Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
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Our trust in a lot of things has gotten shaken over the last year. Misinformation, disinformation, lies and half-truths seem to be the norm anymore. When what we thought was solid belief comes into doubt, it rocks us to the core and we start doubting…everything. This applies to our faith. If I can’t trust what my eyes are seeing and my ears are hearing, how can I trust what I can’t see and hear? Does God really exist? Is His Word really true? Have I believed a lie this whole...
What does “eucharisteo” mean? You may recognize it from the term Eucharist which refers to the presence of Christ in the taking of the elements of the Lord’s Supper. But what does the term mean? Eucharisteois the form of a Greek word literally meaning “to give good grace” or “to speak that which is well-pleasing” and is commonly translated as “to give thanks” or “thanksgiving”. And there it is, the tie-in to this month: Thanksgiving. There are two things of interest with this word. First of all, in the middle of eucharisteo...
On behalf of the OCMA I want to thank the entire community of Odessa for all your generous help, donations, prayers and participation throughout the 2019 year. As many of you well know, we are a collection of the churches in Odessa serving to assist the community in emergency situations. Our foremost areas of assistance are the Food Bank (open the third Thursday of each month) and utility assistance. We also host multiple events like Vacation Bible School, sing-alongs, a...
The most important historical event for Christianity is Jesus rising from the dead. Over the years many skeptics have tried to explain away the resurrection. Why? Because Jesus rising from the dead is the proof that He is who He claimed to be (God in the flesh) and that He can do what He said He would do (grant us forgiveness of sins and eternal life). If Jesus did not rise from the dead then He was a liar and a false teacher, prophet, and messiah. The problem the skeptics...
By Rev. Jon Hayashi Heritage Church Pray...with Thanksgiving In a sermon at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, Gary Wilburn said: In 1636, amid the darkness of the Thirty Years' War, a German pastor, Martin Rinkart, is said to have buried five thousand of his parishioners in one year, an average of fifteen a day. His parish was ravaged by war, death, and economic disaster. In the heart of that darkness, with the cries of fear outside his window, he sat down and...
As we move towards Thanksgiving, obviously our “thankfulness quotient” goes up. While it’s in the forefront of our minds, we are more ready to remember to be thankful for the many blessings God has given us. But what about being thankful the rest of the year? Or what about when life is hard? The Bible makes reference to living a life of thanksgiving not just once a year, but always and in every circumstance. And even our prayers and requests and complaints to God need to be...
During some recent conversations, I didn’t realize how many people are still hurting deeply over the loss of Pastor Tim Hauge. I should have figured that out, knowing how deeply I’m still affected by it and struggling to deal with it, especially as we approach the first anniversary of his entrance into Heaven. But it’s not just Pastor Tim we’re grieving. There are plenty of others with whose deaths we still wrestle. It’s so easy to get caught up in our own pain that we forget...
Here we are on the cusp of another Thanksgiving holiday. As is typical, we start making our preparations for where we’re going to go or with whom we’re going to spend it. We talk about what we’re going to make and, heaven forbid, even start talking about what Christmas lights are going up. Even worse (I’m going to say it), commercialism and greed get the better of us on Black Friday. But as we know, Thanksgiving wasn’t originally about getting the best deals for Christmas...
I found the opening statements to a recent interview with Seattle Seahawk's Doug Baldwin quite refreshing. Doug Baldwin was an undrafted free agent coming out of Stanford University in 2011. Twenty-eight other receivers went ahead of him in the draft, and he went undrafted. But he believed he had the gifts , talents, and mental make-up to not just make a roster, but excel. After winning a Super-Bowl this past year, the Seahawks re-signed him to a three year contract seeing...
'Tis the season to be THANKFUL!!! We have all been blessed in numerous ways, none greater than what God has done for us through His Son Jesus Christ. Please join us this Sunday, November 17th at 6:30 pm at Heritage Church as we gather together to sing and thank God for His goodness to us and for His many blessings which He bestows. There will be a free-will offering taken for the Food Bank. As we head into the holiday season we know there are always needs around town which we...
Spring has sprung and with it the grass gets greener, the trees start budding, the flowers begin to poke their shoots up, and the weather starts to get warmer (except for that crazy arctic wind). Winter always brings about the “death” of nature when everything becomes brown and dies away. But the gloominess of the grayness of winter is finally transformed into the radiant beauty of spring. I love the changes at this time of the year. It cries out of beauty, new life, and a f...
