Guerrilla Christianity

June 11, 2023

Old Testament: Genesis 12:1-9

Psalter: Psalm 33:1-12

Epistle Lesson: Romans 4:13-25

Gospel Lesson: Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

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.

Sermon #232

Many Christians don't like to admit it or even think about it, but we are in a spiritual battle for our very souls. Spiritual warfare is not physical and doesn't call for physical protection but spiritual armor. In today's reading from Ephesians, Paul describes how the believer is to put on the full armor of God, and we break down what each piece does in the life of the believer. This is part one of a two-part message recorded at Pitman Grove Camp Meeting on July 2, 2017.

Ephesians 6:10-20

Recorded at Pitman Grove Camp Meeting, July 2, 2017 (Originally published July 5, 2017)

S.D.G.

Sermon #60

Who is God in three persons? In this message from 2014 I attempt for the first time in my ministry to tackle this deep and difficult question. The Christian doctrine of the Trinity is difficult to grasp for many, but it helps us to understand it better if we think about our relationship with a three-personal God, and the three types of Grace that John Wesley spoke of. God the Father loves us before we know who He is; that is His "prevenient" grace. God the Son reconciles us to the Father and pays the debt for our sin; that is His "justifying" grace. God the Holy Spirit dwells in and with us to make us more like Jesus day by day; that is His "sanctifying" grace. On this Father's Day in 2014, we look at the first Person of the Godhead, God the Father, and how He invites us into relationship with Him so that we may cry out "Abba, Father." And by looking at our own relationship with God the Father as our example, we who are fathers can learn from Him how to be better fathers to our children here on earth.

Matthew 28:16-20

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on June 15, 2014 (Originally published June 2, 2020)

S.D.G.

Sermon #555

We're beginning a new series for the Summer months called "According to Matthew" that will keep us in Matthew's Gospel at least until the end of August.  Looking back on 10 summers of preaching series, I have never stayed in the Gospel track of the Lectionary and so this Summer we are doing just that.  Today we begin at the end of Matthew's Gospel on this Trinity Sunday, and we look at the Great Commission.  This is the mission of the church, and yet today very few Christians live it out as their own personal mission.  How can we live out the Great Commission today?  Making disciples through baptism and teaching.  And if that seems too daunting a task, we are promised by Christ that he will be with us in our obedience.

Matthew 28:16-20

Recorded at Hudson UMC on June 4, 2023

Watch on YouTube

S.D.G.

Sermon #397

On this Trinity Sunday (2020) we hear the witness of Scripture as it testifies to the complexity and the fullness of the Godhead, three in one (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). We hear from the creation account in Genesis and in John's gospel how that all three persons of the Trinity were present and active in the act of creation. We hear the witness of Jesus in the Great Commission and in the Farewell Discourse in John's Gospel his own relationship with God the Father and God the Spirit, and his unique position within the Godhead as God the Son. We hear the witness of early Christian fathers as they toil and wrestle with the theology of the tri-unity of God in His fullness. it is a complex and difficult doctrine but one that points to the uniqueness of the Christian understanding of God.

Genesis 1:1-2:4a
Psalm 8
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Matthew 28:16-20

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on June 7, 2020 (Originally published June 8, 2020)

S.D.G.

June 4, 2023

Old Testament: Genesis 1:1-2:4a

Psalter: Psalm 8

Epistle Lesson: 2 Corinthians 13:11-13

Gospel Lesson: Matthew 28:16-20

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.

John Wesley's sermon, Justification by Faith, was first preached at the Long Acre Chapel in London on May 28, 1738.  It was later preached again on top of Samuel Wesley's tomb at Epworth on June 8, 1742.  It first appeared in print in 1746.

This sermon provides the foundation for Wesley's doctrine of salvation, that God justifies not the righteous, but the ungodly, and that by faith alone in Christ alone.  Indeed, it is only by God's grace that we can be saved.  In this, Wesley's doctrine of salvation did not differ with the reformers who preached salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, or Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Solus Christus.  This same doctrine of justification by faith alone, Wesley considered to be in kind with the teachings of John Calvin, and in fact stated "In this respect, I do not differ from him a hair's breadth."

Romans 4:5

Recorded on May 20, 2023

Justification by Faith - full sermon text

S.D.G.

Sermon #59

We often talk about the church needing revival, but what does that mean? To revive something is to bring it back to life from the dead. That is what the Holy Spirit did on that first Day of Pentecost, using the disciples of Jesus to tell the good news of Jesus Christ to Jews from all over the world, so that they would take that news back with them to their villages and cities, wherever they were from. God is asking us today to tell someone the good news, and He sends His Spirit to dwell in us so that we may speak the words of life, in whatever way they need to be heard. I talk about a couple of witness encounters I had just the week prior, and encourage my congregation at Hudson UMC to go out and tell someone, don't keep it to yourself. Revival comes in the church, and the Holy Spirit equips the church to take the good news to the world for an Awakening.

{I love listening to these old sermons, because it takes me back to what was going on in my life at the time. It also helps me to see how far I have come in organizing my sermon messages and developing the ability to END them. This sermon from 2014 tends to meander but the message I preached then is the message I preach today: The gospel saves souls, and we need to share the good news to everyone for the transformation of the world.}

Acts 2:1-21

Recorded at Hudson UMC on June 8, 2014 (Originally published June 17, 2020)

S.D.G.

Sermon #554

What we see at the birth of the Church at Pentecost is a reversal of what God did at Babel.  Whereas the people building a tower to heaven were all together in one place with one language trying to exalt themselves, the 120 in the upper room were all together in one place with one accord trying to glorify God.  And so the Spirit of God fell upon them and gave them the ability to speak in the language of the people - at least fifteen regions and dialects that are listed in Acts Chapter 2.  When our efforts are to give glory to God and to proclaim the Gospel, the Holy Spirit will likewise give us utterance, if only we are willing to open our mouths and loosen our tongues.

Acts 2:1-21

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on May 28, 2023

S.D.G.

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on May 28, 2023

Sermon #396

The Day of Pentecost began as a Jewish holiday but has become important in the Christian Church as a memorial to the day when the Holy Spirit was given and the Church was born. Today we focus on what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Who is the Holy Spirit (He is a who and not a what)? How does the Spirit of God relate to God the Father and God the Son? And how does God act in our lives when we are filled with His Spirit?

I'm not going to lie, this sermon is pretty raw. I preached it on the heels of spending half the night watching riots all around the country on CNN. My heart breaks for these cities and the communities that feel so desperate in their oppression that they need to react violently, and also for the police who feel the need to rally their troops and put this uprising down by any means necessary. So even though I'm supposed to be preaching on Pentecost, somewhere around the 22 minute mark it went off the rails. Let this message stand as a testimony to the injustice and wickedness in the world today.

Acts 2:1-21

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on May 31, 2020 (Originally published June 1, 2020)

S.D.G.