Woodland Friends Church

I guess my hope, and my desire this Christmas, and what I see as the Need for Christmas, is belief and rest. Belief in Christ is who He says He is. He has provided all the hope, redemption, grace, and satisfaction a soul will ever need, and He is our place of constant rest. His yoke is easy, and His burden is light.

To you. I want us to hear this. An angel shows up. Doesn’t happen everyday. The glory of the Lord shines about him. The angel declares in no uncertain terms, “Prophecy is being fulfilled! Words spoken by the prophets are finding their culmination!” The One, True, and Only God of the Universe, Star-breather, world creator, the One who made the deepest ocean trenches, and highest mountain-peaks, THA...

Conquered land. Some leaders are literally murderers. Economic stressors. It is in this setting, under these burdens, with this angst that "there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was looking for the consolation of Israel." Have you been there?

We have the prophet Isaiah here in verse 6 giving a direct injunction, “Cry out and sing,” who? Not "unsaved one." Not "citizen of another nation." Not "uninformed one." But… “O citizen of Zion.” Part of the Lord’s City! Philippians 3:20, where our citizenship belongs, in the Lord’s Kingdom! Isaiah is urging someone who should already know the Exalted Lord, and His greatness among us. But we don’t...

Released from the Sermon Vault; Originally Preached November 13, 2016. "I’m so glad that I can stake my salvation on God, my Rock. I’m so glad that, unlike any other religion, that One True God that exists, that we serve is a God who doesn’t demand us to work, to do good, to be good, so that we might be saved. But quite the opposite, our God is so good, that He does and did the work, He crossed th...

I still see it in my own boys, there seems to be understood from childhood if they’re being taught faith in Jesus, this fixation on good people, follow Jesus go to heaven. Bad people, don’t follow Jesus, go to hell. And that’s kind of our math as Christians. As if salvation is, “Yay, don’t go to hell! How nice.” And I feel like this is basic. This is too basic, and it misses the mark of what the G...

This comfort is not the come to the Thanksgiving table, pull up a chair, and get ready sort of comfort. It goes much deeper than that. This word comfort is really intriguing to me, because the kind of “comfort” it is, is an active, purging, refining type comfort. It’s the same word in Genesis 5:29 when Noah is named, his father “called his name Noah, saying, “May this one comfort us in the labor a...

What if it’s not that would-be Christians should "suck it up buttercup," and attend any of the local-God-fearing congregations in a given town (nothing against them…) But I wonder if there are a lot of broken sinners that who might not respond to certain styles of Christianity, would respond to a specific Church, especially if there was the novelty of “New, what’s this?” Make sense? Is it possible...

I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me in my affliction. - Phil. 4:12,13; Dean Kalmukos preaching!

A group of reforming Christians in the 1600s adopted a name out of the Scriptures of who Jesus calls His Disciples. What was Jesus getting at when He called His Disciples Friends? How can we live into the name today?

There's a BIG GOD out there that I make too little of, meanwhile I make too much of "little 'ol me." If I put God in the proper lighting, I can live in light of this Lord and it lots of implications for how I live my day-to-day life.

The seasons that reveal our weakness, and we find ourselves stumbling. I’ve said this a few times, but with the caveat of it being in a "sanctified manner," nevertheless I believe we should fake it until we make it. Is that what Paul is saying here?

"My faith." "I go to church." "I'm spiritual." These are all sayings of our time, even of Christians, but do they reflect the faith Paul had, the church he went to, and the type of spirituality he enjoyed? His was something of substance, and was not ambiguous, but dead set on one person: Christ.

Paul’s heritage was working for him. His family, his ancestors had ensured that he would be good to go… and when Paul’s morality had worked for him! In the worldly sense, and really – he thought – in the religious sense had garnered him respect! Reverence. And when Paul’s deeds only worked further in his favor! A Pharisee gaining the authority of the high priest’s of what was thought to be Yahweh’...

Paul...Timothy...Epaphroditus: all were laborers with the church in Philippi, and Paul finds joy in each one's labor one way or another. It begs us to examine ourselves and ask: are we laboring for the Lord, because if we are, we can take unrelenting joy from that!

Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish!" Because what was the vision for the Israelites? The Promised Land! That’s what keeps people going! Hebrews 11 tells us about the faithful remnant, they were seeking a city! That’s why they were able to leave their own homelands, work to deliver Israelites from nations! There was a vision! So, “Do everything without complaining or...

There’s a reason the Trinity is a tricky doctrine. There’s an element of mystery and faith. This is what we mean when we say Jesus is fully God, and fully man. Both identities, both natures are fully expressed when describing Jesus. And some say, some wonder, “Well do I really need to hold to this doctrine, the Trinity?” The Trinity is not even in the Bible. The word, or even a word, period, that...

This is going to sound odd coming from a pastor, but it’s true, and it needs to be said: God’s plan for you is not church on Sundays, Scriptures every day, but then you have the rest of the time to do what you want to do. And thank God this is true, or else I’d get bored following Him! Right? How would my sons feel if I told them, “Listen, I can give you 2-3 hours one day a week, and maybe 45 minu...

How do I get the relaxation and contentment of the vacation environment, vacation mind, into the mode and swing of every-day anxiety living, right? Is that possible, or is that against the rules?

The picture that we get in Mark 5 is among the most despairing, anguishing, pictures the Gospel, if not the Bible depicts. Christ is the hope in these sorts of places. That should bring us refreshing, redeeming hope.

When Jesus is approached by the Pharisees, who love nice, neat, categories, black and white boxes, and is asked about a controversial topic, does Jesus give a nice, polished, clean, answer? Or does He speak to something greater about that topic?

The context, is not a crazed, foreign, long-dead and gone Rabbi who we profess as risen, yes, but then marginally, abstractly, believe that His Words are also meant for us, thousands of years removed, no the context is, this is the Word become flesh, speaking through His Word with a very confrontational, personal question, “Life or death? Purpose or pain? Full or empty? Alive or asleep?” What is i...

Sadly, Jesus judges that the world not only doesn't know Him, but hates Him, and hates the Father. He says His people can expect a similar opposition. What does this look like, and what do we do with that?

For the true-hearted Christian, following Christ and the Scriptures, a believer should be a self-denying, Christ-exalting, disciple-making, God-glorifying, righteousness-hungering, mission-pursuing follower of God, and that should occupy his or her time. And what would that person have in common with a self-indulging, Satan-admiring, evildoer-applauding, God-offending, passions-pursuing, lost pers...

You and I are part of a holy nation. We don’t need physical, visible, tangible symbols, signs, or people in leadership. There needs to be no immediate substitution or representative standing in the way of Jesus. He’s our Risen, Lord and Savior. Right in our faith and practice, I’m personally glad it says under our doctrine on the Church, “Its head is Jesus Christ, who serves immediately as priest...