Sermon Archive
September 2022
Confess Your Sins
James 5:16 says, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
When it comes to our struggles with sin, lonely defeats will one day bring lonely victories, and God is not glorified in a lonely, hidden victory. “Why would the victory be hidden,” you might ask. Because, for someone who has hidden their defeats, telling of a victory would be a tacit confession to the “s…
August 2022
Build and Encourage
1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” The one-another commands in this verse are to encourage and build up, but that instantly begs a follow up question, doesn’t it? Encourage toward what? Should a person be encouraged in every behavior and attitude? Clearly, not. And who builds anything without some kind of blueprint? What exactly are we striving to construct when we build one another up? The objective this Sunda…
An Introduction to One Another
“One another” is such a common phrase in the Bible that it would be easy to skip right by it without pausing to dwell on its significance. For example, In the Bible we are told to Love OA, Be Devoted to OA, Honor OA, Live in Harmony with OA, Accept OA, Look out for OA, Greet OA with a holy kiss, Serve OA, Carry OA’s burdens, Bear with OA, Be Kind to OA, Be compassionate to OA, Forgive OA, Teach OA, Admonish OA, Encourage OA, Build OA Up, Spur OA on toward love and good deeds, Meet with OA…
The Pearl of Great Value
Those of us who have found Jesus and who have put our trust in Him for salvation know what a treasure He is. We have found in Him a hope that will not fail. There is a shining excellence that hangs around all of His promises. We have found a better and an abiding possession in him and this allows us to hold onto things in this life with a loose grip. In Him, we have found a forever home and a life full of purpose and meaning. We find that we can even approach death with a light heart. Those…
July 2022
How Did I Get Here
Listen in as we hear what the Lord has laid upon the heart of one of our Deacons, Tim Tarr.
What Do We Do?
There is something in all of us that resists change. I believe much of it is rooted in our fear of the uncertainty of it. I was thinking of the Hebrews as they left Egypt. Just a mere 45 days after being freed from the slavery and oppression of Pharaoh their cry was to turn back for the consistency of where they had come. Exodus 16 recounts,
“The whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, …
Robes of Righteousness
We conclude our current sermon series focusing on those passages that highlight pieces of clothing by studying Isaiah 61 together. One the occasion when Jesus returned to His hometown of Nazareth, Jesus stood up in the synagogue and read a portion of this chapter (Luke 4:16-21), and after reading it He said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” So, Jesus’ own testimony about Isaiah 61 is that it is about Himself. Isaiah 61 is remarkable for all the generous, posi…
Who Touched My Garments
Poor, Jairus! His daughter was dying. His child who he had quieted after nightmares, and carried on his shoulders to the marketplace, and who he had served and protected with all the tender devotion of a Father was struggling to draw another ragged breath. He stood there feeling helpless. Terribly helpless.
When he had left her bedside, she had looked as though she might die at any moment. Her limp hair had been plastered against her sweaty brow. He needed a miracle, and so he had le…
Joseph’s Coats
In this message we are going to be spending time with a dreamer named Joseph. We find his story at the end of the book of Genesis (Chapters 37-50). In the Bible clothing is a marker of identity for all classes of people. A king is recognized by his robes of office, just as a priest is set aside from other people by his distinctive attire. Mourners customarily wore sackcloth to display their grief, whereas prisoners of war were stripped naked, showing they had lost all personal identity. In …
June 2022
Armor of God
As we continue our study of scripture passages that highlight articles of clothing, we are going to take up the topic of spiritual warfare as we unpack Ephesians 6:10-18 together. This portion of scripture, commonly known as the Armor-of-God passage, describes number of different items that God calls us to put on. We are going to talk about a terrifying and unscrupulous enemy that attacks us and our homes and our churches from the unseen realm, and of course, we will also talk about our gre…