Port Orchard Church Of The Nazarene

We often craft together ideal images of what a “good Christian family" ought to look like. Images of the idealistic post-war, middle-class, nuclear families are typically articulated as the “biblical” family- but is that really accurate? Do Ozzy and Harriett Nelson really provide an accurate snapshot of the families portrayed throughout the Bible? Pastor Jerry attempts to navigate through these troubled waters in this week's message.

In the third message of the "Worth the Risk" series, Pastor Jerry talks about marriage relationships, and explores the meaning of Ephesians 5:22.

Being made in the image of God means that we are created to make and keep commitments. In this second segment of our Worth the Risk series, explores commitment’s role in our relationships.

In our society, now more than ever, we are surrounded by multiple choices. We have so many options, we have a perception that there is always a better one out there. So if things do not meet our expectations in one job, marriage, or city, we tend to jump from thing to thing as though we're channel surfing. This type of behavior hinders our personal growth, and our walk with God. The truth is, we can only reach our highest potential, by fully committing to things, and ultimately to God.

Salvation is usually defined as a distinct moment in time, or a deal that we make with God to get out of hell. In this sermon, we will talk about how salvation is so much more than a one-time deal, and there is something better behind curtain number 2.

This week, Pastor Jerry focused on practicing awareness of the presence of God. After all, if God is omnipresent, then 'not feeling God' is more of a matter of our own awareness, or lack thereof, rather than God not being present. As Pastor Jerry says, "When you're aware of God in every moment, you'll begin to see the world as He does."

This week, Pastor Jerry spoke on perspective. Often, we keep living below the clouds of life as if the sun stopped shining when the storm rolled in. Unfortunately, it sometimes takes a few thousand extra feet before we realize that the only things that have changed are the weather and our perspective. The best thing to do in these times is to let God show us how things look from His angle to see what we're missing.

This week, Pastor Jerry spoke on the true meaning of Salvation. For some Christians, the goal of salvation is to escape from Hell. However, in Colossians, Paul talks about the glorious riches that are available to us in the here and now. And while being in Heaven is a great part of our life with God- or will be, depending on who you ask- it is not even close to the fullness that Jesus can bring to our lives today.

Port Orchard Church of the Nazarene

This week, Pastor Jerry spoke on being and relating to the Bride of Christ. As Pastor Jerry mentions, it is impossible to fully respect a man without respecting his wife, yet many members of the church- the "visible expression of which Jesus is the head," according to Colossians 1:18- have some serious self-esteem issues, to say the least.

This week, Pastor Jerry spoke on meditation and relationships. In the day of instant communication, it is often tricky to be present in the moment with those around us. As it turns out, meditation on things like Psalms 46:10 can help us take a moment to simply be.

This week, Pastor Jerry discussed how the interpretation and application of a given passage can make a world of difference, referencing some well-discussed scriptures and even Forrest Gump.

In this message, Pastor Jerry dives into relational conflict issues by properly defining God’s peace and spiritual warfare. We live in a conflicted creation whose inhabitants too often reflect the ideals of their enemy, rather than participating in the triune God’s invitation to enjoy and reflect His perfect love to each other. Note From The Sound Desk: While the usual Reflection Questions were not used in the message this week, they are available for review in the included PDF. Have a blessed week!

This week, Pastor Jerry spoke on the celebratory heart of the Father. Take, for example, the famous Parable Jesus told about the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. That is the perfect picture of how our True Father welcomes us home, even when we've blown it big time! Maybe, if we, the Christian Church, stopped shouting about what we're against and started throwing more parties, celebrating God, life, and people, and- like Jesus in Luke 7:34- were known as “the party throwing friend of the establishment and all other sinners” instead of their enemies, maybe more people would be interested in hanging with us and in what we have to say. As Seen In Church: 'Tony Campolo - Party with Prostitutes' can be viewed at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRBM_YY_YX0

This week, we were joined again by guest speaker Harold Eberle. Using what he calls "The Gospel In Chairs," Harold debunked a few Christian myths on what God is really like using scripture throughout the New and Old Testaments.

The prophet Micah declares that God requires 3 things of us. He tells us to love mercy, act justly, and walk humbly with our God. Last week we focused on what it means to love mercy. The focus of this message is around what it means to “Do Justice”. The truth is that a person’s worth has nothing to do with any of the outward markers we normally associate with success. Every person has unsurpassable worth because Jesus thought they were worth dying for and paying an unsurpassable price. Our main task of discipleship and our most fundamental call is to agree with God about the worth of all people. To serve and regard all people from that point of view is the ultimate determiner of whether we are acting justly towards another person. On the other hand, to the degree that we define others by our judgments is the degree to which we are acting unjustly towards another.

In Loving Mercy we will tackle the prophet Micah’s depiction of what God requires of us. Loving mercy means loving it when people don’t get the negative consequences they deserve. If justice is about collecting a debt, then loving mercy is about cancelling debt. In this counter cultural Kingdom of God, we can’t truly love mercy until we realize the extent to which we depend on it.

Andre Rabe, speaking about the art of interpretation, points out that we are a story, and we all try to find meaning in the events that make up the story of our lives. He shared from Luke, where a specific story deals with the art of interpretation. He explains how scripture can help us interpret our own story, so that we can begin to understand the story that God wants us to be part of.

Pastor Jerry shared part 3 of his message on evangelism, stating that our call to share the good news starts with our experiencing the good news! He touched on these four things: Continuously receive God’s love, as revealed in Jesus; Look past whatever sin you see, to see the hungry heart that is driving it; LISTEN carefully to LEARN about the life and worldview of the other person; Evangelism must be the natural byproduct of loving people, not the other way around.

This week Pastor Jerry explored how being an ambassador is the best, most important and most rewarding job in the world. The primary role of being a priest is learning how to give and receive mercy, based on the good news of the Gospel. This week’s message revolves around the language in 1 Peter 2:9-10 where Peter tells the early church that they are a “royal priesthood” that live immersed in God’s mercies. The importance of sharing the good news in ways so they are actually experienced as good news, can’t be over stated. The Gospel is such incredibly good news!