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 have fellowship with God for those times when I doubt

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"Emergency! Everybody to Get From Street!” - "1 John 2:1827 - (October 17, 2021 - 21st Sunday in Pentecost)

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!

"Walk This Way" - 1 John 2:3-2:17 - (October 10, 2021 - 20th Sunday in Pentecost)

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 the truth. 7 But  if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with  one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 2:2 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may  not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world."

"Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire" - 1 John 1:5-2:2 - (October 3, 2021 - 19th Sunday in Pentecost)

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 flesh and dwelt among us. There is no superior intellectual, spiritual knowledge to which we must ascend or guess at; God comes to us in Jesus Christ. Jesus, the Word made flesh. How does God come to us through seeing, hearing, touching, tasting even today, to make our joy, and His, complete?

"In-sensed with Joy" - 1 John 1:1-14 - (September 26, 2021 - 18th Sunday in Pentecost)

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 from repentance to faith in what Christ has accomplished for us.  His sacrificed and resurrection opened the door for us to move from helpless and condemned sinner to righteous in God's sight because of Christ's sacrifice.  this frees us up to servanthood in love to all who surround us.  Our needs met by Him, we are free to serve.  Catch this rhythm.

"The Rhythm Is Gonna Get You" - Mark 9:30-37 - (17th Sunday in Pentecost)

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?

"Talkin' About My Generation" - Mark 9:14-29 - (September 12, 2021 - 16th Sunday in Pentecost)

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 our ears to hear and believe.  "Let the person who has ears....let them hear the word of the Lord."

"A Deaf Man is Healed" - Mark 7:31-37 - (September 5, 2021 - 15th Sunday in Pentecost)

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 unclean and it's not by prohibiting McDonald's.

"NO SOUP FOR YOU" - Mark 7:14-23 - (August 29, 2021 - 14th Sunday in Pentecost)

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!

"Tradition! Tradition!" - Mark 7:1-13 - (August 22, 2021 - 13th Sunday in Pentecost)

"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 smarts might work.  But, Christ invites us to be granted His riches, His robes of righteousness, forgiveness and salvation from this world and our broken lives and lies.  His wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord, repentance, and acknowledgement of Him alone as God an Savior.  How is the Lord to be "feared in all Christian walks?"  Listen in.

"Spiritual Street Smarts" - Proverbs 9:1-10 - (August 15, 2021 - 12th Sunday in Pentecost)

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 the event of the Last Supper, John captures the meaning of the Last Supper in Jesus teachings.  Follow Jesus, as He leads us in understanding that He is the bread of life.  

"Living by Bread Alone" - John 6:35-58 - (August 8, 2021 - 11 Sunday in Pentecost)

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 out in the marriage relationship.  In chapter 6, then, Paul addresses how this plays out in the "family relationship" - the family included at that time, not only children but slaves and servants.  Paul's instruction is simple: love obediently.  This clashes with today's society where we are told to fight against injustice on our own terms before we would obey or love the "other."  Let's listen to what Paul has to say...

"Obedience Through Love" - Ephesians 6 - (August 1, 2021 - 10th Sunday in Pentecost)

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 prevent a bankrupt marriage.

"Submission: What’s Love Got to Do With It?" - Ephesians 5 - (July 25, 2021 - 9th Sunday in Pentecost)

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 with God's Spirit, and living the life for which Christ redeemed us? Listen in.

"Living Under the Influence" - Ephesians 5:18-21 - (July 18, 2021 - 8th Sunday in Pentecost)

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 individually, rather in community.  We are in the family of God, joined together by Christ in Baptism.  we are united in faith, and, we are to walk united in this world.  Paul's emphasis, "we're all in the same boat..."  We do not exist, we cannot believe, we will not survive, separate from one another.  Doctrine means duty, belief means behavior, oue relationship with Jesus means relationship with one another.  Listen in.

"We’re All in the Same Boat" - Ephesians 4 - (July 11, 2021 - 7th Sunday in Pentecost)

Weekly sermons from Grace Lutheran Church, 195 Alvarado Avenue, Pittsburg, California, 94565