Revolution Church

We have a really great talk for you today. This is part one on a two-part talk on Martin Luther King’s sermon “Loving Your Enemies.” Besides this being a great commentary and discussion on Dr. King’s talk, Jay also speaks pretty candidly, and opens up about his personal struggles with anger and bitterness and times that his grace has failed, no matter how much he tried. We’re all in this together, folks. It’s no easier for us than it is for you, and we fail just as much as anyone else. But it’s not about the failing, it’s about the love. It’s about not quitting when our love and grace fails, but about trying again next time. And the time after. It’s something that becomes part of our daily lives—it’s a continual process. When people hate us, we need to love them. Is it harder to love our friends and family than it is our enemies? Jay argues that it might be. Does love get confused with hypocrisy? Mixing the two up because a lot of us have these impenetrable walls of hate that makes the act of loving ‘the other’ feel like a betrayal? We all have our ‘others’ and our ‘least of these’, the thing is though, that they are all different. We all have different ‘least of these’ and it’s even something that changes, moves, and evolves. There is no clear cut, one-way-to-go-about-it, all we can do is try. Try, and adjust. And we do this continually until our impenetrable walls are torn down and all that’s left is love and grace. This talk was given on June 23, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

We’re trying something new today! Instead of going live, we’re doing a Live Premiere of this talk. Streaming the services has been giving us some grief lately so we’re testing this out to see how it goes. A pre-recorded talk but with a live chat! So, let’s give it a shot!Jay is really excited about today’s talk. More excited than he has been in a while. He’s excited because this is part 3 of the Paul Tillich’s You Are Accepted series, and it’s the best part. It’s the essence of what Revolution is, and what we strive to do. It’s Jay’s hope for the church. In this talk Jay discusses what it means to be ‘struck by grace.’ He talks about the idea of grace being anarchy and asks if it’s possible to work ourselves out of grace. This talk also raises the question of how do we wear our despair? Can we accept God and the Bible without accepting grace? Where does sin get its power from? It’s a really great talk which raises some poignant questions, while talking through others. And above all this talk shows that it doesn’t matter where Revolution is located, what matters is the message. And the message is, and always will be, Grace.You can hear the sermon in full, read by Peter Rollins, on the Revolution YouTube page, and wherever you listen to your podcasts.This talk was given on June 16, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

Today is Part 2 of our dive into Paul Tillich’s sermon You Are Accepted. The sermon in itself is great on its own, but definitely worth the deep dive into it. Tillich’s sermon brings up so many good points about grace and about looking inwardly at ourselves. Do we hurt others because of our feelings about ourselves? Does self-hate keep us from loving others? Do we project our feelings of not feeling accepted? In Corinthians Paul describes to us what love is, and all of the characteristics of love—is it possible that we can’t show that sort of love to others if we can’t show that level of love to ourselves? That is something Jay dives into in this talk, Tillich’s idea of sin being this sort of estrangement to ourselves. Is that what makes us cruel to each other? Because what does that say about us when we are cruel to one another? What does Tillich mean when he mentions ‘being struck by Grace?’ Is that important? Is that something that we need in our lives? To be struck by Grace? In this week’s talk Jay, through the lens of Tillich’s sermon, discusses all of this and more. It’s a real great talk and we’re excited to share it! You can hear the sermon in full, read by Peter Rollins, on the Revolution YouTube page, and wherever you listen to your podcasts.This talk was given on June 9, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

Now that we’re a few weeks removed from our Galatians series, Jay dives into another series of talks, this time he’s talking about Paul Tillich. Tillich was both a theologian and a philosopher, so his thoughts and messages are right up our alley! Of all of Tillich’s talks and teachings, Jay is focusing in on one right now—and that’s Tillich’s talk “You Are Accepted.” Along with Galatians, Jay believes this talk of Tillich’s is one of the best things out there when it comes to grace, and he’s not wrong! Tillich raises a lot of good points and good questions. What does he mean when he is talking about The Ground of Being? Is it possible that our theology is leading us in directions we’re not even aware of? Why are we so fixated on division, and separating ourselves from each other? Are Sin and Grace the strangest words that we know of? Are they useless tools? Tillich talks about all of these things in this sermon—and Jay is diving in and helping us take a closer look at these points and questions in hopes that we all can get the most of Tillich’s thoughts on grace and acceptance. You can hear the sermon in full, read by Peter Rollins, on the Revolution YouTube page, and wherever you listen to your podcasts.This talk was given on June 2, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

Good news everyone! Josh is back to gave a talk…that references Futurama a surprising amount! Which is easy to understand because it is one of the greatest shows ever. But along with that he also talks about Jesus and forgiveness and the Bible. About not ‘othering’ people, and how we can all help each other survive when life starts to feel vaguely like a prison sentence. He also talks about Paul, Peter and what they have to say about the laws that crush us rather than free us! Josh shares his favorite story of the entire Bible, as well as his thoughts on Jonah, goats and sheep, and the X-men, obviously. In this talk Josh uses examples from all walks of life and pop culture—all coming together to help himself and others try to understand more about grace and forgiveness and love, and what it means to go whistling and fishing into heaven.Due to some technical difficulties with the video stream, we did a little something different for Youtube to try and minimize the impact of the wonky video. It’s a bit of a workaround but we think it works okay! At least for the week. Enjoy!This talk was given on May 26, 2024 from Long Island, New York.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

Jay and Lawrence talk about the importance of being able to disagree well and still love each other.

We finished our Galatians series—so now what? We’ve dedicated so much time to it it’s hard to move forward. It feels a bit uncomfortable. But Jay is riding that wave of inspiration that comes from finishing up such a long and good study. That’s not the say that Jay isn’t tired. He is. Tired but inspired! This week originally we were going to talk about the sermon You Are Accepted, but it’s pushed back a bit because Jay had something on his mind he wanted to share. It occurred to him that he needs to put his money where his mouth is—or better yet put his grace where his scapegoat is. Because we admit we haven’t been too kind to evangelical Christians as of late. So today Jay wants to fix that. In this talk Jay does a dive back into his life and shares the positive impacts that evangelical Christians have had in his life. And how they even helped shape Revolution and get it on its feet. We get just as tempted as everyone else to scapegoat and knock down, that happens—but recognizing that it’s happening and trying to mindfully steer in the other direction is more than half the battle. Jay also discusses wither co-existing can actually happen or if it’s a fallacy. He also tries to share the bigger picture of non-violence. Because we have to figure something out. Mutual fear is getting us nowhere, and neither is fighting anger with more anger. So, sometimes it’s good to stop, breathe, and take a look into our past,--because if we don’t know where we came from, how can we ever know where we are going?This talk was given on May 19, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

Here we are! We did it! Five months in and we did it, we did the unthinkable!! We reached the end of our Galatians series! Don’t get us wrong, it was great! We loved it! We can’t believe we got to go as in-depth as we did, it really was a treat. But we can’t deny too that it is a relief that it’s over and we can move on. Don’t worry though, because as always, Galatians and the lessons taught in that letter will be in every talk we give here at Revolution. Gone but not forgotten, and always present. But here we are! And it’s Mother’s Day too—A quick happy Mother’s Day to everyone! On a sad, but sincere note, we also know that Mother’s Day isn’t the easiest holiday for some folks and there is a lot of struggling just to get through the day. We’re with you, and you’re not alone. We have the same struggles here at Revolution. Always remember, we’re in this together. There is a lot to say about this talk, but maybe it’s best to leave the talk to do all of…well, the talking. Today covers a lot of ground. Jay talks about restoration and helping people. He talks about weighing the importance of practicing rituals versus following the intensions of our hearts. As always, Jay discusses, and demonstrates in engaging with some unsavory members in chat, that grace covers everyone—even the people we don’t want it to. And Jay also asks some difficult questions, like should we depend on the church or the community? Is it possible that denominations can be seen as a form of mocking God? Is it okay to have selective judgement for people we like and people we dislike? This talk covers all of this and so much more. And it’s a great way to end out the whole study!! We hope you enjoy! May grace be with you all!This talk was given on May 12, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

We’re back on the Galatians train—and today we’re talking about Galatians 5. Which works since this is our fifth month in Galatians, can you believe that?! It’s got to be some sort of a record. Today since we’re diving into chapter 5, Jay will be talking about vices and virtues. And more specifically vices and virtues through the lens of Galatians and Paul’s writings. One thing to keep in mind is that the Bible is a collection of writings over time—it really isn’t a rulebook or a textbook. Because Truth is always Truth, regardless of what any majority of people believe. Outweighing something doesn’t mean your take is the Truth. And that goes for everyone, including ourselves. It’s not just about others. Because when we forget that, and when we treat the Bible as a rulebook we tend to make sin bigger than it really is. That’s not clickbait or anything, it’s just a pretty matter of fact thing. Maybe we blow things out of proportion when it comes to church and sin and vices and virtues. That possibility is at least worth exploring. Because so often we’re using the ‘rules’ of the Bible to bite and devour each other, but generosity goes such a long way. We have to remember that we are called to love each other, and love doesn’t demand its own way. It takes time and it takes understanding and it takes patience. If we want to see change, real change, we need patience. So let’s do this and do it together. Let’s be citizens of a community rather than just a group of people!This talk was given on May 5, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94