Guerrilla Christianity

S3E26: Preparing for the Meal (24 Hours That Changed the World pt. 1)

Sermon #154

Ash Wednesday is the first day in the season of Lent, the season on the church calendar that leads into Easter.  Lent is marked by fasting, prayer, and penitence, and has been traditionally associated with preparing converts to Christianity for baptism.  This year we are doing a churchwide study based on Adam Hamilton's book, 24 Hours That Changed the World.  It's an in-depth look at the final day of Christ's life before his death on the cross.  On this Ash Wednesday, we begin with an introduction to the Last Supper, and look at what it means to prepare for a meal.  So grab your Bible, turn it to Luke chapter 22, and prepare your heart and mind as we begin preparing for the meal.  

Luke 22:7-13

Recorded at Hudson UMC on February 10, 2016 (Originally published February 14, 2016)

S.D.G.

S6E50: God’s Generous Heart (With All Your Heart pt. 2)

Sermon #326

On this first Sunday in Lent we examine a passage from Deuteronomy and a passage from Romans that speak to the generous heart of God.  Everything that we have comes from God, and every good thing we have received from God's own hand.  From the air we breathe to the life we live, to the faith within us that brings us to salvation - indeed, salvation itself is an act accomplished by the will of a generous and loving God.  Rather than give thanks just once a year, we ought to live our lives in thanksgiving to this God - OUR God - who loves us and provides for us all that we need.

Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Romans 10:8b-13

Recorded at Hudson UMC on March 10, 2019 (originally published March 13, 2019)

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S6E49: Return To Me (With All Your Heart pt. 1)

Sermon #325

Ash Wednesday, the first day of the Lenten season, is a time to reflect on our own mortality.  We wear the ashes to remind ourselves that we are dust, and to dust we shall return.  This Lenten season we are focusing on the word of God from Joel 2:12 - "Yet even now, return to me with all your heart."  Even when we have turned away from God, from the ashes of the wreckage of our sinful lives, God still invites us to return to Him.  In this Lenten series we will be looking at the Old Testament and Epistle texts in a series called "With All Your Heart."

Joel 2:1-2,12-17; 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on March 6, 2019 (Originally published March 11, 2019)

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S9E30: An Opportune Time (Gathered Up in Christ pt. 2)

Sermon #487

When temptation comes, what do we do?  Do we resist it?  Do we hand it over to God?  Do we go to scripture and seek the Holy Spirit for strength?  All those things we can do, but most of us give very little thought to the temptation and dive right in to sin.  When Jesus fasted in the wilderness, he faced the same temptations that the Israelites faced for forty years in the wilderness.  The difference is, He did not give in to temptation, and instead used the words of Moses (scripture) to defeat the devil.  In this story, which begins the season of Lent, we also see that even though the devil is defeated, he retreats until an opportune time.  He would be back to strike at the heel of Jesus, as he was nailed to the cross.  But Jesus emerges victorious at the end of Lent and on Easter Sunday.  Join us for the journey as we are Gathered Up in Jesus.

Luke 4:1-13

Recorded at Hudson UMC on March 6, 2022

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Lectionary Readings for First Sunday in Lent, Year C

March 6, 2022

Old Testament: Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Psalter: Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16

Epistle Lesson: Romans 10:8b-13

Gospel Lesson: Luke 4:1-13

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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S9E29: Piety Practice (Gathered Up in Christ pt. 1)

Sermon #486

We are beginning a new series for the season of Lent called "Gathered Up in Christ."  We just spent the season after Epiphany examining what it means to be the body of Christ, so now we will look at what it means to put aside the differences that separate us and focus on the things that draw us together: our repentence, our faith, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

So what is "Piety" anyway?  Other translations use the word "righteousness," but we are also often told that we have no righteousness in us apart from Christ.  Maybe that's the point.  But in this instance, acts of piety that Jesus describe are acts that express the agape love that we have been given from God, and a response to God's grace.  Yet Jesus warns us that there is a right and a wrong way to practice acts of piety.  He uses the word "when," as in "when you give, when you pray, when you fast," so there is a certain expectation that followers of Christ will do these things.  But what we see today is that we need to be aware of our motivations.  Are we doing them to be seen of others?  To be seen of God?  Or are they a natural response to the grace we have already been given?

Matthew 6:1-18

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on March 2, 2022 (Ash Wednesday)

S9E28: Seeing the Glory (Love Never Ends: Being the Body of Christ pt. 8)

Sermon #485

What do the separate accounts of the Transfiguration of Jesus tell us?  First, they tell us that the disciples who witnessed this event could not contain themselves but wanted to share it with all.  Of the three - Peter, James, and John - both Peter and John wrote about the event in their letters, and all three of the synoptic gospels record the event within the same context and chronology.  But after the revealing of the glory of Christ, there is the fading of the afterglow, and when the disciples descend from the mountain with Jesus they are met with a man in a desparate situation.  We are often found in these situations as well, and because we haven't seen the glory of Jesus with our eyes, it is easy to believe that God can't or won't help us in our time of need.  But what we see here is that nothing could be further from the truth.  Whether bathed in glory or clothed in human flesh, Jesus is still God, and He is still seated on the throne.

Luke 9:28-43a

Recorded at Hudson UMC on February 27, 2022

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S9E27: A Prayer for Ukraine (February 27, 2022)

On February 24, 2022, Russian forces invaded Ukraine, despite weeks of Russian President Vladimir Putin assuring the world that invasion was not the intention of Russia.  To date (February 27, 2022), over 200 civilians have been killed in this military action.  Russian forces have captured Chernobyl, a nuclear waste facility was hit by Russian missiles, and Ukranian citizens, along with their President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, have taken up arms against the invasion force of Russia, in order to defend their homeland.

On January 24, prior to the invasion and as Russian troops amassed on the border, the Ukranian Orthodox Church of the USA issued an appeal for Christians to join in their prayer for Ukraine and an end to hostilities. On February 27, our voices joined theirs as we prayed the prayer that they shared with the world.  Please continue to pray for Ukraine, for an end to the violence and bloodshed, and for Russian forces to retreat.  

Recorded at Hudson UMC on February 27, 2022

Statement of Bishops of the Ukranian Orthodox Church of the USA

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Lectionary Readings for Transfiguration Sunday, Year C

February 27, 2022

Old Testament: Exodus 34:29-35

Psalter: Psalm 99

Epistle Lesson: 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2

Gospel Lesson: Luke 9:28-43a

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.

S9E26: The Resurrection (November 2013)

Sermon #26

Human beings have a certain fascination with the concept of an afterlife.  Many cultures over the millenia have developed theologies of a world beyond this one.  Thousands of books have been written on the subject, many of which are written from the perspective of people who have supposedly gone to Heaven and returned.  But today, in this sermon delivered very early in my ministry, we meet a group of Jews who do not believe in life after death, and challenge Jesus on the matter using an elaborate story that they believe will destroy the notion of any kind of resurrection.  Of course, Jesus being God, He sees through their ruse and uses their own knowledge of scripture to demonstrate the error of their thinking and to show us today that there is indeed life after death.

Luke 20:27-40

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on November 10, 2013 (Previously unpublished)

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