Resurrection City Church - St. Paul Minnesota

Jesus’s Stories: Understanding the Kingdom | The Prodigal Son

In Jesus' parable about the prodigal son from the gospel of Luke, we are reminded of the different perspectives that each of the individuals in the parable had and how we are all members of God's family. This message by guest preacher Miles Trump delves into the emotional journey of the prodigal son, the unwavering love and mercy of the compassionate father, and the complex response of the other son who remained faithful. We are challenged to examine our own thoughts and beliefs in comparison to the prodigal son, the running father and the other son in the parable.

Jesus’s Stories: Understanding the Kingdom | The Necessity of Forgiveness

In Jesus' parable about an unmerciful servant, he reminds us of the necessity of forgiveness in His kingdom. Jesus cancelled a hefty debt for all of us, well beyond anything we are capable of paying back. If we separate our experience of his forgiveness from the rest of our life, that's when we risk acting like the unmerciful servant. In this sermon, guest preacher Michael Bolland reminds us that we are forgiven much so that we may love much!

Jesus’s Stories: Understanding the Kingdom | Fairness vs. Goodness

The idea of 'fairness' is woven into all of our lives. We learn rules of fairness as kids, and expect our hard work to pay off as we grow older. Even when we see someone's hard work not getting the reward it deserves, our anger about that proves the place we think fairness plays in the world. When someone gets something we think we deserve, we feel it's unfair and become jealous. In this parable, Jesus speaks to our notions of fairness and asks us to consider that God operates according to a different standard: goodness. He is simply good. In this message, Pastor Joel breaks it all down.

Jesus’s Stories: Understanding the Kingdom | Life Finds A Way

In a special Sunday morning Res City service, Pastor Joel takes a moment to commission Res City's first missionary, Andrea Kidder, and talk about two parables in which Jesus explains how God's kingdom (including in missions work!) grows: unexpectedly and through God's power and direction.

Jesus’s Stories: Understanding the Kingdom | The Necessity of Joy

“Where joy is absent, the kingdom is absent.” So says New Testament scholar Klyne Snodgrass about Jesus’s preaching of God’s kingdom’s coming. Joy is supposed to spill out of those who live in it. How many would say that joy characterizes their discipleship? In this message, Pastor Joel explains why this is the case, how joy comes through the kingdom, and we do an extended Question and Response to close the message out.

Jesus’s Stories: Understanding the Kingdom | The Most Annoying Parable

The parable of the Good Samaritan is maybe the most famous of Jesus, and also his most annoying because it challenges us to love and serve people who we might really despise. In this message, Pastor Julie explains what love is and what it looks like to live this parable in our everyday lives.

Jesus’s Stories: Understanding the Kingdom | Wheat and the Weeds: What the Sermon Was Supposed to Be!

For our sermon the wheat and weeds in Matthew 13, we had originally intended for it to be a Question and Response-driven message, with dialogue between Pastor Joel and the congregation in the from of an extended Q+R time at the end filling up a lot of the time. Unfortunately, we had some issues with the questions coming through, and so here they all get responded to! We're sorry if you submitted a question and didn't have a chance for it to get responded to in the sermon, but here we do our best to remedy it! We look forward to future Q+R-driven sermons in the future.

Jesus’s Stories: Understanding the Kingdom | “An Enemy Has Done This!”

Jesus, like his followers today, seemed to field a pressing question from people on a regular basis: “How can the kingdom of God be present when there’s still so much wrong with the world?” Jesus was preaching that kingdom had come, God had done an amazing work, we should have joy—yet so much still seems to be wrong. Evil and injustice and the general crumminess of life on earth didn’t go anywhere. What gives?

In this message, Pastor Joel walks through a story Jesus tells to respond to this question, how it opens us up to a more complex world than the one we think we’re often living in, and how it invites us to patience, trust, and to Jesus’s most definitive statement about evil at all: the cross. Included is an extended time of question and response at the end.

Jesus’s Stories: Understanding the Kingdom | Counting the Cost of Discipleship

Jesus sometimes used parables as tools of discomfort, to put us in a state of unease and self-reflection so we can grow. In Luke 14:27-35, Jesus gives one such parable. It’s about people who have tried to do something but haven’t counted the cost, and are foolish because of it. The question Jesus asks us is, “have we counted the cost of our discipleship, or do we treat it like someone who lives in an unfinished house?” In this sermon, Pastor Joel guides us through these challenging words from our King.

Jesus’s Stories: Understanding the Kingdom | The Parable of the Sower

One of Jesus's favorite teaching methods is parables. Some estimate that these stories make up 1/3 of his teachings! So as we seek to follow Jesus, we want to make sure we understand this form of teaching. In this week's sermon, Julie talks about how Jesus's parables are stories to help us understand truths about the kingdom of God. The parable of the sower helps illustrate this point and helps us think about our expectations and priorities as we follow Jesus.