Church On The Path

About Church On The Path

Welcome to the Church On The Path (https://www.churchonthepath.com/) podcast from St. Andrews Parish United Methodist Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Each week, we share inspiring sermons, meaningful conversations, and practical messages rooted in faith, hope, and the love of Christ. Whether you’re searching for encouragement, spiritual growth, or simply a reminder that you’re not walking alone, we invite you to join us as we follow Jesus together—one step at a time.

Publisher

St. Andrews Parish UMC

Category

religion & spirituality

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

4 May 2026

Latest episode

12 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

21 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   12 Oct 2026

   Can I Really Change Who I Am?

   Can people really change? Can we become less angry, more forgiving, more generous, more compassionate—and more like the people we know we were created to be? In this episode of The Church on the Path Podcast, Rev. Brent Dehlbom shares the message “Invited—but Unchanged?”, exploring Jesus' challenging Parable of the Wedding Banquet in Matthew 22:1–14. At the heart of the message is a powerful promise: God welcomes us by grace—and that grace is meant to change us. Jesus describes a king who prepares a wedding banquet for his son. The invitation is freely given, yet many invited guests are too busy to respond. Their farms, businesses, schedules, and ordinary responsibilities become more important than the invitation before them. That sounds surprisingly familiar. We rarely tell God an outright “No.” More often, we say, “Not right now.” Maybe when life settles down.Maybe when the schedule clears.Maybe when we're more prepared.Maybe next week. But these are the days we've been given. God is at work in the life we actually have, and we can receive His invitation today. And the invitation is wider than we might imagine. When the original guests refuse to come, the king sends his servants into the streets to invite everyone they can find—the good and the bad. That's the scandalous generosity of grace. God's invitation reaches people with beautiful stories and broken stories. People who have been close to the Church and people who have spent their lives running from it. The table isn't filled with people who earned an invitation.It's filled with people who accepted one. There is a place for you. But then Jesus' parable becomes uncomfortable. One guest arrives without the appropriate wedding garment. Jesus isn't teaching a lesson about clothing or wealth. He's asking what happens after we accept the invitation. It is possible to come into the room but resist being changed. It is possible to talk about grace while treating others without grace. To sing the songs, say the prayers, and still cling tightly to bitterness, prejudice, pride, greed, or resentment. That's where Pastor Brent offers an important image: Putting on grace is putting on the wedding clothes. We don't change ourselves so God will invite us. God's invitation makes transformation possible. We are welcomed by grace, and then that same grace begins working within us. Compassion begins replacing indifference.Humility begins replacing pride.Generosity begins replacing selfishness.Forgiveness begins loosening resentment's grip. The garment doesn't earn the invitation. It reveals our response to the One who invited us. And that transformation won't happen instantly. We'll stumble. We'll struggle. We'll need mercy every day. Needing help isn't the same as refusing to follow. So the question isn't: “Have I made myself good enough for God?” The question is: “Am I allowing God's grace to change me?” Sometimes we want God's comfort without God's direction, God's forgiveness without God's correction, or a Savior who rescues us but never challenges us. We want Jesus as our co-pilot. Maybe it's time to switch seats. Following Jesus means trusting Him enough to let Him choose the path—even when that path leads toward someone we need to forgive, generosity that costs us something, a responsibility we've avoided, or a person whose life is very different from ours. The good news is that we don't make that journey alone. We have a Friend to whom we can bring every burden.We have a community called to help carry it.And we have a Good Shepherd who knows the way. Come with your questions. Come with your failures. Come with your wounds and doubts. Come with the burden you've been trying to carry alone. Come as you are—but come ready to receive the grace that can change you. Grace is free. But grace is not casual. It reaches us.It welcomes us.And it calls us into a new way of living. So, can you really change who you are? Not simply through greater willpower or determination. But thr

2. 

   29 Sept 2026

   Are You Living Your Faith or Just Talking About It?

   What does it mean to actually live out your Christian faith? Is following Jesus about what we believe and say—or about what we do with what we believe? In this episode of The Church on the Path Podcast, Pastor Brent explores Jesus’ Parable of the Two Sons in Matthew 21:23–32 and a simple but challenging truth: Faith is more than what we say. Faith is what we do. Jesus tells of a father who asks two sons to work in his vineyard. The first says no—but changes his mind and goes. The second gives the perfect answer, “I will, sir,” but never shows up. Jesus asks: Which one actually did the will of the father? The question isn’t who sounded more faithful, knew the right religious vocabulary, or made the better first impression. The question is who actually responded. Or, as Pastor Brent asks: Has our yes reached our feet yet? This week’s message follows the testimony of members of our youth ministry who served at Salkehatchie, repairing homes for neighbors who could not afford the work or could no longer do it themselves. They didn’t simply talk about loving their neighbors. They picked up tools. They climbed ladders. They sweated. They served. Love put on work gloves. That’s what it looks like when grace becomes action. Drawing from Philippians 2:1–13, Pastor Brent reminds us that Jesus Himself is our model. Christ didn’t love humanity with words alone. He humbled Himself, took the form of a servant, and became obedient even to the cross. Love put on flesh.Love knelt to wash feet.Love touched the untouchable.Love carried a cross.Love walked out of the tomb. We don’t work for salvation as though God’s grace could be earned. We work it out because God is already at work within us. Grace isn’t opposed to action. Grace produces action. God works in us, and then God works through us. And you don’t have to travel to a Salkehatchie worksite to find your vineyard. Your vineyard may be a lonely person who needs someone beside them. A child who needs a reading buddy. A hungry family that needs food. A neighbor who needs help. An apology you’ve promised but haven’t offered. A phone call you keep meaning to make. A ministry you believe somebody ought to support. Sometimes our greatest spiritual problem isn’t that we don’t know what Jesus asks of us. It’s that we substitute good intentions for faithful obedience. We can’t do everything—but that cannot become our excuse for doing nothing. So ask yourself: What is the one thing God is asking me to do?Who is the one person God is placing before me?Where is the vineyard where God is saying, “Go and work today”? The world doesn’t need a Church that merely talks about love. It needs a Church that shows up, gets its hands dirty, notices the forgotten, serves without seeking applause, and loves people in practical ways. It needs a Church on the Path. Because grace means our first answer doesn’t have to be our final answer. We can change our minds. We can change direction. We can take the next faithful step. Jesus isn’t asking for polished promises. He’s asking for surrendered lives. Faith is more than what we say. Faith is what we do. It’s time to Walk the Talk. The Church on the PathWorship + Service = DiscipleshipLove First…Love Always Scripture: Matthew 21:23–32; Philippians 2:1–13 Keywords: Walk the Talk, Matthew 21:23–32, Parable of the Two Sons, Philippians 2:1–13, living out Christian faith, faith and works, Christian service, obedience to God, what does it mean to follow Jesus, putting faith into action, grace and good works, mind of Christ, Christian discipleship, serving your neighbor, Salkehatchie, youth mission trip, practical Christianity, United Methodist Church, Christian podcast, Charleston SC church, St Andrews Parish UMC, The Church on the Path.

3. 

   21 Sept 2026

   More Than Fair: The Generosity of God

   Why does God give grace to people who don’t seem to deserve it? And why can it be so difficult to celebrate when God is generous to someone else? In this episode of The Church on the Path Podcast, Pastor Brent explores Jesus’ surprising Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard from Matthew 20:1–16—a story that challenges our assumptions about fairness, deserving, comparison, and the extravagant grace of God. A landowner hires workers throughout the day—some early in the morning, others at noon, some late in the afternoon, and a final group with only an hour left to work. At the end of the day, everyone receives the same wage. And the workers who had been there all day respond exactly as many of us probably would: “That’s not fair!” But Jesus isn’t primarily teaching about payroll. He’s teaching about grace. The first workers weren’t cheated. They received exactly what they had been promised. Their anger began when they saw generosity being extended to somebody else. They were satisfied with their blessing until they compared it with another person’s blessing. That leads to the question at the heart of this message: Can we celebrate when God is generous to someone else? Jesus reveals a Kingdom that doesn’t operate according to our spiritual timecards. We cannot place God in our debt through years of service, sacrifice, generosity, or religious faithfulness. Grace is not merely fair. Grace is more than fair. The landowner keeps returning to the marketplace—at nine, noon, three, and even five o’clock—because he keeps looking, calling, inviting, and making room. That’s good news for anyone who has ever wondered if they waited too long, wandered too far, made too many mistakes, or missed their opportunity with God. God keeps going out.God keeps calling.God keeps making room. There is no hour when God stops seeking people, and there is no past so broken that Jesus says, “There is no place for you.” This message also challenges longtime Christians to examine the danger of comparison. Another person’s blessing doesn’t diminish ours. A newcomer isn’t a threat. Someone else’s second chance doesn’t take ours away. And years of faithful service don’t give any of us ownership of the vineyard. The Church belongs to Jesus Christ. We are all here because the Landowner came looking for us. We are here because Jesus called our names. We are here because grace found us. At the cross, Jesus didn’t come to pay us what we had earned. He came to give us what we could never earn: forgiveness, reconciliation, new life, and a place in the Kingdom of God. So how do we live this kind of grace? Practice gratitude before comparison.Celebrate grace in another person’s life.Serve without keeping score. And if you’ve been standing at the edge of the vineyard wondering whether there is still room for you, hear the good news: Jesus is still calling.Grace is still making room.It is not too late. Because God’s Kingdom is more than fair. It is generous. Grace is not merely fair. Grace is more than fair. The Church on the PathWorship + Service = DiscipleshipLove First…Love Always Scripture: Matthew 20:1–16 Keywords: Matthew 20:1–16, laborers in the vineyard, workers in the vineyard parable, generosity of God, God’s grace, why is God unfair, fairness and grace, undeserved grace, Christian comparison, jealousy and envy, God’s generosity, second chances, grace for everyone, kingdom of God, Christian discipleship, Jesus parables, United Methodist sermon, Wesleyan grace, Christian podcast, Charleston SC church, St Andrews Parish UMC, The Church on the Path.

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Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

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