Sermons

We look at three accounts that are lumped together in the Gospel of Mark.  In all of these, we see "blind people” but in one, we see a blind man that can see better than anyone else.  It is our continuing study of the CONTRASTS. 

THIS WEEKEND We meet a young leader who is concerned about his eternity. The problem for him is that he wants to have multiple gods — and that doesn’t work. Jesus’ answer to this man’s very important question is wonderful to study and has multiple components. We will unpack that answer together.

We begin a new 4-part series on CONTRASTS. The purpose of this section is to help us to think like the LORD, not like the WORLD. In this first study, we will talk about the sanctity of marriage and the faith of a child.

We continue our series on THE WAY OF THE CROSS and learn about the moment that Jesus TRANSFIGURED. It is the only time in the Gospels that Jesus revealed His nature as God in front of some of His followers. From it, we learn some wonderful lessons! We will also talk about the “sticky wicket” problem that we teased about last weekend. This weekend is also WORLDWIDE COMMUNION, so we will share in Holy Communion together in all services.

THIS WEEKEND We start a new four-part series that I have titled THE WAY OF THE CROSS. This is the first time that Jesus shares the plan of His suffering and death. He does so because now they understand WHO He is. This is one of the most important teachings in Mark!

We will move to our second of three weeks exploring our core value of HIS WORD OUR WALK. This weekend, we'll unpack Philippians 3:7-12. Last week, we looked at the "What" of our walk; that it's about transformation and participation in Christ. This week, we will begin looking at the "How" of our walk as we work through some of the Apostle Paul's most intense thoughts on the topic. As it turns out, Paul had a lot to say about what is truly gain and what is loss.

We will begin a three-week series celebrating and exploring our core value of HIS WORD OUR WALK. This weekend, we'll focus on 2 Corinthians 5:21. As my life verse, I'm excited to share with you the depth of impact it has had in my life and how it can be an anchor verse for anyone who seeks to walk out God's word.

We’ll learn that the Promised Land, for Israel, is a type of the life God intends for us.  A whole generation of Israelites never experienced the Promised Land because fear kept them from moving forward to experience the life God wanted for them. Our fear can do the same to us!

December 27-28, 2019

We’re living in a world and a time that is very good at dividing people, but not very skilled or inclined at uniting people. This beatitude speaks directly to our life and times, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.” We want to be skilled peacemakers! This weekend's beatitude tells us that when we bring people together, we resemble our Father in heaven.

We continue our Beatitude series with the idea of “mourning over sin” and how the Lord brings comfort.  This will be a wonderful reminder that you don’t hear anywhere today but from God’s Word.

Beatitudes Journal

This weekend Sam Ward will be sharing  a stand-alone message, "Who Said That to You?" We will be diving into Genesis and taking a look into when "advice" may be deceit in disguise.

We will hit pause on our summer series, "Growing, the book of Ruth", and shift to our first message in "Gleaning, the book of Psalms". We will spend time in Psalm 142, a psalm of lament.

We are continuing our series called MY FAVORITE PSALM. Psalm 8 is a psalm of praise for God’s big creation and small humans. That includes you! Not only is it the first psalm of praise in the Bible, but it has a couple of connections to Jesus that might surprise you.

If you missed the live broadcast of the last sermon, click HERE

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A one‐man musical about DAVID, the giant killing, song writing, chosen king who wrote psalms still sung today. Starring Sam Ward, this 45 min piece is the second half of his one-man musical, "David". 

A one‐man musical about DAVID, the giant killing, song writing, chosen king who wrote psalms still sung today. Starring Sam Ward, this 45 min piece is a preview of a full‐length musical to be performed downtown with all‐for‐One Productions in February. 

We move back to the Gospel of Mark starting in chapter 6. Jesus had become so popular that pushback was beginning from His family, friends, and political leaders.  Jesus left the crowds and returned home to continue His ministry.

This message looks at the relationship of being an employee. We will see that we are called to obey our employer in everything. In today’s text, we will look at four ways that can help us be obedient to our employer all the while keeping in mind that the Lord is our ultimate boss, who we are ultimately serving.

We begin a new 6-part series on great women of faith. Being Mother’s Day weekend, we will begin with the mother of the Jewish people (and, in a sense, the mom of all believers), SARAH. We will focus on the word FAITHFULNESS to describe Sarah and, of course, reflect on our own faithfulness.

This weekend we end our series on MY FAVORITE PSALM. In Psalm 19, we will read of the profound revelation of God through His creation and His Word. This Psalm is a reminder that God's revelation is in creation, and His Word is intended to guide us, transform us, and draw us closer to Him.

If you missed the live broadcast of the last sermon, click HERE

This weekend we end our series on MY FAVORITE PSALM. In Psalm 19, we will read of the profound revelation of God through His creation and His Word. This Psalm is a reminder that God's revelation is in creation, and His Word is intended to guide us, transform us, and draw us closer to Him.

If you missed the live broadcast of the last sermon, click HERE

We continue in The Women of Faith series as we learn about Abigail.

We continue in The Women of Faith series as we learn about Abigail.

This weekend, we’ll take another moment to reflect on the stories of Naomi and Ruth, exploring their journeys. We will also reflect on our own experiences, examining them through the insightful lens of Psalm 107.

We continue in The Women of Faith series as we learn about Abigail.

If asked, what would you say might be the three most important words to focus on in the upcoming year? Today we'll take a look at some that emerge from a short study of the book of Acts, and how those words might influence our life together. 

We continue our series on MY FAVORITE PSALM, in which Psalm 95 is a song that will lead us through worship and then bring us to a challenge: What will I do if I hear the voice of God? Psalm 95 is the most talked about Old Testament passage in the New Testament (Hebrews 3-4) and has far-reaching implications. After the music and after the singing, where do we find the voice of the Lord?

If you missed the live broadcast of the last sermon, click HERE

We continue our study of Titus by looking at the connection between God’s grace and the way we live. As we have already been learning, the point of the whole text is to align our lives with the Word.

We continue with the ELISHA series by looking at the story of Naaman being healed from leprosy. Join us as we learn not only how Elisha healed him, but also the significance of their encounter.

We continue the series on MY FAVORITE PSALM as we look at Psalm 23, the most famous psalm and probably the most famous passage in the entire Scriptures. And there's a good reason it's so well-loved! So let's look at it together this weekend as we join together and allow the Good Shepherd to "restore our souls."

If you missed the live broadcast of the last sermon, click HERE

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We’ll be wrapping up our series on 1 Peter. As we examine the final three verses in this wonderful letter, we will be reminded of some very important spiritual truths that will encourage us in our walk with Christ. 

This week we continue our series in 1 Peter. As we explore 1 Peter 2:4-10, we’ll focus on two key truths that unite us: our Savior and how His salvation has given us a new identity as His people. I trust we will find it encouraging and inspiring.

We will be exploring Paul the Apostle’s advice to the Thessalonians for how to develop and maintain an enduring faith in Christ. This advice will be helpful for all of us as we live in a world that often works against our spiritual growth. 

Our Scriptural text is Numbers 14, where we see rebellion emerge in the life of God’s people.

The book of Titus is moving toward its climax as it builds on its repetitive theme of doing good. We are not just saved from! We are saved for! We are saved for doing good which will benefit all mankind. But most strikingly, this brings beauty before the eyes of the non-Christian.

We continue our series by watching the soldiers arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and walk Him to Caiaphas’ house. Throughout the chaos, Jesus was under control... and in control. Peter, on the other hand, was controlled by fear. From the interactions between Jesus and Peter, we learn the good news that faith brings an end to fear.

This weekend we’ll be hearing from a familiar voice, Frank Y., who is the Executive Director of U.B. Global. His powerful voice is for our call to bring the gospel to people who have never heard it before. Our commitment to global missions is core to who we are as a church, and we’re grateful for people like Frank who help us keep that value in focus.

As Christians, we declare that Jesus is the Son of God and that we want to follow Him. But what does following Jesus really look like? We’ll explore what it means to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Him. Through God’s Word, we’ll see that it's not a call to simply do more or try harder, but to rest in His love and allow the Lord to empower us to live a victorious life! 

In this concluding message of our 'Unwritten' series, we will be challenged to keep our faith founded on the 'essentialness' of the resurrection. Faith can be claimed in anything or anyone, but Paul defends the validity of Christianity on one act of God - the raising of Jesus from the dead. From this position we will consider 10 series lessons to capture and apply.

We were reminded of the central foundation of truth anchoring our hope in Christ – His resurrection!   Now, we consider the “Beholders” of our resurrected Jesus and journey with Paul in his own claim as one empowered with God’s grace.   We will find confidence for our hope in Christ from the evidence of three kinds of eyewitnesses to our living Lord.

Today we will consider Paul's foundational position concerning the gospel message and resurrection.  We will discover how this truth governs our hope for the future.

This message concludes our series on J + N = E by looking at the last of the four heresies that the church in Colosse was facing.  This heresy, ASCETICISM, was deadly because people were told that "if you're a Christian, there are things you just don't do."  Many traditional evangelical churches have also gotten caught up in this way of thinking, which like the other heresies, focuses on human action rather than on Christ's work on the cross. 

Peter turns a corner this week in our passage moving from a description of salvation to what is required of each of us in response to this great gift. We find that this gift has an impact on each of our relationships! This weekend, in light of the gift of salvation given to us, what is the appropriate response to Him and to other people?

We will be encouraged to learn that God has given us a pathway to avoid failing in our Christian walk.  None of us are special.  We all are tempted by the same types of things.  God has made us new, given us a legacy to live up to, and taught us to rely on Him for everything.  God Himself provides us a way out of all temptation.

It is with great pleasure we welcome Dr. Daniel Henderson to ECC this weekend and pray that you also will find his encouragement for worship-based prayer a blessing!
 

Daniel Henderson is dedicating his full-time efforts to help congregations across the country experience renewal and turn-around as he speaks to thousands each year at conferences and prayer events. To learn more about Daniel's ministries visit his website: www.strategicrenewal.com 

In our passage today, Jesus again focuses on the Kingdom of God.The challenge for both the Pharisees and the disciples is whether they can shift their point of view regarding the Kingdom. Our challenge will be the same. Will we live as if Jesus’ teaching is true: the Kingdom is here, in our midst? 

This message teaches us that honoring parents was extremely important to God and still is.  One of the ways that God intended for his people to be set apart and holy among the nations was how they treated their parents.  In fact, their prosperity in the Promised Land was directly tied to their obedience in this area.  We will also see how we can apply this Kingdom Rule today in our own lives.

This message continues in the series on Elisha, an amazing man with great faith in God. Along with faith, Elisha had a great compassion for people and God used him in a miraculous way to meet the needs of a poor widow and her sons. He was able to see past the widow’s problem to what God wanted to do in her life. We will learn that God’s power is limitless, that He wants to accomplish something BIGGER in our lives and that His blessings are “Good to the Last Drop”!

In our continuing quest to GET SMART-er, we're focusing on gaining wisdom in how we handle the resources entrusted to us. This message will be examining the skills, abilities and gifts which God has woven into us in order to see how effective we are at stewarding our TALENTS.

It's not that we're dumb, it's just that sometimes we're not as smart as we might like to think we are. In this series, we're focusing on gaining wisdom in how we handle the resources entrusted to us. This message will take some time to look at how we invest our time.

Last message we were challenged to consider who we can PLUG IN to making a global impact. But it’s way too easy to get focused “out there” and miss what’s happening right around us. Today we’ll take a look at how we’re equipped to share right here in our own little corner of the world.

This message continues our study in the Gospel of John as we continue to examine different “kings” that easily replace the King of Kings in our lives. Many Christians seek Jesus for salvation but don’t realize that He is also King. When we honor Him as King, our lives are blessed and He gets the glory. In this passage, we see a two men who worshipped safety.

This message will discuss our responsibility to step out in obedience to whatever God is calling us to do, in order to share his Truth with others. We'll be specifically talking about Biblical Worldview, Biblical Holism and Reconciliation of broken relationships.

This message teaches us about how Evangelism is “awkward” but sowing seed can be quite natural – if we let God do His part.

Impacting your world can seem pretty intimidating, perhaps even presumptuous. Yet Christ has called us to be a church that makes a global impact. This weekend we’ll consider how we get plugged into His power, purpose and our place of ministry in the world.

This message continues the series on an amazing man. We will see how his devotion and commitment, his dedication and calling led him to continue the great ministry of his mentor Elijah. We will learn the value of leaving a Godly legacy for those who follow in their walk of faith. We will see what can be accomplished if we invest ourselves in others and be challenged to pick up our Mantle, the one the God has for us, and “Pass It On” to others so that the message of God keeps going, and going and going!

Our focus is THANKSGIVING and we will learn to be more thankful for the many gifts our Lord has given.

There are no printed notes for this weekend.

We will take a break from Romans to look at the book of Acts to study what it means to be “Professionals Without Borders.”

If you missed the live broadcast of the last sermon, click HERE

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This message is going to encourage you to take a look back, and a look forward in time.  As we do, we are going to interact with a passage in which Jesus continued to teach His disciples what is going to be expected of them looking forward. In one verse, we will begin to see what a surrendered life looks like and what we can expect in
the process. 

This weekend we're taking a look at Peter and John's interaction with a lame man in Acts 3. We'll be studying their responses in order to identify our responsibility in responding to people in situations of need.

This message focuses on Partnerships in Ministry. We will be looking at Paul's letter to the Philippians and identifying the common elements that unite us as a church with our local ministry partners.

We are again learning about Freedom in Christ, with a challenge about the "traps" the enemy so slyly tries to lure us into.

We continue the series that will focus our attention on intentional conversations that Jesus had with outsiders. In today’s study, we’ll look at a conversation Jesus had with Zacchaeus.

We will conclude our conversation series. We will focus on the conversation Jesus had with the woman at the well.

We will look at the recognition of what Christ accomplished in His death, burial, and resurrection as the demonstration of the relationship God established with us. The Father desires we have a relationship with His Son, and If we see Christ for what He has done, and fall in love with Him as God intends, we have opportunities to see His Kingdom come to the world. Destiny Rescue is one of those opportunities.

Today we will be exploring the symbolic meaning of the Jewish wedding in Biblical times and how it is a reality that symbolizes the relationship between the bridegroom (Christ) and his bride (the church).

We live in a society filled with conflict, division, and people demanding their “rights." As believers, we are called to live differently, but what does this look like and how do we do it? Today we will learn from Paul that being a follower of Christ involves living radically different lives. In order for us to truly stand out within our culture, we need to be willing to live selflessly, giving up everything we have in order to glorify God and build His Kingdom.