Orchard Community Church Sermon Audio

Sometimes if we talk about getting healthy we often use the phrase "getting in shape." It's an interesting idea - as if we are literally wanting to change the shape of our bodies (and maybe we do!). The Bible talks about the importance of us getting in shape as Christians. In Galatians 4:12-20, Paul makes it clear that the "shape" that is the goal for all Christians is tha...

In this sermon we look at the amazing truth that in Christ we are a Child of God. In Galatians 4:1-11 Paul talks about what it means to be a "Child of God" (which is the title for this week's sermon!). We see that before we know Christ as our savior we are enslaved to the ways of this world, but then we are saved and adopted into God's family. Why, Paul asks, would we ever want...

Who am I? This is a question that has probably run through your mind more than once. We all wonder who we are? why we are here? what is the purpose of life? In a sermon called "Our Identity in Christ" we look at Galatians 3:23-29 where Paul leads us through several stages of understanding who we are. All these stages lead to us seeing that we have a new identity in Jesus Christ. Orchard...

When my brother and I were little, my mom would sometimes tell us as we were out running errands with her that we would stop for ice cream on the way home. Then, on the way home we would ask about stopping for ice cream and she would say that there wasn't time. In my mind my mom had made a promise and I would get so mad because it seemed liked she had lied to us! Why would you lie about somet...

In this sermon, called “A Fork in the Road”, we look at Galatians 3:9-14. Robert Frost wrote in his poem “The Road Not Taken”, "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." We face diverging roads often in our lives. Some choices make a big difference while others seem insignificant. We look at the choice we must make to tru...

Imagine driving from Los Angeles to New York City. You drive for several days, putting a lot of mileage on your car, going through several tanks of gas. Then, as you approach the city limits of New York City, you pull over to the side of the road, get out of your car, and start jogging. You cross into New York City and declare, "I have run from Los Angeles to New York City!" That's...

Imagine falling into a hole and needing to be rescued. For hours you wait until finally someone finds you and is able to get you out. Would you then, after being rescued, climb right back into the hole? This is the situation so many people face when we are saved by Jesus. We know he sets us free. We know he has done everything necessary for our salvation. Yet so often we return to old ways of thin...

We are doing a lot of measuring during the renovations. Everything has to be measured to be sure that what we do is in line with the plans. Here we look at Galatians 2:11-14 in a sermon called "In Line with the Gospel" as we continue our look at "The Rescue: The Gospel of Grace in Galatians" Orchard Community Church  www.orchardcommunitychurch.com Listening to sermons online ca...

Eating natural foods with no artificial preservatives seems to be a growing concern. People want to be sure that what they are putting into their bodies is real, authentic, and healthy. In this sermon, we see that we should have the same attitude toward the gospel. In a sermon called, "Avoid Artificial Preservatives" we look at Galatians 2:1-10 where Paul talks about the danger of other...

Why do we believe what we believe? Did someone just make this up? Do we just believe in Jesus because of how we were raised? Is being a Christian just about working hard to change ourselves? Who decides what real Christianity is all about?  We all have questions about the gospel. In Galatians 1:11-24 we see that Paul faced many of the same questions we still have today. In this passage he looks at...

Have you ever been baking and missing one ingredient? Sometimes you can just substitute another ingredient. For instance, if you are baking a cake and you don't have sugar, you can just use salt instead, right? They look and feel about the same so what's the big deal? If you know even a little bit about baking you should be shocked that I would even suggest this because the taste is defi...

We start our new sermon series called "Rescue: The Gospel of Grace in Galatians." In the book of Galatians, Paul writes to a group of people who were being pressured to change what they believed. He writes this letter to warn them that changing the gospel to give in to these pressures is a much greater issue than the people realize. By doing what they are doing they are actually getting...

Does God have a plan or is he making it up as he goes?  Is the Bible a collection of good stories or is it one story from beginning to end?  This sermon looks at God's Great Plan throughout all of Scripture. Orchard Community Church  www.orchardcommunitychurch.com Listening to sermons online can be a great way to keep up with a sermon series if you are unable to attend church but should never...

God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. In the beginning, He dispelled darkness in the universe by saying, “Let there be light.” In the end, there will be no more darkness as His glory will give light to all things. This time of year we hang lights on buildings, houses, and trees to commemorate the Light of the World that came to us in human form over 2000 years ago. This light, the true l...

Christmas poses a yearly challenge to those of us who have heard the story since we were children. After you have attended 20 or 30 or 40 Christmas plays, and after you have listened to at least that many Christmas sermons, and heard, and sung every Christmas carol a few hundred times, what more is left to be said that hasn’t been said before? If you know about Christmas at all, you know about Mar...

Tis the season of sending.  We send Christmas cards.  We send Christmas packages.  We send Christmas emails, texts and tweets.  All of them including our love and wishes of peace and joy at Christmas.  These are all delivered to express the true and real meaning of Christmas.  God sent His son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world, through Him, might be saved. Orchard Communit...

We are happy to have a missionary family visiting us at OCC.  Mark B. shares  with us a message about true contentment. The Mathematician Blaise Pascal said, “There once was in man, a true happiness of which now remain to him only the mark and empty trace, which he in vain tries to fill from all his surroundings, seeking from things absent, the help he does not obtain, in things present. But these...

Several years ago at Disney World my wife and daughter stood in line for two hours in the June heat of Florida to see one of the "Disney Princesses".   I don't understand that kind of commitment and sacrifice to see someone dressed in a costume.  You know what else I struggle to understand?  God loves us so much and wants to be with us!  Matthew 1:22-23 says that Jesus is Emmanuel,...

We conclude our sermon series called "Guardrails: 9 Biblical Core Values" by looking at the final two core values: "Intentional Outreach" and "Authentic and Passionate Worship".  I'm calling this sermon "The Purpose" because these two core values define the purpose in our journey in life.  When we understand that we have a mission to provide the greates...

As we continue our sermon series called "Guardrails: 9 Biblical Core Values", we look at core values 6 and 7, "Committed to One Another" and "Actively Serving".  There is such an emphasis on social networks yet so many people feel profoundly lonely.  Having a relationship with Christ means so many wonderful things - one of which is that we are never alone. Not only do...

We continue looking at 9 Biblical Core Values in our "Guardrails" sermon series. The two guardrails we look at in this sermon are "Grace-Driven Transformation" and "Becoming Fully Devoted Followers of Christ".  I'm calling this sermon "The Journey".  These two core values help us to understand the journey of our life. We sometimes realize that change mu...

We begin a new sermon series called "Guardrails - 9 Biblical Core Values". Guardrails are put on the side of the road to keep you from driving off the edge. We need guardrails in our life to keep us from going astray. This four week sermon series looks at the 9 core values of Orchard Community Church and will also look at why these core values are important in our individual lives as wel...

We conclude our sermon series called "Don't Miss This - The Gospel of John". After 38 weeks, we look at the last two verses and review this incredible book which is John's testimony about who Jesus is. He wrote this book so that people would not miss the incredible truth of about Jesus. As we finish the series we review the amazing truths in this gospel and look at how we are p...

What do you do when someone betrays you and the relationship is broken? What do you do when you are the one who did the breaking? This is our situation in our relationship with God - the relationship is broken and it is our fault. We see a picture of this brokenness and how Jesus handles it in John 21:1-23 as Jesus interacts with Peter. We look at this passage in a sermon called "Restored&quo...

Doubts are natural, but sometimes they can keep us from accepting something wonderful just because we aren't sure about it. In a sermon called "From Doubt to Decision", we look at John 20:24-31. In this passage we see Thomas struggle with doubt, but then make a bold declaration of faith. We see what made the difference for him and we are challenged to make a decision for ourselves....