God's House Christian Church Podcast

God's House Christian Church

Sermon from God's House Christian Church in Upstate South Carolina.

  1. 6d ago

    Thanks, But No Thanks EP1 - Same Table, Different Plates

    Division is one of the defining challenges of our moment, showing up in our feeds, our families, and even our churches. Romans 14 takes us inside a first-century church in Rome that was just as fractured, split between believers who felt free to eat anything and believers who, out of deep conviction rooted in Jewish identity and faithfulness, abstained from certain foods. Paul does not resolve the conflict by declaring a winner. Instead, he calls the entire community back to something more fundamental: the welcome of Christ and the gratitude that flows from belonging to Him. At the heart of Paul's argument is a striking observation. Both the one who eats and the one who abstains give thanks to God over their very different plates. That shared act of thanksgiving reveals that both sides share the same Lord. The Greek word Paul uses for giving thanks is eucharisteo, built on the word charis, meaning grace. To give thanks is to respond to something you could never earn. And it is very hard to look down on someone when both of you are standing at the same table with empty hands extended. Paul reminds us that our deepest identity is not political or cultural. It is that we have been bought and claimed by Jesus, whose death and resurrection settled the question of who is in charge. Paul closes with a sobering word about judgment. There is only one bema, one seat of final evaluation, and it belongs to God alone. When we despise or condemn a brother or sister, we are not just being unkind. We are reaching for a seat that is not ours. Jesus Himself prayed the night before the cross that His followers would be one, not uniform in opinion, but united in love. The challenge for every believer this week is to identify someone they have quietly judged, to thank God for that person before saying a single word to them, and to pray with someone who sees things differently. Same table. Different plates. One Lord.

    Thanks, But No Thanks EP1 - Same Table, Different Plates

  2. Oct 5

    If God Is For Us EP 1 - Unanswerable Love

    Most of us carry a quiet question we rarely say out loud: Is God actually on my side? Romans 8 sits at the very peak of Paul's letter, and at that peak, Paul stops explaining and starts asking five questions, one after another, each one unanswerable. If God is for us, who can be against us? Will He not graciously give us all things? Who can bring a charge against God's elect? Who is to condemn? Who can separate us from the love of Christ? These are not empty questions. They are built on a foundation that cannot be shaken. Paul does not ask us to take his word for it. He offers three pieces of historical evidence. First, God already gave His Son. If He did not hold back the most costly gift imaginable, He will not hold back anything else we need. Second, God is the One who justifies. Justification is not a hopeful opinion but a verdict from the highest court there is, and the case has already been closed. Third, Jesus is interceding for us right now. That verb is present tense and constant. You have an advocate who never takes a day off, seated at the right hand of the Father in full authority, speaking on the basis of a payment that has already cleared. Paul saves his biggest question for last: who shall separate us from the love of Christ? His list of threats is not theoretical. It reads like his own biography, and church tradition tells us the sword on that list is exactly how his life ended. Yet Paul says he is persuaded and remains persuaded. He lists ten things and then adds anything else in all creation, just to cover the rest. You are not safe because your grip is strong or your record is clean. You are safe because of where you are: in Christ. Nothing on Paul's list has a key to that address, and neither does anything you are carrying today.

    If God Is For Us EP 1 - Unanswerable Love

  3. Sep 28

    Refuge EP4 - When God Becomes Mine

    There is a meaningful difference between admiring God from a distance and actually knowing Him personally. Psalm 91 opens with sweeping, universal titles such as the Most High, the Almighty, and the Lord. These are names anyone could use to describe God. But the psalm closes with something far more intimate: 'my God.' That small word changes everything. It is a shift from who God is known to be publicly to who He is personally to the one speaking. The Hebrew word used, Elohim, is the same word found in Genesis 1:1, describing the supreme, sovereign Creator of the universe. And yet the psalmist calls Him his own. Psalm 91:14-16 records God speaking directly, and the promises He makes are striking. He promises to answer when we call, to be present in trouble, to deliver and honor those who know Him, and to satisfy them with long life and salvation. These are not one-time transactions. They describe what it looks like to walk through life with God, trouble included. His love, as verse 14 makes clear, is not a reward for performance. It is a choice He freely made, echoing the same pattern Moses described to Israel and that runs throughout all of Scripture. Romans 8:32 brings the full weight of this truth into focus. Paul's wording deliberately echoes Genesis 22, where Abraham was stopped from sacrificing his son Isaac. Paul is telling us that Abraham's story was always a preview of what God Himself was actually going to do. Abraham's hand was stopped. God's hand was not. The reasoning that follows is straightforward: if God has already given the single costliest gift imaginable, His own Son, then giving anything smaller is no longer in question. From Exodus to Ruth to Thomas to the psalmist, Scripture keeps returning to the same personal claim. Not just the God, but my God. The refuge Psalm 91 describes was never meant to stay theoretical. It was always meant to become personal.

    Refuge EP4 - When God Becomes Mine

  4. Sep 21

    Refuge EP3 - Guarded By the Unseen

    When life delivers a diagnosis, an unexpected loss, or a moment of sudden fear, one question rises above all others: is anyone actually in control? Psalm 91 answers that question with remarkable clarity and confidence. The name used for God throughout this psalm is not a generic religious title. It is the covenant personal name of God, rooted in the Hebrew YHWH, the same name God revealed to Moses at the burning bush when He declared Himself as I AM WHO I AM. This name points to a God who is self-existent, uncaused, and eternal, and yet He ties that eternal identity directly to His faithfulness toward real people across real generations. His power is never cold or distant. It is the very foundation of His covenant-keeping love. Psalm 91 also makes a specific and striking claim about how God protects His people. He commands His angels to guard those who make Him their dwelling place, using language that echoes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. The Hebrew word for guard in verse 11 is the same word used in Genesis when Adam was placed in the garden to keep and protect it. That is sacred space language, and it tells us something profound: in God's eyes, your life is worth guarding with that same level of care. However, there is a critical difference between trusting God and testing Him. When the devil tempted Jesus by quoting Psalm 91, he deliberately left out the phrase that defines who the promise is for, those walking in God's ways. Trust rests in God faithfully through the ordinary and unglamorous. Testing tries to manufacture a moment that forces God to prove Himself on our timeline and our terms. The practical invitation from Psalm 91 is not complicated. It begins with the posture of young Samuel, who simply said, speak, Lord, for your servant is listening, before he even understood what was about to be said. It means naming your fears honestly and reframing them in light of what is actually true: the Lord has commanded guardians over your life. And it means asking yourself honestly whether there is an area where you have been testing God rather than trusting Him. You are not navigating life unguarded. The self-existent one who answers to no one has commissioned unseen protection over those who dwell with Him.

    Refuge EP3 - Guarded By the Unseen

  5. Sep 14

    Refuge EP2 - Formidable and For You

    The name Almighty carries far more weight than most people realize. Rooted in the Hebrew word Shaddai, it does not simply describe strength in a general sense. It points to overwhelming, decisive, formidable force, the kind that cannot be pushed aside or outlasted. Some scholars connect it to the idea of violent, overpowering action, while others trace it to an ancient word for mountain, picturing God as immovable and towering. Both images reinforce the same truth: this is a God whose strength has no rival and no ceiling. What makes this name remarkable is where it shows up most. The book of Job, the story of a man losing everything, uses the name Almighty more than any other book in the Bible. God first revealed Himself by this name to Abraham, a childless 99-year-old man, not to threaten him but to make an impossible promise believable. Psalm 91 builds on this, describing His protection as active and all-encompassing, covering every threat at every hour, day and night, darkness and noon, with no exceptions. The image of God covering His people with the strong part of an eagle's wing is not a picture of passive shelter. It is a picture of Someone actively engaged on your behalf. The clearest picture of what almighty power looks like in action comes from Luke 7, where Jesus stood between a condemned woman and the religious finger-pointing aimed at her. He did not move. He forgave her and sent her away in peace. The same formidable strength that has no rival is the strength He used to cover someone the world had already written off. That is the direction His power is always aimed. Paul learned this truth through his own weakness, discovering that God's power is made perfect precisely in the places where human strength runs out. Almighty is not a name meant to intimidate. It is a name meant to draw you close, because He is both formidable and entirely for you.

    Refuge EP2 - Formidable and For You

  6. Sep 7

    Refuge EP1 -Stop Renting, Start Dwelling

    When life becomes overwhelming, most of us instinctively run somewhere for relief. A quiet room, a long drive, a distraction we hope will take the edge off. But Psalm 91 opens with a claim that reframes the entire search: the safest place you can be is not a location at all. It is a Person. God is introduced here as the Most High, El Elyon in Hebrew, a title that declares His authority over every rival power. In the ancient world, nations worshipped gods of storm, harvest, and war, each claiming a slice of life. This title cuts through all of it. Whether it was Melchizedek blessing Abraham, Balaam being forced to speak truth against his own agenda, or Nebuchadnezzar confessing God's rule after being humbled to the fields, the title Most High has always forced an acknowledgment of authority that no one can ultimately escape. And in the New Testament, the angel Gabriel gives Jesus this same title, drawing a straight line from the throne room of Psalm 91 to a manger in Bethlehem. The heart of Psalm 91 is not just about who God is but about where we choose to live in relation to Him. The Hebrew verbs for dwelling and abiding in verse one carry a striking contrast. One describes permanent, settled residence. The other is the language of a traveler lodging for the night. Yet the psalmist takes that temporary language and applies it to something lasting. God does not merely permit us to visit. He turns overnight guests into permanent residents. Most of us know the way to God's presence. We have been there before. The honest question is whether we stay. Dwelling looks like daily prayer, slow reading of Scripture, intentional quiet, and a life genuinely oriented around God rather than one that checks in during emergencies. Psalm 91 does not promise that dwelling with God will keep storms away. It promises something better. Elizabeth Elliot, whose husband Jim was killed as a missionary in Ecuador in 1956, drew the title of her biography directly from this psalm. She was convinced that the refuge God offers is not a refuge from suffering and death but a refuge from final and ultimate defeat. Paul echoes this in Romans 8, listing death, rulers, and powers as things that cannot separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. He does not say these things will not touch us. He says they cannot pull us out of God's love once we are hidden inside of it. The waves do not stop. We simply do not go under. The invitation of Psalm 91 is not to visit God when things fall apart. It is to stop renting a temporary shelter of self-reliance and control, and to start dwelling permanently in the shadow of the One who holds everything.

    Refuge EP1 -Stop Renting, Start Dwelling

  7. Aug 31

    Everyday Disciple EP5 - Room At Your Table

    In Luke 14, Jesus is dining at the home of a Pharisee when He redirects the entire conversation toward the posture behind hospitality. He tells His host plainly that inviting friends, family, and wealthy neighbors to dinner is not the kind of generosity He is describing. When the guest list is built around people who will return the favor, the gathering costs nothing and changes nothing. Jesus calls for something different: invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Invite the ones who cannot repay you. That is where the blessing lives. The parable that follows makes the point even sharper. A man throws a great banquet, and the invited guests all make excuses and stay away. So the master sends his servant into the streets to bring in anyone who will come, filling the house with people who were never on the original list. Jesus is painting a picture of the kingdom of God, and it looks far more open and far more costly than most of us are used to. The Greek word used for this kind of feast, deipnon, describes a full and significant gathering. It is the same word used in Revelation 19 for the wedding feast of the Lamb. This is not a casual get-together. It is a deliberate act of welcome. The good news is that none of this requires a dramatic overhaul of life. It starts with one name, one invitation, one meal. Rosario Butterfield, a professor who had publicly criticized Christians, came to faith in Jesus Christ through the consistent, unhurried hospitality of a pastor and his family. They did not treat her as a project. They treated her as a neighbor and kept the door open. That is the kind of faithfulness Jesus is describing, and He promises it will not go unnoticed. The reward may not arrive after the first meal, but it is on its way. Discipleship happens in ordinary spaces, and the table is one of the most powerful ones we have.

    Everyday Disciple EP5 - Room At Your Table

  8. Aug 24

    Everyday Disciple EP4 - Discipled by Your Screen

    Most of us carry a device that receives more of our daily attention than almost anything else in our lives. Before we speak to a family member, before we pray, and often before we are fully awake, we reach for our phones. That habit is not spiritually neutral. In Mark 12:28-34, Jesus identifies the two greatest commandments: love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. These commands apply to every part of life, including the part where your thumb is scrolling. A repeated, formative practice that shapes what we love is called a liturgy, and our phones function as exactly that, whether we intend them to or not. Whoever gets access to your attention first tends to shape the emotional tone for everything that follows. Loving God with your attention means being intentional about what you reach for first. It can be as simple as spending 60 seconds acknowledging God before checking your phone each morning. A short prayer, a single verse, or a quiet moment of surrender is a direct act of loving God with your whole self. Loving your neighbor with your words means pausing before you share, comment, or react online. James reminds us that blessings and curses should not come from the same source. Before posting, the honest question to ask is whether your words would help someone see Jesus more clearly or simply help you win an argument. Both of these commitments require intentional habits chosen ahead of time rather than default reactions. Reading Scripture before checking your phone, praying before scrolling, or setting a time limit on one app are small but meaningful acts of discipleship. Social media has been described as the new Roman road, a global highway of ideas, dialogue, and influence. As followers of Christ, we are called to travel those roads with wisdom, humility, and a desire to represent Him well. Your screen is not off-limits to discipleship. It is one of the most important places discipleship needs to show up right now.

    Everyday Disciple EP4 - Discipled by Your Screen
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Sermon from God's House Christian Church in Upstate South Carolina.

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