Browse published episodes from Pastor Jim Keck in First-Plymouth Church's Podcast.
Sep 28, 2025 5:30 AM America/Chicago
This week, Dr. Keck will unpack one of the most famous lines in scripture: “The love of money is the root of all evil.” The word radical comes from a root meaning “to get to the root of something,” so this line is literally radical. Together, we
Sep 14, 2025 5:30 AM America/Chicago
The central symbol of Christianity is the cross. It is almost unfathomable that a method of execution could become a powerful symbol of love and forgiveness. Yet somehow, the old rugged cross has come to represent a cosmic event that ensures the safe jour
Sep 7, 2025 5:30 AM America/Chicago
Luke 14 is the classic text used to describe the high cost of discipleship. It seems to say that if you truly want to follow Jesus, you must give up everything else. Sure, it sounds rousing to shout, “I’m ALL IN!”—but what does that really mean? A
Aug 31, 2025 5:30 AM America/Chicago
Steadfast, humble and joyful: Three key virtues in a disrupted world “Polycrisis” is a term that became popular in the early 2020s as a way to refer to the overlapping effects of such things as: Covid, war, surging debt levels, inflation, climate chan
Aug 24, 2025 4:00 AM America/Chicago
"I see you" is an informal idiom used to express several things, including acknowledgement, understanding, admiration, or support. It's a way of recognizing someone's efforts, understanding their situation, or appreciating their qualities. It feels good t
Aug 10, 2025 5:30 AM America/Chicago
This weekend, Dr. Jim Keck will preach a sermon titled "Faith on Earth," grounded in Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-10—a stirring passage that reminds us that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. From Abraham’s bold journe
Jul 27, 2025 5:30 AM America/Chicago
Sermon from First-Plymouth Church's Podcast
Jul 20, 2025 5:30 AM America/Chicago
In 1972, Rev. Dr. Otis Young preached his first sermon at FP. He was to be our pastor for the next 34 years. And what he had to say then, is still critical today. Dr. Jim Keck will replay that basic message.
Jul 6, 2025 5:30 AM America/Chicago
This weekend, Pastor Jim will hone in on BEAUTY as a key aspect of the faith. All beauty in our world harkens to the transcendent beauty of the divine. And to strive for a more just world is at the same time to strive for a more beautiful world. As a grea
Jun 22, 2025 5:30 AM America/Chicago
At a few moments in his life Elijah was overcome with negative thinking. To be sure, it was mostly an appropriate response to brutal hardship. However, many of us are prone to a more chronic, low-grade type of negativity. This weekend Dr. Jim Keck will sp
Jun 15, 2025 5:30 AM America/Chicago
Sermon from First-Plymouth Church's Podcast
Jun 8, 2025 5:30 AM America/Chicago
God and Jesus are bigger than religion. That is, human hearts can be in love with God and Jesus even though they might not attend church. Religion is a human construct and is always evolving. On this Pentecost Sunday, Dr. Keck will speak of a new pentecos
May 25, 2025 5:30 AM America/Chicago
Near the very end of the Bible is a beautiful description of heaven and how we will live in the full light of God. But Heaven is not only something that we experience after we die. There are many chances to experience a slice of heaven in this life and Dr
May 18, 2025 4:30 AM America/Chicago
We often think of God's home as otherworldly, above, heaven, ethereal, maybe even sublime. This week the scriptures gives us a much more common and accessible picture, God's home is among us. Yes, right here, where we live, work, and play. This says somet
May 11, 2025 4:30 AM America/Chicago
Dr. Jim Keck will share how Dr. Martin Luther King played such a large role in his childhood. He will also explain that they share the same theological perspective that was developed at Boston University in the mid-twentieth century. Pastor Jim believes t
May 4, 2025 5:30 AM America/Chicago
This Sunday, Pastor Jim Keck brings a powerful message on Spirit and Truth—come be inspired and uplifted!
Apr 20, 2025 5:30 AM America/Chicago
Sermon from First-Plymouth Church's Podcast
Apr 13, 2025 5:30 AM America/Chicago
Palm Sunday celebrates Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem. According to the synoptic gospels, Jesus then goes to the temple and throws over the tables. What an incredible juxtaposition of gentleness and strong protest. What is Jesus up to? Dr. Jim Keck will
Apr 6, 2025 4:00 AM America/Chicago
It's amazing what we remember and how we remember it, it is also amazing how much we forget. Memory is a complex function of our being human that allows us to make sense of our current situation. This week the truth-teller and social critic tells us to le
Mar 30, 2025 5:30 AM America/Chicago
Saint Augustine taught that human beings are driving by their desires, so we must strive to have the right desires. Using C.S. Lewis, Augustine and a great poem by Coleridge, Dr. Jim Keck will call for us to desire the most noble things in life.
Mar 23, 2025 4:00 AM America/Chicago
Hell Revised with Dr. Jim Keck
Mar 16, 2025 5:30 AM America/Chicago
Sermon from First-Plymouth Church's Podcast
Feb 9, 2025 4:30 AM America/Chicago
Willam Butler Yeats wrote a poem about how living by a lake, and the water lapping with low sounds on the shore, brought a deep peace to his heart. In Luke chapter 5 Jesus teaches by the lakeside. Let’s gather with him by the water this weekend and as Y
Feb 2, 2025 4:30 AM America/Chicago
It will be the first time ever in a sermon that the great love poem by Paul in 1st Corinthians, Plato’s notion of the Ladder of Love in the Symposium and the 1980’s British/American Rock band Foreigner are merged together. All in the hope that we will