Daniel Study / Sunday Sermons

From Disillusionment to Joy

“He is Risen!” was not the first words some of the disciples said when they heard about the empty tomb.  Most were saying “He is Missing!”.  Maybe that is how you feel sometimes.  Sometimes  we expect God to show up in a certain way: heal a friend, fix a problem, calm this chaotic world.  Sometimes He does just what we hoped but sometimes He doesn’t.  Does it mean He is missing?  Has He failed?  Does He not really care? That is how many of the disciples felt.  Their world was turned upside down when they saw Him die on the …

Sunday Sermons

What is God doing in the Northeast?

Today we are excited to have with us Dan Nichols of the Northeast Collaborative.  Dan is going to share with us the vision and work of the Northeast Collaborative, telling us about the exciting things God is doing in and through churches in our region.  He will be making his main ministry presentation in the Sunday School hour, then tell us more in the morning service and encouraging us from God’s Word. Join us here for the morning service or come on out to Sunday School at 9:30 to catch everything in person!

From the Pastor's Desk / Sunday Sermons

Acknowledging the Conflict With Hope

It is easy to forget that God calls us to be salt and light in this world.  Christ followers can become jaded to the sin and depravity of  the culture and miss how far status quo is from the lifestyle  God calls us to.  Many have done this and find themselves a long way from God’s standard and quite similar to the world’s.  They have lost the distinctiveness of a holy lifestyle that points the way to God. There is also another extreme we can go to, and that is feeling hopeless and helpless to make a difference.  We wonder …

From the Pastor's Desk / Sunday Sermons

What’s in My Future?

Have you ever wondered what the future held?  Being able to answer that has been the plotline of many stories, TV shows, and movies.  Sometimes it would be very convenient to know what tomorrow holds, sometimes it would be horrible. Only one really knows the future, whether we are speaking of our personal future or the future of the world, and that one is God.  Astrologers and mystics pretend to, but only God knows for sure.  He does not just “see” the future, but He controls the future (Isaiah 46:9-10).  Not only that, He has revealed some glimpses of it …

Daniel Study / Sunday Sermons

Customs and Convictions

Probably the most familiar story from the book of Daniel is his rescue from the lions den.  Are you familiar with it?  Daniel’s excellence gets him a promotion and that brings great jealousy among his peers.  They set out to ruin him but the job is hard because he is too good so they… you’ll just have to join us to hear the whole story. The message today, however, is not just telling a great, true story, it’s about what we can learn from it.  How we respond in a tough situation has everything to do with our character and …

Daniel Study / From the Pastor's Desk / Sunday Sermons

Learning from other’s mistakes . . . or not

George Santayana said: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.  It might be more accurate to say, “Those who don’t learn from the past are condemned to repeat it” because it is possible to know something without really benefitting from that knowledge.  I’m afraid I can testify that it happens a lot.  It is not good enough to know, we have to act on what we know. In Daniel 4 we saw Nebuchadnezzar learn a very important lesson by a very difficult means.  God had to drive him from the throne with a bout of insanity …

Daniel Study / From the Pastor's Desk / Sunday Sermons

How do you handle success?

We often hear that difficult times are what reveals a person’s true character, but I think that prosperous times might be just as telling, just as likely to produce a fall.  How a person handles success and prosperity is just as telling of there character than how they handle a trial.  Maybe more so. In the midst of a trial, we feel our weaknesses and they often drive us to help. In the midst of successes, however, we tend to only see our strengths and accomplishments and can be blind to dangerous weaknesses and tendencies that may ruin us.  This …

Fun Stuff

Taking the Good News to Children

But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14 NKJV) This passage emphasizes the high view Jesus had of children and the importance of us having the same.  Jesus loves kids and calls us to care for them and nourish them, not just physically and emotionally, but spiritually also.  Many times adults look at the children’s ministries of the church as something that is done simply as a practical matter to give the adults some peace and quite in the “big people’s church”, but …

Fun Stuff

Getting the Word Out

It’s extremely valuable and meant for everyone; but some countries don’t allow it.  In spite of it’s universal nature, some countries can’t get it.  Here in America, however, it can be found free online or for $1 at your local Dollar Tree.  What is it?  God’s Word, the Bible. We often don’t realize the treasure that we hold in our hands and the amazing, life-giving, life-changing message it holds.  Today, our guest speaker is going to share with us some of the ways God’s Word has changed lives and tell us about the opportunities we have to help get a …

Daniel Study / Sunday Sermons

In Your Eyes, How Big is Your God?

One way we know very quickly how big our God is to us is when we have to chose between Him and something else, especially if that something else is our life. In America, in our lifetimes, it has been very rare that someone has had to choose between their allegiance to God and their life.  It has happened, but it has been rare.  More often, we have to chose on a much smaller scale how important, how big, our God is to us, but how we answer the little questions indicate how we would answer the big one. In …