Podcast
Sermon Central
Hosted by BrecksvilleUMC · EN
Brecksville UMC strives to be an inclusive church. We intentionally make space for everyone to encounter a loving God—no matter your age, gender, race, income level, sexual orientation, or ability. No matter if you’re an atheist, someone struggling with faith, you live with constant faith in your heart, or you’re somewhere in between. You are welcome here and you are invited to participate in the life of our church. Here at BUMC we’re all about creating safe spaces to grow with God and one another!
11episodes
Episodes
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Strength for the Climb - The Holy Act of Hope
4d ago00:44:41Tap to summarizeToday we are in the final week of our series—Strength for the Climb. This series is based on scriptures our children explored at this year’s Vacation Bible School. Each day of VBS, the kids looked at a story from scripture that amplified the theme verse for the week: Philippians 4:13: "For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength." Often it seems we think of that verse as a kind of spiritual superpower—as if “I can do everything!” “Nothing is hard with Jesus!” But when Paul wrote those words while sitting in prison, he didn’t mean to ignore the difficult, but rather, he meant to assure those reading this letter that God will give us the strength to persevere through anything. Today, we see this illustrated in the story of Peter and John healing someone who was unable to walk.
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Strength for the Climb: What Jesus Did With Fear
2w ago00:47:05Tap to summarizeToday we are in the fourth week of our series—Strength for the Climb. This series is based on scriptures our children will explore at this year’s Vacation Bible School. Each day of VBS, the kids will look at a story from scripture that amplifies the theme verse for the week: Philippians 4:13: "For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength." Now, many of us learned that verse as a kind of spiritual superpower—as if “I can do everything!” “Nothing is hard with Jesus!” But it’s important to remember that Paul wrote those words while sitting in prison—so his intention wasn’t about telling his audience to ignore the difficult, but rather to assure those reading this letter that God will give us the strength to persevere through anything. So far, we’ve seen this in the story of Joseph interpreting dreams for Pharaoh, the story of Esther, and in the widow giving her offering to God. Today, we have an example from Jesus himself, as he prays in the Garden of Gethsemane.
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Strength For the Climb: When You Feel Like You Don't Have Enough
3w ago00:42:57Tap to summarizeToday we continue our series—Strength for the Climb. This series is based on scriptures our children will explore at this year’s Vacation Bible School. Each day of VBS, the kids will look at a story from scripture that amplifies the theme verse for the week: Philippians 4:13: "For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength." Now, many of us learned that verse as a kind of spiritual superpower—as if “I can do everything!” “Nothing is hard with Jesus!” But it’s important to remember that Paul wrote those words while sitting in prison—so he knew hardship. When Paul wrote these words, what he intended was for the people of Philippi, and us, to be assured that God will give us the strength to persevere through anything. And because God is God, God can use those hardships and challenges to help us become more of who God created us to be. So far, we’ve seen this in the story of Joseph interpreting dreams for Pharaoh, and in the story of Esther. Today, we see it in a woman giving her offering to God.
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Strength for the Climb: Brave Enough To Begin
4w ago00:45:26Tap to summarizeToday we continue our series—Strength for the Climb. This series is based on scriptures our children will explore at this year’s Vacation Bible School. Each day of VBS, the kids will look at a story from scripture that amplifies the theme verse for the week: Philippians 4:13: "For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength." Now, many of us learned that verse as a kind of spiritual superpower—as if “I can do everything!” “Nothing is hard with Jesus!” But it’s important to remember that Paul wrote those words while sitting in prison—so he knew hardship. When Paul wrote these words, what he intended was for the people of Philippi, and us, to be assured that God will give us the strength to persevere through anything. And because God is God, God can use those hardships and challenges to help us become more of who God created us to be. Last week we saw this in the story of Joseph interpreting dreams for Pharaoh, and today we see it in the story of Esther.
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Strength for the Climb: The Gift That Survived the Pit
Jun 1500:46:25Tap to summarizeToday we begin a new series—Strength for the Climb. It’s based on the scriptures our children will explore at this year’s Vacation Bible School in just a few weeks. Each day of VBS, the kids will explore stories from scripture that illustrate how God is with us through every season of life, and we don’t have to do hard things on our own. The theme verse for both VBS is Philippians 4:13: "For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength." When Paul wrote those words, he wasn't standing on the winner's podium—he was sitting in prison. Right before that verse, he says, "I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation..." Then comes the famous line: "I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength." The strength Paul is talking about isn't the strength to avoid hardship—life is going to have difficult moments. Paul reminds us that with God, we have the strength to persevere through anything—not only to endure it, but because God is God, God can use those hardships and challenges to help us become more of who God created us to be. And that's exactly what we see in Joseph.
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Free Will In the Wild: You Don't Have To Do Everything
Jun 1000:50:26Tap to summarizeFree Will In the Wild: You Don't Have To Do Everything by BrecksvilleUMC
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Free Will in the Wild: You Are Allowed to Change Your Mind
Jun 100:48:04Tap to summarize"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." The word conform means to take on an outward pattern or shape— often unconsciously allowing yourself to be pressed into a mold or adapting yourself to fit others’ expectations—the systems and assumptions and dominant values of the culture squeezing and shaping you into something that works for its benefit. Fitting you into a box or category that’s easily understood. Fear, outrage, consumerism, productivity, political tribalism, shame, scarcity, success culture… these things are constantly working to form and conform us… IF we’re willing to allow them. Paul tells us, “Don’t let the world decide your shape.”—don’t give the world that sort of power over you. Instead, Paul says, “be transformed.”
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Free Will In the Wild: You Are Not Powerless
May 2600:43:14Tap to summarizeGod of morning light and flickering stars, you breathed your Spirit into dust and called humanity good. You placed within us the sacred freedom to choose what we will carry, what we will release, what we will nurture, and who we will become. And yet, there are days when the world feels heavy— when fear grows louder than hope; when we forget that even small acts of love can illuminate the darkness. So as we gather together again, kindle your light within us. And if we come today feeling weary or powerless, remind us who we are: people created in your image, and filled with your Spirit; people called to shine. May our worship today become light for the world. In the name of Christ, who is our light and our life, we pray. Amen.
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Our Money Story: Restore
May 2000:47:54Tap to summarizeWe began our series by remembering—by recognizing our spoken and unspoken money stories and how those stories have impacted our relationship to money. Then, we acknowledged those parts of our story that keep us from freedom and wholeness, and practiced release. Last week, we began to reimagine our money story, recognizing that God refuses to let brokenness become destiny. Today, we conclude our series focusing on restoration.
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Our Money Story: Reimagine
May 1100:49:26Tap to summarizeToday we continue the worship series, Our Money Story. Money and possessions are one of the most common topics in scripture—Jesus talked about money more than both faith and prayer. Because how we use our money—the way we choose to steward or spend it—is a deeply spiritual practice—and connected to what we think about God. Do we think God will provide? Do we think money is power or freedom or security or opportunity or control? Do we think that the money is ours because we worked hard for it, or do we think it’s God’s because everything we have is a gift from God? Our answers to all of these questions make up our money story—a story that has been written by our early experiences with money, and now shapes our beliefs and values surrounding money. Whether we realize it or not, we all have a money story. It might be a story of fear or shame, or a story that our actions won’t have an impact, or that we don’t have enough. The goal of this series is to give each of us an opportunity to pause and acknowledge the money story we’re living into and then wonder, “Is this story helpful?” and if not, “How might God be speaking a new narrative into our lives?” We began our series by remembering—by recognizing our spoken and unspoken money stories and how those stories have impacted our relationship to money. Then last week, we acknowledged those parts of our story that keep us from freedom and wholeness, and practiced release. This week, we reimagine our money stories.
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