Trusting When It Doesn't Make Sense

Series: Faith that Triumphs

Pastor: Raymond Smith

Sunday School

Date: 30th November 2025

Passages:

• Deuteronomy 6:4-7
• Deuteronomy 8:11-14
• Joshua 1:8
• Proverbs 3:1-10
• Ecclesiastes 12:13
• Isaiah 55:8-9
• Romans 10:17
• Romans 11:33-34
• Ephesians 5:1
• Ephesians 6:4
• 2 Timothy 4:2-4
• Hebrews 12:1-2

-------------------

Trusting God rarely feels simple, especially when life stops making sense. This study takes us straight into Proverbs 3, where God shows how real trust forms long before the crisis ever arrives. Faith stands firm only when it’s built on Scripture, shaped by obedience, and rooted in a right view of who God is. We see why leaning on our own understanding leads us into confusion, while acknowledging the Lord in every part of life leads to clarity and direction. These verses confront the pull to rely on feelings, instincts, or culture instead of truth. They call us to a steady, intentional trust that honors God even when the path ahead feels unclear.

The Condition of Your Faith

Series: Living In Light of His Return

Pastor: Raymond Smith

Sunday Morning

Date: 30th November 2025

Passages:

• Psalm 112:7
• Habakkuk 2:4
• Luke 6:48
• John 14:3
• Romans 8:35-37
• 2 Corinthians 5:7
• Ephesians 4:14-15
• Colossians 1:23
• 1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:5
• 2 Timothy 4:8
• Hebrews 10:23
• 1 Peter 1:8-9
• Jude 20-21

-------------------

What is the condition of your faith?

Paul raises that question because life doesn’t wait to test your faith: pressure, hardship, and opposition push hard enough to shake anyone who isn’t grounded. Faith either stands on the truth of God’s Word or gets pulled off course by the weight of circumstances and distractions of the world.

Believers must intentionally strengthen their faith by building a foundation on obedience to Scripture.

There’s no neutral ground here; your faith will either remain solidly grounded in God's word or give way under pressure. We each must honestly answer: what is the condition of your faith?

The Danger of Forgetting God

Series: Transitions in the Kingdom of Israel

Pastor: Raymond Smith

Tuesday Evening

Date: 25th November 2025

Passages:

• Deuteronomy 8:11-14
• 2 Kings 19:35
• 2 Kings 20:12-13
• 2 Chronicles 29:2
• 2 Chronicles 32:24-26
• 2 Chronicles 32:31-32
• Psalm 1:1-150:6
• Proverbs 4:20-23
• Proverbs 16:18-19
• Isaiah 37:7
• Romans 12:3
• 1 John 2:14-16

-------------------

Hezekiah faced a turning point when God exposed the pride that grew after a season of blessing and victory. Success attracts flattery and pride can easily twist a heart that once sought the Lord. Pride can creep in slowly, yet it shapes choices, responses, and the way someone views what God has given them.

God often will allow a test to bring hidden motives into the open and reveal how quickly we drift into self-confidence. Hezekiah's fall remind us that every blessing comes from God and that guarding the heart matters far more than protecting achievements.

Choosing to Trust, part 2

Sunday School

Date: 23rd November 2025

Passages:

• Deuteronomy 30:11
• Deuteronomy 30:14
• Psalm 24:8
• Psalm 33:4
• Psalm 56:1-13
• Psalm 57:7
• Psalm 139:14
• John 3:16
• Philippians 4:19

-------------------

Fear shows up in moments we don’t always expect, and those moments reveal what we actually trust. David’s experience in Psalm 56 shows how real fear can be, yet also how clear the choice becomes: follow fear or trust what God has said.

When we set aside every competing voice and anchor ourselves to God’s character and His Word our fear turns to faith in the One who knows our struggles and leads us through them.

The difference between saying we trust God and practicing that trust appears most clearly when life feels overwhelming. Each day brings new moments to choose fear or to choose an intentional, consistent, confident trust in Jesus.

Be Thankful

Pastor: Raymond Smith

Sunday Morning

Date: 23rd November 2025

Passages:

• Job 1:21
• John 14:27
• Romans 5:1
• Romans 5:10
• Philippians 4:7
• Colossians 1:9
• Colossians 3:15-17

-------------------

Thankfulness grows from the way a believer thinks, not from the conditions of life. Colossians 3:15–17 shows that genuine gratitude begins when the peace of God rules the heart and steadies the mind in the middle of uncertainty.

The Word of Christ shapes that mindset by redirecting thoughts, guiding choices, and filling worship with truth. When God’s peace and God’s Word take hold within, thankfulness starts flowing into words, actions, and relationships.

This kind of gratitude that reflects Christ in daily life: not because everything feels easy, but because God’s work within changes how everything is viewed.

Choosing to Trust, Part 1

Series: Faith that Triumphs

Pastor: Raymond Smith

Sunday School

Date: 16th November 2025

Passages:

• 1 Samuel 21:1-15
• Psalm 27:14
• Psalm 28:7
• Psalm 33:4
• Psalm 56:1-10
• Psalm 118:6
• John 1:1
• John 1:14
• John 14:27
• Hebrews 11:1-40
• Hebrews 13:6
• 1 Peter 5:8

-------------------

"What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee." Psalms 56:3

Fear exposes what we believe and crisis moments reveal whether we trust God or not. Fear isn't the problem, letting fear control us and drive our actions is though.

David faced real danger, real opposition, and real uncertainty and was overcome by fear until he recalled to mind the promises of God. When he turned his attention away from the circumstances and back to God, his perspective shift from fear to confidence in God.

In the midst of fearful circumstances, we can have that same inner peace and strength if we set our hearts and minds on God and His word.

Are you trusting God and what He has said or are you letting fearful circumstances overwhelm you?

A Thankful Ministry

Series: Living In Light of His Return

Pastor: Raymond Smith

Sunday Morning

Date: 16th November 2025

Passages:

• Isaiah 53:1
• Luke 15:10
• John 16:33
• Acts 16:4-5
• Acts 17:2-5
• Romans 10:17
• Ephesians 1:12-13
• Philippians 1:28-29
• 1 Thessalonians 1:6
• 1 Thessalonians 1:10
• 1 Thessalonians 2:10
• 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16
• 2 Timothy 3:12
• Hebrews 4:2
• 1 Peter 1:20

-------------------

You face a choice every time you hear God’s Word: treat it as information or receive it as truth that demands a response. Paul points to the believers in Thessalonica as an example of people who received the gospel personally and allowed it to shape their lives, even when it cost them something. Their salvation, their growth, and their steadfastness gave Paul and Silas reason to thank God without ceasing.

What are you trusting and following? Does God's word hold the ultimate authority in your life? Genuine belief produces endurance when opposition rises.

Watch the full message to consider what have you have with the truth God has given you.

Fear, Faith, and the God Who Answers

Series: Transitions in the Kingdom of Israel

Pastor: Raymond Smith

Wednesday Evening

Date: 12th November 2025

Passages:

• 2 Kings 18:7-22
• 2 Kings 20:1-7
• 2 Chronicles 31:20-21
• 2 Chronicles 32:1-8
• Job 1:9-12
• Psalm 91:1-2
• Proverbs 29:25
• Isaiah 41:10
• Isaiah 50:7-8
• Romans 8:15
• 2 Timothy 1:7

-------------------

Hezekiah’s story draws a clear line between relying on yourself and trusting what God said. His early trust in the Lord shaped a nation, but one moment of pressure pushed him toward fear and quick fixes.

The turning point comes when he faces his own weakness and chooses to seek God instead of scrambling for his own solutions. That return to prayer changes the direction of everything that follows.

God meets His people when they turn to Him with honesty and dependence, even when trouble presses in from every side.

The Cost of Living by Feelings Instead of Faith

Series: Guest Speaker

Pastor: Ethan Beem

Sunday School

Date: 9th November 2025

Passages:

• Genesis 27:1-46
• Genesis 28:1-4
• Jeremiah 17:9
• Galatians 6:7
• Hebrews 12:16-17

-------------------

You face choices every day, and those choices reveal whether you follow your feelings or trust what God says. Following your feelings rather than trusting God leads to trouble in every part of life.

Each member of Isaac’s family made choices driven by feelings, schemes, or self-interest rather than God’s clear Word. Isaac relied on his senses, Rebekah turned to manipulation, Jacob embraced deception, and Esau sought blessing without repentance. Their choices fractured their home and revealed the cost of following desire over obedience.

In the midst of this we see the steady purpose of God, who fulfills His plan even when people fail. We each need to consider the consequences of our choices and the need to align our life with God’s will rather than impulses or circumstances.

Be A Well Digger

Series: Guest Speaker

Pastor: Ethan Beem

Sunday Morning

Date: 9th November 2025

Passages:

• Genesis 12:10
• Genesis 24:1-67
• Genesis 25:21
• Genesis 26:1-33
• Psalm 4:1
• Psalm 18:19
• Psalm 25:17
• Isaiah 59:2
• Romans 12:1-2
• Ephesians 6:11-12
• Hebrews 11:8-16
• Hebrews 12:5-11

-------------------

Have you ever felt like God has blessed you, yet life still feels hard and confusing? Isaac faced famine, fear, and conflict, but God used those pressures to expose where he trusted his own plans instead of God’s promise.

Think about the “wells” in your life—your walk with God, your home, your church—and how sin, busyness, or neglect may have started to close them off. God cares more about your faithfulness than your comfort. Simple obedience and worship can speak loudly to the people around you.

Watch the full message to be encouraged to stay where God wants you, pick up the shovel again, and let Him grow you through the trials you face.