Safety Harbor Community Church Sermon Podcast

Isaiah: A Voice Crying in the Wilderness  Isaiah 40:1–11  Prepare the way—comfort comes not in escape, but in God drawing near.

Elijah: The God Who Answers by Fire  1 Kings 18:17–39   God is not silent. When we stand on His truth, He shows up in power.

Moses: The Reluctant Deliverer  Exodus 3:1–12- God calls the insecure and inadequate to lead with obedience, not self-confidence.

God is at work, even among people who don’t realize what He is doing, He can use whoever he sees fit, and He can save whoever He sees fit, even if they do not fit into the narrative we like to tell. More often than not, God does not expect the fantastical or miraculous out of us, he expects simple obedience. ConnectCard/Prayer Requests: http://safetyharborchurch.org/connect Online Giving: http://s...

And in times of crisis, when things happen that are out of our control, even when we did nothing wrong. Even when we have nothing but noble intentions, when a crisis occurs, it is not a sign of God's lack of faithfulness, but it is an opportunity for us to trust Him, so that He can demonstrate His faithfulness, even more. ConnectCard/Prayer Requests: ⁠http://safetyharborchurch.org/connect⁠ Onl...

Elisha’s miracles provide life in many ways. Provision from the Lord comes in the form of oil that fills several borrowed bottles to rescue a family from indentured servanthood, as well as from the miracle of birth and restoration bringing joy and ultimate confidence to a family. Each points us to the truth that God has always been a faithful, providential God who knows the needs of his children—e...

Bears aside, it is really easy to get caught up with the spectacular elements of the story. That is why the chapter begins with the highlight, “when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind,” because the things we are supposed to pay attention to are not the spectacular elements that we could never replicate, but the human elements that we can emulate. Elisha was faithful. He...

Here is the encouragement; the good news…God can still work through us when we’re full of doubt. Our despair, disappointment, and depression do not limit what God can do for us or through us. At the height of Elijah's breakdown, God was still providing for him, and planning to use him in great ways. ConnectCard/Prayer Requests: ⁠⁠http://safetyharborchurch.org/connect⁠⁠ Online Giving: ⁠⁠http://...

The contest on Carmel was not, as often billed, between Elijah and the prophets of Baal: it was between Elijah’s God and the false god Baal, and once the people had declared their allegiance to the one true God, Elijah had them prove it…God doesn’t want a half-hearted people. He wants us on Sundays, yes, but he wants us the rest of the week as well.  ConnectCard/Prayer Requests: ⁠http://safetyharb...

Over the next few weeks, we are going to see God do really big things through Elijah, but the first step was Elijah's obedience, and Elijah's dependence on God. How is God asking you to trust him? He asked the widow to give up what little she had, and to trust him to provide. He asked Elijah to go to a place that would have made no sense to anyone else. And because they obeyed, they were b...

Why did Luke write Luke? ConnectCard/Prayer Requests: ⁠http://safetyharborchurch.org/connect⁠ Online Giving: ⁠http://safetyharborchurch.org/give

Why did Matthew write Matthew? ConnectCard/Prayer Requests: ⁠http://safetyharborchurch.org/connect⁠ Online Giving: ⁠http://safetyharborchurch.org/give

Jesus wanted his disciples to understand that the worlds powers dynamics were not the same as the Kingdom of God’s power dynamics. Mark wanted us his readers to understand Jesus’ point. Serving others, is the path to true greatness. And Jesus offers his own life as a model of becoming great by serving. But here is the good news. News that James and John eventually got and put into practice by the...

We are starting a new series and calling it "Mosaic," because we are looking at the different pictures and testimonies that make up our perception of Jesus. All four of the gospels were written by different authors, and they each had a unique purpose in writing. Our goal over the next month is to look at each of the four Gospels, to understand what it is, that each author, by the inspira...

Shirley Bragdon preaching "Sure Anchors in the Storm" from Acts 27.

Rev. Dr. Alan Forsman, from the Covenant Church's Crescendo initiative, preaching Lives of Lasting Purpose from Psalm 71.

(The audio for this sermon is not of the usual quality because our service was in the Fellowship Hall.) We tend to think of arrogance or hubris as an individual personality trait, but it can absolutely be an organizational trait as well. We have seen that with churches. We have seen that with ministries. They seem to be on top of the world, but there's a culture of arrogance and superiority, a...

Where else would we Go? We should embrace the call to follow Jesus even when it leads to suffering. We should submit to the authorities God has placed over us even when we don’t like them. We should honor the emperor…the boss…the lifeguard.  Because when we do, we point them all towards Jesus. Part of remember who you are means that you are going to give a good impression of whose you are. Connect...

You need the church, and the church needs you too. That was Peter's message to people who were considering walking away from their faith back then, and its God's message for us today. We are called to be the people of God, not just persons of God. ConnectCard/Prayer Requests: http://safetyharborchurch.org/connect Online Giving: http://safetyharborchurch.org/give

One of the ways that we will keep our faith is by understanding who we are, and who's we are, and then loving each other, no matter what. This has been modeled for us by Jesus. He doesn't only love us, while we are acting as we should. But his love for us extends grace upon grace. His love for us that is patient while we're struggling, and when we don't get things right, right away...

As we wrap up Ruth, I want us to remember that God is at work, even when we don't see what's going on and we don't understand what he's doing, he is at work. He was at work in Moab when everything went wrong for Ruth and Naomi. He was at work in the field when they were just getting by. He was at work on the threshing floor and he was at work in the boring legal procedures that Boa...

What makes Ruth Chapter 3 such a remarkable story is not that a woman is pursuing a man that she is interested in romantically, but rather that she is seeking the advice of her mother-in-law, the woman whose son she was previously married to, to learn how to proceed in her newly adopted culture. This isn’t a romantic chapter, and it’s not necessarily a how-to chapter, but it is a chapter character...

We do not see God explicitly mentioned in every single verse in the book of Ruth. The characters talk about Him freely, but the narrator doesn’t instead We see words like we saw in verse 3, “As it turned out” that point us to the fact that God is working behind the scenes in all these things. The characters in this story are ultimately revealing the character of God to us. God is showing His love...

Ruth is an incredible piece of literature. Every word is chosen with care. It’s got everything you could possibly want in a story. Drama, tragedy, loss, pain, redemption, loyalty, romance. It’s a beautiful love story. But it’s more than just a love story. It’s really a story within a story. At the beginning of the book in one of my study Bibles put is like this. ”The theological message of the Boo...

1 Corinthians 15:3-8 tells us that Jesus's followers got to say what they needed to say to Him. We are looking at the conversations and interactions Jesus had with his followers after Easter. Jesus has all authority in heaven and earth. He has commanded you to go and make disciples of all nations. Even better, he has promised to go with you. What more could you want? So, let’s go! ConnectCard/...