The Garden Church // Sunday Teachings

Teacher: Josh Wilson Text: Daniel 1:8-16 There's a pressure on all of us to go along: not an outright demand to deny our faith, but a thousand subtle invitations to let culture do the naming. In this message from Daniel 1, Pastor Josh explores how empire's formation project works not through force, but through the slow reshaping of desire and identity. Drawing on philosopher James K.A. Smith's concept of rival liturgies, Josh calls us toward the kind of counter-formation that keeps us faithfully rooted in who God says we are.

Teacher: Mandi Paszek Text: Daniel 1:1-7 We live in a world that doesn't share our allegiance to God — and for many Christians, the loss of cultural influence can feel like abandonment. In this first message of our Daniel series, Mandi Paszek opens the book of Daniel at its most honest starting point: defeat, displacement, and the cry of every exile: "Has God forgotten us?" The answer is both unsettling and freeing: God's people have never been promised power. They've been promised presence.

Teacher: Josh Wilson Text: 1 Corinthians 15:12–20 What if Jesus didn't rise from the dead? Paul poses this provocative question in 1 Corinthians 15, and in this sermon Pastor Josh explores the weight of a hypothetical world where death, sin, and despair have the final word. But indeed, Christ has been raised! The worst thing is never the last thing, and a new kind of life—marked by healing, freedom, and restored relationship with God—is available to us now.

Teacher: Josh Wilson Text: Hebrews 12:1-3 Pastor Josh closes our Lent journey through Hebrews by naming the quiet burnout many of us carry. With honesty and hope, he invites us to keep running with perseverance and offers three “race-day” resources: community that cheers us on, courage to lay down what weighs us down, and eyes fixed on Jesus, our faithful pacer. As we move toward Easter, this is an invitation to resist drifting, re-engage the race of love, and trust that we don’t run alone.

Teacher: Josh Wilson Text: Hebrews 9:11-15 Many of us are carrying something that feels like a stain—a sense of being broken or "wrong" in some way that logic and self-improvement can't touch. In this sermon, Pastor Josh brings the ancient imagery of Hebrews 9 to life and shows why Jesus' once-for-all sacrifice reaches the one place nothing else can. Because of Jesus' death, we are made holy, and the way into the presence and love of God is open to us—not just once, but always.

Teacher: Caleb McCoy Text: Hebrews 4:14–5:3, 5:7-10 Caleb continues our Lent series through the book of Hebrews with an encouraging exploration of Jesus as our great high priest. Because of Jesus, we can confidently approach the throne of God to repent, believe, and ask God for the grace we need to become the people He has created us to be.

Teacher: Josh Wilson Text: Hebrews 3:1–6; 12-14 Pastor Josh continues our Lenten series through the book of Hebrews by exploring the first warning passage in Hebrews 3, where we're cautioned against the quiet drift that can follow disappointment, pressure, or fatigue in our faith. The writer reminds us that the deeper rest our souls long for isn’t something we achieve through striving, but something Jesus has already secured for us.

Teacher: Mandi Paszek Text: Hebrews 1:1–4, 2:14–18 Mandi opens our Hebrews series by exploring Hebrews 1–2 and the letter’s central claim: Jesus is greater. Written to weary believers tempted to drift, Hebrews calls us to worship Jesus as He truly is and release the fears that quietly shape our lives. Mandi gives a compelling reminder that we don’t get to define who God is—we learn who God is and then trust Him to lead us.

Teacher: Josh Wilson Text: Mark 3:13-19, Luke 6:40 In the final week of Rewired by Love, Pastor Josh reminds us that we don’t rise to our ideals under pressure—we default to what, and who, has formed us. We become like the people we practice life with, which is why Jesus’ vision of discipleship is apprenticeship: being with Him and with people who embody His way until love becomes our reflex. The invitation is simple: who are you inviting close enough to shape the way you live?

Teacher: Josh Wilson Text: John 21:3-12a In John 21, we see the risen Jesus move toward Peter after his deepest failure to initiate repair. In this sermon, Pastor Josh explores how the cycle of rupture and repair in relationships is normal, and is actually what form us in love. With Jesus as our model, we are invited to become people who build thick, resilient community by practicing repair.

Teacher: Josh Wilson Text: Numbers 6:22-27 In week four of Rewired by Love, Pastor Josh explores Numbers 6 to show how God rewires our deepest reflexes through blessing, belonging, and shared identity. Connecting the priestly blessing with how our brains are formed, Pastor Josh explains how lasting change happens through joy-filled attachment to God and one another. Love takes root as we learn to live under God’s delight and within a community that practices it together.

Teacher: Josh Wilson Text: John 8:2-11 Pastor Josh reflects on how we often use shame—consciously or unconsciously—to try to force ourselves to change. But in Jesus’ tender and disruptive response to the woman caught in adultery, we discover that real transformation begins not through fear or striving, but through the healing power of being fully seen, known, and met with grace.

Teacher: Josh Wilson Text: Exodus 17:1-7 In week two of Rewired by Love, Pastor Josh explores how our deepest reactions to God and others are shaped not just by what we know, but by the relational experiences that have formed our inner “defaults.” Through reflection on Exodus 17, Josh invites us to notice how our wounds shape our trust—and to discover God as a safe haven who patiently rewires us through a healing relationship with Him.

Text: Matthew 21:28–32 Teacher: Josh Wilson Pastor Josh begins the series Rewired by Love by naming the gap many of us feel between what we believe and how we actually live. Exploring Jesus’ parable of the two sons, he introduces “two kinds of knowing”—what we know in our minds and what actually informs all our reflexes and relationships. He invites us to notice where there’s a gap between our own belief and practice, and to embrace the hope that Christ’s love can rewire us from the inside out.

Teacher: Josh Wilson Text: Luke 2:25-32 In our final week of Advent, Pastor Josh explores the joy of Christmas — not as a fragile feeling tied to circumstances, but as a steady hope rooted in God’s faithfulness. Joy is not pretending everything is resolved, but trusting where the story is headed because God has entered it. Where have you seen evidence of God’s faithfulness recently? What small sign reminds you that the story isn’t finished?

Teacher: Josh Wilson Text: Matthew 2:1–12 In the third week of Advent, Pastor Josh invites us to consider how easy it is to miss Jesus, even when we think we are ready to see Him. In the story of the Magi, insiders with power and knowledge miss Jesus, while unlikely seekers pursue Him with curiosity, sacrifice, and wonder. In this sermon, Josh invites us to slow down, notice where God is breaking in, and courageously follow the light toward worship and transformation. Advent Breath Prayer INHALE: Christ, You are with me EXHALE: Give me eyes to see

Teacher: Josh Wilson Text: Luke 3:1–18 This week, Pastor Josh meets us in the ache of Advent longing and echoes John the Baptist's call to "prepare the way" for Jesus. His message reframes waiting as faithful roadwork—the repentance, generosity, and justice that clear space for grace to land. We’re invited out of the “wait-and-wish” ditch of avoidance and the “work-and-worry” ditch of control, learning to do our part with courage while trusting God with His.

Teacher: Mandi Paszek Text: Matthew 1:18-25 NIV Christmas is an invitation to hope. But what do we do when our hopes are left waiting? In the first week of Advent, Mandi invites us to meet God in our longings, our lament, and our experience of liminal space. Questions for reflection:

Teacher: Josh Wilson Text: Revelation 21:1-5 In the final week of The Story series, Pastor Josh reframes Revelation—not as a code to be cracked, but as God’s hope-filled unveiling for weary, pressured people trying to stay faithful in Babylon. Here we're given a better ending than we could ever write ourselves: Jesus makes all things new, and our present faithfulness matters because the story ends with God dwelling with his people forever.

Teacher: Larry Kim (Central Square Church) Text: Acts 2:1-8 NIV Guest preacher Larry Kim continues The Story series with Acts 2, when God fulfills His promise to dwell with His people forever through the Holy Spirit. With wind, fire, and the miracle of tongues, the Spirit forms the Church and empowers ordinary people with God’s own power. Because Christ now lives in us, we’re invited to live differently—rooted in God’s promise, power, purpose, and presence.