Powell Butte Christian Church

This morning we are going to talk about PRIORITIES… because we all seem to order our lives in different ways. But is there a best way, a Godly way to prioritize the resources God has entrusted to us as His managers? I believe that there are essentially 5 ways of utilizing those resources. We can... Spend it, Repay debt, Pay Taxes, Save/Invest it, or (if there’s any left) Give it. Now, speaking AS...

It's sad; we don’t acknowledge people WANT to be generous. It’s not the heart. People should be commended for the heart. BUT - the problem is the complication of the inability. (Look at bank account, budget, etc. --- how in the world can I be generous on all occasions, as God has instructed?) Why - DEBT. The management/mismanagement of the resources given by God (the Owner of it all) make us...

How can you know what’s important to someone? How much they talk about it, right? So - if we did a study through the Bible, you’ll find something eye-opening about what is important to God. And we know this is true because of how much of the Bible is centered around those things… Richard Foster, the man who wrote the book about Spiritual Disciplines that we preached through a few years ago, also w...

WHY DO YOU DO GOOD? Is it to LOOK good? Is it because it’s the right thing to do? Is it to get some kind of reward? You know, there are some who believe that the idea of a reward should have no place in the Christian’s life and have no bearing on the Christian’s behavior. They teach that we ought to seek to be good for goodness sake. Virtue is its own reward. But the problem with that is the fact...

Elder Gabe Bales

This is a message I have long been waiting to preach about. It's about being offended.  Today's passage from the Sermon on the Mount has been used in a number of ways: to talk about non-retaliation, to justify pacifism… but I believe it speaks to the idea of becoming unoffendable in an offensive world. The passage: Matthew 5:38-42. The Old Testament  law it's based on is in Leviticu...

Life in God’s Upside Down Kingdom comes with a set of principles laid out by the King himself. As we enter into the Kingdom as disciples, we are called to a life marked by attitudes and actions that differ from the Kingdom of this world. In fact it USED to be that the term “Christian” was synonymous with right behavior. Someone might have said a while ago: “That was a Christian thing to do.” Or th...

In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 9, Jesus is sending the 12 disciples out for a “test run,” if you will. He tells them to go out and heal the sick and cast out demons. He tells them to rely on the kindness of people receptive to the message of the Gospel, and then they go. They had been watching Jesus do the exact same thing. He had modeled for them what it would be like to spread the Gospel message...

Today, I want to talk about what some counselors consider the single most important choice that you'll make in a relationship as it relates to becoming a happy couple. This choice often feels more like a reaction than a decision. So, this morning it would be good for us to see how we’re already making this choice – and maybe, by becoming more aware of it, we will be able to make that choice w...

We are in part three of "What Do Happy Couples Know?" And so the question is, what do happy couples know? Well we saw that they know that over time that hopes and desires CAN become expectations. And as we hand our box of desires over to someone else, they feel like this heavy burden has been put on them - a burden that they didn’t sign up for. And what was meant to be enjoyable, becomes...

Associate Pastor Andy Buchanan

Youth Pastor Ethan Waud

We're in part two of this series of What Happy Couples Know, and to recap what we talked about last week, remember that all of us enter into relationships with a box of desires. Desires for what we want for our future, for our family, for our finances, for all those things that are incorporated into our marriage. And one of the main reasons you chose your spouse was that you thought they woul...

Valentine's Day - one day vs. One month vs. A lifetime Women - excited we get to work on our relationship. We get to talk about our relationship. Men - we hear "work on" and that only means one thing. Gotta fix something. And we know what happened to the dog!!  Or it's “Work on it? I didn’t know it was broken!”  It may or may not be broken. But either way it would be good to ca...

There was a time in Israel’s history after the exiles had come back from Babylon. Many of the people, while living there in the foregin land, had intermarried with the pagans living in Babylonia and Persia. God had forbidden His people to intermarry, not because He thought mixed race marriages were wrong, but that He knew how easy it was to stray from one’s commitment to HIM when your marriage par...

I approach this subject with extra respect because it’s a passage that begs to be studied and understood in the context that Jesus taught it. And it’s an issue that affects so many - even pastors aren’t immune. It is the issue of divorce. I would bet that in our church, as in many in our culture, divorce touches directly or indirectly at least 90% of the people. The prevalence of divorce throughou...

A burglar had been casing a house for some time. Finally, he saw the owners leave for what appeared to be an extended trip. That night he broke in through a window and was trying to find his way in the dark when he heard what seemed to him to be the voice of an old lady saying, "Shame on you! I see you, and Jesus sees you!" Startled, the burglar says, "Quiet, Grandma, or you're...

Do you remember the 1970 movie called “Love Story?” Romantic, gushing...garbage. :) At the end there is the dying gal - played by Ali MacGraw - who says that now renown statement to her husband - played by Ryan O’Neal, "Love means never having to say you're sorry." Gag! Two years later, Ryan O’Neal was in another movie with Barbra Streisand, “What's Up, Doc?: And in this film,...

Many people, including me at times, tend to “compartmentalize” their faith into their lives. They see some kind of gap between the Sacred and the Spiritual. Like THIS part is God’s, and THIS part is just life.  Now God DOES separate certain things. Like the Sabbath. But that was for US, for OUR benefit. Left to ourselves we will work our way into an early grave. So He separates one day from the ot...

As we kind of finish up with the traditional Christmas season, I thought of that illustration. Did you get so caught up in the Christmas peripherals that you forgot to invite the One we were celebrating? What if Jesus were in charge of all of our Christmas celebration weekends? What would he include? What would he leave out? Is it the season that’s the most important - or is it the reason? Because...

Church - you know I tend to not be a hellfire and brimstone preacher. I believe that when you give people a taste of the Lord they will see for themselves that He is good, and then their decision to accept Jesus in order to make things right with their Creator is based on God’s goodness and kindness and the amazing Kingdom He has called us to live in - both here and in eternity. I don’t like to ta...

This, our third week of Advent, a time of preparing our hearts for the celebration of Jesus coming into our world, is focused on another of those items in scripture that are white. Remember, this series is entitled White Christmas. We have these brilliant white decorations up here as a way of focusing on new beginnings, clean slates, etc. And none of the mentions of white in Scripture deal better...

This Christmas season for our Advent series it’s a WHITE CHRISTMAS! And we are looking each week at another thing found in God’s Word that are white - and what they represent. Last week we focus on the Christmas Light - the Light of the World coming into a dark world - and what a great thing to celebrate...not just in December, but throughout the year, throughout our lives. What other things found...

Have you ever stopped to think what Christmas would be like without light? Lights are significant - integral part of the celebration of Jesus coming into the world. Turn with me to John 1:1-9  The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. Today starts ADVENT season - a time of preparing our heart to celebrate the true light that dawned on this dark world. And as you can s...

What happens to a relationship when someone loses that “loving feeling?” I know that feelings change and we shouldn’t build any kind of relationship merely on FEELINGS. If you’ve been married any number of years you will know that feelings will come and go. The loving “feeling” isn’t strong enough to sustain a long-term relationship… BUT what about a loving “decision?” The love we read of in the N...