An Impossible Love Made Real

Sunday February 23, 2025 Text: Luke 6:27-38 Speaker: Pastor Matthew Ude Festival: Epiphany Passages: Luke 6:27-38

When I was around 12 or 13 years old, we went for a few days to help weed at a flower farm. I remember spending what I thought was a good long time weeding. I stopped and looked at how much farther I had to go just to finish one row, and after that rows

You Are Blessed

Sunday February 16, 2025 Text: Luke 6:17-26 Speaker: Pastor Matthew Ude Festival: Epiphany Passages: Luke 6:17-26

The beatitudes when understood correctly are some of the greatest expressions of God’s gifts and blessings to sinful humans. When understood incorrectly they become weights chained to our souls dragging us down to depression. The key to understanding them correctly is to recognize them as God’s gifts in Christ not as something we earn or

Cast Your Nets

Sunday February 9, 2025 Text: Luke 5:1-11 Speaker: Pastor Matthew Ude Festival: Epiphany Passages: Luke 5:1-11

The first rule of fishing is that you can’t catch anything if your line isn’t in the water. That is why my brother Aaron always brought his fishing pole even when we were supposed to be canoeing. He never caught anything, but he always had the line trailing behind the canoe just in case. Similarly,

Jesus Heals Through the Ears

Sunday February 2, 2025 Text: Luke 4:16-30 Speaker: Pastor Matthew Ude Festival: Epiphany Passages: Luke 4:16-30

In Australia this last week 14 people were convicted of manslaughter. These people stood around a young diabetic girl, praying for days as she slowly died. They had the insulin she needed but didn’t give it to her because they wanted to see a miracle. They thought they were proving their faith, but faith in

Jesus Manifests His Glory

Sunday January 26, 2025 Text: John 2:1-11 Speaker: Pastor Matthew Ude Festival: Epiphany Passages: John 2:1-11

Today we have the first of miracle, where Jesus changes water into wine. The evangelist John gives us a statement at the end of the account which summarizes the importance of this miracle. This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him. Jesus gives

Jesus Was Baptized for Our Righteousness

Sunday January 19, 2025 Text: Matthew 3:13-17 Speaker: Pastor Matthew Ude Festival: Epiphany Passages: Matthew 3:13-17

Our sinful nature is such that we often take God’s wonderful blessings and turn them into a commandment. God’s intention is to give us a blessing. We, however, respond with an attitude of, “Do I have to?” This is something that happens often with Genesis 9:1. Here the word of God says that he blessed

God Leads Us To Bethlehem

Sunday January 12, 2025 Text: Matthew 2:1-12 Speaker: Pastor Matthew Ude Festival: Epiphany Passages: Matthew 2:1-12

Who are these men from the east? We often refer to them as wisemen or as the three kings, but the truth is they were neither. They were gentiles. They were probably astrologers and practitioners of other occult superstitions. Most importantly they were people whom God in grace and through his word lead out of

The View is Always Worth It

Sunday February 11, 2024 Text: Mark 9:2-8 Speaker: Pastor Matthew Ude Festival: Epiphany Passages: Mark 9:2-8

I’ve been up and down a lot of mountains in my life, the Appalachians, The Rockies, the Sierra Navada, Cascades, Himalayan, Nilgiris, and others. This last summer we were driving up and down the mountains in Olympic National Park. It is a lot of work getting up to the top. Even if you are driving

The King Comes Like Rain On Parched Grass

Sunday February 4, 2024 Text: Mark 1:29-39 Speaker: Pastor Matthew Ude Festival: Epiphany Passages: Mark 1:29-39

In the gospel of John, Jesus opens his ministry with the miracle of water into wine at the wedding of Cana. The kids and I talked on Tuesday about how this miracle reminds us that Jesus came to bless. This first miracle of Jesus mirrors Genesis chapter two. Just as God freely gave Adam and

He Speaks With Authority

Sunday January 28, 2024 Text: Mark 1:21-28 Speaker: Pastor Matthew Ude Festival: Epiphany Passages: Mark 1:21-28

A made the star in the back of church for Advent. It is a simple woodworking project and even as simple as that is the angles are off. The one at the back of the church is much better. This chair, however, shows a far greater proficiency with woodworking. This was made by an India

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