Sumas A.C. Church - Sermons

Luke 18:35-43 ~ The Kingdom of Misfits ~ Carl Crouse

6/4/2018

I don’t know what it would be like to see for the first time… however, here’s a glimpse of what it is like to hear for the first time… Lisa has given permission to show her favorite video…she never tires of it. A 4 year old clip from ABC News starring David…

A blind man is a central character in today’s message. The blind man, a misfit of society, is my hero. This blind man should be seen as one of the greatest civil rights leaders in history! He seeks to undo a thousand years of discrimination! The blind man is the Rosa Parks of Jesus’ day. Just as she refused to give up her seat, so the blind man refused to be silent when Jesus was passing by. Let me explain….

In Luke 18 people are coming to Jesus with faith (or lack of). Luke 18 is filled with surprises: those that seem far away from God are near and those that seem like they should be near are far away. God’s Kingdom is a Kingdom of misfits! I love a quote by Hubert Humphrey. The quote is about the moral test of government but I am changing the quote from “government” to “Christianity”: “…the moral test of [Christianity] is how [people of faith treat] those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.”

Luke 18:31-34 ~ Who Jesus Died For ~ Pastor Chad Hammond

6/4/2018

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Luke 18:18-30 ~ Identity Crisis ~ Carl Crouse

5/22/2018

“The two most important days in a person’s life are the day they were born,
and the day they find out why." — John Maxwell

We are wired to have purpose… any search for purpose apart from God is a dead end… a deep relationship with God including an acceptance of Jesus Christ who died for our sins and was raised to new life, is humbling. Christ alone gives purpose. To embrace Christ is to set your life on the path of your greatest purpose!

Today’s scripture: a man trying to figure out who he is… Mathew, Mark and Luke include this story in their gospels… only Luke tells us he is a RULER.

Often, during a crisis, we question our identity… a death, illness, graduation is a crisis…. A wedding is a crisis because it is letting go of what was and leaping into the unknown. I like this silly testimony of a young husband who forgot he was married. The day after the newlyweds returned from their honeymoon, the husband was 3 hours late getting home from the office. Dinner was burned—and his bride was burning mad. He had absentmindedly gone to his mother’s house!

Luke 18:15-17 ~ Welcoming the Vulnerable ~ Chad Hammond

5/17/2018

Luke 18:9-14 ~ Not everything is as it seems ~ Pastor Carl

5/8/2018

This is a parable/story with the main message upfront READ Luke 18:9: the Pharisee promotes himself based on how much better he is than the tax collector… we are wrong to base our salvation on how terrific we are compared to others…

I want to focus on two lessons drawn from this scripture. #1, salvation is based on God’s mercy, not our good works/accomplishments. #2 a new way of thinking about ourselves and others, to put into practice that not everyone is as they appear.

First lesson: Salvation is only found when we turn to God asking for Him to forgive our sins. The Pharisee lists the good things he does: fasting and tithing. Those are good things. And the bad things the other people do are bad things: robbery, evildoing, adultery… The problem: nobody is good enough to deserve the salvation of God.

Luke 18:1-8 ~ Prayer for Justice ~ Chad Hammond

5/2/2018

Colossians 4:7-18 ~ Hurray for the Church Family ~ Carl Crouse

4/25/2018

Hurray for the Church family! There’s an old song, “I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God…” I like the song. It’s one of those songs where for a time some churches ended every service with it… I’d like to rewrite the song a bit ~~~ I am so glad I’m part of the crazy, whacked out, oddball, Church family. I’ve only known a church family. The Crouses were rather small since my father came from Maine and my mother was a Pasadena~Seattle person…so to me, the church family was family… I think of myself as growing up with several dozen grammas from scowling Clara, to eagle eye Ruth Hill, no nonsense Nora, and loving Arvilla…

I love the church family, not only SACC but the family that goes far beyond this congregation….One verse I absolutely love because it brings definition to the church family is Rom. 10:9, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.” Jesus is Lord and Jesus is Alive is the only test of faith ~ you believe and practice that truth and you are part of the family of God. We may have all sorts of disagreements on details of what the bible teaches, but if we agree Jesus is Lord and he is Alive then we are brothers and sisters in Christ. I am so glad I am part of the crazy, insane, odd ball family of God.

Colossians 4:2-6 ~ Pray with Eyes Wide Open ~ Pastor Carl Crouse

4/19/2018

The video below is the entire worship service on April 15, '18. The sermon begins about minute 28:35.

Last Sunday Chad spoke about the imperatives of Col. 3/ commands ~~~ what we can become in Christ… Don’t settle by saying, “that’s just the way I am,” but look at this list as what Christ believes you can become…

One paragraph in Col. 3 describes how Christ gives us freedom from earthly values (Col. 3:5-11) putting to death anger, lying and gossip….
Another paragraph (Col. 3:12-14) is a mini Fruit of the Spirit, godly qualities that form our character.
The next paragraph is living for Christ (Col. 3:15-17)
and finally a new way of thinking and behaving in personal relationships in the family and other relationships (Col. 3:18-4:1). What Paul writes about family relationships is radically different from the culture of the day in which there was a hierarchy…e.g., to tell husbands to love their wives is not the norm of the day…col. 4:1 is radical to say a Master is to care about the slave (or in our culture the closest we can get, I think, is boss and employee).

Next week: “Hurray for the Church Family.” 10-15 minutes of sermon time celebrating the church family ~~ testimonies of why you appreciate the church family. more than because you love the people or find encouragement, how you are a different person. Look through Col. 3, it talks about forgiveness for example, did you find a weight lifted, how have you changed, how are you a different person… What has been put to death in your life? Is the fruit of the spirit of God taking root? Have you found peace? Is your marriage better as a Christian? As a parent what difference does Christ make? At work? ….

Memorial Service ~ Leona Bos ~ April 7, 2018

4/10/2018

11:00 congregation "How Great Thou Art"
Welcome: Pastor Aaron
Prayer: Pastor Aaron
DVD of pictures

Scripture Reading: Matthew 6:19-21
Message: Pastor Carl
Leona Bos was a woman of tremendous faith. She loved her family, life in Sumas, but above all, her greatest testimony is her faith. I’ve seen her a lot the past ten years. I so much appreciate her love for this life, AND her longing for heaven. Life was precious to her. Did any mother love her children more? A highlight of my time with her: after Kelsey’s second child was born in Kentucky I happen to drop in and see her at Meadow Greens and was able to make a connection on FaceTime so Leona could see her newest (at the time) great grandchild… She was so overjoyed, I think she thought she was in heaven.

Colossians 3:1-4:1 ~ Life in Christ means Changes in your Life ~ Pastor Chad Hammond

4/10/2018

Easter Worship Service April 1, 2018

4/4/2018

Two Devotionals from Col. 2:13-15:
Nailed the Cross ~~~ Alive with Christ

The video is of the entire service. Enjoy.

Devotional #1 “Nailed to the Cross” READ Col. 2:13-14

I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior. Jesus died for my sins, and rose again. I am alive in Christ because my sins are forgiven. (REPEAT) The first step in becoming a Christian is to leave your old life so that you can become a new person. I love the powerful image presented in this scripture of my sins being nailed to the cross of Jesus Christ. Col. 2:13-14 is filled with past statements.

you were dead in your sins…
He forgave… taken away sin
cancelled the charges, ever had a debt that was forgiven… The only way to have an amazing today and tomorrow is to let go of the past…

These words are written so we will understand with our head and heart that Jesus went to the cross to take away our sins…. Do any of you live with feelings of guilt? Patterns that keep you from getting closer to God? Do you feel like you are chained to old habits, past sins. Guilt is a burden our heavenly father does not want us to carry.

Sunrise Service, April 1, 2018 ~ Jodi Hammond speaker

4/4/2018

It was a cold and windy day, but not raining, so we went ahead and gathered outdoors to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!

Memorial Service for Yesenia Rios ~ March 31, '18

4/4/2018

(Note: the video for some unknown reason starts out sideways, but is turned the right way about a minute and a half into the service. Be patient.

Scripture ~ Eph. 2:4-9
Devotional ~ Nobody quite like Yesenia…. I first met her in the Nooksack A.C. Church when I began as a young pastor, and Yesenia was in the Youth group. I have always appreciated her honesty… her boldness… her desire to be her own person. I have never forgotten early on how Yesenia explained to me that she was not ready to be a Christian because she knew that that meant changes and she wasn’t ready to make those changes…. Fast forward 27 years. Hospice house for two months… especially the first month when she had a measure of strength. As we listened to her talk about Jesus Christ and eternal life, she said she’s always struggled with wanting to do things her way, wanting to be a good person, but she had learned to accept that eternal life is only because of God’s grace. We cannot be good enough.

Why I Love Jesus and the Church ~ Colossians 2:18-23 ~ Carl Crouse

3/25/2018

Grow in your faith ~ a major emphasis in Colossians ~ you are either going forward or backward in the things of God, Go Forward in faith. A modern trends is for people to say they love Jesus but reject the church. That is not the message of the book of Colossians (or the N.T. or Jesus).

I found an article in Christianity today published a year ago, “Just give me Jesus: A Closer Look at Christians Who Don’t Go to Church.” ((http://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2017/april/love-jesus-not-church-barna-spiritual-but-not-religious.html)
One Research Group says 10% of America is in the “I love Jesus but not the church” crowd./// Many see themselves as followers of Jesus but don’t want to identify as Christians, “Christ followers” is one term, or Christian with a disclaimer such as “but I’m not close-minded.” Or “I’m not homophobic.” “I love Jesus but not the church” speaks for many…

83% of Jesus but not the church crowd spends time in prayer compared to 98% of evangelicals.
Bible reading? 26% to 82%.
Meditation: 20% for the Jesus but not Church people and 5% for evangelicals.
67% of evangelicals say they often talk about spiritual matters with friends compared to 18% of Jesus but not the church people.
100% of evangelicals say there is only one God while 93% of Jesus but not the church people.

Forward in Faith, Not Backward ~ Colossians 2:16-19 ~ Carl Crouse

3/18/2018

One of my greatest joys this past week has been to watch Rowan, my grandson, learn to walk…. Sally is in Grants Pass the past week with Esther, Wesley and Rowan. Most days I’ve spent some time video chatting. Rowan is wobbly when he walks... His balance needs improvement but put him behind his little scooter with handles like a shopping cart, and he charges all over the house. He knows one direction: FORWARD. He doesn’t know backwards. He doesn’t know how to turn. FORWARD it is// till he runs into the wall, the table, gramma, the dog…then somebody turns the scooter and FORWARD he goes again….

There is not a Christian alive that does not want to go forward in their faith. YOU would not be here if you did not want that… Maybe some have given up, disappoint-ments, stuck in a rut. It’s amazing how many people I speak to that can relate to the word STUCK… stuck in a situation… The problem comes as we march forward, trusting God, believing his promises, looking to him for daily decisions, finding rest and peace in Him, then boom, we run into a wall, we run into the cat…and we don’t know how to turn, we don’t know how to get back on track…