Tri-Annual Singing!
June 20, 2026
7:00pm - 8:30pm
Sermon: Trusting God to Save
Psalms 3,4 and 5 are used to show David’s trust in the Lord to protect him from his enemies, and ultimately save him. As David, we can trust God.
Sermon: Selling Our Birthright
Like Esau, who despised his birthright for a morsel of food, Christians can sell or despise their inheritance by choosing the world and its pleasures for eternity.
Mining the Scriptures: 1 Thessalonians 5:12-19
Late in his letter, Paul strings together a number of concise exhortations. These exhortations are typical examples of what God requires of his children. They are clear, and need little comment.
In the list, Paul enjoins them to: love and esteem those who labor for the Lord, especially in the realm of oversight; be at peace; admonish those who would disturb that peace; supply the special and peculiar needs of each of the brethren; return evil with good, always seeking the best for all men; rejoice; pray; be active in doing the Spirit’s work; respect God’s word; study to discern that word; and abstain from every form of evil. A single glance at the list affords the reader a clear picture of what God expects of us. We are to be loving, peaceful, godly people who insist upon and heed the truth revealed by God.
It is important to note that this list is far more than a list of “thou shalt nots”. Not only is the man of God to refrain from sinning, he is to be diligent and active in service to the Lord.
How Firm a Foundation
The hymn “How Firm a Foundation” was written sometime in the 1700’s. The author of the hymn is not known, but its first appearance was in a Baptist hymnal from 1787. According to Then Sings My Soul, a book about hymn origins written by Robert J. Morgan, the song was originally published under the title “Exceedingly Great and Precious Promises”, and had a total of seven stanzas.
Invitation: Inviting Others
Invitation delivered by: Armando Vera
1 Corinthians 1:18-ff is used as a text to encourage the congregation to invite others to come to the gospel meeting.
God, The Architect of Redemption
The Psalmist affirmed in Psalm 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.” This truth is evident to the unprejudiced mind. While some seek to convince man that design in the universe is illusory, nature offers a compelling and convincing argument for a Maker. “There is no speech nor language Where their [the heavens and firmament] voice is not heard” (vs. 3).
From the Preacher’s Pen: Things Could Be Worse!
I just read an interesting essay written by Dan King, describing the moral degradation that was present in Rome in the centuries following Christ’s life. Brother King’s point was that though we live in an ungodly society, it is nevertheless a much better circumstance than the experiences of early Christians.
Evidences supplied to support the thesis included historical references to wars of aggression; state sanctioned idolatry; the moral debauchery and excess of emperors such as Vitellius, Caligula, Nero, Domitian, Commodus and Elagabalus; the corruption of Roman society which included prostitution, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, divorce , abortion, infanticide and gambling; and a fierce and continual anti-Christian attitude that led to frequent persecution for the first 300 years of the church’s existence.
While things are bad in America, and getting worse, we at least have protections offered by our constitution, and an admittedly dwindling majority that to this day objects to egregious expressions of immorality on the part of our public leaders. As brother King concluded in his essay, “Let us thank God for our freedoms, and pray that our nation will always allow for the right of its citizens to believe what the Bible says and our consciences dictate, and permit us to express those convictions through uninhibited public preaching and teaching.” (Is America More Wicked Than Ancient Rome? Daniel H. King, Sr.)
Sermon: The Transformed Life
This sermon is an explanation of the Transformed Life alluded to by the apostle Paul in Romans 12:1-2.
Sermon: Why Did God Create the World?
The lesson shows how God chose to create the universe, and place man, a free moral agent, in it as its crown. Men chose to disobey, but God sent His son to redeem mankind.
From the Preacher’s Pen: Words for Teenagers (from 1959)
Northland College principal John Tapene has offered the following words from a judge who regularly deals with youth. “Always we hear the cry from teenagers, ‘What can we do, where can we go?’
“My answer is this: Go home, mow the lawn, wash the windows, learn to cook, build a raft, get a job, visit the sick, study your lessons, and when you’ve finished, read a book. Your town does not owe you recreational activities, and your parents do not owe you fun.
“The world does not owe you a living, you owe the world something. You owe it your time, energy and talent so that no one will be at war, in sickness and lonely again. In other words, grow up, quit being a cry baby, get out of your dream world, and develop a backbone not a wishbone. Start behaving like a responsible person. You are important and you are needed. It’s too late to sit around and wait for somebody to do something someday. Someday is now and that somebody is you!”
~ Seen on Facebook
The teen years are wonderful years in any young person’s life. Teenagers should be allowed to have fun, and enjoy their adolescence. However, even the young can and should be serious minded and trustworthy. This is especially important spiritually. As Paul wrote Titus, “Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you” (Titus 2:6-8).
Invitation: Putting Up With Error
Invitation delivered by: Stan Cox
In 2 Corinthians 11:1-4 the Apostle Paul discusses the very real danger of going astray, departing from truth.
Sermon: What Repentance is Not
The sermon uses the novel approach of identifying some untrue but common views about repentance to show what it isn’t, thereby clarifying what it actually is.
Sermon: Hannah’s Prayer
Using the first chapter of 1 Samuel, which records the prayer of Hannah, we learn the importance of fervency and persistency in prayer, that prayer must be in faith, and that God answers our prayers.
In the News: Can Science Explain the Heart of Man?
Today I was asked a question about how the Bible refers to the seat of emotions, intellect and will to be the heart of man. Passages such as, “I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And I will glorify Your name forevermore” (Psalm 86:12), use the metaphor. While we know the actual physical heart is a muscle that pumps blood, and that it is the brain that is the physical organ of thought and emotion, men have commonly referred to the heart in this poetic way.
I pointed out that using the word “brain” to refer to will, emotions and intellect of man is a metaphor as well. While it is true that the brain is the physical organ that regulates these things, it is a mistake to equate the brain with the mind. The truth is much more complex than that. To reduce such things as love, artistic expression, inspiration, genius and faith to the biological firing of synapses is to distort the essence of what it is to be a human being. Such reductionism is found in the efforts of some secular scientists who believe (as the term reductionism is defined) “that every complex phenomenon, especially in biology or psychology, can be explained by analyzing the simplest, most basic physical mechanisms that are in operation during the phenomenon.”
Continue reading “In the News: Can Science Explain the Heart of Man?”
Excessive Loyalty
Loyalty is a good thing. A very good thing. Consider the beautiful expression of Ruth’s loyalty to her mother-in-law Naomi, “But Ruth said: ‘Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me’” (Ruth 1:16-17).
Loyalty to God must be absolute. Divided loyalties are unacceptable. There is no way to be excessively loyal to Him. As Jesus said, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37). Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 4:1-2, “Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.”
