Singing to God

In John’s vision he sees the martyrs calling out for justice, asking how long will they have to wait for God to make things right. This speaks to our common longing for justice as we live in the space where Jesus has won the victory and overcome Satan, yet we wait on justice to be fully realized. This sermon shows how we live in this space. 

In this sermon, Greg provides a defense for the existence of an evil intelligence, a being named Satan, and explains how Revelation conveys that he is the source and cause of all the violence, evil and destruction in the world. Through this, Greg argues that God has often been blamed for what Satan has actually done.

This first sermon in this sub-series entitled “The Wrath of the Lamb” sets the stage for what is to come. Greg shows how the images in Revelation 6 have been traditionally interpreted as depicting God as a violent arbiter of wrath. However, he challenges these interpretations and introduces an alternative, which is more faithful to the text and to the revelation of God in Christ.

In this final sermon for the Political Distortions series, Greg Boyd addresses the heart posture of humility, calling us to the mindset of living in love to the point that we take on the mind of Christ on the cross instead of the prideful-ascent mindset that characterizes Satan and those who are always pursuing a life of “more.”

Jesus and the writers of the New Testament highlight the importance of how we use our words. In fact, the biblical parameters stand in stark contrast to the common ways of speaking about one another in modern life. As followers of Jesus, we are called to embrace an alternative way that is driven by love, not slander and gossip.

In this sermon, Shawna Boren calls us to live in the way of Jesus by embodying patience in the midst of strife and turmoil. We are to bear with one another, showing others patience even when our natural tendencies compel us to set them straight. 

Dan Kent challenges us with the words of the Apostle Paul to respond to polarization by letting our gentleness show. He explains what gentleness is and is not, and outlines the inherent power and the freedom we experience when we obey this command to gentleness.

In this team-taught sermon with Greg Boyd and Bill Doherty, we learn about the importance of being a peacemaker, and discover some basic skills about how we can actually promote peace when polarized perspectives are part of our conversations.

Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy. Therefore, we must be wise to temptations that seek to entrap us in patterns that lead to our destruction. In this sermon Greg Boyd and Bill Doherty identify common ways that we are tempted in the current culture of political polarization. Greg and Bill then provide practical guidance for navigating these temptations so that we can avoid their entrapment. 

Greg Boyd and Cedrick Baker highlight the difference that the kingdom of God makes and how it contrasts with the kingdoms of this world. They help us understand how the two kingdoms often are combined, which means that the kingdom of God becomes something other than what it should be. Greg and Cedrick also provide some insight into ways that we can practice kingdom distinctives in our everyday lives.