The 180 Church Podcast with Dr. Sammy and Friends

New Life: Real Salvation

What does it mean to be saved? In Christianity, the central message of the gospel revolves around this reality that God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to save and redeem us, but from what? Why is it that the son of God had to die for our sins? If not differentiated properly, the whole heart of salvation can easily be missed, and that’s what Joe Lyu and Pastor Lydia discuss, so that we don’t miss the centerpiece of the good news.

New Life: Combating Spiritual Naïveté

In today’s podcast, the crew with Joe Lyu and Pastor Lydia take a deep dive into acknowledging a very real reality with an enemy spirit, developing awareness of spiritual warfare, and what we can do to take part in fighting the war for our souls. Spiritual warfare can be an aspect of our lives we often overlook or tend to be naive about, but the adversary looks to kill, steal, and destroy the life God has sown into our lives. It’s certainly in our best interest to be equipped to fight for our lives. c

New Life: God’s Whisper

Many of us find ourselves in situations where different voices clamor and compete for our attention; usually the loudest voice is the one that seems urgent, yet is the least important.Listening to these voices causes us to forget the most important one in our lives. In order to discern God’s multifaceted yet subtle voice, we must listen and surrender in the ways He speaks to us personally. By doing so, we can come to a place where we are blessed and can bless others.

New Life: Born Again

In Christianity, there is a common notion that the Christian life consists of dogmatic rules that believers must follow. However, when we consider the concept of being “born again”, those rules are just an offshoot of the core pursuit of the Father’s heart: for us to know who we belong to and who seeks after us. Work is being done within us, whether we are aware of it or not. In this new series, "New Life," Dr. Sammy delves into the heart of what it means to be born again, exploring our spiritual heritage, and the intricate, messy, and beautiful process of new life.

Calling Unpacked: Sacred Friendships

In today’s podcast, with Joe Lyu and Pastor Lydia, we get to talking about relationships. But first, we ask ourselves, how do we live so that we can have those meaningful, seemingly awesome friendships that we find in some of our favorite sitcoms? Well, what we find through this discussion is that there certainly are ways to do relationship that aren’t unlike those we see on tv, and truthfully can be even greater with some deliberate proximity and a bit of sacrifice. Join in as we discuss friendships modeled by the life of Jesus.

Calling Unpacked: Sacred Time

In today's podcast, Pastor Lydia and Joe talk through what it means to really maximize our time so that we can live a full life. But what is a full life, and what does doctor Sammy mean when he says sin robs us of fullness in our lives? For us to cultivate sacredness in our lives and fully make the most of our time here on this earth, we examine how we spend our time, why we can choose to invest our time in kingdom values, and how we can apply what we learn through scripture to develop and add real and timeless value.

Calling Unpacked: Sacred Mission

Continuing the message of the retreat, many of us are conditioned to live a life of hurry, so we become impatient and dismissive of other people. Missing out on important moments and being unable to slow down harm our ability to give and receive love, because we dismiss other people’s stories when we’re rushing to the next goal or station in life. It is imperative for us to learn to cherish people and their stories, because at the heart of the Christian faith is a God who sees each person as sacred and who wants to work through us as participants of His grace.

Calling Unpacked: Session 1

Calling Unpacked: Sacred People

Our lives are often compared to a rat race, one full of the anxiety and angst caused by hurry, day in and day out. Those of us who are gunning for that prize, promotion, or success often don't think to slow down. But on this fast track, we invariably miss out on some of the greatest moments and people that our days have to offer and face loneliness. In order for us to slow down and learn to listen to what God is doing in us, our 2019 retreat, “Calling Unpacked”, zeroes in on ruthlessly eliminating hurry in our lives, nourishing the sacred in our time and places, and cultivating sacred friends whom we can truly depend on in our suffering. In the end, the redemption of how God turns our suffering into his trophies of grace is better done in the company of trusted friends, in the sacred moments, and for the sake of our fellow brothers and sisters in their own pain.

Day in the Sun: Failure (The "F" Word)

For many of us, the feeling of failure can be crippling. In whichever form we experience it, we tend to define ourselves by our failures when ultimately, failure boils down to a matter of perspective. Perspective can be the critical difference between fatalism and confidence in our narratives. This can encourage believers and seekers alike that the Lord's grace through Christ is the commitment that God made to see our flourishing through to the end.