Ocala First Connection

Below is Pastor David's sermon from this past Sunday (12-17-2017) including the slides he used during the 9:00 am Contemporary Service. You can view the video from the 11:00 am service on our website: http://fumcocala.org/sermons/ +++++ Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 We are down to the last week.  Christmas is just around the corner.  We have our trees up, our house decorated, our presents purchased online and out for delivery, our cookies baked, our parties attended, our Christmas parade watched, our travel plans made, and our annual reminder that we think eggnog is really just okay as long as we don’t have to drink too much of it. So here is my question: Are you happy?     We are in the season where the greatest virtues of the Christian life are celebrated: faith, hope, love, joy, and peace. But this is also a time of the year that is not quite so jolly for many people.  December with its short days, long nights, colder weather, busy-ne...

Below is Pastor Rwth's sermon from this past Sunday (12-10-2017) including the slides she used during the 9:00 am Contemporary Service.  You can view the video from the 11:00 am service on our website:  http://fumcocala.org/sermons/ +++++ There’s a story that my Mom tells a lot.  She and my Dad had brought me home from the hospital after my birth.  That first night, I cried and cried and cried—unable to be comforted—despite their around the clock efforts to soothe me. Finally, as morning arrived, I fell peacefully asleep.  My parents were bleary-eyed and hunched over cups of coffee.  My Mom looked at my Dad and said, “Bob, we’ve been had.” The next night, I cried and cried and cried.  And Mom and Dad didn’t stay up with me during the night.  Though we would likely disagree with that parenting approach today, apparently I slept more and more on my own during the night, until a night would pass without my crying at all. ...