Guerrilla Christianity

On this second Sunday in Advent, we come to the person of John the Baptist, who is preaching a baptism of repentance. His coming was foretold by the prophet Isaiah and those prophetic words were repeated in all four gospels. He is the voice crying out in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. In today's message, we see how John's words echo across the centuries to today, and how we can apply them in our lives. So the question for us today is not whether Christ will come again, but rather, are we preparing the way for his coming?

Text: Luke 3:1-6

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on December 6, 2015

S.D.G.

This year, the Ministerium of Penns Grove, Carneys Point and Pedricktown held what we hope to be an annual eccumenical Thanksgiving Eve service at St. Gabriel's Parrish in Carneys Point. As we were discussing the service at our monthly meeting, I made mention that I always write a Thanksgiving sermon just in case we ever have a Thanksgiving Eve service, something we did yearly at my home church in Pitman. And so I ended up giving the message, based on the lectionary text from Joel. Joel is one of those Old Testament prophets who brings a message of doom and gloom for an unfaithful nation. And yet, in the midst of their transgression, God delivers a promise of restoration, saying they will never even remember the bad times. God is good, all the time, and in the midst of our troubles, we always have that to be thankful for.

Text: Joel 2:21-27

Recorded at St. Gabriel's Parrish on November 21, 2018

S.D.G.

The process of refining is destructive. It involves heating to the melting point, skimming off the impurities that rise to the surface, and discarding the unwanted, keeping only the pure metal. When metal like gold or silver is refined, it does not seek to reincorporate those impurites back into itself; yet we, in our sinful nature, demonstrate a desire to reacquire those sins that the Holy Spirit removes from us by way of sanctification. In this season of Advent we need to allow the Holy Spirit to refine us, to prepare the way for the Lord to enter into our hearts and lives.

Text: Malachi 3:1-4 and Luke 3:1-6

Recorded at Hudson UMC on December 9, 2018

S.D.G.

On this first Sunday of Advent we begin a new series titled "Prepare the Way." Throughout the Advent season we will be looking at old testament prophecy and how Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of that word of God. Advent is a time when we celebrate the three incarnations of Christ. First, he came as a babe in Bethlehem, born to become a man who would bear the sins of the world on the cross. Next, he lives in each of us in word and in spirit. Finally, at the end of all things he will come again in the clouds in great glory and power. At that time, we who have put on Christ may stand in the presence of our God.

Text: Jeremiah 33:14-16 and Luke 21:25-36

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on December 2, 2018

S.D.G.

Laity Sunday is a day when we celebrate the work of laypersons in the church of God. On this Laity Sunday we at Hudson UMC asked our Lay Leader Wayne Niebauer to describe a time when he felt abandoned by God, and how he could point to where God was at work in that moment. We often feel like in our hard times we are all alone, and yet when we look back at those times we can often see how God was at work, and it is in the retrospective view that we can gain confidence in hard times when they come.

Text: Mark 10:35-45

Recorded at Hudson UMC on October 21, 2018

S.D.G.

On this World Communion Sunday, we come together in unity with Christians all around the world to recognize the one thing that draws us all together and separates us from all other world religions. That one thing is faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. That Jesus Christ is the Son of God is a statement that only those who have faith in Christ can proclaim. There may be many denominations, separations between the orthodox and liberal factions, the Catholic church and protestantism, and the many shades of protestantism such as Baptist, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Presbyterian and, yes, Methodist. And yet the one thing that defines us as Christian and truly makes us one church universal is faith in Jesus Christ, who is crowned with glory and seated at the right hand of God the Father. Ours is the only faith that affirms belief in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and on World Communion Sunday we set aside our differences to embrace our oneness in Christ alone.

Text: Hebrews 1:1-4,2:5-12

Recorded at Hudson UMC on October 7, 2018

S.D.G.

We conclude our series in James by looking at what it means to be present in the church. Our presence together is powerful. One Christian on his or her own praying alone is a powerful thing but when we gather together by two or three or a few or many, that power in the Spirit of God grows exponentially. The question we have been looking at throughout this series has been this: As members of this congregation, will you faithfully participate in its ministries by your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service, and your witness? Today our focus is on our presence and how it brings healing to us, to our church, and to our community.

Text: James 5:13-20

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on September 30, 2018

S.D.G.

So often Christians lose their connection to God in prayer, and why do we think this is? Many Christians lose hope in prayer because they feel as though their prayers are not being answered, that they pray and pray and God ignores their pleas. In today's reading from the book of James, we look at purity in prayer, and why it is that some prayers are answered to our liking, and some are not. What can we do to continue our prayer life with God? How can we keep the lines of communication open? James says that it begins with us and the way that we pray.

Text: James 3:12-4:8

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on September 23, 2018

S.D.G.

Everything we as Christians say and do is part of our witness to the world. So what does our speech say about our faith in Christ? Do the things we talk about give glory to God or do we profane our faith by acting one way in church and another in the world? These are convicting questions and they are set before us by James in his epistle. In the United Methodist Church, we promise to faithfully participate in its ministries by our witness. Today we take a look at what that means for us in a practical sense.

Text: James 3:1-12

Recorded at Hudson UMC on Septebmer 16, 2018

S.D.G.

Throughout the history of the Christian church there has been this tension between works and faith. Martin Luther struggled with the notion of works of salvation because he had found no joy in doing these works when he was a Catholic monk. Where Luther found his joy was in the simple proclamation that "the just shall live by faith." He called the book of James "an epistle of straw," and said that its emphasis on works contradicted Paul's emphasis on salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. But as we see in today's lesson, James' epistle doesn't contradict, but rather complements Paul's writings. We are saved through faith, true, but we are saved FOR good works, and our faith is demonstrated BY our works. "Will you faithfully participate in the ministries of the local church by your service?" This is our focus today in James' epistle.

Text: James 2:1-17

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on September 9, 2018

S.D.G.