Eric Ludy Sermon Podcast: Church At Ellerslie

In sword fighting, striking with the ricasso part of the blade would be deemed a novice maneuver and one sure to find little to no effect in stopping ones enemy. In fact, it may prove the last swing that novice swordsman ever swings. As believers, we are commissioned to wield a sword. But, what if we aren’t very good at it. After all, when you first pick up the Sword of the Spirit, excellence in handling isn’t usually found instantaneously. There is training needed. So, what about the meantime? Are we to be buzzard food while we get our spiritual swordsmanship in order? Good thing to note, in the Kingdom of Heaven, our success doesn’t lean on our own personal perfection, it rests on our wonderful Savior’s perfection. If you are going to win this battle with the powers of darkness, you must know that the ricasso portion of your blade can devastate your enemy just like the sharpened blade can, if you swing it with childlike faith.

Being a Christian leader exposes you to things—things that are not always pleasant. But how one responds to these “unpleasant things” is key to the power and impact of the ministry. Jesus’ ministry was marked by gentleness. And it was with gentleness that Jesus responded to the unpleasant things in His own ministry while here. And, likewise, gentleness ought to be the response of every Christian leader that claims to be a follower of our great Leader, Jesus Christ. But, the idea of “gentleness” is often misunderstood today and sometimes even left out as an important and essential attribute of the Christian life, leaving many Christians bereft of a true understanding of both its function and its true power. Let’s remedy that. 

Water behaves in a bewildering fashion—in a way that is radically different than human behavior. It always goes to the lowest spot. Even if that spot is stinky, it will go there. Even if that spot is unseen, it will set its course for that hidden spot. And though this behavior is different than our instinctive human behavior, it is the precise way that God behaves. And it is God’s desire to plant this same “water-like” behavior in us, His Church. Because those caught in “The Low Spot” hold a special place in His Father’s heart and He desires His Church to go to find them there.[TECHNICAL NOTE: This audio was initially unusable due to an error that occurred during its original capture. After some intense audio rescue work, it is still imperfect, but it is surprisingly "decent" in its current form. We hope that the imperfections of this particular sermon do not hinder you from enjoying its powerful content.]

The time has come for the Church to stop, consider, refresh, and re-approach this battle. Our old methods for American Christianity are rusty and must be swapped out for freshly oiled Heavenly weaponry. There is a better way to fight this fight, to win this war, and to see a generation awaken to the power of the Gospel. And that is by doing it God’s way. But, to do this Church thing God’s way, we can’t be ruled by political faction, petty contentions, or partisan denominationalism. We need to freshly humble ourselves, forsake our old stodgy ways, and expect God to do a new thing in our midst. This “new thing” won’t violate God’s Word. Rather, it will be perfectly congruent with it. But it very well may violate our American religiosity. And that may make it difficult for some to swallow. God has an answer for this hour. Let’s listen. He is wanting to lead us to victory.

Brumus was a dog—a very famous dog. He once roamed the halls of the White House and the Halls of Justice in Washington D.C. To the old governmental guard that had strict rules prohibiting animals, especially big smelly ones, from roaming the halls of American government, Brumus posed a serious dilemma. But, to the young radicals that were eager to bring a fresh wave of hope and humor to the beleaguered capital city, Brumus was a symbol of breaking through the stodgy and dull. Many of us struggle with the muddy paws of Brumus in our own lives. When change comes, we often don’t embrace it. When change is needed, we often argue that things were fine just as they were. We tend to look back at the “glory days” of yesteryear, wishing we could go back instead of forward. But what if we were to embrace the arrival of Brumus in our lives and expect that our best days are just up ahead?

The Game of Chicken is a game typically played by rakish, foolish young boys that are old enough to have a driver’s license but young enough to still lack common sense. To win the Game of Chicken you must risk life itself. But, to lose this game, means to be called a “chicken”—and for most young boys, being called a “chicken” is simply not a digestible option. Like rakish, foolish young boys, the Devil loves the Game of Chicken. And he is very good at it to boot. And whether we want to play this idiotic game or not, as believers, we find ourselves constantly engaged in this life/death face-off with the powers of darkness. And if we as believers are going to prove victorious in our stand-off with this ancient foe, we need to know how to call our enemy’s bluff and keep our left tire on the white center line.

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.

The Good News is supposed to be exactly that—good news to the soul. But, many believers get their spiritual Ph.D. in the Devil’s opinion regarding themselves as opposed to God’s opinion. We must be experts on the Truth and not spend another moment meditating on the Devil’s nonsense. When we come to Christ via faith, there is a redemptive ripple effect that takes place in our lives—overwriting all the Devil’s false claims about our value, our purpose, and our destiny, and replacing these false claims with heavenly truths that are rightfully deserving the title, “Good News.”

So many today live out their Christianity with a limp. They don't run “The Race” given them with gusto. Instead, they waddle down the narrow way with a petering whimper. What’s needed is an understanding of Biblical Grace. And not just the grace that rescues from the penalty of sin, but the variety that rescues from the oppression of sin. There is a lost and dying world about us, but most of us are still so self-focused that we remain the object of need instead of the minister of grace to other’s needs. This pattern must change.

The Three-Day Test is a heavenly gift that few of us appreciate. In fact, most of us greet it with grumbling rather than rejoicing. And that is a transgression because the Three-Day Test is a gift of explosive growth, of radical breakthrough, and of spiritual Life. To NOT appreciate the exquisite possibilities baked into the Three-Day Test is to risk missing out on the true benefit and power supplied in and through it. We must learn to see the Three-Day Test as a gold mine and our rejoicing in it as the chief means of excavating the heavenly gold.

God designed us for a personal relationship with Himself. The enemy’s great plan is to hinder us from finding that personal relationship with Almighty God. But, if the devil fails in his devious attempts to thwart our relational encounter with Jesus Christ, his next best option is to subvert the entire idea of relating to God. Our enemy has two distinct tactics to bring about this distortion: 1) To try and convince us that such a God/Man relationship is merely a subjective feelings-based extravaganza detached from Scriptural definition, or 2) to try and convince us that such a God/Man relationship is merely a head-relationship with the Bible. Both extremes lead to a breakdown. But, when the believer discovers a relationship with the Most High God that is informed and empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit as well as discerned and maintained by a clear alignment with the Holy Scriptures—something wonderful takes place. God gave us two means of building and maintaining a relationship with Himself—the Holy Spir

This is the fifth and final part of Eric Ludy’s series on Spiritual Gifts. This message dives into the deep end of the pool and attempts to deal with the extremely challenging issue of modern-day apostles and prophets in the Church. With the startling emergence of self-proclaimed “apostles" and “prophets" in today’s Christian landscape, this message is of critical importance for the Bible believer—supplying a context for these strange and mystifying concepts and how to Biblically address them.

Please note: we had an audio issue at the beginning of the message, so there is a room echo for the first two minutes of the message. Sorry for the inconvenience.This is the fourth part to Eric Ludy’s series on Spiritual Gifts. This message addresses the cumbrous challenge of 1 Corinthians 14—talking about tongues and prophecy in a purposeful fashion as to not create division over the matter, but unity. This one chapter in Scripture has historically divided the Church of Jesus Christ right down the middle. And yet, ironically, the entire reason the Apostle Paul wrote it was to address division and to heal it.

This is the third part to Eric’s series on Spiritual Gifts. This message begins a journey into the difficult terrain of tongues and prophecy and helps enunciate the place these “sounds” have in the tapestry of Heaven. Whereas many Bible-loving believers secretly wish they could just delete the passages on tongues and prophecy from the Text in order to ensure a healthier Church—the answer is not deletion, but proper understanding. After all, God’s ways are perfect! And we mustn’t shy away from trusting His grand Revelation.

This is the second installment in Eric Ludy’s five-part mini-series on Spiritual Gifts. In this particular message, he focuses on what exactly “spiritual gifts” are, where they come, and what the Bible declares their purpose to be. Most Christians today shy away from both this topic and the functional benefit supplied by these gifts of grace. Ironically, Paul encourages us to have the complete opposite perspective on this matter. He exhorts us to “earnestly desire” them.