Pastor: Pastor Mike

Sermon Date: August 10, 2025

What In This World Shields Your Faith?

Sermon Date: August 3, 2025

Ecclesiastes 1:1-4, 8-18 (GNT)

“¹ These are the words of the Philosopher, David’s son, who was king in Jerusalem. ² It is useless, useless, said the Philosopher. Life is useless, all useless. ³ You spend your life working, laboring, and what do you have to show for it? ⁴ Generations come and generations go, but the world stays just the same.”

“⁸ Everything leads to weariness — a weariness too great for words. Our eyes can never see enough to be satisfied; our ears can never hear enough. ⁹ What has happened before will happen again. What has been done before will be done again. There is nothing new in the whole world. ¹⁰ “Look,” they say, “here is something new!” But no, it has all happened before, long before we were born. ¹¹ No one remembers what has happened in the past, and no one in days to come will remember what happens between now and then.

¹² I, the Philosopher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. ¹³ I determined that I would examine and study all the things that are done in this world. God has laid a miserable fate upon us. ¹⁴ I have seen everything done in this world, and I tell you, it is all useless. It is like chasing the wind. ¹⁵ You can’t straighten out what is crooked; you can’t count things that aren’t there. ¹⁶ I told myself, “I have become a great man, far wiser than anyone who ruled Jerusalem before me. I know what wisdom and knowledge really are.” ¹⁷ I was determined to learn the difference between knowledge and foolishness, wisdom and madness. But I found out that I might as well be chasing the wind. ¹⁸ The wiser you are, the more worries you have; the more you know, the more it hurts.”

Ecclesiastes 2: 1-26

“¹ I decided to enjoy myself and find out what happiness is. But I found that this is useless, too. ² I discovered that laughter is foolish, that pleasure does you no good. ³ Driven on by my desire for wisdom, I decided to cheer myself up with wine and have a good time. I thought that this might be the best way people can spend their short lives on earth. ⁴ I accomplished great things. I built myself houses and planted vineyards. ⁵ I planted gardens and orchards, with all kinds of fruit trees in them; ⁶ I dug ponds to irrigate them. ⁷ I bought many slaves, and there were slaves born in my household. I owned more livestock than anyone else who had ever lived in Jerusalem. ⁸ I also piled up silver and gold from the royal treasuries of the lands I ruled. Men and women sang to entertain me, and I had all the women a man could want.

⁹ Yes, I was great, greater than anyone else who had ever lived in Jerusalem, and my wisdom never failed me. ¹⁰ Anything I wanted, I got. I did not deny myself any pleasure. I was proud of everything I had worked for, and all this was my reward. ¹¹ Then I thought about all that I had done and how hard I had worked doing it, and I realized that it didn’t mean a thing. It was like chasing the wind — of no use at all. ¹² After all, a king can only do what previous kings have done. So I started thinking about what it meant to be wise or reckless or foolish.

¹³ Oh, I know, “Wisdom is better than foolishness, just as light is better than darkness. ¹⁴ The wise can see where they are going, and fools cannot.” But I also know that the same fate is waiting for us all. ¹⁵ I thought to myself, “What happens to fools is going to happen to me, too. So what have I gained from being so wise?” “Nothing,” I answered, “not a thing.” ¹⁶ No one remembers the wise, and no one remembers fools. In days to come, we will all be forgotten. We must all die — wise and foolish alike. ¹⁷ So life came to mean nothing to me, because everything in it had brought me nothing but trouble. It had all been useless; I had been chasing the wind.

¹⁸ Nothing that I had worked for and earned meant a thing to me, because I knew that I would have to leave it to my successor, ¹⁹ and he might be wise, or he might be foolish — who knows? Yet he will own everything I have worked for, everything my wisdom has earned for me in this world. It is all useless. ²⁰ So I came to regret that I had worked so hard. ²¹ You work for something with all your wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and then you have to leave it all to someone who hasn’t had to work for it. It is useless, and it isn’t right! ²² You work and worry your way through life, and what do you have to show for it? ²³ As long as you live, everything you do brings nothing but worry and heartache. Even at night your mind can’t rest. It is all useless. ²⁴ The best thing we can do is eat and drink and enjoy what we have earned. And yet, I realized that even this comes from God. ²⁵ How else could you have anything to eat or enjoy yourself at all? ²⁶ God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness to those who please him, but he makes sinners work, earning and saving, so that what they get can be given to those who please him. It is all useless. It is like chasing the wind.”

Sermon Date: July 27, 2025

“¹ He (Jesus) was praying in a certain place, and when He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”
² He said to them, “Whenever you pray, say: Father, Your name be honored as holy Your kingdom come.
³ Give us each day our daily bread.
⁴ And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone in debt to us. And do not bring us into temptation.”

Sermon Date: July 20, 2025

Luke 10:38-42

“³⁸ As Jesus and his disciples went on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha welcomed him in her home. ³⁹ She had a sister named Mary, who sat down at the feet of the Lord and listened to his teaching. ⁴⁰ Martha was upset over all the work she had to do, so she came and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to come and help me!” ⁴¹ The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha! You are worried and troubled over so many things, ⁴² but just one is needed. Mary has chosen the right thing, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Sermon Date: July 13, 2025

Deuteronomy 30:15-16
“¹⁵ See, today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and adversity. ¹⁶ For I am commanding you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commands, statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live and multiply, and the Lord your God may bless you in the land you are entering to possess.”

Psalm 24:3-4
“³ Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? ⁴ The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not set his mind on what is false, and who has not sworn deceitfully.”

Luke 10:25-37
“²⁵ Just then an expert in the law stood up to test Him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ²⁶ “What is written in the law?” He asked him. “How do you read it?” ²⁷ He answered: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself. ²⁸ “You’ve answered correctly,” He told him. “Do this and you will live.” ²⁹ But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” ³⁰ Jesus took up the question and said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. ³¹ A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. ³² In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. ³⁴ He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’ ³⁶ “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” ³⁷ “The one who showed mercy to him,” he said. Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”

Romans 10:8-9
“⁸ …What does it say? The message is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. This is the message of faith that we proclaim: ⁹ If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Sermon Date: July 6, 2025

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

“¹ If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶ it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹² For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

2 Corinthians 3:1-4

¹ Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? ² You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. ³ And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

⁴ Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.”

John 10:10

“¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Sermon Date: June 29, 2025

Luke 7:36-50

“³⁶ Then one of the Pharisees invited Him to eat with him. He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. ³⁷ And a woman in the town who was a sinner found out that Jesus was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house. She brought an alabaster jar of fragrant oil ³⁸ and stood behind Him at His feet, weeping, and began to wash His feet with her tears. She wiped His feet with the hair of her head, kissing them and anointing them with the fragrant oil. ³⁹ When the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “This man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what kind of woman this is who is touching Him — she’s a sinner!” ⁴⁰ Jesus replied to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Teacher,” he said, “say it.” ⁴¹ “A creditor had two debtors. One owed 500 denarii, and the other 50. ⁴² Since they could not pay it back, he graciously forgave them both. So, which of them will love him more?” ⁴³ Simon answered, “I suppose the one he forgave more.” “You have judged correctly,” He told him. ⁴⁴ Turning to the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she, with her tears, has washed My feet and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵ You gave Me no kiss, but she hasn’t stopped kissing My feet since I came in. ⁴⁶ You didn’t anoint My head with olive oil, but she has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. ⁴⁷ Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that’s why she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little, loves little.” ⁴⁸ Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” ⁴⁹ Those who were at the table with Him began to say among themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?” ⁵⁰ And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

Sermon Date: June 22, 2025

Grab your bibles, and let’s look at Luke 6:20-26

“²⁰ And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. ²¹ “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. ²² “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! ²³ Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.”

“²⁴ “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. ²⁵ “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. ²⁶ “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.”

Sermon Date: June 15, 2025

Isaiah 40:31
“But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.”

Micah 7:7
“But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.”

Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Isaiah 40:31
“But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

1 Corinthians 13:13
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

Romans 4:18
“He believed, hoping against hope, so that he became the father of many nations according to what had been spoken: So will your descendants be.”

Romans 5:1-5-1
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Romans 8:20, 24, 25
“For the creation was subjected to futility — not willingly, but because of him who subjected it — in the hope, Now in this hope we were saved, but hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees? Now if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience.”

Romans 12:12
“Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer.”

Romans 15:4
“For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures.”

Romans 15:13
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Hebrews 11:1
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

1 Peter 1:3
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”