Faithful with Little: Trusted with More | OCC Ministry Update

Welcome to Ontario Community Church, where we are encouraging, equipping, and engaging lives for Christ.

! I'm Pastor Patrick Daly, and each week I share sermons that balance the grace and love of Jesus Christ with the truth of the Word of God.

Together, we'll explore Scripture using observation, interpretation, and application.

This helps us discover practical ways to live out our faith every single day.

Let's dive in together into God's Word.

Hi, everybody!

Hi!

How's everybody doing this morning?

Good!

Good, good.

So my name is Lisa Dickard, and I work for an organization here in Ontario, Oregon, called Building Healthy Families, and we're a family support organization.

And Building Healthy Families is actually in more places than just Ontario.

We started in Enterprise about 25 years ago, and then they moved into Union County, and then they moved into Baker County.

And probably about three or four years ago, or maybe, well, more than that, about 2020, they moved into Malheer County.

And so we're the newest branch of Building Healthy Families.

I work full-time, and then I have a work associate that works very part-time.

She's a stay-at-home mom, and she really enjoys doing that, so she's kind of helping out a little.

But when her kids get a little older, she'll be full-time as well.

But yeah, we are here to support families.

And today, I've got a little PowerPoint, and I just want to share with you guys some of the things that we've been doing.

And I also want to thank you guys, because you allowed us to have a parent education series here in your church this past winter and spring.

And we had volunteers that some facilitated, some made meals for our families.

And so I thank you for doing that with us, for partnering with us in that.

And you guys have also donated to this organization, so I thank you for that as well.

So we're going to go ahead and get started, and please feel free, if you have any questions, just stop me along the way.

It's just real casual today.

We're just going to talk a little bit about what this organization does.

Okay, so Building Healthy Families.

We are, we can go to the next, yep, go to the next slide.

Okay, so we are an independent, nonprofit, family support organization.

And we offer personalized, universal family support and educational programming for parents, caregivers, parents-to-be, students, and children through diversified programming at no cost.

So families never get charged.

They don't get charged for parent education.

They don't get charged to come to Kinder Music or any of that.

It's all free.

We're grant-funded, mostly grant-funded, and some federal funds.

We're focused on child development, age-appropriate behavior, parent-child interaction, positive discipline, and family health and safety.

And we promote family access to needed resources in the community and advocate for children and families.

We are interested in collaborating with other local agencies, school districts, churches, and child care centers in supporting families.

That's one of the reasons I'm here today.

Okay, so some of our programming.

We've got playgroups and storytime and kinder music and parent education series.

We've got parent cafes, which are part of parent education.

Parent cafes are nice because they're non-committal.

It's a one-time thing where they come out and learn about protective factors for their families.

We have a safe sitter program.

We have home visiting, family fun events, Malhear County Parent Council.

Amber and Patrick are on our parent council.

And family education workshops.

And we're going to go through these slides and kind of take a look at some of these things.

Okay, so first is our playgroup.

And they are called the Mini Mountaineers.

We meet on Wednesdays from 1030 to 1130 over at the Treasure Valley Children's Relief Nursery.

Have many of you heard of the relief nursery before in Ontario?

Ha ha.

So we meet over at the relief nursery.

And it's really nice because we have a lot of moms that have formed friendship out of this group.

When we started the playgroup, I actually started in parks because we didn't have an office yet.

I was working from home.

And so I would go out to the park and just meet families.

And that's kind of how playgroup got started.

And then we started talking to the relief nursery.

And they said, oh, we'd love for you guys to come over here and meet some of our families.

So we meet over there weekly.

But we like playgroup because it helps kids to socialize, right?

We need that socialization for young kids.

And it gets families out of the house.

It encourages early childhood literacy through the natural development of skills, through the enjoyment of books, activities, and positive interactions between babies, toddlers, and young children and their parents.

Okay.

And it gives parents a sense of community, too, that they're not alone out there.

Sometimes it can be hard for stay-at-home moms.

Do I have any stay-at-home moms out here or anybody that's been a stay-at-home mom before?

Yeah?

Yeah.

Yeah.

It can be isolating sometimes.

So it's good for us to have friends, right?

Okay.

We have story time.

So over at Nissa Public Library, Ruth does an amazing story time.

What we like about story time is it encourages early childhood literacy.

It increases verbal proficiency and children's willingness to communicate thoughts and feelings

while learning about different cultures, experiences, and points of view.

All that can actually be done in a story time.

It's really nice.

It engages the children.

So when Ruth tells a story, she doesn't just read a book and tell a story.

She has her book, but she'll have a felt board, right?

And if we're talking about an apple tree, she'll have the kids engaged by maybe they'll bring apples up to the tree, right, or different things like that.

So they are up and down.

They're fully engaged.

They're fully learning.

And we know right now that that's really how a lot of children learn best is being fully engaged and doing the action, the same thing that we're talking about.

Okay.

And also for child development, it helps to develop concentration, social, and communication skills, and helps children develop important emotional skills, such as empathy, compassion, and perspective taking.

Okay.

Okay.

We also have kinder music.

So kinder music stimulates multiple areas of the brain, heightening age-appropriate development in each lesson.

Music and movement spark social-emotional learning and boosts language and literacy skills.

And it provides engaging music and movement for children ages zero to six.

The daily kids come to kinder music almost every Thursday over at the Four Rivers Cultural Center.

And we just have a really good time together.

It also provides parent and child engagement opportunities.

So we don't just hand the kids instruments.

We hand the parents' instruments, too.

And they play as well.

So they're able to do this together, which promotes bonding.

Okay.

We also have three parent education series.

So we have Strengthening Families.

And we were able to do that here at your church this past winter and spring.

And this is a prevention and evidence-based curriculum that engages the family as a whole.

So a lot of parenting classes you'll see, sometimes it's just for the parents.

The reason why we like Strengthening Families is because it engages the whole family.

And that skill that we are focused on that evening, that is taught to the whole family.

So that's why we like having a lot of facilitators as well.

Because we'll divide up into different classes.

We'll have a parent group.

We'll have an elementary group.

We'll have a nursery.

We'll have a teen group.

And that's what we got to do here this past winter and spring.

But it teaches life skills that can be helpful.

And just social skills, communication skills.

And gives our kids resilience skills as well.

We also have another curriculum called Parenting Now.

And it's focused on child development and parenting skills.

And it's geared towards families that have children ages 0 to 6, mostly.

It can be used with any age, really.

But it's really geared towards young kids.

Okay.

And we offer these on Zoom or in person.

And our last parent education class that we offer is called Conscious Discipline.

And we really like Conscious Discipline because it goes,

it talks about the different brain states that we all naturally have.

And it educates us about brain science and why our kids behave the way they do.

There's a reason they behave the way they do.

And it helps us to find that reason.

It also helps us to be able to teach regulation to our children.

It helps us learn how to regulate internally.

So we really do love Conscious Discipline as well.

Next, we have Parent Cafes.

Parent Cafes are great because they're focused on five important protective factors

that help keep families strong.

And so that's parent resilience, relationships, knowledge, support, and communication.

So families get to come out and enjoy a lunch or a dinner.

And as you can see from these pictures, we sit around a table, literally just eat.

And we have discussion questions that are taken from these five protective factors.

And so we discuss these different things.

And then together, we walk away with skills that maybe we didn't have that morning when

we walked in.

Or maybe, you know, we just don't feel so alone anymore.

Maybe we have something in common with another parent.

Maybe another parent is struggling with potty training or any other thing.

Or teens or anything you can think of, right, that families would be struggling with.

Okay, we have Safe Sitter.

So Ruth Blazard, my work associate, teaches Safe Sitter to kids that are in the sixth through

eighth grades.

And so they come in, and it's a day where they sit together, and they have lunch, and they

learn about emergency preparedness, a little bit about child development, a little bit

about babysitting business skills.

There's actually business skills in babysitting.

A little bit about life skills, and a little bit about how to communicate and interact with

other people.

It's a really nice class.

I also provide home visiting.

So if parents can't make a parent education class, then I'll come to them, and we'll do

a home visit.

We have a Malhear County Parent Council.

Amber and Patrick are on that council.

And the main purpose for this council is to serve as a platform to empower parents to have

a voice and be active decision makers in their communities.

And we are partnered with the Eastern Oregon Early Learning Hub in this.

Okay.

And we have different partnerships.

So we're partnered with the Relief Nursery.

That's where our office is.

We're also partnered with Healthy Families, or IRCO, and Four Rivers Cultural Center, and

the NISA Public Library, the NISA and Vail Food Pantries.

We supply them with pantry items and early learning packets.

Also, the Ontario Public Library, we supply them with learning packets.

And then Advantage Dental.

So we have Advantage Dental come out, and like two or three times a year, she'll come out

and provide dental exams for our littles.

We also are partnered with ODHS, the Oregon Department of Human Services.

So I get referrals from them to do parent education classes or to do some home visiting.

And then lastly, I've got you guys on here because we were able to do a parent education

class.

And my hope is that we can partner with more things together.

Okay.

What does it look like to partner with us?

So it can be done in a number of ways.

We are very creative.

What I like, too, is I like getting ideas from other parents.

I want to hear what parents want in this area.

I want to hear what parents are needing.

I want to see what is lacking here that we can help support with.

So it can be, you know, anything that a parent comes up with, and we can talk together and

make a plan.

We do parent cafes, which is nice to bring families together.

We have family educational workshops.

So, and we're always looking for new ideas.

And then these are some of our pictures, some of the things that we've done.

We've had field trips.

Sometimes we'll take families to pumpkin patches, or we went to the Children's Museum.

That picture down below, that's Jessica with Advantage Dental doing an exam and educating

parents about dental health.

And then last is our Strengthening Family Winter Series that we had here at the church.

And to end our series, we had a cookout at the Fruitland Park.

So this is building healthy families.

We're just out here trying to support families in any way we can.

Do you guys have any questions, any thoughts?

I think of anything.

Yes, sir.

You say your funding is state funding and federal.

Based on what's going on now, do you expect to continue to get federal funding?

We hope so.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And that's not my area.

My area is really just kind of going and serving families.

Yeah.

And so we hope so.

Yeah.

But it's been kind of rough.

Oh, I know.

Yeah.

Yes.

So are families referred to you, or how do they find out about a class, or how do they find

out about a dad campaign?

Is it a referral basis?

That's a great question.

Yeah.

So a lot of it is word of mouth.

We also have social media.

So I have a group on Facebook.

It's called Mini Mountaineers Playgroup.

And I would encourage you to join that because I try to post a lot.

I get permission from the parents first.

But I try to post a lot of the work that we do in this county.

So the Department of Human Services, they will send me referrals.

Other partner agencies will send me referrals.

And right now, we're just...

So when I started working here a year, it'll be, let's see, 18 months.

I started working full-time for Building Healthy Families.

And we kind of just had to come up with programming, right?

Like, we just...

All of this kind of fell into place with Parent Education Series.

That's pretty much what we started off with in Playgroup.

And then it branched out into other things, kinder music and such.

But it's referral-based, but it's also word of mouth.

A lot of times, parents will see our social media posts, and they want to know more about it.

And so they'll call me.

Yeah.

And I've got cards here today.

I encourage you to take some cards.

I'll leave them out there in the lounge area.

Another question?

Do you do things with children who have severe health challenges?

Yes, we would.

yes yes it's long so we are all about children and family support we advocate for children

and families so yes we would do that work that hasn't been presented to me yet but we would do

that work yeah and we're always looking for volunteers right when we had our strengthening

families here it was great and part of what made it so great are the volunteers because it's great

that i'm here and i'm able to do some of that work but i can't do it alone i need volunteers as well

so if you're interested if you feel your heart moving in that direction please see me please

you know it can be for anything it can be for a parent education series it can be coming to a

parent cafe and supporting parents just kind of being there right it's not a lot that you have to

do

i know i've given referrals for up eight nine ten year olds so can you talk a little bit about those

older families the high-risk kids that i'm sending to you so then you have we look through a lot on

the younger kids yes what does it look like for the older kids the older kid groups yeah

so we really do like our strengthening families program for the older kids so when i get a referral

from you or anybody else that sends me a family that's got older children usually what i do is i go

in and i home visit i will go visit the home if the parent is comfortable there are parents that they

don't want you in their homes and that's okay i understand that fear it is it is a little bit scary

to have somebody come into your home so if they don't want me in the home then we will meet at

the relief nursery or we might need a coffee shop right and so what i do is i bring strengthening

families with me so i bring those skills what's nice about strengthening families is we can make

it a big program right here and do it at church and have a bunch of families come in and learn these

skills or i can go sit with a family in their home and we can talk about these different skills

and we can talk about their struggles and they can tell me really kind of what's going on in the home

and how what kind of skills they're needing sometimes they're not sure of the skills sometimes it might be

hey my kids are fighting and maybe it's just communication skills that we need right or hey

i can't get my child to uh get up in the morning and go to school or i can't and a lot of it comes back

to connection we know that uh the biggest thing in families that we really really need to have is

connection we need to have bonding and connection and trust and sometimes we just have to go back

over some different life skills to kind of remember again about that does that kind of answer your

question joni okay is it all economic levels it's all economic levels yep you don't have to qualify

to come to any of this programming

well we we talk about that a lot we talk about the effects of it and what it does to a child's brain

um because really kind of what it does is the more time that they're on a screen it kind of

i hate it kind of deadens brain cells really it's not it's not good for them to be on the screen

um and we we provide educational material and we talk through that and then we help families to maybe

work out ways okay we can set a timer i mean sometimes we get so involved with just everyday life

that we need to step back a little bit and say okay i could set a timer or i could make it one

time during the day that they have this screen time sometimes families get so lost in the everydayness

of life that if they just have a visit or if we just talk a little bit that they can kind of make some

decisions for themselves about that and we're just helping them to see their different choices

different options that they can do

yeah any other questions

okay thank you guys for having me here today thank you for allowing me to share about building

healthy families and i'm going to hang out here a while so like if you think of something just

you know come see me after church okay thanks

all right

just give us a moment as we uh trade it all off

well i've only got a few minutes here and that's okay we're just going to get to the point then amen

so i wanted to go ahead and do and a ministry update because one of the things that i want all of you to

know is that god works in some incredible ways one of the things here at ontario community church

is the fact that we are very big on coming to know the lord on growing in him and doing good in his name

part of what we just heard with lisa is us as a church as the body of christ partnering with those who are in the

community we have to think of the importance of having strong families the importance of healing and restoration and

transformation that comes from the lord and part of our ministry is to not only serve in the church not only grow as

individuals but to grow collectively as a church that we are to go out and to be ambassadors for christ that we are to do good in the name of christ

and certainly let us remember it's important for us to first believe in jesus christ to believe in the death burial and

resurrection and knowing that god extends an invitation for every single one of us it doesn't matter what you have

gone through or what you are going through what your backstory is we all have a backstory and some of us it might just be

okay for others it might not be and that's okay what matters is it's you answering that question will you respond to jesus christ

we grow we learn the word of god but we also learn what it means for god to work in and through us for us to be

continually transformed every single day yes we believe in jesus christ and we are saved by grace through faith amen

but that is the beginning of our new life in christ where we are to put on the new self we are to continue to be transformed by him

letting god mold us into the men the women the individual whatever that god wants us to be and that's so important for us to

realize and to recognize we have the handbook so to speak but we also recognize that god continues to work in and through our lives

we ask god to transform our lives and maybe for you if you have a hardened heart

maybe it's time for you to ask god to soften your heart

faithful with little trust with more let's go to this next slide we've been going over the parables of christ

and one of the most critical things for us to take away is the patterns that we find within the parables

church let's read this together god takes what is small and expansive

you find so many times in scripture the seed that gets planted into the ground and it's cultivated

it is watered and it grows into a magnificent tree or a plant and lord willing it bears fruit

we find this kind of language many times in parables we also find this in the daniel 2 35

passage where it talks about the rock that knocks down a great statue and grows into a mountain well if you read that and you don't know the

context and the connections you might completely miss what that means

but it's finding that god is taking that which is small and expanding it

we think of how salvation works and how the salvation was once available to the jewish people and has now available for everyone

we think about how god transforms our life the seed that gets planted knowing that we are becoming more like him

or at least we should become more like him and may you be on that trajectory to become more like christ let's go to that next slide then

in that we find also in many parables that god calls us to stewardship let's read that together church

god calls us to stewardship it is this concept it is this idea that we find that is biblical that we are to steward what god has given to us

we find in psalms there's this reference of how god has given us the earth and we are to take care of it

we're to take care of not just the earth but also our very lives there's a lot that's outside of our control

but there are things that god has called for us to steward

i've mentioned it before and i'll mention again that we are to steward our time our talent and our treasure

every good gift that comes from the lord you are to steward it and by golly you are to steward it well

and it's a call for us to think of you think of the parable of the talents

you think of all of these parables within and these patterns within scripture that's saying

how do you steward your life it's a question for us to think of and to reflect on i know i'm going

fast here let's go to that next slide here the other thing that we find within parables is that let's

read it together church god calls us to prepare for greater things you can think for a moment about

the jewish people how they were anticipating the coming of the messiah right how they were waiting

they knew that there were many promises and prophecies that were to be fulfilled

and they came and they were fulfilled amen in the same way then we as the church god continues to speak

and god is constant he is the same yesterday today and forever and we have got to recognize we place

our trust in the living god knowing that he is preparing us for the great banquet the vineyard the

wedding feast remember all these parables you start seeing the connection it is preparation for what

is to come that we are not to be afraid of the evils of this world we're not to be afraid of even death

itself but we are to look forward to the promises of god can i get an amen that's so important for us to

prepare for greater things when we place our trust in the living god i think of this church body and i think

of how this congregation has been faithful to god and his word for 80 years that faithfulness god recognizes

and that faithfulness we are all to be faithful to god we are all to walk and follow in the footsteps

of christ being transformed and and putting on that new self and sharing in the love of christ with others

sharing in the gospel message living and loving in what you say and in what you do

we have seen let's go to that next slide tremendous fruit that is happening here at ontario community

church we've already had four baptisms that have happened here in this church building just this last

week we have had 10 child dedications where the families come together as the family unit dedicating their

children to the lord what does that mean it means we as the family unit are going to come alongside

our children and raise them in the knowing who the lord is just as scripture says to train up a child

right in the things of the lord four baptisms 10 child dedications and we have by the grace of god up to

20 children on a given sunday that is a blessing from god and here's the thing there's four more kids

that would like to have a child dedication so that's going to place it at 14 because here's the thing

when god works in some incredible ways it is beyond me it is beyond you it is even beyond us

we thank god we have the sense of gratitude for what god is doing just by these numbers they they

may be small but that doesn't mean they're insignificant every child every baptism every

person that believes in the lord it matters and we celebrate that as we go along let's go to that

next slide we just had lisa talk about building healthy families where we've had up to 30 people is that

correct lisa up to 30 people and we have to think the importance of us as a church coming alongside

with organizations in their mission because by coming alongside people it allows for conversation

it allows for the cultivation of relationships it is this recognizing look none of us are perfect here

is anyone here perfect okay nobody raised their hand i'm glad right i'm glad none of us are perfect

and what we have got to recognize when it comes to the things of god is that god meets us where we are

and in the same way why don't we we should meet people where they are and invite them to the table of

plenty invite them to know who jesus is the haynes family they're not here this time but that is one

family that started coming and attending here at ontario community and here's the thing even if no one

comes it is still us doing the work of ministry where we minister to people where we are present with

people how many of you came to know the lord because of a relationship you do not have to raise your hand

but i know for me it was and i know for a lot of us here it was a relationship that was cultivated

and just as we talked about in last week the parable of the growing seed where this guy is cultivating

the earth planting the seed pouring water into it and he's surprised that it's growing

you pour into people much like we pour into children and much like well how god pours into you

let's go to that next slide then we had the school fundraiser the spaghetti for books raising 2 168

donating 306 books for local schools and our own church children that goes to show you that it is

just as i mentioned this analogy the individual was pouring and cultivating the soil and he was

planted the seed and poured water right watering the plant but it is god that grows the plants

it is us coming alongside with others doing the work of ministry and letting god stir hearts do you

remember when we went over ezra we talked about the stirring of the heart of the king

to issue a decree that the people of god could return to their land we talked about cyrus

xerxes and artaxerxes and how god worked in these pagan kings hearts that's the power of god that's the

power of the holy spirit the stirring of the heart to be softened or to change your mind just as it says

in repentance how many of you have had that changing of mind for all of us it should be the case that we

not only are our minds changed to know who christ is but continue to be changed to become more like him

the next slide is that occ was part of the upcoming film sansei sensibility i mean we have mark iseri here

we have carol tolman here who were featured in the film and what a blessing it is for us to be a part of

not only their story but a part of the story knowing the rich japanese heritage that had happened

is the legacy and for us to be a part of that continued legacy is a blessing from god

i'm excited when this film will come out talking to devon about maybe having a screening here for the

film talk about ministry talk about legacy not only understanding yes certainly understanding the rich

japanese heritage but also an opportunity for us to say hey we were a part of this you can be a part of

the family of god it's a win-win situation and here's the thing that's not by accident that is the hand of god

working in this place and we thank god for such blessings let's go to this next slide

recently i launched the pastor patrick podcast you'll find this in your notes

is that just as these sermons are broadcast and recorded and they're distributed onto podcast

platforms and on video sessions i started a devotional study through the book of psalms

and by the grace of god we saw not only a spike within our own sermons but a spike within the podcast

performance doing this so that people within our local ministry context right our local community

our regional and even beyond can hear from the word of god a praise that because of this podcast was

we had a best-selling author dr pamela prince pile who wrote the book anticipating heaven reach out

had a phone call and we talked about the ministry of presence coming along people when they are going

through well seasons dry seasons vulnerable seasons and being able to minister to people

even when they're going through they even when someone feels abandoned or lost

the importance of being there with someone when they're hurting that is a part of ministry

and it is a blessing that this author sent a copy of her book i haven't read all of it yet

but it's knowing that every experience that we've gone to even the bad and the ugly can be part of your

testimony for others to hear for others to know that you're still here and that god still loves you

and no matter what may happen physically emotionally mentally whatever happens in your life

you still trust in the living god and he's there for you in every season can i get an amen i get

really emotional with this kind of stuff let's go to that next slide here

and it's a reminder for us of the word ontario and i i've mentioned this a couple times before there's the

book that talks about the church history that uses the japanese word on tara u

we can just say ontario i'm not going to ask you to pronounce it but it's this idea that grace

is overflowing or grace is an abundance we think about that from the very beginning of this

church being established i can't imagine hearing that for the first time but knowing that that's been

there since the beginning it goes to show who our god is that his grace is in abundance and his grace

overflows that is the love of god that we get to experience and we get to share with other people

and i pray that for all of you you may have experienced or you know or if you haven't yet may you know and

experience the love of god that he loves you and that you're made in his image and that he invites you

to salvation and to be transformed to radiate that love as it were or to mirror or to reflect in any sense

that he wants to exhibit this love it's i'm glad that the lord loves me and i'm glad that the lord loves you

it's not about who you voted for it's not about it's not a requirement you got to be six feet to attain

salvation it's nothing like that that salvation is for everyone and we as individuals and as a church

body are to grow and to exhibit that same kind of love and that takes us to the next slide where this year

ontario community church will celebrate its 80th anniversary what a blessing to know that god

has been there since the beginning has worked through many lives and is continuing to work

and is blessing us in such remarkable ways we have got to remember the legacy

and cherish the history much like we do with our own bible

it being written 2 000 years ago we cherish the legacy and we honor it and we live in today

and we look forward to tomorrow if we keep having more and more children

i don't mean me having more children i mean if we start getting more children here

we've got to prepare we've got to prepare the way so that we can have room in our own facilities for us

i don't know what that looks like quite honestly but i certainly know i'm going to trust in god to lead

and guide this congregation into the next season of ministry

and as we celebrate and we're going to celebrate we're going to have our 80th anniversary celebration

but as we're getting close to that celebration

it is time for us to remember that legacy

live in today and trust in god for tomorrow

just as scripture says we're not to worry about tomorrow

let us trust in him

asking god okay

there's a trajectory there's movement that's happening here

may we listen

may we be mindful

to what god has for us

and so there are four ways

we'll go to that next slide of what we can do

in this

the first thing

just as we find i don't have one specific verse

this is the culmination of what we've gone through with parables

is to

number one

let's read it together

steward

what god has given

god has given you life

he's giving you

this time on the earth

your talents

your abilities

and your treasures

how you steward that is unique to you

some of you can play an instrument

others may not

and that's all right

some of you can't sing a note

but some of you may have time

i mean whatever it is

it's for you to take that personal inventory

of how is your stewardship

the second thing then

let's read it together church

prepare hearts

for greater things

just as i've mentioned

that god takes that which

that which is small

and expands it

i believe that god is working in this place

and we're just seeing

kind of the beginning stages of it

it is an exciting time

and it's not just about

numbers

it's about depth and quality of people

because if you think about it

if you have a hundred people come in

next sunday

and they have no depth in the lord

well there's a lot of work to do certainly

but even if one person comes through the doors

we pray that they will grow

and bear fruit

in a quality-like manner

not being superficial

but exhibiting love

truth and kindness

and being more like christ

that's the important thing

so we prepare

for what god has in store for us

number three

let's read that together

celebrate the legacy

just as i said

it's important for us to

we honor the word of god

we turn to it as our source

in the same way

we honor our own

church context

honoring the legacy

not forgetting

where we have come from

and then

of course

living in today

and fourth

and final

let's read it together church

build bridges

for the future

it's amazing that

just in this january

i mentioned

the theme for this year

being about building bridges

not burning them

and unfortunately

please don't raise your hand

or shout any names please

but we know that there's a lot of people out there

that burn bridges

right

a lot of people that are more focused

on what divides us

rather than what brings us together

but one of the beautiful things

about just coming to know the lord

is the fact that salvation is available for all

so why should we

become gatekeepers then

we should continue

in extending the love of christ

and we should continue

growing in him

and continue

there is so much

that is

happening in this church

i am excited

for what is going to happen next

and here's the thing

i don't know what's going to happen next

do any of you

well none of us do

the answer is no

but the reality is

we're going to trust in god

to lead us as a congregation

for what god has in store for us

the movement of the holy spirit

the stirring of hearts

let us steward

what god has given to us

let us prepare

our hearts for greater things

celebrating the legacy

living in today

and building

bridges

for the future

let's pray together

and father we thank you

for this time

and this opportunity

for us to gather

we are in awe

or at least we should be in awe

and wonder

of who you are

i pray for

this church

ontario community church

the love that you

have for us

may we

know you

have that relationship

with christ

and grow in you

knowing the word of god

and what it means

to

live out the faith

but may we

all be moved

to live

and love

like you

serving in the church

serving in the community

being a light

in the darkness

being salt

and light

father you are

working in some

incredible ways

that is beyond

any comprehension

i could have ever

thought of

and quite frankly

beyond all our

comprehension

you are doing

a new thing

in this place

and

we would like

to say

thank you

for all that you

have done

and all that you're

continuing to do

may we

lean in

and fully

trust in what

you have in store

for our own

personal lives

but also

for where you

want us

as a church

to go

we're grateful

for all of the

children

and the new

families

we're grateful

for the baptisms

and the child

dedications

that are happening

we're grateful

for that

may we follow

your direction

i pray that

this church

will be a

healthy church

not divided

on the silly

things

the elementary

things

but rather

may we seek

you and the

higher things

and may we

influence

this city

this community

our friends

our families

our co-workers

other students

those that we

know

may we

exhibit that

love

and that

truth

balancing grace

and truth

may you

lead

and guide

and may

we follow

it is in the

name of

Jesus Christ

that we pray

and we all

say together

amen

amen

thank you for

listening for

this week's

message from

Ontario Community

Church

I pray that

you are

encouraged and

strengthened in

your walk with

Christ

for more sermons

and resources

visit

Ontario

Community

Church

dot org

may God bless

you as you

live out his

grace and truth

every single

day

church

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to

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