Episodes
14 hours ago
14 hours ago
Sermon #602
It's often been said that we are all children of God, every one of us in humanity's fold. But this simply isn't true. John's gospel tells us that to those who receive Jesus, who believe on his name, God gave the right to become sons and daughters. So how can we know if we are truly regenerated, reborn into the family of God, adopted as sons and daughters of God? It is through our association with God's attributes, especially his righteousness. Apart from Christ we cannot practice righteousness, but only practice sin. But once we are adopted, we practice righteousness, though we may still fall to sin. We wonder if we have lost our salvation because we dip our toes into the pool of unrighteousness, but God's word assures us that it's those who practice lawlessness as a general rule that are lost.
1 John 2:28-3:10
Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on April 14, 2024
S.D.G.
2 days ago
2 days ago
Sermon #443
The Greek word "agape" describes a higher form of love. It is a love that is completely selfless and giving, expecting nothing in return, and it is the kind of love that God shows to us in Jesus Christ. Since agape is a Godly form of love, it stands to reason that the world at large does not and cannot conceptualize this kind of love. Homer used the word only ten times in his writings; Euripides only thrice. Yet the word "agape" appears in the New Testament 320 times, and 27 times it appears in this short passage from John's letter. It seems important to the apostles and to Jesus, and so agape ought to be important to contemporary followers of Christ as well.
1 John 4:7-21
Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on May 2, 2021 (Originally published May 17, 2021)
S.D.G.
Sunday Apr 21, 2024
S8E57: Resurrection Boldness (Living the Resurrection pt. 5)
Sunday Apr 21, 2024
Sunday Apr 21, 2024
Sermon #442
Those who experienced the resurrection first-hand (the apostles, and the many eyewitnesses to Jesus' resurrection as reported by Paul) had a certain boldness to their evangelism. After all, they had seen the resurrected Jesus in the flesh. We who have received their eyewitness accounts can also experience this boldness when it comes to conviction of sin. While the Spirit within us convicts us of sin when we give into temptation, God's Spirit never condemns us - that condemnation was poured out on Jesus at the cross in our place. So we have boldness before God because our hearts do not condemn us. This is what John teaches us in his letter today.
1 John 3:16-24
Recorded at Hudson UMC on April 25, 2021 (Originally published on May 4, 2021)
S.D.G.
Sunday Apr 21, 2024
Lectionary Readings for Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year B
Sunday Apr 21, 2024
Sunday Apr 21, 2024
April 21, 2024
First Lesson: Acts 4:5-12
Psalter: Psalm 23
Epistle Lesson: 1 John 3:16-24
Gospel Lesson: John 10:11-18
Scripture quotations from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
S.D.G.
Thursday Apr 18, 2024
S8E51: Turn Weeping to Joy (Living the Resurrection pt. 2)
Thursday Apr 18, 2024
Thursday Apr 18, 2024
Sermon #439
As Christians we have a temptation to say that we ought not to mourn in times of sadness. Yet there is much biblical evidence that mourning is a proper response to sad events, such as the death of a loved one. The disciples, who heard Jesus' teaching about his own death and resurrection, still mourned when he was killed on the cross. But their mourning was turned to joy when they encountered the risen Christ. What we see in today's teaching from Easter Sunday 2021 is that Christ turns our mourning to joy when he speaks our name.
John 20:1-18
Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on April 4, 2021 (Originally published on April 8, 2021)
S.D.G.
Monday Apr 15, 2024
S11E40: From the Beginning (Agape: The Love of God pt. 1)
Monday Apr 15, 2024
Monday Apr 15, 2024
Sermon #601
We're beginning a new series for the season of Easter based in the first general epistle of John. The purpose of John's letter was to dispute the twin heresies of Docetism and Gnosticism that was rising in the First Century church. Using statements that contrast dark and light, righteousness and sin, John systematically presents a case that shows that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all (1:5). He also addresses the Gnostic assertion that some secret knowledge is required for salvation, saying that all that is necessary is repentance and faith. He assures his readers that when we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from all iniquity (1:8). All this is made manifest in the work and person of Jesus Christ, the personification of God's love to the world. And the word that we use to describe this perfect love is the Greek word Agape. This will be the focus of our series and it is the message that we receive this day.
1 John 1:1-2:2
Recorded at Hudson UMC on April 7, 2024
S.D.G.
Sunday Apr 14, 2024
S8E54: Resurrection Hope (Living the Resurrection pt. 4)
Sunday Apr 14, 2024
Sunday Apr 14, 2024
Sermon #441
What is hope? The worldly definition is that hope is a desire for something as yet unfulfilled. The Christian definition of hope is inextricably tied to the promises of God, that he has fulfilled those promises in the past and will fulfill them again in the future. That is our hope, and it was the hope of the early disciples who continued to proclaim the resurrection of Jesus because they had seen it with their own eyes. Their hope was in the past fulfillment of Jesus' words, that he must be betrayed, killed, and raised to life again on the third day. When that promise was fulfilled, their faith was solidified in the hope that his promise to prepare a place for us would likewise be realized.
1 John 3:1-7
Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on April 18, 2021 (Originally published April 23, 2021)
S.D.G.
Sunday Apr 14, 2024
Lectionary Readings for Third Sunday of Easter, Year B
Sunday Apr 14, 2024
Sunday Apr 14, 2024
April 14, 2024
First Lesson: Acts 3:12-19
Psalter: Psalm 4
Epistle Lesson: 1 John 3:1-7
Gospel Lesson: Luke 24:36b-48
Scripture quotations from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
S.D.G.
Thursday Apr 04, 2024
S8E50: Raised on the Third Day (Living the Resurrection pt. 1)
Thursday Apr 04, 2024
Thursday Apr 04, 2024
Sermon #438
Easter Sunday is the day when we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and so it seems fitting to focus on the resurrection of Jesus throughout the Easter Season. The resurrection is what gives our faith validity. Without the resurrection, Jesus was merely a good teacher (although how good could he be, since he claimed to be the Son of God?). The resurrection is the receipt for the debt that Jesus paid for us on the cross. It puts the final stamp of approval on his ministry, and proves to the world who he is - the second person of the Trinity and seated at the right hand of God the Father. Jesus' death and resurrection is the good news, and as Paul tells us in his letter to the church in Corinth, we can believe in the resurrection because there were so many eyewitnesses. Ours is indeed a faith based in evidence.
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Recorded at Hudson UMC Cemetery on April 4, 2021 (Originally published on April 6, 2021)
View episode on YouTube
S.D.G.
Monday Apr 01, 2024
S11E39: Of First Importance (Easter 2024)
Monday Apr 01, 2024
Monday Apr 01, 2024
Sermon #600
Why were Jesus' followers so willing to die for the truth of the resurrection? Why was the Christian Sabbath shifted from the seventh day to the first day of the week? Why did Paul insist that believing in the resurrection was of utmost importance? On this Easter Sunday (2024) we take a look at a letter that Paul wrote to the church in Corinth in 54 AD, and he stresses that the knowledge of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the good news of the gospel, and by it we who are believers are being saved. It's not some throwaway doctrine that is unnecessary on this side of the Enlightenment, when many religious leaders are embarassed by the miracles of Jesus. The resurrection is THE paramount miracle of Jesus, that he died and rose again according to the scriptures, and in fact everything we believe about Jesus Christ depends on the truth of the resurrection.
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on March 31, 2024
S.D.G.