Sacraments of the Church: Marriage | Rev. Venida Rodman-Jenkins
Sacraments of the Church: Marriage | Rev. Venida Rodman-Jenkins

Our Sacraments Sermon Series begins with a spotlight on marriage. Rev. Venida talks about the history of marriage, how it has evolved over time, and how we can reposition our ideas about marriage to further incorporate Jesus’s words to love God, ourselves, and others. This can start with marriage partners focusing on the love they have for each other, and then extending that love to intentionally work as agents of change through God’s love, so that double the lives can become recipients of Jesus’s love, healing, power, and joy.

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Venida Rodman JenkinsForefront Churchmarriage, equality, love, romance
Parables: Are Trees Persons? | Kai Ngu
Parables: Are Trees Persons? | Kai Ngu

Kai Ngu speaks on a parable of Jesus on farmers and seeds, and the Hebrew Bible to show us how our Scriptures encourage us to relate to nature - land, animals, plants, stars - as persons and beings full of agency, emotion, and willpower. Understanding this animistic, and arguably indigenous, paradigm is essential towards building an anti-capitalist, anti-colonial ethos.

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Kai NguForefront Churchparables, genesis, environment, colonialism, indigenous
Parables: The Parable of the Sower | Rev. Venida Rodman Jenkins
Parables: The Parable of the Sower | Rev. Venida Rodman Jenkins

God has lavishly showered on us messages of abundance and hope. Unfortunately, the cares of this world can sometimes be overwhelming and cause us to fall into despair and doubt who we are and our purpose in life. In a continuation of The Parables sermon series, Rev. Venida reminds us of the importance of investing and nurturing those things, again and again, that will allow us to constantly bear good fruit.

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Venida Rodman JenkinsForefront Churchparables, freedom, vitality, growth, purpose
Parables: The Sheep and the Goats | Keli Young
Parables: The Sheep and the Goats | Keli Young

Jesus proclaimed that his liberation was tied with the liberation of the least of these because he was the least of these. And if Jesus, God made flesh, was the least of these, then certainly we are too. And so when we feed the hungry, we are feeding Jesus and ourselves. When we set the prisoner free, we are setting Jesus free and setting ourselves free. Maybe that is what it means to be the Body of Christ.

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Keli YoungForefront Churchparables, Jesus, heaven, hell, good works, the least of these
Parables: Wheat & Weeds in Our Lives | Rev. Josh RaderLee
Parables: Wheat & Weeds in Our Lives | Rev. Josh RaderLee

Rev. Josh makes modern-day connections to our lives from the parable of the wheat and the weeds. He highlights some of the people in his life who felt like a weed, or perhaps not the people as much as the beliefs they held that seemed to get in his way or take nutrients from his life. He shared how he is often tempted to pluck them, shame them, and cast them aside. As we start PRIDE, might we give people the grace and space to learn how to love us, accept us, and eventually affirm or celebrate us.

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Josh RaderLeeForefront Churchparables, wheat, weeds, grace, love, affirming
Why Communion and the Cross: What The Hell | Jonathan Williams
Why Communion and the Cross: What The Hell | Jonathan Williams

Jonathan Williams returns to Forefront to teach on one of his favorite subjects, Hell. In this sermon, Jonathan tells us that Hell is not biblical and that what seems to be a pillar of the Christian faith is not something Jesus believed. And that we could actual thank Christian nationalism for Hell rather than God. He hopes that we come out of church with a different idea of what Hell means. We may even exclaim, "What the Hell?!"

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Jonathan WilliamsForefront Churchhell
Why Communion and the Cross: Making Space for Tears & Grief | Rev. Josh RaderLee
Why Communion and the Cross: Making Space for Tears & Grief | Rev. Josh RaderLee

Rev. Josh highlights how Mary was the first to see the Resurrected Christ and amidst her grief and fear that someone had stolen his body, she didn’t even recognize him until he said her name. But Jesus wasn’t concerned first and foremost with proclaiming his identity or status but instead, he was concerned with her tears and tending to her pain. In a world that is quick to move from tragedy to triumph this story can serve as a reminder that we are called to sit with people in their pain and offer them support, even when we would rather offer solutions.

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Josh RaderLeeForefront Churchgrief
Why Communion and the Cross: Born Again: The Remix | Rev. Venida Rodman Jenkins
Why Communion and the Cross: Born Again: The Remix | Rev. Venida Rodman Jenkins

Our Communion and Cross sermon series explores what it means to be Born Again. We take a look at the story of Nicodemus and the way he was intrigued by Jesus life’s life – the way he touched and healed people who were deemed unlovable and untouchable, and the compassion he showed for everyone regardless of their status. Jesus helped to broaden his understanding of what it means to be born again, and perhaps this sermon can guide us in exploring the same.

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Venida Rodman JenkinsForefront Churchbornagain, salvation, inclusion
Why Communion and the Cross: Barriers are Down - No Gatekeeping | Rev. Venida Rodman Jenkins
Why Communion and the Cross: Barriers are Down - No Gatekeeping | Rev. Venida Rodman Jenkins

NOTE: Due to a recording glitch with the livestream, there are about three minutes missing from this sermon. There will be a brief pause around 10:40, and then the sermon will resume as delivered.

The third week of the Communion and the Cross sermon series continues with a look at the restrictions around receiving communion within various faith traditions. The good news is that we can freely come to the communion table, without barriers or restrictions because there is no gatekeeping.

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Venida Rodman JenkinsForefront Churchinclusion, belonging, communion, cross
Why Communion and the Cross: Why Did Jesus Die? | Rev. Josh RaderLee
Why Communion and the Cross: Why Did Jesus Die? | Rev. Josh RaderLee

Historically we moved from human sacrifice to animal sacrifice to various modes of self-sacrifice. We did and still do this with the belief that by sacrificing something, God will be moved to bless or accept us. In this sermon Rev. Josh unpacks several theories held throughout Church history around the meaning of Jesus' death for Christians and the world. What if Jesus' death was simply a result of the life he lived? What if the death and resurrection of Christ is understood as a catalyst to reform society, inspiring people to follow His example and live good moral lives of love?

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Josh RaderLeeForefront Churchsacrifice, jesus, death, resurrection, atonement
Cultivating & Letting Go: Time to Breakthrough | Rev. Venida Rodman Jenkins
Cultivating & Letting Go: Time to Breakthrough | Rev. Venida Rodman Jenkins

Easter Sunday marks the culmination of the holiest week of the Christian calendar all over the world. It is the fulfillment of prophecy where we celebrate the resurrection power of Christ Jesus. This sermon highlights the various ways Jesus reunites with his close friends after rising from the grave. It also illustrates how our 40 days of Lent and spiritual gardening has allowed new life to breakthrough in us through our union with Jesus.

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Venida Rodman JenkinsForefront Churcheaster, resurrection, newlife, breakthrough
Cultivating & Letting Go: Cultivating Active Loyalty | Makenzie Gomez
Cultivating & Letting Go: Cultivating Active Loyalty | Makenzie Gomez

In the sixth week of Lent and the start of Holy Week, Pastor Mak preaches on the story we now know as Palm Sunday. It’s the story where Jesus enters Jerusalem surrounded by a celebratory crowd claiming Jesus is King. But the entrance itself isn’t the only point. The entrance is part of this continued movement towards facing what's to come. And the week ahead isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. The light is fading fast. What can we learn from anticipating Jesus’ death and resurrection?

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Makenzie GomezForefront Churchpalm sunday, lent, loyalty, holy week
Cultivating & Letting Go: Cultivating Lavish Love for Yourself & Others | Rev. Venida Rodman Jenkins
Cultivating & Letting Go: Cultivating Lavish Love for Yourself & Others | Rev. Venida Rodman Jenkins

The 5th Week of Lent highlights John 12, and a very unique experience which Jesus has in Bethany while sharing a meal with friends. This selfless act helps us consider the special ways we too can confidently give of ourselves with abandon, and exercise lavish love for ourselves which can ultimately be extended to others as we seek to build community.

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Venida Rodman JenkinsForefront Churchlove, courage, lavish
Cultivating & Letting Go: Cultivating a New View of God & Others | Rev. Josh RaderLee
Cultivating & Letting Go: Cultivating a New View of God & Others | Rev. Josh RaderLee

A predominant religious view is that God can’t be around sin, God must separate Godself from humans' sinfulness. Its this very reasoning that led to the religious elite of Jesus' day, isolating themselves from people who they deemed sinners. However, in this sermon Rev. Josh challenges us to let go of certain views of God and cultivate a view of God that recognizes that God never distances Godself from us but we in our shame estrange and hide from God. So Did Jesus come to change God's disposition toward humans or to change humans' disposition toward God? How we answer this just might change how we love ourselves, God, and others?

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Josh RaderLeeForefront Churchsalvation, love, neighbor, theology, separation, shame