Faith Community Bible Church

Fear God, Literally

Well we are back in our study of Ecclesiastes, a book of perspective on how to live life under the sun. Today we are in chapter 5 so if you have your Bible’s turn there with me. So far, we have found that Solomon gives us some incredibly helpful wisdom as it pertains to enjoying life: lower your expectations so that you can increase your joy. Solomon says, our problem is, we expect too much from the good gifts of God. We want the gifts of God to be God, to fulfill us in ways that only God can...

When Life’s Not Working

In a strange way Ecclesiastes has the fabric of our own world woven through page after page, probing so relentlessly at the boundaries of life, that it can come across as just plain pessimistic! It stares straight at life’s absurdities, injustices, inequities; the ineffectiveness of human striving; the limitations of human wisdom; the unpredictability of even human breath!  It presses the reader to ask if we’re dealing with this life as it actually is, and using all of the building material ...

Proverb Killers

We live in a culture that likes to put a smile on everything and look on the bright side. Stop saying the glass is half empty. Nobody wants bad news, bleak, despondent, gloomy, pessimistic outlooks. Teams are encouraged to think positively and focus on the good. People prefer smiles. I was at coffee shop recently and they had a bulletin board filled with notes. People can come in and write their own proverbs. Be Kind; Kindness matters Give Compliments Freely; You might just mak...

Timing is Everything

If you are just joining us, we are in our 4th lesson in our study of Ecclesiastes. What we are doing as we study this book is reading a 3000 year old journal entry of histories wisest fool, king Solomon. What do we mean by wisest fool? Solomon was wise in that he was able to manipulate life to acquire what he wanted. Most people want lots of things but lack the wisdom to get it. Solomon got what he wanted. He used his wisdom to acquire wealth (so much that silver was said to be worthless), h...

The Blessing of Work

Review We are in our study of the book of Ecclesiastes. We have caught Solomon in the midst of his life-long experiment where he is testing all that life has to offer to see if indeed there is any lasting fulfillment to be had under the sun. Solomon first tries wisdom. If wisdom could make a man happy, Solomon would know. He was the wisest person who ever lived. What did he conclude? He said, I’m glad I was wise rather than a fool, but it comes with it’s own set of problems. It didn’t ultim...

Is Jesus History?

Dr. Doug Bookman addresses the question: Is Jesus History? Did Jesus Exist_ Searching for Evidence Beyond the Bible Gathercole - blog The Bible Says Jesus Was Real. What Other Proof Exists_ - HISTORY Dropbox link to PowerPoint slides

Life of Christ – Session 1

A Man Without Equal

Why We are Commanded to Trust

##Introduction The goal for us today is trust God in whatever good or bad circumstance you find yourself. And I want to open this morning, not with some zinger of an illustration or any sort of word wizardry or anything like that. Let’s just read a simple verse we have probably heard many times and just ask that Spirit of God impress this on our hearts in fresh and powerful ways. What does it mean to trust in the Lord..WITH ALL YOUR HEART. In order to understand that you have to picture t...

Devoted – Disciples Who Make Disciples

Devoted Part 4 – Disciples Who Make Disciples FCBC 10/27/19 – Billy Mogensen 2 Timothy 2:1-7 "You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he comp...

Devoted – Part 3

Devoted - Living as Disciples to glorify God Part 3 - Missionaries Chasing the Glory of God We’ve called this series DEVOTED which could mean addicted, because I believe that describes the right response to Jesus Christ.  If we understand Who God is and what he has done through Jesus we will be DEVOTED or addicted to God, and living to glorify Him. As I’ve thought about this idea of discipleship, I think that we often don’t grasp the heart behind why it’s so important…. So to illustrate, l...

Devoted – Part 2

Devoted – Part 1

Community Affection

We are in our final message on the book of 1 Corinthians. It’s been an incredible ride. I’ve been permanently changed by the book. Sept of 2017 we started and now, almost exactly a hundred messages later, here we are finishing up our last message. It’s been an absolutely amazing study. So much real human struggle, so much earthy human brokenness and so much hope. And this final passage will not disappoint in this regard. Another just amazingly practical insight by Paul. Now to introduce this...

Plan For Blessing

As part of my college education I spent two semesters in the Middle East. One of the most impressive things I saw in my time there, even more impressive than the pyramids was the ancient city of Petra. Now many people don’t know much about Petra, but if you only know one thing about this city, it’s probably the scene from Indiana Jones. As impressive as this is, the most impressive site is the Monastery which you have to hike a ways to get to. It’s just colossal in size. It’s so large. So ...

Resurrection Hope!

We have a book club here at church and this last month we read “The Unwomanly Face of War” which documents WWII from the perspective of many of the Soviet woman who fought in the war, many of whom who did so on the front lines. The author Svetlana Alexievich interview literally hundreds of survivors collecting thousands of pages of text and miles and miles and recorded tape. The stories that are told are stories of horrendous suffering. The book is arranged in fragmented snippets, small stor...

Resurrection of the Body – Part 2

Introduction When I was a kid I loved to eat and drink all the things that kids love. I loved pepsi and lucky charms and fruit loops and pop tarts and sugar daddys and cotton candy and corn dogs. I’m getting a stomach ache. I loved this stuff - and for the record I still occasionally go to the dollar store and buy a box of sugar daddys and then regret it. And if you were to ask me when I was a kid, is all that stuff good for you? I’d say, “No, of course not.” And I’d say that between altern...

The Resurrection Body

When Lisa and I were first married, like most couples our combined assets amounted to a bag of toiletries. We literally had next to nothing. 8 Months after we were married, we moved down to Seminary in a half empty uhaul towing my 1986 4 door Mazda 323. To give you an idea of the trash value of this car, I lost the key so I rigged it up so it could be started with a switch. One evening I decided to take my newly married bride on a date in the mountains. So we were driving along on this dust...

Risk and Good Insurance