ReNew Ames Messages

ReNew Ames
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Religion & Spirituality
  • Biweekly

ReNew Community: Following Jesus to renew lives that renew the world. UP with God, IN with one another, OUT in service.

  1. 1d ago

    October 25, 2026 "We Choose The Path We Take"

    We're all gonna die. One day. Life is precious. Let's not waste it. A question that comes up when we confront our own mortality is often is, what kind of person am I becoming? What kind of life leads to a life being called "blessed"? That's what this Psalm is all about. Three movements. 1) There are paths that shape us. Walk. Sit. Stand. It's like the Psalmist is watching a person sort of gradually settle into a way of life. This is how formation happens. Slowly. Our desires are cultivated. This Psalmist wants us to pay attention to the voices and influences that are forming us. Life isn't about learning how to behave, it's more about learning how to become. 2) There is a source from which we can choose to live, through divine guidance. This is how we eventually bear fruit. Trees don't strain to bear fruit. They stay connected to the source (water) and naturally bear fruit. What are some ways to stay connected to the source? Try things out. Experiment. See what works. 3) Understand that life is and always has been seasonal. There are seasons for bearing fruit, and there are seasons for putting down roots. Sometimes we put too much pressure on ourselves. Maybe seasons of silence, of absence, are seasons of putting down roots to stay connected to the source. Stay patient; it's a long process. Look, man, we're all just trying our best here! We may not know how many days we have left. This Psalmist seems to be saying, "We get to choose which paths to take." We choose them today, tomorrow, the next day, and the day after that. Over time, we become people who naturally bear fruit in its season. Speaker: Aaron Vis Scripture: Psalm 1:1-6

    October 25, 2026 "We Choose The Path We Take"

  2. Oct 21

    October 18, 2026 "Nothing Can Erase The Image Of God"

    This is the story about the Pharisees trying to trap Jesus: do we pay taxes to Caesar or not? Yeah, you thought you could trap Jesus. C'mon, man. Face Palm Emoji. I'll retell the story and then we'll work through three movements of the story. 1) There's always a struggle/battle over what has ultimate authority. Everywhere you went in the ancient world you were reminded who had the power and who had the authority in your life. Every time you bought something, Rome was there. Paid taxes, Rome was there. You literally carried the reminder around in your pocket. We may not live in ancient Rome, but we know what it's like to have things compete for our complete allegiance. 2) The image on the coin says something about the image stamped on each of us. Yes, it's the image of God. Nothing can erase that; not sin, not brokenness, not failure, not anything. This changes the way we see other people. We can't reduce them to categories. Of course, that's what empire wants us to do. That's what much of religion wants us to do. But Jesus keeps turning people back into human beings. 3) Give to God what belongs to God. What belongs to Caesar? The image on the coin tells us it belongs to him. So give it to Caesar. What belongs to God? The image stamped on us is the image of the Divine. Us. All of us. We all belong to God. What are we giving back to God? What do our lives reveal about what we worship? Whatever has our deepest allegiance will eventually leave its image on us. Fear leaves an image. Power does. Anger does. Hate leaves an image. But so does love. And mercy. And compassion. And on and on. Speaker: Aaron Vis Scripture: Matthew 22:15-22 https://www.bible.com/events/49681444

    October 18, 2026 "Nothing Can Erase The Image Of God"

  3. Oct 7

    October 4, 2026 "The Divine Invites More"

    The parable of the wedding banquet. This is the third parable Jesus tells to protest/critique his own religious tradition, or possibly all religious traditions. Here we enter into the wedding banquet parable. The invitation goes out, but the guests refuse to show up. I imagine the king was pretty angry. But what does he do with his anger? He turns it into grace, like Jesus turned his anger inside the temple to grace outside the temple and healed the people who couldn't get in. What would it look like if we all learned how to turn our anger into grace? What kind of a world could we actually make? So the king turns his anger to grace and invites all the people in the streets, the good and the bad. And suddenly, the banquet is full. Three things... 1) The invitation is wider than we think, and maybe wider than we want. This tracks with how Jesus lived his life. We draw circles. Jesus makes them wider. We make lists. The divine invites more. Remember, Jesus is critiquing his own religious tradition. What would he say about ours? 2) We're pretty good at making excuses. All their excuses are ordinary things. Work. Family. We don't have to hate God to miss the invitation, to miss the kingdom. Ordinary things can make us miss it. But here's the thing about the invitation; here's the thing about grace: it always comes to us in the present. The invitation is always now. We're not invited into a future event. The banquet is now, it's a present reality we're invited to live into now. How do we make our homes, neighborhoods, churches, even our country into a big grace party where all kinds of people are invited and have everything they need? 3) Then we get to the weird part about the guy who gets thrown out because he didn't wear the wedding clothes. Maybe the question isn't, "Did you wear the right clothes?" Maybe the question is, "Are you living into the invitation?" We can show up physically and stay emotionally, spiritually, relationally outside. We can show up at the table and not eat. So maybe the wedding clothes are simply the clothing of someone who allows grace to actually change them. Speaker: Aaron Vis Scripture: Matthew 22:1-14 https://www.bible.com/events/49674581

    October 4, 2026 "The Divine Invites More"

  4. Sep 30

    September 27, 2026 "What Fruit Are We Producing?"

    Another vineyard story - here we go! Triumphal entry. Peaceful protest against Roman Empire and the religious establishment. Religious leaders are piiiiiissed. "Who do you think you are? Where did you get your authority?" they ask. Jesus is all - the tax collectors and prostitutes are in better shape than you a-holes. Then he tells the story about the vineyard. The owner gives the vineyard as a gift to the tenants. Trust is built into this story. The vineyard is a gift entrusted to the tenants. It all starts with gift. Of course, this is how life begins. Before we accomplish anything, even the ability to walk and talk, we are given relationships, food, water, air, a world we didn't create and bodies we did not design. It's all gift. And when we see everything as gift gratitude becomes something more than saying thank you. We begin to see differently. We see each morning differently. We see neighbors differently. We see everyone we meet differently. It's all part of the vineyard. We begin to see that the world isn't about competition or simply a collection of things to possess or acquire or use. It's all gift. Of course, the story moves on. The tenants beat, kill, and stone the servants sent by the owner to collect the fruit. He sends more. The tenants do the same. He sends his son. They kill him, too. Because they now see themselves not as stewards, but as owners. This can happen when we begin to think that something belongs completely to us. It creates a sense of scarcity and fear. We have to let everyone know that we own it. We have to protect it. If it's taken from us we or we simply give it away, it feels like loss. Perhaps there's an invitation here to hold things lightly, with open hands so that we can still give and receive. We'll end where Jesus ends. He pronounces judgment on those who won't produce fruit. But it's not just judgment, the vineyard will still go on. It will be entrusted to those who bear fruit. That's all the owner wanted: fruit. He wanted his gift to reproduce and make more gift. And what do we think of when we think of fruit? Love, joy, peace, and all the rest. We can add to it justice and compassion and empathy and equality. So the question becomes, what kind of fruit are we producing? Speaker: Aaron Vis Scripture: Matthew 21:33-46 http://bible.com/events/49670997

    September 27, 2026 "What Fruit Are We Producing?"

  5. Sep 23

    September 20, 2026 "Being People Who Change Our Minds"

    Jesus is challenged by the authorities, "Who do you think you are? By what authority are you doing these things?" What things is Jesus doing? I'll give some background: it's the Monday of Holy Week. He's led a protest parade. Exciting! Crowds love it. Then he goes into the temple and clears things out; he's protesting the system of exploitation that keeps the poor out. Then he goes out into the outer courts and heals the people who couldn't get in. Next, he curses a fig tree that doesn't bear any fruit; could there be a parallel here with the religious system that doesn't bear fruit? Yeah, obvious. Anyway, then the religious authorities ask where he gets his authority. He asks them a question about John the Baptist. Was he doing his thing because of the divine, or was it human? They can't answer. Just say, "Who knows?" And Jesus is like, "Then I won't tell you where I get my authority." Then he tells them a story. Here's how the story starts: A father has two sons... The kingdom of God isn't about saying the right thing or having the right answers; it's about becoming the kind of people who go, the kind of people who do. We're pretty good at having the right answers. We're pretty good at saying the right thing. But Jesus messes with one of our assumptions: that what we say tells the story of who we are. It doesn't. Through this story, Jesus is inviting us to look at what we do, where our feet take us, who we make room for. Our lives are telling a story whether we realize it or not. The first son says he won't go work the vineyard, but then later, he changes his mind. What is the religiousy word for this? Repentance. The story Jesus tells leaves room for the person who changes their mind. Leaves room for the person who turns around. Then there's the second son. He says he'll go...then doesn't. Religious people can be good at this. We can get really good at performance. Jesus upset the religious authorities in the first place when he cleared out the temple. He was calling out forms of religiosity that don't move us out into the world to work for justice, mercy, compassion, equality and love. So, what's the good news of the story? The father doesn't ask his sons to build the vineyard. Doesn't ask them to save the vineyard. Simply asks them to notice what's going on in the vineyard and work with what's already happening. God is already at work in the world. Where is love moving? Where is compassion needed? Where is healing necessary? Will we become the kind of people who go? Speaker: Aaron Vis Scripture: Matthew 21:23-32 https://www.bible.com/events/49666958

    September 20, 2026 "Being People Who Change Our Minds"

  6. Sep 16

    September 13, 2026 "Forgiveness: Release A Debt"

    Forgiveness is central to the message of Jesus, but Peter wants to know how much forgiveness that is. Is there a limit to grace? Jesus says, "Seventy-seven times." Or, seventy times seven times, depending on how you want to translate the ambiguous language of Jesus. Then Jesus tells the story about a king forgiving a guy his debts. The guy immediately goes out and demands another guy pay him his debts. The king finds out and is piiiiissssed. So he has the first guy thrown in jail and tortured because he was shown mercy and did not show mercy. Whoa. Forgiveness. We know it's important, but what is it? Just as important, what is forgiveness NOT? We'll start there, by saying what forgiveness is not. Forgiveness isn't saying that what happened is okay. Forgiveness isn't forgetting. Forgiveness isn't the same as healing or reconciliation. Okay, so what is it? Forgiveness is releasing the debt. Someone hurt you, betrayed you, etc. They now owe you. You release them from that debt. Forgiveness may be saying, "I will no longer let my life or my well-being be dependent on whether or not you can pay the debt." They may not be able to give you what you need to pay the debt anyway. You can't rewind time. You can't unsay things already said. You can't get years back. You release them from owing. Forgiveness is choosing freedom. Hanging on to resentment or bitterness keeps you chained to the other. Forgiveness releases you from that. Grace changes everything. We stop keeping score. Our goodness no longer depends on everyone else being wrong. We stop ranking sins. The kingdom of God isn't a courtroom where we keep track of everyone else's failures. It's a table. A big table, and at the table everyone is carrying something. Debt. Shame. Regret. Failure. Wounds. And Jesus says, "Come to the table." Grace isn't a reward for someone getting things right. Grace and forgiveness are what makes a new future possible for those who didn't. Speaker: Aaron Vis Scripture: Matthew 18:21-35 https://www.bible.com/events/49661339

    September 13, 2026 "Forgiveness: Release A Debt"

  7. Sep 9

    September 6, 2026 "The Sage And The Son Return"

    This is the third in our series The Sage and The Son, where Aaron and Tony sit down to discuss topics of theology, social justice, and where they see the American Church heading (and where they hope it will go). Speaker: Aaron Vis and Tony Vis

    September 6, 2026 "The Sage And The Son Return"

  8. Sep 2

    August 30, 2026 "We Must Not Pretend To Love"

    Paul says these things are good and right and true and beautiful. They sound simple...until we try to do them. The church in Rome was the location this letter was headed, and Paul was writing to a deeply divided church. So where are we in the letter? We're about three quarters of the way through. The first part of the letter is filled with all sorts of theology: sin, grace, mercy, Jesus, life, death, atonement, reconciliation. Theology that is deeply beautiful. Then we get to chapter 12; he says, "Therefore." In other words, all that theology has to become more than a simple set of beliefs. It has to transform us so we are living into it. "Love must be sincere." No pretending. No performance. No religious theater." Be devoted to one another in love." Devoted. It means we don't leave when things get complicated. Devotion sticks around for hard conversation, when a crisis of faith happens - when questions come. Devotion sticks around after the diagnosis, in the hospital, through the treatment. This is one of the most powerful things we can give to others. Not answers. Not explanations. Just presence. "Do not repay evil with evil." Evil tends to reproduce itself. Someone has to ask the question: who will stop it? "Enemies - feed them - give them drink." The good news isn't about defeating enemies. It isn't about winning. We can disagree without dehumanizing. We can create healthy boundaries without hate. We can work for justice without violence. All of these things are what it looks like to allow beliefs and theology to work on us and transform us to live into the new humanity God is creating in us and through us. Speaker: Aaron Vis Scripture: Romans 12:9-21 http://bible.com/events/49658096

    August 30, 2026 "We Must Not Pretend To Love"
See All (398)

Ratings & Reviews

About

ReNew Community: Following Jesus to renew lives that renew the world. UP with God, IN with one another, OUT in service.

Information

  • Creator
    ReNew Ames
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    398
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved
  • Show Website
    ReNew Ames Messages