First Christian Church El Reno: Recent Episodes
First Christian Church of El Reno
Guest preacher Rev. Dr. Jerry Black closes our series "Faithful, Hopeful, Loving" with his sermon "Looking, Seeking, Loving".
Scripture: Mark 3:20-35 (Aanika Gillett)
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Associate Minister Tara Dew continues our series "Faithful, Hopeful, Loving" with her sermon "Living Out Our Hope".
Scripture: Samuel 2:1-10 (Aanika Gillett)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott begins his sabbatical, and we are joined by guest preacher Rev. Dr. Jerry Black who begins our series "Faithful, Hopeful, Loving" with his sermon "Divine Anticipation".
Scripture: Romans 8:12-17 (Aanika Gillett)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott wraps up our series "Dare to Dance Again" with his sermon "Dare to Dance Again".
First Scripture: Acts 2:1-21 (Aanika Gillett)
Second Scripture: Ezekiel 37:1-15 (Colton Lott)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our series "Dare to Dance Again" with his sermon "Clap Your Hands".
"On this Mothers Day, I wonder how we can dare to dance again in a way that honors that original vision of Mothers Day that Julia Ward Howe and Anna Jarvis had, how we can work to enact peace to increase the material lives of the impoverished, to reduce diseases of body and society, to pitch our shields in a circle."
First Scripture: Luke 24:44-53 (Cianna Means)
Second Scripture: Psalm 47 (Colton Lott)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our series "Dare to Dance Again" with his sermon "Guide My Steps".
First Scripture: John 15:1-8 (Aanika Gillett)
Second Scripture: Acts 8:26-40 (Colton Lott)
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Student Minister Aanika Gillett continues our series "Dare to Dance Again" with her sermon "The Dance of the Good Shepherd".
First Scripture: John 10:11-18 (Anna Rinehart)
Second Scripture: Psalm 23 (Aanika Gillett)
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President & CEO of Disciples Home Missions (DHM) Rev. Chris Dorsey guest preaches this Sunday with his powerful sermon "The Other John 3:16".
First Scripture: John 10:11-18 (Aanika Gillett)
Second Scripture: John 3:16-24 (Rev. Chris Dorsey)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our series "Dare to Dance Again" with his sermon "Dancing Sure".
First Scripture: Luke 24:36b-48 (Aanika Gillett)
Second Scripture: John 3:1-7 (Colton Lott)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott begins our new series "Dare to Dance Again" with his sermon "Dancing Together".
First Scripture: John 20:19-31 (Aanika Gillett)
Second Scripture: John 1:1-2:2 (Colton Lott)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott shares his sermon "Look Up" with us on Resurrection Sunday.
Scripture: Mark 16:1-8 (Isaiah Gonzalez)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our series "What Are You Up To?” with his sermon "Lift Up".
Scripture: John 12:20-33
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our series "What Are You Up To?” with his sermon "Light Up".
Scripture: John 3:14-21 (Jonah Dew)
Second Scripture: 21:4-9 (Colton Lott)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our series "What Are You Up To?” with his sermon "Take Up".
Scripture: Mark 8:31-38 (Jacob Richey)
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Elder Tamra Weimer begins continues our series "What Are You Up To?” with her homily "Serve Up."
"Biblical compassion means that you see the problem, you are moved by the need, and you meet the person where the problem is. Compassion, what do you see when you hear the word? For me I see a person living life with me, doing what is hard, getting in the mud with me and getting dirty... In 2004, Bert and I went through the most difficult time of our life and marriage. For me I did not know how I was going to survive and walk to the other side of grief."
Scripture: Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19 (Jim Rinehart)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott kicks off our Canadian County Lenten Services series "Tell Me the Stories of Jesus” with his sermon "The Story of Patience"
"This is a story to help you pray. This is a story so you don't lose hope. "
Scripture: Luke 18:1-8 (Tessa Guthrie)
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Associate Minister Tara Dew begins our new series "What Are You Up To” with her sermon "Come Up."
"So if you hear nothing else today, hear that you are a child of God. You are loved by the creator God, and you are his beloved. He is pleased with you just for you being you."
Scripture: Mark 1:9-15 (Bailey Schmidt)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott wraps up our series "Regrets: Moving from 'If Only...' to New Life” with his sermon "Regret Remade."
Scripture Comes Alive: Luke 15:11-32 (The Older Son played by Riley Branum)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our series "Regrets: Moving from 'If Only...' to New Life” with his sermon "Regret Revealed."
Scripture Comes Alive: Luke 15:11-32 (The Father played by Mike Van Horn)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott begins our new series "Regrets: Moving from 'If Only...' to New Life” with his sermon "Regret Reclaimed."
"You don't owe it to anyone to keep holding onto that pain either. Eventually a regret has taught you all that it's ever going to teach you. Don't keep turning back to it. You can let it go."
Scripture Comes Alive: Luke 15:11-32 (The Younger Son played by Chris Harris)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott closes our series "Faithful, Hopeful, Loving: Building Generous Lives” with his Homily "For God Is at Work in Us."
Scripture Reading: Philippians 2:1-13 (Bailey Schmidt)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues or series "Faithful, Hopeful, Loving: Building Generous Lives” with his sermon "Our Hope Does Not Disappoint Us."
Scripture Reading: Romans 5:1-11 (Piper Byrd)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott begins our new series "Faithful, Hopeful, Loving: Building Generous Lives” with his sermon "Come and Follow Jesus."
Scripture Reading 1: Matthew 2:1-12 [NRSVUE] (Isaiah Gonzalez)
Scripture Reading 2: Matthew 4:12-23 [NRSV] (Colton Lott)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our series "Home for the Holidays: Jesus Makes a Home HERE” with his sermon "Coming Home."
Scripture Reading: Luke 2:1-20 (video)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our new series "Home for the Holidays: Jesus Makes a Home HERE” with his sermon "Finding a Home."
Scripture Reading: Luke 1:26-38 (read by Aanika Gillett)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our new series "Home for the Holidays: Jesus Makes a Home HERE” with his sermon "Seeking a Home."
Scripture Reading: Matthew 1:18-24 (read by Bailey Schmidt)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott wraps up our series "Fall Into Grace: Finding God's Limitless Love” with his sermon "We Share Grace."
Scripture Reading: Thessalonians 5:1-11 NSVR
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our series "Fall Into Grace: Finding God's Limitless Love” with his sermon "God's Grace is Enough"
Scripture Reading: Thessalonians 4:13-18 NSVR (read by Aanika Gillett)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our series "Fall Into Grace: Finding God's Limitless Love” with his sermon "Grace Shows Up Gently"
Scripture Reading: Thessalonians 2:9-13 NSVR (read by Aanika Gillett)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our series "Fall Into Grace: Finding God's Limitless Love” with his sermon "Grace Shows Up Gently"
Scripture Reading: Thessalonians 2:1-8 NSVR
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Guest Pastor Rev. Michael Davison begins our new series "Fall Into Grace".
Scripture Reading: Thessalonians 1:1-10 [NRSV] (Rev. Michael Davison)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott wraps up our series "Faith Across Time: A Journey Through Generations”.
Generational Overview: Generation Z & Generation Alpha (Colton Lott)
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 25: 1-9
Sermon: (Colton Lott & Serenity Schneider)
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Associate Minister Tara Dew continues our series "Faith Across Time: A Journey Through Generations”.
Generational Overview: The Baby Boomers (Joyce Thomason)
First Reading: Psalm 105: 1-6, 37-45 (read by Jamie Gray)
Second Reading: Exodus 16:2-15 (read by Tara Dew)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our new series "Faith Across Time: A Journey Through Generations”.
Generational Overview: The Millennial Generation (Colton Lott)
Second Reading: Isaiah 5:1-7 [NRSV] (Colton Lott)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our new series "Faith Across Time: A Journey Through Generations”.
First Reading: Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32 (read by Scott Schmidt)
Second Reading: Matthew 21:23-32 (read by Colton Lott)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott begins our new series "Faith Across Time: A Journey Through Generations” with his sermon "There’s Power in Community".
First Reading: Psalm 119:33-40 (read by Theleda Fuller)
Second Reading: Matthew 18:15-20 (read by Colton Lott)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott closes our series "Re-Shaped: What We're Made For" with his sermon "We Can Do This".
"Most people I know who talk about the last 5 years talk about how hard they have been. And I know I felt rough edges and you have too. Not just in the church but in the world with all that we have lived through. And it's all I got to know, but I'm so grateful that we go to do it together. We have taken heart, we've had courage, we've moved beyond just knowing and understanding into an integration where the changes, the good ones and the bad ones, took root and just became part of who we are. And we flourished anyway. And we became as we have been and will continue to be, people of generosity and graciousness. We have walked on the water too. And not only have we once walked but will keep walking changing bit by bit so we can follow Jesus again and again no matter where he leads even when it calls us over the side of the boat. Church we will keep being reshaped again, again, and again. And we can do it. It's not me or you anyway, not really. It's about what God is doing through us. It's always about how God is reshaping us."
Contemporary Reading: "Start Close In" (read by Kyston Haines)
Scripture Reading: Matthew 14:22-31a (read by Colton Lott)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our series "Re-Shaped: What We're Made For" with his sermon "Everything Changes".
Contemporary Reading: "Rebirth" (read by Terry Smith)
Scripture Reading: John 12:20-26 (read by Colton Lott)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our series "Re-Shaped: What We're Made For" with his sermon "Inside Out".
Contemporary Reading: The Committee (read by Britni Means)
Scripture Reading: Mark 1:1-15 (read by Colton Lott)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott begins our new series "Re-Shaped: What We're Made For (1/4)" with his sermon "It's a Choice".
Contemporary Reading: The Song of the Potter (read by Jan Crider)
Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 18:1-6 (read by Colton Lott)
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Today guest speaker Rev. Noel Gray joins us and preaches a powerful sermon on friendship!
"...but a friend loves at all times. Will show up in the worst of times, offer you a smile a hug, just maybe just their presence and they say nothing at all, but you get energy when they show up. THAT is a friend. A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born out of adversity."
Scripture Reading: Proverbs 17:17
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This week Mason Sharp, Isaiah Gonzalez, Jonah Dew, Kyston Haines, Eli Dew, and associate minister Tara Dew share their reflections from this year's mission trip to Jamaica.
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 55:1-5
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This week our guest speaker, Travis Wilson, wraps up our series "FruitFULL Faith: A Spirit Filled Life!" with his sermon "Self-Control and Gentleness: A Father's Journey".
First Reading: Galatians 5:22b-26 (read by Derek Harris)
Second Reading: 1 Samuel 24 (read by Travis Wilson)
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This week our summer intern, Annika Gillett, continues our series "FruitFULL Faith: A Spirit Filled Life!" with her sermon "Goodness and Faithfulness".
First Reading: Galatians 5:22b-26 (read by Gianna Means)
Second Reading: Mark 12:38-44 (read by Annika Gillett)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our series "FruitFULL Faith: A Spirit Filled Life!" with his sermon "Patience and Kindness".
First Reading: Galatians 5:22b-26 (read by Malorie Cowan)
Second Reading: 1 Kings 17:8-16 (read by Colton Lott)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our new series "FruitFULL Faith: A Spirit Filled Life!" with his sermon "Peace".
"Who is this? For my money and for my life, Jesus is the one in the boat with us, or rather we're in the boat with him. And he might seem distant, but he is none the less present. He doesn't shy away. He is right here in the middle of the storm with us. He is the one who can take care of us even when we can not take care of ourselves. And as long we are in the boat with Jesus as long as we are in the ship of faith, as wild as it seems, I do believe we will have peace somehow, someway, someday."
First Reading: Galatians 5:22b-26 (read by Early Parham)
Second Reading: Matthew 8:23-27 (read by Colton Lott)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott wraps up our series "REST: Reconnecting with God and Yourself" with his sermon "Simple Rules". Due to technical issues, the last several sermons are unavailable.
"Somehow the God who created tiny birds of the air which fly up high in the air, the same God who created beautiful flowers that are adorned with the softest most delicate of pedals, the same God who made the grass and the wheat that pops up out of the ground, that God also created YOU. And do you really believe that this God who has given such abundant life to everything else expects us to be here in misery contorted by a clock and devalued by expectations that are frankly unreasonable?"
Scripture: Matthew 6:25-34 (read by Isaiah Gonzalez)
Colossians 3:1-4 (read by Colton Lott)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our new worship series "The Gospel According to Dolly Parton" with his sermon "The Good News of Companionship".
"And let me warn you now, we are not perfect, as we walk on this path together. And if someone ever told you that church people are perfect or even better than average they unfortunately lied to you. Perfection is not a good word for what we are doing here together, but what we are doing as church can better be described by one different word and that word is companionship. We live together in the bonds of love, and in these bonds of love we find the courage to try and to do better. We find the support for one another. We find the strength not just to survive, but to thrive. That's companionship."
Scripture: Acts 1:1-11
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our new worship series "The Gospel According to Dolly Parton" with his sermon "The Good News of Difference".
"We are still so cruel so often to people who are different, who are dreamers and who dress a little strange to our taste. We just can not figure out that we are created different, and our diversity isn't a burden but a gift from God. And when we look at the hardest roughest edges of this cultural moment that we're living through it seems that still that so much of our animosity goes back to our inability to see the differences between us as part of God's good news."
Scripture: Genesis 37: 1-4, 12-28
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our new worship series "The Gospel According to Dolly Parton" with his sermon "The Good News of Solidarity".
"We get to decide what tomorrow looks like, who is gonna get added in, and who's gonna get left out. We get to decide who we're not going to abandon to hunger and to want. We're going to pick who belongs to our families, our world, our workplace, our Sunday school classes, our neighborhoods. We dream about a better life, I think we all do, so what will we do to make sure that everyone has enough and our better life is shared so that a rising tide lifts all boats."
Scripture: Matthew 20:1-16
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our new worship series "The Gospel According to Dolly Parton" with his Homily "The Good News of Healing".
Scripture: Genesis 30: 1-2, 14-16
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott begins our new worship series "The Gospel According to Dolly Parton" with his sermon "The Good News of Second Chances".
"She [Dolly Parton] is somebody that has transcended the divisions of our time so that we can hear what she has to say outside of our normal conversations of right versus left, up versus down, right versus wrong, red versus blue, coast versus heartland arguments that have taken up so much of the oxygen of our public life. Because she still speaks in a way we can hear, because she stills sings in a way we're willing to listen, we can hear something special through her life and music. We can be reminded of Good News."
Scripture: John 21:1-19
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott delivers his powerful sermon, "Changed for Good" on Easter Sunday!
"What does make Easter Sunday the hardest to believe, it's not that Jesus rose from the dead, not really, it's that the body of Christ lived on. That in the wake of a horror of a violent death they knew and proclaimed that Christ is living once, and generation in and generation out proclaimed that Christ is living still. What makes Easter Sunday the hardest to believe my friends, is that the same God who did that for Jesus can do that for us, even for you."
Scripture: John 20:1-18 (read by Mason Sharp)
Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our worship series "Gifts of the Dark Wood" with his sermon "The Gift of Temptation".
"Saying no especially to good ideas is the hardest part. But it's important because sometimes we as a church or you as an individual follower of Jesus have to say no so that we can say yes to what God was actually calling us towards, to the path where God especially needs our gifts and graces. In other words, just because you can doesn't always mean that you should. However God has called your path, to work for that good news of reconciliation, I hope you follow it, and I hope that in the season of lent you have turned up your antenna so you can better discern which path is yours to take."
Scripture: Corinthians 5:16-19 (read by Kyston Haines)
Contemporary Reading from "Gifts of the Dark Wood" by Eric Elnes (read by Pastor Colton Lott)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our worship series "Gifts of the Dark Wood" with his sermon "The Gift of Getting Lost".
"My friends as you figure out your way through the dark wood moments of life and you find yourself getting a little lost, my best word of wisdom is don't worry. Wait, cause God is going to come creeping by in a beat up pickup truck, and if you don't see a pickup truck don't worry just wait. We'll come along and we'll hang out with you until you figure out what's next, that's what a church does."
Scripture: Psalm 42:1-3 and 1 Samuel 3:2-10 (read by Mason Sharp)
Contemporary Reading from "Gifts of the Dark Wood" by Eric Elnes (read by Pastor Colton Lott)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our worship series "Gifts of the Dark Wood" with his sermon "The Gift of Being Thunderstruck".
"I say this to remind you that you've been called too, and I do believe that. Just like the strange case of orchid bees where the bees and the flowers become interdependent and in their little dance all of this beauty is born. Because each species of orchid bee relates to one species of orchid flower, they even look alike. I suspect that there's some part of your life were you have been uniquely and wonderfully made. There is a place where you have been called, called out, but more importantly called in to better a relationship. A place that you are especially equipped to love, a task that you can do phenomenally well. I believe my friends that you have a calling."
Scripture: Job 37:1-5 (read by Isaiah Gonzalez)
Contemporary Reading from "Gifts of the Dark Wood" by Eric Elnes (read by Pastor Colton Lott)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our worship series "Gifts of the Dark Wood" with his sermon "The Gift of Emptiness".
"Despite his isolation in the crucifixion we have the hope that comes with the God who keeps God promises that the son will rise on the third day that Jesus's emptiness and feelings of abandonment still betray his faith and the God who hears his cry. In emptiness God works. My friends, at one point or another you to, if you have not already, will have this emptiness. Those moments when we seem inadequate like we have lost like we are no count. That whatever we have done is too big to overcome and that we are rejected. What will God do with your emptiness? Cause the lesson I take from today is that when God finds us in our moments of emptiness God doesn't ask us to negate who we are or what makes us unique. God doesn't use our emptiness to ask us to erase ourselves, but in those moments God works with us for something new. God works to transform our pains and our losses into new life. When you've been brought low with God your story isn't over because in that emptiness when we so easily say that we feel the farthest from God. Well that's the moment we're in the right position for God to raise us up."
Scripture: Mark 15:22-28 & Luke 17:33 (read by Bailey Schmidt)
Contemporary Reading from "Gifts of the Dark Wood" by Eric Elnes (read by Pastor Colton Lott)
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Guest speaker Travis Wilson continues our new series Gifts of the Dark Wood with his sermon "The Gift of Uncertainty".
Scripture: Corinthians 13:11-12
Contemporary Reading from "Gifts of the Dark Wood" by Eric Elnes
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott wraps up our series with his sermon "Imagine a World with More #Resurrection".
"It's hard to talk about suffering, especially as a preacher because I don't want to do two errors which is to valorize it or diminish it. Sometimes our suffering doesn't have a meaning, the book of Job is helpful in teaching us that. So it's hard, even when sometimes we ascribe meaning after our suffering, to remember that not everybody's suffering has a meaning maybe not now and maybe not ever. So we can't valorize it, and we also should never diminish suffering because if we did we might not alleviate it when we can do so, and suffering should always be alleviated when we can do so. There is no silver lining so great that suffering should be allowed to continue when we have the power to stop it."
Scripture: Matthew 17:1-9, Peter 1:3-9
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our series with his sermon "Imagine a World with More #Beauty".
"When we engage with the Bible, with the teachings of God, with the Teachings of God that come to us through the trees and the wind, then we learn and are molded and shaped about how to love creation and to be stewards of it, not just consumers. When we are molded and shaped by the teachings of God, we better care for one another and share our abundance and our need because it all comes from God, it is all gift."
Scripture: Psalm 19
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our series with his sermon "Imagine a World with More #Justice".
"If individuals don't choose right ways of living suffering ensues. Isaiahs clear that both are needed, that a world with more justice involves the complete shift of society where the straps of the yokes of injustice are not just undone, the yokes aren't just taken off, but they're broken so the yoke that has oppressed God's children can never be used again. That's why often when we talk about justice we soon need to talk about systems, and powers, and principalities because they're important. Because when communities don't choose right ways of living suffering ensues. It is important for communities to choose those ways which allow every child of God to flourish with their customs, their traditions, their practices, their laws, because being just requires choosing those ways so that all of God's children, especially the poor, and the marginalized, and the hungry, are lifted up. The problem is when we end the conversation there we don't answer the next question. What if communities don't choose right ways of living?"
Scripture: Isaiah 58:6-9a
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our new series with his powerful sermon "Imagine a World with More #Hope".
"Sometimes I hear that church should be the most inspirational or joyful or uplifting time of the week, but I just don't believe that. I do believe Sunday worship should be the most honest time of the week. And if we do our honesty right then it becomes hopeful because it dares to say that there is a world even more true than the one we currently experience. And so we come together for that honesty and for that true community. A place where we knock off one another's rough edges like gems or rocks in a tumbler making each other smoother day by day, week by week. And sometimes we don't just knock off the rough edges but we sharpen one another as iron sharpens iron, sharpening each other so that we can dissect these moments in which we live. And with God's help even cut way some of the evil and hate so that the poison stops killing the tree. I am reminded of what provoked hope can do with the story of Rosa Parks."
Scripture: Hebrews 10:23:-25
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our new series with his homily "Imagine a World with More #Community".
Scripture: Acts 2:43-47
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We are joined by Carol Nichols who begins our new series with her devotion "Imagine a World with More #Compassion".
Scripture: Matthew 25:31-44
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott preaches his sermon "Epiphany and Epiphanies" on Epiphany Sunday.
"What if we had an epiphany and enjoyed the gift of gold and had riches to spare like kings? What if we had an epiphany and enjoyed the gift of frankincense and saw each other as children's of God, little bearers of the holy one? What if we had an epiphany and enjoyed the gift of myrrh and remembered that we are fragile and sacred so we better not waste anytime?"
Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our Advent series "Christmas Journey Interrupted" with his homily "Interrupted by a Good News".
"My friends the Christmas miracle is not only that God has come, but that God has come in the midst of all this to these. The miracle is not just that God showed up, but also that God showed up in a little struggling family unsure of how they'd make ends meet. God showed up to low wage workers that felt like they would never get ahead as they lay counting their sheep. God showed up in a weird family where it was hard to kind of explain how everyone was related but they all just kind of made it work. God showed up in a small town that no one in the big city would have heard about much less thought about. God showed up not out of obligation but as gift."
Scripture: Luke 2:1-20
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott wraps up our Advent series "Christmas Journey Interrupted" with his sermon "Interrupted by a Child".
"We celebrate Christmas each year not because Jesus needs a birthday party, hate to break it to ya, but because we need to remember how to sing this song. Especially when we can scarcely believe that God would interrupt our lives and our world with something as good as salvation. We need to remember how to sing this song when we can hardly stand to hope that God really will rescue us and all from the harm, and the hurt, and the despair that we regularly inflict on one another."
Scripture: Isaiah 52:7-10
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our Advent series "Christmas Journey Interrupted" with his sermon "Interrupted by a Sign".
"Sometimes God literally shows up as a child who teaches right from wrong, rescues us from our sins, and will surely return again. And sometimes God shows up in kind church secretaries who assure me, and you, and all that we do belong here and that we do belong to God and that together we have more than enough to be a pretty good church."
Scripture: Isaiah 7:10-16
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our Advent series "Christmas Journey Interrupted" with his sermon "Interrupted by the Spirit with Peace".
"...digging into the hard work of forgiveness, to do as Howard Thurman said in, 'restoring a lost harmony', so that our Christmas gift to ourselves is peace between us and someone else. Yes, just as people throughout the centuries have found themselves we found ourselves waiting, but let's actively wait. And as we do so, maybe we will make our way slowly to God's holy mountain where we will be interrupted by the Spirit with peace once and for all. Real peace, durable peace."
Scripture: Isaiah 11:1-10
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott begins our worship series "Christmas Journey Interrupted" with his homily "Interrupted on the Mountain with Hope".
"Isaiah, the Christmas story, the US Coastguard all tell of times when God interrupts the world as is is to surprise us with hope, a mountain of goodness that catches us off guard. Perhaps you need this surprising God to show up so that you can survive, so that you can be rescued, so that you can be saved."
Scripture: Isaiah 2:1-5
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott preaches this Reign of Christ Sunday with his sermon "Endings and Beginnings".
"Like Zechariah we await this coming of a mighty savior who will finally save us from the hands of our enemies of homeless and want, of violence, of addiction, of subordination, of tyranny, of hurt, and fear. We still await that day that he sang about. When the promise comes true and we serve God without fear and holiness and righteousness of God's presence all of our days. But first we have to make the path straight. It requires someone to make the path straight for the ways of God. Perhaps Someones. Perhaps even us."
Scripture: Luke 1:68-79
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Today we are joined by guest speaker Rev. Dr. Lisa Barnett as she preaches her sermon "Community Service".
Scripture: Luke 6:20-31
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott closes our worship series "In the Fullness of Time" with his sermon "Living and Dying".
"The wisdom of the heart leads us to the hope which God has called us too. The hope of a God who is over all things...far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. Above every name that is named. The hope of a God who is over all diagnoses, a God who is over all injustices, over all elections, over all storms when they strike. The hope of a God who is making a church making a body making us God's body. The hope of a God who has gathered us together. The hope of a God who is THE holy one, and is making us holy ones, making us saints. If only it was that easy to keep hope..."
Scripture: Ephesians 1:11-23
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our worship series "In the Fullness of Time" with his sermon "Breaking and Healing".
"The reality about the fullness of time is that sometimes we are broken by this world and the ways in which as Habakkuk says, 'justice is perverted.' Which always sounds like an abstract claim. It sounds high and lofty until its your family member whose denied treatment because of some kerfuffle with the insurance company, or its your friend who is assaulted on their way home in what should have been a safe walk, or its your child who feels the sting of prejudice. Then it becomes clear all over to us all over again. This isn't right, God do something please or better yet why haven't you done something?"
Scripture: Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2: 1-4
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our new worship series "In the Fullness of Time" with his sermon "Working and Resting".
"...and in the sweetness of that time when we do it, when we observe a Sabbath, we are able to stop, pluck, taste, see that God is good. We might always know what the special time means, but it just might be that in that special time of Sabbath we can find the God who is always present in the fullness of time, but so often hidden by our toil, our ruts, and our exhaustion."
Scripture: Leviticus 25: 1-7
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott begins our new worship series "In the Fullness of Time" with his sermon "Learning and Growing".
"In the Fullness of Time in which we live we inevitably change. We are formed, we learn, we grow. It seems to me then that the trick is figuring out how we are formed and changed by God and towards God. Easy idea, frighteningly difficult. As we consider carefully this month life, death, and everything in-between, our first question is not if we will change but how we will change over the course of our life."
Psalm 119:97-104
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Associate Minister Tara Dew is joined by our Intersections Participants Phyllis Dickerson, Janie Ivey, Callie Nitzel, and Chris Watson to continue our worship series with their sermon "Faith and Economics".
Revelation 3:14-20
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Guest speaker Eric Gray, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Disciples Foundation, joins us this World Communion Sunday to continue our worship series with his sermon "Faithful Living and Giving".
Luke 17:5-10
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our "From Bread and Cup to Faith and Giving" worship series with his sermon "Abiding in the Community of Jesus".
"Who rescued whom? Was it us or God? Was it me or you? No one can tell anymore, for we abide in the community of Jesus. And even the best diviner, soothsayer, no matter who's magnifying glass you have can peel apart that mixture, no one knows anymore where God begins and we end changed as we are at this table of love."
John 6:43-59
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our "From Bread and Cup to Faith and Giving" worship series with his sermon "A Community of Provision".
"We are going to be a church that continues to allow all of God's children to flourish. We are still going to be church where the kid who doesn't doesn't fit has a place to belong. We are going to be the church where young and old join together sharing their wisdom across generations. We are still going to be the helping hands church where people are in awe that a church this size gets all that done. I have incredible faith that just like that church in Jerusalem this church in El Reno has already everything it needs provided. But much like our ancestors in the Faith, we just have to figure out how we're going to do it."
Acts 2:42-47
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott continues our "From Bread and Cup to Faith and Giving" worship series with his sermon "A Community in the Wilderness".
"It's a wilderness friends and I don't know how to fix it. I don't know if we can fix it. The best I know that we can do is to follow what Jesus said and give them something to eat. So let's participate in the most radical miracle of all. Believing in the God of abundance, and open our lives, our resources, and our care, not just for me and mine, but for the world around us. The most radical miracle of all, Transformation. When we go from me and mine to us and ours, when we join together before God, there is more than enough. There always has been."
Mark 6:30-44 (NRSVUE)
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Senior Pastor Colton Lott begins our "From Bread and Cup to Faith and Giving" worship series with his sermon "In Community with Jesus".
"We are transformed into lives marked by faithfulness and generosity. Because as is the case, we can look like the gift. We can begin to look like bodies and bread that are faithful unto death. We can begin to look like blood and a cup that is generous without end for many and for all. This is a gift we don't take but receive and in receiving instead of taking we are changed. We receive the gift of Jesus so that we can become gifts for the world. Our transformation helps us to come together for the transformation of many through the church where we find true belovedness. We receive so that we can give it away again."
Matthew 26:26-29
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Today, Senior Pastor Colton Lott wraps up our Back to Basics worship series with his sermon "Faith Made Real".
"And individually these practices are important. Keep them and you'll be a better person. Individually brown sugar, flour, and salt are important. But as I've studied this text I believe that in our list of things to do there may be a reason that all these different disciplines are held together. That together they give feedback that helps a christian's faith operate in their lives. Fusing the tool and the person, making those chocolate chip cookies. Making Faith Real."
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
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Today's sermon is led by our summer intern Bradleigh Baker!
"...In fact, it's a joyful proclamation. Not something to fear but something to look forward to. Something to strive for in a way with awe and maybe even impatience. A new kind of certainty not only of the consequences for actions, but for the future of creation itself."
Hebrews 12:18-29
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"We were graciously welcomed into God's family, and we are grafted onto this path that is long and old. And because we belong to this great family tree we have been given these spectacles to perceive movement of God in many times and many places, and so we have these eyes of faith. As part of that lineage, what to we do? ...We look to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our Faith. Our branch on this tree of Faithfulness."
Hebrews 11:29-12-2
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Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
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"'Because He Lives' sings to us this reality more real than any other. Sings to us the truest true, that life is worth living just because Jesus lives. And so maybe 51 years later in our time of social upheaval, threats of war, betrayals of national trust and personal trust, of assassinations and war, of drugs and opioids and despair. Maybe this song that we sing will remind us of God's limitless love, and with that love we can face tomorrow."
Colossians 2:6-15
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"The greatest surprise of all that God shows up, and doesn't show up just where we think God would be but would show up in the most unlikely of places in the most unlikely of times with what only seems to be impossible news."
Genesis 18:1-15
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Deuteronomy 30:9-14
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Acts 1:12-17, 21-26
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Acts 2:1-21
"We certainly still have points where we need to keep journeying as the Church and we continue to do that Jesus work of deep inclusion so that each us, all of us, hear the good news that we belong to God."
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Revelation 22: 12-14, 16-17, 20-21
"I hope we will join him [John] not simply in patiently waiting, but through active yearning doing our best to pull Heaven down into Earth with our actions and by our love...so we can do things like reduce death by suicide for our soldiers. So that we can be an active hope and make sure that our children are not the objects of slaughter. So that we can be an active community of yearning for the family of God so that Black shoppers will no longer be the target of hate crimes. God knows we will not fix every ill...but maybe we can show the world that the miracle of prayer is not in that it denies responsibility but that it is the first step in activating disciples of Jesus Christ to do the miraculous! Come Lord Jesus, send us out!"
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Scripture: Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
"...studies have shown us that the most effective way to end homelessness is to provide housing, and provide it without any strings attached. Then surround people with supportive services that they can access when they are ready. A person doesn't have to earn their way into housing by being clean and sober or by being enrolled in any programs or committed to any certain path or going to a certain church. They must only be willing to have keys to their home...But there's a problem we run into, it's hard to fund housing first initiatives because they're thought to cost too much money for the wrong kind of people"
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Scripture: Revelation 21:1-6
"...It's important to find ways to remember what really matters. You will find so many ways to distract yourself because there are many a shiny thing out there and they will not satisfy. You will be pressed to love and to worship things that will end. Try to find ways to live in and with the God who will never end who is always beginning something new."
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Scripture: Revelation 7:9-17
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Scripture: Revelation 5:11-14
"...or maybe you're tired, tired of feeling like your body is betraying you and is not up to snuff with your disease, or your mental illness, or your addiction and that God must be through with you. The Lamb on the throne says otherwise."
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Scripture: Revelation 1:4-8
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Scripture: Luke 24:1-12
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Scripture: Luke 19:28-40
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Scripture: Leviticus 19:33-34; Matthew 25:35
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Scripture: Luke 19:1-10
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Scripture: Luke 18:15-17
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Scripture: Luke 17:1-19
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Scripture: Luke 13:31-35
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Scripture: Luke 14:1, 7-14
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Scripture: Revelation 22:16-20
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Scripture: Psalm 13
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Scripture: Philippians 4:4-5
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Scripture: Genesis 3:7-10
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Scripture: Corinthians 12:31b-13:13
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Scripture: Corinthians 12:12-31
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Scripture: Corinthians 12:1-11
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Scripture: Luke 3:7-22
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Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12
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Scripture: Luke 2:8-15
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Scripture: Luke 1:39-56
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Scripture: Luke 1:5-25, 57-80
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Scripture: Psalm 93
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