Christian Character Series, Week 2, Sunday, October 13, 2019

Persistence in prayer:

God will answer His children’s prayers.

• Praying to God is not pointless because we know that God both hears our prayers and will answer them according to His will.

We persistently pray because of God’s love.

• We can be sure that as we pray, God will respond because of His love for us.

• Regardless of how God answers our prayers, we know that He does so out of love for us.

Prayer: Reassured of these promises, let us learn from the persistent widow by persisting in prayer when tempted to lose heart. Amen.

Pastor Tim Patoka

Christian Character Series, Week 1, Sunday, October 6, 2019

We need to acknowledge that sin lives in our own lives.

In his great mercy, God rescued us: He sent Jesus to die for us!

How do we put thankfulness to God into action?

• We give God thanks for the blessing he gives us in our prayers.

• We give God thanks as we gather in worship and as we sing and confess.

• We give God thanks when we give our offerings.

• We give God thanks when we listen to his Word and share it with others.

• We give God thanks when we serve the people he has placed into our lives.

• We even thank God when we thank others, the people through whom God blesses us.

Pastor Nathan Kassulke

10 for 10 Series: Open Minds: Sacrificial Giving, September 29, 2019

Over these last three weeks, we have discovered three reasons why we struggle to be good stewards of God’s wealth:

The reasons why we fail to give God our first fruits is beause he isn’t first in our hears

The reasons why we don’t practice the principle of proportionate giving is because we’ve forgotten that God is the ultimate owner of everything.

The reaon why we fail to practice sacrificial giving is bevcause we don’t believe that God, who gave us his only Son, will truly care for our physical needs.

May God continue to work on our hearts so that we see things the way Jesus does and so that our lives reflect our love for our Lord.

Amen

Pastor Tim Patoka

10 for 10 Series: Open Minds: Proportionate Giving, September 22, 2019

Our Lord of heaven and earth made all things beautiful, provided green forests, refreshing streams, mountains, prairies, the roaring sea, and the gentle breeze.

From His hand, we have received ALL we have and are and will be.

Help us always to use God’s gifts wisely and teach us to share them generously.

May our faithful stewardship bear witness to the love of Christ in our lives.

Amen

Pastor Ron Koehler

10 for 10 Series: Open Hearts, September 15, 2019

We wish life would make sense, but plenty of times it doesn’t. We don’t always give him priority with our time, talents and treasures.

God, however, gave us his first—-Jesus, the Firstborn over all creation;

God gave us his best—-his Son, in whom he is well pleased.

In Christ, God graciously gives us all things.

Our God is faithful. Trust in him. Bank on his promises.

And then get busy, to spread the Gospel to fill this house of his up!

Pastor Tim Patoka

2019 Summer Sermon Series, “Joy for our Journeys,” September 8, 2019

During this summer sermon series, “Joy for Our Journeys,” both the journey of our lives to this point and our journey through the pages of Scripture lead us to this same final journey: our journey from earth to heaven.

The final destination of this journey is so great, so amazing, that it makes any journey, no matter how challenging or difficult or sad or hard absolutely worth it.

We want to keep our focus not on earthly things, but on Jesus the Way, and our heavenly home that he has prepared.

Let us continue to journey regularly through God’s Word until we conclude our earthly journey and finnaly make our journey from earth to heaven.

Pastor Nathan Kassulke

2019 Summer Sermon Series, “Joy for our Journeys,” September 1, 2019

Paul’s missionary journeys mentioned in the Acts account centered on the message that he had to proclaim:

To the Jews, he referenced the Bible passages that described Jesus and spoke about Jesus as the Messiah

We have the same mission and the same message to proclaim. We will want to share the message whenever someone offers us the opportunity.

May God bless our missionary journeys wherever they take us.

Pastor Nathan Kassulke

2019 Summer Sermon Series, “Joy for our Journeys,” August 25, 2019

Jesus’ Ascension into Heaven

Jesus’ journey from earth to heaven is much more than a ride off into the sunset.
It ushered in a different stage in God’s plan, a different time for his Church.

Jesus rides off into the distance with the promise to return—-visibly—-once again.

And until he comes back, he has left us with work to do, with responsibilities to let our lights shine, to honor him, to tell others the same good news that we have come to know and to love.

Pastor Nathan Kassulke

2019 Summer Sermon Series, “Joy for our Journeys,” August 18, 2019

We all have to decide who we are going to trust—-how can we trust that Christianity is the real deal?

Even though it sounds impossible, Jesus truly rose from the dead just as God’s Word says.

But even more, Jesus’ resurrection is our guarantee that we can trust what God says is ours.

We are saved because of what Jesus did for us as prophesied and promised hundreds of years before he walked on earth.

We are thus forgiven and have the guarantee of eternal life.

And I pray that we keep our focus on Jesus and his journey from death to life so that we may never doubt what God says is ours. Amen

Pastor Tim Patoka

2019 Summer Sermon Series, “Joy for our Journeys,” August 11, 2019

On so many occasions, our words and our actions say that we don’t think Jesus has a right to claim to be our king, but he loves us anyway, and that love led him on his journey to live alongside of us in a sin filled world, and to suffer, and to die on that cross for us.

That love led him to go through everything that was predicted, everything that was prophesied concerning the Savior of the world.

That love led our king to die on behalf of his people.

We leave church with sorrow in our hearts over our sins, but we also leave with hope. We leave knowing that the tomb will not be the last place where we see our Savior and we leave thankful that Jesus Christ made the journey to the cross for us.

Amen

Pastor Nathan Kassulke

2019 Summer Sermon Series, “Joy for our Journeys,” August 4, 2019

This week, let us consider a journey we cannot relate to at all—-it is unlike any trip we could ever take.

It is the journey from Heaven to earth taken by God’s one and only Son, Jesus.

The great love God has for us is why Jesus set out on this journey. He conquered death and provided a promise: because I live, you also will live (John 14:19).

May the joy and wonder remain with you today and every day until you stand before the One who made a one-of-a kind journey from heaven to earth because he loved you.

Amen

Pastor Ron Koehler

2019 Summer Sermon Series, “Joy for our Journeys,” July 28, 2019

How many times has someone promised you somthing only to fall through on it?

How many times have you promised to do something and failed to deliver on it?

Well, God keeps His promises. If God has promised it, we can depend on it.

We can say “amen” at the end of all prayers, “yes, it shall be so,” knowing that God will keep all his promises.

May the Lord help us to always have this confidence.

Amen

Pastor Tim Patoka

2019 Summer Sermon Series, “Joy for our Journeys,” July 21, 2019

God promised Jacob to provide so that he could journey from the Promised Land worry free.

We journey worry free to our heavenly home, too. Our God has taken our sins away. He has promised to provide us with life’s necessities.

May we remember this and take it to heart so that, as we journey to our heavenly home, we may journey worry free.

Amen

Pastor Tim Patoka

2019 Summer Sermon Series, “Joy for our Journeys, July 14, 2019

When Abram began his journey to the Promised Land,he didn’t know where he was going. Instead, God instructed him to set out and God promised that he would show Abram where to go. And Abram listened.

Where are we going? Thanks to God’s great promises and God’s great power, we confidently continue our journey to our heavenly Promised Land. Amen.

Pastor Nathan Kassulke

2019 Summer Sermon Series, “Joy for our Journeys, July 7, 2019

Can you imagine what it would be like to live in a perfect world?

It is impossible for us to truly understand or even imagine what that was like in the Garden of Eden or what it will be like when we enjoy a perfect relationship with our God as we live with him forever in Heaven.

But the journey of our lives is on a path that leads to our eternal heavenly home. It is God’s guarantee and God’s promise to us.

And it will be better than anything we could imagine. Amen.

Pastor Nathan Kassulke

Vacation Bible School Closing Service, June 30, 2019

Devotion #1: Mark 4:35-41

• Jesus Came to Save Sinners

Devotion #2: Genesis 39:2-12, 16-20

• Your Word is a Lamp to My Feet

Devotion #3, Acts 9:32-42

• Let Your Light Shine

Loving Father, let your Word be a lamp for our feet and a light to our path so that we and our children may understand what you would have us know and believe, as we walk on the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.

Pastor Tim Patoka

Second Sunday after Pentecost, June 23, 2019

• Stories of Improbable and Rare Faith

• A Roman Centurion’s faith: what was his faith like?

  • it moved him to love God’s people and others around him.

  • it moved him to love God’s house (he built a synagogue.)

  • He showed humility and deference as he did not want to inconvenience Jesus in any way.

  • He believed that Jesus had the power to give life to a dying man.

• Yours and Mine: How do we develop a strong faith today?

  • Diligent use of God’s Word which is so accessible today: Bible apps, automatic email devotions, Bibles, Bible classes, Worship every single Sunday.

The Holy Spirit works through the Word to create a greater trust in Jesus our Savior and to help each day with our concerns.

Pastor Ron Koehler

First Sunday after Pentecost, June 16, 2019

It would be easy to strain and stress over the details of what it means that God is both one and three.

We marvel, we rejoice, we give thanks for his love.

We hold God by faith in mystery and awe—-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

May God grant that we always hold him in such fath and share the truth of the Trinity with others.

Pastor Nathan Kassulke

The Day of Pentecost, June 9, 2019

What does Pentecost mean?

• It means that Jesus kept his promise to send the Holy Spirit and that the Holy Spirit remains powerfully active for us.

• It means that he leads us to call on the name of the Lord and be saved.

Let us rejoice today in his work and let us pray that he would keep us strong through the gospel until we reach the incredible glory of heaven. Amen.

Pastor Nathan Kassulke

The Ascension of Our Lord, June 2, 2019

It was Jesus Christ who ascended into heaven because his work was done.:

• Because the disciples witnessed Jesus ascending to heaven, they were assured that everything concerning the Promised Savior was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

• All those Old Testament prophesies they learned growing up were completed before their very eyes.

He continues to bless all his repentant children with the forgiveness of all their sins.

• All the person needs to do is confess and trust to receive this blessing.

• It doesn’t depend on us—-we have a Savior; we have his forgiveness.

That’s assured to us by Jesus’ ascension. Amen.

Pastor Tim Patoka