Sermon #289 To say that Jesus descended to the dead seems like a redundant statement after affirming that he was crucified, dead, and buried. To say that Jesus descended to hell (another translation of the Greek version of the Apostles' Creed) seems like a theological conundrum. How could Jesus, the Son of God, sinless and holy, descend to the plac…

Sermon #609 Welcome to the 12th season of Guerrilla Christianity! In this introductory sermon to the expositional series on Hebrews, we look at several things about this epistle in general, and then the opening four verses. First, we look at some of the theories surrounding authorship, concluding that we do not know conclusively who the author of H…

Sermon #451 The death of Saul and Jonathan is one that affected David deeply. On the one hand, Saul had been trying for several years to kill David, seeing him as a threat to his own rule over Israel. On the other hand, David was very close friends with Saul's son, Jonathan, and certainly his death would have devastated David. Yet even though Saul …

June 30, 2024 Old Testament: 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27 Psalter: Psalm 130 Epistle Lesson: 2 Corinthians 8:7-15 Gospel Lesson: Mark 5:21-43 Scripture quotations from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. S.D.G.…

Two major considerations face us today as we continue our examination of the Apostles' Creed. First, what is the point of mentioning Pontius Pilate? When Jesus was betrayed by so many - the crowds, the Sanhedrin, Judas Iscariot - why do we affirm that he "suffered under Pontius Pilate?" Next, we look at the dual nature of Christ and that he was ful…

S11E47: The Trinity in the Cross (Trinity Sunday 2024) Sermon #608 On this Trinity Sunday (the first Sunday after Pentecost) we look at the work of all three persons of the Godhead in salvation at the cross of Jesus Christ. At the heart of the doctrine of the Trinity is the relationship between the three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The F…

Sermon #450 The story of David and Goliath is a very familiar story to anyone who was raised in the church. It is one of the first stories we learn in Sunday school. And because of its familiarity, as adults sometimes we can gloss over the greater meaning of the story. David was a shepherd, not particularly exceptional and decidedly not a battle-ha…

Sermon #449 How do we judge people? I know, we're not supposed to judge people but we do, don't we? And how do we do it? Most of the time we judge by sight, by what a person looks like, by the things that they do outwardly. That's not how God judges. What we think of as wonderful, often God sees as corrupt. What we think of as worthless, often God …

Sermon #286 As we continue our examination of the Apostles' Creed, we come to one of the most difficult affirmations for the modern believer, that Jesus was "Conceived by the Holy Spirit" and "Born of the Virgin Mary." Such things we would be tempted to write off as superstitious nonsense and mythos but we need to be reminded that in affirming this…

June 16, 2024 Old Testament: 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13 Psalter: Psalm 20 Epistle Lesson: 2 Corinthians 5:6-17 Gospel Lesson: Mark 4:26-34 Scripture quotations from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. S.D.G.…

Sermon #448 Welcome to the 9th season of Guerrilla Christianity! We are beginning a new series for the season of Pentecost called "Prophets & Kings." We will be looking at how God has appointed kings to rule over Israel, and how He uses prophets to speak to those kings when they get out of line, which is a frequent occurance. In today's lesson from…

Sermon #607 At Pentecost, Christian churches around the world celebrate the birth of the Church and the giving of the Holy Spirit as related in the Book of Acts, chapter 2. There were 120 disciples in the upper room when the Holy Spirit came upon them and they ran out into the streets proclaiming the gospel in other tongues as the Spirit gave them …

June 9, 2024 Old Testament: 1 Samuel 8:4-20; 11:14-15 Psalter: Psalm 138 Epistle Lesson: 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1 Gospel Lesson: Mark 3:20-35 Scripture quotations from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. …

Sermon #285 We begin looking at the Christology of the Apostles' Creed with three statements of who Jesus is. First, he is Christ, the anointed of God. Second, he is the only begotten son of God. And third, he is Lord of all. Third in the series on the Apostles' Creed. Text: John 1:1-18 Recorded at Hudson UMC on June 10, 2018 (Originally published …

May 12, 2024 Recently (a few days before I delivered this sermon) I had been to the Billy Graham library in Charlotte, NC. The tour that they give illustrates the progression of how God used this man to proclaim the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. But more importantly, the tour was presenting the gospel itself as well. We prea…

Sermon #285 As we continue to examine our affirmation of faith, we turn next to the notion of God as "maker of heaven and earth." What does it mean that God is the creator of all things? What does it mean for us that we are part of His creation? And how does acknowledging God as creator of the universe affect our relationship with Him and with His …

June 2, 2024 Old Testament: 1 Samuel 3:1-20 Psalter: Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 Epistle Lesson: 2 Corinthians 4:5-12 Gospel Lesson: Mark 2:23-3:6 Scripture quotations from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. …

Sermon #283 The Apostles' Creed is one of our most ancient statements of the Christian faith. It affirms our belief in the triune nature of God, and the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Many churches recite this affirmation of faith each week, but how often do we really consider the meaning of the words? Why did the ancient Christians determine the need f…

Sermon #605 What does it mean to be born again? We know what it means to be born. I recently celebrated a birthday, and it's an annual reminder of an event that is momentous in my life, and yet I don't remember it actually happening. Modern day evangelists often accuse Christians of not being born again because they don't remember the exact day, ho…

Sermon #282 We begin our sixth season of the Guerrilla Christianity podcast with a deeper look at the Holy Spirit. We see the Holy Spirit at work in the pages of the Bible, and we know He is at work in us as believers in Jesus Christ. What exactly does "Pentecostal Power" mean? How can the Holy Spirit of God move in us to bring about glory for God …