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#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.

 

Posted in Christian living, Doctrine, God, Revelation, Sermon Series/Topic | Comments Off on #DislikedWord

#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.

 

Posted in Christian living, Church, Opinion, Persecution, Sermon Series/Topic | Comments Off on #Crushed#Persecuted#NotDead

#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.

 

Posted in Christian living, Faith, Family, Preaching, Scripture look, Sermon Series/Topic, Youth | Comments Off on #EnjoyLIfe!

#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.

 

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#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.

 

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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.

 

Posted in Anxiety, Christian living, Fear, Freedom, Sermon Series/Topic | Comments Off on BeFree!

#DriveaNail

Thursday, June 22nd, 2023

I have been preaching on anxiety, worry, fear, and depression (mention only) for the past two months. I have two sermons left in this series. This week’s sermon is titled Drive a Nail Through These Truths.  If we are going to win the war over fear, anxiety and worry, there are certain truths we must believe.  It is because we must believe them that I have called this sermon what I have.

There are three unshakeable truths we must believe and get a handle on.

#1: God is with you…even if you can’t feel it.

#2: God is working…even if you can’t see it.

#3: God has a plan…even if you can’t understand it.

I’ll be using the example of and words to Joshua in 1:9, 3:15, and then using the story of Jericho falling as the basis for this week’s sermon. Please feel free to join us in person or via live stream. You can find the links to the live stream at the church’s website here.

I look forward to sharing with you.

 

Posted in Anxiety, Christian living, Faith, Fear, Health, Sermon Series/Topic | 2 Responses »

#GoBacktoGoForward

Thursday, June 8th, 2023

TV shows are inundated with commercials hawking this-or-that (purpose of them to begin with) telling us our life will  be better if we do this or take this supplement. You get the idea.  “I was once where you were but since I started using (____) my life is changed.” They want to let us know that our life will improve drastically.

Don’t you wish getting control of fear and anxiety were that easy? “Here, take this magic pill or do this simple thing and all your anxiety will disappear.” While no commercial can promise a 100% success rate, neither can I claim to solve the issue of fear and anxiety with a simple formula. As I said in last week’s message, the solution to worry is not a plan, but a Person.

The 4:8 Principle (Philippians 4:8) will work well, but we still have to remember the Person behind it all.  There is another verse that plays into this: “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion…and take every thought captive to obey Christ.“ The Bible reminds us that we choose what we focus on. We can focus on our problems or we can focus on Jesus who will help us deal with those problems.  The key is remembering all the amazing things God has already done in our lives. Remembering what God has done for us is a massive weapon for defeating anxiety and depression.

Joshua is the poster child for this scenario. Remember what God has brought you through and remember what God has promised you. Go back to go forward. That is my sermon this Sunday. Please join us in person or via live stream at 9:00 and 10:45.

 

Posted in Anxiety, Christian living, Fear, Health, Sermon Series/Topic, Story | Comments Off on #GoBacktoGoForward

#EssentialsToBelieve

Thursday, May 25th, 2023

In 1816 Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to John Adams in which he said, “There are indeed gloomy and hypochondriac minds, inhabitants of diseased bodies, disgusted with the present, and despairing of the future; always counting the worst will happen, because it may happen! To these I say how much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened!” (Quote from Unwinding Anxiety by Judson Brewer-p.12)

I’m pretty sure Thomas Jefferson had plenty to be anxious about!! 🙂

Whenever someone is going through a “down” time or depression or simply fighting their own emotions of being down, they tell themselves lies they come to believe.  In his book, Attacking Anxiety, Pastor Shawn Johnson takes lessons from his own struggles with depression and anxiety and panic to gives three essentials a person must believe. I will talking about them this Sunday:

  1. You are not crazy
  2. You are not alone
  3. This will end.

I realize those who struggle with a chemical imbalance in their system will find some of this hard to believe. And accept. But my desire is that I can give them hope that it is not a lost cause. Primary to that is what we tell ourselves. We all need to start telling ourselves, “You are a child of God. You are a loved child of God. Like everyone else, you are a slightly broken child of God.”

Please join us this Sunday live or live stream at 9:00 and 10:45. There is hope for all of us.

 

Posted in Anxiety, Christian living, Compassion, Faith, Fear, Opinion, Preaching, Sermon Series/Topic | 2 Responses »

#WhoMe?Worry?

Thursday, May 18th, 2023

After a one-Sunday hiatus due to Mother’s Day, I will be back this week continuing the series I’ve entitled Faith Over Fear. This will be sermon #2 in the series and as you can see by the title of this post it is called “Who Me? Worry?” My Scripture is Matthew 6:25-34.

In Googling the “Top 10 Anxieties for 2023” the most recent statistic came from December of 2022. According to Ipsos, the top vote getter was inflation. It was followed by poverty and social inequality, crime and violence, unemployment, and financial and political corruption. Climate change tied with worry about taxes. Coronavirus is still at one of the lowest levels since it was added in April 2020. That is quite a change from the list I found from 1990: AIDS, drug abuse, nuclear waste, the ozone layer, famine, homelessness, the federal deficit, air pollution, water pollution, and garbage. Added to all lists is since 9/11 global terrorism has been one of the leading causes of anxiety.

I realize a list is just that…a list. All lives are different and our stressors and stress levels are different. But we are all human and one commonality is stress and anxiety. Different levels to be sure, but it is there nonetheless. This passage in Matthew is quite a treatise on Jesus’ ideas on worry. My hope Sunday is to enlighten us all to the truth and hope Jesus gives us when it comes to worry.

I hope to see you this Sunday at 9:00 or 10:45. If not in person then via live stream.

 

Posted in Anxiety, Christian living, Faith, Fear, Health, hope, Preaching, Sermon Series/Topic, Story | Comments Off on #WhoMe?Worry?

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