Faith Sermons and Studies

Sometimes when you look at something at a closer level, maybe you stop and stare for a while, you begin to see things that weren’t there before. You begin to observe more and are able to marvel at what you maybe saw before, but haven't really gazed upon. I don’t know if you like rocks, but one time for Christmas our kids got a geode kit. There were these whole geode rocks that came in the kit...

I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about advertising, But one of the best ways to advertise for something is to go public with whatever item or service is being offered. You can go nearly anywhere today and see all sorts of advertisement. I wonder—how many goods or services we have purchased or even simply know about based off an ad. Driving into church today, chances are you saw vehicles with an...

I don’t know if you have ever read the book “Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage”, but it is a remarkable story. Written in 1959 by Alfred Lansing, the story covers the attempt of renowned explorer Ernest Shackleton as he endeavors to navigate a trans-arctic expedition in 1914. . . Shackleton is known for his newspaper advertisement seeking crew for the journey. The ad read: ‌‌ Men wanted fo...

Join guest speaker Larry Utsch in an evaluation of Revelation 20:9-15

I don’t know if you’ve ever read the book “Around the World in 80 Days” by Jules Verne, but I remember reading this classic in high school and being sucked into this incredible story. The novel tells the tale of Phileas Fogg, a wealthy Englishman, who lived a humble and solitary life. Fogg carried out his life with great accuracy and precision, and lived by a very scheduled routine. One day at the...

If you’ve ever made an investment, purchased life insurance, created a retirement account, chances are you had to name a beneficiary. A beneficiary is someone who is designated to receive the benefits or proceeds from someone else’s property when that person passes away. Beneficiaries can be named for many types of property: ‌ Bank accounts‌ Brokerage accounts‌ Insurance policies‌ Retirement accou...

I was thinking this week, there is something about someone who does good work that is just attractive. If you see someone who takes their time to put in the work to do something right, and maybe they have a little skill too, but if you see that, it is a pleasurable experience. Maybe it’s a builder or carpenter who gets two joints to fit together perfectly. Or a repairman who goes above and beyond...

I have heard it said, and I'm sure you have as well, that behind every great man is an even greater woman. I suspect that this is very much the case. Women make us who we are. They give us life, they give us care, and our lives either are currently or have been dependent on them in one way or another. But women are under attack today. Women are under attack on multiple fronts. On one side, you...

There’s a lot of power in a testimony of personal experience. Think about some of the things that we might be drawn to based on a person’s personal experience. Perhaps a certain Dr. or clinic—maybe you found your chiropractor based on personal experience. Or certain types of beauty treatments—you go to the same barber your dad went to and grandfather went to because of their personal experience, o...

What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? What does it mean? If someone stopped you on the street and said “hey, real quick, in one sentence, what does it mean to be a follower of Jesus?” Or perhaps they asked the question in another way—“what difference should Jesus make in your life?” How would you answer? Do you know what you would say? Titus is all about doctrine and devotion. All about how...

Perhaps you're familiar with the concept of a deep fake. A deep fake is when someone takes something like an image or video and edits it into another image or video to digitally alter the item and make it appear to be someone else. But as I thought about this during the week it came to my mind that this is the way some can be in the church there is a presence of deep fakes in the Christian Chu...

Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase: Ministry would be easy if it weren’t for people. It’s kind of a tongue and cheek comment, noting some of the difficulties of ministry. There is drama, people problems, relational conflict, all kinds of things that come up when you work with people. But the reality is, if it weren’t for people, there would be no ministry. And our ministry as a church to make discipl...

I recently read some accounts of artists who destroyed their own work. I have heard of this before, but I didn’t realize that this tradition goes way back to early artists. Individuals who for many various reasons created a piece of artwork and then ended up destroying it after it was completed. I learned of several different artists in history who did this . . . Why would artists destroy their ow...

We live in a world today that is full of opportunity, and full of solutions. There are all kinds of opportunities, and all sorts of solutions. For instance, if you want to put an addition on your house, there are any number of construction firms you could utilize—you can go online and get quotes and estimates from as many companies as you want. The same is true for nearly any project you want to c...

Have you ever noticed there is a direct correlation between a groups leadership and those who follow that leader? You can search nearly anywhere, and in nearly any setting, you will find, that there is a correlation between a group and how they live or act, and the leader they follow. The same thing is true in the church. Church leaders, ministry leaders, can have an incredible impact on those who...

A solid foundation is important. Building on a solid foundation is the key to the success of nearly anything in life—a building, an organization, a family—these all require a solid foundation. Churches are much the same. Churches that have the right foundation, are set up to not just survive, but to thrive. If a church is to thrive, it needs to have the right underlying structure. Churches must ha...

Most of us regularly lose things: keys, wallets, TV remotes, glasses, and phones. Some of us are more prone to misplacing things than others. It’s not surprising that men are twice as likely to lose their phones than women. One study concluded that the average person misplaces nine things a day and spends an average of fifteen minutes looking for lost items.‌ Why does this happen? What is the psyc...

Have you ever worked for a goal? It can be especially gratifying to have a goal, pursue that goal, and to finally achieve it. It could be the goal of a certain GPA in college or high school, the goal of finishing a special project you worked for many weeks or the goal of finally making the last house payment. Maybe it’s the goal of working towards a special feet like tackling an endurance race or...

We all live in a home. We try to make our home the best it possibly can be. But what about our spiritual home? There is a residence that is ours and available to each and every one of us, if we just take advantage of it.

Certain things in the world have this power or ability to affect how we live and act. One thing I’ve noticed that has incredibly power over us, to affect and control our lives, is our fears. Fear has power over us. Fear stems from an internal belief, whether right or wrong, and it affects our actions. But have you ever allowed the wrong thing to affect you in a wrong way? Ever believed something w...

We live in a world of specialists! Everyone wants to go to a specialist! Or everyone is a specialist. Nearly everyone has a degree in one area or another. You go to certain specialists for certain situations. Certain places specialize in particular types of care. You can go to places that have advanced degrees in one specific field. But where do you go when you need a spiritual specialist? What sp...

We all have things that matter to us. And certain things matter to some people more than others. For some people, having a clear driveway in the winter time really matters. For others, if they can drive over it they will. For some, maybe it’s how housework is done—the dishes or the laundry, there is a right way, and there is a wrong way, and you’d better not do it the wrong way. Some people care a...

What would you do for your family? Let me flip the question around—what wouldn’t you do for your family? We all have people we care about. It could be a spouse—a husband or wife. It could be your children, or perhaps your grandchildren. Maybe for you it’s a parent—a mom or dad. Or an Aunt or Uncle, cousin, niece or nephew. We all have people that we care about—right? What wouldn’t we do for them?...

Have you ever tuned someone, or something out? You know what I mean—you have that person that is so annoying or bothersome that you don’t really listen to what they are saying? You nod your head in agreement and give a few “uh-huh’s”, but you’re not really listening to what they say. Or maybe it’s a noise that your furnace or your air conditioner unit repeatedly makes that you’ve learned to tune o...

I don’t know if you have a lot of kids toys at your home, but we do. And one of the toys we like playing with in our house are hot wheels cars and tracks. Hot wheels cars and tracks are a lot of fun. And they’ve actually developed a lot since I was a kid. When I was a kid you just had a hot wheels track with a rubber band powered pusher that you would pull back and let go. Now they have motorized...