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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

Posted in Christian living, Church, Preaching, Sermon Series/Topic | 2 Responses »

#GospelPreached

Thursday, January 11th, 2024

I start a new series this week that will go to the end of February. I’ve called it WELCOME HOME…where…

Each sermon is part of a reworking of a our Mission and Vision Statement. You can find our Mission and Vision Statements on the church’s website here and here.  This past October, during our 19th Anniversary celebration I shared a story with the people about what had happened during the previous week. I was unable to sleep so I got up and went into my ManCave and picked up my journal on the way there. While there I sensed God “telling” me to write down some stuff. What I wrote down was a reworking of the Mission and Vision statement in a “softer” version.  Here it is for you to see:

WELCOME HOME…where…

The Gospel is Preached

Jesus is Honored

Grace is Offered

Lives are Changed

Obedience is Encouraged

I am going to take each one of these over the next two months and spend a week simply explaining what they mean. I’m “cheating” though; I’m adding two to round it out all the way to the end of February. The series will come from Colossians 1-3 so I will include each week’s Scripture here if you would like to read ahead of time. This week’s Scripture is Colossians 1:3-14. I will also be including I Cor. 1:18-31 and Romans 1:16-17.

I’ll leave you with a quote I will be using:

God is not going to rewrite the Bible for your generation. Stop trying to change Scripture when it’s written to change you.

See you Sunday in person or via live stream at 9:00 and 10:45!

Posted in Doctrine, Opinion, Preaching, Sermon Series/Topic | 4 Responses »

#DarkHorse

Thursday, January 4th, 2024

I’m not a runner. Never have been; never will be.  The only running I have done is while playing baseball or basketball; running to the bathroom; or running after my girls when they wanted to play. I tried running once. ONCE. I didn’t have the right shoes to start with. I didn’t have the right technique.  I didn’t have the right clothes. And I had balky calf muscles that didn’t like running outside on uneven surfaces or on hard surfaces. So that lasted all of about one week. 🙂 But call me for supper, pizza, or ice cream and I was all there! In fact, I was there as quick as you can say, “Roadrunner.”

My theme for 2024, as you can see, is Run with the Horses. I “borrowed” it from a book by that title authored by Eugene Peterson. A book I have not read to be honest. It is a play on Jeremiah 12:5. The whole idea was that if Jeremiah was tired from daily life, how can he expect to run with the horses when the going gets tough?  Truthfully, I believe life in 2024 is only going to get tougher for those of us who call ourselves followers of Christ. My desire this year is to prepare us as well as I can to life with all its muck and mire, so that we won’t get bogged down and be unable to run with the horses.

Please join me/us each week as we pursue this goal.  We have two services every Sunday (unless it is changed for a reason). One at 9:00 and the other at 10:45. Both are live streamed. If you desire to and are able to join us in person, we would love to have you visit.

Posted in Faith, Freedom, Pick me Up, Preaching, Sermon Series/Topic, Story | Comments Off on #DarkHorse

WhatAHeritage!

Thursday, December 7th, 2023

We are rapidly coming to the close of 2023, but before that happens the focus must be on Christ and what Christmas means. One of my favorite subjects to talk about is GRACE and the lineage of Jesus is GRACE IN SPADES. My sermon Sunday is from Matthew 1.  You know…that boring lineage you, me, and thousands of others pass over. Let me rephrase that: USED TO PASS OVER until I studied it in depth and realized that it is filled with phenomenal people. All of them are important, obviously, but there are a few who stand out. Before I tell you who, I thought I would give you a fun fact: My original sermon title but5 Women and a Man. I received word that might not be a too appropriate of a title. So…being the humble man I am (AHEM) I changed it to the title you will see at the end of this post.

Now…back to the originally scheduled post.  Five Women and a Man. Here they are:

Tamar- a Gentile who dressed as a prostitute to seduce her father-in-law Judah.

Rahab- a Gentile from Jericho who saved two spies but then was saved from Jericho’s destruction. She married Salmon and they had Boaz.

Ruth- a Moabitess (mortal enemies of the Israelites) who followed her widowed mother-in-law back to her hometown. Ruth met and married Boaz.

Bathsheba- described as the “wife of Uriah” in the lineage. Committed adultery with David (she may have not had a choice).

Mary- a teenager (probably) engaged to be married to Joseph, pregnant out of wedlock. It was sort of like the scarlet letter.  But WOW! The mother of Jesus impregnated by the Holy Spirit.

Joseph- a godly man who was going to do the “right thing” by silently divorcing Mary to avoid scandal for her.  But his heart is seen in his decision to stay with Mary and being the earthly father to Jesus.

That is the sermon. I’ve entitled it What a Heritage! I hope to see you Sunday at 9:00 or 10:45 in person or listen via live stream.

 

Posted in Christmas, Jesus, Preaching, Sermon Series/Topic, Story, Uncategorized | 2 Responses »

#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!

#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?

#TheBoastoftheCross

Thursday, April 20th, 2023

There is something curious about boasting. Despite the fact that nobody likes a braggart, everybody brags in some way. People boast about their grandchildren (Guilty); their bank accounts (not guilty); their waistlines (is that really something to brag about?); sports feats (days gone by); travel plans (will Alaska ever happen again?); and sometimes even their indiscretions.  Get a bunch of pastors together on Monday morning and ask them how things are going and you will probably hear the biggest game of one-upmanship take place that you have ever heard.

In Galatians 6:14 the Apostle Paul said, “May I never boast except in the cross of Christ.” What does that mean? I want to dive into that verse and the passage which surrounds it this coming Sunday. I invite you to join me in person or via live stream at 9:00 and 10:45.

 

Posted in Doctrine, Preaching, Sermon Series/Topic, The Cross | Comments Off on #TheBoastoftheCross

#TheStingofFailure

Thursday, March 9th, 2023

Quick: Word association. Disciple of Jesus. Failure:

PETER

It is hard to disassociate Peter’s name from failure.  But the fact remains: all of them failed. All of them ran. Peter gets notoriety because his was so public. Brash. Bold. Boisterous. Braggart.

Peter is not alone though. We all have failed. We all have made promises to be faithful and to stand tall, only to see ourselves do a face plant.  History is marred with failures. So is Biblical history.

But failure is not the end. You have heard it said in some way, I’m sure: “Falling is not failure; not getting back up is.”  But the great part about Peter’s failure and what he realized is that there is forgiveness in spite of failure. 

I’m guessing that no one’s failure is more highlighted than Peter’s.  I’m preaching on The Sting of Failure this Sunday. But I have absolutely no intention whatsoever of leaving Peter flapping in the breeze. Jesus didn’t and I certainly won’t. Nope…Jesus restored him and made him the leader of the ragtag band of disciple/apostles.

Please join us at 9:00 and 10:45 either in person or online as we live stream our services. I know many will be traveling this week due to Spring Break in our school system, but I hope you will join us via the live stream.

ONE MORE THING! REMEMBER TO TURN YOUR CLOCKS AHEAD THIS SATURDAY NIGHT FOR DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME.

 

 

Posted in Forgiveness, God, Grace, Opinion, Preaching, Second Chance, Sermon Series/Topic, Story, The Cross | Comments Off on #TheStingofFailure

#Don’tForgettoRemember!

Thursday, March 2nd, 2023

Communion has been part of the church’s experience since shortly after Jesus’ meal with the disciples in the Upper Room. Down through the years there have been different ways to celebrate it:

  • There have been arguments and debates over its frequency (weekly, monthly, quarterly, twice a year).
  • There have been arguments over who can partake.
  • There have been arguments over the elements themselves (wine or grape juice for example). During the pandemic I had one person tell me they had crackers and pop as a substitute.
  • There have been different names give to it (Lord’s Supper,  Last Supper, Holy Communion, or Eucharist).

If you are looking for a doctrinal treatise from me on those arguments you have come to the wrong place. My focus in this Sunday’s sermon is on the meal itself and why we have been told, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” Long story short: me must not forget to remember.

This Sunday starts a two-month series on To and From the Cross. I’m taking this break from my series on Revelation to focus on the season of the Cross and the Resurrection.  I plan to resume the Revelation series the first Sunday of May. Please join us in person or via live stream at 9:00 and 10:45.

 

Posted in Church, Doctrine, Preaching, Salvation, Sermon Series/Topic, The Cross | 2 Responses »

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