Ocala First Connection

Luke 9:28-43 – Astound All the People 43  Everyone was astounded by God’s greatness. The crowds were astounded not because they saw Jesus transfigured. Only three of Jesus’ disciples had witnessed what had happened on the mountaintop. They were astounded by God’s greatness because they experienced their own lives changing because of Jesus.   They had hope where they had been hopeless. They found faith where there had only been doubts.   They found love where there had only been judgement. They found healing where there had only been brokenness. They found life where there had only been death.   After Jesus’ death and resurrection, on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples and the church was born, the crowds were astounded once more. They were astounded not because they had witnessed Jesus’ resurrection or ascension, but because they were seeing the lives of the disciples radically change.   Those disciples who had hidden ...

Pastor Anne gave a wonderful introduction and explanation of spiritual gifts on Sunday! Below you can watch her sermon from the 9:00 am service. Her slides are also posted below. We invite you all to take our Spiritual Gifts Assessment and share your results with us.    Go to the   Greater Gifts page   on our website. There you will find two links.  The first link is to a   Spiritual Gifts Assessment .   The second link is to an  online survey  where you can share your results.

As we moved into the New Year and a new worship series, we decided it was time to resurrect the blog after a year's break. Our Greater Gifts Series is all about the ways God has gifted you to love and to serve.  So we invite you to go to the Greater Gifts page on our website. There you will find two links.  The first link is to a   Spiritual Gifts Assessment .   The second link is to an online survey where you can share your results. Sunday's Message: This past Sunday, we talked a lot about gifts and the three-fold pattern of gift-giving:  Expecting, Receiving and Sharing .   And then we ask the critical question: What do you expect from God?  We can expect God to be faithful to all God has promised! And what has God promised?  The gifts we received in our baptism - the  gifts of forgiveness, grace, love, salvation and new birth in Jesus Christ.   All this is God’s gift offered to us wit...