Awestruck Wonder
Sermon Series

What brings you your greatest joy and satisfaction? For some it’s their family and friends. For others it’s their calling or career, or perhaps even a hobby or special kind of activity. But what happens when those things are lost or stolen? Or what happens when those things become ordinary to us and we fail to see them for what they truly are?

The Bible speaks of a great salvation that is offered by God to all mankind. It is the greatest gift, the most supreme source of delight, that which satisfies above all else. Though offered to all, many have not received it. Though received by many, some have taken it for granted and forget what a blessing it truly is.

Awestruck Wonder is a sermon series devoted to beholding and appreciating the beauty and mystery of salvation–a treasure worth exchanging all we have to obtain, a present reality for today, and a future hope for tomorrow.

Series Playlist

Elizabeth City EMC Podcast
Elizabeth City EMC Podcast
An Amazing Salvation
Loading
/
  • An Amazing Salvation

    An Amazing Salvation

    Jun 5, 2022 • 36:20

    Peter’s message to a people undergoing adversity is to not allow those things to rob them of their joy or distort their perspective. Remember all God has done for you. Keep your eyes fixed on the inheritance that awaits you. Don’t lose sight of the greatness of salvation or the…

  • A Triune Salvation

    A Triune Salvation

    Jun 12, 2022 • 51:46

    At creation, the self-sufficient, 3-in-1 God, out of love, made room within himself for others who are not himself. Through the Son and by the Holy Spirit, the Father is working to restore that which has been lost. When we, by faith, say yes to his gracious offer of salvation,…

  • Children of the Father

    Children of the Father

    Jun 19, 2022 • 53:42

    The salvation offered by God is more than a transaction done for us, but the whole life of God offered to us and in us. Justification, regeneration, sanctification, holiness, new life—these are all the things the Father does for us and in us through his Son and Spirit. We are…

  • The Fulfillment of All His Purposes

    The Fulfillment of All His Purposes

    Jun 26, 2022 • 49:54

    In this one vision, John is seeing what has been, what is, and what is to come. It’s a panorama of salvation history past, present, and future, revealing that the purpose behind God’s creating and redeeming work—which has been inaugurated, but not yet consummated—is that people might know, love, adore,…

Citronella Church
Sermon Series

Hypocrisy. Infighting. Deceit. What do these things have in common? For everyone, they represent some of the worst aspects of human relationships and community one can experience. But for some, they represent their experiences with individual Christians, or sometimes whole churches, that have left them hurt, broken, or skeptical of any person or group claiming the name of Jesus. What should be a fragrant aroma that draws people closer to God and one another, the church at times can be more like a toxic repellent that drives people away.

The Bible does not lack examples of believers guilty of harmful behavior. It is painfully honest about situations that arose in the early days of Christianity or that could arise today, but it never permits the failures of a few to have the last word for the life of the many. The first Christians did not dismiss their problems, but addressed them with both truth and love, thereby setting the pattern for all generations of believers to follow.

For those today who have been repelled by the noxious odors of toxic church life, Citronella Church is a series of sermons addressing common ways in which communities of faith can fail. But it is also hopeful and optimistic in what Jesus does to present his bride “holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word.” (Ephesians 5:26)

For those who make up the church, these sermons will call us to be imitators of Christ in all that we do. (Ephesians 5:1) We will be challenged to consider our own contribution to the condition of our local churches and the impacts they have, for good or for bad, on the world around us.

The Bible does not dismiss the failures of people of faith, nor is it silent on how they may be remedied. The fragrant aroma of Christ (Ephesians 5:2) may yet still be smelled in our midst!

Series Playlist

Elizabeth City EMC Podcast
Elizabeth City EMC Podcast
A Community of Distrust
Loading
/
  • A Community of Distrust

    A Community of Distrust

    Apr 24, 2022 • 48:38

    The Bible is not ignorant of the issues that trouble human relationships, nor is it dismissive of the types of failures the church is capable of. God’s word provides everything we need to be all we are called to be: a community where truth in love reigns supreme. Speaker: Sean…

  • It's My Way or the Highway

    It's My Way or the Highway

    May 1, 2022 • 45:48

    Because we are all works in progress, we who make up the church can’t expect to always agree on things. For good-willed people who agree on the essentials, the question isn’t if differences and disagreements will arise, but when—and when they do, how will they be handled? Speaker: Sean Scribner…

  • The Person Behind the Mask

    The Person Behind the Mask

    May 8, 2022 • 49:25

    When the Holy Spirit has access to your heart and transforms you into the likeness of Christ, and all the masks you hide behind are removed, he will use you, and the sweet fragrance of your life, however pressed, to bring glory to God and reach the world with the…

“I Am”
Sermon Series

“But these are written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.” (John 20:31)

God wants to be known. He has spoken and acted throughout history in ways that reveal his existence and power, but nowhere has he spoken and acted more clearly than through the words and actions of his son, Jesus Christ. The gospel of John presents him as the one who, though “near to the Father’s heart” (John 1:18), has “made his home among us” (John 1:14). He uniquely “radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God” (Heb. 1:3), therefore in Jesus we not only have evidence of God’s existence and power, but the very heart of the Father expressed in flesh and blood.

The gospels all record things Jesus said and did, as well as the reactions and assumptions of others. But there’s something special about the “I am” metaphors in the book of John. Each expression is rich and vibrant and loaded with meaning. In his own words, Jesus tells us what he is like. Who better to explain himself, and thereby explain the Father, than he?

For the season of Lent, we will dive deeply into these special statements in John. Together, we will get to know the man behind the metaphors. He has acted and spoken, and these deeds and words are recorded that we might know him, believe in him, and have life by the power of his name.

Series Playlist

Elizabeth City EMC Podcast
Elizabeth City EMC Podcast
The Bread of Life
Loading
/
  • The Bread of Life

    The Bread of Life

    Mar 6, 2022 • 35:20

    The point of the sign and reenactment and ensuing discussion of the feeding of the multitudes is not that Jesus provides food, but that Jesus IS food. He is the one who mediates the very life of God, life that truly satisfies, life that is imperishable and never ends. Speaker:…

  • The Light of the World

    The Light of the World

    Mar 13, 2022 • 34:37

    Jesus Christ is God’s special revelation, unique in how he alone reveals and exposes both the truth about God and the truth about us. He is God’s personal, saving presence in action, and he invites all who live in darkness to come to him, walk in the light he is…

  • The Good Shepherd, Part 1

    The Good Shepherd, Part 1

    Mar 20, 2022 • 45:49

    The exhortation of the scriptures is to entrust our hearts to Jesus, who tends, feeds, and secures his flock through devoted undershepherds who rightly divide the word of truth, but also rightly live it day in and day out. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: I Am Scripture: John 10:1-5

  • The Good Shepherd, Part 2

    The Good Shepherd, Part 2

    Mar 27, 2022 • 36:07

    There is no safer, more secure, more rich or satisfying life than life as part of the flock of Jesus. Despite all the promises of the world, the flesh, and the devil, only Jesus provides the life we were created for and our hearts truly desire, and he does so…

  • The Way, the Truth, and the Life

    The Way, the Truth, and the Life

    Apr 3, 2022 • 32:37

    Jesus is the only way to the Father because he is the Truth of God and the Life of God in the flesh. He saves by who he is and all that he does, and there is no other way to heaven than through him. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: I Am…

  • The True Vine

    The True Vine

    Apr 10, 2022 • 34:29

    As the True Vine, Jesus Christ is the true and better Israel, the one producing fruit his Father the Vinedresser desires. He is the one who was obedient unto death. He supersedes the temple, all the Jewish feasts, even Moses himself. Now he supersedes historical Israel as the locus of…

  • The Resurrection and the Life

    The Resurrection and the Life

    Apr 17, 2022 • 39:12

    That Jesus is the resurrection and the life means that your relationship to him today will determine your experience of eternity tomorrow. If life for you ends today without Jesus, all that remains is a permanent second death. But if you believe in him now, and every other now until…

That You Might Believe
Sermon Series

“But these are written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.” (John 20:31)

Signs are all around us. They can be found just about everywhere you go and in everything you do. We need them to point us in the right direction, otherwise we might get lost along the way.

The history of the Bible is marked by the recurrence of miraculous events—divine signs given to authenticate messengers sent by God. Their purpose: That people would believe the messages they delivered. The gospel of John is famous for its deliberate highlight of such moments that accompanied the life and ministry of Jesus. Turning water into wine; feeding the multitudes; bringing a man back to life—these were more than mere naked displays of power. They were pointers to the true identity and mission of God the Son, and they were incorporated into the narrative of the fourth gospel to demonstrate that Jesus was who he said he was, thereby helping people believe his message.

Signs are meant to point us in the right direction. Following the signs through John will lead you to faith in Jesus and life through his name.

Series Playlist

Elizabeth City EMC Podcast
Elizabeth City EMC Podcast
Turning Water into Wine
Loading
/
  • Turning Water into Wine

    Turning Water into Wine

    Jan 16, 2022 • 42:22

    The sign at Cana reveals that the son of Mary is the Son of God, the one through whom creation came into being and the one who has come that he might bring re-creation. In Christ, God has saved the best for last. He invites us all to come to…

  • Healing a Royal Official's Son

    Healing a Royal Official's Son

    Jan 23, 2022 • 31:42

    Have you come to Jesus with need, only for your prayer to go unanswered, or for you to feel ignored, perhaps even rebuked? Don’t lose faith! Follow the signs in his word which point straight to his heart for you. Don’t wait to trust him until after he performs your…

  • Healing a Sick Man

    Healing a Sick Man

    Jan 30, 2022 • 45:33

    Only Jesus can touch and heal the real issues at the heart of every person. He wants you to trust his word, to know he is at work in your life, and that he will use you to bring glory to himself, which always results in the salvation of another.…

  • Feeding 5,000

    Feeding 5,000

    Feb 6, 2022 • 46:18

    In every circumstance you find yourself in, Jesus sees, knows, and plans to produce and cultivate faith in you. He is greater than all who have come before him and all who have ever come since. He hasn’t come for you to mold him to your earthly plans and purposes,…

  • Walking on Water

    Walking on Water

    Feb 13, 2022 • 41:03

    As you and I find ourselves engulfed in the torrents and swells of life in this broken world, Jesus comes into the midst of it all, walking on top of it all, to make himself known. It takes faith to see him coming atop the waves and hear him calling…

  • Raising a Dead Man

    Raising a Dead Man

    Feb 27, 2022 • 45:33

    For people of faith living in this broken world, the whole story of Lazarus teaches that it’s not just the things Jesus does that reveal his heart, but sometimes it’s the things he doesn’t do. Neither his permitting of suffering nor his delay in relieving it is ever in conflict…

  • Healing a Blind Man

    Healing a Blind Man

    Feb 20, 2022 • 51:57

    Despite appearances, God is at work in and through your experiences of suffering. It is possible that the things in your life that cause the worst distress are the very things in which God wants to reveal his glory the most. He wants to reveal himself to you and through…

Come, Restorer, Come!
Sermon Series

“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf.” (Micah 5:2, NLT)

We live in a broken world. We know deep in our hearts that something about the world is off. All around us we see evil, greed, exploitation, oppression, and injustice, but, even worse, we can detect something is wrong within our own hearts. We know the world isn’t right, and as creatures created in the image of God we all have an innate longing for this upside-down world to be flipped around and made right.

These are not new ideas or longings. Ancient people, just like us, have always explored ideas of fairness, mercy, and goodness. These ideas frame the message that Micah was sent by God to deliver to the people of God in his day. But Micah speaks to our own world just as much as he spoke to his own world. Though written a very long time ago to a culture in many ways very different than our own, Micah speaks into the universal human experience.

This Advent season, we are going to explore these ancient ideas from the other side of human history. We will see how the hope, peace, joy, and love promised to the people of old have come to the world in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. We will discover how all of Micah’s message ultimately points to him, the one in whom all the tragedies, tensions, hopes, and laments in Micah find their fulfillment and resolution. And our hearts will be comforted by the certainty that, though the world is broken and judgment for sin is inevitable, in the babe of the manger lies the hope of restoration. Come, Restorer, Come!

Series Playlist

Elizabeth City EMC Podcast
Elizabeth City EMC Podcast
A Shepherd is Coming
Loading
/
  • A Shepherd is Coming

    A Shepherd is Coming

    Nov 28, 2021 • 31:33

    Advent is a season for hope. Hope for the oppressed—that God’s kingdom will restore true justice and put an end to the brokenness of the world. But hope also for the oppressor—that God is working to strip our hearts of their sinful attachments and bring us to a place of…

  • A Kingdom is Coming

    A Kingdom is Coming

    Dec 5, 2021 • 35:28

    To a people about to experience the suffering of judgment and exile, the promise of peace is coming in the form of God’s presence and rule, which you and I can experience today in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Come, Restorer, Come! Scripture: Micah 4:1-5

  • Unexpected Blessing is Coming

    Unexpected Blessing is Coming

    Dec 12, 2021 • 40:00

    In whatever adversity you face in this world, take comfort that Jesus is close and sympathetic, but he is also a powerful defender. He’s by your side, and he’s got your back. Maybe in the midst of your suffering and trials, God could surprise you with the unexpected blessing of…

  • Unfailing Love is Coming

    Unfailing Love is Coming

    Dec 19, 2021 • 28:20

    We don’t always know how God is going to bring hope, peace, or joy to our lives, but we know that he will. That’s because he has revealed his heart through his Son. Love has come, and his name is Jesus. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Come, Restorer, Come! Scripture: Micah 7:18-20

Navigation