The Little Church on the Corner: Recent Episodes
Greg Coates
Each Sunday morning at the First Free Methodist Church of Indianapolis, we participate in an ancient ritual of the church: the proclamation of the Word of God. We believe that in this event lives can be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Text: 1 Corinthians 1:10-17
Paul abhorred divisions in the church. He made it crystal clear from the very beginning.
Speaker: Pastor Greg Test: 1 Samuel 16:1-13 Date: June 17, 2012
Humans look at outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. This can be both good and bad news.
Speaker: Pastor Bill Text: 1 Samuel 9 Date: June 10, 2012
Israel went against God's desire to rule them directly and insisted on being like all the other nations by having an earthly king. Pastor Bill addresses how this story applies to us today.
Speaker: Pastor Greg Text: John 14 Date: May 27, 2012
God is in our corner and he does not abandon us. This is the message of Pentecost: He has not left us alone.
Speaker: Pastor Greg Text: Acts 10:44-48 Date: May 13, 2012
Acts 10 stands as one of the most radical chapters in the entire Bible and contains a message of radical, inclusive love that the church still fails to understand.
Speaker: Pastor Greg Text: John 10:11-18 Date: April 29, 2012
What is the relationship between Jesus and the church?
Speaker: Pastor Greg Text: 1 John 3:1-10 Date: April 22, 2012
How are we to understand John's statement that "a child of God does not sin"?
Speaker: Pastor Greg Text: Isaiah 50:4-9 Date: April 1, 2012
When we say Christians are supposed to imitate the life of Jesus, what do we mean? Be homeless and celibate? Take up carpentry? Or perhaps follow the example of Jesus during Holy Week as he refused to retaliate and seek revenge?
Speaker: Pastor Greg Text: John 12:20-33 Date: March 25, 2011
The invitation of Jesus is to come and die. This is radical, insane, counter-intuitive, and reckless. But there's no getting around it.
Speaker: Pastor Matt Text: John 2:13-22
Just as Jesus purged the temple, so he wishes today to purge our hearts.
Speaker: Pastor Greg Text: Numbers 21:4-9 Date: March 18, 2012
Snakes are a symbol of evil and deception in Scripture. So why did God pick a snake as his symbol of healing in this strange story from Israel's wilderness wanderings?
Text: Romans 4 Date: March 4, 2012
This sermon examines how many Christians have misread Romans 4 in the past because they approach it with the wrong questions in mind.
Speaker: Greg Coates Text: Joel 2 Date: 26 February 2012
The prophet Joel urgently pleaded for God's people to repent -- a message still fresh for the church today.
Speaker: Greg Coates Text: 1 Corinthians 8
A centuries-old debate over eating meat sacrificed to idols might seem like it has little to say to 21st century Americans, but on the contrary it offers principles that are fresh and powerful. (As a bonus, I also address the REAL reason Free Methodists choose to not drink alcohol.)
Speaker: Pastor Bill Trimble Text: Jonah 3
Pastor Bill looks at what the story of Jonah has to say to Indianapolis and the people of God in it.
Text: 1 Samuel 3:1-10 Date: January 15, 2012
How do we discern the voice of God? How do we know it is Him speaking rather something else? As the calling of Samuel shows, God is patient with us as we learn to recognize His voice.
Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:12-24
At the end of his letter to the church at Thessaloniki, Paul gives some rapid fire instructions to the church as they await the return of Christ. These instructions speak loudly to today's church as well.
Text: Isaiah 64:1-9 Advent 1B Isaiah was conflicted about God's nearness. He longed for God's justice to come immediately, but always with apprehension realizing that his hands were dirty too.
Text: Ezekiel 34:11-16
God never stops pursuing us. He will even enter hell itself to find his cherished missing.
Text: Romans 3:21-26
What does it mean to be the redeemed? How was this accomplished? And what are we now to do about it? I try to answer these questions in 15 minutes.
In this sermon, Pastor Matt speaks of God's unending, boundless love for us that resembles the love of a father for his child.
Text: John 5:19-30 Date: October 30, 2011
Why must God judge evil? Is judgment something to be feared or longed for? Is the doctrine of judgment out of date? In this sermon I try to explain that believing in judgment necessarily follows from believing in a loving God.
Text: Hebrews 4:17-5:10 Date: October 23, 2011
The priest's function was to mediate between God and humanity. Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the one, eternal, and perfect priest for all of humanity.
Text: Romans 6:15ff Date: October 9, 2011
To follow Jesus is to become a slave to a new King. That's doesn't come naturally to us, but the gospel involves nothing less.
Text: Genesis 1:1-5, 26-31 Date: October 2, 2011
Genesis 1 speaks of God creating order out of chaos. It's an activity God has always done and continues to do today when we allow Him.
Text: James 1:19-27 Date: July 3, 2011
We live in a loud, talkative culture. The ability to shut up and listen to each other seems a thing of the past. Yet Christians must be ones who are "quick to listen and slow to speak."
Text: John 10:1-10, 14-15 Date: May 15, 2011
The thief comes for selfish reasons to fill his own belly. The shepherd gives his life for the sheep. Here is a message about the goodness of God despite our many sins.
Text: Genesis 11:1-9 Date: June 12, 2011
Our world was scattered and divided at Babel and the current cultural divisions we experience are the result of human pride. But on Pentecost the Holy Spirit begins to undo this.
Text: Ezekiel 37:1-14 Date: April 10, 2011
We live in a culture of death. So did the prophet Ezekiel. Here is a message for the church in exile to find hope in the life-giving breath of God.
Speaker: Greg Coates Text: Isaiah 1:10-20
This week we focus on the very disturbing issue of the global slave trade. There are an estimated 27 million slaves in the world today (more than ever in human history). Will we become abolitionists?
Text: John 1:1-14 Date: December 26, 2010
What is the incarnation? Why did God become man? And, maybe even more importantly, what does it mean practically for how we live?
Text: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 Date: November 14, 2010
Paul has some hard words to offer those who waste away their days in idleness. This sermon is my attempt to address the issues of unemployment in our own day in light of this text from Paul's letter.
Text: Luke 14:1, 7-14 and Philippians 2:1-11 Date: August 29, 2010
Humility is easy to talk about, but difficult to practice. And pride, its nemesis, lives inside us all. Here is a sermon about the unique virtue of humility and why it is so important.