Eric Ludy Sermon Podcast: Church at Ellerslie Eric Ludy

One of the most important building blocks in a strong and robust faith is knowing the unchanging nature of our God. Simply put, He doesn’t change. The world around us may prove fickle, but not our God. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. In order to enjoy a great relationship with God, a believer must get a clear grip on this beautiful truth.

God is in the business of making old things new. And His chief target for this masterful redemptive regenerative work is us. But, not all of us are as interested in new as He is. We tend to cling like Saran Wrap to the old. But, the Christian life is best understood and discovered when the old is forsaken and the new is embraced.

Oomph is a strange and fascinating word. Not only does it have an interesting onomatopoetic sound, but it is also toting around a deeply significant truth. The word “Oomph” has come to mean “exertion” or “strength invested into a task”—and that is an idea that is near absent in the modern Christian experience, but desperately in need of returning. Because Christianity that is worth its salt involves an active, aggressive, soul-sweating givenness to the multitudinous tasks of spiritual obedience. In other words, it doesn’t shrink back from doing hard labor for Jesus Christ, but courageously exerts and spends itself on assignments that would cause normal everyday humanity to blanche.

Smiles have been harder to come by since the pandemic era. And, at the same time, hope and the sense of a secure future have both taken a definite nosedive in their respective stock values. But, as believers, we can’t fall for this classic ruse. The Devil has always been in the business of fretting, foreboding, and fear. His plan is simple—to dupe the masses into transferring their investment portfolios of faith from “a strong anticipation in God's ability to save" into the worthless business of hell—dread, panic, and a dismal outlook. As believers we are in the business of smiling, laughing, rejoicing, and leaping for joy. It’s high time we get our game on.

Sharing Jesus with this world is not just a sizable task, it's a supremely difficult one. So, how do we do it? Do we start yelling from the street corner? Do we wait for someone to come up to us and ask us about the hope that lies within us? How exactly is this done? What is our role? When should we speak? When should we stay silent? The answer to these questions is a bit complex and has more than a few variables interwoven into it, but one of the keys to unlocking this mystery is understanding something known as jurisdiction. It’s a big word, yes, but even a child can understand it. And when you know your jurisdiction, you can more effectively know what your role is in this grand adventure of changing the world for Jesus Christ.

The Church is facing unprecedented challenges today. And the battle over gender and identity is one of the strangest problems in the mix, leaving many of us scratching our spiritual heads in total bewilderment. But, God has not left us bereft of wisdom. He has supplied us with everything we need for this hour in history. This message unpacks the challenge of gender confusion and supplies Biblical insight into how to potentially address this strange and befuddling issue.