The Word for the Land: Recent Episodes
Gateway Church Downtown
The Word for the Land is a podcast of the sermons of Gateway Downtown, a church in the heart of Cleveland, Ohio. We preach with the hope that we might better love God, live in community, and serve the city.
Pastor Chris preaches from Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 where he not only educates us on adapting weeds, but also that the Kingdom of God is built and expanding in the midst of an evil world. We are to remember that the Kingdom is present, there is an enemy at work, and a judgement awaits!
As we get in to the parables, Pastor Chris preaches from Matthew 13:1-23, which is a parable that talks about how God’s kingdom is composed of citizens that serve productively.
Pastor Chris introduces us to our new series through the parables in Matthew and why they are important to us as Christians today.
Ryan Miller preaches from John 21:1-24, encouraging us in the steps that come after our belief.
Pastor Chris gets back into our series in Ecclesiastes with Ecclesiastes 11, encouraging us that if we don’t see Jesus clearly out desires will be perverted, and that we should make the most of our time by living squarely for the gospel.
Pastor Chris preaches from Ecclesiastes 10, which discusses about the differences between folly and wisdom.
Pastor Chris teaches from Ecclesiastes 6:10-7:29, discussing the conflicting thoughts and frustrating false wisdoms that can lead to us losing our faith, but that true wisdom can be found and we can have a life of pleasantness and peace.
Ben Most teaches from James 1:5-8, where we are taught what this wisdom is, how is helps up have joy in trials, and how we can ask God for this wisdom.
Pastor Chris teaches from Ecclesiastes 5:8-9 discussing what Solomon is saying in these verses, what wisdom is to be found in what he is saying, and what God’s heart is in relation to it all.
Pastor Chris preaches from Ecclesiastes 2, where Solomon shows us that it’s all vanity and striving after wind to try and find pleasure and meaning from a world that was never meant to give it.
We begin our series in Ecclesiastes as Pastor Chris preaches from Ecclesiastes 1:1-11, teaching us that we will learn through this book that God allows room for you to voice your frustrations, and that there is another story - the gospel!
Pastor Chris preaches from Revelation 21:1-22:5, teaching how this passage points us to endure as Christians because God has prepared a place for us that is new and alive.
Jason Kinney preaches from Luke 1:39-55 which points us to the glory how Christ’s salvation, who he saves, and how he saves. This salvation is our hope! Be joyful and rest in this hope during this season.
Pastor Chris preaches from Revelation 20 which tells us of our hope rooted in the facts of the past, seen in our present, and promised for our future.
Pastor Chris preaches from Revelation 15:5-16:21 teaching on the seven bowls, or plagues, and what they tell us about God’s just character and His judgement.
Pastor Chris continues our series in Revelation as he preaches from Revelation 14:1-15:4.
Ryan Miller preaches from Pslam 73, discussing how we endure during times of pain and injustice, and how this passage shows up our reason for hope and joy.
Pastor Chris preached from Revelation 13:1-8, discussing the two beasts - the anit-Christ and the false prophet.
Pastor Chris preaches from Revelation 12:7-18, which talks about the war with Satan that takes place on two planes - heavenly and earthly.
Pastor Chris preaches from Revelation 11:15-19, emphasizing three points this passage is trying to tell us: Jesus’ reign is sure, evil will be undone, and His presence will be open to us.
Pastor Chris preaches from Revelation 10, which talks about the mystery to be revealed, that is, the unification of all nations through Jesus.
We resume our study through Revelation as Pastor Chris preaches from Revelation 8:6-9:21
Rollin Varness preaches from the book of Haggai, that not only was the temple significant to Israel but our body as a temple is significant - that we should be obedient and have the right heart towards God.
Pastor Chris preaches from Deuteronomy 23:24-25, teaching how there is a way of receiving grace that can become theivery.
Pastor Chris returns from his Sabbatical and preaches from Deuteronomy 23:21-23, teaching how our words should be counted as vows.
Zac Rybak preaches from Romans 8:31-39, teaching on the act, effect, and declaration of God’s love.
Rollin Varness preaches from Romans 8:18-30 teaching about the hope of our salvation being complete and already secured through Christ.
Continuing our series in Revelation, Pastor Chris teaches from Revelation 6:12-17, discussing how the things of this world that we cling to are weak in God’s hands. He is the solid rock that cannot crumble when things go bad.
Pastor Chris preaches from Revelation 6:9-11, which shows us that as Christians we must face a neccessary death.
Pastor Chris continues our series in Revelation, preaching on the first four seals in Revelation 6:1-8.
Pastor Chris preaches from Revelation 5:1-14, continuing our series in Revelation and appropriately timed for our Easter Sunday service.
Pastor Chris teaches from Revelation 4:1-11, where we can find our hope and confidence that God is on the throne.
Pastor Chris continues our series in Revelation with the seveth letter to the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3:14-22
Pastor Chris preaches from Revelation 3:7-13, discussing how a faithful church defies and surprises.
We take a break from our Revelation series as Ryan Miller preaches to us from Deuteronomy 15:19-23.
Pastor Chris takes us through the Letter to the church at Thyatira in Revelation 2:18-29, discussing how sometimes showing love is being intollerant of sin.
Pastor Chris continues in our Revleation series with the letter to the church in Smyrna in Revelation 2:8-11 in which Jesus gives them hope for the tribulations to come.
Pastor Chris continues our series in Revelation with the first letter to the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2:1-7 which reminds us to hold fast to our first love of evangelism.
Pastor Chris begins our series in Revelation with Revelation 1. He lays out how this letter is meant to be understood and how it is all pointing to Jesus.
Pastor Chris takes us through the when, what, and what for of Jesus’s second coming in Mark 13:24-27.
Pastor Chris wraps up our Genesis series with Genesis 11:10-26. He teaches how God’s blessings, that do not change, can be seen through this lineage.
Pastor Chris teaches from Genesis 11:1-9, discussing how the dispearsing of the people was a merciful judgement from God.
Pastor Chris continues our Genesis series with Genesis 6:9-9:17, teaching us how the heart of this passage is salvation.
Jason Kinney preaches from john 10:22-42 discussing how Jesus’s works show us who he is.
Pastor Chris teaches from Genesis 6:1-8, discussing that the only hope for the fallen is favor from God.
As we come back to our Genesis series, Pastor Chris preaches from Genesis 5 which tells us that walking with God is our hope from an escape from death.
Pastor Chris continues in our Genesis series with Genesis 4, talking about the generational consequences of sin.
Pastor Chris preaches from Genesis 3, discussing the whys of evil and a possible solution.
Continuing in our Genesis series, Pastor Chris preaches from Genesis 2:4-25 talking about creating, care, cultivation, commandment, and companionship.
Caleb Weaver challenges us on the dangers of spiritual nearsightedness. But thanks to God, he knows our weakness and reminds us where our glasses are.
John speaks directly about 3 different people by name: Gaius, Diotrephes, and Demetrius. And we see the main themes of the book reflected in these characters. Those themes are Truth and Hospitality. Ryan Miller takes us through these 3 people and 2 themes.
Jesus begins to build his new community, and his community is marked by power, purpose, and persuasion.
For those who are Christians, Jesus models how to endure injustice in his identity, innocence, sovereignty.
The third of the five solas is inextricably intertwined with the former. In Romans 3:21-26 we see that the revelation of God's righteousness, the ransom for God's righteousness, and the plan of God's righteousness point us to God's unfathomable, majestic grace.
As we continue in a series on the solas of the Reformation, we turn to Romans 4. There the Apostle Paul insists that faith--and only faith--is the mechanism by which we are made right with God.
Elder Bryan Pummel takes us through some of the Bibles wisdom literature. In doing so, he shows us how the meaningless pursuits of this world point to a meaningful fulfillment in Christ.
Elder Bryan Pummel explores the interplay of family and faith when Jacob confronts his brother Laban in Genesis 32:22-32.
In the fourth message in this series, we look at what John tells us about Jesus' glory. Ultimately, we learn that Jesus’ glory is revealed by grace.
In this message from the Gospel of John, Pastor Chris shows us how John the Baptist's authority, identity, role, and purpose exemplify what every follower of Jesus ought to be.
Pastor Chris begins a series through the prologue to John's Gospel. In the first five verses, we see that Jesus is the communication of God to this world.
Elder Bryan Pummel takes a look at the life of the biblical judge Samson, which shows us the danger of loving God's good gifts more than God himself.
The ninth commandment teaches us that God’s people must be radically committed to the truth because God is radically committed to the truth. And that commitment must be political, personal, and prophetic.
That God enshrines a command for us to not steal is significant. It means that God entrusts his creation with property and that he does so for his glory.
The ommand prohibniting adultery reminds us of how fundamental the creation institution of marriage is for a society. But even more, it pushes us to recognize that God is faithful, and a faithful God demands a faithful people.
Zac Rybak, one of our deacons, preached his first ever sermon. Zac challenges us to take a fresh look at the extend of God's great salvation by showing that in Ephesians 2:1-10, the Apostle Paul breaks down just how desperate and hopeless our lives are apart from God, how great is God’s grace and mercy in rescuing us, God's purpose for our new life.
Laugher can be a mark of scorn, surprise, and unbridled joy. The story of Isaac's birth is a story of laughter in many forms that points us to our greatest joy and contentment in Jesus Christ.
How to be go about making disciples? Jesus gives us the guidelines in Matthew 28:16-20. How are you engaged in making disciples?
God tells the Israelites to not make a graven image. What does that mean for us today? Does it have any relevance? In short, yes. Idolatry is the perverse desire to domesticate deity, and it is an ever-present danger for us.
re the 10 Commandments to be celebrated or reviled? Cherished or rejected? We begin a series on the 10 Commandments and look at what it means to have no other gods.
The Patriarch, Abraham, pleads with God to spare the residents of Sodom. How do we approach a righteous God when we are so unrighteous ourselves?
Prayer is the basic posture of the Christian life. Org. Statement: We should pray about everything; we should pray for healing; we should pray about forgiveness.
In one short verse, James offers a profound challenge: Christians must have a radical commitment to the truth.
Life can be feel burdensome sometimes. But even when existence is painful, we must endure in patience. James points us to three things necessary to do just that.
Pointing to four abuses of wealth, James warns that judgment is looming on those who abuse their wealth.
Christians are between two realities: death and life. In reflecting on this reality, Romans 6:1-14 teaches we can master sin because Jesus has mastered death.
Those of us who are of means--and even those who aren't--are often tempted to put more confidence in our future than is reasonable. But planning that ignores God’s providential care is in error.
James' point is pretty clear: don't speak evil against a fellow Christian. But before we glance over it too quickly, let's be sure we understand the meaning of, motivations for, and monition of that command.
James uses the strongest language in his letter to exhort that those who've gone wayward need to change their course.
We usually consider sins of speech to be the minor ones, but James argues that these sins are devastating.
In this sermon from James 2:1-12, Pastor Chris explains that Christian faith is inseparable from good works, but for good works to be truly good, they must spring from a trust relationship with Jesus Christ.
American is fractured by race, class, age. And the American Church often isn't much better. It's an age-old problem. To 1st Century Christians, James taught that cosmetic favoritism is contrary to faith in Christ.
Like Jesus before him, James argues that truly embracing the Gospel means that things change: If we are called by Christ we must conform to Christ.
Sometimes the meaning of a passage is all too clear. The difficulty is applying it to our lives. Simply put, this passage from James teaches that we must control our tongues and hearts to live lives pleasing to God.
When difficult times come, we often lose sight of the big picture. The Bible teaches, however, that God’s good gift of salvation should be our great fixation in time of trial and tribulation.
We often spend our lives trying to navigate social circles, gaining advancement, fighting for status. But James says a Christian's great satisfactions that a Christian’s status is situated in Christ.
Sometimes what we lack most is not any thing of substance but something of commitment. This passage teaches us that God supplies our needs through our single-minded devotion.
There's an idea floating around that God only wants health, prosperity, success, and significance for his people. According to some, suffering is not God's design for his people. But over and against this notion that suffering is something that God would never want us to put up with is James 1:2-4. In this passage, James makes the argument that life’s challenges are crafted to make you like Christ.
A message on Joshua 10 from Pastor Chris Schwab and Gateway Church Downtown in Cleveland, Ohio
Mark's Gospel ends with an account of Jesus' disciples learning he had been raised. It is a surprising ending in that the disciples--Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome--leave terrified and silent about the good news they had heard. What are the implications for us today?