Orchard Community Church Sermon Audio

"In all this you greatly rejoice, though for now you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials" (1 Peter 1:6). What a statement this is by Peter. Here we have an acknowledgement of suffering, a strong faith, and a great and enduring joy. In this sermon called "The Perspective of Praise – Part 2," we look at 1 Peter 1:6-9 where Peter shows us that real faith will alway...

Perspective matters. The way we look at the world and our lives makes a difference in how we think and act. In 1 Peter, Peter is writing to Christians going through difficult times. Right at the beginning of the letter he is going to focus their attention on their perspective. In a sermon called " The Perspective of Praise: Part 1" we look at 1 Peter 1:3-6 where Peter turns our attention...

Identity theft is a big issue today. Criminals steal personal information and use that information to assume people's identity for criminal purposes. There is a different, but just as dangerous, form of identity theft. In a sermon called "Avoiding Identity Theft" we look at 1 Peter 1:1-2 to see how Peter starts this important letter to Christians living scattered in a culture that d...

We start our new sermon series on 1 Peter called "Scattered: The Hope of the Gospel in a Changing World." Many Christians are struggling to hold onto the timeless gospel as the world changes around us faster and faster. We might be feeling a bit flustered, a bit overwhelmed, a bit scattered. The letter of 1 Peter is written to Christians during a time when the Roman world was realizing t...

Two fundamental questions that everyone who has ever lived, is living, or will ever live, needs to have answered or answer are: Who is Jesus Christ? Do you know Him? You cannot be wrong about these two questions and be right with God! There is no middle ground!  Not one of us on this planet can afford to be wrong about Christ. It is a matter of life and death. In this sermon titled The Glorious Ch...

We conclude our summer sermon series called "One Choice, One Step" by looking at one final "character" from Scripture. This is not one person, but rather a group of people. This group of people lived during Bible times but also continues on today. This group of people is called to live in the choice of trusting God through Jesus Christ and daily stepping out in that trust as we...

In this sermon we look at "The Choice of Jesus" in part 12 of our sermon series called "One Choice, One Step."  We see that Jesus, the Son of God and the savior of the world, made a choice to step into our greatest need. I pray that we are amazed at the love and mercy of Jesus as we look at this amazing choice. Orchard Community Church  www.orchardcommunitychurch.com Listening...

This sermon is called "God Directs: Lessons from Paul", as we continue in part 11 of the sermon series "One Choice, One Step." Paul is a fascinating person in Scripture. He wrote about a quarter of all the New Testament Scriptures. He traveled the Roman Empire spreading the gospel and starting churches. He wrote to those churches and his letters show us the essentials of what i...

Ever think that someone is hardheaded? Maybe you've even been accused of being hardheaded: stubborn, immovable, fixed on your own ideas. Sure these traits can look wonderful in certain circumstances where the hard headed person acts courageous, bold and unwavering. But in other situations hardheadedness shows itself as being unwilling to change, even when we are wrong. In a sermon called &quo...

When things don't go according to our plans we can start to lose hope. Sometimes we question God about why things are not going the way we think they should. This sermon is called "God is Greater than Our Hopes and Dreams: Lessons from Mary".  We look at the amazing woman who gave birth to Jesus. Who trusted in God's plan, yet struggled throughout Jesus' life to truly acce...

In this sermon called "Kingdoms in Collision", we take a look at Daniel who lived during a messed up time. He was pressured to give in to the ways of the culture and he was persecuted for not conforming. Daniel understood that there were always two kingdoms in constant collision - the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world. He chose to trust in God's kingdom and it could have...

This sermon is called "The Choice of Worship: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendego." We look at Daniel chapter 3 where these three men faced a very difficult choice. They could give in to powerful pressure or they could stay true to what they believed. For them it was not a choice of survival, but rather a choice of worship. They had to decide who they would worship - the one true God or a po...

There are so many passages in Scripture where God's power is on display in incredible ways. It is easy to miss how the people in those passages still struggle with doubt, bitterness and depression even while God is putting his power on display. In a sermon called "God is Powerful: Lessons from Elijah" we look at the amazing account of God's incredible work through the prophet E...

"Who's in charge here?" This classic line from just about every law enforcement movie or TV show is also a crucial question for our lives. Are we in charge of our own life or is God? This question and the corresponding struggle for control is seen so clearly by comparing the first two Kings of ancient Israel: Saul and David. In a sermon called "God is King: A Look at Saul and D...

This sermon is titled "God's Faithfulness in the Book of Ruth".  As we continue our "One Choice, One Step" sermon series, we look at this amazing and beautiful account of three people, Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz, who showed great faithfulness to each other. Their faithfulness is an example of and was dependent on God's faithfulness. Through their story we learn about the g...

In a sermon called "Lovingly Sovereign" we look at the important relationship between God and the people of Israel throughout the Old Testament. As we consider "famous" people in Scripture, it is easy to overlook the Israelites as a whole, but God's relationship with these people throughout the Old Testament is important for understanding who God is and why we should trust...

Father Abraham...had many sons...many sons had Father Abraham... Come on, you know the song! Sing along! It's a very catchy children's song about the way in which God worked out his plan through Abraham. Have you ever really stopped to think about what it meant for Abraham to go from being childless to being the father of many nations and used by God to carry out God's eternal plan?...

This sermon starts a new series called "One Choice, One Step". When we read the stories in Scripture of people like Abraham, David, or Ruth, it is easy to think that there is no way we can be like them. God doesn't call us to be like them, though! God calls us to trust in Him! These true stories in Scripture are simply stories of people who made a choice to trust God and then to tak...

We love superheroes. We want the Avengers to be real. We are looking for the perfect politician to solve our country’s woes. Why? Because we see problems all around us that we know will take a superhuman effort to fix. The Galatian church had the same unsolvable problem we do today. The needed to be rescued from their sin. They made the same mistake we often do in looking to man’s ways and man’s w...

In this sermon, we look at Galatians 6:11-18 and conclude our series called "The Rescue: The Gospel of Grace in Galatians". I'm calling this last sermon "Rescued through the Cross." In this final passage at the end of the letter to the Galatians, Paul summarizes and highlights some important things he has said throughout this letter. Mostly, as always, he focuses on the cr...

It is a beautiful and freeing truth to know that when we receive Christ our sins are put on him and his righteousness is counted to us. But we still face the nagging question, now what? What does it mean to live knowing we are saved by Christ? Paul says in Galatians 5:25 that we are to "keep in step with the Spirit." In this sermon we see what he means by that in Galatians 6:1-10 in serm...

We all want to be free, but free to do what? It's easy to talk about what we want to be free from, but trying to decide how we should use that freedom is a difficult thing. We all want different things. Who gets to decide what's right and what's wrong? In a sermon called "Live Free", we look at Galatians 5:13-26,  where we see what it means to live in the freedom that Chri...

Most people do not like to be told they are doing something wrong. We tend to justify ourselves and come up with excuses why we are right. In this sermon, called "Stand Firm", we look at Galatians 5:1-12 where the apostle Paul again challenges the Galatians that they are veering off course in their faith by trusting in what they can do rather than in the gospel. He has strong words for t...

Our world seems like a leaky tire, except instead of leaking air we are leaking hope. We try to ignore the leak of hope with distractions, but still we feel the loss. We try to replace hope with lesser substitutes, but they fail us under difficult circumstances. We need a real and lasting hope. In this sermon we look at "The Hope of Easter". The hope accomplished and assured through the...

In this sermon called "Our Way and God's Way", we look at Galatians 4:21-31.  Here we see Paul dig into the Old Testament to show that God has always accepted people based on his promise, not based on our actions. This is so comforting because our actions are feeble and inconsistent, but God's promises never fail. Orchard Community Church  www.orchardcommunitychurch.com Listeni...