Santa Monica Nazarene Church
262 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 months ago - ★★★★★ - 3 ratingsWeekly sermons from Santa Monica Church of the Nazarene in Santa Monica, CA.
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Episodes
06.02.24 • Faith, Consequences, Growth, and Sanctification (Numbers 14:11-23) • Sermon Series: Great Prayers of the Old Testament
June 06, 2024 22:21 - 28 minutes - 38.7 MBIn this sermon we continue our look at some of the great prayers of the Old Testament (preaching in concert with Walter Brueggemann's book about them). Our focus in on Moses who among other things has the gall to quote God back to God in hopes that God will forgive God’s people. However, we also remember that God is not averse to consequences, that they are a part of our journey with Jesus, that they have the power to change us (for the better, ideally), and this all has to do with sanctific...
05.26.24 • This Bloke Won't Haggle! (Genesis 18:20-33) • Sermon Series: Great Prayers of the Old Testament
June 06, 2024 22:01 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MBIn this sermon we begin a series through some of the great prayers of the Old Testament (thank you, Walter Brueggemann). Our first prayer is about the time Abraham haggled with God to save a city. We look at his reverence and audacity as he prays, as well as how his prayer nods towards the way Jesus will teach us to pray much later. And, oh, a little bit on the Doctrine of the Trinity to kick things off (don’t worry, it makes sense).
05.19.24 (Pentecost Sunday) • The Language of Pentecost • (Acts 2:1-13)
June 06, 2024 21:44 - 28 minutes - 38.9 MBIn this sermon we celebrate Pentecost, the arrival of the Holy Spirit on God’s people and throughout the creation. With a little help from a scene in the film Arrival, a story about the time Derrida kept saying ‘cows’ in a lecture, the Truth and Reconciliation commission in South Africa, and all things Willie James Jennings we find ourselves drawn into the good news of the Holy Spirit drawing up close to God and one another in Christ.
05.12.24 (Ascension Sunday) • In Good Hands (Luke 24:44-53)
June 05, 2024 15:42 - 29 minutes - 40 MBIn this sermon we celebrate the ascension of Jesus. We consider that the ascension has to do with Christ’s lordship over all things and that because he returns to the Father we have know we are in good hands. This, with a little help from C.S. Lewis’s The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and a story about a train attendant at the London Euston railway station who once saved the day.
05.05.24 - Open to the Possibility of What We Cannot See (Acts 10:44-48)
May 07, 2024 23:40 - 28 minutes - 38.9 MBIn this sermon we look at what it means to follow a God who sets things in motion behind the scenes. It’s a sermon from the modern the era, perhaps. For people who are otherwise closed of God, but cannot escape that something beyond is pressing into their lives (and this with a little help from a 2012 film called Jeff Who Lives at Home).
04.28.24 - Imagine New Possibilities: Or Good News for Eunuchs (Acts 8:26-40)
May 03, 2024 22:06 - 27 minutes - 37.6 MBIn this sermon we talk about how the future of God was always meant for the eunuch even when for a thousand years it wasn’t.
04.21.24 - The Good Church (John 10:11-18)
May 03, 2024 22:03 - 28 minutes - 39.7 MBIn this sermon we consider what a loud concert taught me about (not) hearing God, how God meets us when there is no way, and what it means to be the Good Church of the Good Shepherd.
04.14.24 - "To Be Aware of God’s Presence in the Room” (Luke 24:36-48)
May 03, 2024 21:53 - 29 minutes - 40 MBIn this sermon we look at a moment where the disciples encounter the post-resurrection Jesus and we consider what it means to be aware of God’s presence in the room (thank you Nadia Bolz-Weber).
04.07.24 - Of Saints and Ironed Shirts (John 20:19-28)
May 03, 2024 21:46 - 33 minutes - 46.5 MBIn this sermon we watch a guy iron a shirt and talk about the saints (Monica, Elizabeth Ann Seton, and Joan of the Cross).
03.31.24 (Resurrection Sunday) - What are you still doing here? (Mark 16:1-8)
April 05, 2024 21:49 - 28 minutes - 42 MBIn this sermon on Easter Sunday we turn to the resurrection of Jesus as Mark’s gospel tells it. We embrace the strangeness of Mark’s version and, with a little help again from The Shawshank Redemption, we hear the good news that Jesus is out there calling us into a future not foreclosed by death but made possible through his rising from the dead.
03.29.24 (Good Friday) - “I could live without you, but I don’t want to” (John 18-19)
April 05, 2024 21:39 - 18 minutes - 27.2 MBIn this sermon on Good Friday we riff on a song lyric as way to grasp the heart of God on display in the death of Jesus. “I should’ve told you I could live without you, but I don’t want to.”
Everything, Down to the Very Last Thing
March 06, 2024 00:09 - 36 minutes - 49.9 MBIn this sermon we look at the story about Jesus cleansing the temple. We walk briskly through a history of the temple, into how it changed with Jesus, and then what it has to do with us and the cleansing of our own lives.
03.03.24 - Everything, Down to the Very Last Thing (John 2:13-22)
March 06, 2024 00:09 - 36 minutes - 49.9 MBIn this sermon we look at the story about Jesus cleansing the temple. We walk briskly through a history of the temple, into how it changed with Jesus, and then what it has to do with us and the cleansing of our own lives.
02.04.24 - To Love Is To Serve - Mark 1:29-39
February 08, 2024 22:21 - 25 minutes - 35.2 MBIn this sermon we look at a moment in Jesus’ ministry as establishing something crucial about his work of salvation and who we are called to be as people, which is to serve.
12.10.2023 - Imitating Christ - John 1:6-8, 19-28
December 13, 2023 18:59 - 25 minutes - 29 MBIn this sermon we return again to John the Baptist, however we focus on what it means for John (and for us) to point to Jesus. Touring through the lectionary passages for the day, we find that pointing to Jesus means imitating him.
12.03.2023 - Prepare - Mark 1:1-8
December 06, 2023 18:58 - 24 minutes - 28.3 MBIn this sermon we join John the baptist “on the frontier as the ages collide” asking once again what it means to prepare the way for the Lord. We look at the opening lines of Mark’s gospel, what I’ve been learning about cooking, and a question.
11.26.2023 - A Messy Advent - Mark 13:24-37
November 30, 2023 16:56 - 25 minutes - 28.9 MBIn this sermon we begin the season of Advent (a week early, we know) by considering what kinds of holy disruptions the Spirit is eager to work in our lives.
11.19.023 - Surrendering to God - Ephesians 1:15-2:10
November 22, 2023 16:55 - 25 minutes - 29.2 MBIn this sermon we proclaim that Christ reigns over all creation and we consider what it means to order our days in light of this good news.
11.12.23 - Why We Must Go Into the Woods - Psalm 148
November 19, 2023 17:38 - 24 minutes - 27.9 MBIn this sermon we wrap up our time with the Psalms by looking at the theme of creation. We remember that the creation is a thin place where we encounter the presence of God in a unique way. Namely, because we are around things that are not struggling to be anything other than what they are.
10.01.2023 - We Need Sadness - Psalm 88
October 05, 2023 22:36 - 27 minutes - 31.4 MBIn this sermon we talk about sadness in the Psalms, how our culture downplays sadness, how sadness is a part of the gospel, and a cellist that played a sad song in a war zone, all while considering a Psalm that is sadness all the way down. You'll love it, I promise.
09.24.2023 - Teach Me to Notice - Psalm 8, 19, 148
September 29, 2023 23:21 - 29 minutes - 33.8 MBIn this sermon we talk about the Psalms as poetry and how, as such, they teach us how to notice the world around in order to better attend to it with love.
09.17.2023 - Prayer and Longing for God - Psalm 42
September 29, 2023 23:19 - 24 minutes - 28.4 MBIn this sermon we look at the Psalms as they relate to prayer. We talk about the word ‘prayer,’ who taught us to pray, what it means to pray without ceasing, that Jesus prayed all the time, and what it means to long for God (with help from some fourth century thinkers).
09.10.2023 - A Life with the Psalms - Psalm 105:1-5
September 15, 2023 20:34 - 23 minutes - 26.8 MBIn this sermon we consider what it means (and how to do it, a little) to cultivate the Psalms in our lives over time so that the story of God becomes the story of our lives.
09.03.2023 - We Need People - Psalm 22
September 06, 2023 16:03 - 30 minutes - 34.8 MBIn this sermon we look at what the Psalms have to teach us about community.
08.27.2023 - To Pray with Honestly - Psalm 139
August 30, 2023 16:05 - 31 minutes - 35.5 MBIn this sermon we look at the honesty of the Psalms and what it means for us to learn how to tell our own story in light of the gospel.
08.13.2023 - Living Between Hope and Memory - Psalm 85
August 16, 2023 16:10In this sermon we begin a new series on the Psalms. We introduce what they are, that they speak to the full range of human experience, and in praying them what it means to live between memory and hope.
08.13.2023 - Living Between Hope and Memory - Psalm 85
August 16, 2023 16:10In this sermon we begin a new series on the Psalms. We introduce what they are, that they speak to the full range of human experience, and in praying them what it means to live between memory and hope.
06.25.2023 - Forgiveness - Matthew 7.7-9
June 30, 2023 20:26 - 28 minutes - 32.1 MBIn this sermon we consider the word forgiveness. We look closely at forgiveness as it’s positioned in the Lord’s Prayer, noting it’s connection to our asking for daily bread and God’s desire to give such bread and forgiveness to us. We reflect on the power of the Amish community to forgive a violent attacker and what it means to be those kinds of people.
06.18.2023 - Faith, Hope, and Love - 1 Corinthians 13:8-13
June 21, 2023 17:28 - 28 minutes - 32.2 MBIn this sermon we look at what faith, hope, and love mean for our discipleship.
06.11.2023 - On Discipleship - John 1:36-39
June 14, 2023 21:35In this sermon we begin a series on discipleship, beginning with the idea that disciples are people who follow, stay put, abide, dwell with God. Discipleship is not an occasional thing but an everywhere-all-the-time thing.
06.04.02023 - The Doctrine of the Trinity - Matthew 28:16-20
June 14, 2023 21:32 - 23 minutes - 27.2 MBIn this sermon we consider what it means to confess that God is Trinity. Our goal is not to explain the mystery of the Trinity, but rather what this confession means. We look a little bit at the history on why there arose a need to clarify the Triune nature of God, which we read in the Nicene Creed. However, we mostly consider what it means to confess that God is Father, Son, and Spirit; what that means for salvation; and what it has to do with saying God is love.
05.28.2023 - The Spirit of Peace - John 20:19-23
May 31, 2023 17:24 - 23 minutes - 26.9 MBIn this sermon we talk about the giving of the Holy Spirit and what it has to do with being a people of peace.
05.21.2023 - Worthy to Be Worshiped - Luke 24:44-53
May 24, 2023 20:44 - 33 minutes - 48.3 MBIn this sermon consider what the ascension of Jesus means in terms of worship. What the worship gathering is, why we do it, and how it relates to the rest of our lives.
05.14.2023 - The Spirit of Belonging - John 14:15-21
May 18, 2023 21:34 - 29 minutes - 34.3 MBIn this sermon we consider how Jesus’ words about God as our advocate and never leaving us orphaned speaks to a culture of loneliness.
05.07.2023 - The Gospel Will Destroy You - The Gospel Will Destory You
May 10, 2023 20:40 - 32 minutes - 36.7 MBIn this sermon we look at an important story in Acts about a time when God’s people had to discern past experiences in light of present circumstances.
04.30.2023 - Surviving or Thriving - Hebrew 8:6-13
May 05, 2023 15:39 - 32 minutes - 36.7 MBIn this sermon Tim Olson takes us into Hebrews and challenges us to allow the gospel to disrupt our lives and why that's good news.
04.23.2023 - Holy Conversations: On ‘Talking and Discussing’ the Past into the Future - Luke 24:13-35
April 28, 2023 00:58 - 40 minutes - 46.4 MBIn this sermon we focus on what it means to talk and discuss the things of faith, especially in the midst of division. We begin with Luke 24 and then turn to Acts 15 to a first century example of discerning the way forward when it's different from the past.
04.16.2023 - Hope and the Wounds of Jesus - 1 Peter 1.3-9
April 23, 2023 16:46 - 39 minutes - 45.3 MBIn this sermon we talk about the Christian understanding of hope in terms of God’s movement towards the poor, marginalized, and oppressed as the way in which God moves for all things.
04.09.2023 - God in the Garden - John 20:1-18
April 23, 2023 16:43 - 31 minutes - 36.5 MBIn this sermon we focus on the resurrection of Jesus in John’s gospel, what it means to recognize God in this surprising but consistent way, and all the things that happen in the garden.
04.02.2023 - Will I Welcome Him? - Matthew 21:1-11
April 05, 2023 16:34 - 28 minutes - 32.2 MBIn this sermon we look at Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. We focus on our expectations of who Jesus is, considering that God reveals who God is on God’s own terms not ours.
03.26.2023 - It's (Not) A Zombie Story - John 11:1-45
March 30, 2023 23:38 - 35 minutes - 40.8 MBIn this sermon we look at the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. We talk about empathy versus sympathy, how a zombie story helps us understand the Lazarus story, and an ancient poem by a guy named Simeon about waking up in Christ’s body.
03.19.2023 -To See or Not to See -John 9:1-41
March 23, 2023 02:08 - 27 minutes - 31.9 MBIn this sermon consider the story of man born blind but healed by Jesus, of what it means to see (with the help of a Bob Dylan song).
03.05.2023 - To Love in Such a Way - John 3:1-17
March 07, 2023 21:59 - 24 minutes - 27.8 MBIn this sermon we look at the famous conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, what it means to be pushed to the edges and why its necessary for growth, consider how the gospel can be misconstrued, talk about the phrase ‘born again’, what it means of Jesus to be ‘lifted up’, and mold.
02.26.2023 - Wilderness Wonderings - Matthew 4:1-11
March 02, 2023 17:33 - 22 minutes - 26 MBIn this sermon we consider Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, it’s connection to Israel’s story in wilderness after the exodus, a place called glass beach, and some challenging questions from Frederich Buechner.
02.22.2023 - "Love in the Time That We Have" - Matthew 6:25-33; 6:1-6, 16-21
March 02, 2023 17:32 - 15 minutes - 17.4 MBIn this sermon we reflect on Ash Wednesday, what it means to wear the ashes, a story about a father living in the hallways of joy and sadness, a film called Collateral Beauty, A song about useless beauty, a scene from Ted Lasso, what it means to give/pray/fast, and loving in the time that we have (thanks Iron and Wine).
02.19.2023 - There Are Lot’s of Way to Be in God’s Presence - Matthew 17: 1-9
February 22, 2023 21:41 - 27 minutes - 31.4 MBIn this sermon we look at the transfiguration of Jesus, the different expressions of light throughout the church year, Peter’s response and the various ways to interpret it, and Asbury University and the question of what it means to be in the presence of God.
02.12.2023 - Discipleship as Filling and Pouring - John 2:1-11
February 15, 2023 21:37 - 27 minutes - 31 MBIn this sermon we look at the story about Jesus at the wedding in Cana. We consider what weddings were like back then, that there was a whole year of preparation leading up to this moment, and we consider the action of filling and pouring as first and second half of life matters (thank you Richard Rohr).
02.05.2023 - The Divine Echo - Matthew 4.12-23
February 08, 2023 22:25 - 23 minutes - 26.6 MBIn this sermon we look at what discipleship meant in the first century Jewish context and consider what it might mean to be called to follow Jesus. Hint: calling begins with listening to God speak to you.
01.29.2023 - A Song for Followers - John: 1:29-42
January 31, 2023 23:29 - 29 minutes - 33.2 MBIn this sermon we consider Jesus’ question to the disciples, “what are you looking for?” with a little help from U2, Clarence Jordan, and a personal experience.
01.22.2023 - The Brooding Spirit of God - Matthew 3:13-17
January 25, 2023 20:59 - 23 minutes - 26.4 MBIn this sermon we look at the story of Jesus’ baptism, what it has to do with the season of Epiphany, and a string of connection about what it means to come up out of the waters towards the New Creation God is bringing about in Jesus. And some help, again, from Flannery O’Connor.