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An Unconventional, No-Apologies Exposition of God’s Grace from an Evangelical-Methodist Point of View
Episodes
Tuesday Apr 12, 2022
Tuesday Apr 12, 2022
Sermon #331
Palm Sunday holds a certain tension for those of us who know the full story. On the one hand, we come celebrating Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. On the other, we know deep down that the same voices crying "Hosanna!" on Sunday will be crying "Crucify him!" come Friday. We can be like that, too. We can come praising God on Sunday and the next day (or even that afternoon) go back to living the way of the world. This Palm Sunday, we find ourselves preparing our hearts and minds for Holy Week - for the Passion, the Cross... and ultimately, the empty tomb.
Luke 19:28-40
Recorded at Hudson UMC on April 14, 2019 (Originally published April 17, 2019)
S.D.G.
Monday Apr 11, 2022
Monday Apr 11, 2022
Sermon #492
We conclude our series titled "Gathered Up in Jesus" on the day we observe called Palm/Passion Sunday. It is very easy to get caught up in the pagentry and the victory of Palm Sunday, to see Jesus' triumphal entry through the eyes of his disciples, and to immediately want to get to the empty tomb, but that is a mistake. Without the bad news, the good news doesn't seem very good. We must take time to gaze upon our Lord on the cross as he bore our sins. We cannot fully appreciate our salvation without the full realization of the cup of God's wrath that Jesus drained to the dregs for our sakes. Jesus understood fully well the moment that he was heading toward and the horrible things that would be done to him by week's end, and yet he went willingly, driven by God's agape love to restore our world and rescue us from our sin.
Luke 19:28-40
Recorded at Hudson UMC on April 10, 2022
S.D.G.
Sunday Apr 10, 2022
Sunday Apr 10, 2022
April 10, 2022
Palms Readings:
Luke 19:28-40
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29
Passion Readings:
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 31:9-16
Philippians 2:5-11
Luke 22:14-23:56
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.
Saturday Apr 09, 2022
Saturday Apr 09, 2022
Sermon #159
We come now to the final hours of Jesus' life and it's not a particularly pleasant picture. We have already seen how brutal the Roman scourging can be in last week's message. This week, we look at Jesus' arduous journey over a third of a mile carrying a hundred pound crossbeam. After the scourging and the humiliation of the soldiers, it proves to be too much physically for the man Jesus. And so a man from another city altogether is pressed into service. The actions of Simon of Cyrene are so pertinent to the story of Christ and these 24 hours that they have been recorded in three of the four gospels. And as we look at this journey we have to ask ourselves, what part would I have played in the crowd, had I been there? And what part do I play today? So grab your Bible, turn it to Mark chapter 15, and prepare your heart and mind as we make ourselves watch the torture and humiliation of the King.
Mark 15:15b-23
Recorded at Hudson UMC on March 13, 2016 (Originally published March 25, 2016)
S.D.G.
Wednesday Apr 06, 2022
Wednesday Apr 06, 2022
Sermon #330
Many times throughout recorded history, God has intervened in the lives of people to do something new, different, and unexpected. Consider manna, the bread that God provided for the nation of Israel as they wandered forty years in the wilderness. The people had never seen anything like it. In fact, the Hebrew word means "What is it?" In the same way, Good continues to do the unexpected, making something new for his faithful people. Today as we look at the words of Isaiah, we consider what new thing God is doing in our midst, and in today's busy and distracted society, will will we even notice?
Isaiah 43:16-21
Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on April 7, 2019 (Originally published April 9, 2019)
S.D.G.
Monday Apr 04, 2022
Monday Apr 04, 2022
Sermon #491
In the week leading up to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, a number of events occur which point to his forthcoming death on the cross, and this event recorded in all four gospels is one of them. In Mary, the sister of Lazarus (not to be confused with Mary the mother of Jesus or Mary Magdalene), whom Jesus raised from the dead, we see an extravagant act of worship in anointing Jesus' feet with very expensive perfume. Some of those in attendance, particularly Judas, protested at the waste. In fact, we hear similar voices today when we see worship spaces decorated with costly adornments. Why weren't these rich objects sold to feed the poor? But as Christ himself reminds us, we will always have opportunities to minister to the poor - and lest we miss this point, we ought to be ministering to the poor regularly. But opportunities to worship God face to face, God in the flesh, are few and far between, and we ought to make the most of them, as Mary has done.
John 12:1-8
Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on April 3, 2022
S.D.G.
Sunday Apr 03, 2022
Sunday Apr 03, 2022
April 3, 2022
Old Testament: Isaiah 43:16-21
Psalter: Psalm 126
Epistle Lesson: Philippians 3:4b-14
Gospel Lesson: John 12:1-8
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.
Friday Apr 01, 2022
Friday Apr 01, 2022
Sermon #158
This week as we continue our journey through the 24 Hours that Changed the World by Adam Hamilton, we come to the criminal trial of Jesus by the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. Here we find in Pilate a ruthless and harsh Roman authority who is curiously reluctant to condemn Jesus to death. Yet in the end he relents, not because of justice or mounting evidence against Jesus, but because he wanted to appease the people. We even see him trying to give the Jews a more undesirable choice - freeing Jesus or freeing the murderous insurectionist Barabbas. And yet we also see that the place Jesus took on the cross was not just Barabbas', but also yours and mine. So grab your bible, turn it to Mark chapter 15, and prepare your heart and mind as we see a study of three men - Jesus, Barabbas, and Pilate.
Mark 15:1-15
Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on March 6, 2016 (Originally published March 21, 2016)
S.D.G.
Wednesday Mar 30, 2022
Wednesday Mar 30, 2022
Sermon #329
This Lenten season our focus has been on returning to God with all our heart. In today's reading from Joshua, we see how the people of Israel came together to remember how God had delivered them from their slavery in Egypt. We also see how God's provision in the wilderness is ended so that the people would begin to enjoy the produce of the land that God was giving to them. When God does a new thing, He sometimes needs to end the old so that we do not return to it out of comfort and familiarity.
Joshua 5:9-12; 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Recorded at Hudson UMC on March 31, 2019 (Originally published April 3, 2019)
S.D.G.
Monday Mar 28, 2022
Monday Mar 28, 2022
Sermon #490
In this familiar parable, Jesus teaches the religious people of his day that any time a sinner comes to repentance, there ought to be a celebration. Yet these same people were grumbling because Jesus was associating with sinners and tax collectors. In the story, Jesus shows us what it means to be lost and what it means to be found. Many times we were told that Jesus came to seek the lost sinners, to bring them to repentance. Here he makes the point that those who belive themselves righteous only show their true nature when it comes to welcoming lost sinners home.
Luke 15
Recorded at Hudson UMC on March 27, 2022
S.D.G.