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Tough Challenges

Wednesday, February 14th, 2024

Unless you count a baseball or basketball coach, I have never used a personal trainer, although I know many who have. Each Saturday morning at the local Y there is a former Owen Valley Patriot basketball player teaching/coaching/training young ones to become better players. Harry was a good player who went on to play at a nearby University and is now taking his talents to young people (male and female) who want to become better basketball players.  If you Google “Goals of a Personal Trainer” one common formula that comes up is SMART goals= Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.

When I originally worked on the sermon series “WELCOME HOME…where… I came up with the following:

The Gospel is Preached

Jesus is Honored

Grace is Offered

Lives are Changed

Obedience is Encouraged

When I set this series up calendar-wise, I realized I needed two weeks to bring it out even, and also knew I would be gone for the final one. Since I have been using Colossians as my go-to Scripture for this series, I looked ahead and saw that Paul laid out some tough challenges. Specifically, there was a negative and a positive. So I decided to divide the Scripture into two parts. The first part is negative in that it says, “Get rid of…” I decided I would do that one and give Pastor Ryan the second part-the positive: “But put on…”

So this Sunday, my Scripture will be Colossians 3:5-11, or Tough Challenges are Given-Part 1.  My part this week will be spent mostly with the idea of “put to death” specific sins.  Even though it could tend to be a beat-down, I have no plans for that. I want it to be an encouraging time of “putting to death” certain sins in order to be a more honest servant.  I’d like to encourage you to read that Scripture for yourself.

And if you find yourself out and about Sunday, feel free to join us. 🙂

Obedience: Encouraged or Demanded?

Thursday, February 8th, 2024

There are some things I know for sure. 1) It is always tough to be a Christ-follower.  2) It is tougher to be a Christ-follower when rigid rules and regulations are in place. Obedience to Christ should be expected, but obedience should never be demanded or forced upon someone. Unfortunately, there will always be those religious teachers and religious systems that will take a “hard case” approach and make demands of their followers the Scripture never intended to take place.

The Scripture for Sunday, Colossians 2:16-3:4 takes a hard stand against demanding obedience or as I will say during the message: the “lord it over” approach. The question I plan to answer is this: “Is obedience demanded or encouraged?” Please see there is a difference. It is my personal belief that those religious leaders or religious systems who use the “lord it over” approach are afraid. They are afraid of people thinking for themselves. They are afraid of losing control of their flock. They are afraid that a lack of control will lead to rebellion. (Maybe it should). 

Do we obey God from our hearts or do we do it because we are being threatened or forced to? For my answer, please feel free to join us in person or online this Sunday at 9:00 and 10:45. I would love to see you or even to hear your thoughts when it is all said and done.

Deepen and Define

Thursday, February 1st, 2024

French philosopher, Francois-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire (I believe I would choose Voltaire over Francois-Marie), famously predicted that Christianity would be dead within a hundred years of his death. He once wrote: “There will not be a Bible on the earth except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian curiosity seeker.” In 1966, TIME magazine ran a cover story posing the question, “Is God Dead?” They assumed the answer was obvious.

In an ironic twist of fate, the printing press found in Voltaire’s house was used to print Bibles, the book he said would be gone. And TIME! Can anyone say, “Life support?” Over 250 years later the faith Voltaire said would be dead is still alive and kicking.

In this series on WELCOME HOME…where… I have been focusing on being a church that is a welcoming community, but also what to expect in this type of church.  Here are the three we have covered so far:

The Gospel is Preached

Jesus in Honored

Grace is Offered

This week’s sermon is a bit more “ouchy” in that it starts probing. If we want to be a church that fulfills the next rung of this ladder we have to take two very important and distinct steps: First, we must deepen our intimacy with the Father (Colossians 2:6-10). Second, we must define our identity (Colossians 2:11-15).  As we draw closer to Him, we become more aware of who we are. Our identity is not in any qualifier we or our culture wants to put on us. We start with a new birth; we grow in intimacy with Him; then we find ourselves transformed by His overpowering love and grace. That becomes our identity.

So…WELCOME HOME…where…

LIVES ARE CHANGED

Grace is Offered

Thursday, January 25th, 2024

The mindset of our world can be illustrated by the events surrounding the sinking of Titanic. Not what caused it…that is very much documented. What happened afterwards. Over 1600 people lost their lives and sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. When Third Officer Pitman in Boat #5 wanted to return to pick up survivors, those on board overruled him in protest. 40 people in a boat with the capacity of 65 gently rocked on the calm Atlantic. In Boat #2, Fourth Officer Boxhall asked the ladies about going back and they said, “No.” So 60% full, it gently rocked on the Atlantic. On Boat #6, the ladies wanted to go back but Quartermaster Hitchens refused to go back. Of the 18 lifeboats, only one returned. The callous disregard for others gets us to the core.

And yet, is our world much different? I think not. People are in desperate need for grace these days. We are haunted by things we have done-big or small and we long for relief. God offers grace to all, His unmerited favor. Sometimes it is accepted and sometimes it is not. Sometimes it is clamored for and sometimes it is turned away.

My sermon this week is Part 3 of the WELCOME HOME…where… series.  WELCOME HOME…where…Grace is Offered. Colossians 1:20-25 will be my Scripture this week. Please join us at 9:00 and 10:45 in person or via the live stream. As a church we can talk about grace; we can teach about grace; we can even go overboard on grace, but what exactly does it mean to be a church that offers GRACE? Come see with us.

#DislikedWord

Thursday, August 17th, 2023

Talk about God and we like to speak about His love, His grace, His faithfulness, and so on. All positive attributes of a God who is beyond description. But there is one word associated with God we DO NOT like to talk about.

WRATH

Say what? You get the point I’m sure. The last thing we want to talk about is that God is also a God of wrath. Of all the topics and discussions about God, the wrath and judgment of God are probably hands down the most avoided. We want to put it on the backburner of “things we don’t want or like to talk about.”

IT. IS. UNAVOIDABLE. when talking about God. To leave it out is like leaving a lop-sided God.

This Sunday my sermon from Revelation 11 is entitled The Word Everyone Dislikes. I’d like to invite you come visit us in person or online via live stream. The church’s website http://ovcf.org has the links to the Facebook page or YouTube if you prefer that medium. We meet at 9:00 and 10:45.

 

#Crushed#Persecuted#NotDead

Thursday, August 10th, 2023

Richard Bewes, in his book The Lamb Wins, tells of an incident in his life that happened when preaching in the heart of Africa.  Before the start of meeting #27 (they were holding 30+ meetings), he and others with him were approached by two soldiers armed to the teeth with machine guns. They approached Richard and said, “Please, can we talk with you?” They answered, “Yes, how can we help?”

Now…I’m not sure what you are thinking but I do know what I was thinking.

They looked at Richard and said, “We want to follow Jesus.” Richard said it was a moving experience to talk, and then to pray with the two men under the trees, in the middle of one of Africa’s scarred, pot-holed cities.

In a land which has been staggered from crisis to crisis (and still is), the church still rises. It’s easy to think the church is doomed. We look around at the wokeness which has entered our culture and then see it has infiltrated the church as well. It is easy to allow despair to creep in and make us feel like we aren’t making any headway.  But we must continue believing that “the gates of hell will not prevail against the church.”

Sunday’s sermon is entitled Crushed and Persecuted but NOT DEAD! I hope you will join us at 9:00 or 10:45 in person or via live stream.

 

#EnjoyLIfe!

Thursday, July 27th, 2023

This Sunday is Move Up Sunday for our young people.  K kids move up to Early Elementary; 3rd graders move up to Late Elementary; and 6th graders move up to “Big Church.”  I see eye rolls when I speak of “Big Church.” But at OVCF we offer a children’s program from Nursery through 6th grade on Sunday morning. They meet to learn at their age and learning level while the adults are meeting (and hopefully learning at their age level. The maturity of the pastor may have something to do with that! 🙂 )

Normally we do the program in the youth addition for the young people. With Pastor Ryan gone on sabbatical, a different approach is being taken. Since this is a 5th Sunday, and since we normally have the young people (except for Nursery and Pre-K) join the adults, it was decided to make it a whole church celebration. We will honoring the teachers and helpers and volunteers in the youth program as well as the ones who will be moving from Late Elementary into “Big Church.”

Given the special meaning of the day, I decided to divert for one week from my series on Revelation (can you imagine the young people as they hear about trumpets and judgment? Talk about PTSD?) So I decided to write a sermon geared specifically for youth this week. I’ve called it Enjoy Life and the Scripture will be Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:14.  I wrote it from the perspective of a 70 year old pastor who wants to leave some words of wisdom to his young charges.

One caveat: the first sermon will have the sermon in its totality. The second service will only have the second part since the program for the young people will take a good chunk of time. So if you watch online, you will hear the whole sermon at 9:00 and an abbreviated version at 10:45. Either way I hope you will join me in person or online.

 

#HereComestheUmbrella!

Thursday, July 20th, 2023

Perhaps you have seen it. I can’t say I have heard it since I turn off commercials. One I saw recently and can only guess what it said 🙂  was one for an insurance company.  It began to hail and while others were lamenting the state of their cars, this particular man was driving through the hailstorm under the covering of a roof. The point was obvious, even from a silent screen: “Get our insurance and you are covered.”

I also read about a boy who was bullied by an older kid on the bus. This older boy grabbed the boy’s papers and notebook and wrote some vile things on them. That evening at supper his dad asked for his papers and he hesitated. When his father pressed the issue, he brought his papers and watched his father’s facial features change. When his father wanted to know more and who wrote those words, the boy told his dad everything. His father quietly got up from the table and told his son to get in the car and drove to the other boy’s home. He purposely left the window down, knocked on the door and told the boy’s father that if that ever happened again he would be coming after him. The  man wilted under that father’s strength. As they drove away, they heard the boy’s father making sure it would never happen again.  It never did.  That boy knew his father had his back and he was under his protection.

Revelation 7:1-17 shows us that without question we are under God’s protection, His umbrella. To borrow a phrase from the chapter, we are under His seal. What exactly does that mean and what does it tell us about God?  Tune in this Sunday in person or via live stream at 9:00 and 10:45 to find the answer.

 

#HereComesTrouble!

Thursday, July 13th, 2023

Persecution is nothing new. Jesus promised it and that promise has never failed to come true. (Despite what the health/wealth hucksters say, trouble is to be expected. We were never promised a soft bed. We might say we were promised a bed of roses because every rose has its thorns). Life is certainly not like a box of chocolates. 🙂

Question: In the 16th and 17th centuries what was the most popular and widely read book among Christians in the English-speaking world, besides the Bible? The answer is a book called Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. It contained the stories of Christians who had been killed for their testimony throughout the centuries of Christian history.  John Foxe was born before Martin Luther nailed his #95 Theses” to the Wittenburg Church door. Foxe studied in Oxford, fled England when Queen Mary took the throne, and, while abroad, began his great study which has become known as Foxe’s Book of Martyrs.  It was a massive book and immediate success. It went through 4 editions in his lifetime, and its impact continued for generations.

That may not make any sense to you and what it has to do with Sunday’s sermon. But given that this week’s sermon is dealing with persecution, it has a ton of relevancy. My Scripture for this Sunday is Revelation 6:9-17 and deals with the persecution talked about in those verses. It is a follow-up to the previous week’s sermon on 6:1-8. I hope you will join me in person or via live stream.

 

BeFree!

Thursday, June 29th, 2023

There is always a sense of satisfaction when a project is completed. Well…at least there is supposed to be. I think the key word is “completed.” What do you feel when you come to the end of a project (or sermon series) and you know there is more to say so that completed feeling is vague?

That is how I feel. This week is my final sermon in the series Faith Over Fear.  I know there is more to say. I also know there are people who are hurting and what I have said is just “touching the hem of the garment” for them and their healing.  I actually extended the series one week in order to try to answer the question: What now?  I gave it the title of Be Free! because of the 4th of July weekend. But, in all honesty, I am praying for freedom for some folks from anxiety, worry, fear, and yes, even depression.  But how do I conclude this series? That was my question and I decided to highlight the main thought from each Sunday and then conclude with some possible answers to “What Now?”  Here is what I have come up with:

Highlight #1: Mark 4:35-42 shows us that Jesus is always on the job…even when He appears to be asleep.

Highlight #2: Jesus spoke to worry and anxiety in Matthew 6.

Highlight #3: There are three essentials you must believe- You are not crazy. You are not alone. This will end.

Highlight #4: Slaying the giant of worry requires we do two things: 1) Pray and 2) Change your perspective.

Highlight #5: Understand the battle ground is not flesh and blood, but according to Paul in Ephesians 6, the battle is where we cannot see.

SO…WHAT NOW?

From Anxiety-Knowing God’s Peace a 31 day devotional by Paul Tautges comes the answer:

#1: Remember the Certainty of God’s Promises

#2: Remember the Grace of Salvation

#3: Remember the Care of Your Heavenly Father

#4: Remember your Dependency on Prayer

I’ll spend more time on those this Sunday (obviously). 🙂 I hope you will join me in person or via live stream at 9:00 and 10:45. Go here to find out how to connect.