Sunday Service

Here’s a question to ask ourselves right off the bat this morning. If you aren’t awake yet this should get you thinking… Ask yourself this question… “If everyone in the church was just like me what kind of church would my church be and to add to it, would you even attend it.” The apostle Paul knew the value of having true friends who you can count on not just when life is good but when life is tou...

Before looking ahead this morning lets look back for a moment and remember how we got here to this text this morning… The apostle Paul is writing from a Roman prison to a little church in Philippi that he started a number of years before and where he also spent time in jail. All for loving Jesus and wanting to share Jesus life with them. He was writing to say thank you for offering him care while...

Happy Mother’s Day to you Mom’s. This morning I wanted to dedicate this service to our moms and to the women of our church who fill the role of moms in the lives of others, and I am not just thinking of children. Mother’s Day is special for me for a number of reasons… I grew up in a home where I never questioned for a second my mothers love. I have two wonderful older sisters who have loved me and...

We all now what a “couch potato” is, “a person who spends little or no time exercising and a great deal of time watching television.” Are you aware there are “pew potatoes” too? If you follow the analogy of the couch potato then you understand a pew potato is someone who attends church and watches everyone else without becoming actively involved. Christianity is a participant sport you might say....

This morning in Philippians 2 we come to what some consider to be the most profound and theologically important words of all of the New Testament writers. In verses 5-11 the apostle Paul points out that Jesus is the ultimate example of what service is like. In just a few verses the apostle Paul makes clear that it was God Himself clothed in human flesh who came from heaven to earth not to be serve...

Picking back up in our series “Joy Filled Living” in the book of Philippians the apostle Paul is writing to a church that he started and that is doing really well. Its a good church, a growing church and obviously a pretty mature church based on the unity we find there. I have read this book, all four chapters, all 104 verses countless times now in my life and I am always amazed at the apostle Pau...

The Cross is the most powerful display of God’s love for me and you because it’s a Cross that offers FORGIVENESS.

The significance of this day is lost on a great many people, just as it was in the day Jesus entered the city ridding on a donkey... We call it “the triumphant entry” or “Palm Sunday” but both of these names can easily be misunderstood. As people we often put our expectations on God and find ourselves disappointed when He isn't what we imagined or wanted Him to be... This was true of Jesus as well...

The book of Philippians is a book about joy. 19 times in just four chapters the apostle Paul talks about joy, unshakeable joy even in the midst of the most trying of circumstances. Remember that the apostle Paul is writing to the church in Philiipi from a Roman prison cell. Uncertain of his fate he takes time to write to a little church he planted and wanted to encourage. When you think about joy...

I titled this mornings message “It’s Not About Me” for the simple fact that I believe that much of the apostle Pau’s success in this life was his awareness of the tension all believers must deal with in experiencing JOY this side of heaven. Paul he understood what Casey Kasem, the American radio personality would say as he closed his radio program “American Top 40” each week, “Keep your feet on th...

Perspective… Have you ever met someone that a first you didn’t like them but the more you got to know them, the more you understood their story, something changed in you and you began to like them. Paul, the prisoner of joy writes the book of Philippians from a Roman cell about JOY. The main these of this book is about JOY. In four chapters, 104 verses in all, the words joy, rejoicing, and gladnes...

Paul is writing this letter to the church at Philippi, which was actually the first church that he started in Europe. You can read about the days that Paul spent in Philippi in Acts chapter 16, where you can read about one of the first converts in Philippi, a woman named Lydia, and also hear some of the specifics of Paul’s hard times in Philippi. Phillipi was a heavily gentile city. There was no s...

Let me begin this morning by asking you a question. How different do you think your faith would be in Jesus if suddenly God whisked you away literally to heaven and you got to see your new house that Jesus has built for you and where you will spend eternity? Would it impact the way you live now? Would that experience have an affect on how you deal with life? How about suffering? Would going to hea...

For many 2020 will be a year they want to forget but I hope for you listening tonight it will be a year you will never want to forget. Why would we want to remember a year that has been marked by so much tragedy on so many levels? The answer is simple. No matter what you and I have been through God has remained faithful, God is still good. Most all of us have a calendar program or reminders built...

Remember the number one problem facing the church was persecution. Peter is reminding the church, don’t give up, keep going. Don’t misunderstand God’s plan. Remember, those who desire to live godly will suffer persecution. Pain is part of the plan. As 1 Peter comes to a close Peter draws our attention away from ourselves and back onto the Lord where our eyes need to be as we come to not just the e...

Candlelight service is to celebrate the fact that Jesus is the light of the world and that as John 1 declares, John 1:4, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men”. As we light the candles tonight in solidarity we celebrate the reality that Jesus was born for us, and His life is the light of each of our lives. Light… it’s been said that when God said in Genesis 1, “let there be light tha...

Christmas is just two days away. How is your JOY meter this year? Is it high or is it low? You see the word “Joy” all over the place…

Most all of us have heard the expression, “Timing is everything” and its true. Are you aware that the average “brick and mortar” retail business makes about 30% of their annual revenue between Thanksgiving and Christmas? Black Friday is called Black Friday for a reason. Its the day of the year that many retail businesses go from being in the red (in debt) to being in the black (profitable).

So, this morning we are talking about not our favorite topic in the Bible but a very important topic none the less. The devil. What do we know about the devil? The Bible has much to say about him. First, his name. Well, before we get to his name let’s make this perfectly clear, the devil is your adversary Peter says, in other words he is your enemy. You can never forget that.

Temporal pain eternal glory reminds me of the mom who went grocery shopping with her 3-year-old daughter who wasn’t happy being trapped in the seat of the shopping cart and was overdue for her afternoon nap. She kept screaming and throwing a fit and her mom would say, “Just five more minutes Molly” as she kept shopping. She came upon an elderly gentleman who was shopping on the same aisle and her...

Have you ever thought about your last day on earth and how your story ends? 1 Peter chapter 4 causes us to sit up and to think about it. Have you ever heard the expression, “Tomorrow is the Devils favorite word” Or “Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?” Here in chapter 4 Peter is reminding us that time is short no matter how long you live. Last week I shared a song that contained the...

Yesterday my mother and father in law, Rod and Marj Almstrom celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. One of the things my mother in law kept saying when asked how she felt about being married for half a century was, “Wow, it doesn’t seem like fifty years, the time has flown by”. I thought that was interesting observation and one that must have been on Peter’s mind too, possibly considering his...

You can learn a lot about people by looking at what’s on their refrigerator. Yes, you heard me right. I said what’s on their refrigerator, not just wants in their refrigerator. How many of you have pictures and sayings attached to your refrigerator? Drawings your children or grandchildren made. Pictures of people, vacations you took, missionaries you support. I love those little magnets you can ge...