Grantham Church Podcast

Sermon Focus: Peter urges believers to see themselves as sojourners and exiles who abstain from sinful desires and submit to authorities as a witness to God’s love and power. We must be willing to be misunderstood, treated unfairly, and suffer for Christ in a watching world. This may be the only way unbelievers see the power of the gospel. In the fourth message of our series, Pastor David invites...

Sermon Focus: Israel was chosen by God to be a “holy nation” and a “kingdom of priests” for the sake of the world, but Israel failed to carry out their calling. Therefore, Jesus came as the faithful Israelite who revealed that God’s ultimate desire and original plan was that his “chosen people” would become a “spiritual house” made up of a multi-ethnic church, not a nation-state. In the third mess...

Peter calls Jesus's sojourners to "be holy as God is holy." He tells us to "love one another deeply from the heart.” Julia Johnson recently challenged us to love people coming to Grantham Church through One80 Ministries with the statement: "Don't just feel something, do something." Such acts of love for others will endure forever by bringing the kingdom of God "on earth as it is in heaven." In the...

Peter opens his letter with encouragement to scattered “exiles” across Asia Minor. He begins by reminding these believers that their identity is in Christ, who has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It’s because of this belief in Christ and God’s good future that we can follow Jesus and live faithfully in exile. In the first message of our...

The Gospels tell us that Jesus had compassion on people. And according to the life and ministry of Jesus, when we have compassion for others we will see, feel, and move. In today’s message, Julia Johnson will help us explore ways that Jesus allowed his compassion for others to move him into taking action and then she will invite us to do something to help others in need. With open hearts and minds...

We just completed a 7-week sermon series called, The Last Things. Where is everything going? What happens when we die? And what about heaven, hell, the end times, the second coming, the final judgment, and the resurrection? The series addressed those things to deepen our trust in God in times of fear and uncertainty, ground us in the Christian hope, and help us to live in light of the last things....

After we’ve considered all that the Scriptures tell us about the last things, we need to ask, “How then shall we live?” Knowing where everything is going ought to compel us to adopt a Kingdom mindset and live in keeping with the good news that Christ died for our sins, was raised for our glorification, is reigning now from heaven, and will someday bring heaven to earth! In the final message of our...

The Scriptures tell us that Christ will return and there will be a final judgment when the righteous are rewarded and the wicked are given over to the consequences of their sin. It’s also at the final judgment that sin, death, and the devil are destroyed forever; it’s when the dead are raised, heaven and earth come together, and all things are made new. In the sixth message of our series, Pastor D...

Many of us grew up in the church hearing a very detailed and complicated view of “the end times” that told us what to expect before, during, and after Christ returns. But what if it’s not like that at all? What if all of that is misguided? In the fifth message of our series, Pastor David challenges us to question the popular teaching about “the rapture” and read the Scriptures afresh to discover a...

Jesus spoke frequently about there being terrible consequences for those who refuse him and his Kingdom. He used many metaphors to describe an eternal punishment for those who reject God, spurn his love, and live for themselves. What is hell? Who will experience it? And how does the biblical teaching of hell align with the God who looks like Jesus? In the fourth message of our series, Pastor David...

The Bible says that “heaven” is God’s space and dimension (Rev. 4-5), which is a present reality. But it is not the same as the “new heaven and earth” (Rev. 21-22), which is a future reality. Why have so many Christians conflated and confused these two, and why does it matter? In the third message of our series, Pastor David shares about the biblical view of personhood (i.e., spirit, soul, and bod...

As Christians, we believe that Jesus was crucified and then raised to life in a glorious “spiritual” or “heavenly” body. This event happened in real time in the middle of human history, and we believe that it changed everything. But how? And what does it mean for us in the present and for where things are going in the future? In the second message of our series, Pastor David invites us to consider...

We’re living in a time when fears, worries, and questions about the future are increasing. Leading thinkers are now talking about real existential threats to humanity. These things prompt questions about where things are going and if there is any hope for the future. In the first message of our series, Pastor David introduces us to The Last Things and invites us to adopt an eternal perspective, bu...

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matt. 5:9). This beatitude calls us to work for the shalom (greatest good) of all those within our sphere of influence. It seeks to remove our comfort with the status quo that doesn’t benefit our sisters and brothers. It also works for unity and reconciliation. In today’s message, Pastor Hank Johnson shares how dis...

After his brutal death by crucifixion, Jesus was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures. His resurrection changed everything! And while there are many reasons to believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, our main concern this Easter is to consider what the resurrection means for us in the present and for the future. Let’s open our hearts and minds up to the mystery and wonder of t...

In the final chapter of Galatians, Paul follows up his call to repent of the “acts of the flesh” so that we can bear “fruit of the Spirit” with guidance on how to respond to disciples being overcome by sin. How do we care-front others in a way that isn’t “bounded” but is in keeping with the gospel of God’s grace? In this concluding message of our series, Pastor David shares how God calls us to sin...

In the first four chapters of Galatians, Paul has challenged his readers to reject the false gospel, confronted opponents of the gospel of God’s grace, and told the church not to become slaves again to sin. He has explained the purpose of the Mosaic law and how Christ is now forming a centered-set church. In the fifth message of our series, Pastor David unpacks Paul’s meaning of freedom, the flesh...

Jesus Christ has made it possible for us to be in right relationship with God. But, just as the Galatians were believing a false gospel of self-salvation, we also succumb to lies that we must earn the approval of God. In the fourth message of our series, Pastor Melissa will unpack Paul’s urgent message in Galatians 4 that we are God’s beloved children and when we rest in that reality, we are freed...

In Galatians chapter 3, Paul further explains the purpose of the law of Moses, how God’s covenant works, and how all disciples of Jesus can become children of God through faith in Christ. All of this is in keeping with Paul’s efforts to encourage these believers to embrace the gospel of God’s grace and move away from bounded thinking to a centered-set practice of community. In the third message of...

Paul said that the leaders of the Jerusalem church had accepted him and his ministry, so why are the Galatians now listening to a false gospel from some law-abiding agitators? Paul even says that he confronted Peter in Antioch after he accepted and ate with Gentiles but then changed his mind when the agitators arrived. In the second message of our series, Pastor David shares why this is a big prob...

Paul is upset, and it shows! What has provoked his passionate letter to the churches in Galatia? Paul planted the churches in that region. And not long after, his work and the fragile faith of these Gentile Christians are being threatened by a “good news” that is different than the one he gave them. In the first message of our series, Pastor David shares historical context, guides us through chapt...

It wasn’t a suggestion; it was a command. Jesus told us to “go and make disciples” (Matt. 28:18-20). He commissioned us to baptize new disciples and teach them to obey his commands and embody his life and mission in the world. So, what does it look like to share the gospel with others? And how do we make disciples who make disciples? In the final message of our series, Pastor David invites us to m...

We, the Church, are often known by what we’re against and what divides us rather than what we are for and what unites us in Christ and the gospel. This hurts our witness in the world, creates obstacles and barriers to fulfilling the Church’s mission, and quenches a real awakening and movement of the Holy Spirit. In the fourth message of our 5-week series, Pastor David invites us to repent of compe...

If every person in our community is going to have repeated opportunities to see, hear, and respond to the good news of Jesus Christ, it is unlikely that will happen only by inviting our friends to a church service. As we are transformed by the reality of Christ’s resurrection, God invites us to carry forward his mission in the places where we live, learn, work, and play. In the third message of ou...

The aim of the gospel is to first and foremost transform individuals who embody the character and competencies of Jesus. The inevitable result will be the transformation of our church, our community, and our world. When our own life is being transformed by Jesus, we will want nothing more than to see others experience the same kind of life-giving change. In the second message of our series, Pastor...