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An Unconventional, No-Apologies Exposition of God’s Grace from an Evangelical-Methodist Point of View
Episodes
Thursday Jul 04, 2024
Thursday Jul 04, 2024
Sermon #289
To say that Jesus descended to the dead seems like a redundant statement after affirming that he was crucified, dead, and buried. To say that Jesus descended to hell (another translation of the Greek version of the Apostles' Creed) seems like a theological conundrum. How could Jesus, the Son of God, sinless and holy, descend to the place of torment where people who deny God and refuse His grace end up? Although we as Methodists do not regularly recite this affirmation in the Creed, it bears examiniation.
Text: 1 Peter 3:18-22
Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on July 8, 2018 (Originally published September 10, 2018)
S.D.G.
Monday Jul 01, 2024
Monday Jul 01, 2024
Sermon #609
Welcome to the 12th season of Guerrilla Christianity! In this introductory sermon to the expositional series on Hebrews, we look at several things about this epistle in general, and then the opening four verses. First, we look at some of the theories surrounding authorship, concluding that we do not know conclusively who the author of Hebrews is, but that the ultimate author is undoubtedly the Holy Spirit. Second, we establish the timeline for when the letter was written and the circumstances surrounding its writing. Thirdly, we look at the major themes of the letter - the superiority of Christ; his three offices of prophet, priest, and king; the regulative principle of worship; and perseverance in the face of persecution. Then we look at the opening lines that describe this Son of God who is superior to the angels, through whom God has spoken to us in these last days. This series will carry us through the majority of the Season after Pentecost, and it promises to be enlightening and insightful.
Hebrews 1:1-4
Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on June 2, 2024
S.D.G.
Sunday Jun 30, 2024
Sunday Jun 30, 2024
Sermon #451
The death of Saul and Jonathan is one that affected David deeply. On the one hand, Saul had been trying for several years to kill David, seeing him as a threat to his own rule over Israel. On the other hand, David was very close friends with Saul's son, Jonathan, and certainly his death would have devastated David. Yet even though Saul was paranoid, murderous, and pagan in his religious practices, David still considered him to be the Lord's anointed king, and throughout his flight from Saul he refused to raise a hand against him, even when he was in a position to kill Saul. And so we see David's heartfelt lamentation for both Saul and Jonathan, coming at a time when there should be joy over the gaining of the kingdom. David was a servant, and he also realized that there is a time for joy and a time to weep.
2 Samuel 1:1,17-27
Recorded at Hudson UMC on June 27, 2021 (Originally published on September 6, 2021)
S.D.G.
Sunday Jun 30, 2024
Sunday Jun 30, 2024
June 30, 2024
Old Testament: 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27
Psalter: Psalm 130
Epistle Lesson: 2 Corinthians 8:7-15
Gospel Lesson: Mark 5:21-43
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 Jun 27, 2024
Thursday Jun 27, 2024
Sermon #287
Two major considerations face us today as we continue our examination of the Apostles' Creed. First, what is the point of mentioning Pontius Pilate? When Jesus was betrayed by so many - the crowds, the Sanhedrin, Judas Iscariot - why do we affirm that he "suffered under Pontius Pilate?" Next, we look at the dual nature of Christ and that he was fully God and fully human, as demonstrated in that he was "crucified, dead, and buried - none of which makes any sense if Jesus were only God and not human.
Text: John 18:33-19:16
Recorded at Hudson UMC on June 24, 2018 (Originally published September 5, 2018)
S.D.G.
Monday Jun 24, 2024
Monday Jun 24, 2024
S11E47: The Trinity in the Cross (Trinity Sunday 2024)
Sermon #608
On this Trinity Sunday (the first Sunday after Pentecost) we look at the work of all three persons of the Godhead in salvation at the cross of Jesus Christ. At the heart of the doctrine of the Trinity is the relationship between the three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father is eternal and uncreated. The Son is eternally begotten of the Father and is likewise uncreated. The Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from both the Father and the Son, is personal and not ephemeral, and each person is glorified and magnified equally. Yet there are not three gods but one God. It is an eternal mystery that Christian theologians have struggled to understand for centuries, and yet in this passage from John's gospel, we see the effortless way Jesus explains the work of the Father, Son, and Spirit in the salvation of the cross to an earnest Pharisee named Nicodemus.
John 3:1-17
Recorded at Hudson UMC on May 26, 2024
Who Is God in Three Persons? Paperback by John R. Tyson (Amazon)
S.D.G.
Sunday Jun 23, 2024
Sunday Jun 23, 2024
Sermon #450
The story of David and Goliath is a very familiar story to anyone who was raised in the church. It is one of the first stories we learn in Sunday school. And because of its familiarity, as adults sometimes we can gloss over the greater meaning of the story. David was a shepherd, not particularly exceptional and decidedly not a battle-hardened warrior like Goliath. Yet David had something that Goliath did not, and that is faith in God. He saw Goliath as a little problem because he knew that his God is a big God who spoke and the worlds were formed. And he also knew that victory would not come because of his ability but rather because of his lack of it, for, as he said, the battle is the Lord's. God uses the weak to confound the strong, and ultimately He gets the glory for it.
1 Samuel 17
Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on June 20, 2021 (Originally published August 16, 2021)
S.D.G.
Thursday Jun 20, 2024
Thursday Jun 20, 2024
Sermon #449
How do we judge people? I know, we're not supposed to judge people but we do, don't we? And how do we do it? Most of the time we judge by sight, by what a person looks like, by the things that they do outwardly. That's not how God judges. What we think of as wonderful, often God sees as corrupt. What we think of as worthless, often God sees as valuable. We as human beings are limited in our senses, but God knows all and sees all, and so when God judges, he judges by the content of our hearts. He knows our motivations. He knows our desires, even better than we do. And this is why God can reject a tall and handsome warrior king like Saul, and anoint a lowly shepherd boy like David. God looks on the heart.
1 Samuel 15:34-16:13
Recorded at Hudson UMC on June 13, 2021 (Originally published August 5, 2021)
S.D.G.
Sunday Jun 16, 2024
Sunday Jun 16, 2024
Sermon #286
As we continue our examination of the Apostles' Creed, we come to one of the most difficult affirmations for the modern believer, that Jesus was "Conceived by the Holy Spirit" and "Born of the Virgin Mary." Such things we would be tempted to write off as superstitious nonsense and mythos but we need to be reminded that in affirming this belief, what we are saying about the birth of Jesus is that it is very special, for a child born of a very special purpose, and that it was real - and also very human.
Text: Matthew 1:18-25
Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on June 17, 2018 (Originally published on August 29, 2018)
S.D.G.
Sunday Jun 16, 2024
Sunday Jun 16, 2024
June 16, 2024
Old Testament: 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13
Psalter: Psalm 20
Epistle Lesson: 2 Corinthians 5:6-17
Gospel Lesson: Mark 4:26-34
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.