Soma Spokane Sermons

We are the body of Christ, unique and different, called to His mission, HIs purpose, and His presence and then irrigated by His Spirit. We have been called and saved into this great body and we get to serve God’s great rescue mission and we get to be fueled by the powerful Holy Spirit. Boy, that sounds like great news!

Over the next 5 weeks, we're digging into what exactly it means to be the body of Jesus, particularly in how the Spirit gifts and empowers us in ministry to one another and mission in the world. The primary evidence of the Spirit's work in our lives is a heart and life that declares 'Jesus is Lord,' and every true Christian is a Spirit-filled Christian. The Spirit equips each member of the body with gifts, as He determines is best, for the building up of the body in mission and ministry. Practically, this means the first step in the journey of understanding the Spirit and how he has gifted you is to begin engaging him directly, asking him to fill your heart and mind with the truth about Jesus and to equip you how he wills for the sake of the common good.FOR REFLECTION:1. Read 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. When you gather with the church on Sundays or in your community, what sort of expectations or hopes do you have? What are you anticipating may happen?2. What does Paul say is the key mark of a Spirit-filled and Spi

Central to the gathering of the early church was the Love Feast or Lord's Supper, a time to eat bread and drink wine in remembrance of the work of Jesus in his life, death, and resurrection. The meal signifies the new covenant - God's new way of dealing with humanity through his Son - and it was meant to sustain a radically inclusive and just community, where all the world's ways of measuring worth and value were undermined and rejected by the scandal of grace. When we eat the bread and drink the wine, we proclaim Jesus as our one Savior and shape a culture of justice and mercy.FOR REFLECTION:1. Read 1 Corinthians 11.17-34, Paul’s challenging rebuke of the church’s practice of the Lord’s Supper. Notice he says, “It is not the Lord’s supper you eat,” highlighting just how far their practice is from Jesus’ intent. What are they doing wrong, according to v.17-22?2. What does Paul highlight about the meal Jesus shared with his disciples on the night he was betrayed (v.23-26)? What are the intentions of this share

For Mother’s Day, we had a panel of women speaking about motherhood in light of the gospel. The stories you’ll get to hear from these women are powerful pictures of why Jesus really is sufficient for all of life. Listen for both the joys and sorrows of these women’s stories, and hear how Jesus has been doing his redemption work in their lives in the context of desiring, losing, raising, and releasing children.

We're studying 1 Corinthians this year, exploring the theme of 'Strong Church' and looking at what it takes for Soma to become a long-term disciple-making presence in our region and beyond. A Strong Church is clear on the gospel message, lives as a counter-cultural community together, and is oriented toward serving the city and making disciples who can make disciples. On this unique Sunday, we look back at these themes and look forward to our Bloomsday Scattering on May 5th, a great opportunity to put into practice all we've been learning. FOR REFLECTION:1. You are the Church. As we gather or scatter. How will you use our Bloomsday Scattering to be the church with people in our city?2. Gospel Saturation. In what ways have you/are you experiencing the goodness of God? How can you put that on display for those in our region? Who needs to experience God's glory?3. The Good of the City. How are you praying for the good of Spokane? What are you doing to seek the flourishing of Spokane?4. The mission of the Gospel.

1. Easter challenges us to get honest.2. Easter secures us a perfect solution.3. Easter gives us newness of life.

As we end Strong Church Part 3, Paul sums up his directions on navigating the world as witnesses. Jesus has given us a clear mission - to make disciples who make disciples - and we're called to make that mission the organizing principle of our lives. Make your motive God's glory, your aim the good of your neighbor, and your heart tender toward those who do not know the grace of God in Jesus, and then live the life God has given you.FOR REFLECTION:1. Read 1 Corinthians 10.23-11.1. Paul summarizes his directions for navigating in the world as witnesses: Aim to glorify God, seek to build up your neighbor, and look for opportunities to extend the message of grace.2. God’s glory is about 3 things - his reality, his personal presence, and his beauty. Unpack what each aspect of his glory means. To what degree have you experienced God’s glory personally? Where are the “glory battlegrounds” in your life currently? 3. Seeking to build up your neighbor means having compassion that leads to action. What are some of the p

Living as a faithful witness to Jesus is challenging, in part because the message of the gospel is so contrary to the priorities and practices of our culture. But there's another challenge, more subtle and powerful: How do we live as faithful witnesses to Jesus when the priorities and practices of our culture are often so attractive, promising immediate fulfillment and happiness? The temptation is to take the good things of the world - success at work, happiness in the home, the freedom to recreate - and turn them into idols, allowing our affection and allegiance to be pulled away from Jesus. How do we live in a world full of idols, and keep our minds, hearts, and lives devoted to Jesus?QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:1. Read 1 Corinthians 10.1-22. Paul is bringing a strong word of challenge to Christians in Corinth who are self-assured in their faith, confident that they’re standing firm. What seems to be the lesson? See particularly v.12. 2. The attitude described in v.12 is presumption. What is presumption? What

Part 3 of our Strong Church series (1 Corinthians 8-10) is all about navigating life in the world as Christian. We know that Jesus has come to suffer, die, and rise, victorious over sin. We also know he'll return soon to establish his kingdom of grace, justice, and holistic flourishing. How ought we live in the in between? In this week's text, we're urged to live as a missionary people, orienting our lives around the advance of the gospel. Being a missionary in the everyday requires sacrificing our entitlement, immersing in our culture, and staying faithful to Jesus as we graciously and courageously engage our neighbors with the good news of the gospel.QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION1. Read 1 Corinthians 9:1-27. Paul is responding to accusations that he’s not a “real” apostle because he’s unwilling to take money from the Corinthians to support him and his ministry. Notice that in his defense, he actually shows us the nature of Christian witness -we can live as faithful gospel proclaimers in a culture that is not rec

We're launching Part 3 of our Strong Church Series, looking at the challenges of living as Servants of Jesus in a world that doesn't yet know his gracious reign. We've been given incredible freedom through Jesus, and we need to learn how to live with that freedom as we relate to one another, to our neighbors who don't yet know Jesus, and to a world that is still in active rebellion to Him. This week, we consider the ways in which we serve and love one another as God's family, particularly when our convictions regarding the things of this world differ. Our love for one another - particularly in areas of disagreement - is one of the greatest testimonies to the truth of Jesus' present reign.QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:1. Read 1 Corinthians 8:1-13. This section (chapters 8-10) is about navigating life in the world; not an easy task for someone wanting to be faithful to Jesus and love his or her neighbors. Paul urges the church toward 3 things: Truth, Humility, Sacrificial Love.2. Truth (v.4-6): What does Paul say is

We wrap up Part 2 of our Strong Church series with Paul's reflections on the joys, benefits, and challenges of singleness. Christianity embraces singleness as a unique and beneficial calling - Jesus was single, as was Paul - and Paul argues that it is in many ways preferable to marriage. At the same time, he's wonderfully pragmatic: singleness means celibacy, and that is no easy calling for sexual beings. In the end, we're all made for a love and intimacy with Christ that marriage and sex only hint at, and living in the anticipation of the coming fullness of that love frees us to be single or married with joy, selflessness, and contentedness.QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:1. Read 1 Corinthians 7:25-40. The best way to understand “the betrothed” is “those who have not married.” Paul’s clarifying for the Corinthians the benefits and pitfalls of singleness, arguing that singleness is uniquely advantageous. What benefits of singleness does he mention?2. Considering Paul’s positive vision of singleness, why do you think

No matter where you find yourself, what ever life situation that salvation now finds you, it finds you for the sake of sharing that salvation where you are. God hasn’t made a mistake in where he has put you, and he fully intends on you living out your salvation exactly where you are: in your family, with your coworkers, at your school, in your neighborhood. A strong church is God’s people living out their salvation right where they are with intentionality and humility.QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:1. Read 1 Corinthians 7:10-24. Three times in this section Paul tells the Corinthians to embrace the sphere in which God has placed them. What are some the examples he gives in v.10-24 to illustrate the point? Why is his instruction significant for these situations?2. Paul uses some identity language in v.23. Of what is he trying to remind the Corinthians? What makes this phrasing so significant?3. Where has God placed you? In what situations or groups of people has he in his great sovereign wisdom place you in or among?

The bible offers a unique view of human wholeness, and no where is that more obvious than in regards to singleness, marriage, and sex. In a culture full of mixed messages, the bible shoots straight: our bodies and our sexuality are gifts from God and need to be stewarded well for the sake of our own and other’s flourishing. In marriage, that means mutual honor, care, and commitment to one another and to the sexual union. In singleness, that means honoring the body in celibacy and learning to cultivate non-sexual intimacy. Surprisingly, married people can worship God by having regular sex and single people can worship God by not having sex! Only the gospel - the good news of God’s intimate love for us in the gift of his Son - can dethrone sex, set us free from the need of it, and free us to enjoy it as God intended.QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: 1. Read the text, 1 Corinthians 7.1-16. In v. 1, Paul quotes something the Corinthian church was saying. In v.2-6, he responds and corrects their view. What are your initia

There's no hotter topic than sex and sexuality, and nothing in human experience has the unique ability to be simultaneously profoundly beautiful and powerfully destructive in our lives. How can we account for both the heights of intimacy experienced in sexual union and the depths of brokenness experienced through sexual abuse, confusion, and shame? Our culture has no answer, but the bible does: God made the body good, and his design was that sex would create an indestructible bond between husband and wife. And though we've misused and abused his good gift, the fact remains that our bodies belong to our Creator and he has a good purpose for them. In the gospel, God redeems the body and restores sex to its rightful purpose: worship!QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:1. Read the text, 1 Corinthians 6.9-20. Take note that the quotations are most likely Corinthian sayings or slogans, and Paul is trying to respond to and correct their understandings. At first read, what does Paul seem to be most concerned about in this text

Through Jesus, we have been adopted into God’s family. And, like in any family, it is up to the parents to establish the culture of their home. Paul corrects the Corinthian church like a father shapes his family. He wants them to understand who they are (Identity), what the rules are (Morals), and how they are to interact with the world (Ethics). Paul doesn’t ignore the reality that all people, families and communities experience conflict. In these verses, he passionately warns the church that way they handle conflict matters. It matters for those in the family, and those who are outside looking in.QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:1. Read this week’s text, 1 Corinthians 6:1-8. Notice how many times Paul uses the term “Brothers” (this isn’t meant to be limited to male). What difference does it make that the Bible refers to the Church as a family? What would be different if we viewed our church life as if it were family.2. What is your default response to conflict? Fight, flight, Freeze? Have you experienced poor respo

A Strong Church is a family on mission in the world. Like any strong family, the core convictions of the family create a certain kind of culture or way of being together - an ecosystem of sorts. The church is founded on the gospel - the gracious work of God to rescue a people to himself through Jesus - and must learn to live in line with that good news and grand mission. In chapter 5, Paul brings correction and discipline to the Corinthians, so they might learn to live together in sincerity and truth.QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTIONAs you engage with this series, we'll be including weekly review questions. Designed for personal reflection and communal conversation, these questions will help you dig into the sermon text, wrestle with the main themes, and take action in response.1. Before you read this week’s text, read 1 Corinthians 1.4-9. What is Paul’s posture toward the Corinthian church? What does he believe to be true about them in Christ? Why is this important?2. Read this week’s text, 1 Corinthians 5.1-13. Noti

While we cannot bring real change in our lives through direct effort, we can participate with the God by engaging in simple, regular practices that help us see the gospel clearly and invite the Spirit to do his work in us. As we wrap up our series, we’re summing up what we’ve learned this month and moving toward engaging in key habits of grace that can propel a lifestyle of growth and maturity.QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTIONRead 2 Peter 1.3-111. What indicative (statement of fact or promise) in this text is most striking to you? What does Peter want us to know about God, what he’s done, and who we are in Christ?2. What are the imperatives (instructions or commands) in the text? What is Peter urging us toward?3. When you think of godliness, what image comes to mind? How does Peter’s description in v.5-7 shift your understanding? If godliness equals becoming like Jesus, what is Peter telling us in v.3 is possible in our lives?4. Steve mentions 3 pieces to a lifestyle of growth and change: Vision, Intention, and Means.

Real growth and change begin with God's call to maturity, and Peter gives one description (among many in the Scriptures) of the kind of godliness that ought to increasingly characterize our lives. He also tells us that real growth is simply the fruit of all we have in Jesus getting worked more deeply into our hearts and minds, undermining our unbelief, fears, pride, brokenness, and sin. In his grace, God has supplied all we need for life and godliness in Jesus, and our role is to "make every effort" to mature by continuously placing ourselves in position to receive that grace. Throughout the Scriptures, and throughout history, the church has recognized a handful of simple practices that help us stay in the stream of grace. What are the habits of grace? And how can we engage them today?QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTIONRead 2 Peter 1:­3-11 1. In light of what we’ve been learning this month, what does Peter mean that we have been given all we need for life and godliness? What has God provided in the gospel?2. What did Ir

Real growth and change begins with a VISION of who God wants to make us by his grace. Peter tells us we've been given everything for a lifestyle of godliness - that we can actually share in the life of God, growing in true goodness, steadiness, affection, and love. Once we have a vision, we need INTENTION, a sturdy commitment to do all we can to move toward maturity. This begins with an ongoing willingness to really face ourselves and see what needs to change, and then requires our whole-hearted effort toward that change ("make every effort," Peter says). But what kind of effort is needed for real change? What is Peter actually calling us to do? Since we're not just digging deeper and trying harder, what does grace-based effort really look like?QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTIONRead 2 Peter 1:1-­111. Consider Peter’s list in v.5­-7. What kind of person is Peter describing? What is his vision of maturity?2. Peter gives 3 reasons why we should “make every effort” to grow into maturity (v.8, v.10, and v.11). What are his

If we’re honest, there are parts of us we simply don’t like. We have patterns of thought, ways of relating, or habitual behaviors that plague us. For most of us, that means we spend a lot of energy hiding our bad stuff and pretending we’re further along than we really are. But it doesn’t have to be that way. There’s a better way - a way that leads to real change - and it is simpler than you might imagine. This month, we're digging into 2 Peter 1.3-11 and looking at how real change takes place.QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION1. This month, we're asking you to consider areas of struggle and weakness relationally, emotionally, and/or spiritually. Where are you seeing your need for growth and change?2. What does the promise of 2 Peter 1.3 imply? Why might Peter be starting his letter with these reminders?3. According to the sermon, one of the biggest temptations in life is toward "moral reformation" (trying hard to change yourself by your own strength). What makes that kind of change ultimately unhelpful? Why is it such