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Burning Hearts – June 6

Friday, July 4th, 2025

 

We all face challenges. No one anywhere, except for some televangelist hucksters, has ever said that life will be easy when you come to Christ.  Years ago I read the story (and just recently ran across it again) of a church that was having a reunion.  A former member who attended the celebration had worked hard and had become a millionaire. When he testified about how had had grown in the faith, he related an incident from his childhood.

He said that when he earned his first dollar as a boy, he decided to keep it for the rest of his life. But then a guest missionary preached about the urgent need on the mission fields. He struggled about giving his dollar. “However, the Lord won,” the man said proudly, “and I put my treasured dollar in the offering basket. And I’m convinced that the reason God has blessed me so much is that when I was a little boy I gave Him everything I possessed.” The congregation was awestruck by the testimony-until a little old lady in front piped up, “I dare you to do it again!”

I honestly don’t know how true that story is, but  there is a vital truth behind it. We must not let past attainments stunt our spiritual growth. Nor should they define our spiritual growth. And most definitely should they not stop our spiritual growth.

I realize this weekend is the 4th of July weekend. Many churches and pastors across the country will be honing in on that celebration. Confession: I will not be. I am continuing in my series from the Everyday Gospel Devotional by Paul David Tripp.  Perhaps, more needed is the lesson found in Psalm 108-145 (with specific emphasis on Psalm 119) than a foray into celebrating American (which I am not against). But my thinking is America will not change by laws or “big beautiful bills” or protests or fireworks. No…America will have to change from the inside. Each and every individual, especially those of who claim to follow Jesus, need our hearts changed. We need to stand on God’s Word and claim the changing message of the Gospel. That will not happen until we are convinced God and His Word can be trusted. That is why my sermon this Sunday is entitled Taking God at His Word.

I hope you celebrate the birthday of America, the greatest country to live in. (I have no problem saying, “Sayonara” to those who don’t like it here).  But more importantly, our hearts must change. And that only happens when we become convinced God is Who He said He is and can be trusted. I look forward to seeing you Sunday. If you are unable to join us in person, please join us online for our live stream. We meet at 9:00 and 10:45. Send a request to join our Facebook Group at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship or view our public page at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship-Spencer, In. Or you can watch via YouTube at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship. I look forward to seeing you or hearing from you online. And let me ask you to do me a favor: please let us know you are watching and then feel free to comment-yay or nay. If you have any questions, please ask and I will get back to you. Thanks. And thanks for praying for us.

Burning Hearts – June 15

Friday, June 13th, 2025

Father’s Day ahead! That’s right folks. In case you forgot… Funny (not ha-ha funny) how we don’t dare forget Mother’s Day, but Father’s Day? 🙂 I, for one, don’t really care whether something special happens on that day or not. We get Good Ranchers products and they even offered a special Father’s Day package. They aren’t alone. Thanks, but no thanks. 

There is no question there is a crisis of manhood in today’s culture. Thankfully, there has been a uptick of men who are wanting to be counted on. Men who want to be seen as real men (even without all the hunting and camo gear). One political party just revealed they paid thousands of dollars to learn how to “Manspeak” and “Be a man.” I’m shaking my head at that. 

A better question for us is what is a godly man? For Mother’s Day I took the week’s reading from the Everyday Gospel Devotional and delineated 7 characteristics of a godly woman and found a woman in the Bible who depicted that. I decided to take that same approach with Father’s Day.  Here are the qualities I came up with describing a godly man and his biblical counterpart:

  1. A godly man listens (Elijah)
  2. A godly man seeks justice (Amos)
  3. A godly man prays (Elisha)
  4. A godly man trusts (Jehoshaphat)
  5. A godly man has a real faith (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego)
  6. A godly man experiences forgiveness (Peter)
  7. A godly man learns patience (Psalm 37:1-9)

I would like to invite you to worship with us this Sunday-in person or online via our live stream. We meet at 9:00 and 10:45. Send a request to join our Facebook Group at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship or view our public page at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship-Spencer, In. Or you can watch via YouTube at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship. I look forward to seeing you or hearing from you online. And let me ask you to do me a favor: please let us know you are watching and then feel free to comment-yay or nay. If you have any questions, please ask and I will get back to you. Thanks. And thanks for praying for us.

Burning Hearts – June 8

Friday, June 6th, 2025

The truth is that no one is exempt from problems. Anyone who tells you that is either a kook, a liar, a false teacher, or all the above.  When it come to problems there are three types of people:

  • Those facing problems now
  • Those who have just faced problems
  • Those about to face problems 

The question is not “if” but “when.” Think about your own life or those of friends or people you love. Trouble is only a phone call or an x-ray away. Job’s story seems like it might be over the top, and perhaps it is compared to many of our lives. And while we may not lose everything like he did, what we go through or are now going through is big in our eyes. That leaves us all with one common question that crops up more than you can imagine:

WHY?

My message this week will try to tackle that question. I’m going to try to look at it from an earthly perspective and also from a heavenly perspective. I certainly don’t have, won’t have, nor will be able to give all the answers, (in fact, will just touch the hem of the garment), but I am going to try to tackle the question of “Why?” I would love to have you join us in person if possible. If not, please join us via live stream. Whether in person or via live stream, we meet at 9:00 and 10:45. Send a request to join our Facebook Group at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship or view our public page at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship-Spencer, In. Or you can watch via YouTube at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship. I look forward to seeing you or hearing from you online. And let me ask you to do me a favor: please let us know you are watching and then feel free to comment-yay or nay. If you have any questions, please ask and I will get back to you. Thanks. And thanks for praying for us.

Burning Hearts – June 1

Friday, May 30th, 2025

Let me start out with a statement that I believe is irrefutable:

Understanding God sometimes is like finding a needle in a haystack.

We search and search but it just seems like a lost cause. We truly want to understand God and to have a relationship with Him but the task seems impossible. Imagine being inserted into Esther’s ongoing drama of life in the palace with an anti-Semite like Haman, or into the drama of Job’s life of losing everything then having those worthless humans called “friends” rip you apart, spout off their drivel, and blame your sin for all that is happening.

That is where we find ourselves this week in a message I have titled When All Seems Lost from Esther 6-Job 20. I will be spending some time with Esther’s feast with the king and Haman and how she “set the table” for it and also how Haman did himself no favors by his arrogance when asked how he would reward someone. The latter half of the message will be on Satan, God and Job’s so-called friends. If you are reading this and are able to attend we would love to have you. We have two services at 9:00 and 10:45. The second service has a youth program. If you are unable to attend in person, please join our live stream at the same times. Send a request to join our Facebook Group at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship or view our public page at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship-Spencer, In. Or you can watch via YouTube at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship. I look forward to seeing you or hearing from you online. And let me ask you to do me a favor: please let us know you are watching and then feel free to comment-yay or nay. If you have any questions, please ask and I will get back to you. Thanks. And thanks for praying for us.

Burning Hearts – May 25

Friday, May 23rd, 2025

There are many faulty ideas about God running around. For example, the atheist says, “There is no God.” The agnostic says, “I’m not saying there isn’t a God, but it must be proven.” The Deist says, “A supreme being created the earth, got it going, and then withdrew from it and takes no interest.” Pantheism believes God is the universe and in everything-the plant, the bug, whatever, is God.  But there is one I think is devastating, especially to those who call themselves followers of Christ. That is the idea that God is done working. Doomsday “prophets” will tell us God is done with us and we are all going to hell in a handbasket. He has turned His back on America, and the world in general (and sometimes even the church).

People would have thought that about the Jewish nation when they were carted off to Babylon in exile. “See. They got what they deserved.”  But as ancient history attests, God wasn’t done then, and I firmly believe He still isn’t done.  Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther would all agree. This Sunday my message is entitled “God is Still Working” and it is based on the life of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther (first half of her book).  Here is my breakdown:

EZRA- the priest who brought a fresh start

NEHEMIAH- the cupbearer who built a wall

ESTHER- the queen who saved a nation

I hope you will join us this Sunday at 9:00 and 10:45 at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship. If you are unable to attend in person, please join our live stream at the same times. Send a request to join our Facebook Group at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship or view our public page at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship-Spencer, In. Or you can watch via YouTube at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship. I look forward to seeing you or hearing from you online. And let me ask you to do me a favor: please let us know you are watching and then feel free to comment-yay or nay. If you have any questions, please ask and I will get back to you. Thanks. And thanks for praying for us.

Burning Hearts – May 11

Friday, May 9th, 2025

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! Even as I write this I know I have isolated a portion of those who either read this or will be there Sunday. Every pastor faces a Catch-22 on Mother’s Day. He can stand in the pulpit and read from Proverbs 31 and gain the ire of every women in the congregation, especially if she feels he is preaching to them. OR he takes a chance isolating those who are not mothers-either by choice, inability, or life choice. I have chosen to take a different approach and speak about godly woman.

The Everyday Gospel Devotional we are using for 2025 is not focused on holidays or special days like Sunday. So I took each day of this week and found a theme for each day. I then hunted the Scripture for a woman who illustrated that quality. The following is what we will be looking at Sunday: A GODLY WOMAN…

Prays (Hannah)

Receives and Gives Grace (Samaritan woman in John 4)

Worships with Passion (Mary of Bethany)

Leaves a Godly Legacy (Rahab/Ruth)

Exhibits Humility (Abigail)

Stand Hopeful (Woman caught in adultery in John 8/woman with illness in Mk 5)

Gives Glory to God (Deborah)

I hope you will join Sunday at 9:00 or 10:45. If you unable to you can check us out by sending a request to join our Facebook Group at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship or view our public page at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship-Spencer, In. Or you can watch via YouTube at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship. I look forward to seeing you or hearing from you online. And let me ask you to do me a favor: please let us know you are watching and then feel free to comment-yay or nay. If you have any questions, please ask and I will get back to you. Thanks. And thanks for praying for us.

Burning Hearts – May 2

Friday, May 2nd, 2025

Have you ever noticed that you can be reading or watching or even going somewhere and you get this feeling of deja vu? Deja vu was first put forth by a French philosopher named Emile Boirac in 1876. He defined it as a “reminiscence of memories.” For lack of better words I will simply say it is the “feeling of having experienced something before.”  It is easy to get that feeling when you read Kings and Chronicles in the Old Testament, especially if you read them back to back. It’s like “been there read that.”

In 1905 a man named George Santayana wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” In a speech to the British Parliament in 1948 Winston Churchill echoed those words a slightly different way: “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Those are wise words. They would have been wise to each of the men I will be talking about this Sunday in my message entitled Simple Words-Lifetime Lessons. Those men are Hezekiah, Manasseh, Josiah, and David. And, of course, they are wise words to us today. 

Our Scripture from the Everyday Gospel Devotional for this past week was 2 Kings 20- I Chronicles 17.  I’d like to invite you to join us in person for either our 9:00 or 10:45 service.  We also live stream both so if you are unable to join us in person please feel free to join us online. We would love to have you join us!  You can send a request to join our Facebook Group at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship or view our public page at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship-Spencer, In. Or you can watch via YouTube at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship. I look forward to seeing you or hearing from you online. And let me ask you to do me a favor: please let us know you are watching and then feel free to comment-yay or nay. If you have any questions, please ask and I will get back to you. Thanks. And thanks for praying for us.

Burning Hearts – April 27

Friday, April 25th, 2025

 

Have you ever noticed that God sometimes does things totally opposite of what we think He will do or something totally unexpected? He is a God of surprises.

We often hear or make the statement that “God has His hand in things.” Honestly, when we look around we have cause to wonder. Does He have His hand in the national stage? Russia/Ukraine. Israel/Palestine.  And how about closer to home? Lawlessness. Distrust. Hatred. Violence. Our own personal desires to be first and to have our own way. On the surface things do look bad…really bad. But underneath it all is a belief that God has got this all under control. I don’t know how and I certainly can’t presume upon Him on how to do His job, but nothing that has happened or will happen flusters Him. He is not surprised. But He often does things which surprise us!

This Sunday’s message is entitled Our God Reigns! and is taken from 2 Kings 1-19.  He is a God of surprises. True. But He is also a God of His Word. He will never contradict Himself or go against His Written Word. We will be talking about Ahab & Jezebel, Elijah, Elisha, Naaman, and a host of other characters. I invite you to join us in person at 9:00 and 10:45. We also live stream both services if you are unable to be with us in person. You can send a request to join our Facebook Group at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship or view our public page at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship-Spencer, In. Or you can watch via YouTube at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship. I look forward to seeing you or hearing from you online. And let me ask you to do me a favor: please let us know you are watching and then feel free to comment-yay or nay. If you have any questions, please ask and I will get back to you. Thanks. And thanks for praying for us.

Burning Hearts -April 20

Friday, April 18th, 2025

 

RESURRECTION SUNDAY!

 

The crucifixion of Christ was supposed to be Satan’s final act of devastation and death to Jesus. But He didn’t know the God who was in charge and the power He had!  Jesus gave his life on a cross, was buried in the tomb, and God raised Him to life where Corinthians tells us He conquered death, hell, and the grave.

So…how does a pastor preach a Resurrection sermon from I King 3-22?  If you read that passage it is Solomon’s building of the Temple in Jerusalem. I decided to simply go with Solomon’s prayer to start with and preach on God is Not Limited by: 1)  a building; 2) our idols; 3) our religion.  I’m going to finish up with GOD IS OUR ONE TRUE HOPE.

Sadly, we live in a hopeless and sadness-filled culture. There are so many who just give up and quit. They check out mentally, socially, and more tragically, permanently, because they have lost hope. They have lost hope and all meaning to life.  That is why the resurrection of Christ from the dead, the greatest event in history, is so essential. It gives hope beyond the grave. It gives hope when all hope is lost. It gives hope when life says, “Let’s end this pain and misery.”

Please join us Sunday at 10:00. If you able to in person, we will be meeting at Abram Event Venue (next door) in order for us to worship together as one body. Parking is limited so you can park at the church parking lot and be shuttled there. If you watch the live stream, we will be live at 10:00. Please join our live stream via our Facebook or YouTube channel. You can send a request to join our Facebook Group at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship or view our public page at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship-Spencer, In. Or you can watch via YouTube at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship. I look forward to seeing you or hearing from you online. And let me ask you to do me a favor: please let us know you are watching and then feel free to comment-yay or nay. If you have any questions, please ask and I will get back to you. Thanks. And thanks for praying for us.

Burning Hearts – April 13

Friday, April 11th, 2025

I talked a little bit about the life of David last week. This week I’m going to take a deeper dive into his life. In fact, last week I compared Saul to David-the arrogance of Saul vs the humility of David. (You can catch that sermon on YouTube). Last week was a really strange week due to having to cancel in person services because of the flooding in our area and the county commissioners putting us on a RED travel alert. A RED meant only emergency personnel were to be on the roads.  Since I live 2 miles from the church building and it is all highway, I was able to come to the office and prepare for a live stream. But we chose to err on the side of caution and ask people to stay home.

This week will different. Not only will be meeting in person-Lord willing- my main focus will be on David. I’ll start by looking at Psalm 139 (a fantastic passage that blows the abortion advocates out of the water that the baby is just a blob of tissue), then move onto specific actions in David’s life. I’ve titled the sermon Hero and Zero because David was both. Specific actions in his life show him as a hero; specific actions show him as a zero (not worthless but a mistake-maker).

One of the things I like about the Bible is that it paints people as people-warts and all. No whitewashing. No skipping over the bad parts. David is no different from me. I’d like to invite you to join us in person at 9:00 and 10:45 AM. If you are unable to, please join us via our live stream via our Facebook or YouTube channel. You can send a request to join our Facebook Group at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship or view our public page at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship-Spencer, In. Or you can watch via YouTube at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship. I look forward to seeing you or hearing from you online. And let me ask you to do me a favor: please let us know you are watching and then feel free to comment-yay or nay. If you have any questions, please ask and I will get back to you. Thanks. And thanks for praying for us.