Ekklesia Christian Life Fellowship

The list below contain the outlines of Pastor McCowan's sermons. For viewing the videos are listed separately.

 

Sermon List
Date Title Sermon

Jan. 8, 2011
The God of the Snowflake - Pastor McCowan spoke on the subject of snowflakes and how we like them are unique and miracles of beauty. Unfortunately, we also share some of their vulnerabilities and need to make “faith choices” when we are confronted with fear and worries. The scripture for the evening was, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1) Outline.
Jan. 15, 2011 Building a Life of Stewardship - Elder Jim Latimer spoke on the topic of stewardship and how our modern understanding of a servant or a slave has hindered us from appreciating the true role of a steward—one who has been given delegated responsibility. Using this definition, special emphasis was on examples of a good steward in contrast with those of a bad steward. Outline.
Jan. 22, 2011 The Pursuit of Happiness - Pastor McCowan spoke on happiness and the special place where God hides it. It is a place where most people would never look or even go to, even if they did know its location. Nevertheless, it can be found and is ready and waiting for us. Outline.
Feb. 5, 2011 Bad Moon Rising I - Pastor McCowan updated everyone with his teachings on end-time events and how current events in the Middle East may very well be the beginning of a new geo-political alliance in that area of the world. This new alliance or federation of Islamic nations could eventually fulfill Bible prophecy on the next great empire to emerge in the Middle East. Bulletin
Feb. 19, 2011 Bad Moon Rising II - Pastor McCowan again renewed his teachings on end-time events and show how that not only is there a movement to restore the Islamic Empire, but also how prominent Jews, Christians, and Muslim leaders are discussing the possibility of rebuilding the Jewish Temple and making the Temple Mount in Jerusalem a place for all Abrahamic faiths. Charles Kimball will shared a brief history of the Temple Mount and what is being done today in rebuilding the Jewish Temple. Bulletin, Outline.
Feb. 26, 2011 Judging the Judges - Pastor McCowan spoke about the upcoming 83rd Academy Award Ceremony and who he expects to win the oscar for "Best Picture." While Pastor McCowan is no movie expert and hasn't seen any of this year's nominees, he still feels qualified to air his own opinion. Outline, Bulletin.
Mar. 19, 2011 The Test of Patience - Pastor McCowan shared on how the world's longest experiment can teach us something about our capacity to accept or tolerate frustration and yet remain patience. Outline, Bulletin.
Mar. 26, 2011 God's Tent Rules - Now that Spring has sprung, Pastor McCowan talked about enjoying the great outdoors. No doubt one of the best ways to do this is camping—now that tents today are so easy to set up and take down. However, there are a few basic rules of camping one must follow. Not only did Pastor McCowan go over some of these rules, but also rules for dwelling in God's tent as well. Outline, Bulletin.
April 2, 2011 The Divine Constant - Pastor McCowan spoke on the "Divine Constant" and how some believe it to be not only the finger print of God, but also the radio of beauty, balance, and order. Outline, Bulletin, Video 1, Video 2
April 9, 2011 The Geometry of Christianity - Pastor McCowan continued his sermon on intelligent design and further explained how geometry in general and PHI (Φ) in particular play an important role not only in creation but also in Christianity. Outline, Bulletin, Video 1, Video 2.
April 16, 2011 When the Cheering Stopped - Pastor McCowan shared how President Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Barak Obama all share something in common with Jesus Christ. HINT: It has to do with the ups and downs of popularity. Outline, Bulletin.
April 23, 2011 Coffin Academy - Pastor McCowan shared how literally thousands of people in South Korea are dealing with the stress and pressures of life. While some people may think that these Koreans are a bit weird or even bizarre, it it interesting how similar their behavior is to what Jesus taught his disciples on how to have "Resurrection Life!" Outline, Bulletin, Video 1, Video 2.
April 30, 2011 Boundary Lines - God gives us "boundaries," but some of us have a harder time living within those boundaries than others do. What's worse, even when we feel as if the "boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places," we often have self-destructive tendencies to destroy a good thing. Pastor McCowan shared how we can keep from shooting ourselves in the foot, or at least not deliberately. Outline, Bulletin, Video 1.
May 14, 2011 The Long Walk - A former British army captain completes a perilous 4,200-mile walk across the length of the Amazon River. It takes him two years, and, en route, he manages to avoid deadly snakes, hostile villagers and nasty crocs. It was a long walk and according to Pastor McCowan suggest that our discipleship journey in many ways isn't much different. Outline, Bulletin, Video.
May 21, 2011 The Hour Unknown - If you are able to read this description, you are a surviver of Judgment Day 2011 as predicted by now discredited Bible teacher Harold Camping. However, this was not the first time or the last last time where someone will predict the end of the world. In fact, anxiety, uncertainty, and social upheavals are breeding grounds for false prophets or anyone who can somehow prey on people's fears and hopes. So, Pastor McCowan spoke on this issue and shared how we can keep ourselves from being deceived and exploited by those who distort the truth. Outline, Bulletin, Video I, Video II.

May 28, 2011

 Winners Never Quit - One hundred years ago this Memorial Day was the first running of the Indianapolis 500 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The winner for that race was Ray Harroun who drove the 500 mile race in 6 hours and 40 minutes. However, it was something that happened the next year—1912 that caught the attention of the country. Pastor McCowan spoke on persevering and how we can take encouragement from our faith by keeping our eyes on the finish line. Outline, Bulletin, Video I.
June 4, 2011 The Luck of Abraham - In a down economy, more and more people are looking for lucky breaks—hoping to hit it big. But how does faith teach us anything different? Outline, Bulletin.
June 19, 2011 Losing It: Why are so many cool people losing their composer? Pastor McCowan spoke on a problem that seems to be approaching epidemic proportions. The problem is celebrities behaving badly—especially when things become frustrating or go wrong. No doubt this problem is widespread among regular folk too. So how can we keep our cool when so many people are losing theirs? Outline, Bulletin, Video I
June 25, 2011 Feed the Heart by Pastor McCowan - New research shows that skipping breakfast can have nasty effects on the health of your heart. Although a healthy diet overall is key, it looks like one meal might just be the most critical of all. Mom always said breakfast was the most important meal of the day. It turns out she was right. BTW - Didn’t Jesus have something to say about the heart too? Outline, Bulletin, Video I.
July 2, 2011 Christian Nation? by Pastor McCowan - Recently a national Radio Talk Show Host and a call-in listener were talking about Christianity in America. As the conversation continued, the host, who is an avowed agonistic, said, "Why do Christians think they had anything special to do with the founding of this country? Anybody who reads history books knows that Christianity was no more involved in America’s founding than any other religion." Wow, Is this true? Outline, Bulletin, Video I.
July 16, 2011 Wedding, Inc. - Pastor McCowan shared a sermon on weddings and how our society is so infatuated with them. In fact, it is a 70 billion dollar industry in the United States. Jesus also enjoyed weddings too. In fact, he is preparing a wedding that will truly be out of this world. Outline, Bulletin.
July 24, 2011 The Dumbest Idea of All Time - Pastor McCowan shared a sermon entitled, “The Dumbest Idea of all Time.” It featured the story about the children of Israel going to the Promise Land and how God became so angry with them that he wanted to kill all of them and start over. What was this dumb idea? See for yourself and find out. Outline, Bulletin.
July 30, 2011 Humility (Part 1) - Pastor McCowan shared the first of a series on humility and how this virtue is so important in our walk with God and a measurement of true greatness. Please ready your heart to receive this important message. Outline, Bulletin.
Aug 6, 2011 Humility (Part 2) - Pastor McCowan shared the second of a series on humility and how this virtue is so important in our walk with God and a measurement of true greatness. Outline, Bulletin.
Aug 13, 2011 Humility (Part 3) - Pastor McCowan shared the third of a series on humility and how this virtue is so important in our walk with God and a true measurement of true greatness. Outline, Bulletin.
Aug 20, 2011 Casting Our Nets: on the other side of the boat - Pastor McCowan shared the story about “The Miraculous Catch of Fish,” when Jesus’ disciples caught so many fish that they thought the nets were going to break. But how did this happen? Were the disciples in the right place at the right time? Or was there another principle at work? Outline, Bulletin.
Sep 3, 2011 The Faustian Bargain: How to make a deal with the Devil and win! - Pastor McCowan shared about “The Faustian Bargain” and how many people in history have tried to use it to gain personal fame and fortune. However, it has one fatal flaw. You lose your soul. Outline, Bulletin, Video Illustration.
Sep 17, 2011 Thank-You: the Power and Blessing of Manners and Equittee - Like our mothers have always said, possessing good-manners is not only the right thing to do, but they also help us to win respect with others. In fact, we help our fellow worshipers, our family, our friends and acquaintances by thanking them. No wonder, being thankful is considered good form in the Bible and was highly honored by the Apostle Paul. Outline, Bulletin.
Sep 24. 2011 How Not to Shorten Your Life: by knowing how to handle bad manner people - According to a recent academic study, not only do rude, socially challenged, thoughtless, boorish, offensive, vulgar, bad-mannered, uncouth, vile and foul people make life less enjoyable for others, but they also reap a shortened life. Pastor McCowan shared how we can be jerk-free and live long. Outline, Bulletin
10/1/2011 Confession: Now there is an app for that! - Recently, the Roman Catholic Church has developed an App for Smart Phones and Tablet Computers called “The Confession App.” Its purpose is to help parishioners prepare themselves before they go to confessional. It does this by asking people to go through the 10 Commandments and check those areas where there has been moral compromise so they can then confess those sins to the priest and receive absolution. However, is this a good practice for non-Catholic Christians too? Outline, Bulletin
10/8/2011 Slumlords "Go Wild" - Pastor McCowan shared that In several of our major cities, affordable housing is a real challenge. In NYC it is not unusual to pay $3,500.00 a month to rent a studio apartment. However, what can make life a living hell is to have as your landlord someone who is also a slumlord—who has no interest for his tenets and caters not for any of their needs. In the New Testament, Jesus’ problem was not with landlords but with tenets who refused to pay their rent. Outline, Bulletin
10/22/2011 Whatever Happened to Moses? - Pastor McCowan shared about a website that makes an effort to track some of the celebrities of the past to give a peek into what's going on in their lives now. He then went on to Moses, whose career was spectacular to say the least -- from a basket in the Nile, to the court of the pharaoh, to Mt. Sinai and Mt. Nebo. Whatever happened to him? What's going to happen to us? Outline, Bulletin
11/12/2011 Baptized in Mud - Water Baptism is a humbling experience as it takes us out of our comfort zone. We are asked to stand before many people and give a witness to our faith. We are then dunked into water where we are completely wet. Then we walk away in front of everyone all dripping with water from head to toe. How can repentance be anything but what takes us out of our comfort zone? Outline, Bulletin
11/19/2011 The Persecuted Church - More Christians have died for their faith in the last 100 years than they have from the preceding 1900 years added together. However, little of this is reported by our main stream media. Tonight Pastor McCowan will share the facts of this atrocity, but also give reasons for it. Outline, Bulletin.
11/26/2011 Chariots of Fire - Commute to work via your own personal helicopter? That's nothing compared to Elijah's flying chariot. Pastor McCowan will shared how God uses ordinary people. Outline, Bulletin.
12/10/2011 Joy for All Season - Pastor McCowan made the assertion that we should sing Christmas Carols year around. No more should we limit the singing of such joyful and celebrative songs about the coming of our Savior to only a few weeks of the year. As the Apostle has said, we should “Rejoice always,” not just sometimes or when we feel like it, but all the time. Outline, Bulletin.
12/17/2011 What not to miss at Christmas - Pastor McCowan attempted to help people know what to get for that person who has everything. However, to have everything would be practically impossible and would force us to have to make choices. In the same way, what would people choose not to miss about Christmas? Outline, Bulletin.