Last Sunday's Sermon--A Stubborn Heart

In an epic showdown between God and the Pharaoh of Egypt, God sends 10 plagues against the stubborn ruler of Egypt to show him, his people, and the Israelites God’s incredible might and power.

The story of the plagues can be a case study of Pharaoh’s heart–a heart that remained hard in the midst of disaster for his country.

In Sunday’s sermon on September 7, 2025, named “Symptoms of Stubbornness,” our pastor looked at how a hard heart will act towards God based on a study of one of the plagues, a hail storm, in Exodus 9:13-35.

Left to ourselves, we can stiffen our egos, and then God can harden us with repeated movement in our lives when we continue to be resisting and unrelenting in our hearts.

First, as is discussed in the sermon, a hard heart towards God will 1) Disregard God’s clear warnings.

In the 7th plague, hail, God warns the people to take shelter and bring in their livestock.

In a like manner, God warns us on how to deal with our relationship with Jesus.

Jesus warns, in Luke 6:46, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?“

And James warns in James 2:26, “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.”

Second, a hard heart towards God will 2) Demand God’s relief and deny Him true repentance.

Pharaoh pays lip service to God but his heart is far from the Lord.

In Exodus 9: 28-29 the text reads, “Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time I have sinned; the LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong.

Plead with the LORD, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.”

But Pharaoh did not keep his word.  He didn’t let the Israelites go.

Without repentance, we can still ask God for relief.  Pharaoh wanted relief from God’s judgment but didn't want to know God or repent.

Jesus will separate those who know Him from those who don’t.  He wants us to know Him.

Third, a hard heart towards God will 3) Delay obedience exhausting all other options.

Delaying in my response to God is the nature of a hard heart.

Hebrews 3:12-13 says “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.  But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

That is why it is important to build your tribe who will encourage you in your walk with Christ.

So, just as a reminder, a hard heart towards God will:

1) Disregard God’s clear warnings.

2) Demand God’s relief and deny Him true repentance.

3) Delay obedience exhausting all other options.

God wants to go deep and peel back the scales of our stubbornness.  

God promises to replace our heart of stone with a heart of flesh. 

In Ezekiel 36:26, God says, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.  And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

Am I disregarding God’s clear warnings?  Am I demanding God’s relief and denying Him true repentance?  Am I delaying obedience?

Examining my heart will help me repent, and staying in community will keep me in line.  These two things will help me see my heart softened toward God.

And that will give me hope in God’s deliverance in my life.

—Ann Elizabeth Yeager

Last Sunday's Sermon--Saved to Serve

God does not liberate us so that we can live for ourselves.  He sets us free for His purposes.  

God liberates us to serve Him.

This truth is the basis for Sunday’s sermon, on August 31, 2025, named “Saved to Serve,” and it is based on the scripture, Exodus 7:4-16.

During the time that Moses was called as an instrument to deliver the Israelites from the hand of Pharaoh, God’s people were slaves to serving Pharaoh’s gods.  

But Yahweh wanted the Israelites’ worship for Himself and Himself alone.

Pharaoh owned the Israelites Abad (pronounced Avod), which is Hebrew for a person’s work, service, and worship.

But God wanted their Abad to be committed to Himself.

The sermon stipulates that devotion to God gives us purpose in our work, service, and worship.

To start off, God gives us work to provide provision for us.  We are freed to work for Him.

Positionally, God is Lord over our labor.  Thus, there are questions we can ask Him about how to approach work, such as:

1. God, show me where I can make an impact?

2. God, where does my labor go with you and where does my work go against Your ways?

3. God, show me where my work is aimed at dependence on You?

Not only does God ask us to devote our work to Him, He also wants our service.  He wants us to serve others by focusing on God first.  

We can say to ourselves, “I’m serving these people because I love You, God.”  Having this mindset will transform us into Christlike servants.

Finally, devotion to God means that we worship Him exclusively.  God wants us to praise His name over all else.

In summary, unlimited access and total freedom is not for ourselves, but for work, service, and worship that is devoted to God.

God gives us a purpose in these three things to give Him what He Himself delights in.

And as we delight in what God delights in, we will be blessed.

Beyond measure.

—Ann Elizabeth Yeager

Last Sunday's Sermon--Swallow Your Pride

I tend to seek security in things other than God.

I often find security in friendships that I think will provide me the love I need.

And I hang on to stuff that I am emotionally attached to.

But, in reality, neither friendships nor material things can save me from the mess and the chaos of life.

Only God can do that.

Recognizing that God is clearly greater is the theme of Sunday’s Sermon on August 24, 2025, entitled “Swallow Your Pride,” which focuses on Pharaoh’s shortcomings in the scripture of Exodus, Chapter 7:8-13.

Moses and Aaron visit Pharaoh’s palace a second time, and they prove God’s power by showing how Aaron’s staff can turn into a river monster.

When Pharaoh’s magicians and sorcerers turn their staffs into river monsters as well, Aaron’s beast swallows up all the other beasts.

Moses is, in effect, saying, “My God can beat up your gods.”

Pharaoh, unimpressed, hardens his heart and refuses to let the Israelites go.

The sermon clearly explains how we can be just like Pharaoh when we do several things to harden our own hearts.

The first way we can be like Pharaoh is to say, “I can experience God’s greatness and still dismiss it.”  A bad recipe is to not fear God but to fear the plans of men.  We should beware of a stubborn heart like Pharaoh’s.  

There is no question of God’s greatness when Moses’ serpent gobbles up all the other serpents, but Pharaoh dismisses God’s great power as commonplace.  I can do the same thing if I don’t soften my heart often and routinely to break down the hardened core it has become. 

The second way we can be like Pharaoh is to say, “I can summon lesser power and be satisfied.”

When we go to self-help, money, relationships, our stuff, or busyness for security, we substitute God’s counsel with things that really can’t sustain us.

We find other ways to seek security instead of going to God, who offers us real peace, not temporary satisfaction.

When we feel secure in our own stuff, we dismiss God’s provision. When we seek our own wisdom, we dismiss God’s sovereignty.

The third way we can be like Pharaoh is to say, “I can double down in stubbornness.”

If we continue to harden our hearts like Pharaoh, we will not hear God.

This kind of behavior shows us how blind we are when we try to do things in our own power.

I can relate to this kind of hard heart.  God was calling me to submit to my parents in my early 20s, and I definitely doubled down in stubbornness.  He disciplined me harshly for it, and I had to learn the hard way of the error of my ways.

Finally, our main goal needs to be recognizing God’s greatness in Christ Jesus.

When we offer ourselves in humility to Christ, admitting our sin, we can experience His grace and mercy.

Jesus got swallowed up by death in our place on our behalf so we can go to God with confidence.

God’s greatness is greater than the guilt of our sin.  

And I need to worship Him for it, recognizing that He is God over all.

When I recognize that God is over all things, I can at least try to trust that He is greater at taking care of me than I am.

He knows best, and He is enough.

—Ann Elizabeth Yeager

Last Sunday's Sermon--Asleep at the Wheel

I can remember a time when I deliberately ran from God’s will.  I was in my 20s, and God wanted me to submit to my parents.  I refused.  God sent a storm of mental anguish, and I asked my parents for help.  Needing them made me get back in relationship with them.

When the Holy Spirit repeatedly nudges you to do something, and you keep putting it off or run away from the calling, the Heavenly Father may send you a storm to wake you up.

Just like he did with me.

And just like he did Jonah in the Bible.

This lesson was taught in Sunday’s sermon, entitled “Asleep at the Wheel,” on August 17, 2025 by a guest pastor.

In Jonah chapter one, Jonah was literally asleep in the bottom of a ship when God sent a storm to wake him up.

God had commanded him to go to the city of Ninevah to warn its people that God was going to bring judgment on them.

Jonah disobeyed when he went in the opposite direction and boarded a ship for Tarshish.

A storm came, and Jonah told the men on the ship to throw him overboard.  When they did, the storm became calm.

The sermon had four questions to address the issue of sleeping at the wheel when we need to wake up and do what God wants us to do.

The first question was, “What part of my life am I sleeping through?”  We often have a desire to run away when we don’t want to do a task given to us by God.  Recognizing that we are running away is often half the battle to turn things around and start doing what we’re supposed to be doing.

The second question was, “How do I know if I’m asleep?”  The answer to this question is you know you are asleep if you are emotionally disconnected like Jonah was.  The storm was raging at the helm of the ship, and Jonah was down below, sleeping, oblivious to his peril.

The third question was, “Why should I even wake up?”  When I choose to avoid doing something, people around me are going to pay for it just like the men on Jonah’s ship were affected by the storm as well.  Avoidance is trying to control what we can’t control.

The fourth and final question was, “How do I wake up?”  When we don’t listen, God sends a storm to wake us up.  He comes after us.  

We need to invite God into our world when we are asleep and ask Jesus to come teach us what we are scared to deal with.  We have to decide that we can’t avoid the task anymore and move towards it.

I read a scripture that says, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” (James 4:17)

Proverbs 3:27 also says, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.”

And, Proverbs 14:14 says, “The backslider in heart will be filled with the fruit of his ways, and a good man will be filled with the fruit of his ways.”

Reading these scriptures encourages me to focus and wake up to what God wants me to do.  

What about you?  Are you running from God’s will?  Is it time for you to wake up?

—Ann Elizabeth Yeager

Last Sunday's Sermon--Too Big to Obey

Sometimes God puts us in situations where the calling feels too big to obey.

Do you ever find yourself in that situation?

Sunday’s sermon, on August 10, 2025, entitled “Too Big to Obey,” focuses on this predicament for Moses in Exodus 6:28 to 7:7.

God calls Moses to a daunting task.  Even though God is sending him to tell the Pharaoh of the Egyptians to let the Israelites go and release them from slavery, God tells Moses at the same time that Pharaoh will not listen nor will he do what Moses asks of him.

To Moses, it maybe feels like he is being set up to fail.  How can God ask him to go into a situation that looks like it will fail from the beginning?

When we face a daunting obstacle, we entertain the thought of quitting.  Moses objects.  He tells God he is a man of “uncircumcised lips,” (Ex 6:30) or as to say, he feels that he is morally unfit for the task.

Moses says he is disqualified because he is morally flawed.  What he doesn’t realize is that God already knows this.

God restores Moses’ identity by telling him that He has placed him in a position of authority and that Aaron will speak for him.  He also invites him to walk in His grace.

Our pastor emphasized in the sermon that our own validation will never be enough.  If the calling feels too big, it is because we are placing the burden of the outcome on us.

And we can’t shoulder that burden if what you are being called to is actually going to work.  We have to let go of ourselves and let go of the outcomes.  We have to learn to not take it so seriously and let God do the work.

This mindset takes a big vision of who God is.  Moses wants justice.  And God lets him know that God Himself will be in charge of justice and vengeance against Egypt.  In v. 6, He tells Moses that he will bring judgment on Egypt.

In the end, the calling won’t be a failure. Our pastor reiterated that Moses begins to understand God and cultivate a love for Him as Yahweh, a personal God.  And he obeys when he decides to take the message to Pharaoh.

Loving who God is will propel us to trust Him and obey Him.

The calling we receive will feel too big if it feels like it's on us.  

We must come to the end of ourselves and turn to Him and His sovereignty, trusting that he will accomplish a work through us.

As long as I realize that what God is calling me to is in His hands, then I can take the next step forward–and the next step, and the next step.

Only then will I stop feeling so overwhelmed.

The only thing I can do is this:  trust that God will do a work through me despite my shortcomings.

Just like He did with Moses.

—Ann Elizabeth Yeager

Last Sunday's Sermon--Confidence

Following a personal God is challenging.  Sometimes you run into trouble when you specifically obey Him.

For example, making amends with someone will not always turn out well.

When you stick your neck out for God, sometimes the response is not always favorable.

Moses did exactly that, and he ran into trouble.

Sunday’s sermon, August 3, 2025, entitled “Confidence Pt 1,” details Moses’ struggle with confidence in God’s character after he basically tells Pharaoh to let the Israelites go.

Pharaoh responds by instructing his taskmasters to order the Israelites, who were slaves, to make bricks without straw.

It’s a no-win hugely unfair edict.

How can you make bricks without straw?  It’s impossible.  So when the Israelites fail to make their brick quota, they are beaten unfairly for something out of their control.

When Moses learns of this egregiously unjust situation, he takes his objections to the Lord.

In Exodus Ch. 5 verse 22, “Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people?  Is this why you sent me?  Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”

Moses experiences backfire after obeying the Lord, and he brings a question of “why” before God.

The sermon notes state clearly “Warning:  Unexpected outcomes as a result of obedience can cause us to lose confidence in continuing to obey.”

We may think prayers or thoughts like:

“I trusted You, and it made things worse.”

“Was this really from God?”

“Why are you letting them suffer?”

“This is not what I signed up for.”

Moses misses God’s character, and God shows it to him.  God shares a new name of His for Moses–Yahweh–the personal God.  God shows him His personal nature and goodness.

God presents Himself to Moses as not just El Shaddai, or The Lord God Almighty, but now as a God who satisfies, who will walk with Moses through this ordeal with Pharaoh as a personal God, one whom Moses can trust.

God restores confidence in Moses by reminding him who He is and the promises He has made.

In like fashion, God restores our confidence to obey His commands when:

1 God reminds us He is not only powerful, He is personal.

2 God reminds us He moved first.

3 God reminds us He is the source of our confidence.

God shows Moses how he loved the Israelites first by saying “I have remembered my covenant,” (Exodus 6:5b) the promise He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to His people the land of Canaan.

He then proceeds to tell Moses, in Exodus 6:6-8, seven “I will” statements to affirm His trustworthiness:

1 I will bring you out of the yoke of the Egyptians. (v 6)

2 I will free you from being slaves to them. (v 6)

3 I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. (v 6)

4 I will take you as my own people. (v 7)

5 I will be your God. (v 7)

6 I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. (v 8)

7 I will give it (Canaan) to you as a possession. (v 8)

Seven times.  

Seven times God reinforces His promise.  And then he says at the end of v 8, “I am the Lord.” 

He says I am Yahweh.  I am your very own personal God.  And I will keep my promises to my people. 

At a marriage ceremony, a couple says their vows once–“I will.”  God says His vows seven times.

That’s how committed God is to us, His bride.  That’s how trustworthy He is.  That’s how personal He is.

Is your confidence shaken by trouble?  Trust that God has a plan to redeem you and make things better for you in the long run.

Romans 8:28 reads, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

God takes on the responsibility for deliverance.  He does all the heavy lifting.  When we try to go in our own strength, God intervenes and says to build on his leadership and not on our performance.  

Our obedience is not powered by our own confidence, it is powered by God.

He promises that He will act, He will follow through, He will deliver.  

God will do it.

—Ann Elizabeth Yeager

Last Sunday's Sermon--God's Story

How I fit into God’s story matters.  My life isn’t just about me and my own personal identity.

My story is a part of God’s bigger story.

This theme was the main point of Sunday’s sermon on July 27, 2025, which focused on the genealogy of Aaron and Moses in Exodus 6:14-27.

Rather than skipping over this wordy genealogy, our pastor wisely used it to explain how God’s word confronts our individualistic mindset.

Genealogies are important in scripture.  They show how God establishes through generations the appointment of people used for a specific purpose in God’s orchestrated will.

God had an ordained purpose for Moses and Aaron.  He also has an ordained purpose for me.

Applying it to our lives, instead of shrinking our belonging to our own existence, God wants us to think of our identity as people outside ourselves.

Our culture today has an individualistic worldview.  We often define ourselves by our own choice of gender or sexuality.  And we think our existence begins and ends with us.

We think everything revolves around us.  We think, “I get to decide who I am.”

But God has a bigger picture in mind.  God wants us to know that He defines our identity.  We are part of the family of God.

This concept may challenge our thinking in today’s society, but this idea is about ownership and to whom we belong as people.

In essence, we belong to God.  

God wants us to live in His story, not one of our own making.

Ignoring this truth makes us believe lies about our identity, which is covered in this sermon.

Lies that say:

1. My story is about me.

2. My story is mine to define.

3. My story begins and ends with me.

4. My story rests on me.

God takes ownership of me.  He says to me, “You are mine.”  Isaiah 43:1b says, "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”

Thus, my personal belief that I belong to God matters to Him.  God decides who I will be.

Through Christ’s blood, He bought me at a price bigger than I can possibly fathom.

We have a security in Christ’s righteousness because we are grafted into God’s covenant.

Therefore, I need to have a loyalty to God, a concept that is at odds with a culture that defines itself on its own.

Our story doesn’t rest on our shoulders but on God’s grace.  We are to live the lives that God has ordained for us.  

While this truth challenges our view of identity in society today, it can actually be a comfort.

The fact that I belong to God means I matter immensely to Him and that He is going to look out for me, watch over me, and take care of me.

Knowing this truth is priceless–I am grateful that I belong to God.

—Ann Elizabeth Yeager

Last Sunday's Sermon--Abiding on Earth

God invites us to abide in Him.

Sunday’s sermon, on July 20, 2025, entitled “Abiding on Earth,” challenges the notion that we can only abide at certain times of the day.

During prayer.  During a devotional.  During spiritual meditation.

Those occurrences are good, but, based on Genesis 2 and 3, we can abide all the time.

When Adam was in the garden, he abided with God during work and during rest–he was always in God’s presence.

According to the sermon, we compartmentalize the secular and the sacred–thinking that they are two distinctive and separate things.

But abiding resists separation and rejects the sacred/secular divide.  In other words, we can be with God all the time.

We can abide with God when we walk, sit down, lay down, and rise up.

Psalm 139:2 says, “You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.”

And Deuteronomy 6:5-7 says, “ You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

We don’t have to consciously focus on God to be with Him.  We just need to be aware of His presence.  The moment we “space out,” or forget that God is with us, that is when the enemy shows up to deceive us.

Thus, abiding also resists deception, or rejects bad beliefs, like, “I must earn God’s favor.”

Abiding is not only exclusive mental concentration, but it is also comprehensive.  We can abide with God both when we work and when we pray to Him.

And finally, abiding resists hiding.  We don’t have to hide from God.  He has made a way to cover our sin and shame through Christ’s payment for our sins.

We can go boldly to God in Christ and not hide from Him.

When we confess Christ and believe in Him, we can know that God sees us as righteous because Christ has taken our bad record and given us his good record.

God is the God of my universe.  He is in my work, and He is in my play.

Even though we disobey when we are deceived and then feel shame, God covers us and invites us to abide.

In John 15:4, Jesus says, “Abide in me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”

I can abide in Jesus all the time.  I just need to be aware of His presence and acknowledge His presence everywhere I go.

—Ann Elizabeth Yeager

Last Sunday's Sermon--Building on Earth

Religious duty was a driving force for me growing up during my childhood.  Religion was something I latched onto to give me direction in life.

The practice of religion kept me in line, but it also kept me driven.  I never could just enjoy life or smell the roses, so to speak.

I needed a personal relationship with God.  Even after I met Christ at age 20, however, I would slip back into religion-focused tasks.  I still struggle with this today.

Sunday’s sermon, on July 13, 2025, entitled “Building on Earth,” discusses how I can set aside my drive to please people and instead build heaven on earth.

Since I am a builder, God equips me to build heaven on earth in three distinctive ways:

1. I can build righteousness, not religion.  The plan is secrecy.

2. I can build faith, not disbelief.  The plan is prayer.

3. I can build knowing God, not knowing how.  The plan is a personal faith.

The first point of the sermon focuses on the fact that true righteousness is liberating and frees me from religion.  Our motive is not to perform but to relate to God.  And we need to seek secrecy as we serve others and not pronounce our good deeds to them.

In Matthew 6:1-4,  Jesus says, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.  “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

The second point of the sermon focuses on the fact that prayer is essential for building heaven on earth.  We need to ask for good outcomes in our lives and then believe that God can do what we ask.

In Matthew 7:7-11, Jesus says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.  Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?  If you then you, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

The third point of the sermon focuses on the fact that trusting in a relational God takes personal faith and that kind of faith builds His kingdom.  And we need to find satisfaction in what God is satisfied with.

In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

In other words, we need to act on what the Holy Spirit is nudging us to do, not just do something good because we feel it is a “mighty” work.  Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”

Finally, we need to believe that Jesus is the architect.  He lays down the plans.  We build upon those plans.  We build upon the belief that He is God, and then we are to ask Him to do a personal work in us.

In Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus says, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.  And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

If I build on what God has designed and established, mainly to love Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love my neighbor as myself, then I will build on the rock, who is Jesus, and I will be safe when trials and hardships come.

Pursuing religion is fruitless.  Real fruit comes from abiding in Christ and listening to His Spirit, doing what He leads us to do–to love, which is according to His will.

I pray that God helps me to keep this truth straight in my head.

—Ann Elizabeth Yeager

Last Sunday's Sermon--Getting it Right

I have a number of things on my mental list that I think I need to take care of before God works in some areas of my life–a few things that I need to get right with Him.

I promised a friend that I would give him the notes from a class that I took that I think will be of benefit to him.  I have procrastinated about it because I have to go back through my notes and organize them before I give them to him.

I also need to visit an elderly woman that I promised I would see and yet have neglected to do it.

And finally, I need to bring a couple of books to a former teacher that I promised to visit. I have waited too long to do this as well.

Getting right with God is basically practicing integrity–something that I have obviously been struggling with for some time.

Sunday’s sermon, on June 29, 2025, covering Exodus 4:18-31, emphatically emphasizes how important character and integrity are to God in regards to our relationship with Him.

In this passage in Exodus, Moses ends up on his deathbed because he didn’t take care of some integrity issues with God.

God was disciplining Him with a sickness because He needed to be right with God.

In the sermon, our pastor asked the question, “How does God get us ready?”  The answer:  He gets us right.

The main point of the passage is that God had told Moses to tell the elders that He would lead the Israelites out of Egyptian oppression, but Moses had not circumcised his sons.  His behavior showed that he disregarded the covenant God had made with the Israelites, including himself.

God had established circumcision as a way that His people would be set apart from other cultures.  The tradition was established as a way for God to keep his promise to the Jews.

In other words, Moses was getting ready to fulfill God’s plans, but more importantly, God wanted Moses to get right with God first.

The sermon proposes the differences between being ready and being right before God.  The main points of the message were:

1. Being ready is about being useful, but being right before God is about being holy.

2. Being ready for change in others is different from being right before God to work in me.

3. Being ready keeps sin hidden and being right before God requires repentance.

Additionally, the sermon establishes how God gets us right with him.

1. God gets us right through discipline.

2. God gets us right through persistence.

3. God gets us right through Jesus.

Discipline is the way God shows us that he is our spiritual Father and wants the best for His children.  

Persistence is the way God shows that He is coming for our character:  he leaves the 99 sheep to search for that one, wandering soul.

And it takes Jesus’ work on the cross to get our souls right with God.  God saves us through faith in Jesus’ righteousness.  God wants us to judge ourselves first and deal with our character–first getting the plank out of our own eye–before following the one who had nothing to be ashamed of and who took our shame.

In the end, Moses goes to speak to the elders of Israel with integrity.  He makes the right choice, or in this case, Zipporah, Moses’ wife, helps the situation by circumcising Moses’ son.

Moses was delivered from a serious illness because He became a vessel who was right with God.

So now I need to deal with the three issues dogging my integrity right now.

1. Give my friend that tutorial.

2. Visit my former elderly neighbor.

3. Bring some gifts to a former teacher.

As I think about it, God is concerned about me making promises and not keeping my word.

I hope that I can take care of this quickly.

Because God wants to do a work in me.

I need to get it right.

—Ann Elizabeth Yeager

Last Sunday's Sermon--Trust God

The only way I passed Chemistry in college was through partial credit.  It was that difficult for me.

God knew that I was weak in math, and chemistry is math plus science mixed together.

God provided a way for me to get my last science course that I needed to continue on with my degree program.  Getting partial credit on my final exam rescued me.

I narrowly skated by with a “D” on my transcript.  Though it was not my best moment, God was aware of my limitations, and he provided a way for me to pass the class.

The premise for Sunday’s sermon, “Wait, Wait, Wait!!!”, on June 22, 2025 was based on this concept.  Our pastor showed from the text in Exodus 4:1-17 that God has our best interests in mind when He calls us to do something and that He will provide for us in those plans.

God’s plans for our lives and the lives around us are trustworthy because God is trustworthy.

Moses, still at the burning bush, did not trust God with his calling.  God wanted him to tell the elders of Israel that he was asked by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

Moses didn’t think the elders would listen to him.  God heard Moses and told him that he would enable him to show the elders three signs that God was with him.

The three signs were:  his staff could turn into a snake, his hand could become leprous, and water from the Nile could be turned into blood.

God wanted Moses to trust that He would provide for what others needed to believe Moses.  He also wanted Moses to trust Him to provide what Moses himself needed.

Moses was very insecure about his speaking ability and was scared to talk to the elders.  He argued that he wasn’t eloquent.

God anticipated Moses’ struggle and provided a mouthpiece, Aaron, who was already on his way to meet Moses at the time that he and God were talking.

God wanted Moses to trust Him to provide for him, not replace Him.

When Moses asked God to use someone else, God showed some relational anger.  He was upset because Moses wasn’t trusting Him.  Moses had crossed the line from doubt to disobedience, and God wanted his faith as a prerequisite to moving forward with His plan for Moses and the Israelites.

God delights in our faith.  He asks us for faith before He delivers on His promise to us.

In this sermon, trust is the issue.  Moses had to trust that God was in control regarding Moses’ calling even when the Hebrew was afraid of rejection and failure.

We have to trust God in the same way.

Especially when He asks us to do something hard that requires faith.

—Ann Elizabeth Yeager

Last Sunday's Sermon--Hope

I am facing a lifetime of managing a chronic mental illness.

I am facing a lifetime of chronic kidney disease and diabetes.

I am also facing a lifetime of perpetual singleness.

That’s three whammies.

Three mentally, physically, and emotionally difficult hardships.

So how do I cope?  If I focused only on these three things, I would fall into despair.  I can’t go there.

God says in Jeremiah 29:11, “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”

God is my hope.  My hope for provision.  My hope for salvation.  My hope for a future of eternal life.

Based on the scriptures of Exodus 3:16-22, Sunday’s sermon on June 15, 2025 entitled “Hope in Salvation,” focused on this hope that I need to lean on.

Through Moses, God sends Israel a message of hope that they will be delivered from Egyptian oppression.  God is telling them that He is going to save them.

In the same way, God gives us hope in our salvation.  A salvation that exists in our past, present, and future.  God saved us, is still saving us, and will save us forever.

The first salvation is when we come to Christ and believe that He alone can save us.

The second salvation is our present, ongoing sanctification, whereby God keeps saving us by delivering us from false hopes that lead to despair and cynicism.  

False hope of our own personal empowerment leads to a lack of motivation and discouragement.

False hope makes us think we are in control and that way of thinking leads us to failure.

God’s hope of sanctification (ongoing salvation) in us can combat that despair.

In this sanctification, this present ongoing salvation shows us how to be more like Christ—it purifies us to be more like Him.  God is presently saving us.

We face paths of hard situations in life for our ongoing salvation of deliverance and transformation–the sanctification process.

God empowers us with the gift of His Spirit to enable us to go through these hardships.

Finally, the third salvation is when we will be saved forever in our glorification, which is a time when God will take us to heaven, either after our own personal death or through the rapture when Jesus comes for us.

This resurrection gives us hope and comes at God’s mighty hand.

God does it all.  We can’t save ourselves.  Christ is the object of our hope.  We were powerless to change ourselves.  Jesus gives us His righteousness and enables us to change by His Spirit.  Jesus is our salvation–past, present, and future.

Hope changes everything–it changes our outlook, disposition, and mood.

Hope of salvation is what we can lean on during the tough times of life in this world.

Even in present hardship, I am just passing through this world until I get to the other side in heaven. 

So the threat to mental health, physical health, and emotional health in my life cannot remain forever.  

Forever is with Jesus.

—Ann Elizabeth Yeager

Last Sunday's Sermon--God Is

God is supreme.  I am not.

We don’t define who God is.  He defines Himself.  

We know God by faith and by experiencing Him through that walk of faith.

On Sunday, June 1, 2025, our pastor emphasized these points as he took us through Exodus 3:13-15, which continues with the story of God talking to Moses through the burning bush.

God tells Moses that he will lead the Israelites out of Egypt, so Moses asks God who shall he say is sending him.

God replies in verse 14, “Say this to the people of Israel;  ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

In this verse, God emphatically tells Moses His identity.  He is I AM.

As the great I AM, God shows that He cannot be defined by anyone other than Himself.  He is not defined by what we feel or think we need from Him.  He just is.

He’s not just a God of justice and might.  He is not just a God of mercy and lovingkindness.  He is all those things and more.  He is supreme.

God has no rival or equal to Him.  There is no equivalent to God but God Himself.

God is sending Moses to the Egyptian land of the lesser gods, and He wants the Israelites to know that He is the I AM in totality–in everything.

The sermon’s three main points were:

1. God is not a construct.

2. God is infinitely sufficient.

3. God is not me.

These points have to be read with a mindset of humility.  Moses is not I AM, and I am not I AM. God is.  God is in charge, and He is the one who is in control.  

This belief transfers to establishing my own identity.  Meaning, there is a God, and I am not Him.

This statement actually gives me grace because I know who God is, and I know who I am–and therefore, I know how I fit in His creation.

I am not the great fixer.  I am not the savior of people’s problems.  Instead, I am in need of a sovereign God to walk with me through life.  His sovereignty establishes my identity.

Then finally, the sermon illustrates the story of Jesus when He is talking to the Pharisees, and “Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am."” (John 8:58)

This declaration of Jesus claiming His supreme deity so infuriated the religious leaders that they tried to stone Him to death.

The reason they wanted to end Jesus was because they knew what Jesus meant when He claimed to be the I AM.

He was asserting His Lordship.  He was claiming to be God.

Jesus is the same God who appeared to Moses in the burning bush.

The sooner we come to this realization, the quicker we can begin to live life trusting Him and knowing Him by faith.

And then the Ann who IS NOT can worship and follow the Jesus who is I AM.

—Ann Elizabeth Yeager

Last Sunday's Sermon--Who to Serve

I felt the Great Commission’s tug on my heart about four years ago.

I sensed I was being called to disciple others.

And not to disciple just anybody.

But to disciple those in brokenness coming for change to a 12-step Christ-centered discipleship ministry at our church.

I felt like God, who had delivered me of a struggle through this program, could use that victory to lead others in the same direction.

God can be pretty specific about where he wants us to serve, and whom he wants us to serve.

He was definitely clear about where he wanted Moses and to whom He was leading him.

Sunday’s sermon, on May 25, 2025, entitled “Effective Requests,” details Moses’ awakening with the burning bush in Exodus 3:1-12.

The point of the sermon was to illustrate how God gives us tasks, requests, or assignments to do for Him.

These tasks may not be what I will do for the rest of my life, may not be a calling into traditional ministry, and may not be a key to a higher tier of Christianity.

These tasks may be simply to do something for someone that God wants us specifically to do.

The kind of tasks that God has for us have to do with an effective request.  This request:

1. Requires my attention and requires me to listen

2. Points me to people and is always aimed at serving others

3. Requires my faith and is always clear enough to obey

God got Moses’ attention with a burning bush.  Then He called out to Moses.  Then He gave Him a task:  to deliver the Israelites out of the hand of Pharaoh in Egypt.  This call required Moses’ faith and obedience.

When I first came to this 12-step ministry, I had an idol that needed tearing down.  I knew I couldn’t do it alone.  I needed community.  So I joined the pilot program of this ministry.

After God and I tore down the idol together, I thought something like, “Hey, I think I can help people the way God helped me.” 

Change is possible.  Through accountability.  Through love.  And through deliverance.

Through God’s Word, through His people, and by His Spirit we are changed and made new.

What would have happened if I had disregarded God’s burning bush in my life?

If I had disregarded a friend’s request to have me join the pilot program of this ministry five years ago?

I don’t know the answer to that question.  

But one thing I do know:  I would have missed out on a lot of blessings and miracles.

And for those blessings and miracles, I am grateful.

God has tasks for me to do.

I just hope I can do them faithfully.

—Ann Elizabeth Yeager

Last Sunday's Sermon--Undivided

At times, I have a divided heart.  A divided focus.  A divided mind.  A divided faith.

And the reason is simple.

I have a fear of the future.

What’s going to happen to me? Will I always be provided for?  Will I always have enough money to have everything I need?  What’s going to happen to me in my old age?  Will the money be there?  Will I always have a car?

And the worries get to me.  They sometimes preoccupy my thoughts.

Sunday’s sermon, on May 18, 2025, was for me.  Especially when I just listened to it for the second time on our church’s app.

Because sometimes I’m divided.

And the sermon encouraged me to seek God.  The title of the sermon, “Seeking is Believing,” covered the verses in Matthew 6:25-34, which talks about learning not to worry, because God clothes the flowers of the field and feeds the birds of the air.

Our youth pastor, who delivered the sermon, encouraged us to seek God because:

1. He sees me.

2. He’s got me.

3. He loves me.

I am reminded of Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

And I am encouraged to remember those times in the past when God has been with me.

I especially remember a time when I needed God more than life itself.

I was dealing with troubling mental health issues back in 2013.  I was living in a group home in Houston.  I had nothing to claim as my own but a rented bed and a used car.

I was going to an outpatient program to try to get my feet back under me.

And I sought God with all my heart in a prayer book my brother gave me.

And in this prayer book were scriptures that I meditated on and prayed back to God.

And when I was in the coffee shop, or in the burger restaurant, or in the break room at the outpatient program, or in the group home with people from a variety of backgrounds and struggles, I sought the Lord in this prayer book.

And He met me.  And He took care of me.  And He eventually secured me an apartment back home that I could afford.

He was there for me in the past.  He is here for me now.  And He will be there for me in the future.

I just have to trust Him.

God sees me.  God’s got me.  God loves me.

And that’s enough to know to help me stay undivided.

In my heart.  In my mind.  In my focus.  In my faith.

Praise be to God.

–Ann Elizabeth Yeager

Last Sunday's Sermon--Walk by Faith

I had to show God that I meant it.

When I was in college, I came to grips with the fact that I still idolized soccer, a sport that I played throughout my childhood.

Playing soccer from the age of eight to 18 was a big esteem booster for me.  I was a serious player, and the game was instrumental in instilling great life lessons for me, namely knowing how to lose, and knowing how to win.

I knew in college that I still looked at soccer as a god for me, something that provided for me a great deal in establishing my identity as a competitive athlete.

So I felt convicted that I had to tear this idol down.

But renouncing soccer in my heart wasn’t enough.  I had to show God that I meant it.

I had to show Him that I really wanted Him to be first, and soccer a distant second, or even a game that was no longer on the scoreboard of my heart.

So I took my favorite soccer bag and threw it in the river near my house.  I also punted my soccer ball into the river.

I had to consider what I treasured, symbols of the game of soccer, as nothing better than pollution.

While I don’t aspire to give encouragement to pollution, I do agree that getting rid of my soccer valuables helped my faith to move into action and moved me to lean on God.

When you get rid of an idol, God has to replace that hole in your heart where the idol once dwelled.

On May 11, 2025, I heard a sermon on Exodus Two, one through 10, which tells the story of how Moses’ mother gave him up to show God that she trusted Him to take care of her three-month-old baby boy.

In Pharoah’s desire to get rid of all the Hebrew boy babies, he ordered them to be discarded into the Nile.

The sermon’s emphasis was “For we walk by faith, not by sight,” (2 Cor 5:7).  In the sermon, I learned that God’s providence is always working in our lives.

He never leaves us or forsakes us.  He is always there to help us during difficult times.

God wants us to live faith, breathe faith, exhibit faith. 

Our pastor showed us that my faith moves me to action, my faith bought me front row seats to God’s work, and my faith will grow with practice.  

My faith can carry me through difficult things because God will make a way for that faith to thrive.

My faith moves me to do something to prove my faith.

My faith shows me that God is working and moving and encourages me to “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God,” a quote by Corrie ten Boom.

And finally, my faith will grow as I take a step of faith and then another–and then another–and then another.

Moses’ mom just got a glimpse of what God was doing.  She didn’t know that Moses would soon lead the Israelites through a parted sea away from the slavery and bondage of Egypt.

She just had hope that maybe Pharaoh’s daughter would have compassion on her child and rescue Him.

And God came through for her.  

Do I miss my beloved soccer bag and ball?  Definitely.  Is it better for me that it is resting in the Vermillion River than displayed on my wall?  Most definitely.

Because if I did display it on my wall, I would see it and long for the good ole days when soccer was king and I got to look like a champion.

Now, instead, God wants to be King of my heart and find my identity in His great love for me, something I am still trying to learn.

Moses’ mother gave up much more than a treasured soccer ball and bag.  She gave up her very heart, her son.

I can’t imagine that kind of faith.  She had to show God she meant it, that she had faith in Him.

And He did wondrous things with her faith.  Moses became the leader of the Israelites.

–Ann Elizabeth Yeager

Last Sunday's Sermon--Being Prepared

Preparation before presentation means everything to me.

In a spiritual light, I think preparation is important to God, too.

If I am working on a project with a goal to present that project in a certain time period, I want to be prepared.  I want to have done the legwork.  I want to have my ducks in a row.

If I am getting ready to present a script to a group of actors, I want to make sure I have done everything to prepare that script.

If I am getting ready to direct a sketch, I want to be prepared before I walk in there to direct.

If I am editing a document, I want that document to be polished before I get it ready to be printed.

If I am getting ready to speak in front of a group of people, I want to write out what I plan to say, and then I time my talk to see how long it is.

If I am not prepared for a certain presentation, I am discombobulated.

Preparation is the key to everything I want to do.

In reflecting on this type of mindset, I see how God works in us spiritually in a similar way.  

He prepares us for the ministry he has called us to for a certain season in our lives.  Often times, this preparation takes years.

In Sunday’s sermon on May 4, 2025, entitled “God Only Knows,” our pastor taught from Exodus 2:11-25, which details Moses’ escape to Midian after he committed the murder of an Egyptian in Egypt.

In that skirmish, Moses assumed the role of a leader before God had called him to the task, and He preemptively broke off an Egyptian’s beating of a Hebrew.

After the murder, Moses tried again to stop another fight, this time between two Hebrews.  One of the Hebrews asked Moses, “Who made you a prince and judge over us?  Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” (Ex 2:14a)

Fearing Pharaoh, Moses went into exile in the desert and became a shepherd for forty years before God called Him to deliver the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.

Moses was a young man when he thought he was ready to lead.  Instead, God called Him years later, when he was 80-years-old.  

God had to prepare Moses.  Just like He prepares us.

When I met Christ at age 20, I thought I was ready to change the world.  But God had to work out a great deal of pride in my heart before using me in a ministry I am in now.  

That pride project took about 30 years.  I still struggle with pride and have to guard against it.  But still, God has humbled me quite a bit.  At least, I hope so.

The three things discussed in the sermon were:

1. I should expect to strike when God makes me ready.

2. I should expect God to develop my character, not just my skills and abilities.

3. I should expect to be prepared for God’s plans.

In preparing us spiritually for a certain task, God has some legwork to do in our heart.

Thankfully, God knows what He’s doing as He prepares us for His plans.

Thankfully.

–Ann Elizabeth Yeager

Last Sunday's Sermon--Fear God, Not Man

Fear of many things has not been my friend in life.

But it has been an occupant in my heart for a very long time.

I suffered some abuse as a young child, and the trauma from that abuse made me feel unsafe.  That feeling led to a great deal of anxiety in my little body.

That anxiety carried into my adulthood. Sometimes I get anxious and don’t even know why..

Can this kind of serious anxiety be overcome?  Will it ever stop?

I don’t know for sure since I still struggle with it.

But fear of man is an issue that may be overcome by a fear of the Lord God Almighty.

Fearing God was the topic of our Sunday’s sermon on April 27, 2025, entitled, “What are you so afraid of?” The sermon covered Exodus Chapter One in the Bible.

In Exodus Chapter One, the Israelites were suffering greatly from the oppression of the Egyptians, yet the Israelites still increased mightily in number.

This population overload led to Pharaoh’s order to the Hebrew midwives to kill every Hebrew male born.

The Pharaoh was propagating a genocide.  His fear of losing the Israelites and their growing population led to a desire for evil.

The midwives did not obey Pharaoh.  Verse 17 reads, “But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.”

God blessed them for their wise choice and gave them families.

The contrast in the fear of Pharaoh with the fear of the midwives shows me that the fear of man leads to evil, but the fear of God leads to blessing.

But can the fear of God over the fear of man dissolve severe anxiety?

I don’t know, but I’m hoping that it can.

So how can I develop a fear of God over the fear of man?

Sunday’s sermon showed three things to answer this question:

Find God-fearing friends.  Know God-fearing facts.  Cultivate God-fearing faith.

God-fearing friends give accountability in critical decision-making.  The Hebrew midwives probably leaned on each other for support in defying the Pharaoh.

God-fearing facts such as knowing what God is pleased with can lead to good choices.  Studying the Bible to know God better can lead to a healthy fear of God.

A God-fearing faith in a heart that prays can lead to peace.

A reverence, an honor, a deep allegiance, a reverent awe of God will not make me shrink back into a God-phobia, but, in essence, will strengthen my heart to make wise choices.

Which, as Exodus One shows, will lead to blessing.

The ultimate alignment of my fears to what God says about them might help me when I feel overwhelming anxiety.

So I guess the question to ask myself when I have anxiety is the title of the sermon, “What are you so afraid of?”

If I can answer that question during a time of crisis, maybe I can then apply the fear of God to my crisis situation, with the comparable question, “What does God say about it?”

Then I can seek God first.  And Jesus can carry my fear.  I just have to wait and see.

—Ann Elizabeth Yeager

Last Sunday's Sermon--A New Nature

I need to remind myself that I have a new nature.  

This topic was the theme of the sermon, “Alive to God,” this past Easter Sunday on April 20, 2025.

From a biblical, spiritual perspective, a person’s nature is the inner being or condition of the heart and soul.

Just like there are two types of people—believers and nonbelievers—there are two types of natures that can exist inside a person.

The nonbeliever has a sinful nature, an old nature, that is naturally inclined toward sin, rebellion, selfishness, and separation from God.

In Romans 7:18 in the Bible, the scripture says, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my sinful nature.  For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.”

As an unbeliever in the past, I was powerless over my sinful behavior and needed God’s grace through Christ to help me overcome my sin. 

As a believer, I am still powerless over my sin if I live in the flesh and need the nudging of the Holy Spirit to help me live a godly life by walking in the Spirit.

When I accepted Jesus’ death as payment for my sin, I received a new nature from the Holy Spirit, a nature that desires to love God and others.

With this new nature, I am capable of obeying the two greatest commandments of Jesus—to love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, strength, and mind, and to love my neighbor as myself. (Luke 10:27)

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

When I met Christ at age 20, I struggled with acting in my new nature.  I wrestled with the flesh that was making war with the Holy Spirit (new nature) within my soul.

I struggled for years with rebellion against my parents even after I became a Christian so much so that it may have appeared to others that I was not a believer at all.

Time passed while my nature underwent gradual transformation to slowly want to love, serve, and obey Christ.

I have not arrived, but I think I am headed in the right direction.

I eventually came around to submitting to the authority first of my earthly father, my Pop, and then later came around to truly loving my mom after my daddy died.

I realize now that my new nature had some spiritual transformation to go through, namely sanctification, which came into play the moment I accepted Christ as my Savior from my sins.

Something else that has taken time in my Christian walk is absorbing the process of surrendering my life and will to the Lordship of Christ.

Wrestling comes with Jesus’ Lordship every time the Holy Spirit shows me another sin in my life to deal with.

So to me, receiving Christ’s righteousness comes with the process of sanctification, which I will be continually welcoming until I meet Jesus one day in person.

The verse, “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus,” (Romans 6:11) encourages me to walk with Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit so that I can be transformed, and my new nature will reflect the love of God more and more.

Thus, I am in a battle where I am consistently pursuing righteousness and regularly saying “No” to sin.

Ultimately, I have repented of my allegiance to sin as I have been united with Christ’s death, and I now have an allegiance to Jesus, as I have been united with His resurrection.

I am reminded of the apostle Paul’s admittance of the battle within him, which is within me too.

In Romans, Paul writes, “For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.  Wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” (Romans 7:22-25)

I also know this, “For to set the mind on the flesh is death but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” (Romans 8:6)

A battle exists between the flesh and the Spirit in every believer. Letting my new nature overcome the flesh is key to my freedom as a Christian.

I do know that this battle will end one day, when I die or when Christ comes again, and that gives me hope.

I also know that experiencing this life and peace from setting my mind on the Spirit is beyond compare.

I am so grateful.

–Ann Elizabeth Yeager

Last Sunday's Sermon--Hold Fast

God has given me a new life. 

A life where I say goodbye to religious duty and try my best not to judge others.  A life where I know that Jesus died for my pride and all my other sins.  A life where I know I am the least in the kingdom of God and strive to love the other least in the kingdom of God.  A life of purpose.  

A good life, truly.

So how did I come to this place in my life?  By the grace of God.  Through suffering and hardship.  Through the discipline of the Lord in my life.  Through my repeating the truth of the Gospel as it applies to me personally.

Sunday’s sermon, on April 13, 2025, entitled, “The Power to Stand Firm,”  helped me to see how holding fast to the Gospel continues to establish this new life that God has given me.

The sermon served to remind me of the creed in I Corinthians, chapter 15, namely verses three through six, which state the facts that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose from the grave, appeared to the disciples, and then to over 500 witnesses.  Over five hundred!

How can anyone question the resurrection of Jesus Christ when there is so much proof and evidence and witnesses to the fact?

He is the only God who is still alive.

And Paul says in I Corinthians 15, verses one and two, “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.” (ESV)

Hold fast.  Hold fast to the truth of the Gospel.  That is what I must continue to do.  Remind myself of what Jesus has done for me.  And hold fast to it.

For I was a Pharisee.  I expected others to live up to standards I couldn’t keep myself.  I was dead in my trespasses and God resurrected me to a new life in Him.  It is a miracle for me and for anyone who trusts in Jesus.

Ephesians two, verses four to five state, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved.—” (ESV)

Because of His great love.  He rose from the dead.  And saved me.  Hold fast to the truth.

–-Ann Elizabeth Yeager