What does Tribe teach about spiritual growth?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At Tribe, the teaching on spiritual growth starts with a clear-eyed look at what it actually costs. Brian Hunter has returned to this theme across multiple series, and the answer he keeps landing on is the same: growth requires death. Not a polished adjustment or a tidying up of old habits, but the crucifixion of old mindsets, old patterns, and preconceived notions about who God is and how he moves. As Brian put it, "A new wineskin will cost you." The vessel that holds new wine is only ever produced through death, and that principle is not accidental.
A recurring image in Brian's teaching is the wineskin from Matthew 9 and Luke 5. The wineskin represents a person's capacity to receive and adapt to a new work of the Holy Spirit, and the danger he presses on is this: a person can be genuinely close to Jesus, even someone who already believes, and still be holding a wineskin too brittle to stretch. The Tribe congregation has worked through that warning together, tracing how the crowd in John 8 moved from reasonable questions to picking up stones, and how that escalation is a picture of what an old wineskin does under pressure from new wine. Brian was direct that the temptation for many people in the room is not outright rejection of Jesus but something quieter, adding Jesus to an existing life rather than surrendering the old life entirely. He warned that holding too tightly to old ways puts a person in danger of losing not only what God wants to do next, but even the sweetness of what he has done before.
The teaching on growth also carries a strong thread about God's word as the soil where real change happens. In a series on getting rooted in scripture, Brian walked through Psalm 19:7-14 to show what happens when the word is planted deeply. It revives the soul in every dimension, not just the spiritual. It brings joy that circumstances and people cannot take away. And it gives insight for living that does not always look like winning, but sometimes looks like humility, service, and generosity toward difficult people. The bottom line Brian put on the room: where God's word is planted, a great reward grows.
Taught from Luke 5:33-39 · Matthew 9:14-17 · John 8:31-47 · Psalm 19:7-14 · Mark 10:17-28
The passage taught · 1 Corinthians 9:27
27 but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- June 1, 2025 The Great Reward A Jackson Hole pastor leads his congregation through Psalm 19, exploring what happens when God's word is buried deep in the heart rather than just read from a page.
- December 9, 2024 A Warning About New Wine Brian Hunter warns that clinging to old mindsets when God pours out something new risks losing both the old and the new. A sermon on John 8 and wineskins.
- December 8, 2024 Warnings About New Wine Jesus warns that clinging to old mindsets blocks what God is doing now. This sermon explores what it costs to receive something new from him.
- November 24, 2024 It's Gonna Cost You A sermon on why following Jesus costs more than adding him to your life, told through the story of a rich young ruler and a blind beggar named Bartimaeus.
- November 18, 2024 New Wineskin, New Capacity Brian Hunter walks through John 3 and the story of Nicodemus to ask one pointed question: what is the condition of your wineskin, and is there room for what God is pouring out?
- November 17, 2024 New Wine Deeper Explained A Tribe Church sermon on Jesus's teaching about new wine and wineskins, exploring what it means to stay open to the Holy Spirit's work in your life.
Mentioned along the way
- February 25, 2024 Transformation (Do You Love Me) A young man's rock-bottom moment in Texas led to a real encounter with Jesus. This sermon explores what genuine transformation looks like and what it costs.