Orchard Church Sermons

As we continue our Encounter teaching series through the 40 days between resurrection and ascension, we turn to 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul mentions that the risen Jesus appeared to more than five hundred people, most of them unnamed. We explore what it means that the resurrection has always moved through ordinary people doing ordinary things, and why your everyday life — your work, your neighbor...

What do you do when you've failed so completely that you go back to who you were before everything changed? In John 21, Peter returns to fishing — not out of rest, but resignation. He's decided he's disqualified. But Jesus meets him on the shore anyway, at a charcoal fire that carries the memory of his worst moment, and asks him a question that begins to put him back together. This week, Pastor Le...

We call him Doubting Thomas. But what if doubt isn't the right word? In this first message of the Encounter series, we take a closer look at the disciple who refused to believe the resurrection — and find not a skeptic, but a grieving man who loved Jesus enough to die with him. Thomas wasn't holding out for evidence. He was holding his heart together. This teaching explores how our relational woun...

Forgiveness sounds beautiful — until it becomes personal. In this final message of the Unlock series, Pastor Leiah explore why forgiveness isn't about freeing the offender, but freeing your own heart. Drawing from Jesus' radical teaching in Matthew 18 and Paul's words in Ephesians 4:32, we ask: what does it look like to stop carrying the cost yourself and place it into the hands of Jesus?

Money is never just about money — it’s about trust. From Exodus 17 to Malachi 3, Scripture exposes the deeper issue beneath our finances: whether we will live in anxious control or surrendered dependence. Pastor Nick revisits Massah, where Israel demanded proof of God’s provision, and contrasts it with God’s bold invitation in Malachi to “test” Him through faithful giving. Through Jesus’ words in...

From James 1, 4, and Matthew 6 — What if prayer and fasting aren't just spiritual disciplines, but the very practices that make us whole? Pastor Leiah explores James's vision of a coherent, integrated life — where faith, desire, action, and love flow from a single center. Drawing from Amos, Augustine, and Jesus's teaching on prayer in Matthew 6, we discover how fasting slows our fragmented desires...

From James 2:14-26 - What if the faith that saves us is also the faith that sends us? Guest teacher Abbie Sawczak from New Culture Church challenges us to move beyond theoretical belief into embodied action, exploring how Jesus didn't just teach about the Kingdom but enacted it among the poor, oppressed, and overlooked. Drawing from Ephesians 2:10 and Luke 4, we discover that we're not saved by wo...

From James 1:1-18 - What if faith isn't about having proof, but about choosing trust before you feel it? Using Dietrich Bonhoeffer's costly return to Nazi Germany and Jesus' teaching on mustard seed faith, this teaching challenges our demand for certainty. We explore the Wesleyan Quadrilateral as a framework for building faith and discover how communion trains us to proclaim trust even when doubt...

From Philippians 2:1-18 - Join us as we reflect on Paul's calling to a life of humility, the person of Jesus who embodied humility, and our journey as a church family as we celebrate one year.