The Parables of Jesus - The Bags of Gold
Ann Arbor Community Church Sermon Podcast
Release Date: 11/17/2025
Ann Arbor Community Church Sermon Podcast
Drawn Towards the Center: Freedom, Joy and Boundless Generosity - Pastor Donnell Wyche - . Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - Summary: In the final week of this series, Pastor Hannah invites the congregation to reflect on God’s vision for freedom, joy, and generosity, especially amid grief, injustice, and personal struggle. Grounded in Galatians 5, Pastor Hannah explains that biblical freedom is not doing whatever we want, but being set free from sin, shame, and striving so we can love others in humility and love, as God designed us to. Using the image of a car stuck...
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Drawn Toward the Center: Freedom, Joy and Boundless Generosity - Pastor Donnell Wyche - . Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - Summary:
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Drawn Towards the Center: Desire Opens the Door - Pastor Hannah Witte - . Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - Summary: Pastor Hannah invites the church to rediscover a centered set vision of faith—one where belonging is defined not by meeting specific boundaries, but by the direction of one’s desire toward Jesus. Drawing from the Gospel of Luke, Pastor Hannah traces how Jesus consistently welcomed people who were considered outsiders: tax collectors, political extremists, women, children, sinners, and even the criminal dying beside Him on the cross. Again and again,...
info_outlineAnn Arbor Community Church Sermon Podcast
Drawn Towards the Center (John 12:20–33) - Pastor Donnell Wyche - . Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - Summary: In this second sermon of the 2026 series Moving Towards the Center, Pastor Donnell Wyche invites the congregation to reflect on faith in a chaotic and fear-filled world. Building on the Epiphany theme of attentiveness, he reminds listeners that the Spirit of God does not operate through fear or coercion, but through presence, desire, and attraction. Gathering together, he says, is itself an act of resistance to isolation and despair, a declaration that we are not...
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Joining God’s Unfolding Story ( Matthew 2:1–12) - Pastor Donnell Wyche - . Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - Summary: Pastor Donnell Wyche launches a new year sermon series by inviting the church to “join God’s unfolding story,” beginning with the Epiphany account of the Magi in Matthew 2:1–12. The Magi notice a light breaking into the ordinary pattern of the world and choose to follow it, even without a map, a timeline, or certainty about where it will lead. Their journey becomes a picture of faith as attentiveness—learning to recognize where God is already at work...
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Christmas Eve - The Power of Our "Yes" - Pastor Hannah Witte - . Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - Summary: In this Christmas message, Pastor Hannah walks listeners through Luke 2, inviting us to slow down and step into the wonder of the first Christmas night. She highlights how God enters the world not through power or prestige, but by interrupting ordinary lives—Mary, Joseph, and later the shepherds—with an unexpected invitation to trust Him. Though none of them seek the spotlight or have the accolades the world celebrates, each responds with a simple but courageous...
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Advent Week Four - Jonathan Hurshman - . Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am -
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Advent Week Three - Pastor Donnell Wyche - . Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am -
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Advent Week Two - Pastor Donnell Wyche - . Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am -
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Advent Week One: A Genealogy of Hope - Pastor Hannah Witte - . Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - Summary: Pastor Hannah introduces Advent as a season of waiting and reflection, inviting the congregation to remember Jesus’ first coming and anticipate his return. This leads into the reading of Matthew 1, emphasizing that the genealogy is an origin story rich with meaning rather than a list to skip. Pastor Hannah highlights three themes in Jesus’ lineage: it is multi-ethnic, featuring women like Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba; it is full of broken yet beautiful...
info_outlineThe Parables of Jesus: The Bags of Gold - Pastor Hannah Witte - a2vc.org. Like us on fb.com/vineyardannarboror watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborvineyard
Summary:
In this week’s message from Ann Arbor Community Church, Pastor Hannah invites listeners to enter into Jesus’ parable of the bags of gold from Matthew 25:14-30 with fresh eyes.
Pastor Hannah helps listeners see that the story isn’t primarily about productivity or comparison, but about faithfulness and trust in the character of the master—who represents Jesus. She explains that each servant received what they could handle, revealing a master who knows, equips, and desires their flourishing. The tragedy of the third servant, she notes, is not that he failed to produce enough, but that he misunderstood the master’s heart—believing him to be harsh rather than generous.
Ultimately, Pastor Hannah calls the community to remember the truth of who Jesus is: generous, patient, and good—even as he faced betrayal and death. She challenges listeners to examine what story they'll believe about God.. As we choose to trust God’s goodness and invest what God's given us with faithfulness, we step into deeper joy and partnership with God. The invitation, Hannah concludes, is to hold fast to the true story—that God sees us, loves us, and wants to share His life with us—until the day we hear those words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”