Red Rocks Church Weekend Message: "We Can't Keep Quiet"

Podcast: Red Rocks Church Weekend Messages
Date: September 13, 2025

Episode Overview

This emotional and passionate weekend message from Lead Pastor at Red Rocks Church directly addresses recent local and national tragedies, the heaviness many feel in their hearts, and what it means to truly be "the church" amid chaos and division. Leaning into the ongoing "Rowdy Church" series, the message centers on moving beyond hate, embracing the transforming power of Jesus, and refusing to stay silent in the face of darkness. The church is called to be a place of hope, refuge, and action.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Responding to Tragedy and Division

[00:12]

• The pastor openly processes a week heavy with heartbreaking events: mass shootings, public violence, and the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
• He encourages the congregation to resist adding to hate and division, even when outrage is justified.
• The 9/11 anniversary is mentioned as another layer of collective sorrow.

Quote:
"I'm pissed off. I'll be honest. Red Rocks Church. Can we be a place where we're not going to put gas on the fire of hate? Can we be a place of love, humility, repentance?...Our world is broken. We know that the hope is Jesus. The one and only hope is Jesus." — Lead Pastor [02:00]

2. The Church’s Calling and the Power of the Holy Spirit

Acts 1: The Mission of the Church
[05:10]

• Reference to Acts 1 and Jesus' promise that His followers will receive power from the Holy Spirit to be witnesses "to the ends of the earth."
• Emphasis that "you're the plan"—God chooses to use people, despite their flaws, to accomplish His mission.
• The pastor asks: why would God partner with us, imperfect as we are? His conclusion: "You're my plan."

Quote:
"You want to fight back against the enemy? You turn around and you go, share what I've done in your life with somebody else. In love. Not hate, not judgment. In love, in the fruits of the Spirit." — Lead Pastor [07:20]

• Calls for disagreements to be rooted in the fruits of the Spirit (peace, love, joy, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, self-control).
• Being a "rowdy church" means radical inclusivity and love, not uniformity.

3. Hope Amid Suffering

[15:10]

• Encouragement to anyone feeling "depressed, anxious, hopeless, angry, overwhelmed, scared"—they are in the right place.
• Psalm 46 is quoted: "God is our refuge and our strength, an ever present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear."
• The paradox of Christianity: Jesus promises both abundant life and trouble, and both can coexist.

Quote:
"While we're surprised, God's not. When you're the most scared, when you're the most mad, when you're the most confused...I will be your refuge and I will be your strength. And you can have both at the same time." — Lead Pastor [16:56]

• Story shared of opening the church for prayer during the week after tragedy, creating space for the hurting.

4. Church Is Not a Building—It’s a People on Mission

[22:00]

• The pastor reminds the congregation that "we do not come to the church; we are the church."
• The call to action: don't keep the hope and love of Jesus inside church walls.
• God's plan is for Spirit-filled Christians to go into their world—schools, offices, neighborhoods—to be witnesses.

Quote:
"If we're gonna be a rowdy church, we can't just be loud in here. We gotta be willing to let church leave the building because there's people at your school...everywhere that God has given you space right now." — Lead Pastor [28:10]

• Admits his own hesitation to share faith out of awkwardness, encourages immediacy in sharing Jesus, emphasizing the urgency of "today is the day of salvation."

5. God’s Comfort Enables Us to Comfort Others

[33:30]

• Cites 2 Corinthians 1:3 — God comforts us so we can comfort others.
• The church's story, especially in seasons of pain, is to receive from God and then actively offer comfort and hope to the hurting around us.

Quote:
"We're gonna run to him as a refuge...he's going to be our comforter, and he's going to give us strength, and we're going to turn around, and before you know it, you're going to walk into your school, you're going to walk into your office...I'm going to take the comfort that he gave me and I'm going to go share it with somebody who's hurting. Because I'm the plan." — Lead Pastor [34:05]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "We're built different. You put your faith in Jesus, His Spirit takes over, starts to change things. You can start to live in ways you never knew you could. And from that moment on, you're built different." — Lead Pastor [09:00]

• "Can we disagree with the fruits of the Spirit? Can we post with the fruits of the Spirit? Can we respond with peace and love and joy and patience and goodness and kindness and gentleness and self control? That's who we're called to be. That's how we make some noise for God's kingdom." — Lead Pastor [08:13]

• "You are the plan. And you can do this because he's going with us. He'll empower us and he'll speak through us. And we can not just talk about changing the world, Red Rocks, but we'll take this thing out of the building and we'll actually go change the world." — Lead Pastor [36:50]

• Emotional and honest moments: The pastor admits to nearly crying multiple times, struggling through the message ("Do I blow my nose publicly or try to hide this or what do we do?"), highlighting the rawness and vulnerability of the gathering [06:55].

Worship & Prayer

Segments:

• [11:28 – 14:50] Worship leader leads songs echoing the anticipated return of Jesus:
  • “Prepare the way, the King is coming…”
  • “No fear of what’s to come. I hope in the one who said that it is done.”
• [14:41] Lead Pastor prays for the congregation: for grace, strength, mercy, and help to lead with love and humility.
• Calls for those hurting to raise a hand for prayer [38:45], and for those wishing to commit to Jesus or seek forgiveness to do so boldly and immediately.

Final Reflections & Calls to Action

• [37:10] Invitation for all to step forward, pray, lock arms, and worship—making the church a true refuge.
• [38:15] Challenge for listeners to not let pride hold them back from seeking/praying for comfort.
• Encourages all to leave church gatherings empowered to comfort others and boldly share what Jesus has done for them.

Structure & Flow Recap

• Emotional opening and contextual framing (recent violence, division).
• Biblical teaching rooted in Acts 1, Psalms, Matthew, and 2 Corinthians.
• Honest reflection, personal stories of hesitation, and comfort found in Jesus.
• Worship music reinforcing hope and awaiting Christ’s return.
• Strong calls for prayer, repentance, and evangelistic action.

For Listeners Who Missed It

This episode is an urgent, heartfelt call to be the church in dark times: to resist the temptation to add to division, to receive the power and comfort of the Holy Spirit, and to actively and lovingly share the hope of Jesus with a hurting world. The message is saturated with real-life heartbreak, honest struggle, and biblical clarity—and insists that now, more than ever, “we can’t keep quiet.”