Sermon Series

In ancient Greece, Corinth was a major seaport city that became both prosperous and licentious. It was a center of wealth, entertainment, military power, and cult religion, but also intellectual pride and moral laxity, prompting the phrase “living like a Corinthian” to become an insult cast upon vagrants, drunkards, and sexual deviants.

This was the culture into which the gospel of Jesus Christ penetrated through the preaching ministry of the Apostle Paul in the middle of the 1st century AD, but it’s not too hard to see the parallels to the culture in which American Christians find themselves today. The problems that plagued the Corinthian church continue to crop up in our own congregations. Snobbishness, factionalism, insensitivity to other believers, doctrinal looseness, and more all flourished in the Corinthian church, making the Apostle’s letter particularly relevant to contemporary times.

“The Church in Sin City” is a sermon series that looks at the variety of problems within the Corinthian church, as well as the solutions proffered by the Apostle Paul, with the goal of better understanding how to live as Christians in a corrupt society.

Series Playlist

Elizabeth City EMC Podcast

Who Are You Following?

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<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="WHEAqWlGES"><a href="https://www.ecityemc.org/resources/sermon-series/02/23/the-church-in-sin-city/">The Church in Sin City</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://www.ecityemc.org/resources/sermon-series/02/23/the-church-in-sin-city/embed/#?secret=WHEAqWlGES" width="500" height="350" title="&#8220;The Church in Sin City&#8221; &#8212; Elizabeth City EMC" data-secret="WHEAqWlGES" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script> /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display="none";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):"link"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute("src")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener("message",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute("data-secret"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:t},"*")},!1)))}(window,document); //# sourceURL=https://www.ecityemc.org/resources/wp-includes/js/wp-embed.min.js </script>

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  Who Are You Following?

  Feb 26, 2023 • 41:43

  Speaker: Karl Bowden Series: The Church in Sin City Scripture: I Corinthians 1:10-31

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  Sin in the Camp

  Mar 5, 2023 • 47:01

  What needs to happen at any church where sin is dismissed, swept under the rug, or even celebrated? It needs to repent, recover God’s own perspective, and go to whatever lengths necessary to become the community God has called it to be. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: The Church in Sin City…

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  His Body, His Choice

  Mar 12, 2023 • 48:21

  The church must stand firm on the biblical truth regarding human sexuality, speaking truth in love. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: The Church in Sin City Scripture: I Corinthians 6:12-20

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  Idols

  Mar 19, 2023 • 40:50

  Speaker: Robert Jackson Series: The Church in Sin City Scripture: I Corinthians 10:14-22

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  Rules for Life Together

  Mar 26, 2023 • 53:37

  The attitude of Christ himself lies at the heart of true Christian freedom. It is an attitude that enables us to be so free from the self, so willingly surrendered to God, and so radically others-oriented that we will do all things for God’s glory and man’s salvation. Speaker: Sean…

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  Attitudes at the Supper Table

  Apr 2, 2023 • 43:53

  The Christian church envisioned by the Apostle Paul is one that shares deep, intimate, abiding union and fellowship with Christ and with one another, proclaiming the truths of the Gospel with integrity. Nowhere else is this better expressed than in the worship and fellowship at the Lord’s table. Speaker: Sean…

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  The Consequences of Resurrection

  Apr 9, 2023 • 44:39

  What is the hope for a person bound in sin, lost in darkness, and powerless to do anything about it? What is the hope for a church rife with division, factions, and immorality? What is the hope for a broken world doomed for destruction, in desperate need of repair, and…

We live in an age of disinformation, a time when nothing can be trusted, when all information is to be treated with suspicion. It is an age marked by rumor, conjecture, opinion, and bias, a time of both conspiracy and theory. Christians have claimed for 2,000 years to know the truth, but what happens when the foundations of the faith entrusted to the church are being compromised from within? How is such a situation identified, and what are we to do in response?

Jude, the servant (and half brother) of Christ, is concerned with these very issues. Within the first generation of churches, peddlers of disinformation had wormed their way into positions of leadership among the people of God. These wolves in shepherd’s clothing claimed to offer the Good News, while offering something else altogether. Jude was not content to allow this to happen, and Christians today must heed his warnings.

The Fake News is a call for the church of today to contend for the faith entrusted to it, to stand guard and defend it, working to strengthen its faith while trusting in the keeping power of God. The greatest threat today is not persecution of the truth from without, but perversion of the truth from within.

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Elizabeth City EMC Podcast

Contending for the Faith

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<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="0WBieGHVIb"><a href="https://www.ecityemc.org/resources/sermon-series/01/26/the-fake-news/">The Fake News</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://www.ecityemc.org/resources/sermon-series/01/26/the-fake-news/embed/#?secret=0WBieGHVIb" width="500" height="350" title="&#8220;The Fake News&#8221; &#8212; Elizabeth City EMC" data-secret="0WBieGHVIb" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script> /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display="none";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):"link"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute("src")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener("message",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute("data-secret"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:t},"*")},!1)))}(window,document); //# sourceURL=https://www.ecityemc.org/resources/wp-includes/js/wp-embed.min.js </script>

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  Contending for the Faith

  Jan 29, 2023 • 51:17

  We live in an age of disinformation. But there is one place that you can go to for Truth—a place that the world, and even many who call themselves Christians, will tell you cannot be trusted. It is the Word of God, for the people of God. Thanks be to…

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  Sound the Alarm!

  Feb 5, 2023 • 52:51

  The greatest threat to the church today is not persecution of the faith from without, but perversion of the faith within. Only belief in the Christ of the Scriptures and perseverance in the truth of the good news of God has the power to save. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: The Fake…

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  The True Gospel

  Feb 12, 2023 • 45:38

  To turn from the Scriptures is to turn from God himself. Therefore, the place the Bible holds among the hierarchies of authority in your life has very real implications for your eternal destiny. Salvation itself rests upon the integrity of the gospel’s truth and its transforming impact upon your life.…

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  The Keeping Power of God

  Feb 19, 2023 • 1:04:47

  We are living in hard times, but take heart: Jude’s letter may be marked by the presence of passion, but it is also marked by the absence of panic. God is still at work, in control, and He who is in you is greater than he who is in the…

“And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had.” (Acts 2:44, NLT)

Human beings were created for relationships. The Bible presents the church as God’s new, redeemed humanity, marked by relationships that give definition to who persons are in Christ. The life of the church has always been expressed through concrete, identifiable, local groups of believers who grow together in faith.

Life Groups is a sermon series exploring the need for and blessings of small group life within the local church. It is in the small group where Christians grow closer to God, closer to one another, and experience real life and real love together best. At EMC, they exist in order for believers to connect, to grow, and to serve. This sermon series will be exploring each of these purposes in turn.

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Elizabeth City EMC Podcast

Connecting

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00:00 / 42:04

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<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="rUCPFxmjgS"><a href="https://www.ecityemc.org/resources/sermon-series/01/04/life-groups/">Life Groups</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://www.ecityemc.org/resources/sermon-series/01/04/life-groups/embed/#?secret=rUCPFxmjgS" width="500" height="350" title="&#8220;Life Groups&#8221; &#8212; Elizabeth City EMC" data-secret="rUCPFxmjgS" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script> /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display="none";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):"link"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute("src")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener("message",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute("data-secret"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:t},"*")},!1)))}(window,document); //# sourceURL=https://www.ecityemc.org/resources/wp-includes/js/wp-embed.min.js </script>

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  Connecting

  Jan 8, 2023 • 42:04

  Connecting has always been an essential component of life for the church of Jesus Christ, and to the author of Hebrews it is a matter of necessity and urgency. We must be very intentional to not give up meeting so that we can actively point one another to the all-sufficiency…

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  Growing

  Jan 15, 2023 • 46:31

  The pathway to attaining unity in faith and maturity in holiness begins with deeper intimacy with the Body of Christ. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Life Groups Scripture: Ephesians 4:11-16

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  Serving

  Jan 22, 2023 • 42:23

  Speaker: Richard Meservey Series: Life Groups Scripture: Isaiah 42

The story of Advent is the story of light and life coming to darkness and death. It is the story of a good, faithful God and his plans to rescue and redeem that which has been lost. After centuries of silence, he speaks. And when he does, what happens is amazing. His word does not come to the halls of power or to the appointed sovereign leaders of the world, but through a voice crying out in the wilderness.

This Advent season, join us as we hear the voice of an obscure, eccentric, outlier of a prophet, who prepared the way for the long anticipated coming of the Son of God, the fulfillment of every promise and the hope of all the nations. Marvel with us as we recall that the word of God landed on the stage of history in the middle of nowhere, and that it continues to come, even still, in the midst of our own wilderness experience.

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Elizabeth City EMC Podcast

Heaven's Light Breaking In

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00:00 / 44:16

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<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="VoTnnO2wfk"><a href="https://www.ecityemc.org/resources/sermon-series/11/25/a-voice-in-the-wilderness/">A Voice in the Wilderness</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://www.ecityemc.org/resources/sermon-series/11/25/a-voice-in-the-wilderness/embed/#?secret=VoTnnO2wfk" width="500" height="350" title="&#8220;A Voice in the Wilderness&#8221; &#8212; Elizabeth City EMC" data-secret="VoTnnO2wfk" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script> /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display="none";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):"link"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute("src")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener("message",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute("data-secret"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:t},"*")},!1)))}(window,document); //# sourceURL=https://www.ecityemc.org/resources/wp-includes/js/wp-embed.min.js </script>

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  Heaven's Light Breaking In

  Nov 27, 2022 • 44:16

  Advent might begin the church’s liturgical year, but the coming of Christ is the climax of the great salvation of God that began in his own heart from before the beginning of time. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: A Voice in the Wilderness Scripture: Luke 1:67-79

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  The Word in the Wild

  Dec 4, 2022 • 34:12

  God still speaks through his word. It is not some secret truth, reserved for the elite or the privileged. No, it belongs to the public domain, applies to us all, and always comes at just the right time. Hear him speaking into your own wilderness. Not a message of condemnation,…

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  The Bad News Good News

  Dec 11, 2022 • 53:11

  God never bases his forgiveness on the good things that you and I do, but only ever on the completed and all-sufficient work of his Son. But if you have truly turned to him in repentance and faith, in total surrender, what should the fruit of that look like in…

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  The Mightier One is Coming

  Dec 18, 2022 • 40:14

  The people of God are called to live countercultural lifestyles that reflect the values of the Kingdom of God that are incomprehensible to the world. The Mightier One is Coming, and all people will either be immersed into the fullness of his life or the fullness of his wrath. Speaker:…

C.S. Lewis famously once wrote, “When the author walks on to the stage the play is over.” He was referring to, of course, the second coming of Jesus Christ. It will be an event unparalleled in all of human history, and it will be a time of consequence. As Lewis notes, “It will not be the time for choosing; it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realised it before or not.”

The Bible has a lot to say about the end of time (mentioned or alluded to over 300 times in the New Testament). Unfortunately, the tendency of many, even within the church, is to listen to the Bible for the wrong things. Rather than focusing on what the Bible is not saying about the topic, the people of God should be focusing on what the Bible is saying about the topic. What are the “end times” really? What will characterize the world, and what should characterize the church, in those times? What is the “Day of the Lord” and what difference does it make for my life?

The End is an end times sermon series that explores these questions and more. Those seeking answers the Bible won’t provide will be disappointed, but those with ears to hear and eyes to see what God is saying through his word will discover answers that have both immediate and eternal significance.

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Elizabeth City EMC Podcast

A Time is Coming

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<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="J17WGHWvfZ"><a href="https://www.ecityemc.org/resources/sermon-series/11/01/the-end/">The End.</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://www.ecityemc.org/resources/sermon-series/11/01/the-end/embed/#?secret=J17WGHWvfZ" width="500" height="350" title="&#8220;The End.&#8221; &#8212; Elizabeth City EMC" data-secret="J17WGHWvfZ" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script> /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display="none";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):"link"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute("src")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener("message",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute("data-secret"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:t},"*")},!1)))}(window,document); //# sourceURL=https://www.ecityemc.org/resources/wp-includes/js/wp-embed.min.js </script>

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  A Time is Coming

  Nov 6, 2022 • 46:52

  The world today is increasingly hostile to its creator and the truth of his word. But the more the world resists the truth, the more the church must be determined to stand upon it, especially in light of the coming return of Christ and the judgment that he brings. Speaker:…

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  Living Holy Lives As We Anticipate the Lord's Return

  Nov 13, 2022 • 39:17

  Karl Bowden shares a message from II Peter 3 on the type of holy life Christians should live in light of the Lord’s return. Speaker: Karl Bowden Series: The End. Scripture: II Peter 3

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  When Will All This Happen?

  Nov 20, 2022 • 46:25

  Jesus is present with his church today, and he is coming to make right every wrong tomorrow. And until that day and hour which nobody knows, he commands us to fix our eyes on the future in such a way that it impacts every decision we make in the present.…