Revolution Church

This will be a bit of a shock to our viewers and listeners but today Jay will be talking about the Apostle Paul. I know, we can’t believe it either. Paul is a bit of a troublesome character these days…or is he? That is what Jay is exploring in today’s talk. He’ll be re-examining Paul and his writings. Are we reading Paul’s letters correctly today? In their correct context? Did Paul know he was writing the Bible at the time? Is everything attributed to Paul actually Paul’s writing? These are some of the topics we’ll be exploring today. Because Paul gets a lot of hate…and also Paul is the person a lot of Christians quote when using the Bible to justify their bias…but Paul also is quoted at almost every wedding when talking about love—how can someone with a message of love and grace that echoed Jesus’s same teachings sit on both sides of the spectrum? Maybe we’ve been wrong? Maybe the context of Paul’s letters is the key to everything! The Bible is so complex with so much nuance, let’s not be afraid to take these deep dives so that we can learn more, know more, and so that we can unlock more. And let’s do all of that together. This talk was given on Sept 1, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

Jay received a text that a dear friend of his, Bobby, had passed away. This news came as a shock and devastation to Jay, so today is a bit of a memorial for Bobby. This talk is hard to summarize, because it’s not just about Bobby, but it’s about grace, and how grace is for us and for others, that there is no asterisk. It’s about telling people you love them, while you can. It’s about letting people know the impact they have on your life while you’re able to tell them. It’s about realizing that grace isn’t too good to be true. It’s about the nuance of life. It's about being there for people when they need you. It’s about the dangers of pushing people away. The dangers of retreating into yourself. It’s about the power of community and love and the impact we can have on each other’s lives. It’s about love, it’s about friendship, it’s about grief, it’s about loss. It’s about togetherness. It’s about Bobby. This talk was given on August 25, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

Lately a lot of our talks seem somber but recently we’ve been living in some tough times, and here at Revolution we try to live life on life’s terms, but as of lately those terms are pretty somber. There is a famous quote about some of the things we’ll remember most in this life will be the silence of our friends when we needed them. We don’t want to stay silent, and we don’t want to make our friends or any loved one feel alone, like they don’t have anyone in their corner—that is for our brothers and sisters both local and abroad. All over the world. Today Jay discusses how all conflict stems from differences, the problem is that difference is the essence of humanity, so there will always be differences. Jay dives into the gospel of Matthew, as well as some letters from Paul to try and see what grace without peace looks like, and what we can do to both show each other grace, and to be peacemakers. This talk was given on August 18, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

The world is upside-down and on fire. Everyone is killing each other, being nasty to each other, violence is begetting violence, bombs are falling everywhere…and our tax dollars are footing the bill. It’s making us go mad—and enough is enough. We’re stumped, we’re at a loss, so today we’re going to be leaning on King. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote a great map on how to approach conflict resolution, and on that map is his speech Beyond Vietnam. We’re going to take a look at this speech, and we’ll be treating it similarly to how we do other scripture and letters in the Bible. Why? Why not! We don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t treat it that way. King refers to speaking up and speaking out, and to peacekeeping as a vocation of agony—and here at Revolution we couldn’t agree more. It’s tiresome, constant, and unceasing. But it’s part of the work and it comes with the territory. Can you have grace without social justice? And can you have social justice without grace? Because this is part of it, right? They go hand in hand and should be talked about equally. We are all accepted as we are, not how we should be. And if we don’t grow to learn that and see that in others than have we arrived at spiritual death? Can this part of the work, speaking out against the dangers of people wielding power without compassion, be the mustard seed of faith and hope that we need? This is a good one folks, and Jay pours his guts into it. Jay is a punk rocker at heart, always has been and always will be, so when he gets to talking about Social Justice and combines it with his calling to show and teach grace, it’s hard hitting and great. Buckle up folks! We’re in this fight together, and we can only win it if we stay together and love each other.This talk was given on August 11, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

Love is a common thread through all of the talks that come from Revolution. Love and Grace. And this week we continue that thread when Jay looks at 1 John to unpack what the Bible says about love and about loving God, and about how God loves. We seem to live in a time of almost exclusively biting and devouring each other, or as Jay puts it, Dancing on Their Graves. But when we do that, instead of how the Bible calls us to gently and humbly restore one another, then where is the love? Do we leave room for others to make mistakes? Do we demand perfection over progress? The struggle is that some of us have hurt that runs so deeply in us that we can’t help but pay it forward, even if we don’t want to. Even if we try not to. But we always have to keep trying. Again, progress over perfection. Because what if how we love others is how we truly love God? What if how we know God, and God’s place in our lives, is by how we love others. That is how we experience God. So, let’s let love rule. Because if any of us are saints, it’s not through works, it’s not through religion, it’s not through hate—We’re saints because of grace.This talk was given on August 3, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

Seems like every week life finds new ways to surprise us, and there has been a string of things lately. An attempt on Donald Trump’s life, Joe Biden stepping out of the presidential race, and now everyone being upset over the opening ceremony of the Olympics due to some misunderstandings and projections. It’s always something. Always something that has people clutching their pearls, horrified and disgusted. And often it leads us to scapegoating and othering. All of these things swirl together in todays talk. Jay uses passages from Matthew and Luke to discuss an idea we talk about pretty often here at Revolution—arguing and disagreeing well. Having tough conversations. But in todays talk Jay takes a different approach and wonders if even though we believe in disagreeing well, maybe some disagreements aren’t worth having. Some tough conversations aren’t worth the effort. When do we know when to just drop it and walk away, knowing our efforts will not accomplish anything, that we’re spinning our wheels. When is it okay to call it quits on trying to have these discussions and cut our loses? We believe in arguing well, but we need to do it wisely. When our words fall on deaf ears, we need to find another way. There is nuance in everything, including our daily interactions. When is a disagreement worth having, and when is it just throwing pearls before swine?This talk was given on July 28, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

The talk last week was pre-recorded so this is the first live talk since the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. Jay spends some time addressing and discussing that. This talk, however, being live at the time, is when Jay found out about President Biden dropping out of the Presidential Race—strange times, we’re living in. Strange times. But beyond all the political stuff, today’s talk is very special. It’s been 17 years since we lost Tammy Faye. We miss her every day! Today Jay discusses some of Tammy’s favorite Bible verses and some stories about who she was and her legacy. More than that though, Jay also discusses grief and grieving. Personally speaking (This is Josh writing this), when my dad passed in 2020 Jay’s words about grief and the pitfalls of not grieving properly were such a huge, huge, Godsend and helped me navigate those dark times. His words about navigating grief are very helpful, and as good as this talk is, that in itself makes this talk worth the listen. Tammy Faye was a wonderful person, and we can see how well Jay is carrying on her legacy. Life is short, and it’s the only one we’ve got, so show as much love as you can. Show as much grace as you can. And if we all do that, we stand a fighting chance.This talk was given on July 21, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

Life is strange, and not in a good way. Things make less and less sense as we try and navigate these current times. We all feel it, we all dread what’s coming around the corner…but we’re all in it together. Since the beginning of the year we’ve been diving into the teachings of a few people from history. Unifiers and philosophers. We discussed what Tillich said about grace and inclusion. We discussed what Martin Luther King said about non-violence, grace, and inclusion. We discussed what John Hume said about grace and inclusion. Now let’s dive in and see what Jesus has to say. What he says and what he does. How his actions speak just as loud as his words. For this, Jay looks at Matthew chapter 9—Jesus picking his disciples. Who did Jesus pick? From what walks of life? Were they good and righteous people? Beloved by all? Where did they stand in society, and how did people view them? Did any of this matter to Jesus? Did Jesus follow the pressure to hate who everyone else hated? It’s important to look at passages like this because we are called to follow Christ. Follow his life and his example. We can only do that if we read and learn how he lived. By society’s standards, Matthew shouldn’t have ever been a disciple. But Jesus picked him all the same. What can we learn from that? Who are we in this story? Are we the unifiers? Are we the ones questioning why? Or are we the ones standing on the outside, feeling like outsiders? Jesus changed things, forever. That was the whole goal and the whole point of everything. So, we have to ask ourselves, is Jesus more upset over a sinful life…or is he more upset over a society that excludes others?This talk was given on July 14, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

We know that at Revolution we might have a tendency to beat a dead horse, talking about the same topics again and again, but these topics are important and warrant repeating. The dead horse we’ll be beating today is about arguing well. It’s an important to discuss, especially in these months leading up to the election. Discussing these hard topics sometimes is seen as creating tension, but the tension is already there so all that’s happening is that tension is just being exposed. Not talking about the elephant in the room doesn’t make it go away. There is a difference between causing tension and exposing tension. Conversation can be a much stronger tool for fighting tension than any weapon. Because we can love people we disagree with and talk with people we disagree with—we need to stop this black & white, binary thinking. Whenever we create an echo chamber aren’t we just like all of the people we’re critiquing and their echo chambers? We become what we’re against. So let’s also be careful to not boast about a point of view that took us years to learn and achieve! Not everyone grows and learns at the same rate. We need patience and we need love—because this world isn’t doing so hot without them.This talk was given on July 7, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94