RG Audio 122818   Isaiah 56:1-8 Do you remember the game red rover? Children form two lines facing each other. While holding hands to form a barrier, one line calls out, “red rover, red rover, send [child’s name] right over.” The called out child has to leave her line, run full-tilt toward the opposite line, […]

RG Audio 122718   1 Corinthians 3:10-23 I have lived in several different homes over the years. Growing up, our old brick farmhouse had a basement. We stored stuff there, did the laundry, and even had a room set up for my trains. One parsonage had a crawl space—filled with dirt, dust, and potential wildlife. […]

RG Audio 122618   John 2:13-25 Do you remember the optical illusion posters from several years ago? To simply look at them, all you could see was a confusing mass of squiggles. They made no sense. But there was a trick to seeing the hidden picture in the midst of the confusion: you focused not […]

RG Audio 122518   Luke 2:36-52 I recently observed a mom with her young child at the local grocery store. She was talking on her phone and strolling through the aisles, occasionally picking up an item to fill her basket. Her young child, however, was all over the place. Running down one aisle and up […]

RG Audio 122418   Luke 2:22-36 The nativity scene is often at the forefront of our minds when we think about Christmas. We line up Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, some shepherds and a few sheep. In Luke 2, we discover someone never associated with the nativity scene and rarely thought of in relation to Christ’s […]

RG Audio 122318   Psalm 119:81-96 Psalm 119 prepares us to move from longing for God’s salvation to rejoicing in God’s faithfulness. The keyword longing, brings us back from the threshold of hopelessness. Kneeling in despair, the psalmist longs for the salvation of God, desiring God’s deliverance. “When will you comfort me?” Have you ever […]

RG Audio 122218   Joel 2:22-32 Hurricanes, earthquakes, flood, and fires often fade from our memory. These disasters often turn people’s attention towards God. For some they question why or how long, for others they seek solace from grief, fear, and loss. Joel tells us that there has been “a day of darkness and gloom” […]

RG Audio 122118   Matthew 28:16-20; Acts 1:4-8 The disciples who meet Jesus on the Galilean mountain have not experienced any of the Easter drama. They did not experience the earthquake, the angles, nor have they seen or heard from Jesus in Matthew’s gospel. All they have is the words from the women to “go […]

RG Audio 122018   Matthew 25:31-40 Matthew describes a scene where Jesus is a king on his throne separating sheep and goats, and blessing those according to their adherence to his great commandment (Mt 22:37-40). Matthew 25 is at the end of a long line of parables about “the end.” We have parables about being […]

RG Audio 121918   Matthew 10:24-33 So, don’t be afraid! The context for our text today begins with Jesus calling his disciples, giving them authority, and sending them out. I was a sophomore in college when the youth pastor asked me to teach the 7th grade boys class. He gave me authority, set parameters, and […]