The Sycamore Message

The Sycamore Church ========== God vs gods: What about Meat and Halloween Pastor Eric Burton Sunday Oct. 25th 2026 ========== Leviticus 10:10, 16-17 Corinthians 8:1, 4–13 God vs. gods   The Apostle Paul says we should test the spirits, whether they be of God or not. (1 John 4:1)  In order to test the spirits, you have to know about the spirits.  Key vs. is Leviticus 10:10: you must distinguish bet...

How Do I Become a Member? Today in our sermon series we’re looking at giving as a form of our membership.  2 Corinthians 9: 1-7 We are going to look at giving principally and practically.  Principally the Bible teaches God’s people should give by tithing and generosity generosity.  Tithing was a mandate but generosity is a condition of heart.  And generosity always outdoes tithing and heart always...

The Beauty of Belonging Ephesians 2:19–22 NLT Through Jesus Christ, God brings us near and makes us members of His family. Knowing we belong changes how we respond to others, receive encouragement, and find our place to serve. 1. Belonging Begins with Christ Ephesians 2:13; 1 John 3:1; Romans 8:15 Our place in God’s family begins with what Jesus has done for us. Through Him, we are received as God...

The Sycamore Church How Do I Become a Member? Pt. 3 Pastor Eric Burton Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026   How Do I Become a Member? We’ve been talking the last few weeks about what it means to be a member of the church. We have come to discover it’s more than a roll call. It’s a spiritual buy-in to Jesus Christ. We learned in week one of our series that the Lord added to the church daily such as should be sav...

The Sycamore Church September 27, 2026 How Do I Become a Member? Part 2 Pastor Eric Burton Sunday, September 27, 2026 Why Church Membership Matters We believe church membership is important because: People want to join our church but do not know how. People do not know they are part of our church. People are part of our church but do not act like it. We want to clarify and define what it means to...

How Do I Become a Member? A biblical picture of belonging, baptism, purpose, and participation Pastor Eric Burton The Sycamore Church Sunday, September 20, 2026 The Big Idea Church membership is more than putting your name on a list. It is being joined to Christ, added to His body, and showing up to serve. Believe the good news about Jesus. Repent and be baptized. Belong to the body of Christ. Use...

Pastor Nelson Hight

Key Verse: Philippians 2:1-11 This message was spurred out of a question I was asked a few weeks ago. What effect has grace had on your life since you’ve been saved? We can get removed from our own story of where Jesus brought us. We know we’ve all sinned and we know everyone is a sinner, but somehow we think that’s referring to others instead of each other. Today let's look at Philippians 2:1-11...

Redefining Family In our sermon series on Ruth, we have seen a complex and textured story of a family that has experienced the unthinkable. Naomi and Ruth have been forced to redefine their ideals of family in order to survive. We’d like family to be simple and buttoned up. There’s always what God intended and then there’s what He works with. Death, disagreements, divorce, affairs, adoption, foste...

Ruth 3: But Wait… There’s More   Miracles are God working beyond the ordinary. Providence is God working through the ordinary. “As it happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz…” Ruth 2:3     We get to read Ruth’s story backward, but she had to live it forward. You don’t have to understand everything God is doing to be faithful with what He’s asking you to do.   DO WHAT I...

The Sycamore Church Sunday Sermon Notes Ruth, Part 2: It Just So Happened Pastor Eric Burton Sunday, Aug. 16 Scripture: Ruth 2:1–3, 11, 20 This week, we’re going to look at what kind of woman Ruth was. We’ll discuss work ethic and dignity. 1. A Certain Kind of Woman Ruth means friendship. We saw last week—and continue to see this week—that Ruth’s friendship fostered loyalty. Loyalty is staying tru...

Pastor Eric Burton | Sunday, August 9, 2026 Key Scripture: Ruth 1:1–5, 13, 20–22; 1 Corinthians 15:20 A Little Context for the Book of Ruth Ruth is significant because it is the first book of the Bible named after a woman. Ruth is not Jewish, and at the beginning she is not yet a worshiper of God. The story takes place during the time of the judges, when God raised up men and women to confront Isr...

John Barnett

The Sycamore Church Interns Rising Speakers: Grace, Sky, Branson, Brayden, Alonna, Oliver, Carter July 19, 2026 Grace Sherwin:  Luke 22:54-62 John 21:15-19 Romans 5:8 Romans 8:28 Sky Dean: Mark 4:35-41 Psalm 89:9 Psalm 107:29 Branson Barnett: Mark 5:25-34  Hebrews 11:6 James 2:17Brayden Barnett:  Proverbs 18:21  Mark 10:46-52 Alonna Snyder:  Mark 5:25-34• Matthew 17:20 Oliver Burton:  Romans 5:3-5...

The Great PhysicianYou do not want to miss service next Sunday! It’s our first Young Communicators service. Story of Larry Miller led the Jordan shoe brand department at Nike. In 1965, when he was 16, he shot another young man in a gang rivalry.  Thrity-four years later, he landed as the president of the Jordan brand at Nike. But he was always afraid his past would catch up with him. He suffered w...

Summer of Sabbath: Rest and Restoration Rev. Tim Barber June 28, 2026 ========== We have often confused rest with comfort. Over the years, our idea of convenience has changed. We remember a time when life was not as easy as it is today — telephones attached to walls, window fans instead of air conditioning, feather mattresses, and drive-in theaters where you battled the heat and mosquitoes. Today,...

Redeeming the Rest. Genesis 3:8-10My wife and I… but mostly my wife, like to take walks in the evening. Sometimes I’m tired and just want to stay home. It doesn’t feel like rest until we’ve returned home. But every time I go on a walk with Kamala, I get something back that would have been misused by just sitting on the couch. We used to have fun reading, running, and drawing.  We had fun at what w...

Rest in the waiting. We are in our sermon series, Summer of Sabbath. We want to learn how to rest. Sometimes we’re told to wait, but we’re readyto go. Our ambition is greater than our ability. Oh, I know what I want to do; I just haven’t realized I don’t know how to yet. Coming out of milestone experiences, we tend to be geared for the next one. We have a plan but no execution. When we’re forced t...

June 7, 2026 Eric Burton www.thesycamore.net   If you could spend 24 hours pursuing your deepest joy, what would you do? We begin our sermon series today. We’re calling it Summer of Sabbath.  Rest is as biblical as creation itself. We believe rest is important because it’s what God did and it’s a commandment to us.  As we look at rest over the next few weeks, we want it to resonate with us for the...

May 31st, 2026

  A Church of Converts Pastor Eric Burton May 24th 2026 A Church of Converts. Acts 9:1-21 Meanwhile, the church is growing. Philip just converted an Ethiopian, and meanwhile, Saul is persecuting the church. Consider the context of Saul. He’s an upcoming star in the religious ranks. He’s an expert on Hebrew law, having been taught by Gamaliel, one of the top lawyers in Israel. He is both a Jewish a...

May 17th, 2026 Dr. Landon Galloway The Sycamore Church Acts 12 comes at a turning point in the story of the early church. Up to this point, the gospel has been spreading rapidly. Opposition has been present, but mostly religious, mostly local, mostly manageable. But for the first time, the persecution is political. The throne itself moves against the church. Acts 12:1–5a (NIV) – It was about this...

May 10, 2026 Eric Burton The Sycamore Church   Acts: We go to worship.  When the church gets together. Acts 2:43-46 We’re looking at the church in the book of Acts to see what they did that allowed them to have such an impact and how we line up with that church.  Intro: We like going places.  We like going out.  “Do you want to go out with me” meant we are in an exclusive relationship. Two things...

The Sycamore Church John Barnett May 3, 2026   Acts: Pierced for Power Acts 2:36–39   We are studying the patterns and foundations of the early church in the Book of Acts.   Question:If it worked for the early church, are we still doing it today?   Context: Peter’s Sermon Peter is preaching after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. He explains: Jesus fulfilled prophecy, David prophesie...