Sermons | Local Church in Wabash, Indiana | Bachelor Creek

In John’s Gospel, Jesus’s ministry is centered around 7 miracles or “signs” that reveal God’s glory. The first sign takes place at a wedding in Cana as Jesus’s miraculously turns water into wine. This sign demonstrates that God shows up in the ordinary moments in life and pours out more than enough grace for us. We also see that Jesus is the best wine that’s saved for last. Like the disciples, the...

With man, healthy marriages are nearly impossible; with God, healthy marriages are more than possible. The key is found in mutual submission, which Paul discusses in Ephesians 5:21-33. Any relationship - marriage, dating, friendship, etc. is best built around God in Christ.

What is love? That question surfaces in books, movies, music, and everyday life. We all want love, but our view of love is often distorted and confused. Before we can accurately love the people in our lives, we must first understand where love originates and experience love ourselves. Scripture plainly states that God is love and has shown us His love in the most incredible way imaginable.

Who’s your ONE? Like a shepherd who leaves ninety-nine sheep in search of the one who is lost, Jesus pursues lost people today, and implores us to have the same burden for the lost people in our lives. Like the four men carrying their paralyzed friend on a mat to Jesus in Mark 2:1-12, we need to bring our “ONE” to Jesus because He’s only One who can forgive their sins.

Something special happens when people come to the table for a meal. The table turns strangers into neighbors and enemies into friends. In Luke 22:14-20, Jesus shared a meal with His twelve disciples that we know as the Last Supper. The people gathered together that night had different personalities, circumstances, weaknesses, and failures. Despite that, Jesus still gave them a seat at the table, a...

Research shows the number one reason we don’t get to know our neighbors is a fear of what makes us different. In John 4, Jesus met a Samaritan woman at a well who was different than Him in many ways, but that interaction revealed there are some universal human longings that we all thirst for, no matter who we are. Most importantly, only Jesus is the living water who can quench our thirst.

For 33 years, Mr. Rogers was America’s favorite neighbor. He modeled what it looked like to love others well. Today, the need to love our neighbors and community is greater than ever before. In Luke 10:25-37, Jesus shares the famous parable of the Good Samaritan, teaching us that the best way to love our neighbors is to be a good neighbor.

There’s one habit you can cultivate in 2023 that will make a bigger difference in your life than any other, and it’s prayer. Instead of prayerful, most of us lives would be characterized as prayerless. James 5:13-20 uses the example of Elijah to teach us to keep on praying. When we understand the power of prayer we are motivated to persevere in prayer.

At it's core, Christmas is a love story. Love came down when God sent His Son Jesus to show us what love looks like, ultimately expressed in His death on a cross. The love God showed through Jesus becomes our motivation to love others.

We wait for Jesus by living like Jesus. A practical application of the Incarnation helps us to give more of ourselves and be present with anyone God has put in our paths.

It’s easy to believe the lies consumerism tells us about spending, especially around Christmas. Jesus invites us this Advent to spend less and receive a heart posture of contentment. It is possible at Christmas. We just might need to spend a little less.

If we don’t begin the Advent season with a heart of worship, everything else will fall apart. Worship is not just something that happens at church. Worship is a state of your heart. The characters in the Christmas story expressed their worship in a variety of ways: Mary was moved to sing a song of gratitude to God. Joseph obeyed and followed God’s plan. The shepherds stopped their work to go and f...

Jesus’s 7th and final letter in Revelation is to the church at Laodicea. He says they aren’t hot or cold—they’re lukewarm. They’re stale. They’re stagnant. They’re ineffective. Because of that Jesus says, “You make me want to vomit!” He couldn’t be more blunt. Despite the stinging force of this letter, within it we learn how we can tell if we’ve become lukewarm and what it takes to overcome a stag...

The greatest thing about the church at Philadelphia is its remarkable opportunity. Jesus provided them with an open door for greater ministry impact. The only question was would they walk through? Today, Jesus gives individuals and churches open doors of opportunity, too. We can easily talk ourselves out of taking that step, but Revelation 3:7-13 shows us that not only does Jesus call us to walk t...

Nothing kills a church quite like complacency. Thousands of churches in the United States close their doors every year; churches that at one time were vibrant and growing, committed to reaching people for Christ. In Revelation 3:1-6, Jesus issues a stinging indictment on the church in Sardis: although they have a reputation of being alive, they are dead. Despite this sobering reality, Jesus says t...

John Wesley said, “What one generation tolerates, the next generation embraces.” Jesus complimented the church at Thyatira for their growing love, faith, service, and perseverance, but criticized these believers for tolerating destructive, false teaching. In Revelation 2:18-29, we discover what leads growing Christians to tolerate such wickedness and how we can avoid the same mistake today.

How do we remain faithful when internal and external pressures start to build? The churches in Smyrna and Pergamum received letters from John addressing the pressures they were facing. Through John’s Revelation, Jesus spoke words of encouragement and challenge to these struggling churches, but His words can continue to spur us forward in our faithfulness today.

The church at Ephesus possessed many positive qualities that Jesus praised. Unfortunately, though, they had forsaken their first love. How did that happen to them and how does that happen to us today? Jesus graciously directs us to remember, repent, and return to the things we did at first. In essence, he’s inviting us to define ourselves by love: Christ’s love for us and our love for Jesus and ot...

The Apostle John, an old man exiled on the island of Patmos because of his faith in Christ, writes down what he hears and sees from Jesus in the book of Revelation. More than any future descriptions Revelation may provide, this letter is foremost about a person, Jesus, who stands above the future. The seven churches John wrote to faced all kinds problems, many of the same problems we face today. W...

Faithfulness is one of the supreme attributes, whether it’s in marriage, friendship, or business. Daniel was consistently faithful, both publicly and privately. His exceptional qualities set him apart from his peers and his reputation withstood harsh scrutiny. When his life was on the line, Daniel refused to compromise!

The opposite of humility is pride, and Daniel 4 reveals it in a dramatic way. Nebuchadnezzar will learn (and then tell) about the greatest lesson God showed him in his long reign—that He is able to humble those who walk in pride. So why not learn it the easy way? Listen carefully and apply these truths diligently. Be humble so you don’t stumble!

Everyone worships something. And we are faced daily with the temptation to go along with the crowd and fit in with the world around us. Do we have the faith and trust to worship God alone, especially when the heat is on? In Daniel 3, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego find themselves under intense pressure to cave, but by knowing who God is, they stay strong. In the midst of the fire, they discover t...

As a young man, Daniel found himself far from home, exiled to Babylon. It was a culture with very different values and beliefs than his own. In the midst of the chaos and hostility around him, Daniel teaches us what it takes to live as followers of Christ in our world today. Like Daniel, we need to be people of deep conviction who draw a line in the sand on where we stand.

God created us for community. There are things that can happen in circles that can’t happen any other way. You can’t grow spiritually unless you’re connected relationally. When you make the commitment to get out of a row and into a circle, it will have a preventative impact in your life. You have no idea what all is being prevented, but someone else can see what you can’t see, and you can see what...

At some point in time we’ll have questions and doubts in our faith. They will come. Thankfully, God is not afraid of your questions. He wants you to honestly deal with your doubts. In Scripture, Thomas doubted, but ultimately overcame his doubts and believed fully in Jesus. His story teaches us how we, too, can overcome our doubts, and have a growing faith.