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God’s Imperfect Family: King Asa ~ 2 Chron. 14:1-8~ Carl Crouse

12/5/2018

Prov. 3:5-6: NIV: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

In order to understand the Bible, it helps to understand what sort of writing you are reading. The O.T. has many straight forward stories. Sometimes there is commentary to make the lessons obvious, but often it is left up to us determine how to apply it…Today, as we continue character studies from genealogy of Jesus in Matt. 1, we come to King Asa. Last week I handed out list of Kings of Judah and Israel… if you don’t have one….

As I read through the story of Asa, his story is one of Trusting God. Prov. 3:5-6 makes a wonderful caption. His kingship is a living example of great trust, but towards the end of his life, he abandons his faith and “leans on his own understanding.” Many of Jesus’ family/ancestors are people of faith who trust the Lord, but often those same people show an imperfect faith and drift away from God. Sounds like us.

God's Imperfect Family: King Abijah (Plus overview of the Kings of Judah and Israel) ~ 2 Chron. 13:4-12 ~ Carl Crouse

11/27/2018

A broken clock is right twice a day. That is a fitting saying to describe King Abijam (or Abijah). Abijah is said to be evil in 1 Kings 15, yet in the one story recorded about him in 2 Chron. 13, he shows remarkable spiritual insight.

Today we continue a series from Jesus’ genealogy as listed in Matt. 1, God’s imperfect family. The genealogy is divided into three sections, we’re in the middle section, the Kings. Before we look at King Abijah, I thought it would be helpful to show the big picture of what’s going on at this point in history. Hand-out of the Kings of Israel/Judah…. (plus a smaller cheat sheet to tuck in your Bible. BTW, I have also decided that next year for the CBS we’ll study the Kings of Judah and Israel)

"As the Deer" ~ Psalm 42, Chad Hammond

11/20/2018

God's Imperfect Family: Ruth and Boaz ~ Carl Crouse

11/4/2018

A farmer was so discouraged with his farm? He decided it was time to sell and start over. The farmer hired a realtor. Before putting it in the paper the realtor called & read the ad to the farmer he’d written. The ad spoke of a good location, a well maintained house, sturdy barns, lush pasture lands, a beautiful pond, fertile soil, & a great view. The farmer listened carefully then said, "Read that to me again, slowly." So the realtor read it to him again. Finally, the farmer said, “No, don’t print that ad. I’ve changed my mind. I’m not going to sell. I’ve always wanted a place like that."

Look for the good. Today we continue flipping the pages of Jesus’ family album, some crazy folks in his family tree. The story of Ruth and Boaz, however, provides some sanity… good people. Solid people.

Look for the good. There is a lot of ugliness in our world, uncertainty, badness, confusion… all real. God always provides a thread of redemption, a promise kept, signs that all will be right. Wonderful stories of goodness have emerged from WWII. ~ everyone knows the human tragedy of 6 million Jews killed, 6 or 700,000 American soldiers. Collectively from all countries an estimate of 60 million people. Against that backdrop, how sweet the story of Corrie Ten Boom whose father hid Jews, Schindlers list who risked so much, then there is Nicholas Winton ~ (View the Video below)

God's Imperfect Family: Rahab ~ Joshua 2, 6 ~ Carl Crouse

11/2/2018

I love Rahab ~ Rahab the Prostitute ~ she is the next family member in Jesus’ genealogy leading up to Jesus from Matt. 1 (READ Matt. 1:5-6). Rahab has some similarities to Tamar, but it’s not hard to find different lessons… Rahab is married into the family of Jesus, she is like a favorite aunt that is more colorful than the blood uncle…. Rahab helps puts family into perspective… she is a gentile woman, unexpected inclusion, yet a wonderful example of what it means to live your faith. Some folks question if the Rahab in Matt. 1 is the same Rahab that is also in the beginning part of the book of Joshua. To me there is no doubt the same; Matt only lists woman where we know something of their story… Matthew wants us to understand Jesus family is imperfect, yet God redeems them and uses them to his glory anyway!

A big lesson today: Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.

God's Imperfect Family: Judah and Tamar (Character Studies from Jesus' Genealogy in Matt. 1) ~ Pastor Carl Crouse

10/17/2018

Jesus is born into an imperfect family! Sermons this Fall from Jesus genealogy in Matt. 1…. Today, Judah… a rough character. However, Judah is broken and redeemed by God! Many people want wholeness, they want change in their life, but instead of brokenness, they try to dig in their heels and do better…I heard about one woman in the community this week deep into drugs and she said all she needs is a week in a safe place away from drama and she’ll be fine…. Trying hard to be better never works. The God way to a new life is brokenness. Judah is a great sinner that is broken and transformed. Ecclesiastes 3:11 makes a wonderful caption for the Judah story: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”

God's Imperfect Family: Jacob ~ Pastor Chad

10/9/2018

An Alternate Model of Prayer ~ George Teshera ~ 8-29-1992

10/2/2018

This is a service from 1992 (back when everything was recorded onto cassette) led by George and Beverly Teshera. Recently digitized, we are now making this available to anyone who is interested. On this particular Sunday, Geroge and Bev led the entire service, not just the sermon. Because of this, you get to hear George lead the announcement and prayer times and Bev lead singing (with, one assumes, Billie Van Diest on the organ). There are places where the audio was very quiet because the person speaking wasn't using a mic, so those were amplified so that the listener can hear them better. However, the process used amplifies the background static as well. The tape is broken up into five parts to make the files small enough to upload to the website. As a bonus, at the end of Part 5, there is an impromptu Q&A session that was not done using the mic but still picked up where George talks about the current political climate surrounding the then upcoming elections.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

God’s Imperfect Family: Isaac ~ Gen. 21:1-7 ~ Carl Crouse

10/2/2018

Nobody is perfect, except one, his name is Jesus…

But the family of Jesus is imperfect! In Matt. 1 is listed a genealogy of family members beginning with Abraham and ending with the birth of Jesus Christ. This is the imperfect family of Jesus Christ. Good thing because we sinners who have embraced Christ Jesus as the only way to find wholeness are also members of God’s family.

This Fall the messages are select character studies from members of God’s imperfect family. If God can bless and use these crazy folks, then there is hope for us!

Today: Isaac. Isaac is the joke of the Bible. Gen. 17 details the background to Isaac’s birth. His father Abraham had been promised by God his heirs would become a nation and all nations would be blessed. The problem is Abraham and Sarah were getting older and still no children. When an angel appeared to Abraham and Sarah and told them she was going to give birth to a son, this is the response: READ Gen. 18:11-15. She thought it was all a bad joke! Isaac means laughter.

God's imperfect Family: Introduction ~ Matthew 1:1-17 ~ Carl Crouse

10/2/2018

I like family history. What I really like, though, are stories. A name with no story doesn’t mean a lot to me… recently my mother decided to hand out her photo albums. Here’s one of the stories… put together by my grandmother, my father’s mother.   Hazel’s father was Cecil Grant. (Pictures). He died in 1907 at the age of 25. Imagine that… this great grandparent of mine died 111 years ago. Here’s a bit of His Story…
            Family stories are important… roots… where you came from…

Chad and I have decided to preach a series of messages this Fall on the stories of Jesus family… the past generations, taken from the genealogy of Jesus in the book of Matthew. God’s imperfect Family. Many of the names are not just names, they are real people with stories, the stories lead to the birth of Jesus. In this photo book from my grandmother I can go back to the civil war… Jesus family history goes directly back to Abraham, in Matthew’s version, in Luke the family names go back to Adam... The series of messages between now and the end of the year are character studies/stories, real people. We know a ton about many of the characters in Jesus’ imperfect family, someday I imagine we’ll do a whole series on Abraham/David, for example, others are just a name only found lists.

Isaiah 57:15 ~ Where is God Not? (Omnipresence) ~ Carl Crouse

9/10/2018

“A heathen philosopher once asked, ‘Where is God?’ The Christian answered: ‘Let me first ask you, where is He not?’” (John Arrowsmith).
Today’s message explores the third and final of the “omni” attributes of God. Omni means ALL. Comprehensive. Complete.

Omniscience means God knows everything there is to know about everything.
Omnipotence means he has all power to do all things.
Omnipresence, theme of today’s message, means he is everywhere at all times.

“Where is God” asks the skeptic? “Where is he not” answers the one who believes. Thomas Watson said it this way: “God’s center is everywhere, His circumference nowhere.”

Isaiah 57:15 describes God’s Omnipresence in a simple way as well as any scripture. READ. God is high and lifted up ~ the God of the heavens, whose footstool is the earth, God is far and above us in everyway, yet he is personal, he is here among us, he is in my life, he is near. You can see both… we can sing songs of the Majesty of Christ, as high as the heavens beside songs such as, What a Friend we have in Jesus. He is both because the Lord is Almighty residing in the heavens, but he is near he is here!

Omnipotence of God ~ Jeremiah 32 selections ~ Carl Crouse

9/1/2018

God is all POWERFUL…Is. 40:28: Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary.

The unlimited, infinite power of God is most often translated, “ALMIGHTY”. Over 345 times. The big word ~ OMNIPOTENT. Only one time in scripture, in one translation, the old KJV, is the word omnipotent used. a central theme in Handel’s Messiah, Rev. 19:6: The Apostle John heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and loud peals of thunder shouting out: “For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”

I will forever have in my mind the late 70’s climbing the southern route of Mt. Baker. In those days the steam vents in the crater of Mt. Baker were active with fears of the Mt. preparing to erupt. The crater is located 400 yards down on the south side…the Southern Climbing Route puts you on the rim of the crater. I will forever remember the active steam vents, the powerful smell of the sulfur, and being mesmerized by one powerful steam vent pounding out of the crater floor. The sound of a 1000 locomotives…

How much more the almighty power of God, “…like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.” Psalm 89:8

The Trinity ~ Pastor Chad Hammond

8/26/2018

Apologies for the sideways recording. Mistakes happen!

God Knows Everything (Omniscience) ~ Psalm 139 ~ Carl Crouse

8/21/2018

GOD KNOWS EVERYTHING! //// A simple statement you accept as true or reject as not true: God knows everything! The theological word for this teaching is Omniscience ~ “omni” means ALL and “science” means KNOWLEDGE. God is OMNISCIENT (as we get started, a word puzzle on back of the order of service… for those that can multi-task, how many names can you find?…it will come towards the end….)

Chad & I are spending a few weeks on attributes of God. Last week Chad spoke on how God is so beyond our understanding scripture has seemingly contradictory truths. Ps. 139:6 accentuates God’s unfathomable character: READ Ps. 139:6…. We cannot fully understand. Today I want to scratch the surface of God’s omnipotence.

God Incomprehensible ~ Chad Hammond

8/21/2018