Orchard Community Church Sermon Audio

When we became followers of Christ, we began to look at the world differently. Almost as if we were given brand new eyes to see with. The way we view our culture and the world changes when Christ comes into our lives. But in a sermon titled "Spiritual Blindness" we look at an encounter between a physically blind man and Jesus that shines a light on how even the believer can become blind to how God is moving in our world. How can we avoid becoming blind? How can w...

We conclude our sermon series on the local church called "A Peculiar Unity" by looking at Ephesians 3:20-21 in a sermon titled "The Power and the Glory." There are times throughout history when having faith in Jesus has not been popular. Followers of Jesus face persecution and ridicule. It is easy to get discouraged and feel like being a Christian and being part of the church just isn't worth it. We wonder how much longer the church will exist in this crazy and messed ...

We continue our sermon series called "A Peculiar Unity" where we are looking at the importance of the local church in God's plans. In a sermon called "Guardrails," we look at how our unity must be shaped by a common mission and shared values as we look at the mission statement and core values of Orchard. I hope we are all be challenged to make sure our own lives are in line with these important principles as well as working together to keep the focus of our church on track as well.

I remember as a kid watching reruns of the show called "The Lone Ranger." Just the title gives away the basic idea which is that there is one person, who is all by himself, taking on the world. Of course, he wasn't actually all by himself as he had help along the way. But our culture today values the idea of a person who does not need anyone and is able to take on the world all by themselves. Yet we all feel the need for help along the way. No one can truly be a Lone Ranger....

If we want a cup of coffee, we have a lot of different places to go. We can go to Tim Hortons one day, McDonalds on another day, and then Starbucks on another day. There is nothing wrong with this. But what if we have this attitude toward the church? There should be a difference between our attitude toward our place for coffee and our local church. The key difference is commitment. This sermon is called "Committed to One Another" and looks at what it means...

There are many ways to be united with other people. You can find others who are just like you. You can find others who like the same things you like. You can find people who hate the same things you hate. But at some point something can change. Maybe you don't like or hate the same things anymore. What happens to the unity then? If our unity is dependent on our sameness with other people then the unity falls apart when we realize we are not completely...

"When God wanted to bring the incredible message about new life through His Son’s death and resurrection to the world, He didn’t create a program, build a structure, or start a country. He used a group of people. Though these people were different from each other and were each flawed, what joined them together was that they had been changed by Jesus." I wrote these words when I first came to Orchard in order to have something to put on our website to explain to people what Orchard is al...

We celebrate the most important, history-changing, life-altering event in the history of humanity. It is impossible to overstate the magnitude of the impact of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and His resurrection from the grave. We look at the greatest problem of humanity, the greatest act of love ever committed, the most profound act of both justice and mercy, the most life changing truth, the most agonizing death, and the greatest hope ever offered. No, it is simply...

There comes a point in a journey when you are almost to your destination. When the journey is long, that time when you are almost there is both exciting and agonizing. You long to be where you are going, but you still have a little ways to go before you get there. We conclude our sermon series called "Are We There Yet? Glory, Grace and Grumbling in the Book of Numbers" by looking at Numbers 33-36 in a sermon called "Almost Home." We see that God promises his people tha...

There was a phrase I would often use with my kids as we pulled into whatever place we were going. It was the phrase, "Now, remember..." and then I would proceed to remind them about their manners, things they were allowed to do or not allowed to do, that they needed to stay where we could see them, or just anything that they needed to remember wherever we were. In Numbers chapter 33, God has Moses record all the places the Israelites camped between Egypt and the Promised Land.&nbs...

We look at a very difficult passage in the book of Numbers. In Numbers chapters 31 and 32 God's people are faced with several very difficult choices. Understanding these chapters for us is very difficult as well, since the issues facing God's people are very foreign to us. But by looking at the choices they made - some good, some not so good - we can better understand how we should approach difficult choices in our lives. In a sermon called "Difficult Choices" we look ...

The day I was leaving for college was a very memorable day because of the words my dad gave me. The conversation was direct and void of any waste. My dad wanted to give me some final advice before he dropped me off for college with the hope that I would remember some critical things to help me survive till I would see him again in November. What words would you give someone if time was short? Today, we look at a very similar situation where Paul, nearing the end of his...

We are forgetful people. This is why so often in the Old Testament God teaches His people to be intentional about remembering what He has done for them. In a sermon called "Intentional Remembering," we look at Numbers chapters 28-30 where God gives His people specific things to help them remember Him when they come into the Promised Land. We learn how we can build intentional remembering into our lives today.

Sometimes starting over is hard. You get to the end of a project and realize you made a mistake and you have to start over again. That can be frustrating. But sometimes starting over is exciting. You get a new beginning to avoid the mistakes you made the first time. In a sermon called "New Beginnings", we look at Numbers chapters 26 and 27 as part of our sermon series called "Are We There Yet? Glory, Grace and Grumbling in the Book of Numbers." In these two...

It is an amusing sight at a kids sporting event when someone takes the ball in the wrong direction and scores for the opposing team, but it would not be so funny if that happened this weekend in the Super Bowl! There comes a point when people understand what is at stake and should know better. In a sermon called "Helping the Enemy" we look at Numbers chapter 25. Here we see that while God fought for his people against those that wanted to cause them harm, the people end up i...

In this sermon we look at a classic story from the book of Numbers - the story of Balaam and his talking donkey. It reminds me of Sunday School stories as a kid or illustrated children's books. But the book of Numbers is no children's book and the account of Balaam is much more complicated and sinister than what we might typically teach to kids. In a sermon called "Wise Donkey, Foolish Prophet," we look at Numbers chapters 22 to 24 as we continue our sermon series call...

Where do we go when we need help? Where do we turn when things seem like they are falling apart? This sermon on Numbers 20:14 - 21:45 is titled "Look Up and Live" and looks at a time when the Israelites, once again, got themselves into trouble in the book of Numbers. God had done so much for them, yet again they grumble and complain against him. As we look at this convicting account of their sin, God's discipline and then God's amazing grace in saving his people ...

We struggle with wanting to be first. Or maybe just wanting to be right. Or just wanting others to think that we are right. Every aspect of our culture feeds the flame within us that says we are right and we should get what we want. This sermon looks at a very difficult passage in Numbers 20:1-13. We need to look carefully at these 13 verses because there is something here we need to take to heart. It is a warning that says be careful not to make it all abo...

We return to our sermon series "Are We There Yet? Glory, Grace, and Grumbling in the Book of Numbers." We are stepping back into the wilderness between Egypt and Israel where God's people struggled to accept God's grace at work in their lives. In a sermon called "Life in a World of Death" we look at Numbers chapter 19.

We follow our annual tradition of using the first Sunday of the new year to look at an overview of the entire bible. This sermon iis called "The Big Picture" and we see that in Scripture God gives us one big picture of who He is, who we are, the relationship that God has created us for, as well as His plan and work to make that relationship possible. Join us as we look at the big picture of the bible from Genesis to Revelation.