Guerrilla Christianity

S6E58: It Is Finished

Each year the Ministerium of Penns Grove, Carneys Point, and Pedricktown hold a community service for Good Friday at New Hope UMC in Penns Grove. This service, which runs from Noon until 3 PM (to commemorate the hours of darkness when Jesus hung on the cross), recalls the seven last words of Christ on the cross. This year (2019) it was my pleasure to expound on the sixth word - "It is finished." This word holds incredible promise and hope for those of us who have embraced Christ by faith for our forgiveness. The debt has been paid in full. As part of this service I also performed Phil Wickham's song "Because of Your Love" and this performance is included at the end of the podcast.

John 19:30

Recorded at New Hope UMC on April 19, 2019

S.D.G.

Although this sermon was preached for Christ the King Sunday (the Sunday before Advent begins), it is an appropriate message for Good Friday. The thief on the cross said to Jesus, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom." Strange words to say to a person condemned to death on a Roman cross. Yet what we see in the crucifixion is that Jesus is not the king that the people expected; he is the King that we needed. And even though his throne was a cross and his crown was made of thorns, he still reigns and lives today.

Luke 23:33-43

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on November 24, 2013

S.D.G.

S6E56: Preparing (With All Your Heart pt. 7)

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

S.D.G.

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

S.D.G.

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

S.D.G.

Lent is a season of denying ourselves so that we can grow closer to God. In the reading from Isaiah today, God promises to the people of Israel rich abundance if they only repent, turn away from their sin and return to God. In today's message, we will examine what it means to repent, and why it is important to confess to specific sin in our lives in order to truly return to God with all our heart.

Isaiah 55:1-9

Recorded at Hudson UMC on March 24, 2019

S.D.G.

Recently, the United Methodist Church held a special session of General Conference at which our voting body affirmed our current statement on homosexuality. In response, many annual conferences, including Greater New Jersey (of which both Hudson UMC and Ebenezer UMC are members), had special sessions to discuss the ramifications of the vote at General Conference. In response to these, we took a look at what it means to be a loving church, using Christ as our example.

Luke 13:31-35 and John 8:1-11

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on March 17, 2019

S.D.G.

In the Transfiguration we find Jesus meeting with and talking to Moses and Elijah, the personification of the Law and the Prophets. They were speaking with Jesus about his "decease" or his "departure," depending on which translation you read - yet the word is the same in the Greek and it is a familiar word: exodus. And so we find that we can draw many parallels between the salvation we find in Jesus Christ, and the salvation that the Israelites experienced in the Exodus. And what this means to us today is that God's heart is always for the deliverance of his people, and not their destruction.

Luke 9:28-36

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on February 7, 2016

S.D.G.

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

S.D.G.

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

S.D.G.