Branches Oc

Accessing kingdom life through dependency upon God and interdependence with one another.

Jesus didn't just tell stories... He disrupted social norms, flipped status games, and exposed our illusions of importance. In this sermon, we explore one of His most subversive parables in Luke 14. Why do the invited guests bail? Who ends up at the banquet? And what does it say about the upside-down kingdom Jesus came to bring? This one might mess with your seating chart.

What do we do about evil in the world, in the church, and in ourselves? In this message, we explore Jesus' unsettling parable of the wheat and weeds. Instead of judgment and control, Jesus calls for radical patience and trust. Drawing from Robert Farrar Capon, the early church's theology of patience, and real-life stories of justice and grace, this sermon challenges our impulse to uproot what we don't understand. Could it be that forgiveness not force is the way the kingdom grows?

Why did Jesus-God in the flesh- choose to speak in riddles, stories, and metaphors? In this sermon, we explore the artistic and subversive nature of Jesus's parables through the lens of Matthew 13. With insights from Robert Farrar Capon, Amy-Jill Levine, and the BibleProject, we discover how parables are not meant to simplify truth but to stir the soul, provoke the heart, and invite us into deeper mystery. Featuring the Parable of the Sower as a central example, this message invites us to ask: What kind of soil am I? Jesus' stories aren't cozy bedtime tales. They explode assumptions about who belongs and how God Works.

What does it mean to follow Jesus in a world shaped by empire, power, and fear? In this sermon, we explore how the earliest Christians walked "The Way" a countercultural path of love, humility, and resurrection hope. Drawing from Acts 24, this message invites us to see the Ascension not as Christ's absence, but His universal reign. It's not just about believing in Jesus, It's about becoming like Him as we follow "The Way".

"For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to[a] a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher" - 2 Timothy 1:6-11

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. - Colossians 1:19-20

We step into the heart of the biblical story - a story of exile and return, sin and forgiveness, the way out, the way through, and the way in. Today, we'll see how the forgiveness of sins is not merely a transaction but a liberation - a homecoming and the way out of exile that changes our present reality.

Thank you for joining us at Branches Easter Service. Pastor Ryan Maroney speaks on Jesus' Resurrection and God's love for His church. Join us every Sunday at 10AM at Agape 1928 in San Clemente and follow us online for more. www.branchesoc.com

A Palm Sunday sermon about what kind of king Jesus is.

Religion, even Christianity, can easily become about the right rituals, the proper practices, and the clean appearances. But Jesus confronts us with a far deeper question: What is being produced by your life? What fruit are you bearing?

The mystery at the center of Christian faith is not a formula, a doctrine, or even a moral code. It is a person-a crucified person. The cross is not only the place where God revealed Himself most fully. It is also the shape He invites our lives to take.

The cross reconciles us upward unto God (our Being) and calls us outward unto others (our Doing) ...through Godly perspective, empowerment and empathy. "So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." -2 Corinthians 5:16-21 NIV

Jesus then said, "I am the resurrection and the life! Everyone who has faith in me will live, even if they die. And everyone who lives because of confidence in me will never really die. Do you believe this?" - Jesus (John 11:25, 26)

3/2/2025 The Sacrifice of LOVE by Branches OC

The Parable of the Prodigal Son is Jesus' profound story of a wayward son who squanders his inheritance but returns to find unexpected grace. Through the father's lavish welcome, Jesus reveals God's radical forgiveness and the shocking invitation for both the lost and the self-righteous to join the redemption feast.

God is love, all other characteristics of God flow from the infinite spring of love that is God's very nature. 1 John 4:7-21

When you really think about it, the "Church" is amazing. It's made up of a group of people that would never had gathered together if it weren't for the grace of God. In Ephesians 2, we see how Jesus has torn down the walls that divide us by going to the cross, taking the penalty for our sins, and destroying the hostility that divides humanity, thus making peace. Through Jesus, we are given an invitation to experience true "shalom" with God and others.

Jesus and His Spirit led messianic mission ushers in the fulfillment of Jubilee and God's favor where restoration, liberation and mercy triumph over retribution.

This is the Story of God revealing his name and his character to Moses and how we are invited into a personal relationship with a personal God who has a name... Yahweh.