Sermon #94

God is the source of all light. So when Jesus calls us the light of the world, he meant that we reflect the light of God in a world of darkness and sin. But God is the source. In today's reading, Isaiah says that God's glory will rise upon his people and they will arise and shine in the world, and will attract others out of the darkness. So grab your Bible, turn it to Isaiah chapter 60, and prepare your heart and mind as we heed the words of Isaiah, to arise and shine.

Isaiah 60:1-6

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on January 4, 2015 (first published February 4, 2015)

S.D.G.

Sermon #136

Ambition is a human quality and at times it can be an admirable trait. After all, if someone does not strive to better themselves they become stagnant or slide back into oblivion. But when it comes to the Kingdom of God, ambition, Jesus tells us, is not a characteristic to be desired. In today's reading we meet James and John, two brothers who were fishermen, who took their ambition to great heights whey they aksed to sit at Jesus' right and left hand when he comes into his kingdom. But in the upside-down structure of God's kingdom, the person who humbles himself is the greatest. For when we seek to make ourselves more important, what we are really doing is diminishing God in our lives. So grab your Bible, turn it to Mark chapter 10, and prepare your heart and mind as we see what it means to be servants, everywhere and always.

Mark 10:35-45

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on October 18, 2015 (Originally published November 24, 2015)

S.D.G.

Sermon #304

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 (Originally published December 6, 2018)

S.D.G.