Ottawa Valley Community Church Sermons

We were so happy to have Mark and Debbie back to visit and share their story of moving to Mexico to follow God's calling for them. The theme of their message this Sunday was Embracing Discomfort. Sometimes we have a false belief that God wouldn't want us to be uncomfortable or wouldn't be leading us down the path blocked by obstacles. But God never promises us an easy life.

Brian shared his testimony with us on Sunday, and spoke to us about the lessons he learned from the book of James. He shared how temptations come from our own sinful desires and attitudes of comparison, and how only god can produce a real change to our thoughts and our conduct.

This week, we heard from Jono on the parable of the Sower and the Seed (Matthew 13). He shared that in order to really hear what God is saying to us through scripture, we have to be willing to dialogue with him. We have to engage with the text and seek a deeper understanding. Jesus isn’t interested in people who only want a surface level relationship with him. He wants intimacy and discussion.

In this message, Ahren walks us through a simple pattern or liturgy designed to break devotional bible reading into practical steps. WITHDRAW, INVITE, READ, MEDITATE, APPLY, CELEBRATE, ARTICULATE.

I Samuel - The Providence of God (chapter 9) by Ottawa Valley Community Church

Pentecost Sunday by Ottawa Valley Community Church

Join us as Ahren helps us tackle the question, "Why does the 'old gospel story' matter in our complex modern world?"

This week, Ahren leads us in looking at the idea of calling and vocation. How do we have a right posture to hear the voice of God in our lives? It is the servant's heart that draws the voice of the Lord. Is our posture, "What are you going to do for me?" , or is it, "Lord, what can I do for you?"

Baptism - Finding Identity in Jesus by Ottawa Valley Community Church

Mother's Day by Ottawa Valley Community Church

Stuff I Wished We'd Talked About During Lent by Ottawa Valley Community Church

Hannah Shares about her Mission with YWAM by Ottawa Valley Community Church

Easter Sunday 2025 - Saved to the Uttermost by Ottawa Valley Community Church

Lenten Reflections - Palm Sunday by Ottawa Valley Community Church

Lenten Reflections - The Last Passover by Ottawa Valley Community Church

Lenten Reflections - Mary Washes the Feet of Jesus by Ottawa Valley Community Church

Ahren talks about how the vision for OVC has changed to one of being a discipling church, and what that looks like on a personal and community level.

Guest speaker Joey Molloy talks about the 3 kinds of people who need to hear us sharing the gospel: those who don't know Jesus, ourselves, and the next generation.

What do we do with suffering? Ahren speaks about how God uses suffering to produce fruit and faith in our lives, to bring Himself glory, and to bring comfort to others.

There are 4 main ways that the Holy Spirit shapes our identity in Christ: scripture prayer, community, and suffering. Ahren speaks on the first 3 and how we need to have a balance in order to become who God has made us to be.

A Light Has Dawned - Advent Week 2 by Ottawa Valley Community Church

A Light Has Dawned - Advent Week 1 by Ottawa Valley Community Church

His Glory, Our Good Part 4 by Ottawa Valley Community Church

Who Gets Remembered by Ottawa Valley Community Church

Remembrance Day by Ottawa Valley Community Church

His Glory, Our Good_ Part 3 by Ottawa Valley Community Church

His Glory and Our Good: He is the ONLY true God. How does believing in God as the only true God change how you live? Are there parts of you that are drawn to follow other "gods"? And what good things do you experience by living in the glory of his only-ness?

Ahren kicks off a new sermon series called: "His Glory and Our Good." These messages parallel our small group study materials, highlighting aspect of who God is and looking at how those truths change us and impact our lives for the better. In this first part, Ahren speaks about what it means to seek God first.

Philippians 4:6-7 is what we might call a "panic-to-peace" liturgy. When we pray and give thanks, we will find our troubles transformed into a transcendent sense of peace, knowing that we have a good God who is in control.

What is it about Jesus that makes a disciple want to run after him? Ahren takes us through the story of Matthew the tax collector to see why even one who was considered a sinner and a social outcast would still want to follow Jesus and surrender his life to live Jesus' way.

Sins for which we haven't sought forgiveness are like credit card debts: they create a burden on us, and that burden increases with time. Ian shares his personal experience with learning to give forgiveness, according to God's commands, in order to experience more abundant grace.

What does it look like to be a disciple? Ahren takes us through the stories of Jesus calling the apostles to show us what made them suitable disciples, and how we can adopt these attitudes and heart postures to become better disciples of Christ.

Our goals as a church are changing. Ahren explans why we feel that the "why" behind OVC's existence - our motivation and mission - is changing. God is calling us to spend less time growing and more time building strong foundations of discipleship.

We were made to glorify God. We are most fully ourselves when we delight in his glory. But what does "glory" really mean? And why were we made to glorify? Those are the questions Ahren addresses in this sermon.

God is both transcendent and immanent - mighty and intimate. We tend to place him somewhere on a spectrum between the two, but the reality is that he is completely both. Will you let him show you who he really is?

Although we are in this age of brokenness, we are not of it. It is Jesus' intention to make this world new, and to make us new with it. Vince reminds us that, when things seem dark, we have comfort in Jesus and we are called to be the light in the darkness.

Giving forgiveness isn't easy. But it is the only way to be able to receive forgiveness from God. And, as Ian shares from his personal testimony, it is the only way to live free from the hurt and sin that has been directed at us so that we can fully worship and live in intimate relationship with God.

People are prone to conflict. Even within our own Christian communities, we encounter hurt and brokenness. Kathleen speaks on the importance of Christ-likeness and spiritual transformation for making us into the kind of people who can become the loving community that God desires us to be.

Jack shares about his experience attending YWAM and how God taught him to trust, obey, and turn his focus outward as he went deeper in discipleship.

"They live upon the earth, but they are citizens of heaven." With Canada Day approaching, Ahren teaches us what scripture says about how God and his people relate to the nations and governments of this world.

For Father's Day, Ian brings us a special message on the Father's love. The primary image of our relationship with God in the New Testament is God as our Father. Some of us have good relationships with our fathers, many of us experience brokenness, but all of us need to experience God's fatherly love.

We are brothers and sisters in Christ; we are a family brought together by our allegiance to Christ, working toward a shared purpose. In this sermon, Ahren talks about how God instructs us to interact as a family, and how that plays out in churches today.

To understand what communion is and why we take it, we must also understand what it means to be a communion. We are connected to, and belong with, all believers from all times and places.

In a discussion-style sermon, Ahren teaches about the concept of being "born again." Step into the story of Nicodemus to understand how to be part of what God is doing, the importance of spiritual transformation, and what it means to believe in Jesus.

For Mother's Day, Ahren takes us through the scriptures in which God uses female or mothering images to describe himself before taking us through the story of Hannah to show how God understands the mothering journey.

Paul uses the image of adoption numerous times in his writing to describe our relationship to the family of God. This week, Ahren introduces our new series by exploring what adoption meant in New Testament culture and how that helps us understand our relationship with God.

God wants us to be in relationship with him because we need him - not because he needs us. When he seeks to get our attention, it is often because we really need his attention. But, we can't always stay on top of the mountains in God's presence because it's too much for us to handle. Things in our lives will cause us to experience a disconnect; that is what many call "the dark night of the soul."

What does the Ascension mean for us as believers? So often, we stop the Easter story at the Resurrection, but the Ascension also has major implications on how we live and on our eternity. When the God-Man returned to Heaven in bodily form, he brought a bit of earth (a bit of us) back with Him. And he made a place for us to one day be there with him.

What exactly is grace? And what does God's grace look like when applied in a practical way in our lives? Ian explains 9 key points of grace and how he has seen them manifested in his life and in the lives of people around him.

For Palm Sunday, we are looking at Jesus' statement that he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. When Thomas asked how to get to where Jesus was going, Jesus said, "I am the way." Much like Jesus' journey into Jerusalem, our journey through life may not always be glorious or easy, but if we follow Jesus as the way, we can rest assured in the hope of our destination.