South Fellowship Church

The Parables of Jesus | The Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector | Luke 18:9-14 | Week 2

We started a series last week called "The Parables of Jesus."  This series is all about the parables of Jesus.  Over the course of the summer, we're going to be studying together these stories that Jesus told.  That's what a parable is.  A parable's a story.  It's two words put together---"para" which means alongside of and "bollo" which means to throw.  It's stories for normal everyday people----they weren't told by the philosophical leaders or taught in the Socratic seminar.  Stories they threw alongside of reality.  The whole goal of a parable was to make people go, "Huh, I never thought of it like that."  I never thought that the kingdom of heaven was sort of like a field where there's both wheat planted in it and weeds.  Hmm, I never saw it like that.  The parables are intended to create some spiritual awakening in our souls.  
The parable that we're going to look at today is found in Luke 18:9-14.  This parable is all about Jesus saying, "I know, I get it."  The way that you look at the world and the way that you see who's on top, the power structures, and what it looks like to get ahead, and what it looks like when you accumulate wealth, and how to be a good and right person.  I get it.  I get it.  There's a way that the world looks, but everything is not as it seems...

The Parables of Jesus | Parables of the Weeds and Seeds | Matthew 13:24-33 | Week 1

A week ago today, my family and I were leaving to go to a week at Mount Hermon.  I taught there last week, and the family went and had an awesome time.  Kelly and I are both Type A people.  Our flight left at 8:45 and we left the house at 6:00 am because we like to be on time.  If you followed the news last Sunday, you might have heard there was a little bit of an accident on Peña Boulevard.  If you know DIA, you know that Peña's really the only way to get into that airport.  We left our house at 6:00 and about 6:30 we're at that stretch of Peña that juts north and then heads east to the final stretch that takes you into the airport.  When we turned east, we hit gridlock traffic like I've never seen on that street before!  It just came to an absolute screeching halt!  Kelly and I looked at each other and said, "This isn't good," and started Googling what's going on.  Turns out there was a huge accident up front.  From 6:30 to 7:00, we just sat there and didn't move at all.  We saw (on Apple Maps) there was a shortcut you could take and get off the road and sort of circumvent the issue a little bit.  We did that and ended up in another line of cars.  You may have heard that there were some people who took a short cut into an open field and they got absolutely stuck; that wasn't us, but we could see them from where we were.  As we were waiting, I was saying, "Okay, if we get there 7:45 (an hour before our flight leaves) we'll be just fine."  It hit 7:45 and we were still stuck.  Then I said, "If we get to the airport by 8:00, I think we're going to be okay."  We started to move a little bit more, but we didn't pull into the airport until 8:10.  I went and parked in short-term parking, which, by the way, if you do that for a whole week, costs you $175, I found out.  We ran into the airport, got through security, begging and pleading with people to let us through.  I was in such a hurry I put all my kids luggage on the conveyor belt to go through security, and I left mine there.  We got down to the train and I'm standing there empty handed.  Kelly says to me, "Where's your bag?"  I went, "Oh, I blew it!"  I ran back and said, "It's going to be easier to find a flight for one than it is five.  You guys get on the flight.  You go!"  I ran back to security and asked if they had a bag and they asked, "Does it have a car seat on it?"  "Yeah, I'm that idiot."  I run up to the gate.....it's three minutes after the flight was suppose to have taken off.  As I'm running up, they ask, "Are you Mr. Paulson?"  "Yes, thank you, Jesus!"  They said, "Reid was really worried you weren't going to make this flight!"  
As we were waiting in line, we saw people who decided that waiting in line wasn't going to be for them; they were going to miss their flight as most of us waiting in line.  So they tried to turn around and get out of the line.  This guy had a Jeep so I guess he thought he would be okay, but, if you remember, it rained pretty hard the Saturday before, and that field was absolutely mud.  I didn't get him in the picture, but he was standing with his arms crossed looking at what was formerly his car.  I thought to myself, "Yeah, waiting's hard."  Especially when you're waiting and you don't have any sort of time frame for when that next thing is coming.  Waiting's really difficult.  I think our tendency, as human beings, is to try to look for any short cut that we can, in order to get around the waiting.  How many of you have tried to circumvent the line at an amusement park?  We wait for food to come at a restaurant.  Or maybe it's waiting for that next season of life.  In high school, just waiting to get done so we can get to college.  In college, waiting to get done so we can find that job.....or at least our parents are waiting for us to find that job.  Or maybe it's single and I'm waiting to get married.  Or maybe it's that next season, that next job, that next opportunity.  Waiting can be really hard...  
 
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The Parables of Jesus | Parables of the Weeds and Seeds | Matthew 13:24-33 | Week 1
Speaker: Pastor Ryan Paulson
South Fellowship Church
Based in Littleton, CO 

The Gift of Scarcity | Nirup Alphonse

Brave in the New World | It's Complicated | Matthew 19:1-12 | Week 8

We are finishing up a series we're calling "Brave in the New World."  Over the last two months, we've been tackling difficult issues, socially, and trying to figure out what it looks like to live as a follower of Jesus in this new world.  How many of you would agree that the world is changing quite rapidly?  Actually that's not just a feeling; a sociologist studied our cultural moment.  They're saying that things are changing at a more rapid pace than they have ever changed before.  That's not just a visceral reaction, that's a reality, according to sociologists. 
Last week we talked about the Scriptures and science.  We talked about this perceived dichotomy, chasm, between what the Scriptures say and what science says.  We actually said that you don't need to choose between Scripture and science.  You can actually be someone who loves the Bible and loves telescopes and microscopes and that's an okay and a good thing.  In fact, that's the way it's designed...  
 
Helping people live in the way of Jesus with the heart of Jesus.
 
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Brave in the New World | It's Complicated | Matthew 19:1-12 | Week 8
Speaker: Pastor Ryan Paulson
South Fellowship Church
Based in Littleton, CO 

Brave in the New World | A Tale of Two Books | Matthew 2:1-11 | Week 7

I've had a number of people come up to me and say, "We're so sad that you're leaving, Ryan, but are you going to finish this series?"  Yes, I am.  Today, we're going to jump into the subject of science and the Scriptures; then, next week, yes, on Father's Day, I'm going to be teaching on the issue of sexuality and Brave in the New World and how that all ties together.  You're welcome.  I promised on Mother's Day, when I taught a message on Evil and Suffering, that I would be equally offensive on Father's Day.  Praise be to God, it's all worked out!  
I want to start with a question:  Who would win if the Colorado Rockies played the Denver Broncos?  The question you should ask is what are they playing?  Before I put money on either team, I want to know what we're playing.  While they're all athletes and they're all talented in their own right, they have different specialties, don't they?  They have different bents.  They have different things that they practice day after day, night after night.  They have different things that they're professionals at.  I think a lot of times we ask the question:  Are you a person of faith or are you a person of science?  Who wins---the Rockies or the Broncos?  I think we build this false dichotomy that you have to decide whether or not you're a Bible person---which means then that you have to ignore all good science---or whether you're a science person---in our mind that means we have to ignore the Bible.  What I'd like to do today is propose to you that maybe there's a third way.  Maybe Richard Dawkins, in his book The God Delusion, was wrong, when he argued that you cannot be an intellectual scientific thinker and hold on to religious beliefs.  He's wrong.   I think the Scriptures actually invite us into that tension.  Would you open with me to Matthew 2:1-2; we're going to start our time there this morning...  
 
Helping people live in the way of Jesus with the heart of Jesus.
 
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Brave in the New World | A Tale of Two Books | Matthew 2:1-11 | Week 7
Speaker: Pastor Ryan Paulson
South Fellowship Church
Based in Littleton, CO 

Brave in the New World | Lament in the New World | Psalm 13 | Week 6

Brave in the New World | Tolerance in a Culture of Contempt | John 8:1-11 | Week 4

Helping people live in the way of Jesus with the heart of Jesus.
 
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Brave in the New World | Tolerance in a Culture of Contempt | John 8:1-11 | Week 4
Speaker: Pastor Ryan Paulson
South Fellowship Church
Based in Littleton, CO 

Brave in the New World | Evil and Suffering | John 9:1-3 | Week 3

Fear stopped me in my steps this week.   I know we shouldn't fear, but what do we do when we do?  I wrote my message on Monday.  Tuesday, I was in a meeting with Aaron and we were planning a future worship service, and our phones started to blow up, like yours probably did too.  Got the news that there was an active shooter situation at STEM.  Gathered our staff together to start to pray.  Tried our best to contact people we knew that had kids involved to tell them we're praying, we love them, is there anything we can do?  It just didn't seem fitting to give the message I had already written.   I think that in moments like these, especially in a series called "Brave in a New World," to not talk about the actual world we live in would probably be a misstep.  
As weird and awkward as it is to try to tackle the problem of suffering and evil on Mother's Day, forgive me if that offends you, but I'm going to do my best to try to step into this moment, please hear me, not as somebody who has all the answers.  I stand up here with more questions than I do answers right now, to be quite honest with you.  I stand up here with questions like you probably have----God, why?  God, are you involved?  God, is so, how?  I stand up here, along with many of you, who had to try to answer questions for your kids about.....is it safe?  All those questions, right?  We had to cancel school a few weeks ago because of a scare.  On THAT day, I was up early studying, and one kid came down, right after the other, dressed for school, and I had to explain to them why they weren't going to school that day.  One of them asked me, "Dad, why would somebody want to do something like that?"  Another said to me, "Dad, they must be a really, really bad person."  Another one asked me, "Dad, can we have a pajama day?"  It hits all of us differently.  I think that's just a microcosm of the way that we probably all feel in this room, to some degree.  That tragedy hit us all differently, but my guess is, we're all, at least on some level, asking this question, "Where. Was. God?"  Where was God?  Does he care?  Is he involved at all?...  
 
Helping people live in the way of Jesus with the heart of Jesus.
 
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Brave in the New World | Evil and Suffering | John 9:1-3 | Week 3
Speaker: Pastor Ryan Paulson
South Fellowship Church
Based in Littleton, CO 

Brave in the New World | Donkeys and Elephants, Oh My! | Mark 12:13-17 | Week 2

I'm really glad that you're here today. We are on week two of a series that we're calling "Brave in the New World." A number of months ago we did a church survey, and one of the questions we asked on that survey was "What are some of the things you'd like to see more teaching on?" Turns out, you guys like hard subjects and we made a series out of a lot of those answers, so over the next few weeks, we're wrestling with a number of difficult subjects. We're calling the series "Brave in the New World," because in case you haven't noticed, the world is changing. How many of you would agree? The world is changing at a pretty rapid pace, and if you're a follower of Jesus.... First of all, if you're not, we're really glad that you're here today, because you get sort of the window-shopping view of how the church wrestles with difficult issues, so I'm glad you're here. But if you are a follower of Christ, my guess is you're wondering how in the world do I live out my faith, in the public sphere, in a world that's changing so quickly? That's the question we're going to be wrestling with over the next few weeks. Essentially, if it's off limits at Thanksgiving dinner, we're going to talk about it over the next few weeks. If you say to your friends and family, "We don't talk about that here, because we all want to remain friends," it's coming up. I sort of jokingly said that maybe after this series we'll do a teaching series on church unity, because we're going to need it.
Last week we said that the church of the future will be a creative minority that has influence without power. Essentially, the way forward is the way back. The early church had almost NO power politically or socially, but over a few hundred years, developed great experience. We opened up Acts 4 and we saw the way that the church had influence, in the way that it proclaimed Jesus and that its message was very, very clear. In the way that it embraced the fact that there was going to be opposition and they didn't expect a red carpet to be rolled out. In the way that they prioritized being people who had been with Jesus; we said, last week, that the world needs more people present in it who have been present with Jesus... 
 
Helping people live in the way of Jesus with the heart of Jesus.
 
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Brave in the New World | Donkeys and Elephants, Oh My! | Mark 12:13-17 | Week 2
Speaker: Pastor Ryan Paulson
South Fellowship Church
Based in Littleton, CO 

Brave in the New World | Acts 4:1-22 | Week 1

We are starting a new series today that I am so excited for.  It's called "Brave in the New World," and we, over the next few weeks, are going to be tackling some of the most difficult issues and topics that we face, sort of culturally and societally, in our world today.  Our goal this morning is to set a little bit of ground work and to give us a path forward that we're going to ask Jesus to lead us in over the next few weeks.
Like you, I watched in horror on April 15th, not as my tax return came back, but as Notre Dame burned.  I had had the chance to go once to Notre Dame.  Aaron and I were on a layover in Paris; it lasted a day.  We were on our way home from a missions trip in Africa, so we spent a romantic in Paris together.  We had the chance to stand in that beautiful cathedral.  It's a little bit different than being in South Fellowship Church building.  The grandeur and the awe that you feel when you stand in that space is unparalleled.  Yet, we saw on April 15th that it began to burn...
 
Helping people live in the way of Jesus with the heart of Jesus.
 
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Brave in the New World | Acts 4:1-22 | Week 1
Speaker: Pastor Ryan Paulson
South Fellowship Church
Based in Littleton, CO