January, 2025

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Burning Hearts – January 19

Thursday, January 16th, 2025

 

One of the most beloved OT characters is Joseph. His life challenges seem daunting, even to us in 2025. But the lessons we can learn! Oh WOW!!

The coach has reached the point of exasperation: “Losing five games in a row is bad enough. But what really frustrates me is that we keep making the same mistakes over and over. We just aren’t learning anything!” Been there done that! 🙂  I read of a man who had been at a company 25 years but was passed over for a promotion. When he went to see his boss he asked why after 25 years of experience he could be passed over. The boss looked at him and said, “You haven’t had 25 years of experience. You have had one year experience 25 times.”

The story of Joseph is a story of highs and lows, love and hate, conviction and punishment, forgotten but not alone, then rewarded far beyond his wildest dreams. All in God’s stunning plan. The lessons we can learn are unforgettable and monumental. In direct line of sight is God’s sovereign leading and ability to take ugly events and turn them into good.

I will be preaching on Joseph’s life this week (Genesis 38-Exodus 3) as we continue our study from the Everyday Gospel Devotional by Paul David Tripp. Starting with the foundation Jacob laid with making and showing Joseph as his favorite to Joseph’s death, it will be a fun and interesting ride. (Exodus 1-3 will introduce next week’s message).  The second part of the message will see Joseph’s life like a play in 4 acts:

  1. Treachery (37:18-36
  2. Temptation (39:1-18)
  3. Disappointment (39:19-40:23
  4. Forgiveness or Bitterness?  (41:1-45:15)

Please join us in person if you are able. I  will see you at 9:00 and 10:45. If you can’t be here is person, you can watch our live stream. You can send a request to join our Facebook Group at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship or view our public page at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship-Spencer, In. Or you watch via YouTube at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship.

Here’s to hoping there is NO SNOW! 🙂

Burning Hearts – January 12

Thursday, January 9th, 2025

 

How many different ways can you cook (fill in the blank)?  We recently had a chili cook-off to raise money for a mission trip to help hurricane victims. There were 13 different types of chili-from the sublime to the ridiculously hot. In all honesty, I chose to abstain except for the mac and cheese and cheesy potatoes.  Forrest Gump used to say, “Life is like a box of chocolates.” Choices. Choices. and more choices.

The Scripture passage for this week’s message is from Genesis 16-34. That’s a long passage and it is filled with people making choices.  Abram. Sarai (soon to be renamed Abraham and Sarah). Lot’s choice of Sodom and Gomorrah. His daughters’ decision to sleep with him. Hagar and Ishmael. Abraham being tested by sacrificing Isaac. Finding Rebekah for Isaac. Jacob and Esau’s whole wrangling.  Jacob marrying Leah (not his choice) and Rachel (his choice). Jacob wrestling with God. Jacob meeting Esau. Whew! That makes me tired just thinking about all those choices. 🙂

So…where did I get the idea of Two Recipes? I decided to look at the Scripture in two ways: a recipe for disaster and a recipe for success. We all have choices. Some choices we make will be stupid and lead down the wrong path, maybe even to disaster. Can anyone say Abraham and Hagar and Ishmael? And the opposite is also true: some decisions we make will lead to success.

Providing the snow doesn’t visit us again (they are predicting a possible 4-5″ this weekend), I will see you at 9:00 and 10:45. If you can’t be here is person, you can watch our live stream. You can send a request to join our Facebook Group at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship or view our public page at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship-Spencer, In. Or you watch via YouTube at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship. Unless there is a weather event we will live stream both services.

Burning Hearts -January 5

Thursday, January 2nd, 2025

 

First Sunday of 2025. Predicted possible snow accumulation: 5-8″. Some say even more. Oh yay. (Notice the tongue-in-cheek)

My theme for the year is, as you can see, Burning Hearts. You can also see it is from Luke 24:32.  For those who may not know, I decided to do something totally different this year. It is something I have NEVER done before. Using the Everyday Gospel Devotional  (EDG) by Paul David Tripp as a guide, I am planning to preach each week on the previous week’s reading. The people of OVCF and some friends have also made a commitment to work their way through the devotional as well as reading through the Bible through 2025. (As an aside: we ordered 135 books to distribute!). Reading the Bible is a daunting task. Many start out with the best of intentions, but soon schedules, boredom (the OT can do that in places), other interests, and life get in the way. Needless to say, I am hoping we can all stick with it. It will certainly make a big difference in our lives.

This Sunday is the start of it all. The January 1-4 reading of EDG involved reading Genesis 1-15. Creation. Adam & Eve. Cain and Abel. Noah and the flood. God’s covenant with Noah. The Tower of Babel. The call of Abram. God’s covenant with Abram.  Lots of good stuff and that is not all of it! Due to the denseness of the happenings, I have chosen to hit the highlights. I’ve titled my sermon Just the Facts.

You may not be able to attend in person but you can join us via live stream. You can send a request to join our Facebook Group at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship or view our public page (Owen Valley Christian Fellowship-Spencer, In. Or you can join us on YouTube at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship. If you do join us please feel free to comment. If you can join us we normally meet at 9:00 and 10:45. That is, of course, weather permitting. Please check with us about this Sunday. I look forward to hearing from you!