OAG Podcast

In his sermon, Pastor Strickland uses the peculiar rule at a golf course in Calcutta—where players must play the ball where monkeys drop it—to draw a parallel to life's unexpected challenges, emphasizing the importance of resilience and faith. He intertwines the biblical story of Joseph, highlighting how maintaining integrity and trust in God during trials can lead to divine fulfillment and purpose.

Sermon Outline

Introduction

- Anecdote about bringing a golf club to the sermon and a humorous description of the pastor's golf style.

- Introduction of the sermon theme linked to a past message inspired by a conversation and the Holy Spirit.

Main Body

1. The Golf Course in Calcutta:

- Description of a unique golf course in Calcutta, surrounded by jungle and frequented by monkeys who disrupt the game by moving golf balls.

- Introduction of the sermon's main metaphor: "You have to play it where the monkey drops it."

2. Application to Life:

- Transition from the story to life lessons about dealing with unexpected disruptions.

- Personal anecdotes about unforeseen difficulties within the church community.

3. Biblical Parallel - The Story of Joseph:

- Detailed recounting of Joseph’s life from the Bible, emphasizing his integrity and faith through trials.

- Joseph's resilience and trust in God's plan despite being sold into slavery, falsely accused, and forgotten in prison.

4. Spiritual Lessons:

- Discussion of facing life's challenges with the right attitude.

- The importance of maintaining faith and integrity, similar to playing a golf game where disruptions are frequent.

Conclusion

- Reiteration of the metaphor and its spiritual significance.

- Encouragement to adopt a positive outlook and trust in God's purpose, despite life’s challenges.

- Closing prayer and invitation for personal reflection and acceptance of faith.

The weekly adult Sunday School class at OAG taught by long-time teacher, Mrs. Jeanie Davis.

Title: Enduring Grace: Running the Race with Faith and Fortitude

Summary: In her Sunday School lesson, Mrs. Jeanie explores the concepts of endurance and spiritual resilience through Biblical narratives and personal anecdotes, encouraging believers to persevere through life's challenges with faith and the support of the Holy Spirit. She emphasizes the importance of community, prayer, and the Holy Spirit's role in overcoming physical and spiritual obstacles.

Outline:

1. Introduction to the Lesson:

   • Opening prayer and reflection on gratitude.
   • Transition to the lesson’s focus on spiritual endurance and community.

2. Exploration of Key Biblical Terms:

   • Definitions and significance of "mockrothermia" (long suffering patience) and "hypominy" (endurance).

3. Practical Application from Athletics:

   • Story of Heather, a runner, as a metaphor for spiritual endurance.
   • Discussion on the impact of negative and positive influences.

4. Biblical Analogies and Teachings:

   • Insights from Mark 14:37 about spiritual vigilance.
   • Comparisons to physical labor and the necessity of spiritual readiness.

5. Closing Thoughts:

   • The role of the Holy Spirit and community support in sustaining believers.
   • Concluding prayer focusing on perseverance and divine support.

Man's perspective and God's perspective generally are opposites. Man's view is the world view; God's view is the heavenly view. Let's take on the mind of Christ and strive to see things through the eyes of Christ.

Featuring Mrs. Jeanie

When Jesus told the disciples to get in the boat, they had no idea that a great storm was ahead. The same is often true for us today; we don't expect storms to arise when we're doing what God asks of us, but often they do. Jesus' response to the disciples and his reaction to the storm provides a solid blueprint for how we should respond when we are facing uncertain times.

Photo by Jean-Pierre Brungs on Unsplash

🙏 Dive deep into a powerful and transformative sermon that explores the profound question: Who am I? This sermon takes you on a spiritual journey, drawing from the heartfelt stories of Moses, David, and Paul, to uncover the true value and identity found in God's love and redemption. Through biblical insights, personal anecdotes, and a touch of humor, discover how you're more than your past, your failures, or your achievements. You are a cherished child of God, bought at a price beyond measure.

Throughout history it is very evident God is not caught by surprise. He is Omnipresent, Omnipotent, and Eternal. Nothing catches Him by surprise. Since nothing catches Him by surprise He is constantly working on our behalf. Because he can pre-see He can and will provide.

In this week's sermon, Pastor Derrel Strickland dives deep into the theme of surrender from a biblical perspective, with a specific focus on how surrendering to God's will is a pivotal aspect of Christian living.

The service includes music, children's involvement in BGMC, and a message emphasizing the importance of making choices that align with God's word. Special guests David and Mary Boyd share about their missionary experiences, including encounters with baby lions during travels to different countries. They highlight the impact of BGMC projects worldwide and encourage continued support for missions.

So it's the end of the world. How do you feel about it? Today we will present what we as a church and as the Assemblies of God believe is a timeline of the end of the world, based on the Scriptures. There are many more details, but that's not the point. The point is: are you ready, and who are you taking with you?

Very often the load we carry becomes heavy. God does not want us to bear that burden alone. He is our burden bearer. We also are instructed to help those that are heavy laden to find the burden bearer.

God promises us that all things work together for good. That Greek word for works together is the word from which we get synergize. We are better together and God works with us, in us, and through us so all things can work together for good.

The last two weeks we have spoken about being rooted and growing in Christ. Today we finish this series speaking about bearing fruit. God does not desire us to be spiritually barren His desire is for us to be fruitful. What kind of fruit are you bearing?

Photo by Gala Iv on Unsplash

God is adamant in His Word that we should always be sowing, growing and harvesting. If we are not doing those things we are not doing what God has asked--not asked but demanded--the church to do. Let's root, shoot, and fruit for the cause of Christ.

Today is part one of a three part message. Root! Shoot and Fruit. God does not desire us to spring up quickly and then face difficulty and dry up and die. His desire for us is to be rooted in Him, Grow in Him and Bear fruit in Him.

When David and Goliath fought they were both champions. No both of them did not win but both championed for their cause. God is still looking for men and women to champion His cause. But even more important than that is God sees each of us a a cause worth fighting for. Jesus is still our undefeated champion!

What are your goals for 2024? I feel like God wants us to Pray, Praise and Pursue. What does that look like? Can those three things help us to make 2024 the greatest year of our lives? Let's talk about it.

The Christmas story never gets old! Even though we have heard it many times there is so much more we often forget. Sometimes we forget Joy to the World the Lord Has Come.

In this life we fight many battles some we appear to lose and feel like God is no where around. God is always aware of what you are going through even when it appears that He doesn't know much less care. We need to constantly remind ourselves that We Win!

In just a couple of weeks we will celebrate Christmas, the day that God gave the earth it's greatest gift. Although insignificant at the time it was a gift that keeps on giving and giving.

Sometimes there is a lot of discussion on who has the greatest calling. Which ministry is greatest? What is the greatest calling? Let's look and see.

Many times we think God is running late. But the reality of life is God is always on time. Even though God is always on time sometimes his watch and our watch are not always in sync. We must submit to his direction and go where He wants us to go.

When the word 'therefore' is used, you need to see what it's there for.

The Jews consider the 10 commandments to be God's marriage proposal to the Jewish nation. God calls the church the bride of Christ. What does it mean to be the bride of Christ? Let's look at it.

Jesus made an almost unbelievable statement in John 14 when He said even greater things you shall do. How can that be? How can we do greater things? How can we prepare to do greater things?

Many people are headed in the wrong direction. They are getting nowhere fast. What is our responsibility to those people? What if we are headed in the wrong direction what do we do? Let's look and see.

The early church would say "Maranatha" whenever they met a fellow believer. It literally means, "He comes" or "He has come." What words of encouragement! What ever may be coming our way pales in the comparison of the knowledge that Jesus has come and He is coming again.

An anointed announcement! From special guest speaker, Missionary Jeff Staudte.

God is the great giver. He has always been a giver, and will always be a giver. Satan is a thief and a liar he does not give, he steals. Let's thank God for His great gifts.

God is constantly reaching out to man. He calls him, He loves him, and He qualifies him. We must be willing not only to listen and to hear but to respond to His call.

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The Bible teaches us that we walk by faith. What does that mean? What happens when faith is fulfilled? Faith becomes reality.

The book of Judges covers a dark period of time for Israel. Throughout, we see Israel abandoning God in pursuit of something they thought would bring them more pleasure. In Judges chapter three, we are introduced to Ehud, a man God would use to deliver Israel and guide them back to right relationship with Him. Ehud is unique, yet God used him. You might be unique, but God can use you!

Speaker: Pastor Amanda Hahn

If you've ever been to SeaWorld and watched the Shamu Show, you know there are an array of participants ranging from those who want to be entertained to those who want to get soaked! The same can be said about the Church! Some people come for the "show", to be entertained, while others come to experience God and the Holy Spirit, and then tell everyone about it when they leave!

In the book of Exodus there are 10 plagues reported. Each one of those plagues was pertaining to an Egyptian god. In the plague of frogs, we find a very interesting occurrence. When Pharaoh was asked when he desired for the frogs to be gone, he said tomorrow. He chose to spend one more night with the frogs. We say how foolish, but don't we often do the same thing?

Christians have a lot of things to overcome. One of the things we must overcoming is the statement "they say." We can not listen to the they sayers, we must listen and obey the voice of God. Let's be what God wants us to be and we will be more than overcomers.

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We all know that God is not hard of hearing but we also know he is not nervous. Lifting our voices and crying for help, lifting our voices and praising God are certainly approved by God. Let's shout to the Lord today and see what God will do in and through our lives.

We all know what it feels like to be hurt. The old saying, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" is a lie. Sometimes, no matter how tough we think we are, the words and actions of others hurt. The question is not whether or not you will be hurt, the question is, how are you going to respond when the hurt comes? As a Christian, we only have one choice: forgiveness.

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The Quarantine of 2020 caused us to explore what Church Online really means. And it's not just regurgitating the in-person experience online--that doesn't make sense. Instead, we are re-imagining what an online expression of church can be and working towards that goal. It's not just about the physical church anymore, and it certainly can't just be all digital. No, it's a Phygital Church!

Peter tells us that God is using lively stones to build his kingdom. None of the stones he uses is perfect. We all have flaws, but the building He makes is a building without spot or blemish.

As good as God was to the nation of Israel they still rejected him. As good as God has been to America you would think America would never reject him, but we see it happening everyday. The only hope in the world today is to quit rejecting Jesus and start receiving from Him.

What does it mean to follow Jesus? To trust in Him, to be with Him. How can we follow in His steps? Let's see what God has to say about these things.

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Jesus said where there is a dead body the vultures would gather. Are the vultures/buzzards circling getting ready to devour the dead upon the earth? Will Jesus find faith on the earth? Great question; let's look and see.

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We often look at Luke 15 as three separate parables when it is actually one parable with 3 points. Each parable is about something lost: a sheep, a coin, a son. And on each occasion when it was found it caused a celebration. Let's find the lost, let's start a celebration.

David gave some great advice as he came to the end of his earthly life. He had fallen several times but he got up and finished his race. Like Paul, he had some failures but he finished strong. Let's do all we can to be able to finish strong.

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In Isaiah chapters 47 and 48 we see some exciting as well as terrifying statements. We see how the mighty have fallen and what brought about that fall. We also see the refining that God does with his people. We will apparently lose some battles but we will win the war.

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Jesus set the example of being baptized in water. We should follow His example and be baptized in water as well as the Spirit. What is the significance of water baptism? Let's look and see.

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