Guerrilla Christianity

S7E55: Awakening to Baptism (Awakening/Becoming pt. 3, Easter 2017)

Sermon #224

Baptism is our entry into the Christian faith. It is often described as an outward sign of an inward reality, that we have died to Sin and are reborn in the Spirit. Though Baptism had been, since its earliest observance in the Christian church, sacramental in nature, after the Protestant Reformation it was often relegated to a ritual most commonly associated with the Catholic church, at least as far as the baptism of children is concerned. Yet Christ said that He is the gate (in our reading in John today), and that all who enter come through Him. So the sacramental nature of Baptism, the real presence of God through the Holy Spirit, has been largely restored at least in the Methodist church since the publishing of the 1964 Methodist Hymnal in which the ritual of Baptism is presented. Today we Methodists recognize the presence of God's Spirit in the act of Baptism and observe it as a holy sacrament.

John 10:1-10

Recorded at Hudson UMC on May 7, 2017 (Originally published May 6, 2020)

S.D.G.

S7E56: Abundant Life (Easter 2014)

Sermon #55

In this Mother's Day message from 2014, we take a look at the mothers and the mother-figures in our lives. From our earliest development, the first voice we hear is our mother's voice (in the womb). When we are born and brand-new, we know our mother's voice because that is what we heard. And we are comforted because we know that this voice we can trust to care for us. In the same way, Jesus tells us from the passage in John that the sheep know his voice and vollow him. All the other religions of the world tell us what we must do for God (or gods) but only Christianity demonstrates God's love toward us in what He has done for us in Jesus Christ. We hear His voice and we follow Him because we trust in Him. We do not follow the voice of strangers. And ultimately it is He that gives us life abundantly, because of His great love for us.

John 10:1-10

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on May 11, 2014 (Originally published May 8, 2020).

S.D.G.

S10E49: The Example of Suffering (A Living Hope pt. 3)

Sermon #550

Bearing in mind that this letter is written to the persecuted church, we face a truth that all Christians throughout the centuries have had to face: why do we suffer when we remain true to God?  Those who are faithful to God have suffered, and there is evidence recorded for us in the pages of the Old and New Testaments of such suffering.  The world is opposed to God and, by extension, to God’s people.  Nowhere is this more plainly seen than in the suffering that Christ endured for us.  After all, this was God in the flesh bearing our pain for us.

Peter reaches back into the Old Testament and the prophecy of Isaiah chapters 52-53, where the coming Messiah is portrayed as the suffering servant.  It would behoove us as well to read this prophetic vision (Isaiah 52:13-53:12) to draw parallels between Isaiah’s suffering servant and Jesus Christ.  Jesus’ suffering, Peter tells us, is an example of how we are to endure for good.  Bearing punishment we deserve is just; bearing punishment we do not deserve in the name of righteousness is a credit to us and a witness to the world.

1 Peter 2:19-25

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on April 30, 2023

S.D.G.

S7E54: The Generous Heart (What Are You Doing? pt. 3)

Sermon #392

In the early Church we see an example of how we as Christians ought to respond to the good news that Jesus Christ rescued us from sin and death. It was a natural response for the first Christians to be extremely generous with their resources, because they recognized that they had been given everything by God's hand, and they realized that none of it was theirs to begin with. In today's church we tend to be quite tight-fisted when it comes to the notion of giving, but if we follow the esample of the earliest Christians we ought to see that our response should be as theirs was - we who have been given much ought also to give in return.

Acts 2:42-47

Recoorded at Hudson UMC on May 3, 2020 (Originally published May 4, 2020)

S.D.G.

Lectionary Readings for Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year A

April 30, 2023

First Lesson: Acts 2:42-47

Psalter: Psalm 23

Epistle Lesson: 1 Peter 2:19-25

Gospel Lesson: John 10:1-10

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.

S7E53: Awakening to Table (Awakening/Becoming pt. 2, Easter 2017)

Sermon #223

One of the major themes of the account of the disciples on the road to Emmaus is that Christ is revealed to them in the breaking of bread, which correlates to the experience we have when we receive Communion. All throughout the gospel accounts we see the picture of Jesus taking, and blessing, and breaking, and giving. We, too, are taken by Christ and blessed for our ministry, then broken (separated for various ministries) and given (to the world) so that all the world can be blessed in us, and in the presence of Christ. Christ's very real presence is in the act of receiving Communion, and therefore it ought to be something that we do each time we are gathered together in the name of Christ.

Luke 24:13-35

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on April 30, 2017 (Originally published April 29, 2020)

S.D.G.

S9E23: Scriptural Christianity (Wesley’s Standard Sermons #4)

The text of Wesley's sermon was so incendiary, preached before the students and administration of Oxford, that when he published it as a pamphlet, he included the following disclaimer: "It was not my design, when I wrote, ever to print the latter part of the following Sermon: But the false and scurrilous accounts of it which have been published, almost in every corner of the nation, constrain me to publish the whole, just as it was preached; that men of reason may judge for themselves."  Indeed, Wesley points to the first century Church as the model of Christianity as recorded in the book of Acts, and then asks the question: Is there indeed any nation on earth that can call itself a Christian nation?  These words, though archaic in style, are just as relevant for our society today.  And so let this sermon serve as a call to righteousness, that we might once again learn the model of scriptural Christianity.

Edited anonymously at the Memorial University of Newfoundland with corrections and other modifications by Ryan Danker and George Lyons of Northwest Nazarene University.

Copyright 1999 by the Wesley Center for Applied Theology. Text may be freely used for personal or scholarly purposes or mirrored on other web sites, provided this notice is left intact. Any use of this material for commercial purposes of any kind is strictly forbidden without the express permission of the Wesley Center at Northwest Nazarene University, Nampa, ID 83686. Contact the Webmaster for permission.

Ezekiel 33:4; Acts 4:31

Recorded on April 18, 2023

Scriptural Christianity - Full sermon text

Commentary by Bob Kaylor on Wednesdays with Wesley

S.D.G.

 

S10E47: Living and Enduring (A Living Hope pt. 2)

Sermon #549

How can we know God?  God is revealed to us in the Holy Bible.  As Christians, we believe that the Bible is the word of God, that it is inspired or breathed out by God (2 Timothy 3:16).  So if we are to believe that the Bible is the very verbal, plenary, inerrant and infallible word of God, then we had better hope that the word comes to us accurately.

The Bible is the most verified and documented of any ancient document, by a longshot.  So when Peter describes the word of God as “living and enduring,” he is speaking truth down through the ages.  Perhaps Peter never thought that his epistle would be preserved as Scripture, and yet we have this letter for us two thousand years later.  God has supernaturally preserved this document, because it truly is the very word of God.  And that is what gives us a living hope, because the promises held within are yes and amen.

1 Peter 1:17-23

Recorded at Hudson UMC on April 23, 2023

S.D.G.

S7E52: Telling Your Story (What Are You Doing? pt. 2)

Sermon #391

This week as we continue our series based on the five promises we make when we join the local church, we focus on our witness. Telling people about Jesus is something we are all expected to do as followers of Christ, yet so few of us ever share our faith. We think we don't know enough about the Bible to weather the fierce debate that will ensue over whether God exists or who Jesus really is. Yet all we really have to do is to tell our story. We don't have to make something up or make grand arguments to convince someone of the truth - that Jesus Christ died for our sins, that He rose again on the third day, and that He lives and reigns with God the Father and offers us eternal life in His name. That's the good news! And it starts with just telling our own story, because that is what He has done for us.

Luke 24:13-35

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on April 26, 2020 (Originally published April 27, 2020)

S.D.G.

Lectionary Readings for Third Sunday of Easter, Year A

April 23, 2023

First Lesson: Acts 2:14a, 36-41

Psalter: Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19

Epistle Lesson: 1 Peter 1:17-23

Gospel Lesson: Luke 24:13-35

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.