Daniel Study / Sunday Sermons

Daniel – Living Godly in an Ungodly World

Imagine the world as you know it crashing down all around you.  One of your best kings just died in battle 3 years ago and his son who is now ruling is lousy.  Your country is being defeated and you have been taken away as a conquest of war.  All the while your God is just allowing this to happen and doing nothing to stop it.  What would you do? Daniel was in such a place, and he responded by remaining faithful to His God, obeying Him, and making wise choices even when it put him in danger.  He trusted …

Fun Stuff

Immanuel – God With Us

What kind of God do you have?  A distant God?  A detached God?  A God who is mostly confined to Sunday morning church services? The story of Christmas is the factual account of how the Creator God of the universe  became part of His creation by taking on human form.  It is the account of how He humbled Himself to not only rescue us from our slavery to sin and certain damnation, but to give us new life, to give us purpose, and to be with us. Can you comprehend the awesomeness of that last statement? God chose to be …

Sunday Sermons

Christmas Eve

Are you enjoying this Christmas season?  Have you been able to spend much time thinking about the real reason behind it all?  There is a lot that can keep us from enjoying the season or remembering the reason for it, especially in 2020! Take a minute out of all your busyness and join us for an opportunity to reflect on the real Christmas story.  I love the many different performances of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”, “The Polar Express” is fun to watch, and “The Grinch” has always been a favorite, but none of those really speak to the reason we …

Sunday Sermons

Delay and Inconvenience at Christmas

How many of you have had packages or mail delayed this last month or two?  Have you noticed how long even a letter can take to get from sender to recipient?  I was talking to someone the other day who was an office manager and they said that it is taking 10-15 days for letters to be received.  How do you feel about that?  Do you like waiting?  Does anybody like delays? How about convenience?  Is that important to you?  How has this year worked out with that?  Been a little bit of an inconvenience?  Nothing wrecks plans like a …

From the Pastor's Desk / Sunday Sermons

The Mystery of the Star

It is possible, that when Christmas time comes and you listen or come to a church service, that you think to yourself “I already know this by heart”  You might even think to yourself that you might get bored today, because you already know this so well. I hope to show you today that there is much, much more to the Christmas story than what first meets the eye in the opening chapters of Matthew and Luke.  Today’s message will get you thinking about one of my favorite features (apart from Jesus Himself) of the Christmas story – the star.  …

Sunday Sermons

Peace on Earth?

What do you think of when you here the word “Peace”? Peace is complex and multi-faceted.  Do you think in  terms of political peace or inner peace? Maybe national peace?  We could go on and on talking about what peace means.  Today, I want  to share with you some things that the Bible says about peace.  I will discuss four categories of peace, talk about which one is the most important, and most of all, how we can achieve peace. Jesus is called the “Prince of Peace” so I think it is fitting we will look at what that means …

Sunday Sermons

Finding Hope In Prayer

Our hope is only as good as what it is in.  When what we hope in fails us, we are devested, wrecked, and may not recover.  It is so important to take an honest look at what our hope is in and what are we hoping for.  There is only one sure hope, and it is Jesus Christ.  He needs to be where our hope is.  Many of you reading this may already know that, but let me ask you that other question, “What are you hoping for?”  You may say you have hope in Jesus, but what do you …

Sunday Sermons

The Need to Give Thanks

Are you a glass half full-person or glass half-empty?  Some of that is related to personality, I realize.  Just going around optimistic all the time may sometimes be more about ignorance and avoidance than virtue (according to the pessimist), but being thankful is a choice.  Being thankful is not thinking everything will work out right.  Being thankful should not be contingent on a perfect world or a perfect situation in your world.  Giving  thanks is a choice to acknowledge the blessings we have, even when they exist together with many troubles.  More than that, giving thanks does something in our …

Fun Stuff / Sunday Sermons

Shoebox Sunday!

Join us today as we celebrate Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Sunday here at Elimsport!  This a a kid-centered event with upbeat songs from previous Vacation Bible Schools and other special elements designed with kids in mind.  We will be learning more about Samaritan’s Purse OCC program, watch a recorded testimony of how a shoebox changed the life of a Filipino girl, and then spend some time praying for God to bless and use our shoeboxes in great ways.  I hope you can join us!

Fun Stuff

Living By Truth

I was reading over some of my daughters notes from her class on conflict resolution.  I was struck by all the ways that we as humans can be different from each other:  Different in gender, different regarding our family of origin and its structure,  different regarding our culture and ethnicity, different in temperament, different in skills, different in social status, and on and on the list goes.  These differences make us look at our world differently and interact with it differently.  It also makes it hard to determine what is truth and what is just my perspective?  What should be …