is called The Avengers. It’s every...

In Matthew 18, Peter asks Jesus a critically important question: how many time should we forgive someone who has wronged us? When we are wronged, however significant or slight the wrong may be, we are often overcome by the desire for revenge. In our worst moments, we are tempted to even project the approval of God on our vengeful desire. But Jesus confronts this idea by telling a story. And in tha...

What does it mean to be great? In the Bay Area, the definition of greatness usually revolves around technological brilliance or perhaps business acumen. The company you started had an IPO and you made millions. Or maybe it’s around fame. In Matthew 18, the disciples ask Jesus a question about what makes a person great. Steve Clifford stops by to discuss how Jesus redefines “greatness” in a way tha...

In Matthew 18, the disciples, who are still trying to wrap their minds around the idea of a Messiah who would willing go to a cross and die, ask Jesus about greatness. Jesus responds to the question, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” and redefines greatness by highlighting…children…the most socially insignificant and relationally reliant people present. But in doing so, Jesus is not...

The story of the Transfiguration is one of WEIRDEST moments in the entire Bible. Nothing like this happens anywhere else in the Bible. Corinna Girard stops by to talk about all the hyperlinks in this story that go directly back to the Old Testament. We dig into why Moses and Elijah - who both died a long time ago - show up on the scene and what that means. We break down why Jesus starts glowing, a...

As the buzz around Jesus grows, Jesus affirms that He’s the Messiah, but then shocks His followers to their core by revealing that He will be killed, and will die on a Roman Cross, His followers are baffled, wondering, “If you’re going to die, does this mean you’re *not* the Messiah?” The next episode in Matthew 17 removes all shreds of doubt about Jesus’ identity as Peter, James and John see Jesu...

Title: THE AFTERWORD | The Greatest : Love Your Neighbor Description: A while ago, we polled folks at WestGate Church and asked them which of the three loves was the most challenging to them. The winner, by a clear margin, was “love your neighbor.” This makes sense in light of our current cultural climate, where people who believe a lot differently from you are seen not as strangers, but enemies....

In one of the most famous passages of the Bible, Jesus tells people that the most important thing in life is to love God with “all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.” But Jesus, famously, doesn’t stop there. He adds to it, commanding His followers to “love your neighbor as yourself.” A tall order. In today’s world, it seems we tolerate our neighbors, or neglect them, or judge t...

Title: THE AFTERWORD | The Greatest : Love One Another Description: In John 13, Jesus tells His followers that He wants them to “love one another” as “He has loved them.” Jesus’ model of presence, connection and self-sacrifice are a TALL ORDER - especially in a busy Bay Area world. David Kim and Lisa Averill stop by to share thoughts about why community breaks down, and what makes community work....

Sermon Description: In John 13, Jesus says that He wants his followers to love one another as He loved them. He then says these loving communities will be a powerful testimony to a world that’s often filled with loneliness, isolation and conditional love. This isn’t always easy - it’s tough to love other people when our lives are filled with so many demands that we can barely take care of ourselve...

Title: THE AFTERWORD | The Greatest : Love God Description: The problem with the phrase “love God” is that you have to do a lot of work to explain what you mean by “love” and what you mean by “God.” Those words are pretty mushy, semantically. We use the same word to say I “love” my mom and I also “love” tacos? What? Jay and David share a proper definition of love that’s not only helpful, but actio...

Every Fall at WestGate Church, we take a few weeks to re-calibrate our lives and talk about the “three loves.” Love God, love your neighbor, love one another. But “love” is a pliable, somewhat mushy word, and often how we define what love determines how we live it out. Steve CLifford stops by to talk about a proper definition for love, some bad definitions of love, and how we can grow in love. He...

If you’ve been around WestGate Church for any amount of time at all, you’ve heard us talk about the three loves that are central to who we are as a church family (love God, love your neighbor, love one another). And the central goal of our community is to become disciples of Jesus as we learn and live the way of Jesus together. And, summarized in a word, the way of Jesus is LOVE. In 1 Corinthians,...

Title: THE AFTERWORD | Matthew (Season 7) Week 6 - Take Up Your Cross Description: In Matthew 16, Jesus introduces a clear definition of what it means to follow Him, and it’s one of the more famous sayings of Jesus - and one of the least “attractive” offers in human history. Jesus says to be His disciple, you must deny yourself (refuse to center your life around you) take up your cross (an instrum...