Valley Shepherd

DOES REVIVAL EVER REALLY HAPPEN? Psalm 85:1-13 When I was growing up, we religiously had what we called “revival services” in our church twice a year—services that were held every night for a week featuring the preaching of an “evangelist” who went from church to church holding revival services wherever he went. In years before [...]

HIS GRACE IS ENOUGH…ALL THE TIME! 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 [Start with video clip, “Thriving”—2 minutes] This morning is my last sermon in the series from 2 Corinthians—and, I must tell you, I’ve been looking forward to preaching on this passage of scripture. Words found in this text have come to be tremendously meaningful to me [...]

WHAT JESUS ARE YOU FOLLOWING? 2 Corinthians 11:1-15 We got a check in the mail the other day for $10.00. It was addressed to Cindy, and she opened it and left it on the kitchen counter. It looked to me like a rebate check of some sort, so when I was getting ready to [...]

LIVING LARGE GOD’S WAY 2 Corinthians 8:1-15 I was raised in a home in which a constant theme was “always do your best.” It honestly was a great lesson in the stewardship of life—making the most of what God gave us. And “always do your best” was applied often to the matter of schoolwork. [...]

DON’T GET ON A MOTORCYCLE WITH JUST ANYONE! 2 Corinthians 6:14 – 7:1 My dad’s a great guy. Raised in a Nazarene pastor’s home himself, his personal story was that of a young man who ran from God, leaving Ohio to go to college in California, only to find out that God was there [...]

LOOK UP! 2 Corinthians 5:11-21 One of the most personally frustrating things I deal with in life is an ongoing battle with my weight. I know that not everyone relates to this issue, but I won’t ask for a show of hands—nor will I ask all of you to stand up and turn around. It’s [...]

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP! 2 Corinthians 4:1-18 Cindy and I had driven by it lots of times already in our short time in Idaho, but had never taken the time to stop until a couple of months ago when a friend of Cindy’s from Kansas City had come our way and we were taking [...]

HOW’S YOUR COLOGNE? 2 Corinthians 2:12 – 3:6 Turn with me in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians, chapter 2. We’re continuing our series on Paul’s second letter to the fellowship of Christians that had been established in the midst of a very worldly and even corrupt Greek city—the city of Corinth. [Read 2 Corinthians 2:12 [...]

GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS 2 Corinthians 1:3-11 Don’t you just hate it when God allows you to be knocked off your feet and you find yourself absolutely helpless…utterly dependent upon Him? It happened three years ago this last month. We were already into the busy Christmas season and planning a party at our home [...]