Revolution Church

Today’s talk is about honesty! About what honesty means in Christianity. What honesty is like when you grow up in the church. Do we have a low regard for honesty? Have we compromised the Truth so we can continue to believe what we believe and to stay comfortable? Would we rather have certainty over honesty? That is at the heart of this talk. All of that. But Jay also shares memories and stories of the impact that his friend Carlton Pearson had on his life. And how Carlton helped Jay see the Fruits of the Spirit even in the midst of extreme darkness. And isn’t that the whole point of it? The whole point of everything? To help us see that. To help us learn that tradition and theology don’t count for much of anything if there are people out there suffering—friends, strangers, and enemies alike. And isn’t that the true point of Christianity? To help those who are in need. To help those who are suffering? Revolution isn’t that concerned with the afterlife. We want to focus on life before death. Because there is a whole lot of living that that needs to be done before we can think of any life beyond it. This talk was given on November 26, 2023 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

We have a lot to get into today! Yes, today’s talk brings into question a lot of issues with the late stage of capitalism we find ourselves in now, but there is more to it than just that. Today we’re learning more about contradictions, and we’re learning about growth. We all change and grow, and we should! But let’s not be too quick to forget our old selves, because empathy really comes into play when we remember what we used to be like and how we used to think—and we use that memory and the person we were, and we add that to who we are now. That is how we start having good conversations! Today’s talk also deals with both how we “other” people, but also how we tend to “other” ourselves with labels and identities. This talk isn’t real clear cut, it’s about having a nonbinary way of thinking. Seeing more than just our side of an argument or discussion. Because while we’re fighting each other, the whole system is crushing us! But we outnumber the bullies. Together we can do this! It’s our hope that today’s talk will be a good step in starting to liberate us from bondage, liberate us from hate, and liberate us from “othering.”  We hope this talk helps us find the Tammy Faye in all of us. We’re all going through enough, we don’t need to keep hurting ourselves or each other on top of it. This talk was given on November 19, 2023 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

The world is a pretty horrible place right now, so today’s talk going to be a heavy one. And there is almost no Bible in this talk. Today Jay will be talking about love, more specifically Agape Love. Agape Love is a term that makes some of us cringe, we’ve heard it used and abused. So it’s not the most comfortable topic to dive into. Are Love and Grace siblings? What is Agape Love and how is it different than the love we know? Does Love outweigh scripture? Can we love our enemy and still have them remain our enemy? So, as you can see, it is an interesting topic to discuss especially in these times. It’s going to be a tough one and if you don’t want a deep dive into this topic, or if you want to have an asterisk next to Grace then this might not be a talk for you this week, and that’s okay…but we hope you do listen. This talk was given on November 5, 2023 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

The other parts of Jay’s Hell Talk are still being developed and researched, so this week we’re taking a bit of a break from the Hell series and just hear some stuff that has been weighing heavy on Jay recently. No sermon, he’s just sharing his humanity this week. Critics often help feed us, here at Revolution. They fuel us a lot. But the stuff they say still hurts and still sucks. Jay shares some of his experience with that. He reminds us that when we attack people, we hurt people. Plain and simple as that. We can’t forget that we’re all just human beings. Jay also talks about distraction and division, and questions if religion has become too dangerous. He asks us to question why we don’t allow ourselves to hear and to listen. Why are we scared of communication? What is the essence of humanity? And if Jesus was here today, what would he say?This talk was given on October 29, 2023 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

We got the start of something real interesting going here! A multi-part in-depth study on Hell. Yes, the Hell. But it’s not the study you think. It’s a study where we really dive into the concept, origin, and histories of Hell. Growing up in church, very often asking questions is discouraged. But now we can ask questions, and we should ask questions, and not be afraid to! None of Paul’s writings mention Hell and they were written closer to Jesus’s time than the Gospels were. That offers up some very interesting questions to us, and questions are okay—What does Jesus talk about when he talks about Hell? Jay dives into a little bit of that today as well. Does the concept of Hell fly in the face of the Beatitudes? What do we love when we love God? Is the suffering we witness today Hell on Earth? Why is Hell defended and championed so much? Why does everyone want to send everyone else to Hell all the time? It’s time to reexamine some of the things and theology we’ve turned into golden calves. Revolution has always tried to focus on living before death and living well, more then it ever did on the thought of an After Life. But this is a topic well worth diving into, and that’s what we’re going to do.Please note: Today’s talk is just the basics. It’s just setting the foundations for the series as a whole and some of the concepts that will be talked about in the future. We’re not going that in-depth today. We understand this is a very complex topic. This talk is just the base work. Some of it may sound too over simplified, we get that, but this is just part 1!This talk was given on October 22, 2023 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

Alright folks, let’s hit this. Today’s description is going to be short. Why? Because the talk says it all and says it better than I can paraphrase it. Terrible things are happening in the world. We try to encourage people to talk and discuss and even disagree but to do that well. And we get A LOT of pushback for it. We seem to be stuck in a world of binary thinking, where every topic only has two answers or two ways of looking at it. There is no room for complications or nuance. But people are complicated and nuanced. It’s rough. Jay is just letting it rip today, a controlled, but honest and passionate talk. About life, about Revolution, about hurt and trauma, about arguing and disagreeing. Jay lays all the cards out on the table. He covers so much here and it’s really great. Enjoy this talk and embrace the honesty of it. Embrace the rawness of it. And embrace the grace in it.This talk was given on October 15, 2023 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

It was too hard to swing service last week, but we’re back! And this week Jay has a great talk about love. About perfect love, which we can never achieve, but if we try, truly try, we’ll all be better for it. It’s impossible to talk about love and not reference Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. Yes, it’s not just for weddings! But the focus today isn’t on the wedding ceremony or love that we feel at the beginning of a relationship—but rather the love we have for family members…that really, really, difficult love. The love that takes effort and patience and preparation and breathing. Because THAT is a lot closer to what love is. At least that’s how it seems. But the thing about that sort of love, is that Paul says that if we don’t have it, if we don’t try, then everything else we do is useless. Is that true? Are we useless without love? Can we achieve perfect love as human beings? This is where it gets hard to navigate. The anger we have for others, even people we truly care about, we won’t carry around forever—it feels like it, but we won’t always be angry…so how do we navigate these relationships and interactions while we are still stuck in that anger? Can we still feel and practice love in those moments? And everyone, we get it, we do. We know it is a BIG ask when we say to disagree well and to love others. It’s super hard. It’s hard for us just as much as it is for you. It’s a big ask…but that is why we ask it. Because with loving others—and not hating others—the effort is important. Because we will fail, and we’ll kick ourselves and be hard on ourselves. But trying is such a big part. Effort is such a big part. This sort of love isn’t naturally felt, at least we don’t think so. Remember, it's progress, not perfection. Let’s focus on that. Let’s have faith in that. Let’s put our hope in that. Because faith, hope, and love endure.This talk was given on October 8, 2023 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

Jay is back from a brief trip to L.A. for the celebration of life memorial for Steve Pieters. He shares some stories about the trip and the service and gives us some extra looks into the life of such an extraordinary person! After that Jay jumps into the topic this week – Reformation! The talk connects to his last talk and we revisit Jesus’s words in the book of Matthew and why the simple phrase of “you’ve heard it said…” is such a big deal. Jay tells us, also, what he feels is vital for a reformation through the church: Grace (always, of course), Biblical Scholarship, Philosophy, and Psychology. This is the space that Revolution Gathering tries to settle in. A cross-section of all of those things. We have a lot of ideas that we think can really help lead to a reformation, and that is what makes us press on! But it’s not always as easy as all that. Grace will, at some point, always piss us off. Why? Because it applies to everyone across the board. Even the people we don’t want it too, just as it covers us when they don’t want it to. Jay dives into a bit of Hegel and discusses, among other things, what do our enemies look like? What does it mean to have enemies? Doesn’t it often seem that when we pull off the mask of our enemy that they usually just turn out to be some variation of ourselves? Is that why we struggle with them? Because they often reflect ourselves back to us? Does this realization change the conditions of our fights and arguments? What is contradiction? Is contradiction the basic fact of all beings? Jay explores these things, and more, through Todd McGowan, who explores these things, and more, through Hegel—and it makes it a lot more accessible to us. Let’s bring these ideas together and go to some place new!This talk was given on September 24, 2023 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

Today we have a special guest speaker, Zoë! And the talk sure is a good one! Jay is in L.A. this week attending the memorial service for our dear friend Steve Pieters. Zoë was able to step up and help us out! Zoë starts their talk by sharing some memories and stories about Steve and the person he was and the legacy he leaves. Zoë then dives into the topic of Biblical Scholarship—expanding on some of Jay’s most recent talks. What does it mean to look at Biblical Scholarship? What does it mean to think differently about the Bible? What does it mean to consider ourselves a Christian while being willing to look at the Bible or the dogmas of Christianity with a critical eye? Zoë goes onto discuss how the same Bible has been used to both justify, and fight against, various injustices in the world—how can the Bible do both at the same time? Does the Bible speak in one voice? What does it mean to renegotiate? Can we learn challenging things and still be able to walk in our faith? Then Zoë goes on to tell us some parables! To try and sum the stories up seems to defeat the purpose, so I’ll end this here so you all can go listen! Thank you Zoë for a great talk!This talk was given on September 17, 2023 from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94