Okeechobee Presbyterian Church

06/22/2026

06/14/2026

Matt Stamper, aka @ https://www.sneketoshi.art says:

“I want to introduce you to Steve. He’s 83. His wife died a few months ago and he comes to this lodge in Spring Mill, Indiana and draws. He taught art in Terre Haute, IN his whole life. He also did courtroom sketches in court cases. In the comments I’ll share some pics from his sketchbook. He was excited when I said I was going to share his sketches with the world.”

Note: Some of Steve’s sketches in the comments.

See these with the eyes of faith, friends. IF God had given you life, you have purpose. And your divine gift isn’t done until the day God calls you home! IF you are reading this, the gift that God has given you in creating, calling, and choosing you is still operative. Join Steve in choosing to exercise your gift of life, and bring others into the kingdom of grace thru your life. Alleluia!

06/07/2026

THE TESTIMONY OF BYRON DONALDS

To you, it's just a Cracker Barrel parking lot. To me, it's where I gave my life to Jesus Christ.

I was 21 years old. I was working at the Cracker Barrel in Tallahassee after some of the worst years of my life. I'd made mistakes. Real ones.

I grew up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, raised by a mom who worked hard and didn't accept excuses. But I made decisions that should have ended my story before it ever really started. By the grace of God, they didn't. But every day, I was carrying them.

One afternoon, a church group came into the restaurant, just back from a revival. I served them their meals like I served any other table. But something happened while I was serving them. I can't fully explain it to you. The Lord spoke to me. He said, “Stop running from Me.”

It knocked me back.

I went to find the table, and they were all gone. I could see through their windows that they were getting on their bus, and I knew deep down that if I let them drive away, I was going to keep running. So I went outside. The last woman, just as she was stepping onto the bus, turned to me and asked, “Are you okay?”

I told her, “No ma’am, I’m not okay.” I told her the Lord was telling me to stop running.

That whole bus emptied out, stood with me in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel in Tallahassee, Florida, and prayed over me right there.

I gave my life to Christ that day. Right there.

I still get emotional about it. Because I know what I was before that moment, and I know what He's done since. He gave me a wife who shares my faith. He gave me three sons. He gave me a career, a community, a calling I never would have dared to ask for. He took a kid from Crown Heights who’d run out of chances and gave him a life that doesn't make sense apart from grace.

People ask me sometimes why I talk about it. Why I bring up the parking lot. Why I don't just keep that part private and let folks see the polished version.

I'll tell you why.

Because there's a young man out there right now — maybe in Tallahassee, maybe in Tampa, maybe in Miami, maybe in a small town in the Panhandle — who thinks his story is already over. Who thinks the mistakes he's made disqualify him from the life he could have had. Who thinks God doesn't want anything to do with somebody like him.

I'm here to tell him: that's a lie.

In life, you're not who you are at the lowest point. You're who you choose to become after.

The Lord met me in a Cracker Barrel parking lot. He'll meet you wherever you are.

You just have to stop running.

HT: Byron Donalds

06/06/2026

GOD DOES NOT FORGIVE YOU BECAUSE YOU REPENT

By Chad Bird

God does not forgive you BECAUSE you repent, confess, and believe.

Must you repent? Yes. Must you confess? Yes. Must you believe? Of course. But none of those are the reason you are forgiven.

Think of it this way. If you are sick, should you go to the doctor, tell him your symptoms, and fill the prescription? Of course, but none of those will bring you healing. The healing comes *because* of the medicine.

Jesus is the divine medicine. He and he alone is “the because” of our forgiveness. He is The Reason God justifies us.

There is a widespread confusion about this in the church. It’s partly based on a misunderstanding of 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

This is true, of course, just as we might say, “If we go to the doctor and tell him our issues, he is responsible and qualified to heal us of our ailments.” How does he “heal” us? By giving us medicine. How does God forgive us? John tells us three verses later, “Jesus is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world’ (2:2).

But people often believe and speak as if a mannequin full of their repentance, confession, and faith is on the cross. Don't put your faith in your faith, your faith in your confession, or your faith in your repentance.

Your repentance was not crucified for you.
Your confession did not die for you.
Your faith did not rise from the grave.
Jesus, and Jesus alone, lived, died, and rose again for you.

When God the Father forgives us, he forgives us as people who repent, confess, and believe. But it is not our repentance, our confession, or our faith, that is our salvation.

Christ, and Christ alone, is our salvation. Forgiveness is based 100% upon the atoning work of Jesus Christ. His atonement is enough. His sacrifice was perfectly sincere.

His blood covers not only the sin of which you repent but also your imperfect repentance for that sin, your less-than-100%-honest confession, and your lackluster faith.

Our hope is built on nothing less—and nothing more—than Jesus’ blood and righteousness alone.

Amen.

HT: Chad Bird

05/31/2026

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH FOR TRINITY SUNDAY

Leader: People of God, what is God?
People: God is Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable; in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.

Leader: Are there more Gods than one?
People: There is but one only, the living and true God.

Leader: How many Persons are there in the Godhead?
People: There are three Persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.

Leader: How do we know God?
People: We know God through the Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. God for us in the flesh, he was sacrificed for our sins, crucified, dead, and buried, yet was raised up again and taken into glory.

Leader: How are we assured of knowledge of God?
People: We are assured of God through the power of the Holy Spirit, who is present now in the Church to complete God’s mission of reconciliation. His Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.

Leader: How are we enabled for life in God?
People: We are sealed through the Holy Spirit, and granted the fruits of salvation: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Leader: How do we live in the Spirit?
People: If we live in the Spirit we will walk in the Spirit and so fulfill the Law of Christ.

Amen.

05/23/2026

This year, Memorial Day Sunday is also Pentecost Sunday. And it is fitting: We celebrate Christ’s completed work of salvation, His life, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension to the right hand of the Father… and the gift of the Holy Spirit, regenerating us, renewing us, reviving us, leading us in Holy Love, and sealing us in salvation. This is the only hope for our Nation! Turning to Christ and receiving the Life of His Word in the power of the Holy Spirit. Only if Christ is confessed and received as King will the Holy Spirit revive us — individually and nationally.