Ann Arbor Community Church Sermon Podcast

Ann Arbor Community Church is a multi-ethnic, multi-generational Christian community rooted in a centered-set approach to faith. We blend the vibrant faith of the historic Christian creeds with a thoughtful, engaged response to today’s culture. Whether you are filled with faith, full of questions, or somewhere in between, you belong here. https://a2communitychurch.org

Migrant Journeys: Mary, Joseph and Jesus 07/13/2026

Migrant Journeys: The Syrophoenician Woman 07/06/2026

Migrant Journeys: The Syrophoenician Woman Migrant Journeys: The Syrophoenician Woman - Pastor Donnell T. Wyche - . Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - Summary: This sermon continues the Migrant Journeys series by examining Jesus’ encounter with the Syrophoenician woman in Mark 7:24–30 and Matthew 15:21–28. Unlike the previous stories in the series, the movement is reversed: Jesus is the one who crosses into Gentile territory, becoming the stranger, while the woman is at home in her own land. Yet despite being on her own soil, she must cross ethnic, religious, political, and gender barriers simply to stand before Jesus and plead for the life of her daughter. The sermon should invite the congregation to see the story through her eyes rather than through the perspective of the disciples. The sermon should resist the temptation to soften or explain away Jesus’ difficult words. Instead, it should linger in the tension of the passage, recognizing the painful reality of exclusion and dehumanization that immigrants, refugees, and marginalized people have experienced throughout history. The Syrophoenician woman refuses to accept the boundaries placed around her dignity. With remarkable courage and wisdom, she answers Jesus’ metaphor with one of her own, and Jesus receives her words, praises her faith, heals her daughter, and demonstrates that the kingdom of God is breaking beyond the boundaries people had assumed were permanent. The sermon should conclude by turning the question toward the church today. Rather than asking only what this woman teaches us about faith, it should ask where we still draw lines that Christ has already erased. Connecting Isaiah’s vision of God’s house for all peoples, Paul’s declaration that Christ has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, and Jesus’ teaching that welcoming the stranger is welcoming Christ himself, the sermon should call the congregation to repentance, hospitality, and courageous love. The final invitation should leave listeners reflecting on a single question: Where have I been drawing a line that Jesus is asking me to let go of, and whose dignity is waiting on the other side of it? /episode/index/show/a2vineyard/id/41976355

Migrant Journeys: Naomi and Ruth 06/29/2026

Migrant Journeys: Joseph 06/22/2026

Migrant Journeys: Hagar 06/15/2026

Migrant Journeys: Abraham and Sarah 06/08/2026

Anchored: Life at the Center - United 05/18/2026

Anchored: Resting in Prayer 05/11/2026

Anchored: Generous Witnesses 05/04/2026

Anchored: Becoming Like Christ 04/27/2026

Anchored: Steeped in Scripture 04/20/2026

Anchored: Rooted In Grace 04/13/2026

Jesus' Enduring Questions - Simon, Son of John, Do You Love Me? 04/06/2026

Jesus' Enduring Questions - What Shall I Say? 03/30/2026

Jesus' Enduring Questions: Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? 03/23/2026

Jesus' Enduring Questions: Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? Jesus' Enduring Questions - Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not what I say? - Pastor Donnell T. Wyche - . Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - Summary: We've been exploring Jesus' penetrating questions throughout this series, the way he comes to us not first with answers, but with inquiries that expose our hearts. Like God in the garden, moving toward Adam when Adam was hiding, Jesus approaches us with questions that give us a clear chance to practice honesty and find intimacy with him. And today, he asks one of the most unsettling questions in the Gospels: "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?" Let's sit with this for a moment, because it's more layered than it first appears. The repetition, kyrios, kyrios, carries both authority and intimacy. This isn't formal, liturgical language. It is personal, even desperate. These aren't outsiders Jesus is addressing. These are people who know him, claim him, call on him. They show up. They listen. They use all the right words. And their words are correct. That is the thing we need to understand. Jesus isn't saying their theology is wrong. Their confession, "You are Lord," is exactly right. They have what the early church would come to call orthodoxy, right belief. They know who Jesus is. They can name it. They can sing it. They can say it with conviction, even with tears. But Jesus sees something missing. The word he uses for "do," poieite, is present tense, ongoing, habitual action. He is not asking for one dramatic moment of obedience. He is asking about the shape of a life. He is asking about orthopraxis, right practice, consistent behavior that flows from what we say we believe. And here is the tension Jesus is naming, one of the deepest struggles of the spiritual life. It is entirely possible to believe the right things and not live them. You can sing "Jesus is Lord" on Sunday and ignore him on Monday. You can feel moved in worship and remain unchanged in your relationships. You can be right about Jesus and still resist him. Now watch what Jesus does next. He does not give a lecture. He tells a story about two builders. And do not miss this. Both builders hear his words. Both are in the room. Both are part of the community. Both are building something with their lives. This is not a story about believers and unbelievers. It is a story about two kinds of disciples. The first builder comes, hears, and puts Jesus' words into practice. The Greek word for "comes," erchomenos, suggests ongoing relationship, not occasional visits. This person is in consistent, intentional connection with Jesus. And they dig down deep, eskapsen, costly, intentional work. They go beneath the surface, beneath what is convenient, beneath what is quick, and they lay their foundation on rock. The second builder hears the same words. Maybe they are even taking notes or sharing insights afterward. Maybe they feel inspired in the moment. But they do not dig. They build on the surface. They go with what is convenient. The same words are heard, the same houses are built, but the outcomes are completely different when the storm hits. So what is the difference? It is not simply doing more religious activities or trying harder. The difference is something deeper than behavior. It is what I would call orthopathy, right heart. Orthopathy is the kind of heart that actually wants to dig. Orthodoxy says, "Jesus is Lord." Orthopraxis says, "So I live differently." Orthopathy says, "I actually want to follow him." It is the posture of the heart that connects belief to action. It is the affection, the reverence, the longing for God that makes obedience more than duty. It makes it response. It is why one builder digs and the other does not. Not because one has more willpower, but because one has been captured by the reality of who Jesus is. The builder who digs deep is not just more disciplined. They are more oriented. Their love for Jesus makes the digging worth it. Their reverence for his words makes obedience feel like life rather than obligation. The builder who stays on the surface still has intact orthodoxy. They can say "Lord, Lord" and mean it in the moment. But something in the heart has not caught up to the confession. The belief is real, but it has not gone deep enough to reshape how they live. And this is where Jesus' story becomes urgent, because he does not say if the storms come. He says when. The storm might look like a diagnosis you did not expect, a relationship that fractures, a moment when your faith feels thin, or a season where what you believed does not seem to hold. Both houses face the same storm. One stands, and one collapses completely. The storm does not create the problem. It reveals what was already true about the foundation. This is why the integration of orthodoxy, orthopraxis, and orthopathy matters so much. This is not a theological exercise. It is storm preparation. What sustains you is not just what you believe about Jesus, and not just your habits of obedience, but whether your whole self, mind, heart, and life, has been built on the rock of who he is. Now let me be clear, because this can start to sound like a spiritual performance review, and that is not what Jesus is doing. Remember the context. Jesus has just been teaching about God's radical, indiscriminate grace, blessing the poor, the hungry, and those who mourn. He has taught us to love enemies, to not judge others, and to deal with the log in our own eye before the speck in someone else's. This is not legalism. This is love. The foundation of rock is not our moral achievement. The foundation is Jesus himself, the solid ground of God's unchanging love for us in Christ. We do not dig deep to earn his affection. We dig deep because of his affection. Orthopathy, right heart, is not something we manufacture through effort. It is something the Spirit cultivates in us as we remain connected to Jesus. And that is the good news inside this challenging passage. The rock is already there. You do not have to go find it. Jesus is inviting you to build on what is already solid, his word, his character, his faithfulness. The digging is simply clearing away the sand we have been building on instead. From that secure foundation, we can risk honesty. We can acknowledge the gap between our confession and our practice without drowning in shame, because our identity is not based on our consistency. It is based on his faithfulness. So Jesus' question stands before us today. Why do you call me "Lord, Lord," and do not do what I say? It is not an accusation. It is an invitation. Maybe your orthodoxy is strong, but your orthopraxis has drifted. You know what is true, but you have not been living it. That is not condemnation. That is the starting place for grace. Maybe your practices are there, but your heart has gone cold. The doing is present, but the delight is missing. Jesus wants to meet you there too. Or maybe you just feel the gap, the exhausting space between who you say you are and how you actually show up. Jesus is not asking for instant perfection. He is asking for honesty and a willingness to start digging. Digging might look like forgiving someone you have been avoiding. It might look like telling the truth where you have been managing appearances. It might look like returning to prayer, not out of obligation, but to reconnect your heart. The rock is already there. You do not have to find it. You just have to decide what you are going to build your life on. /episode/index/show/a2vineyard/id/40592640

Jesus' Enduring Questions - Who Do You Say I Am? 03/16/2026

Jesus' Enduring Questions - What Do You Have? 03/09/2026

Jesus' Enduring Questions - Why Are You So Afraid? 03/02/2026

Jesus' Enduring Questions - What Do You Want? 02/23/2026

Preparing for Lent: Returning to God 02/16/2026

The Wilderness Between 02/09/2026

Drawn Towards the Center: Freedom, Joy and Boundless Generosity 02/02/2026

Drawn Towards the Center: Learning to Belong Across Our Differences 01/26/2026

Drawn Towards the Center: Desire Opens the Door 01/19/2026

Drawn Towards the Center 01/12/2026

Drawn Towards the Center 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 alone as God continues to unfold a larger story of grace, belonging, and transformation. Turning to John 12:20–33, Pastor Donnell centers the sermon on Jesus’ words, “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.” He highlights the significance of the Greeks—outsiders—who come simply saying, “We wish to see Jesus.” Their honest desire becomes a sign that God’s work is expanding beyond insiders and boundaries. Jesus does not offer them easy answers or rigid rules; instead, he orients them toward himself. Faith, Pastor Donnell explains, is not about mastering ideas or guarding lines, but about being drawn into relationship with the living Christ who awakens desire rather than enforcing compliance. The sermon culminates in a vision of “centered faith”: a life shaped not by fear of crossing boundaries, but by movement toward Jesus over time. Pastor Donnell challenges listeners to shift the core question of faith from “Am I good enough?” to “What direction is my life heading?” Growth, he reminds us, is uneven and imperfect, but faithfulness is found in leaning forward, trusting that Christ is strong enough, loving enough, and alive enough to draw us closer. The invitation is simple and hopeful: you do not have to be finished, certain, or complete—only willing to move toward the center. /episode/index/show/a2vineyard/id/39700485

Joining God's Unfolding Story 01/05/2026

Christmas Eve - The Power of Our "Yes" 12/25/2025

Advent Week Four 12/22/2025

Advent Week Three 12/15/2025

Advent Week Two 12/08/2025

Ann Arbor Community Church Sermon Podcast

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