Westview Church Podcast

The incarnation we celebrate at Christmas was the act of Jesus whereby our poverty became his, and his riches became ours. This great exchange was initiated when Christ conveyed grace in becoming poor though he was rich so that we—all who look by faith for the long-expected Jesus—we become rich in the communion of untainted fellowship with God himself. Listen to Pastor Brett's Christmas Eve homily...

The familiar carol "O Little Town of Bethlehem" may conjure up a serene view in our imaginations, but the prophecy it is derived from is less so. A people were up against a formidable foe and the certainty of exile. What good is a call to repentance and promise of far away king? The same could be asked of us as we too see rampant evil and no guarantee we will live to see it end. Listen to Pastor B...

It's good to take an old phrase every now and then and dust it off. Would you ever tell a man paralyzed, a group fearful of a fierce storm, or those facing persecution, "Be of good cheer!"? Yet there is nothing like a Christian of good cheer. Listen to Michael's exhortation for more.

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." Those well known words of commission from the end of Matthew's gospel are not just a powerful motive or fitting conclusion. They are a necessary bookend to a gospel that conveys the coming of long-expected king. An expectation that was built in part by Isaiah's prophecy in Isaiah 9. Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon on Isaiah 9:6-7 for mor...

Over the course of a Christian's life, many sermons will be heard. It is rather simple to hear much. It can also be easy to listen for what others may need to benefit from. But you need to take care how you hear, that you might hear for the good of your own soul. Listen to Pastor David's exhortation for more.

A photo of an alpine lake surrounded by mountains looks like it is a solid wall of rock. In reality, the mountain peaks are miles apart. When you look at the glorious peaks of the sign of a virgin-born son, we can see it with the same kind of perspective. When we do, we see that both Isaiah and Matthew direct our gaze to the salvation that comes through judgment. Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon on...

You sit down to partake of a wonderful feast, but you don't chew the food. You don't digest it all. What gain would you receive? Do this over weeks, and you would be malnourished. The same is true if we take in sermons, Bible reading, and songs if there is no meditation. Listen to Pastor Zach's exhortation to digest the Word.

A significant contributor to the nostalgia we experience each December are the familiar things: traditions, songs, foods, etc. That is true as well for the Scripture passages we come back to time and again each December. But what are these prophecies really about? Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon on Numbers 24:17 and the expectation of a kingly star that would be seen by the magi of Matthew 2.

All the world is a stage, and we are players in it. Do you know your role in it? Yes, that includes knowing your lines, but you need to do them. However, on this stage, we don't have the full script the Author has written. We need to prepare and be ready when our time to act comes. Listen to Michael Urch's exhortation to rehearse the truth for more.

What is the Bible? In all of its diversity and distance from our place in history and geography, why do we give it the focus and consideration that we do? Ahead of our Advent sermon series, “Foretold: The Prophecies of Advent,” why do we read the Old Testament Scriptures and have a worthwhile connection? Listen to Pastor David’s sermon on 1 Peter 1:10-12 for more.

As you gather with family and friends around your Thanksgiving table, there is plenty of fuel for discontentment: jealousy over another's material success, pride over political victory, envy of giftedness not possessed. Such discontentment might even seek to twist the gospel into a means of gain. Consider instead Eric's exhortation to pursue godliness with contentment.

If the President pardoned inmates and invited them to a banquet, it is right for him to be angry if some are prohibited from joining while others lack all decorum and decency at the buffet line. A similar scenario was playing out in Corinth as the church abused the gift of the Lord's Supper. But the foundational issue is that they missed the heart of the Supper. Listen to Pastor David's sermon on...

Is the essence of "friendship" clicking a button to associate profiles online? Certainly not. But it also goes beyond casual time together at activities or events. If we will love the not-yet-glorified church, we must pursue biblical friendship. And that likely will entail repenting of self-focused fears. Listen to Pastor Brett's exhortation for more.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, Benedict of Nursius formed Christian communities that preserved what was good, true, and beautiful through the Dark Ages. Our time may not be so bleak, but what good do we do our neighbors if our gatherings are shaped by their values? The Church must hold out something better, something different. We cultivate a compelling counter-culture by embracing the glory...

Love is not one of our aims—love is the aim. Yet what is it that we are loving? Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, "He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter." Jesus loved the not-yet-glorified Church by dying for her while still sinners. Will you? Listen to Pastor David's exhortation for more.

There is a decided effort to undermine our free exercise of religion by limiting it to a freedom to worship. It is a subtle shift. It is one that does not want to see Christians following Christ in all of life. Yet as we look at 1 Corinthians 11:2-16, we see God's design for men and women does touch all of life. It is a design that we ought to glory in. Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon for more.

Jesus told the demon-possessed man of the Gerasenes to "declare how much God has done for you." While his story may be hard for us to relate to, we all once were "following the prince of the power of the air." We have as much motive to declare God's work for us, if we will immerse ourselves in it. Listen to Gabe Johnson's exhortation for more.

Fifty years ago Francis Schaeffer identified two impoverished values our culture was moving to embrace as it abandoned a biblical outlook on the world: personal peace and affluence. Such values have only been set aflame since, giving rise to full fledged expressive individualism. What is the Christian response? Flee from such idolatry. Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon on 1 Corinthians 10:14-22 for...

A houseplant withers, looking like it needs watering. However, a week goes by and the leaves drop, revealing it has actually been overwatered. Are our hearts not the same? They express a craving for something that actually will only be detrimental. They aren't reliable but are deceptively wicked. Who can know them? Listen to Pastor Brett's exhortation for more.

Hiking to the top of a canyon overlook with four young children and a fresh, thin coating of slick snow—it is no surprise to hear a father warn of the danger of presuming to have good footing lest you fall. That very danger is present in our engagement with culture and its idols as well. It is a point the Apostle Paul makes by looking to the example of Israel in the wilderness. Listen to Pastor Br...

As we reflect on our own Christian lives in witnessing baptism, what is it that is pleasing to God? What would the Lord have mark us as we walk faithfully before him? James 1:27 says it is to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep yourself free from the stain of the world. Does such compassion and holiness so mark your life? Listen to Pastor David's exhortation to pursue pure and...

Living with purpose and significance will undermine both the disillusionment of lesser "gospels" and the boredom of a ho-hum Christianity. That is, if purpose and significance is found in doing all for the gospel. Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon on 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 for more.

What parent would celebrate the benchmark of potty training and be content for their child to stay at that level of maturity? Neither is the Lord satisfied until we are fully mature in Christ. Listen to Pastor Zach's exhortation to be satisfied with full maturity.

Our culture is beholden to "rights"—voting rights, animal rights, civil rights, women's rights, human rights. We clamor and vie for our rights. But what if there was something more important than rights? Something that would make "my rights" diminish, being eclipsed by something greater? Listen to Pastor David's sermon on 1 Corinthians 9:15-18 to see why the Apostle Paul has been so eager to estab...

The coffee in your cup is quite the story. It takes scores of people and industries to get the handful of seeds from Kenya all the way to being brewed in your cup. When we gather for public worship, there similarly are many people and processes involved. Listen to Pastor Brett's exhortation to make Sunday like coffee and consider one another unto love and good works.