August, 2023

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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

#HeadsUp!

Thursday, August 3rd, 2023

Picture yourself on April 12, 1910. You have paid the fare on the maiden voyage of the unsinkable ship. Your evening is rudely interrupted by someone knocking on your cabin door telling you to put on your life vest and come to the bridge. Little do you know that the unsinkable ship had struck an iceberg and would soon make its grave at the bottom of the icy Atlantic. One passenger left his cabin for the last time, leaving behind some 300,000 dollars in stocks and bonds and took with him 3 oranges.

Life throws us curves. We all know that. Big and small, those curves will awaken us from our complacency. It might be a coronary, a cancer diagnosis, unemployment, or hundreds of other scenarios. We might suddenly find ourselves floundering and in some cases, searching for answers.

Chapter 8 of Revelation is like that. It is a chapter of upheavals. One after another of a different nature. And they are there as warnings, much like a fire alarm or smoke alarm might do. I’ve titled my sermon Sunday Heads Up! in light of the multiple warnings in Revelation 8. Please join us in person or via live stream at 9:00 and 10:45.

 

Posted in Prophecy, Revelation, Sermon Series/Topic | Comments Off on #HeadsUp!