Revolution Church

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

Here we are with Part 2 of Martin Luther King’s sermon: Love Your Enemies. It goes without saying that just about all of us are fearful, or angry, or confused these days, especially after the recent presidential debates. So, we get it. We get it because we feel the same—we understand why, but we also want love to win out. And who better to guide us than MLK. With this part of the talk Jay dives into the ‘Theoretical Why’ when it comes to loving our enemies. We emphasize love in a time where loving feels impossible because hate multiplies hate, and multiplying hate makes for some very dark nights of the soul. And also, we have to ask ourselves, have Christians just been making bigger divisions? Is there so much anger that we forget just how to have conversations? Does this anger turn our enemies into ‘the least of these?’ and if it does, shouldn’t that spark our love even more? Because after all, doesn’t hate just divide our own personalities and hurt us just as much as it hurts the people we hate? This talk was given on June 30, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

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