Langdon Palmer

Today we look at a very famous scripture where Paul says

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

What does that really mean ? Is it a political statement ? Does it mean there are no real differences between us ? In our polarized cultural moment, is there hope to be found here ? We believe this amazing piece of scripture when understood in context holds both a great challenge and a great promise. Or as our longest sermon title ever puts it:

""That condescending sense of superiority - dies right here... and The joy-full gift of freedom and honor – is born right here.”

Where is the good life found? For some people it is in being able to say "I lived by my principles, my code of ethics." For others it is in being able to say "I grabbed as much as I could and experienced most of what this life offers." In Galatians, Paul offers a third way. But it is a subtle path that easily gets overgrown with the weeds of simplistic thinking and therefore missed. In the complicated scripture we look at today, Paul makes a number of different arguments to explain the relationship of the law to the gospel. This is not easy stuff - it requires careful thinking. But we are not interested in Hallmark Card Christianity, short simple pithy statements. We want the real thing. Join us as we go through Paul's argument step by step and end up at the other end with an image that can permanently help us understand the relationship between the free gift of the gospel and the covenant of right behavior that the ten commandments call us to.

In Galatians 3:1-14, Paul uses a lot of very complicated arguements quoting from a wide range of Old Testament scriptures. What does it all mean ? He talks about faith, but what does it mean to have faith ? What does it mean to believe ? How would you know if you had enough faith or if you were a real believer ? To go a step further, how does trusting in God connect to Human innovation, reason, and science ? How do faith and human initiative go together ? How do belief and science go together ? Today we take a fun walk through the science fiction thriller "The Martian" and find an incredibly helpful way to understand the story of Abraham and the story of our own lives as Human Beings who are called both to strive with passion for knowledge and survival - and to have deep faith in the promises of God - all at the same time.

What do you think of the "COEXIST" bumper sticker seen in the image for this podcast ? There is one way to see it that is exactly what we need in this cultural moment, and there is another way to see it that is exactly the problem of this cultural moment. In our scripture for this morning Paul is about to say some pretty exclusive and politically incorrect things. If we are going to really understand what he is trying to say, we are first going to have to come to grips with how we should think about the word "Tolerance."

As we prepare to jump into a verse by verse study of the book of Galatians, we pause to ask a fundamental question - How do we know there really was a Paul or that he actually wrote this letter ? Even if he did, what we have today is a copy of a copy of a copy. How can we have any confidence that the version of the bible we have today has anything to do with the original version ? We take a serious look at these questions and then jump into the hope of Galatians!

It turns out there are basically two ways to look at the world - the way of Politics and the Way of Easter. Materialists, like atheists and communists are those who say we live in a closed system - there is just matter, just stuff and that is it. There is no God, no supernatural, no spiritual realm - just the physical stuff that science can tell us about, and therefore people are nothing more than stuff too. In a world like that, politics is all you've got to try to make a better world. On the other hand, Christians believe we live in an open system - there is more going on here than can be measured with instruments. This physical world is not all there is. The world of science and politics and stuff is very real, but only a part of reality. What happened on the first Easter ? Was it just one more political event ? Or was it a singularity in human history, when the Maker of Heaven and Earth broke into the world of politics and made a way where there was no way - when he revealed once and for all that there is far more to life than we have been thinking ? Join us for this Easter sermon where we first have some fun with the current election year politics and then turn to the deep and beautiful truth of the Resurrection.

Some parts of the bible make sex sound amazing and joyful, other parts give warnings and set boundaries. Why? What's wrong with a little lust - what's wrong with looking as long as you don't touch ? Isn't sex the spice of life ? Aren't Christians overly uptight about Sex anyway ? By way of "The Church Lady", Burkas, and Cosmopolitan Magazine, we take an honest look at the last of the Deadly Sins, the one no one wants to talk about: Lust.

New scientific research is revealing that pornography use works like a drug on the brain- actually changing the brain physically, and setting us up for miserable, lonely, unfulfilling sex lives. If you struggle in this area, there is hope for you - things you can do to make a real change. And best of all, we worship the God of second chances, the God who created sex to be rich, sensual, delicious and the celebration feast of true love.

Is it wrong to want more money? How much food is too much ? Can you be skinny and eat tiny healthy meals and still be a glutton ? Can a child playing with dolls be more greedy than a Wall Street fat cat ? What are gluttony and greed and where do they come from? More importantly, how do I say no when they come knocking at my door? Join us as we face these two G's of the seven deadly vices with wisdom from the word of God.

What do I do with this Anger? Many folks struggle with anger, and many Christians don't know what to do about it. Is it OK to be angry? If so, when? When does Anger turn evil? How can I handle it ? We look at Jesus and the wisdom of scripture and discover what it really means to Rage Against The Machine.