Orchard Community Church Sermon Audio

Faith is our response to God's plan for all of history and for our individual lives as well. But what does faith look like? Scripture uses the idea of "walking by faith" to describe a life that is lived trusting God and His promises. This sermon looks at Genesis 12:10 - 17:27 as we continue studying the life of Abraham who is a great example of walking in faith. He is a great exampl...

Faith is more than simply saying something is true, it is making that truth the foundation of your life. This sermon looks at Genesis 11:10 - 12:9, spending most of the time in Genesis 12:1-9 where God calls Abraham (his name is still Abram in this passage) to take a radical step of faith. In taking that step, Abraham embarks on a journey of being blessed by God and being used by God to be a bless...

We were created to glorify God by trusting Him and living in the blessings He provides, but it is easy for us to start trusting in ourselves or in the world around us. We look for things that will give us protection, joy, satisfaction, or a sense of control. This sermon looks primarily at Genesis 11:1-9 where we learn about the Tower of Babel. Here we see God's loving, but difficult, response...

Noah's Ark is a favorite children's story and pictures of the boat on the waves with the animals are often used to decorate children's rooms. It is an amazing story of God's grace and salvation, but it is also a challenging story of God's judgment on sin. This part of the story is often left out. This sermon looks at Genesis chapters 5 through 9 where we see several key th...

This sermon looks at Genesis chapter four and the events that take place soon after Adam and Eve are exiled from the Garden of Eden because of their sin. Their sons, Cain and Abel, have a bit of trouble. In this trouble we see several key aspects of what life is like outside the garden of God's perfect presence and in world infected by sin in which we live. As we have already seen in Genesis,...

When we think of God's grace we think of wonderful things. It is God's grace that forgives, God's grace that declares us righteous, and God's grace that adopts us as his children. Grace is a wonderful thing. But sometimes God's grace is difficult. In Genesis 3:8-24 we see a difficult side of God's grace. It is still grace, but it is also very difficult. This sermon is...

We often think of sin in terms of disobedience or simply breaking a rule, but the way the original sin is described in Scripture shows us that it is much more than that. Sin is rebellion against God. It is telling God to get off of his throne so that we can sit there and rule over the world and over our lives. In this passage we see several key stages in the original sin which will help us to watc...

The picture of the world God created in Genesis 1 and 2 is a world of abundant blessing. He created us for life in a world where our deepest needs and our greatest joys are all provided. This sermon looks at Genesis 2:4-25 where we see that God's plan for us is for a life of blessing beyond what we could ever possibly imagine, but it is a way with a purpose and with boundaries. The standard o...

Sorry, but due to a technical problem there is no sermon recording for Sept. 20, 2015. The sermon was on Genesis 1:2-31 and was titled, "Forming and Filling". 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 be a substitute for regular attendance of a...

This sermon is the beginning of a new sermon series called "The Plan from the Beginning" in which we will look at roughly the first half of Genesis (chapter 1-22). Often we approach the book of Genesis with questions about how everything was made. Certainly the book of Genesis has a lot of information about how God made everything, but what if it is seeking to answer an even more importa...

This sermon concludes our "Praying with Paul" sermon series by looking at some of the important themes that permeate Paul's prayers. I hope this sermon series has challenged us to go deeper and be more persistent in our prayers for each other. Orchard Community Church  www.orchardcommunitychurch.com Listening to sermons online can be a great way to keep up with a sermon series if yo...

Serving the Lord is not easy. As followers of Christ we are all serving in ministry in some way because ministry is not just limited to those on staff at a church. Yet in our desire and efforts to serve Christ, we will meet with difficulties. The apostle Paul knew this because of the many, many difficult situations he went through. In Romans 15:30-33 Paul asks the Roman Christians to pray for him...

This sermon looks at Ephesians 3:14-21 where Paul prays for strength for other believers. He prays that they would be strong enough to truly trust and understand the love of Christ. Paul prays that people would have a God empowered strength to go deeper in their relationship with Christ, further in their understanding of Christ's love, and then greater in their demonstration of God's glo...

If God is truly sovereign, why bother praying at all? This seems like just an interesting theological question, but it is really much more than that. For Paul, God's sovereignty is what drove him to pray. It was his trust in God's plan and power that made prayer worthwhile. And, because of Paul's love for others, he prayed that they would know God and His perfect power and plan beca...

Do you ever feel spiritually dry, joyless, anxious, or discontent? Are there times when you find it difficult to pray? Does decision making often paralyze you? We are constantly faced with challenges in our Christian lives, and many of these struggles stunt our spiritual vibrancy and maturing faith. Paul knew the Philippian church was facing similar difficulties, so he prayed God would bring them...

This sermon looks at how Paul prays for the will of God. While at times it may be difficult for us to understand where to go, what to do, how to speak, or what to think, Paul assures us this a normal part of being a Christian. Yet, he does not believe it is normal for a Christian to stay perplexed, or become increasingly confused about what God’s will is. To the contrary, his prayer for the Coloss...

The Apostle Paul loved the people he served. His love is found in the lines of every letter he wrote to encourage, challenge, instruct, and even chastise, but it was all in love. In love he travelled far to bring the great news of Christ's death and resurrection to people lost in their sins. In love he kept in contact with them to help them mature in their faith in Christ. And because of his...

This sermon is the introduction of a new sermon series called "Praying with Paul" where we will look at the prayers of Paul. His prayers recorded in Scripture will challenge us to pray bigger, bolder, and more Christ centered prayers. This week’s sermon is called "Foundation of Prayer" and looks at 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12. Orchard Community Church  www.orchardcommunitychurch.com...

Golgotha, the site of great expectations. The Jewish conspirators and Christ Himself had vastly different expectations bound up in the cross. Speaking of which, why the cross? What was so important about crucifixion that both conspirators and Christ specifically ensured that method of execution was used? What reality is John portraying behind apparent shame of the cross? This sermon explores these...

This sermon concludes our "Saturated" sermon series on 1 Corinthians by looking briefly at chapter 16 and then reviewing some of the key themes from the entire book. I have been personally challenged by this study and I hope you have found it challenging, informative, and encouraging. I pray that any time we open God's Word we get a better sense of the powerful sovereignty of God, t...

When you are sitting at a picnic and you see dark clouds begin to form and feel the temperature drop you know to gather up your things and seek shelter because the weather is changing. The change in weather brings about a response in action. In 1 Corinthians 15:35-58 Paul teaches about the truth that those in Christ will be changed by being raised from the dead to new and eternal life. The fact th...

Have you ever wanted a do over? Maybe you made a slight mistake, or a bad choice. Or maybe you made one of those life altering decisions you wish you could take back. God had a plan for this world when He created it, yet when we look at the world we see hurt, loss, and death which were are the effects of humanity's decision to rebel against God. This sermon looks at 1 Corinthians 15:20-28 whi...

We must hold on to the gospel - the good news that Jesus, the Son of God, died in our place for our sins and rose from the dead, promising eternal life to all who believe. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, Paul challenges the Corinthians to hold on to the gospel and then spends the rest of the chapter talking about the importance of trusting in the resurrection. If we are following Christ just to make...

The church is always a construction zone as Christ builds up His people to display the incredible truth of the gospel to the world. The construction happens as Christ's truth is applied to Christ's people and declared to the world so that they may turn to Christ. This sermon is called "Under Construction" and looks at 1 Corinthians chapter 14 where we are challenged to allow Ch...

Have you ever worked hard for something only to find you were working on the wrong thing and going in the wrong direction? There are so many things that can cause us to veer off course even as we seek to follow Christ together. In the church in Corinth there were a lot of things that they were focusing on and taking pride in, but they were losing their way. Paul tells the Christians in Corinth, &q...