Eric Ludy Sermon Podcast: Church at Ellerslie

This is one of those messages that matches its name. It's strong and inspiring, with a glint of unabashed and unflinching manliness in its tone. It's a return to the ancient and time-worn notion that when the chips are down, the Christian man is the first to rise up.

This is a beautiful parallel between the man David and Jesus Christ. David's name means “Beloved.” And even though David lived in a cave for over a decade, his men had such a love for this "King in Hiding" that they chose to live in a cave with him—in exile, hunted, hated, and despised. Those who have beheld the beauty and majesty of Jesus Christ respond in like fashion, crying out, "Better is one day in His house (or even His cave) than a thousand elsewhere!"

This is a power-packed enunciation of a real, living, breathing Christianity. It's a literal symphony of Truth that awakens you to the extraordinary supernatural dimensions of Scripture and to the thrilling notion that all Scripture aims towards one thing ... Jesus. If Ellerslie's purpose statement, mission statement, and statement of belief were to all coalesce into a single thunderous sermon, this just might be the sermon.

The commission of a Christian man is utterly impossible. Even God makes it clear that a man is wholly unable to pull off such a grand and holy life in his own power, strength, grit, and determination. Most Christian men of our day thusly justify their mediocrity, spiritual slovenliness, and gross disregard of the Scriptural command under this ever-convenient banner of "impossibility." But it is high time that the power of the Cross thunders forth in and through the corridors of modern Christian manhood and a heaven- endued expectation takes hold of the manly soul once again. For with man it certainly IS impossible, but with God all things are possible.

This is a study in the forceful and terrorizing grip that unmitigated self- appetite can have on both an individual life and the life of a society. Whether it was deserving or not, to be American used to carry with it the Puritan ideals of integrity, chastity, prudence, temperance, goodwill, generosity, and mercy. But times have certainly changed. Instead, it appears that around the world today the "American" is often known for their bizarre sense of self-entitlement and strange brand of religion (oft misunderstood to be Christianity) that gives them a so-called "liberty" to live in a constant state of excess and self-seeking pleasure. And thusly, the once noble and honorable word "American" has become a synonym for "glutton." Oh, for the Church of Jesus Christ to come out from among this and be separate!

WARNING: If there is any hypocrisy in you, this message will be like a heat-seeking missile ready to expose and root it out. We live in a generation when Truth is falling in the streets and those leading the Church are morally failing in the open square. May God clean house, starting with us. There was a powerful time of repentance followed this message in the Ellerslie chapel, and it is our prayer that it does not stop there.

“Cool” is not part of the true Church of Jesus Christ, and it’s high time that it be driven out of the sacred halls. Hip swaggers are expected from those intimately connected to the world's system, but there is nothing more unsuited than a Christian strutting around inside the Body of Christ with an angsty smolder. Those absorbed in the realities of the risen Lamb of God hold such swaggers, angst, and smolder with contempt. Please, Church of Jesus Christ, let's relinquish our worldly cool and embrace Christ's beautiful stigma in following the example of triumphant Christianity throughout the ages.

This is the ultimate man message, Jesus Christ being its chief muse. This world is desperate for the grandeur and nobility of mighty, self-expending manhood to return to the stage of time. Could it be that in this generation we see it unearthed once more?

The Cross supplied more than mere forgiveness from the penalty of sin; it supplied liberty and release from the power and control of sin. In this message, Eric Ludy animatedly enunciates this concept in a fresh, powerful, and deeply inspiring way. This message is a robust meditation on the life that many of us desire but few of us have been bold enough to actually pursue in faith. Oh, that the saints of God would rise up and once again live in light of the mighty work of the Cross!

This message reveals not only the brilliance and supernatural quality of Scripture, but also the entire Hebrew culture from which Jesus came. In the springtime (a.k.a. the month of Nisan to the Jews), kings would set forth to battle. And it was during the time when the barley was turning green in Israel that our King Jesus climbed aboard a colt and humbly entered Jerusalem as a man of war. And by the end of the week He was stripped naked, turned to a bloody pulp, nailed to a wooden gibbet, and laid in a borrowed grave... dead. His style of battle was undoubtedly different than that of any successful general before Him. But never has a general, neither before Him nor after Him, enjoyed such a victory. For without the aid of a single soldier or a single weapon, this divine man of war destroyed all the powers of Earth and Hell. As a result of His war effort, sin no longer has power and death no longer has a sting. This seemingly harmless carpenter's son is truly the Lord of battle, and when He sets out for war, He will not be denied His reward.

When the saints of God approach the Scriptures, how do they view it? How should they handle it? Is it something to be pitied and helped along? Is it something to merely befriend, laugh alongside, and throw the frisbee with? Or is it something to bend before, show deference to, and heed with holy reverence? How we approach the Scriptures defines what we will get out of the Scriptures. Until Scripture becomes the absolute authority in our life, the life that is only revealed in Scripture will not be found in us. Oh, how the Church needs holy trembling to return.

Christian history has a name for those who follow Jesus with loving and extravagant abandon and don't fret the oft-dire consequences of giving up everything for the sake of their Beloved. Sacred antiquity knows this renegade blood-bought band of soldiers as the Fellowship of the Burning Heart. This message is dedicated to the “burning hearts” of our modern times. We know you are out there, though often like Elijah, you are feeling like the lone-prophet left alive in this generation. But we exhort you to remember that there are at least 7,000 that have not bent their knee to Baal, and who, even today, are overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, loving not their lives unto the death (Rev 12:11).

As Christians, we are well educated on the fact that sin is wrong. Some of us are taught that we shouldn't keep on sinning without being told how to stop. And others of us have been taught that we might as well keep on sinning since there is nothing to be done to stop the sinful propensity. Either option leaves us vulnerable to the powers of sin and thusly susceptible to a life of great discouragement and defeat. However, there is yet one more thing to be taught: the "one-two punch" that not only knocks sin out but also trains us in our God-empowered position to clobber sin in the teeth if and when it ever rises back up off the mat to take a swing at us again.

As Christians, we are well educated on the fact that sin is wrong. Some of us are taught that we shouldn't keep on sinning without being told how to stop. And others of us have been taught that we might as well keep on sinning since there is nothing to be done to stop the sinful propensity. Either option leaves us vulnerable to the powers of sin and thusly susceptible to a life of great discouragement and defeat. However, there is yet one more thing to be taught: the "one-two punch" that not only knocks sin out but also trains us in our God-empowered position to clobber sin in the teeth if and when it ever rises back up off the mat to take a swing at us again.

Is it possible for our tongue to actually be tamed? Is it plausible for our tongue to be harnessed by God in such a way that it no longer speaks forth self-glory, complaint, criticism, contention, strife, gossip, lies, and deceit? Is it really possible that the Christian tongue can be one marked by words of life always and only? To many of us, such a thought is almost fairy-tale- esque and hardly conceivable. But the Bible doesn't stutter on this subject. It does declare that we can't personally tame our renegade tongues, but our great God is in the business of taming tongues and utilizing them for His glory.