sermons
Feb 22
Forgive Our Debts
Troy Oliver
In our prayer, we ask God to forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors. The two seem to be linked, don't they? Maybe even conditional. Forgiveness, it turns out, is something that we must do, in the way that God does it. So, perhaps our first task will be to discover the characteristics of the one who forgives first.
Feb 15
Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread
As a respite for our brains, Jesus moves from the subject of the interdiminsional kingdoms of heaven and earth ... to the subject of bread. Bread is easier to understand. We need it, God gives it to us, and we eat it. But what is our spiritual disposition? Perhaps God is most glorified when we come to him with empty bellies, open minds, and sharing hands.
Feb 8
Thy Kingdom Come
Troy Oliver
Jesus continues the Lord's Prayer with a request to God -- that his Kingdom and his Will come on earth, as is heaven. Perhaps we have difficulty understanding the present and the future of God's kingdom. Is it here? Or is it in a time to come? Jesus wants us to see ourselves as part of the King's will in both places at once. Here and in eternity. Now and forever. Jesus stands as the portal between dimensions, where God works from one, through to the other.
Feb 1
Our Father in Heaven
As we take up the Lord's Prayer, we find Jesus importing our vertical, spiritual relationship with God into our prayer life. He says, this is how you should pray.
As we approach the throne, Jesus wants us to see God in two distinct ways: the Father, and the Hallowed.
Jan 25
Fast
Troy Oliver
Fasting is a lesser understood spiritual discipline. Although our culture has caught on to the physical benefits of fasting, our spiritual understanding seems to lag behind.
A story about Esther teaches us about fasting.
**This sermon is from our Snow Service Livestream
Jan 18
Pray
Perhaps Prayer is the thing we think of most, when we consider our spiritual disciplines. In Matthew 6, Jesus tells us not to stand on the street corner and pray so that everyone can hear. But we should pray in secret.
A story about Solomon teaches us about prayer.
Jan 11
Give
Troy Oliver
Having recieved warnings from Jesus about how NOT to give, pray, and fast ... we must ask ourselves, "how should we do these things?" How do our spiritual disciplines form us into the likeness of Christ?
A story about Elijah teaches us about giving.
Jan 5
Give Pray Fast
In Matthew 6, Jesus continues the Sermon on the Mount with a warning. The Pharisees have been practicing their spiritual disciplines in a manner designed to bring them the adoration and applause of man. Jesus says, You're doing the right things in the wrong manner.
Dec 28
It's a Matter of Death & Life
Troy Oliver
It's New Years -- a time for making resolutions. What are the things you did last year, that you don't want to repeat this year?
In John 3, a man named Nicodemus comes to Jesus in a New Years kind of moment. A moment of wanting to change his life into something better. For Nicodemus, it's a matter of life and death.
But Jesus says, you've got it backwards. It's a matter of death and life.
Dec 21
Christmas Service
Our Special thanks to Evan Brunson, Levi Barnett, Wyatt Barnett, Daniel Chenault, and Dawson Bollema for helping deliver a very special Christmas Service.
Dec 7
Tanzania Sunday
Todd Storks
Todd and Susan Storks visited, while on furlough from the mission field in Arusha, Tanzania. Todd filled our church in on the happenings at the Arusha Bible School where he is the director, and he preached during our worship service.
Nov 30
The Heart of the Matter:
Enemies
Troy Oliver
As Matthew 5 comes to a close, Jesus takes up the old maxim, "An Eye for an Eye." The Jews in his time relish in the latitude proscribed in the Old Testament. But they have missed the point of the law -- that our response to our persecutors should not be characterized by our retrubution, but by our restraint.
If we truly submit to God's will, what will our response to our enemies be?
Nov 23
The Heart of the Matter:
Identity
Troy Oliver
Jesus comes to another conundrum for the First-Century Jew. The law says you can divorce your wife ... but should you? The law says you can make an oath, but should you? The question is not so much about what you are permitted to do under the law -- it's about whether you are following the heart of the law.
Doing what you can do, instead of what you should do is about who you think you are. What is your identity?
Nov 16
The Heart of the Matter:
Adultery
Troy Oliver
Jesus turns the discussion toward our sinful nature. The Jews in his time had built monumental hedges aroudn the law to keep themselves from violating it. But Jesus said -- you're kinda missing the point.
The body is merely working in service to the heart. If the heart is turned toward the self, then the body will follow.
Nov 9
The Heart of the Matter:
Loving One Another
Troy Oliver
As Jesus continues in the Sermon on the Mount, he wants us to understand that outward keeping of the law is useless if it does not transform us inwardly. The inward transformation is the heart of the matter. What does that look like in worship and relationship with God? Is it just between me and God?
Nov 2
The Heart of the Matter:
Fulfillment of the Law
Troy Oliver
Jesus continues in the Sermon on the Mount with a discussion about the Law. If the Law is so good, why don't we follow it the way the Israelites did? Or if the Law is so bad, why didn't Jesus abolish it?
The answer lies not in the Law, but in us.
Oct 26
The Heart of the Matter:
Salt and Light
Troy Oliver
After Jesus describes the spiritual process taking place in the Beatitudes, he gets the the Heart of the Matter. He begins by comparing his followers to salt and light. And he asks the question, What good is this transformation if it never goes into the world?