Orchard Community Church Sermon Audio

Every member of an orchestra must watch their conductor in order for the symphony to sound good. If each musician were to simply play at their own speed or change the notes to their liking then the music would sound awful. It is the same way in the church. This sermon looks 1 Corinthians chapter 12. The people in the church in Corinth were focusing on themselves and their displays of spiritual gre...

We are easily distracted. Sometimes it is on accident, sometimes it is the result of our own poor choices. In 1 Corinthians 11:2-34 Paul challenges the Corinthians about two specific issues that were threatening to distract them from truly worshipping Christ in their church. These were not just distractions that would mean they weren't worshipping well, they were distractions that could mean...

"It is important to keep the main thing the main thing." I wonder if the person who came up with this phrase understood the challenges of being a mom. How do you focus on one main thing when you have several kids tugging on you, chores to do, mouths to feed, friends to see, and hopefully somewhere in there find time for yourself? What is the "main thing" for moms (or anyone els...

In this sermon, Marc Vellake preaches on 1 Corinthians chapter 10 in part 16 of the "Saturated" sermon series on 1 Corinthians. Chapters 8, 9, and 10 come to a grand conclusion at the end of chapter 10 where Paul challenges us to consider our greatest priority. Idolatry is placing something other than God and His glory as the greatest priority in our lives. Because of this, it is a dange...

Freedom and rights are things we like to talk about as Americans, but they were important to the people of Corinth as well. In 1 Corinthians chapter 9, Paul talks about the freedom and rights he has as an apostle and follower of Christ, but for Paul these things were not of ultimate importance. Instead, they were, like everything else in his life, things that could be used or even set aside in ord...

We like to be right and for others to see that we are right. Sometimes, though, winning an argument is actually losing a battle. In 1 Corinthians chapters 8-10 Paul deals with the issue we are calling "Lovingly Limiting Freedom." In these chapters Paul challenges us to consider which is more important, exercising our own rights and freedoms, or lovingly pointing others toward Jesus Chris...

Refraction is what happens when light passes through something and is redirected. We face situations where we must take the light of the gospel and apply it to that situation. Then, the light of the gospel is refracted in our situation and through us to a watching world. In this way, every situation - both good and bad - becomes an opportunity to display the truth of the gospel. In 1 Corinthians c...

"He is risen! He is risen indeed!" This traditional Easter greeting has been used by Christians for centuries. It is a proclamation that we believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Savior, rose from the dead conquering sin and death. But the resurrection is more than just something we believe about Jesus. Romans 6:4 states, "...just as Christ was raised from the dead through t...

How many times do we look back on something we've done and say that we would have done it different if we only knew then what we know now? Knowledge drives action. Six time in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 Paul asks the Corinthians "Do you not know?" He does this because if they really knew who they were and what Christ had done for them they would be able to avoid many of the mistakes th...

Often the call to purity in the Christian life becomes a sort of guilt driven, oppressive legalism. People are understandably sensitive to this. We want to love people, not beat them up! Yet there is still a clear call in Scripture that if we are saved then we must life like it. This text looks at a very sensitive subject of someone in the church in Corinth who was persisting in blatant and unrepe...

In the late 1800's, English poet Francis Thompson wrote the 182 line poem called "The Hound of Heaven." This autobiographical poem describes God pursuing Thompson like a hunting dog pursues his quarry. God pursued Thompson through drug addiction, homelessness, and sickness, even as Thompson did his best to run away. Yet God, in his love, pursued him. This sermon is called "Purs...

In the classic story of Snow White, the evil queen daily asks her mirror a particular question - "who is the fairest one of all?" and make no mistake, the queen is looking for a particular answer. How often do we look at who we are yet instead of seeing what is truly there we only see what we want to see? This sermon is called "The Mirror of the Gospel" and we looked at 1 Corin...

"You can't do that in church!" Have you ever heard that before? Why do we think certain actions are not appropriate in a church building but might be OK somewhere else. Maybe it's because we think the church is somehow holy and special? In that case, we are right - the church is holy and is special and because of this there are actions that are out of place in the church becaus...

In 1 Corinthians 3:5-15 Paul turns popular ideas about leadership and service on their head. He writes about how we should serve God with a proper view of ourselves, of the work God has called us to do, and of the goal for which God is leading us toward. This challenges our ideas of leadership, but also informs all of our motivation for serving God in our day to day lives. Orchard Community Church...

It is cute when a toddler sucks her thumb, falls asleep at the dinner table, or puts her slimy hand on your cheek (gross, but still cute). But what if adults did these things? We would say that person is not acting their age. In 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 Paul challenges the Christians in Corinth that they are not acting their age. They should be more mature in their relationship with Christ and their li...

In 1 Corinthians 2:6-16, Paul makes clear that God's ways are indeed wise, but we must be careful to understand how we receive this wisdom and how we accept this wisdom. We do not come up with God's wisdom on our own, we must receive it from Him. Orchard Community Church  www.orchardcommunitychurch.com Listening to sermons online can be a great way to keep up with a sermon series if you...

This sermon looks at 1 Corinthians 1:18 - 2:5 where Paul contrasts God's Wisdom with the World's Wisdom. The two are so incompatible with each other that each looks like foolishness to the other. As Christians we cannot travel down both paths. We must either trust in God's wisdom, which may at times seem like foolishness to the world, or we will follow the world's wisdom which...

In 1 Corinthians 1:10-17 Paul challenges the Corinthian Christians because their arguments and divisions were draining the power of the gospel out of the church and replacing it with human selfishness. His solution is powerful: focus on the gospel of Jesus Christ. Orchard Community Church  www.orchardcommunitychurch.com Listening to sermons online can be a great way to keep up with a sermon series...

In part 2 of the "Saturated" sermon series on 1 Corinthians we look at what it means to be "Soaked in Grace" as we study 1 Corinthians 1:4-9. In this passage we will see a flow of grace from God to us through salvation in Christ and then the impact this grace has in our lives as we respond with being thankful, being changed by the riches of God's grace, and living out this...

An introduction to the sermon series called "Saturated" on the New Testament book of 1 Corinthians. In this sermon we look at an overview of the sermon series and the book of 1 Corinthians using verses 1-3 of chapter one as a guide. 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...

In the 2nd half of this two part New Year's sermon series we look at what it means to trust in God's Future Faithfulness. We may not know all that the new year or any part of our future may hold for us, but we can know certain things about what God is doing and will continue to do in our lives. Orchard Community Church  www.orchardcommunitychurch.com Listening to sermons online can be a...

During our last Sunday of the year we look back through the lens of God's faithfulness. This sermon looks at how we should see both joy and sorrow through the lens of God's faithfulness demonstrated on the cross. 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 sh...

This Sunday we ended the "So Great a Salvation" sermon series with part 10: "So Great a Savior." When we understand the greatness of the problem of our sin we will begin to better understand the greatness of the savior God sent to us and the greatness of the salvation he alone can bring. This week's sermon looks at why Jesus alone is qualified to be our great savior. Orcha...

What is the Church? Our answer to this question will greatly impact our understanding and commitment to the gathering of Christians that Scripture calls the Church. In part 9 of the "So Great a Salvation" sermon series we look at the role of the Church in this great salvation God has given us in Christ. We see that the church is not something extra to salvation or to the Christian life b...

The Bible has many promises for those who are saved by Christ. We are promised that God is at work in us, that nothing can separate us from God's love and that God's plan will continue and will be successful. Yet at the same time we see a lot of warnings against falling way or sliding into sin. How do we hold on to the promises that God preserves us while at the same time heeding the war...