Eric Ludy Sermon Podcast: Church at Ellerslie

In this personal and revealing sermon, Pastor Eric Ludy recounts several key moments in his life where he chose obedience and discovered the difficult, but blessed, path of faith. If you want a behind-the-scenes peak at the moments that shaped Eric Ludy into the man and preacher he is today, this sermon will acquaint you with not only his personal story, but you will also discover what God can do in a life that is fully obedient to Him.

Gluttony is often a topic most modern pastors shy away from, but in this sermon, Eric Ludy goes straight to the gut in a convicting message on the power of self-entitlement and pampering in our lives. Dealing with far more than just food, gluttony keeps ourselves upon the throne of our lives rather than relinquishing our rights and lives to Jesus Christ. With revealing personal illustrations and an incredible story from the book of Judges, Pastor Eric asks us whom we serve: the God of the universe or the the belly god—and reveals how Jesus Christ can have sole position in our lives.

What is your identity? Perhaps it sounds like a simple question but it goes to the heart of the battle raging over you—will you live for the pleasure and splendor of self or will you pursue the splendor and glory of One greater? In this sermon, Eric Ludy talks about the identity issue in our world today, where it came from, and how we can lose our identity in Christ Jesus.

Many Christians shy away from the idea of battle—but the New Testament is clear: we are living in the midst of war. As such, we must be built for battle and ready to not just survive but thrive amidst danger. What does that look like? In this sermon, Pastor Eric Ludy discusses the life of a happy soldier and 22 words every Christian soldier must know. Though this sermon is humorous at times, it strikes conviction at the heart of every believer who wants to aggressively follow after Christ.

The topic of modern apostleship is becoming an issue of great contention in the Church today. Yet to either ignore or over-emphasize the topic can cause us to stray into concerning areas of doctrine. In this illuminating sermon on the issue of modern-day apostles, Pastor Eric Ludy tackles this challenging issue with grace and biblical insight—showing how we must understand the difference between the first Apostles (capital “A”) and modern-day apostles (lowercase “a”). In the end, you will understand that we need both the pattern passers and the pattern implementers. For anyone concerned with the growing focus of modern-day apostleship, this sermon will help give you a foundational biblical perspective.

The Church today is often passive in bringing the Gospel to the world—and what we need is a seemingly small but effective means that will deliver a gigantic blow. In short, we need a hobelar—an instrument of war, designed by God, to wholly shock the enemy and swiftly overcome them. Just as lightning is fast, surprising, and delivers a blow, we need a battle plan for “The Lightning War.” In this illuminating (pun intended) sermon, Eric Ludy declares that we are in the middle of a war … what are each of us willing to do?

Continuing his theme of using events from the Civil War to highlight spiritual truths, Pastor Eric Ludy discusses John Brown and the event of Harper’s Ferry to remind Christians that the flesh (the first) must be dealt with in order for the Spirit (the second) to really work. In this sermon, Eric walks through the New Testament showing that we must put off the old man (our former way of living) and put on the new man “which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

Within the Christian life there is one of two battle fronts that we will find ourselves in—we will either battle for self-preservation (fighting for the enemy against God) or we will battle for self-denial (fighting for God against the enemy). Using the story of Wilmer McLean from the Civil War, Pastor Eric Ludy addresses the topic of having to deliberately choose in the Christian life whom we will serve. The truth is, we will refuse something, the question is what? It is time to make a decision.

In an updated version of his sermon “The Bowl of Peanuts,” Eric Ludy re-examines King Cotton, the Boll Weevil, and George Washington Carver to talk about Biblically solving impossible dilemmas in the world and our lives. Too often in the church we are confused about works verses faith—but this sermon gives clarity to how the Christian life is to function properly in light of God’s grace working within the believer’s life as we live by the work of faith and not the work of law.

Eric’s kids recently had the opportunity to experience an “Oatmeal Day” and it created a fun idea for a sermon. An Oatmeal Day is a day set aside to reflect upon the loveliness of the Christ-life—an opportunity, if you will, to cherish the good things in life and be purposeful in thanksgiving. In this sermon on the anatomy of Biblical thanksgiving, Pastor Eric Ludy talks about the two dimensions of true thanksgiving and how both aspects must be demonstrated within the believer’s life. Despite the circumstances you find yourself in, would you be willing to go beyond lifting up a mere “thanks” to God and lift up all He is worthy to receive? For He deserves everything.

Most Christians recognize the Greek word “koinonia” which means fellowship. Yet this word means far more than potlucks, sitting next to someone in worship, or even praying for one another. In this sermon, Eric Ludy talks about this “sharing of the body” and how it is the extension of all God has shared with us. Not only will you understand the meaning of true koinonia, but you will also discover how important the Body of Christ is and what joy it is to share, to bleed, to suffer on behalf of this Body.

With the election of Donald Trump and society’s response to his initiatives, our culture’s true colors are being revealed. In this sermon, Pastor Eric Ludy examines the problems with modern culture and warns the Church of a clear and present danger we can easily fall into. In the midst of all the cultural stirrings, we must not allow anything to distract us from the center of our hope and salvation: Jesus Christ. By the end of this message, you will discover what must define the Christian (ie: your life) in 2017 America.

The Christian life is not some passionless venture, rather, Christianity has a fire of affection for Jesus Christ and a zeal and fervor for truth. Simply, it is a life on fire. In this study on the church of Laodicea, Pastor Eric Ludy looks at Jesus’ statement that this church was neither hot nor cold but lukewarm. Using an incredible (and delightful) story given by Annie Wesche, a member of the church, Eric says that the passion one person can have swimming with dolphins is the same type of passion we are to have for Jesus. This sermon will not only be an encouragement to those who feel lackluster in their faith, but this message will also bring a smile to your face as you consider the enthusiasm of swimming with dolphins and in turn, measure your own heat index for Jesus Christ.

One of the paradoxes of Christianity is that the grand and glorious Cross is both a place of life and of death, a place of victory and of suffering. It is this Cross that all history hangs upon—the epicenter of history. In this message, Eric Ludy examines this epicenter and declares that it is Christ and Him crucified that must remain at the center of our lives. The secret to Christianity, to understanding the Scriptures, and to living a victorious Christian life all comes down to a focus of the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3). This sermon is a study in the single most important thing of all time—Jesus Himself.

In ancient Israel, during times of rebellion, the people set up high places as an alternative worship and to seek help and salvation in someone or something other than God Himself. Why would anyone ever build a high place? It is because they believed the lie that salvation is found in more than One Place—and in today’s culture we often do the same thing. High places today may not be altars or poles, but we do often build high places in the health, financial, comfort, intelligence, relational, and religious areas of our lives. In this illuminating and convicting sermon, Pastor Eric Ludy examines the areas we often set up as counterfeit means of salvation and explains that the high place of “self” must be removed so that One Place (Jesus Christ and the Cross) becomes our sole means of salvation.