Revolution Church

"The one thing I've found about Christianity, why I think it's really an exceptional faith and religion, is that it's never too late." Jay is back from Missouri, and whoa baby does he have a talk that is right on the nose. Jay's trip had him feeling a mixed bag of emotions that he is still trying to process. Sometimes showing Grace is like pulling teeth – and sometimes your teeth get pulled when you return from Missouri after showing Grace. Only a few days removed from a dental procedure and barely able to eat solid food, Jay gives us a talk on The Prodigal Son. For deeper aspects and insight on the story, Jay turned to Luke…oh, sorry, not the Gospel. I meant Luke Skywalker. No, really. Jay gives a deep dive into both the parable and also dissects the redemption and Grace that is shown in Return of the Jedi. Grace and Star Wars, the two staples of Revolution. What if we aren't in a place where we can show Grace? What if it's too difficult, or even impossible? What if we don't have the bandwidth in ourselves for it? How do we love from afar until we can love up close? What did Tammy Faye mean by 'running into the roar'? What does it mean to take the third way? We all know how complex life is, and how we are often damned if we do and damned if we don't – so why are we trying to paint all lives of all people with the same broad strokes? Having theology and knowing the scriptures and having philosophy is great when it's in our mind – But how does it operate in real life? How do we live these ideas and beliefs? We don't know any better than you do, but we have some ideas! And if we stand together as a community and a gathering we stand the best chance to help ourselves and others in this life, where we are all just blowing around like leaves in the wind.This talk was given on April 24, 2022 in Seattle, WA.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jay is out of town on family business, practicing what he teaches. He originally planned on giving an Easter Sunday talk live from the road, but plans changed and he was unable to. So guest speaker Joshua Murray stepped in to give the talk instead. Struggling with his own mental health, Josh tried to find a hopeful message that fits into the spirit and meaning of Easter – His talk had more mentions of Dalmatians than one would think an Easter talk would have, but there is a method to his madness…or is it? Did Moses start planting ideas of Jesus setting us free from the law before the law even came to be? Why does God always seem to be passing us by? Can we find common ground with Elijah's crippling depression? What if we are incapable of living out Grace on our own and need people to lean on to remind us how to show grace? Is that why Jesus specifies needing at least two people to be a church? Why is this tree so useless? Why are Talents so much money? Also, why is this rabbit smoking so much? Did Josh mean to use imagery of a rabbit for an Easter talk, or was it something he just realized right now writing this very description you are reading? The world may never know! (But the other answers might just be in the talk.) Enjoy!This talk was given on April 17, 2022 in Long Island, NY.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Life's tough, but…that's life. We deal with a lot of suffering, and life in general brings us a lot of it – and since that's something we all have in common, Jay dives in and starts to explore some verses on suffering. Even though the Bible isn't an answer book, we can learn a lot from wresting with not knowing the answers! Jay visits Romans, and James and 1 & 2 Peter to try and find some lessons and questions to wrestle with. What does a community look like? How can we use what we learn in these verses to help others and help ourselves? How badly do you want to slap James for what he says about suffering? There are a few things we know though, besides suffering being universal, and that is that suffering builds endurance…but also, suffering is cunning, and we have to remember this! It will find ways to get you! But can radical acceptance of what we're experiencing be a way of getting through suffering? Why is it easier to endure suffering when others are there? How do we treat 'the others' in our lives when they are in the midst of turmoil? Have we left loving 'the other' up to God? And is it possible to feel the closest to Christ when we're feeling abandoned? These are questions to wrestle with, these are questions that it's okay to not have the answers for – are the answers in the wrestling? It's really amazing just what trying to love one another, be understanding, and being friendly can do to help suffering! Just how much of a difference it can make. So…what can we do to be the difference?This talk was given on April 3, 2022 in Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Talks are always more popular if I mention my mom, so…Tammy Faye, Tammy Faye, Tammy Faye.” Of course we kid, we are not using Tammy Faye to get more views or streams – we’re mentioning her because of her influence on Jay in living a life that demonstrated love and Grace and caring. We’re always inspired by her unsinkable spirit, a spirit that is very much in line with today’s talk. It’s Revolutions least favorite time of the year, and that is the first week after Jay finishes his annual Galatians series. But since Galatians and Grace are at the core of Jay’s work and at the center of Revolution, once we leave one topic of Grace we move onto the next, and that is: Jesus, naturally. We know what Paul said about Grace, but what does Jesus have to say about it? Today we look at Luke 6 and find Jesus’s message of love and Grace and we see how they became the building blocks of Paul’s message. Does the Gospel make us foolish? Is Jesus’s message just as radical as Paul’s? Has the domestication of Christianity taken a message of radical Grace and forced it to become a bad imitation of itself? It sure seems like it, but that is what happens when things get too big and become watered down and family friendly. But the truth is that Christianity is radical and it’s insane and it asks us to do things that are very uncomfortable in order to make a lasting change. The narrow road of Christianity and Christ’s message isn’t about what you can and can’t do, what music to avoid, what shows to boycott, but really the narrow road is loving those who don’t love us. It’s not a natural road, and at times it’s barely possible – but if we help each other and support each other and lift each other up and correct with care, then what was once barely possible just…simply becomes possible.This talk was given on March 27, 2022 in Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“I’m preaching today…oops.” Galatians 6! Here we are, we’ve arrived – The final chapter of Galatians. Paul again stresses the importance of Grace, and asks us to help restore each other, but to do it gently. To hold each other accountable, but to do it gently. To be kind, but honest. With love and Grace, because as Jay puts it, Grace is vital to getting us through Hell and back. We have to remember that we are accepted, all of us – even the “theys” in our lives. We are accepted as a community, and we have to learn to live as a community with Grace. Because all of us fall short. We aren’t too important to restore someone or to show them Grace. In this talk, Jay also reminds us of the dangers of legalism, because legalism tries to take over the job of Grace. In this letter, Paul talks a lot about legalism of the law when it came to circumcision, which was causing a big divide in the community – and divided communities are something we are dealing with today. Are politics our circumcision? How can Grace help us navigate this? Let’s be gentle with each other and see how it feels.This talk was given on March 20, 2022 in Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we are finishing up Galatians 5! The later part of Galatians chapter 5 is the most relevant when it comes to what we’re dealing with as a country and as a divided world. The warnings against biting and devouring each other – about a dire need for community and to not destroy one another, but instead to live with these differences and respect these differences. Think about how hard life is for people, we’re all going through it right now – the horrors on the news, war, gas prices! The list goes on...and on…and on! Relationships are hard enough to have with friends and family these days, let alone our enemies – and in a time of social media and the internet we’ve never had more contact with our enemies. Let us take a moment to look inward and try to figure out why we’re getting so angry at other people’s flaws and failures, let’s ask ourselves why we want them to be destroyed for this. What is Paul talking about when he talks about the Spirit, could it mean our unconscious? Paul takes time to write down a list of vices in this chapter, a list of things to avoid. But in tandem with that he also lists the fruits of the spirit, each virtue listed in response to an individual vice he previously listed. What if we can find a way to marry these contradictions together – if we can find a place for that contradiction to live, it can become a truth and can often lead to a higher truth. What do we have to do to keep these vices from turning into idols? How do we keep them from robbing us of the virtues he’s listed? And maybe most importantly…why is the crab in Moana so funny? Like many things, we don’t have the answers, but we like to discuss it and disagree well.This talk was given on March 13, 2022 in Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We finally made it to Galatians 5, well Galatians 5, Part 1. This chapter is a bit tricky as it mostly sums up Galatians 4, but that’s okay because the themes there bear repeating. Legalism is like a yoke around our neck. The problem with a yoke is it’s used to steer livestock, so when we wear this yoke around our necks, we’re not doing the steering. We’re being used. Legalism is toxic and has infected the church. An infection that we so often desire breaking free of, but in doing so, a lot of us leave the church fully and want nothing to do with God. This is where Grace comes in! Because God has no favorites! God doesn’t care about your bank account or your genitalia. God is love. All of us fall short, so Grace is for all of us. We all have flaws and faults and contradictions, and that is where we find God. What does it mean to fall from grace? Do we make Christ’s death in vain when we try to earn our salvation? Is perfectionism a form of idolatry? We have to remember what matters most, the only thing that matters, and that is that we are accepted. We are accepted by that which is bigger than ourselves! We can not fall into biting and devouring one another – and that is very hard to avoid these days, with so much division and anger and cancellation, but love never cancels someone – love endures through everything. So, we need to be a community of diversity! Not just diversity of race or gender or sexuality, but a diversity of thought! Let us disagree and let us argue but let us argue well! Let us disagree well! Let’s not go straight to war. Because in the end we all fall short, and people are people – we’re all made of the same ol’ dirt.This talk was given on March 06, 2022 in Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ever wonder why tigers have those white spots behind their ears? Can we learn grace from a seagull? What do pool balls and fish have in common? What happens if we put an ox and a donkey together on the same plow? We’re not sure, but we know if anyone can tie these disparate ideas together with some weird mysticism it’s today’s speaker, Joshua Murray. Once again, Josh visits the one topic he cares the most about – Bridging the Division. The country and world are so divided. All the time. About everything. Always. But why? Is it possible that we all have more in common than we think? What if we started to see ourselves in others, rather than just seeing ‘an other’? A big stumbling block in our path of grace, Josh feels, stems from the law and the tight literal and legalistic hold we have on the Bible – and it’s too much to bear for any of us, and it always has been. So how can we get from this unbearable, crushing yoke of the law to one that is easy and light? Who knows!! But Josh has a few ideas he’d like the share on it.This talk was given on February 27, 2022 in Long Island, New York.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Here is the confession: Galatians 4 has always been a bore to me…but I realize now it’s not.” That’s one way to introduce the next chapter in the series, but he wasn’t lying, the new stuff Jay discovered in this chapter is important and indeed not boring. Paul was very sick when he was in Galatia, and it was his time there that he was able to teach and share his message of Grace. He was expressing gratitude to them, and reminding them of how hospitable their community was…now in this letter he’s asking What happened to that Galatia I knew? Jay acknowledges that this letter is harsh, it’s understandable why people, especially in this current political climate, might be scared of Paul and the things he says – but this is also the best letter written on Grace, and without Paul we miss a deeper level of Grace. Jay poses the question: can we fully learn who Christ was or what he was doing if we don’t read Paul? Because we can see Christ in a much deeper way with Paul. Paul is asking us to live in a community and do the hard work – the hard work of loving our neighbors and enemies. He doesn’t want us to go our separate ways, to just take our toys and go home. Revolution is that community, it isn’t a safe place, but it is a place full of Grace and communication and disagreeing well so that we can build up something that is stronger than ourselves.This talk was given on February 20, 2022 in Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we have a Revolution first! Jay is taking a break from continuing forward with the Galatians series so that we can revisit the first three chapters. Some might call it beating a dead horse, we call it an overview! Or a recap. Regardless of what it’s called, it’s important to revisit before moving forward again. The reason it is important is because we have to remember just how timely this letter to the Galatians is – Paul is trying to save a community. A community that is dividing itself rather than uniting. A community that is creating a different gospel by becoming disciplinarians and Kingdom Monitors and gatekeepers. A community that forgot how we’re all the same - that we are all flawed and fall short. Sadly, these themes are still just as present today as they were back when Paul first wrote this. It’s this mindset and division that takes the Good News and makes it not very good at all. That through our legalistic and disciplinarian mindsets we are caught up in another gospel - not a gospel that unifies us through Christ’s teachings. Paul isn’t asking us to do anything he’s not doing himself, he is doing his best to lead by example. We need to see that we can show Grace to each other even if we’re not on the same side. Even if we don’t agree. Going to war over these differences will leave us with nothing left. In Jesus’s time, Rome knew what they were doing – they found ways to divide the community so that they could continue to rule. Keeping the people divided and distracted and fighting amongst themselves so that there was nothing left of them…Yikes, thank goodness that’s not happening anymore, right? Thankfully that is a thing of the past - could you even imagine if that was happening today…This talk was given on February 13, 2022 in Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.