Topic: Witnesses
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June 22, 2025
Speaker: Pastor James Enderle
We tend to think of mission work as being “over there,” something done in a far-away place. It is good and right to support foreign mission work with our prayers and offerings. However, something is off if we allow our appreciation for “over there” mission work to take our eyes off the mission that is right before us. Here is the two-fold reality worthy of our undivided attention this week. First, if we have seen the grace of God, we will serve as witnesses for Christ. Second, we need not cross the ocean to share the gospel. We can simply cross the street. In our various callings—parent or grandparent or sibling, friend or neighbor or coworker—God will provide one opportunity after another to serve as the witnesses Jesus has made us to be. So, let us continue to pray for and support “over there” mission work. But let us also give our undivided attention to the mission that God had placed right before each of us.
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November 3, 2024
Speaker: Pastor James Enderle
Topic: Amazed, Arrested, Christian, Cling, Confidence, Confronted, Courageous, End Times, Faith, Forever, forgiveness, Gospel, Hardship, Life, Live, Martin Luther, Prepared, Priorities, Questioned, Reformation, Ridiculed, Saint, Share, Sinner, Stadium, Temporary, Watchful, Witness, Witnesses, World
Live a life of Courageous Witness. Jesus repeatedly told His followers that living as His disciples would bring hardship. Living life according to God’s Law is going to make one appear odd in the eyes of the world, perhaps even evil. Sharing a message of mankind’s sin and God’s gracious salvation can cause offense. So why not just stay silent if that makes life easier? Why not keep our faith private? Answer: because we are going to live forever. In gratitude for Christ saving us and giving us eternal life, we share the Gospel with others, hoping that they will believe and be saved too. Since we know we are going to live forever in the perfection of heaven, we don’t worry if being a witness for Christ brings hardship or even death.
Martin Luther wanted to reform the false teaching of the church. He stood firm in the truth of the Gospel, knowing it might cost him his life. But Luther knew that, thanks to Christ, he would live forever. So will we. Therefore, like Luther, let us live a life of courageous witness.
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April 7, 2024
Series: Resurrection Reality, Sundays of Easter
Speaker: Pastor James Enderle
Topic: Condemned, Conflict, Experience, Faith, Fellowship, forgiveness, Gospel, Joy, Life, Peace, Proclaim, Reconciled, Saw, Share, Testify, Truth, Witnesses, Yoke
In most world religions, the alleged foundational event was experienced by only one person. A self-proclaimed prophet would allege he alone had some special encounter with God. “No really! Just trust me. It really happened.” The resurrection reality is so very different. In the Great Resurrection Chapter (1 Corinthians 15), St. Paul writes an entire paragraph listing all the people to whom Jesus appeared after He rose, including a group of over five hundred at one time. It is like St. Paul is telling skeptics, “You don’t need to take my word for it. Hundreds of us saw Jesus back from the dead.”
The proof of Jesus’ resurrection brought peace and strength to those early believers. They knew there was more to their existence than just their time on earth. They knew the reality that eternal life was theirs, a gift from their living Lord. It gave them incredible joy and courage. May the resurrection reality give us the same.
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Improbable Not Impossible
September 2, 2025 -
Is Faith All You Need?
August 29, 2025