Guerrilla Christianity

August 28, 2022

Old Testament: Jeremiah 2:4-13

Psalter: Psalm 81:1, 10-16

Epistle Lesson: Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

Gospel Lesson: Luke 14:1, 7-14

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.

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We who are saved by Christ and washed in his blood ought not to take for granted what he has done for us. How we live our lives as Christians matters greatly to the one who purchased our lives and redeemed us by his own son. To say that sin does not matter is to say that what Jesus did for us does not matter. In fact, it matters a great deal. And so we are called to live lives that please God, rather than living lives that please the world.

Jude 14-16

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on July 21, 2019 (Originally published July 24, 2019)

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Sermon #512

Jeremiah was the prophet who prophesied to the southern kingdom of Judah in the years leading up to the Babylonian exile.  His words were often unheeded and so he was known as the weeping prophet, because he would weep over the sins of the people of Judah.  When God called him as a prophet, he was young and inexperienced; yet what we see in Jeremiah's calling is that it is not about our abilities, but our willingness to be obedient to God.  God takes the most unlikely of people, ill-equipped for the job at hand, and He goes before them in order to give them the ability to do what God is calling them to.  He does the same for us today, and so if God is calling you to a higher purpose than simply sitting in the pews, then he will strengthen you for that purpose.

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Recorded at Hudson UMC on August 21, 2022

S.D.G.

Sermon #511

Isaiah delivers to the people of Judah a parable of a vineyard owner who did anything and everything he could to yield a harvest of good grapes, and yet in the end the vine only produced sour berries that could not be used.  The question Isaiah poses is, is it the fault of the vineyard owner that the vine produced bad grapes?  Or is the vine at fault?  He then drops the boom on the people by telling them that God is the vineyard owner and they are the vine.  This prophecy, delivered before the exile of the northern kingdom, was a warning to the people of Judah, and they heeded its call.. for a while, at least.  But what does this prophecy mean for us today?  Are we producing good fruit?  Or are we, like the people of Judah, producing something that looks good and yet is unpalatable?

Isaiah 5:1-7

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on August 14, 2022

S.D.G.

August 21, 2022

Old Testament: Jeremiah 1:4-10

Psalter: Psalm 71:1-6

Epistle Lesson: Hebrews 12:18-29

Gospel Lesson: Luke 13:10-17

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 #510

We now shift our attention to the southern kingdom of Judah and the major prophet Isaiah.  Isaiah prophesied at the same time as Amos and Hosea, yet his audience was found in the king's court in Jerusalem.  He was affluent and well educated.  Perhaps it is for this reason that so many of his prophetic visions were quoted and alluded to in the New Testament in regards to Jesus Christ.  Yet even though he had a position of influence, he was also willing to clearly and courageously deliver God's message to the people - a message that was not a word of praise, but of judgment.  In prosperous and stable times, the religion of Jerusalem had become mechanical and loveless.  God used Isaiah to call the people to a deeper relationship with him, a life of obedience and devotion rather than meaningless religious rituals.

Isaiah 1:1, 10-20

Recorded at Hudson UMC on August 7, 2022

S.D.G.

Sermon #509

Through Hosea the prophet, God speaks tenderly even to the people that he will soon displace for their infidelity.  Just as Hosea redeemed his unfaithful wife and paid off her debt, so God does the same for us through the blood of his son Jesus Christ.  Though the religions of the world tell us what we must do in order to gain the attention of whatever deity we worship, Christianity stands alone in that God gets our attention by what he has already done for us, in what we could not do for ourselves and what he accomplished for us.  Even as God was telling the northern kingdom of Israel that they would be sent into bondage in Assyria, he was already laying out his plan of restoration, before they were exiled.  In all of this, we see the incredible and steadfast love of God on full display.

Hosea 11:1-11

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on July 31, 2022

S.D.G.

Sermon #345

Bearing fruit is what we as Christians are called to do. God does not save us by our works, but he saves us for good works, and so if our lives in Christ are not bearing fruit, then we are, as Jude says in today's reading, twice dead trees plucked up by the roots. It is a sobering charge and it gives us a reason to examine our own lives and ask this vital question: how is my life in Christ bearing fruit?

Jude 12-13

Recorded at Hudson UMC on July 14, 2019 (Originally published July 15, 2019)

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Sermon #344

In today's lesson from Jude, we are shown how we can determine if modern interpretive "revelation" is from God, and whether we should believe it or not. We are also shown, in the contrary behavior of the "dreamers" of Jude's time, what we are not to do, and given practical application as to what sort of behavior that we, as Christians, ought to engage in instead. Though written nearly 2,000 years ago, Jude's letter still holds true and offers us wisdom we can apply in our own lives, and this is true of the entirety of the Bible itself.

Jude 8-11

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on July 7, 2019 (Originally published July 10, 2019)

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Sermon #508

Today in our series "Prophet Margins" we begin by looking at the life of Hosea, who was a prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel just prior to the Assyrian exile.  God used the life of Hosea as an illustration of God's relationship with His bride, Israel.  Hosea was to marry a prostitute and to name his children prophetic names that would point to the exile.  Ultimately, Hosea's wife Gomer would be unfaithful to him and leave him, just as Israel has done to God.  But Hosea would do something remarkable, in that he would purchase his wife's life back from the man to whom she owed a debt.  Despite her infidelity he would continue to show her love, and that is what God did for us in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  

Hosea 1:1-11

Recorded at Hudson UMC on July 24, 2022

S.D.G.