Text: Isaiah 40:25-31 In the name of Jesus. Amen. There are two prominent positions in America when we talk about the topic of God.  On the one side, there are those who are atheists and agnostics. The atheists generally assert that there is no evidence or convincing argument for the existence of any supernatural beings, and therefore, they do not subscribe to any religious beliefs about God.  The problem with atheism, though, is that for it to be true, they would have to look under every stone, explore every dimension, and look in every galaxy to rule out the existence of God.&nbs ..read more

In 2019, the United Methodist Church voted to strengthen its ban on gay clergy and marriage. Five years later, the General Conference of the United Methodist Church officially affirmed gay clergy and marriage. Now, it would be very easy to assume that the denomination had a theological epiphany over the last 5 years – theological minds, perhaps, got with the times. However, this is not the case. So, what happened? Why the drastic theological/social shift? Imagine a rubber band anchored to two fingers pulling in opposite directions. After the rubber band is stretched, both sides are at a stan ..read more

Text: Ezekiel 34:11-16 In the name of Jesus. Amen. Shepherds exist for the sheep; however, sheep do not exist for the shepherd. Indeed, the arrow always points from the shepherd down to the sheep, not from the sheep upward to the shepherd. Listen to this very clearly: when sheep exist for the shepherd, and the arrow points from the sheep up to the shepherd, things go wrong. Let's say it this way: when sheep exist for the shepherd’s sake, it is a telltale sign of spiritual abuse. When we consider the verses right before our Old Testament reading from the book of Ezekiel, we hear all about evi ..read more

Text: Mark 16:1-8 In the name of Jesus. Amen.   Several years ago, I attended a funeral service for a loved one. The church was full of family and friends from the community. As the service started, the pastor ushered the family into the sanctuary while everyone sang the hymn “Amazing Grace.” The casket was wheeled into the sanctuary and placed at the bottom of the steps in front of the baptismal font. After the last verse of the opening hymn, the pastor announced the invocation and then greeted the sanctuary.  The pastor proceeded to tell us that – let’s just call her Susie ..read more

Text: John 19:1-42 In the name of Jesus. Amen. It isn’t very popular to say, but nonetheless, it is true: we have an angry God.  Yes, you heard that correctly: we have an angry God.  Some may push back against this and say,  “No, God is love; in God, there is no hate or anger.  We certainly do not have an angry God!”  This begs the question, then, did God giggle with glee when Adam and Eve first sinned?  When God looks down upon His creation and sees pride, envy, wrath, greed, gluttony, lust, and sloth, does He say,  “Those rascally humans are at it again ..read more

Text: 1 Corinthians 11:23-32 In the name of Jesus. Amen. What is it that we eat and drink this evening?  What is it that Christ instituted long ago in that upper room with His disciples?   Many people will answer this by saying that communion is nothing more than a symbol.  They will say that the bread and wine are visible signs of Christ’s body and blood crucified on the cross. And so, according to this way of thinking, communion is definitely important, but it is not really the real thing.  In other words, as a symbol, communion points to what is genuinely importan ..read more

Text: Zechariah 9:9-12 In the name of Jesus: Amen. Kingdoms exist to provide security and maintain order for a particular nation. Without a kingdom or government, well… citizens are subject to lawlessness, which leads to widespread crime and violence. Yes, without a kingdom, anarchy breaks out, insecurity abounds, disorder deteriorates, and everything becomes unstable, leading to death, rape, theft, and utter chaos.    Kingdoms also sometimes exist to prop up the ego and narcissistic appetites of an evil tyrant.  That is right; a tyrant can try to establish their personal king ..read more

Air Date: February 15th of 2024 Access Audio Versions of this Episode (i.e., iTunes, Podbean, Spotify, etc): Pastor Brademeyer's Podcast Page:  https://www.stjohnsoakes.org/podcast... Pastor Richard's Podcast Page:  https://thegreatexchange1518.podbean.... Episode 1 Details: Join Pastors Richard, Neuendorf, and Brademeyer - as well as Mr. Thorson - as they discuss the emasculated church ..read more

Text: John 6:1-15 In the name of Jesus. Amen. In our reading from the Gospel of John, Jesus multiplied bread and fish to feed the 5000 people who had gathered by the Sea of Tiberias.  Our reading says that the people sat down in a great deal of grass and were given bread and fish – so much that they were filled and satisfied.  Indeed, they were saturated with food; they were comfortable.  However, that is where things went off course.  You see, after they were filled and satisfied, they thought that they would seize Jesus to let the good times roll.  The thought proc ..read more

Text: Matthew 15:21-28  In the name of Jesus. Amen. I sometimes wish all of you could wear a clergy collar just for a day, not to prove anything to you or make you feel the burdens of the pastoral office. But instead, it would be neat for you to experience all the spiritual conversations about faith that happen at the hospital, Walmart, and mall – to name a few.  You see, when I go for lunch, when I go to the hospital, or when I swing by Walmart, the grocery store, or the bank after I am done working for the day, I typically leave my clergy collar on, which then leads me to have ..read more