Roots Church Sermon Podcast

In this sermon, Pastor T. C. Moore explores the contrasting motivations of fear-based obedience and love-based obedience, using the Sermon on the Mount as a lens to understand Jesus’s teachings. The message begins with a reflection on old Fundamentalist political cartoons, which often used fear to enforce rigid moral behaviors. This serves as an entry point to a broader conversation about how fear-based frameworks of faith distort the message of Jesus. He shares a personal story about growing up with a schizophrenic single mother and fundamentalist extended family members. Despite experiencing poverty and abuse, the family’s focus was not on providing support but on blaming societal issues—like crime and family breakdown—on belief in evolution rather than creationism. This upbringing revealed the harm caused by fear-mongering and rigid doctrine, a lesson he revisits in light of Jesus’s teachings. The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7), described as the cornerstone of Jesus’s teachings, challenges fear-based obedience. In particular, Pastor T. C. focuses on passages dealing with adultery, divorce, oaths, revenge, and loving one’s enemies (Matthew 5:27–48). Rather than presenting a list of impossible moral standards, Jesus invites his followers into a developmental journey toward wholeness and maturity—obedience motivated by love. The Greek word plēroō, often translated as “fulfill,” is reexamined. It conveys the idea of a process of filling to the full, which reframes Jesus’s declaration in Matthew 5:17 that he came to “fulfill” the Law and Prophets. This interpretation connects to Jesus’s call to “be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). The word “perfect,” derived from the Greek teleios, does not mean flawlessness but spiritual maturity, wholeness, and integration. Pastor T. C. critiques interpretations that view Jesus’s teachings as stricter than the Pharisees’ legalism or as a “fence around the Torah.” These views reduce faith to sin management and fear of punishment. Instead, Jesus’s call to integrity flows from love. For example: Honoring marital commitments is rooted in loving one’s spouse as oneself. Telling the truth reflects love for one’s neighbor. Turning the other cheek demands love that humanizes even one’s oppressors. Loving enemies demonstrates love for God, who created all people. This emphasis on love is central to the life of faith. Pastor T. C. reflects on the church’s affirming stance toward LGBTQ+ inclusion, challenging the slippery-slope fear tactics often used to police behavior. Instead of rigid rules, the church models love and maturity as the foundation of faith. The sermon concludes by inviting listeners to embrace the freedom of living out love-based obedience. Faith is not about avoiding sin to escape punishment but about growing in love, integrity, and spiritual maturity with the guidance of the Spirit. Jesus’s teachings call us into a journey of becoming—becoming whole, loving as God loves, and living in grace.

This week’s sermon continued our exploration of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, focusing on the metaphor of being the “light of the world” and a “city on a hill” (Matthew 5:14). Pastor highlighted the historical appropriation of this metaphor by figures like John Winthrop and U.S. presidents, including Reagan and JFK, to frame America as a moral beacon. However, the sermon challenged this narrative, redirecting us to Jesus’s original intent: a vision for his disciples as a new and alternative social order, embodying God’s kingdom amidst the world’s brokenness. The sermon outlined three roles Jesus’s followers are called to play in the political and social sphere: • Pioneer: We are to live as a foretaste of God’s coming kingdom, embodying the ethics of justice, love, and inclusion even before the kingdom is fully realized. • Prophet: As a community, we hold a mirror to society, critiquing injustice and calling for peace and righteousness, as seen during the Civil Rights Movement. • Priest: We mediate between God and the world, offering prayers of intercession, lament, and blessing, especially for the marginalized and oppressed. The sermon concluded by urging us to remain allegiant to Jesus’s kingdom during this politically charged season, living as a light that reflects God’s justice and love. Pastor invited everyone to participate in an Election Night event as an embodied expression of these roles. Through prayer and action, we are called to be a faithful “city on a hill,” shining brightly for all to see.

No description provided.

No description provided.

In this message, Pastor T. C. introduces the teaching series, ICON: Portals into the Heart of Jesus by exploring how contemplation of Jesus through contemplative practices like Visio Divina restore the image of God in us. As II Corinthians 3:17–18 says, Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” In this series, we will be contemplating six values exemplified by Jesus through six icons written by Kelly Latimore.

Pastor Osheta kicks off the “Making Room in Advent” series with a message entitled “Making Room for Silence.”

What we think the Bible says leads us to develop deeply-held beliefs and those deeply-held beliefs are often the basis for relationships, families, vocation, and politics. So, it’s important that what we think the Bible says, is actually true. The second Path Point in PAX’s Scripture StoryArc: Myth. The Myth statement is: “The Bible says it. I believe it. That settles it.” In this message, Pastor T. C. explores three myths he believed about Scripture: 1. That the creation account of Genesis was in conflict with modern science; 2. That women were precluded from pastoral or apostolic offices in the New Testament; 3. That the Bible prohibits consensual, monogamous same-sex relationships.