Grace Alone Online

Back in 1963, Marvin Gaye recorded a minor-hit song that became so popular that it was covered at least nine times, including by the Temptations and Lee Michaels, who made it a hit in 1971. The song, “Can I get a Witness.” Today’s text immediately brought this chorus to mind…and you’ll shortly see why. Today, John finishes his letter to the congregations in modern-day Western Turkey threatened by...

Who loved who first? Is it my love for God or is it His love for me? Everyone seems to be looking for perfect love…but never finding it? “I know what love is, Jenny.” “MORE THAN A FEELING” “I WANNA KNOW WHAT LOVE IS”. Is love a “second hand emotion?”. Even though we might think we know what love is, it’s obvious we don’t have it or we wouldn't long for it through songs and saying.  Our love i...

"Oh, when the saints go marching in...."  A beautiful song.  Do you want to be in the number?  Sounds like there is some doubt in the lyrics: "How I WANT to be in that number."  God wants us too as well.  That is why his promises are sure.  He signs, seals and delivers us to himself according to His promise of salvation....in and through Baptism.  There should be...

Whose seed are you? Test it. Test the spirits who tempt you or assure you; the spirits who lead you astray or the one who keeps you in your new life. There is only one test. It is the same one as from the beginning. It’s not new. Before the show goes on, the microphones have to be tested – to be sure everything is heard clearly by the audience. If the mics aren’t working properly misunderstanding...

1 John 2:28-3:10 is our sermon text: Everything has a root cause, and it has a ‘root’ cause because roots come from ‘seeds.’ The seed produces what will come naturally from that seed. It stands to reason, then, that the root cause of sin is evil seed. John says that as Christ’s children we bear the seed of Christ. We bear the DNA as the ones born of the new creation in Christ Jesus. As new creatio...

1 John 2:18-27 is our sermon text. John has made it clear: the two ways of knowing a Christian (1) being in the light by acknowledging their sin and receiving forgiveness through Christ and (2) by following Christ in the light. It’s a comfort to hear that my sins are forgiven and that I have fellowship with God through Christ, but sometimes, I doubt. Is there any other way by which I would know I...

1 John 2:3-3:17 is our sermon text: “Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” Live like Jesus did? Impossible! I’m a sinner; He is sinless. But, you are called to walk in the light with sins forgiven….as He is in the light. What does walking in that light sound like, feel like, taste like, look like? How does it shine in your life!

We continue our study of the Apostle John's first letter to the congregations in Western Turkey with 1 John 1:5 - 1:5 - "And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. 5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice t...

Today we begin a study of John's First Epistles.  Seeing, hearing, communing, touching, smelling. God showers upon us the gifts that we need in human life to enjoy ever minute of it. The joy we get from eating food we like, seeing movies we love, hearing songs that move us, touching textures that cause us diversity of sensations. God chose to communicate with us in this way when He became fle...

The Christian life has a certain rhythm about it: Repentance, faith and servanthood.  It can be cyclical in your life - a season, or perhaps every day.  We all go through this....it's what keeps Christians going.  We are, after all, sinner and saint; that is, we are sinners yet we are forgiven.  We repent but we don't grovel or lose hope in what we have sinned, rather, we move...

A boy possessed with an unclean spirit is afflicted and the disciples can do nothing about it.  Jesus says, "This is a faithless generation" - TO HIS DISCIPLES....not the boy, not his father, nor the onlookers.  Why are the disciples considered "faithless?"  they spent all their time with Jesus.  How could they have missed something?  Have you missed something?

In today's Gospel, Jesus heals a deaf man.  Pay close attention the extent that Jesus goes in making this man hear and speak again.  He does this with all of us.  Romans 10:17, Paul writes, "Faith comes through hearing, and hearing through the preaching of God's Word."  We are all deaf and cannot respond to the truth of God's Word.  He calls us through His word and opens o...

By what authority are things declared "clean" or "unclean".  Mayors and governors have tried to prohibit the sale certain foods and drinks that they have deemed "unhealthy."  Even presidents have tried to mandate vaccinations and declare "unclean" those who are not vaccinated as if some type of utopia or paradise will be ushered in.  Jesus reacts o what makes a person clean or uncle...

Tevye cries "Tradition!" in the musical Fiddler on the Roof.  Jesus has something to say about traditions in the church, and about those fighting today over "contemporary" and "traditional" worship services!

"Grant me patience, wisdom and understanding...." was a phrase in my childhood prayers that my parents taught me.  How true these words are.  We have a choice: worldly wisdom vs spiritual wisdom.  Street smarts and spiritual street smarts.  If you want to survive in this worlds at any cost (perhaps sometimes throwing morals and personal integrity to the wind), then street smart...

People do not live by bread alone -- or DO they?!  The gospel of John is straight forward in its presentation of who Jesus is and His teachings.  John does not mix words when revealing to us that Jesus Is the bread of life.  Chapter 6 is a beautiful chapter in which John frames Jesus teaching of himself as the bread of life and the the Last Supper.  Matthew and Mark chronicle t...

We conclude our study of Paul's letter to the Ephesians delving into Chapter 6.  Since chapter 5, Paul has been talking about our walk with Christ.  We are to be "filled with the Holy Spirit..." emphasizing that being filled with the Holy Spirit is to be submissive to each others' needs: putting them before our own. (Ephesians 5:18ff).  Paul, then, uses the example of how this plays...

Submission: What's Love Got To Do With It - it probably the best way to approach the topic in Paul's letter to the Ephesians, chapter 5.  Marriage was so rotten among Jews and Romans at Paul's time, that He took time to dedicate part his chapter of "walking in the faith in Christ" to devote to the relationship between husbands and wives. Listen in as Paul discusses how deposits of love preven...

Ephesians 5:18-21 continues our study of Paul's letter to the Ephesians.  Paul focuses on "being filled with the Spirit".  It is a command.  It is a continuous command.  It is something that is done TO every Christian, not something that a Christians does to him or herself.  where do we find the Holy Spirit in order to be filled?  what are the signs that we are filled...

In our continued study of the book of Ephesians, Paul makes a shift from talking about who we are in Christ to how we walk in Christ.  The first three chapters of Ephesians focuses on who we are, seated in the high places, wealth in Christ, chosen to be his family.  now, in chapter 4-6, Paul talks about what it is to walk.  For Paul, however, faith and walking never happen individua...

Ephesians chapter 3 is our next chapter as we work through St. Paul’s amazing Epistle. Chapter 3 is the middle of the letter, and in this middle, we take a breather, a pitstop. In Ephesians 1-2, we see how God has made us new. In Ephesians 4-5 Paul describes our walk with Christ. Chapter 3 is an important chapter: it teaches us how to move from being born in our new life to walking. It’s our fuel...

As we continue to preach through Paul's letter to the Ephesians we look at the second half of chapter 2: Ephesians 2:11-22.  You can't have peace with others until you have peace with God and, understandably, with yourself.  How can you achieve this peace, and how does it happen.  There are so many walls built up by nations, ethnicity, and personal walls that leep us from living in...

We continue our study of Ephesians.  This week Ephesians 2:1-10.  Do you like what you see when you look in a mirror?  There are houses that intentionally have no mirrors.  I don't think I need to explain why.  We are not perfect, and we know it.  But, we cannot give ourselves a makeover.  A makeup artist can only use the tools at their disposal; there's nothing...

During the summer we are studying the book of Ephesians. Sermons will be based on topics as we read through them.  Today, in Ephesians 1:15-23, Paul tells the Christians in Ephesus to live in that power.  Many times those of us who wear glasses look for them, only to find that we are wearing them.  We forget that we already have them on.  So with the power of God in our lives;...

Today is Trinity Sunday.  Customarily the topic of the Trinity is approached discussing complicated doctrine of the unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in one essence.  This is difficult to comprehend and only grasped by faith.  BUT TODAY, I want to approach it differently.  I want to focus on how God has revealed himself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit as LOVE.  Go...