God at Work: The Practice of Compassion in an Unstable World
Ann Arbor Community Church Sermon Podcast
Release Date: 07/07/2025
Spiritual Transformation: Simplification
Ann Arbor Community Church Sermon Podcast
Spiritual Formation: Simplification – Rev. Donnell T. Wyche - . Like us on or watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - Summary: In this sermon, Pastor Donnell Wyche continues the church’s series on spiritual transformation by focusing on the practice of simplicity. At first glance, simplification seems straightforward—declutter, pare down, and reduce. But Pastor Donnell shows how true simplicity is one of the most difficult spiritual disciplines, because it directly confronts our fears, our desires, and our habits. Drawing from research on the modern American family and...
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Spiritual Formation: Spiritual Friendships
Ann Arbor Community Church Sermon Podcast
Spiritual Formation: Spiritual Friendships – Pastor Hannah Witte - . Like us on or watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - Summary: This week, Pastor Hannah Witte continued our series on Spiritual Transformation by exploring the gift and calling of spiritual friendships. Drawing from Scripture, she reminded us that God created us not only to walk with Him, but also to walk with each other. Over sixty times in the New Testament, believers are exhorted to “one another”—to love, encourage, confess, pray, and bear one another’s burdens. Spiritual friendships are...
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Spiritual Formation: Sabbath
Ann Arbor Community Church Sermon Podcast
Spiritual Formation: Sabbath - Pastor Hannah Witte - . Like us on or watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - Summary: Pastor Hannah continued our Spiritual Transformation series by teaching on Sabbath as God’s generous gift of rest, joy, and worship. Framing Sabbath through Exodus 20:8–11, she emphasized that “holy” means set apart for a special purpose—and that time itself is the first thing called holy in Scripture (Genesis 2:3). Sabbath (from Shabbat) invites us to stop, rest, delight, and enjoy God, not as a legal burden but as wisdom that forms us into a...
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Spiritual Formation: Confession and the Practice of Truth
Ann Arbor Community Church Sermon Podcast
Spiritual Formation: Confession and the Practice of Truth - Jonathan Hurshman - . Like us on or watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - Summary: In this week’s message, Jonathan Hurshman continued our series on spiritual formation by exploring the practice of self-examination and confession. Drawing from 1 John 1:5–10, he reminded us that spiritual disciplines are not ends in themselves but training that prepares us for life in God’s kingdom. Just as scales prepare a musician or physical training equips a hiker, confession opens us to the transforming work of the Spirit not...
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Spiritual Formation: Scripture
Ann Arbor Community Church Sermon Podcast
Spiritual Formation: Scripture – Hebrews 4:12 - Martha Balmer - . Like us on or watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - Summary: In this second sermon of our Spiritual Formation series, Martha Balmer explores how Scripture can serve as a “structure” in our lives that enables the Holy Spirit’s transforming work. Building on Pastor Hannah’s message about surrender, Martha reminds us that transformation is ultimately about union with God—moving from separation to deep intimacy with Him. This is not merely about fixing what is broken, but about responding to...
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Spiritual Formation: Paying Attention
Ann Arbor Community Church Sermon Podcast
Spiritual Formation: Paying Attention – Romans 12 - Pastor Hannah Witte - . Like us on or watch our livestream Sundays @ 10:45am - Summary: In her first sermon as a pastor at Ann Arbor Community Church, Pastor Hannah Witte introduced herself with warmth, humor, and a powerful testimony of God’s transformative grace in her own life. She shared her journey from a non-religious upbringing in Columbus, Ohio to a life devoted to Christ, sparked by an invitation to a youth group and a deep encounter with God’s love. Framing her heart for ministry, she emphasized a longing to see...
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God at Work: When Justice Demands More
Ann Arbor Community Church Sermon Podcast
God at Work: When Justice Demands More – Amos 5 - Rev. Donnell T. Wyche - . Like us on or watch our livestream Sundays @ 10:45am - Summary: In this final sermon of the God at Work in an Unstable World series, Pastor Donnell Wyche unpacks the powerful words of the prophet Amos, challenging listeners to reimagine justice not as courtroom judgment but as the flourishing of God’s creation. Drawing from Amos 5 and other prophetic voices, Pastor Donnell explains that God rejects worship when it is divorced from justice. Instead, true devotion flows from our participation in...
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God at Work: When Hope Defies the Darkness
Ann Arbor Community Church Sermon Podcast
God at Work: When Hope Defies the Darkness - Daniel 1 - Rev. Donnell T. Wyche - . Like us on or watch our livestream Sundays @ 10:45am - Summary: In this sermon, Pastor Donnell explores the power of hope in the face of despair, drawing from the story of Daniel’s exile in Babylon. He opens by acknowledging the pressure many of us feel—externally from our world and internally from fear, anxiety, and the urge to numb ourselves. While these responses may seem natural, Pastor Donnell argues they are ultimately unsustainable. What we truly need, he says, is hope: a deep,...
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God at Work: When Faith Confronts a Broken System
Ann Arbor Community Church Sermon Podcast
God at Work: When Faith Confronts a Broken System – Rev. Donnell T. Wyche - . Like us on or watch our livestream Sundays @ 10:45am - Summary: In this powerful sermon, Pastor Donnell Wyche reflects on Jesus’ critique of the religious system in Mark 12 and the widow who gives all she has. Pastor Donnell challenges the common interpretation of this passage as merely a lesson in sacrificial giving and instead invites listeners to see the widow as a signpost of deep, radical trust in God. While Jesus condemns the corruption of the temple system, he lifts up the widow’s faith—not as a...
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God at Work: The Practice of Compassion in an Unstable World
Ann Arbor Community Church Sermon Podcast
God at Work: The Practice of Compassion in an Unstable World – Rev. Donnell T. Wyche - . Like us on or watch our livestream Sundays @ 10:45am - Summary: In this fourth sermon in the God at Work series, Pastor Donnell Wyche explores Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37) as a call to radical compassion in an unstable world. The message begins with a question posed to Jesus by an expert in the law: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Rather than answering directly, Jesus draws the man into a deeper conversation about love, mercy, and what it...
info_outlineGod at Work: The Practice of Compassion in an Unstable World – Rev. Donnell T. Wyche - a2vc.org. Like us on fb.com/vineyardannarboror watch our livestream Sundays @ 10:45am - vimeo.com/annarborvineyard
Summary:
In this fourth sermon in the God at Work series, Pastor Donnell Wyche explores Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37) as a call to radical compassion in an unstable world. The message begins with a question posed to Jesus by an expert in the law: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Rather than answering directly, Jesus draws the man into a deeper conversation about love, mercy, and what it truly means to live. Pastor Donnell explains how Jesus resists the logic of empire—where worth is earned and compassion is conditional—and instead presents a vision of God as a generous, sufficient, and loving Father who desires mercy, not sacrifice.
Pastor Donnell highlights that Jesus shifts the conversation away from legalism and boundary-setting by telling a better story—a story that bypasses arguments and invites transformation. The Samaritan’s compassion, not his credentials, is the turning point in Jesus’ parable. The priest and the Levite preserve religious appearance, but the Samaritan, moved by compassion, takes costly action. Pastor Donnell emphasizes that the original question “Who is my neighbor?” is left unanswered by Jesus because it’s the wrong question. The better question is, “Will I allow myself to be moved by compassion?”—a question that requires not theological certainty but a heart formed by God’s love.
Bringing the message into the present, Pastor Donnell connects the call to compassion to real-life challenges facing communities today, including Ann Arbor’s land use debates. He reflects on how compassion invites us to see others not as threats or obstacles, but as neighbors who belong. Pastor Donnell encourages listeners to resist the impulse to restrict mercy and instead practice a compassionate presence rooted in God’s grace. In a world that asks us to draw boundaries, Jesus asks us to open our hearts and join our spirits with God’s—to love boldly, generously, and without condition.