Sermons from St. George's

The gospel and epistle readings today speak of challenges. Whether of the fig tree or of Israel in the wilderness. Challenges come in two ways: as temptation and as a test. Temptation is the strong desire to sin or do wrong. A test is a tough situation to prove our love for God, and our trust in him. Temptation is usually from Satan. Test is usually from God. To deal with temptation; go away from the individual, object and venue of temptation, and stay away. To deal with a test; confide in your pastor, family or friends. In both cases of temptation and test, always pray together, read the Bible more and get attached to church group and activities.

(Luke 13:1-9, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13)

Sermon from The Table on 3/24/19.

The return of trust after a “dark night of the soul,” after the experience of deep disappointment and grief, may be the hardest reality to realize. Yet it is a great miracle God can give us. Sermon from the 8:45am service on 3/17/19. (Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18)

As Jesus goes to Jerusalem, he is not only following in the trail of all the faithful prophets who have gone before and been killed; he is blazing a new trail, transforming that vicious cycle into a virtuous one, one that calls forth greater and greater flourishing and abundance as we follow in his path. Sermon from The Table on 3/17/19. (Luke 13:31-35)

John 3:16–21

The Rev. Dr. Jeremy Begbie is Director of the Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts (DITA) and a long-time friend of St. George's. This sermon from March 10, 2019 at 8:45am is part of the St. George’s partnership with DITA.

Jesus isn’t merely our model, he is our message. He is uniquely the one who could fulfill God’s vocation, defeating Satan, because he was God incarnate, doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. Sermon from The Table on 3/10/19.

"Ash Wednesday is not about glitter, it is about ash. If we understand this, we understand the way to true freedom, true life, true love, and true grace - the grace that saves sinners who cannot save themselves. We fast in Lent to learn to feast on God alone."

Sermon from the Noon Ash Wednesday Service on 3/6/19

Sermon from The Table on March 3, 2019

Sermon from the 8:45am service on March 3, 2019

We cannot see the tree that is latent in the small seed being sown into the ground. Had it not happened before, we could not imagine an acorn becoming an oak tree. So it is with the resurrection, this new creation reality. Had it not happened before, we could not imagine any other life, any other world, than that which requires us to exact vengeance on our enemies, and to see relationships as transactional enterprises, or as threats or fears to manage. But resurrection, it has happened before—in Jesus Christ, who sowed the seed of his own body, going into the ground and dying, only to rise again in glory and splendor, transforming his body of dust into the glorious life-giving spiritual body that makes the whole creation new. Sermon from the 8:45am service on 2/24/19.

For me, as for generations and generations of Christians, the Bible tells the story of definitive reality about our world because its entire narrative arc, from beginning to end, leads us to Jesus the Christ. The Bible is not the only place to come near Jesus. But you will not fully recognize him anywhere else if you do not know him through Scripture. Sermon from the 8:45am service on 2/17/19.