Sermons on Close Encounter:

Descent Of The Dove Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 27, 2021

Jesus was baptized to fulfill all righteousness. It was fitting that He take this step of obedience and become an illustration of what all believers are to do.

What a surprise it would be to see a fish climbing a tree. Yet such a sight is possible because of the climbing perch of India. These three to eight inch fish have movable spines on their gills, and by thrusting with their tails and front fins they can scoot up a slanting tree by the water and ...read more

Scripture: Mark 1:9-13

The Medicine Of Forgiveness Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 27, 2021

The greatest healing in the world is to be forgiven, and the greatest healing you can give is the medicine of forgiveness.

Language can be lethal. Dr. Bernard Lown, professor of Cardiology at Harvard, tells of how he learned this, very dramatically. He had a middle age woman as a patient, who had a narrowing of the tricuspid valve on her heart. She had this problem for a decade, but one day a Dr. Levin was leading a ...read more

Scripture: Mark 2:1-12

Lover's Are Winners Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 27, 2021

Jesus was as stubbornly insistent that he be healed on the spot as the Pharisees were as stubbornly insistent that he not be healed on the Sabbath.

Dr. Richard Selzer, the famous surgeon and author, in his book, Taking The World In For Repairs, tells about Interplast, which stands for International Plastic Surgeon, Incorporated. Since its founding in 1969, this organization has performed over ten thousand free operations on poor people in ...read more

Scripture: Mark 3:1-6

Privacy Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 27, 2021

In Mark 6:32 Jesus departed into a desert place privately. He thought by going to a remote place He could be alone, but the people ran around the lake on foot, and when Jesus landed the crowd was there already waiting for Him.

Jean Paul Sartre in No Exit has three characters in the play who are one by one ushered into hell. To their surprise it is not a place of punishment. There are no demons torturing and inflicting pain. They are left in a moderate size room with a few articles. There are no widows or mirrors, but ...read more

Scripture: Mark 3:7-21

Stand Your Ground...

Contributed by Charlie Roberts on Mar 28, 2021

Age is said to bring wisdom and one thing Christians should be keenly aware of by now is, “even if the attack of darkness is not directly affecting you, it’s affecting someone you know

Stand your ground Favor noun: normalcy 1. the condition of being normal; the state of being usual, typical, or expected. What we have witnessed this past year has been anything but normal. We have been under relentless attack from the accuser and all things demonic. Death destruction and Mayham ...read more

Scripture: 1 Kings 18:30-38, Joshua 6:1-5, 2 Chronicles 7:14

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Thoughts On Public Schooling: Should Christians Homeschool Their Children?

Contributed by Justin Steckbauer on Mar 30, 2021

Many an average American boy or girl will be raised up in the school rooms of public education. I would like to share some thoughts from great minds on education itself, public education, and wisdom. I'd also like to share my personal experiences in the public education system.

“The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. But education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals.” ? Martin Luther King Jr. Many ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 22:6

Denomination: Salvation Army

Figure Out What’s True Series

Contributed by Sherm Nichols on Mar 30, 2021

A refresher on the subject of truth and how important it is to have that sorted out in life

How’s your bucket list? My fear is that you’ll check off “Watch the Cubs win the world series” and “Watch Donald Trump be inaugurated as President” and you’ll be done this week because nothing else in life could outdo that! We launched this new series about bucket lists, and about making sure ...read more

Scripture: 1 John 1:1-3, 2 Peter 1:16-18

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Angry Saints Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 31, 2021

James does not say we are to eliminate anger. He says we are to be slow to anger. James is too realistic and practical to think that the saints will never feel angry.

Near the end of the last century a group of minors in a mid-Western state became angry. They expressed that anger by igniting a carload of coal and pushing it down the mine shaft. Like most who act in anger, they could not foresee the long range consequences of their action. When the burning coal ...read more

Scripture: James 1:19-20

No More Gloom Series

Contributed by Sherm Nichols on Mar 31, 2021

Christmas series introduction - focusing on the role of light in the Christmas story

Intro: Light. We have a hard time even describing what it’s made out of, but we sure do depend on it. We know it’s very fast - 186,282 miles per second. We know that it’s important to our emotional and physical health. Sunshine is a source of vitamin D, and areas where the sun doesn’t shine much ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 9:2

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Snake Handler Series

Contributed by Sherm Nichols on Mar 31, 2021

First in a Christmas series that focuses on Old Testament foreshadowing of Jesus

Baby books. I still remember mine. Being the 6th kid, there just weren’t as many photos of me as a baby. I still remember how it fascinated me to see pictures of a little baby and to think that he became me. That’s something we’d like to have some fun with these next weeks – your baby ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 3:15, Romans 16:20

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

How To Tell If Your Faith Is True. Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 31, 2021

When you think of some Christian you greatly admire, you are usually thinking of their loving kindness and Christian actions, and not their views of the trinity. It is by behavior that we impress people with our Christian faith and not by our belief.

The passage we are looking at has been greatly misunderstood. Some have thought it contradicts what Paul says about being justified by faith. James says we are justified by works. They appear to be holding opposite views, but a close study of the words reveals that they are in perfect agreement. ...read more

Scripture: James 2:14-26

The Saint In Depression Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Apr 1, 2021

It should be no surprise that God's people get depressed. It is normal for Christians to get athletes foot, tooth aches, and gray hair. It is also normal for them to get depressed.

I read a humorous story that fits the experience of Job. A man was on his roof trying to fix the TV antenna. Suddenly it began to rain, and while struggling with the guy wires he slipped. As he tumbled down the roof, he made a last ditch effort to grab the drain trough. There he was, hanging from ...read more

The Treasures Of The Snow Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Apr 1, 2021

That part of nature we want to focus on is--snow. There are 25 references to snow in the Bible, and we are to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, and so snow is to be a part of creation that teaches us something about God.

It was one of the strangest funerals on record. Nobody was being buried, but things were being buried in a lot of little graves, and in one, the Bible was being buried. Shackleton and his men were exploring the Antarctic when they were over whelmed by the forces of nature. Their ship, Endurance, ...read more

Scripture: Job 37:1-14

Rich In Poverty Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Apr 2, 2021

There are rich Christians who live in utter poverty says Jesus. But to the church in Smyrna He says, "I know your afflictions and your poverty-yet you are rich!" So you have in the judgment of Jesus your poor Christians who are rich, and your rich Christians who are poor.

One of the great paradoxes of life is the fact that the poor can be richer than the rich. Poverty is no necessary hindrance to being wealthy. Wealth, on the other hand, is no guarantee of being truly rich. Even rich Christians are often not rich just because they have wealth. Charles Schultz, ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 2:8-11

The Road Of Repentance. Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Apr 2, 2021

Change is the essence of repentance. It is to stop doing what you are doing that is not making you an effective Christ-pleasing Christian, and to start doing what does make you that kind of Christian.

For decades the American people have been lulled into complacency by hearing the Gallop Pole say that over 90% of Americans believe in God. This led to a false security that we were a godly nation. But now Gallop decided to get more specific, and he discovered that only 10% of Americans ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 2:18-29