Pastor Joel Leyrer - The Seventh Sunday After Pentecost - Sunday, July 28, 2019

Text: Matthew 6:25-34

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Dear Friends in Christ,  We’ll begin with very little introduction other than to say today we’ve reached the mid-point in our examination of the Lord’s Prayer. We’ve looked at the address and the first three petitions thus far, and after today we will look at the final three plus the closing statement (referred to as the “doxology”). But our focus this morning is on this middle petition, where Jesus directs us to present this request before our Heavenly Father:

Pastor Kyle Bitter - The Sixth Sunday After Pentecost - Sunday, July 21, 2019

Text: 1 Kings 17:17-24

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In 1970, Spencer Silver was working in the 3M research facilities. He was trying to develop a stronger glue. He invented a new substance, but it was even weaker than the glue that 3M already sold. It stuck to things but could be easily lifted off. The substance seemed useless, but Spencer Silver didn’t throw it away.  Four years later, in 1974, Arthur Fry, another 3M engineer, was singing in the choir at his church. He was frustrated because every time he opened his hymnal, his page markers would fall on the ground. With a sudden flash of insight, Fry remembered Spencer’s uselessly weak glue. He put in on his book marks, and found that he could stick them to pages and un-stick them again without doing any damage. Thus, the post-it note was born (http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/postit.htm). Some inventions are made intentionally and by design when people see a problem and set about fixing it, but many many others come out of nowhere in a sudden flash of inspiration that allows a person to see ordinary things that have been there all along in a completely new way. 

Pastor Paul Lehninger - The Fifth Sunday After Pentecost - Sunday, July 14, 2019

Text: Luke 9:22-27

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            In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. In 1957, Viking Press published a book called On the Road.  It was written by Jack Kerouac, who with William S. Burroughs, Alan Ginsberg, and others, formed the core of what was called the “beat generation.”  Much to the original beat generation’s disappointment, this morphed in popular culture into the beatniks of the 1950s, with confusing connections to the hippies of the 1960s.  The book itself remains a classic, though, and is ranked number fifty-five of the one hundred best English language books of the 20^th century by the Modern Library.  Aside from all the sex, drugs, and aimlessness, at the heart of the book lies the theme of sojourn, quest, and longing, which the main character and his friends try to fulfill in various ways, although none of them very successfully.

Pastor Eric Schroeder - The Fourth Sunday After Pentecost - Sunday, July 7, 2019

Text: Matthew 13:31-33

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243 years ago, men from 13 British colonies gathered in Philadelphia to discuss a serious matter.  By the time they parted ways, they had changed the course of human history.   And they knew it, even back then.  John Adams, who would later serve as the second President of these newly founded United States of America, wrote a letter to his wife Abigail, in which he included these words: "The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America."  Why July 2^nd?  That’s when the actual vote to declare independence took place; July 4^th was the day the final wording of the Declaration of Independence was ratified. 

Pastor Kyle Bitter - The Third Sunday After Pentecost - Sunday, June 30, 2019

Text: Acts 9:36-42

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If your funeral were today, how do you think people would remember you?  How’s that for a morbid thought to start the day with?  But it is an interesting question, isn’t it?  I remember my grandfather’s funeral a number of years ago.  After the worship service, there was a meal at the church and gathering for family and friends.  And during that gathering, people shared various stories of experiences they had with my grandfather during his life.  I found it fascinating, because I think I learned more things about grandpa on that day than in the previous 25 years that I had known him.  There were a lot of people who had been affected by him over his nearly 80 years of life!  I’m guessing many of you have attended a funeral and have probably experienced something similar – when a person dies, it’s then that you have the chance to take stock of things and notice just how much God was accomplishing through them.  So what kinds of things would people remember about you?  What would people say about you?  In the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer, we pray, “Hallowed be your name.”  Will your life be remembered as one that brings honor and praise to God’s name?  So what kids of things would people remember about you?