Ministry

Praying For the BEST! (Sermon Audio)
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Praying For the BEST! (Sermon Audio)

 

This is the audio from the September 29, 2019 sermon, “Praying For the BEST!”, shared by Tom Lemler at the Deer Run Church of Christ.

Text: Philippians 1:9-11

Here are the main points from the sermon:

When it comes to praying for the best, ask God to give you His:

  • Benefits:
    • Psalms 103:2-5, Romans 6:22 —  While our culture has gradually changed the concept of employee benefits to being something that is earned or deserved, it hasn’t always been this way.  For many generations, the “benefit package” was something a company gave to benefit their employees in ways that were above and beyond what they earned.  I believe it is in that former context that we pray for, and receive, the best benefits a person could ever obtain.  These benefits are completely unearned and belong to all who come into relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ.  When we pray for the best benefits, we find that God is generous in supplying so much more than we could think or imagine because what He supplies will last for eternity.
  • Equipment: 
    • Ephesians 6:10-13, 2 Timothy 3:16-17 — At least in my life, and I suspect the same is true for many of you, much has been accomplished with whatever tools happened to be available when the work needed done.  What I’ve learned over the years, as better tools became available to me, is that using the best equipment generally yields a result that is far superior to most of my “make do” efforts.  As we live the Christian life, God has offered to equip us with the absolute best tools possible if we would only go to Him in prayer.  In fact, prayer itself is at the top of the list of the best equipment we can have in living a life of victory over the temptations of the evil one.  When we pray for the best equipment, God clothes us with His armor so that on the day of evil we may stand.
  • Strategy:
    • Isaiah 55:8-9, Psalms 119:1 — Growing up in a culture that has taught us that we not only can have it our way, but we deserve it our way, makes it difficult to accept that our way isn’t the best way.  Growing up on a farm I learned that it was possible to accomplish just about anything given enough time and determination.  Looking back I realize there were many things accomplished that took much more time and effort than they would have had to simply because I didn’t know the best way to do them.  Too often we settle for mediocrity, or worse, because we insist our ways and plans are somehow superior to anything else.  We will only experience the best when we realize and accept that God’s ways are so much better in every aspect than ours.  When we pray for the best strategy, we must begin from a position of listening with a blank slate rather than asking God to bless a strategy we have come up with either on our own or through observing others.
  • Testimony:
    • 1 John 5:9-12, John 4:39-42 — How people respond to what you say has a lot to do with how they perceive the authenticity of your testimony.  I suspect we have all received unsolicited advice throughout our life that we simply ignored because there was no evidence that the advice being given had in any way benefited the person giving it.  Our prayers for the best testimony begin to be answered when we accept the testimony of God about His Son, Jesus.  It is then through living out an authentic relationship with Jesus that we find our testimony about His working in our life is a powerful tool in helping others even have a desire to know Him.  When we pray for the best testimony God doesn’t make it more dramatic, He simply shows us how even the small details of our life have a purpose when we use them to share with others how we are a witness of God’s love and power.

Praying for the best will mean we truly want the best. When we pray for the Benefits, Equipment, Strategy, and Testimony that only God can give, we discover He has answered our prayer and filled us with the very best He has — His Son.

Praying For the Church: Witness (Session Four)
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Praying For the Church: Witness (Session Four)

 

This is the audio of session four from the September 7, 2019 Praying For the Church Prayer Event held at Michiana Christian Camp.

This final session focused on praying for the church’s witness as we considered how to live in such a way that the truth of Jesus is evident in our life.

Praying For the Church: Worship (Session Three)
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Praying For the Church: Worship (Session Three)

 

This is the audio of session three from the September 7, 2019 Praying For the Church Prayer Event held at Michiana Christian Camp.

This third session focused on praying for the church in worship as we considered how our personal worship of God each day ought to impact the worship that is expressed when we gather with other believers.

Praying For the Church: Work (Session Two)
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Praying For the Church: Work (Session Two)

 

This is the audio of session two from the September 7, 2019 Praying For the Church Prayer Event held at Michiana Christian Camp.

This second session focused on praying for the church at work as we considered how our relationship with Jesus ought to make a difference in everything we do.

Praying For the Church: Wisdom (Session One)
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Praying For the Church: Wisdom (Session One)

 

This is the audio of session one from the September 7, 2019 Praying For the Church Prayer Event held at Michiana Christian Camp.

This first session focused on praying for the church with the wisdom that comes from God’s Word, His Spirit, and a fear of the Lord.

Count the COST! (Sermon Audio)
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Count the COST! (Sermon Audio)

 

This is the audio from the August 4, 2019 sermon, “Count the COST!”, shared by Tom Lemler at the North Wayne Mennonite Church.

 

Text: Luke 14:25-35

Here are the main points from the sermon:

When it comes to living life and being a disciple of Jesus, He want us to count the  . . .

  • Cash:
    • Luke 14:28-30 — Asking what something will cost before you commit to it is not just a wise action, it is a biblical action.  Much of the current debt crisis in America is the result of committing to a course of action without considering what it will actually cost.  When you are living as a disciple of Jesus, your cash belongs to Him and He ought to have the only say in how you use it.  Living that way will cost you greatly, but He promises to increase what you have in accordance to your faithfulness with the small things He gives you.
  • Opposition: 
    • Luke 14:31-32 — Living as a disciple of Jesus will come with its share of opposition.  But worse than the opposition of people who reject Christianity is the opposition of God against those who are filled with pride and reject Him.  Counting the opposition means that you consider the ridicule of men to be of no regard in your decisions compared to the praise of the Father saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
  • Sacrifice:
    • Luke 14:33 — There is no greater example of sacrifice than Jesus leaving heaven to live on earth for the purpose of being crucified for my sins.  Being a disciple of Jesus means that I will not only learn from Him, but I will learn to be like Him.  By His own words, doing so will require that I unconditionally surrender all of me to Him and live a life that shows His sacrifice to the world.  This isn’t a matter of choosing what I’m willing to give up and then calling it a sacrifice for doing so.  No, this is a full surrender so that my life becomes a living sacrifice devoted fully to Him.
  • Trust:
    • Luke 14:34-35 — Most of us are pretty good at surrounding ourselves with the things and people that we know we can put our trust in.  As Jesus calls us to give up everything to become the salt of the earth, often time the things we trust the most will have to be put aside so that we can learn complete trust in Him.  He is the master at using the most unlikely people to do things they are unequipped for in order to bring praise and glory to Him rather than to mankind.

Counting the COST isn’t really the end to anything, rather it is the beginning point of a decision each of us must make — Is it worth it, and am I willing to pay everything I have in order to become a child of God?  I pray that the answer to those questions is a resounding, “Absolutely Yes!”

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Living As Fully FREE! (Sermon Audio)

 

This is the audio from the July 7, 2019 sermon, “Living As Fully FREE!”, shared by Tom Lemler at the North Wayne Mennonite Church.

 

Text: Luke 15:11-32

Here are the main points from the sermon:

In Christ, we are fully  . . .

  • Forgiven:
    • 1 John 2:12 — When we come home to the Father, our sins are fully forgiven because of Jesus . . . not because of us or our efforts.
  • Restored: 
    • 1 Peter 5:10 — Even through suffering and difficulty, and sometime because of them, we have a God that will fully restore us to Himself when we “come to our senses” and return to Him.
  • Equipped:
    • 2 Timothy 3:16-17 — The freedom we find by gazing into the perfect law of God’s Word will fully equip us for every good work He calls us to do..
  • Embraced:
    • Luke 15:20 — From wherever we are, our return to the Father will be met with a loving embrace.  His touch gives us the hope and courage to grow from the child He created to the son or daughter He designed us to be.

Until we find true freedom in Christ, the freedoms we chase after will only be temporary at best and will never fully satisfy.

Building On the PAST! (Sermon Audio)
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Building On the PAST! (Sermon Audio)

 

This is the audio from the June 2, 2019 sermon, “Building On the Past!”, shared by Tom Lemler at the North Wayne Mennonite Church.

 

Text: Ephesians 2:11-22

“. . . built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.”

We tend to approach the past in one of two ways. 

One, we try to ignore it and thus learn nothing from it.  In this mode, we tend to remove/replace/destroy anything that we feel doesn’t have meaning regardless of the history and/or functionality to someone else.  

Two, we worship the past and still learn nothing from it.  In this approach, our “rose-colored glasses” keeps us from seeing things as they really were.  We hang on to things that represent who we once were regardless of whether we, or anyone else, are still being served by those things.

God’s approach in scripture seems to be that we would learn from the past so that we can be built up into the body He desires.  

Here are the main points from the sermon:

As we look back, we must make plans to build on  . . .

  • Promises:
    • Building on promises requires that we are people of our word.  When we build on the promises of God, we find a foundation that will never crumble, no matter how much it is shaken, because God always keeps His promises.
  • Actions: 
    • Building on actions requires that we acknowledge work that has already been done.  We are where we are because of the work done by those who have gone before us.  As Christians, we not only build on the work of the people in our immediate history, we build our life on the work done by God since the beginning of creation.
  • Sacrifices:
    • Building on sacrifices requires that we acknowledge and honor those who have given up things of value to them so that we can be where we are today.  There is no greater sacrifice that we can build our life upon than the sacrifice of Jesus to pay the penalty for our sin.
  • Triumphs:
    • Building on triumphs may sound like the best part, yet many of us struggle to “rejoice with those who rejoice.”  When we build on the victories we have experienced, we celebrate what has been accomplished while keeping our gaze fixed ahead on what is yet to be done.  Building a life that endures will require that we build it around the triumph that Jesus claimed over death.

Building on the PAST is how we are able to celebrate the work of God without becoming complacent to the extent that we no longer expect Him to work.  God wants us to take all of the lessons He will teach and use them to help others desire, seek, and have a relationship with His Son, Jesus.