Christmas Sunday

Merry Christmas everyone! It was a wonderful Christmas service we had today, with lots of special music and then some guy got up and talked for a while ;-) I did manage to get most all of the service recorded, with the exception of the beginning. I forgot to bring my laptop over until after the service started, if you can imagine that!

Sermon, December 25
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Personal Jesus

What does Christmas have to do with atheism? Well, not a lot, really ;-) But perhaps the better question is: Why would an atheist attack Christmas? What particular threat does the Christmas story offer? The birth of Jesus is the story of a personal Savior, sent into our world in real history. That's a pretty major statement, and one that we explored today in the sermon.

Sermon, December 18
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Bulletin Inside
Bulletin Cover

Strangers and Aliens

Today we talked about Christmas and the stranger. Who are those people outside our own circle, and what should we do about them?

Sermon, December 11

Bulletin Inside
Bulletin Cover

Justice for Christmas

Isaiah 9 has a very familiar passage that gets used at Christmas a lot. But what is it about? The only part most people remember is "A child will be born..." and "Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God..." But there is much more in that passage, and some of it has to do with justice. What does justice have to do with Christmas? Well, quite a bit.

Sermon, December 4
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Faith and Forgiveness

As we head toward Christmas now, we're going to talk about some of the themes that surround the gift of God's Son. Today, we started in Luke 17, and talked about the connection between obedience, faith, and forgiveness.

Sermon, November 27
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Bulletin PDF

Thankful for all things?

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. Today we reflected upon the concept of thankfulness in the face of evil. Can we really be thankful for all things?

Sermon, November 20
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Bulletin PDF

Remembering the Persecuted

Today, very simply, I covered some recent stories of persecuted Christians from around the globe. Remember to pray for those who have suffered for Christ, and pray also for the persecutors!

Sermon, Nov 13
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Today's Bulletin

Reminders of the Covenant

God continually gave reminders to Abraham and Sarah about the promises that He made, and ultimately that leads us to reflect on how quickly we think that God can not or will not come through for us when we need Him.

Sermon, November 6
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Bulletin for Nov 6

When God Needs Help

Life is full of ups and downs, successes and failures. Bible heroes are no different, and chapter 16 of Genesis is an account that rings true not just because it is true, but because we can relate to the emotions and the choices made in the situation they were in. God does not need our help keeping His promises, but sometimes we think He does.

Sermon, October 30
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Bulletin PDF

Today's Special Guest

Today's special guest speaker was Brian Wechsler, Executive Director of Village Missions. It was great to have Brian and his wife, Carole, with us, and a privilege for them to be here at Kendrick to see the work going on. Brian shared about the importance of the local church, and what God intends to do through the body of believers that He has called.

Sermon, October 23
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Brian also shared a video about Helix, Oregon and the church served by Village Missions there. Watch the video here.

And last but not least: the bulletin from today.

Trust and Righteousness

Genesis 15 is a key chapter in the Old Testament, dealing with the promises of God made to Abram, and the importance of a covenant, God's graciousness, and Abram's faith. There's a lot here that we could pull from this passage, but today's look was an attempt to give a working understanding of what went on at this critical juncture in the story of Abram.

Sermon, October 16
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Bulletin Download Here

Gifts from a Warrior

Genesis 14 is an interesting story of Abraham rescuing his nephew Lot. It's hard for us to get perspective on the violence and uncertainty of the ancient world, but there was plenty of fighting and battles back then. And then in the midst of all that, a guy named Melchizedek shows up. His role in the story is more more important, and we examine why.

Sermon, October 9
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You can also get a pdf of today's bulletin here

Remembering

Today we examined the underlying message of the Lord's Supper. Communion is a very simple memorial, but full of rich imagery and a challenge for us as believers.

Also of note, we now have a Facebook page for Kendrick Bible Church. Some of you have already found it, but feel free to let others know, and we'll try to have some content and info on there that will be of interest to the readers.

Sermon, October 2
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Village Missions Sunday

This morning, we took a little break from Genesis to talk about Village Missions, the organization we serve with, and its history and current status. Also, we talked a bit about what it really should mean to be a part of a church, and what Christ is calling us to.

Sermon, September 25
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Parting Ways

After heading back into Canaan from Egypt, Abram must have been thinking about the lesson he learned there. It wasn't an easy lesson, but it seemed that he was learning to trust God more.

Sermon, September 18
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Catching up

It's been, what, three or four weeks since the last post? I admit that there has been a slight lapse, but I have a good excuse! ;-)

Today there will be two sermons posted. One is from the last time we recorded a message, and on that Sunday our missionary Kevin Walters shared about their ministry in Niger.

Then we took some vacation time and had a guest speaker, and that message didn't get recorded. Then the Sunday we were back, we recorded that message, and then lost the recording due to a...technical malfunction...or something.

So, the other sermon is today's sermon, from Genesis 12:10-20, and involves a very interesting story where Abram asked his wife to stretch the truth a little. It didn't work out so well.

Missionary Message, August 21
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Sermon, September 11
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The Ancient World

It's a bit hard for me to bring in all the rich details of the places where the Bible's history intersects with other known ancient works and places. I am a poor student of history. However, Genesis chapters 10 and 11 give us a lot of important information about what was going on 5000 years ago, including the infamous story of the Tower of Babel.

Sermon, August 14
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A Shameful Situation

How do you respond when someone else messes up? Frustration? A little secret joy? Scorn? Or do you see it as an opportunity for compassion and dignity? Today we looked at the strange little story of Noah and his vineyard, and the results of the choices he and his sons made.

Sermon, August 7
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Starting Over

Today we looked at a pretty big chunk of Genesis: all of chapter 8 and half of 9. All of it has to do with the post-flood events. It's a good reminder for us that while there will never be another flood, there is a day of judgement coming.

Sermon, July 31
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Overcome

I took the opportunity this Sunday to pause in Genesis and share some thoughts after our conference last week in Kansas.

Sermon, July 24
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The Flood

Well, for some reason or another, I didn't get last week's sermon posted, so here's two. These essentially cover Genesis 6 and 7, and deal with a lot of the flood issues that sometimes come up in questions.

Speaking of questions, I've got a link to a bunch of really great article at Answers in Genesis, and I encourage you so top there and take a look.

Sermon, July 10
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Sermon July 17
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Answers in Genesis

The Population Boom

It's hard for us to imagine a world worse than our own in terms of depravity and sin. But perhaps the ancient world prior to the flood really was worse. As the Bible touches on these issues in Genesis 5, it's important not to read too far into what is there, but there are clues that show the rapid decline of civilisation because of sin.

UPDATE: Ok, thanks to a keen-eared follower, I found out that I had posted the wrong links for the sermon. It is now corrected to the most recent Sunday and hopefully it will make more sense now!

Sermon, July 3
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Two for One

This Sunday, we spent time talking about Cain and his family. It's interesting how the Bible records these historical markers for us to see how society has changed (or not changed), and to see how actions have far-reaching consequences.

Also, I'm going to post the audio of the Ladies Tea from yesterday here at the church. The speaker, a young lady who has a tremendous heart for missions, tells about her life, and I'll let her share the details.

Sermon, June 26
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Ladies Tea
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Willful Tragedy

Everyone is pretty familiar with the story of Cain and Abel, at least in the general sense. But looking closer at the particulars reveals a bunch of relevant, applicable truth about our attitudes, our thankfulness, and the sin that crouches at the door.

Sermon, June 19
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Finding Mercy

Today we explored how, even through their sin, God showed mercy and love to Adam and Eve. They didn't deserve it, but God gave them hope in the middle of their mess

Sermon, June 12
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Consequence

Describing the consequences passed on to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 is a challenge. The passage itself is straight forward, but there is so much involved, it's hard to know what to include and what to leave out. Sin is so embedded in us that teasing out the nuances, let alone the big details, leaves me pretty frustrated.

So, I'm including the links to the two papers that I mentioned. I hope that people will read them, and I hope it will spark some discussion. More than that, I hope it will prompt changes in our lives by the Holy Spirit.

Sermon, June 5
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Male-Female Equality

All About Eve

No Excuses

In Genesis chapter three, we see the effects that sin has on the relationship between God and man, and within mankind itself. Blame is shifted, excuses are made, but the guilt and sin lies in the heart. We are so good at trying to pass the buck, but as we see in this passage, its futility and foolishness to do so.

Sermon, May 29
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What Happened in the Fall?

Sin. Not a fun topic, but it is certainly central to the message of the Bible. If we don't understand it, we miss what happened to Adam and Eve and the human race. Today we talked about sin entering into the world and what it is.

Sermon, May 22
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The Fall of Man

Interestingly enough, this is the 100th post on the church blog here! It's hard to believe in some ways, but the time has flown by here at KBC. Today's sermon is about the fall of mankind in the garden of Eden. Their temptation and failure presents an enigmatic look at the origins of our sinful hearts.

Sermon, May 15
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For the Mothers

Ah, Mother's Day! To all the mom's out there, Thank you! And as for this sermon, the first part of the audio didn't get captured. Sorry!

Sermon, May 8
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The Making of the Woman

Sorry this is so late. I realized I hadn't posted the sermon yet so without further ado, here's the next one in Genesis.

Sermon, May 1
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Remembering

Easter is about remembering what happened when Jesus rose from the dead. Simple enough, but we weren't there. How can we put into context what those people saw 2000 years ago? What they left was a marker for us to consider, a lasting reminder that they really saw what happened.

Sermon, April 24
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The Trees

I've never been much of one to let any holidays interrupt a sermon series (Someday they'll have my picture near the dictionary entry for "curmudgeon") but today's sermon I think went pretty good with Easter around the corner. In Genesis 2:15-17, we see not only purpose in God's design of the garden and mankind's activity there, but purpose in the trees that God placed there. It's certainly a weighty topic, but hopefully the main idea of the reasons for God's test were laid out.

Sermon, April 17
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The Giver of Life

Where does life come from? Life is a mystery, something that is more than just a biological definition. Life comes from God, and we see that in the text today as God makes man from dust, yet breathes life into him.

Sermon, April 10
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A Day of Rest

Why did God rest on the seventh day? It seems rather strange, on the face of it. But hopefully in today's sermon we were able to cover some of the pertinent explanations of the final day of Creation week.

Sermon, April 3
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At the end of the week...

Our text today was Genesis 1:27-31, the end of chapter one and the end of the creative part of the week for God. There's good foundational truths in these verses that are a part of understanding who God is and what He intended for us.

Sermon, March 27
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In the image of God

I only dealt with one verse today, Genesis 1:26. There's a lot there, dealing with the meaning of being made in the image of God. Very important, and there's lots more that we could have added to it. Hopefully this gave some good things to think about as we go further in to the creation account.

And we had some technical difficulties while we were gone, so I'm not going to be able to share the messages from the guest speakers we had the last two weeks. I heard they did a great job though, and hopefully we can have them both out again sometime!

I'll give a little pitch for Jack Dody's ministry, Christian Homesteading. Jack came and shared on March 6th. Check out his website here!

Sermon, March 20
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Spoken Into Existence

I think this weeks sermon was a little better than last weeks! ;-)

So today, I spoke about the creation on days 4, 5, and the first part of 6. It's almost humorous how terse and direct the creation account is. One commentator I read talked about how it is the most non-mythical account he's ever come across. Which, I think, has to do with the idea that God really did speak everything into existence. Which means we should see evidence of that. Which, only as it related to some of the things created on those days, I shared about in some amazing scientific descriptions.

Those descriptions came from the excellent website maintained by Answers In Genesis. Here's some links for you to peruse.

Answers In Genesis
Here's the page I found the cool info about the animals


Sermon, February 27
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The first days of creation

Today we looked at the first three days of creation. It's amazing to think about God's creative power displayed in such a way, calling in to being what is not, simply speaking things into existence.

Sermon, February 20
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In the Beginning

A new sermon series! I'm so glad to be getting back to a book. Not that I don't like topical sermons, I think it's good to do those from time to time. I'm just so much more comfortable working through a book, because I believe that's the best way to understand how the Bible fits together, looking at the whole, putting it in context. I've never preached through Genesis before, so I am looking forward to what we will discover. Today, I only wanted to cover the first verse: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

Sermon, February 13
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The Future of Our Worship

This is the last sermon in the worship series, not because we've exhausted the topic, but because we could probably continue indefinitely. Worship is all-pervading, so I hope this message serves as a good jumping off point for any future discussion of the subject, as well as a challenge to make worship an active part of our lives.

Hopefully you also notice a difference in the sound quality of the recording. We tried hooking up the laptop a different way to the sound system, and it seems better. Let me know what you can think, because we want to try and get a good quality end result for people to listen to. In other words, I would prefer people not want to scratch their ears off trying to listen to a sermon. ;-)

Sermon, February 6
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A Matter of Style

It's not easy for churches to work through the matters of worship style. There are so many variables, so many opinions and so many people. But is style the driving force? Is it important that a church worship a particular way? Is there a right style and a wrong style? That's what we tried to talk about today coming from Colossians 3:16.

Sermon, January 30
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Form vs. Function

What are we supposed to be doing when we meet at church on Sunday morning? Often times it would seem that our answers are dictated by tradition and personal preference. We place a lot of value on what makes us happy, or comfortable, or nostalgic. When we let form trump function, we miss out on the richness of the experience that I believe God intends for His people as they meet together.

Sermon, January 23
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The Heart of Worship

Another week has flown by, and my time studying worship seems to produce a plethora of thought-provoking and convicting issues for me. How do we prepare for corporate worship? All things being equal, we do put an emphasis on that Sunday morning hour, and that's okay. We should try and be ready for that. Worship involves us getting prepared spiritually so that we can experience God.

Sermon, January 16
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Knowledge and Worship

Today I wanted to try and express the Biblical idea of how knowing God is directly tied to worship. If we do not know Him, we cannot worship Him. If we can know Him, we must learn all we can, because He has revealed Himself to us. The more we learn of him, the more we will be drawn to worship.

I wish I could have included the recording of our special guests today. We were privileged to have the worship group Stealing Minutes come and lead our worship music today. They are working through Calvary Chapel in the Springs and ministering to area churches. If I can find a link for them, I will, but unfortunately, the recording quality was not good. Technology is wonderful except for when its not. ;-)

Sermon, January 9
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Into the New Year, and a new topic

With 2011 underway, we're going to be examining worship as it relates to church and our individual relationship with God. Today's message dealt with the human aspect of what happens when we worship, or rather, what should happen. Worship should engage our intellect, our emotions, and our will. We looked at Psalm 145 to help flesh that out.

Sermon, January 2
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