South Fellowship Church

[Ryan begins with thanking Aaron Bjorklund for singing his original song, "Multiply Me," and his wife Kelly for her support over the last seven years.] The last two months, for me, have been a rollercoaster, to say the least.  We had the chance to go to Disneyland on our vacation two weeks ago, and I can tell you that Disneyland has nothing on two months of processing a move across the country.  That's been a way better rollercoaster than anything we rode there.  It's been an interesting journey, to be quite honest with you.  In many ways I didn't see the emotional journey coming that I've been on, and that we've been on together as a family.  I've experienced sort of mini panic attacks, and immense sadness, and a little bit of anger, and immense doubt in the midst of it all.  I knew that this day was coming.  I woke up this morning and it was sort of that Brian Regan thing of like, "Oh, it's due today!"  This day that I've been getting ready for for so many days just sort of snuck up on me.  It's hard for m

Good morning! My name is Billy Berglund, and for the last four years, I've had the privilege of being on staff here at South Fellowship, working part-time with the students as I pursued my Masters from Denver Seminary. It's just been a real privilege to my wife Hannah and I. We've had an eventful summer so far. Our son Cooper joined us on May 31st. He was born six weeks early, so he kind of surprised us. He spent some time in the NICU, but he's growing and is getting a little chunky now, which is awesome. We feel real blessed to have Cooper with us...

We’ve been in a series the last couple of weeks where we are studying the Parables of Jesus. I have to admit,  parables can be difficult. They aren’t explicit in the way a simple story is.  Jesus at one time said, "I spoke in parables so that you would get this and others wouldn't get it."  They can be a little bit tricky to interpret. Parables are stories with a meaning, often to jar a listener into learning something new about the economy of the kingdom of God.  They were a bit jarring to the original listeners ---remember, they heard them first---because they challenged conventional wisdom at the time.  Most of them have a twist or an 'aha' moment of some kind that turned that thinking on its head. So to understand parables, we have to understand the culture and dominant thinking they were birthed into, and try to find the principle within it and bring it forward into our day and age. Because they can be a bit difficult, I’ve pored over the parables and tried to find the easiest one, and that’s what I’m go

We started a series last week called "The Parables of Jesus."  This series is all about the parables of Jesus.  Over the course of the summer, we're going to be studying together these stories that Jesus told.  That's what a parable is.  A parable's a story.  It's two words put together---"para" which means alongside of and "bollo" which means to throw.  It's stories for normal everyday people----they weren't told by the philosophical leaders or taught in the Socratic seminar.  Stories they threw alongside of reality.  The whole goal of a parable was to make people go, "Huh, I never thought of it like that."  I never thought that the kingdom of heaven was sort of like a field where there's both wheat planted in it and weeds.  Hmm, I never saw it like that.  The parables are intended to create some spiritual awakening in our souls.   The parable that we're going to look at today is found in Luke 18:9-14.  This parable is all about Jesus saying, "I know, I get it."  The way that you look at the world and the w

A week ago today, my family and I were leaving to go to a week at Mount Hermon.  I taught there last week, and the family went and had an awesome time.  Kelly and I are both Type A people.  Our flight left at 8:45 and we left the house at 6:00 am because we like to be on time.  If you followed the news last Sunday, you might have heard there was a little bit of an accident on Peña Boulevard.  If you know DIA, you know that Peña's really the only way to get into that airport.  We left our house at 6:00 and about 6:30 we're at that stretch of Peña that juts north and then heads east to the final stretch that takes you into the airport.  When we turned east, we hit gridlock traffic like I've never seen on that street before!  It just came to an absolute screeching halt!  Kelly and I looked at each other and said, "This isn't good," and started Googling what's going on.  Turns out there was a huge accident up front.  From 6:30 to 7:00, we just sat there and didn't move at all.  We saw (on Apple Maps) there was a

We are finishing up a series we're calling "Brave in the New World."  Over the last two months, we've been tackling difficult issues, socially, and trying to figure out what it looks like to live as a follower of Jesus in this new world.  How many of you would agree that the world is changing quite rapidly?  Actually that's not just a feeling; a sociologist studied our cultural moment.  They're saying that things are changing at a more rapid pace than they have ever changed before.  That's not just a visceral reaction, that's a reality, according to sociologists.  Last week we talked about the Scriptures and science.  We talked about this perceived dichotomy, chasm, between what the Scriptures say and what science says.  We actually said that you don't need to choose between Scripture and science.  You can actually be someone who loves the Bible and loves telescopes and microscopes and that's an okay and a good thing.  In fact, that's the way it's designed...     Helping people live in the way of Jesus wit

I've had a number of people come up to me and say, "We're so sad that you're leaving, Ryan, but are you going to finish this series?"  Yes, I am.  Today, we're going to jump into the subject of science and the Scriptures; then, next week, yes, on Father's Day, I'm going to be teaching on the issue of sexuality and Brave in the New World and how that all ties together.  You're welcome.  I promised on Mother's Day, when I taught a message on Evil and Suffering, that I would be equally offensive on Father's Day.  Praise be to God, it's all worked out!   I want to start with a question:  Who would win if the Colorado Rockies played the Denver Broncos?  The question you should ask is what are they playing?  Before I put money on either team, I want to know what we're playing.  While they're all athletes and they're all talented in their own right, they have different specialties, don't they?  They have different bents.  They have different things that they practice day after day, night after night.  They have dif

Helping people live in the way of Jesus with the heart of Jesus.   Connect with us ⬇️ About Us: https://southfellowship.org/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/southfellowship Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/southfellowship Twitter: https://twitter.com/southfellowship   Give Online ⬇️ https://pushpay.com/g/southfellowship   Brave in the New World | Tolerance in a Culture of Contempt | John 8:1-11 | Week 4 Speaker: Pastor Ryan Paulson South Fellowship Church Based in Littleton, CO 

Fear stopped me in my steps this week.   I know we shouldn't fear, but what do we do when we do?  I wrote my message on Monday.  Tuesday, I was in a meeting with Aaron and we were planning a future worship service, and our phones started to blow up, like yours probably did too.  Got the news that there was an active shooter situation at STEM.  Gathered our staff together to start to pray.  Tried our best to contact people we knew that had kids involved to tell them we're praying, we love them, is there anything we can do?  It just didn't seem fitting to give the message I had already written.   I think that in moments like these, especially in a series called "Brave in a New World," to not talk about the actual world we live in would probably be a misstep.   As weird and awkward as it is to try to tackle the problem of suffering and evil on Mother's Day, forgive me if that offends you, but I'm going to do my best to try to step into this moment, please hear me, not as somebody who has all the answers.  I sta

I'm really glad that you're here today. We are on week two of a series that we're calling "Brave in the New World." A number of months ago we did a church survey, and one of the questions we asked on that survey was "What are some of the things you'd like to see more teaching on?" Turns out, you guys like hard subjects and we made a series out of a lot of those answers, so over the next few weeks, we're wrestling with a number of difficult subjects. We're calling the series "Brave in the New World," because in case you haven't noticed, the world is changing. How many of you would agree? The world is changing at a pretty rapid pace, and if you're a follower of Jesus.... First of all, if you're not, we're really glad that you're here today, because you get sort of the window-shopping view of how the church wrestles with difficult issues, so I'm glad you're here. But if you are a follower of Christ, my guess is you're wondering how in the world do I live out my faith, in the public sphere, in a world that's chan

We are starting a new series today that I am so excited for.  It's called "Brave in the New World," and we, over the next few weeks, are going to be tackling some of the most difficult issues and topics that we face, sort of culturally and societally, in our world today.  Our goal this morning is to set a little bit of ground work and to give us a path forward that we're going to ask Jesus to lead us in over the next few weeks. Like you, I watched in horror on April 15th, not as my tax return came back, but as Notre Dame burned.  I had had the chance to go once to Notre Dame.  Aaron and I were on a layover in Paris; it lasted a day.  We were on our way home from a missions trip in Africa, so we spent a romantic in Paris together.  We had the chance to stand in that beautiful cathedral.  It's a little bit different than being in South Fellowship Church building.  The grandeur and the awe that you feel when you stand in that space is unparalleled.  Yet, we saw on April 15th that it began to burn...   Helping

Welcome to our celebration of the resurrection.  My name's Ryan.  We get to celebrate the reason for hope today.  That's why we gather.  A few weeks ago, my friend, who's also a pastor in the area, Nirup, sent me a text message.  It said: What's your morning look like MC? {Because people call me MC.  Just kidding, they don't.  I don't know why he said that?}  Have you ever read a text message, got the words right, but the intent wrong?  I wrote back to my buddy Nirup and said this:  I get up at 5:45 and go on a run (treadmill in the basement).  Then read scripture and pray.  Then wake the kids up and get them ready to go on the bus.  On late start days, which is Wednesday, I have time for additional reading. You?  He responded to me:  That was very descriptive.  I more meant yo dawg my meeting canceled.  You bored and wanna grab coffee later.   He's right, I was descriptive.  I broke it down on days.  I gave timestamps.  Wow!   I had the words right, but I had the meaning wrong. I think when we hear resurrec

We're jumping into Jonah 4, if you have your Bible, you can flip there, swipe there, click there, however you want to get there this morning. It's the final message in the series of Jonah as we continue to journey towards the cross and the resurrection. We've been utilizing this book of Jonah to lead us to Easter. We've been saying, throughout this series, that part of our goal has been to rescue Jonah from Veggie Tales and the flannel board. We often view this as a kids' story. If you've been coming over the last few weeks, I hope you realize, by this point, this is certainly applicable to kids, but it's no kids' story, is it? There's a lot of depth, and a lot of beauty, and a lot of subtlety and nuance, and sort of hints and winks and nods in the book of Jonah. It's intended for adults. The story of Jonah is the story of a resentful prophet who encounters a relentless God. In week one, we said Jonah could be split in half. The first half of Jonah gives us one message and the second half of Jonah builds on

This is our fifth Sunday in a series that we're doing on the book of Jonah, that's guiding us through the Lenten season.  Jonah's a short little book in the minor prophets; he's minor, not because he's unimportant, but because he's short.  The book is short.  It's significant but it's only four chapters, and it packs a punch.  Let me share with you a little nugget from the Paulson household.  Most weekends, my kids will ask to all spend the night in a room together and to do a sleepover.  Most of the time, Kelly and I say no because we want to remain sane, but there are moments of weakness and we'll let them sleep in the same room together.  A few times, we walk by the door and sort of listen.  They play this game, "I have an animal in my mind...."  The game is that one of them thinks of an animal and the other two ask yes or no questions and try to guess what the animal is.  I thought, in light of what we're going to be talking about this morning, that it would be fun to play that game together.  I have an

We're going to be camping out in Jonah 3 today.  Let me just give you a bird's-eye view of where we've been. The book of Jonah is a story of a portion of the life of Jonah, and you sort of need one step and one phase to build on the other.  Hop online to fill yourself in on the blanks I'll leave out today.   Jonah is a prophet of God who prophesied in roughly the eighth century BC.  He was a contemporary of Amos and Hosea.  They were both prophesying at the same time.  Amos and Hosea had a hard word for Israel.  They said that Jeroboam II was using his militaristic might and power in order to expand the empire and they were not okay with that.  Jonah, however, was just fine with that.  He wanted to see Israel expand at any extent and in any degree and he was happy with however that happened.  This is the book we have of Jonah's "prophecy;" in many ways the book is more prophetic than Jonah.  We're going to see that today as it comes to light...  

We've been in a series in the last few weeks going through the book of Jonah.  Jonah is the fifth of the minor prophets.  He prophesied in the latter half of the eighth century BC, so a long time.  Jonah is unique because it's mostly a narrative; he's not making big proclamations and all these sorts of things, it's telling us an interesting story.  Hosea and Amos were also prophets at the same time, and in all three of those books there's this running theme of God showing God's mercy to other nations.  God calls Jonah to go share this good news of this mercy with the Ninevites. The Ninevites were bad people.  They were often brutal, they disregarded human life and all these sorts of things.  The whole book is really about God's extravagant mercy.   Jonah was disgusted at the idea that God would show mercy to people that Jonah felt didn't deserve it.  So, when God calls Jonah, he runs.  He pays the fare to get on this ship, and as he gets on the ship, he goes down into the belly of the ship and he falls aslee

Storms are an interesting deal, aren't they?  We're going to read about one in the life and story of Jonah this morning.  The book of Jonah is literary genius.  Please don't hear me saying it's fairy tale, or parable, but it's written geniusly.  It's intended to be funny.  It's prophetic, which means before it's parable, before it's literal, before it's either of those things, Jonah has a message for us.  It's prophetic.  That's the type of book it is in the library of the Scriptures.   Jonah's going to encounter a storm.  I read about this storm in 1850, that battered against the northern island of Scotland.  The tide rose and then receded, and the storm revealed these ruins that were underneath.  Ruins that were buried underneath these grassy hills and nobody near they were there.  I think it's similar to the way storms work in your life and the way storms work in mine.  We often think the storm creates something.  I'd like to propose to you today that the storm typically doesn't create anything, it just r

Over the next six weeks, we're going to have the chance to journey with Jonah, to allow Jonah to be our guide through the Lenten season. Our guide to the cross. Our guide to the resurrection. Metaphorically speaking, we're going to take Jonah's hand and we're going to go for a little bit of a walk. My guess is, even if you're not a follower of Jesus and you're here today, even if you don't know much about the Bible, you've heard about Jonah. Turns out the story about a person getting eaten by a fish and living for three days in its belly is ubiquitous. News about that travels. My guess is you have an opinion about the book of Jonah. I can remember being a college pastor and walking onto a college campus in southern California, and having someone come up to me. We started a conversation about life, and faith, and Jesus, and it was almost like they hit pause and said, "You don't really believe in the whole Jonah story, do you?" How do you answer somebody who has no interest in faith, has no background in fait