Guerrilla Christianity

Sermon #354

(This series from 2019 has previously not been published)

In today's reading from Jeremiah, God leads Jeremiah to the potter's house where he witnesses the potter smashing a pot that displeased him and remaking it into something else.  It's a picture of how God transforms us through a process called Sanctification.  God is our creator, and just like the pot cannot complain to the potter, so we cannot complain to our creator when he demands of us loyalty and faith.  Yet we continue in our sin to separate ourselves from him, and all the time he continues to call to us to turn from our sin and return to him, in an action called repentance.  

Jeremiah 18:1-11

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on September 8, 2019 (Previously unpublished)

Sermon #353

(This series from 2019 has previously not been published)

We're beginning a new series based in Jeremiah called "Season of Creation."  As the Summer winds down and we begin to slip comfortably into Fall, we are reminded of our own mortality and our estrangement from God.  Indeed, Jeremiah reminds the people (by way of God's word) that they have been trying to do things on their own rather than relying upon God, and that is a very bad plan indeed.  God calls all of creation to testify and judge the people of Judah, and in the end they are found wanting.  Let this be a reminder to us that God is the source of living water, and we ought not to rely upon cracked cisterns of our own making to quench our spiritual thirst.

Jeremiah 2:4-13

Recorded at Hudson UMC on September 1, 2019 (Previously unpublished)

S.D.G.

Sermon #515

As we continue to look at what discipleship demands of us, we come to the realization that as disciples, we are commissioned to make other disciples.  And part of that commission is knowing that the world is lost, that everywhere we look there are lost souls in need of being found.  Jesus told three parables in Luke 15 that describe lost things that are found.  But what lies at the root of this truth is, all of us are lost without God, and none of us are seeking him - it is God that seeks us, and we, the church, are his lamp to draw the lost out of darkness.

Luke 15:1-10

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on September 11, 2022

S.D.G.

September 11, 2022

Old Testament: Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28

Psalter: Psalm 14

Epistle Lesson: 1 Timothy 1:12-17

Gospel Lesson: Luke 15:1-10

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.

Sermon #514

We're starting a new series in the book of Luke called "Having Words with Jesus," and the focus of the series will be on what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.  Before we begin our journey, though, we first need to take stock of our lives and decide if we are willing or even able to submit ourselves to the life that Jesus calls us to.  We need to count the cost of discipleship to determine if we are able to follow through.  But Gd gives to us all we need in order to follow him; we only need to be willing to make him the primary relationship in our lives, over every earthly relationship and over every possession.  We need to be able to put to death our old nature and be raised again in Christ.  Can you do that?  Then let's begin our journey and follow hard after Christ, who gave his all for us.

Luke 14:25-33

Recorded at Hudson UMC on September 4, 2022

S.D.G.

September 4, 2022

Old Testament: Jeremiah 18:1-11

Psalter: Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18

Epistle Lesson: Philemon 1-21

Gospel Lesson: Luke 14:25-33

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.

S7E07: Praise God (Practical Wisdom from Jude pt. 9)

In this final message on the Epistle of Jude, we look at Jude's closing words, both doxology (glory saying) and benediction (good saying), a beautifully composed sentence both glorifying God and encouraging the believers in their mission to seek and to save the lost. In these final verses we see how Jude exemplifies for us all a need to praise God in all that we do and say, and provides for us a pattern for such praise and worship.

Jude 24-25

Recorded at Hudson UMC on August 11, 2019

Watch on YouTube

S.D.G.

So now, after Jude has railed against these false teachers, what are we to do with them? What Jude tells us is that we ought to treat them like any other unsaved person - we ought to respond in mercy, even after contending for the faith. After all, Jesus responded to the unsaved with mercy. But we are to be careful that they do not drag us down, like someone who is drowning might drag down a lifeguard who is trying to save them.

Jude 22-23

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on August 4, 2019

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S.D.G.

 

Sometimes it is difficult for us to continue on in the face of adversity. Sometimes it seems like we don't have it in us to keep going when all we see is failure after failure. We are given a great promise of eternal life, and so we have a hope in us that others who are not follwers of Christ do not have. It is this hope in eternity that helps us as Christians to persevere when others might give up.

Jude 17-21

Recorded at Hudson UMC on July 28, 2019

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S.D.G.

 

Sermon #513

In this final message in the Prophet Margins series, we look at a somewhat uplifting prophecy of Jeremiah.  I say this because whereas the other prophecies that we've looked at went unheeded and ended in disaster for the people of Israel, this one prophecy came as a warning to the people of Judah, and immediately following the nation saw reforms that abolished Ba'al worship and restored the worship of God as prescribed in the book of the law.  And so we should be encouraged that God is still active and working to draw his wayward people back to himself.  Yet just a generation later, under the son of King Josiah, the nation of Judah would fall into worse apostacy, and would ultimately be conquered and carried off by Babylon for 70 years.  Yet God's promises are not empty and his word does not return void.  We can learn from these warnings in our lives with God today.

Jeremiah 2:4-13

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on August 28, 2022

S.D.G.