Faith
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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!
Thursday, July 6th, 2023
Welcome back! I feel like I ought to be singing that song from “Welcome Back Kotter” by John Sebastian. After a two month hiatus, I am back to my series on Revelation. I don’t regret the side detour though. It was something I felt God was leading me to do and over the two months I had it confirmed multiple times. But I’m back to Revelation and will be starting at Chapter 6.
I’ve titled this sermon Here Come the Horses! for an obvious reason. Let me just state the obvious as you read this chapter: white, red, black, and pale. There are several different interpretations for the appearance of these horses and I plan to bring them out. I have my personal belief but that ruins it if I tell you ahead of time. 🙂
We all have expectations. Every sermon I prepare I have an expectation that a life will be touched, maybe changed or rearranged. What type of expectations do you have concerning the Christian life? Is it what you expected it to be? We all wonder about the future. Truth is: none of us knows what the future holds, but there are some expectations we can count on. I plan to probe that in this sermon as we talk about the horses and what they mean.
I hope you will join me in person or via live stream. If not, then please pray for me. Honestly, it is a struggle getting back to Revelation after the series on Anxiety and Worry and Fear and Depression. I feel like it helped some people and wonder about this series on The Lamb Wins!
Posted in Doctrine, Faith, Miscellaneous, Opinion, Prophecy, Revelation, Sermon Series/Topic | Comments Off on HereCometheHorses!
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 »
Thursday, June 1st, 2023
“Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.” Arthur Somers Roche (Quoted in Winning the War on Worry by Louie Giglio)
If there is one common denominator among people-believer and unbeliever alike-it is the fact that worry is so prevalent. Worry is like a barnacle that attaches itself to a boat. A barnacle is a crustacean that attaches itself to another surface (the most familiar is one that attaches itself to a boat). They need to be removed because as they build they cause a drag. Some will actually attach themselves to the inside of sea life and grow, changing its “personality,” if you will. Anxiety is like that. It attaches itself to a host (us) and causes a drag on our forward motion. As it stays, it grows, and get harder and harder to get rid of.
Worry is a giant we need to slay. That is my desire for Sunday’s message I have entitled “Bringing the Giant to its Knees.” There is no doubt we live in an “anxiety-ridden” society. Life seems to assault us from all angles. What can we do? My prayer is to answer that question this week. I look forward to seeing you in person or via live stream at 9:00 and 10:45.
Posted in Anxiety, Faith, Freedom, Health, Sermon Series/Topic | Comments Off on #GiantSlain!
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:
- You are not crazy
- You are not alone
- 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 »
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?
Thursday, May 4th, 2023
This Sunday I start a new sermon series-one I have never done before. As you can see by the title to this post, the theme for the series is “Faith Over Fear.”
A little back story might help. I began a series in January on Revelation. After preaching for the first two months and covering Revelation 1-5, I decided to concentrate on the message of Easter so I diverted to a series I called “To and From the Cross.” While preparing for that series, I began to sense God was leading me to do something else besides continue Revelation when that series was over. After praying about what I was sensing, there was little doubt in my mind that I was to do a series on Fear and Anxiety. After I announced that, I cannot even begin to tell you how many folks have said, “I can’t wait for that series!” Many of those were people whom I had no clue suffered from it.
To say I’m looking forward to preaching it would be an understatement. But I am also aware of the expectations people have and part of me says I hope I don’t disappoint. Then I realize: it is not me anyway. And it is not about me. I have to trust God will give me the words to say because, to be honest, I have never had an issue with this. I HAVE TO TRUST HIM TO GIVE ME THE WORDS TO SAY.
My sermon this Sunday is entitled “What We ALL Want.” Stay tuned this week for more information about what it is we all want. Meanwhile, I invite you to join us at 9 and 10:45, either in person or via live stream. Go here to find out how to do that. I welcome your feedback as well.
Posted in Christian living, Compassion, Faith, Fear, Freedom, Grace, hope, Opinion, Sermon Series/Topic | Comments Off on FaithOverFear#1
Thursday, February 2nd, 2023
There are 4 perfections of God’s character that we must know and believe:
He is Immutable- He never changes.
He is Omnipotent- He is All-Powerful.
He is Omnipresent- He is All-Present (Everywhere present)
He is Omniscient- He is All-Knowing.
It was the latter attribute that I focused on last week and will continue that this week-He is Omniscient. I took us through the first 4 churches which are covered in Revelation 2. This week I am going to look at the last 3 churches, which are found in Revelation 3.
Letter #1- Ephesus- He knows what and who we love.
Letter #2- Smyrna- He knows what we are willing to suffer for.
Letter #3- Pergamum- He knows what we really believe.
Letter #4- Thyatira- He knows what we are willing to tolerate.
Letter #5- Sardis- He knows our spiritual condition.
Letter #6- Philadelphia- He knows the state of our commitment.
Letter #7- Laodicea- He knows who we are depending on.
I hope you will join me in our worship this Sunday-in person or online. We start at 9 and 10:45.
Posted in Church, Faith, Revelation, Truth | 4 Responses »
Thursday, November 3rd, 2022
It was around 2017 when Will and Teresa Reed returned home on furlough from the mission field in Africa. By the time they came home they were hurting. From the trauma of a hostile environment that caused them to move 3 times, to being personally traumatized, as well as severe exhaustion that came from a baby who never slept, they needed to come home. It was during that time they came to visit OVCF as one of their supporting churches. All of that combined caused some severe anxiety and PTSD, which the counselor told them they needed to deal with. It was recommended they stay home and heal.
It is now 2022 and with the necessary healing taking place (and also the birth of two more children), Will and Theresa sense God calling them back to Africa under the auspices of the mission organization, SERGE. It was the same one they were involved with before. Their plan is to return, Lord willing, to Nairobi, Kenya to serve with SERGE as counselors/helpers/support (and any other words that fit that description) in 2023.
Will is preaching this Sunday and will also tell the story of their healing and subsequent “call” to return to Africa. Pastor Ryan, Diana, Jo and I had lunch with them almost 2 months ago to renew our ministry with them. The leadership of OVCF is committed to putting them in the mission budget for 2023. The folks need to meet them and see what a genuine and real couple/family they are.
Please pray for Sunday. For Will as he preaches. For them as they consider their move and raise the funds to do so. And pray for the church as we are challenged to follow God’s calling on our lives, no matter where it leads. Join us if you are able to in person. Or you can’t, then please watch the live stream at 9 and 10:45.
Next week I start a 4-week series on Feasts with a Purpose. I’m going to take a look at two different OT feast each week and how they show us Jesus and apply to Christ-followers today. Join me won’t you?
Posted in Faith, Family, Health, Missions, Sermon Series/Topic, Story | 2 Responses »
Friday, October 14th, 2022
I started a new and short series last week called Wake Up Sleepy Head! It is on the church and the need for a revival-locally and globally.
This week my sermon is called Standing Strong. There is no question, no doubt, that the church is under attack. Without sounding political, Tulsi Gabbard just left the Democrat Party. One of the things she talked about was how Christians are under attack. I do not know what her religious affiliation is to be honest, and it really doesn’t matter to me. She spoke truth in that one statement. The church and Christians are under attack. If we say anything, do anything, propose anything that goes against the “woke” agenda, we get cancelled or persecuted and called all kinds of names.
I believe it is just the start of it all. More is to come. So it behooves Christ-followers and the church to stand strong. We can expect it; prepare for it; and stand firm. Or we can take the road out of town. The early church had to stand strong. It wasn’t easy for them; it isn’t and won’t be for us. There are some things which cause a church to lose its edge. But there are also some ingredients we need to stand our ground.
I plan to cover both of those this Sunday. I also plan to boil it down to one very important issue. I plan to blog about that here and on my other blog this coming week. Until then, I hope you will join us Sunday at 9 and 10:45.
Posted in Church, Faith, Preaching, Sermon Series/Topic, Story, Truth | Comments Off on #SleepyHead#StandingStrong
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