Sprucetown Church

05/24/2026

You're invited to join us this day of Pentecost in person, by Zoom or watch the pre-recorded message now. Details at https://pennsvalleyparish.info/may-24-2026-day-of-pentecost-worship/ Pentecost reminds us what God can do through humble and obedient people. Because Jesus went to the cross, conquered death, and poured out the Holy Spirit, ordinary disciples became bold witnesses who changed the world.
As we remember Pentecost and approach Memorial Day, we also remember the power of sacrifice for the benefit of others. Freedom, faith, hope, and new life all came at a cost paid by someone willing to give for others. May we live with that same courage, gratitude, and love. Are you ready to be moved? 🔥

05/23/2026

Devotion: "What Has Come Over You???"
“What has come over you?!!” is something I would hear in old movies or shows or read in books when a character acts completely unlike themselves, shocking the speaker. The shy person suddenly stands their ground fiercely. The fearful person steps into the role of hero to help someone. The bitter person forgives with sincerity. Something happened. Something changed them. Something came over them.

This Pentecost Sunday we talk about how in Acts 1 and 2 what Jesus had promised his followers happens, “What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses…” The Message

Obedience and understanding had been "coming on" so gradually for the disciples, in varied ways. But this week we see them hidden behind locked doors, afraid for their lives, doing what Jesus told them to do...waiting. When a rush of wind that catches the attention of all blows into the room where they are waiting, Holy Spirit, provides "tongues" capable of sharing the truth of Jesus to each hearer outside in their own language. They speak to their hearts.

John Wesley often spoke of Christianity as more than cold religion or correct doctrine. He believed the Spirit of God truly changes the heart and life of a believer. Wesley once described his own heart as being “strangely warmed.” Something had come over him too, not emotional hype, but the living presence of God awakening faith. It became deeply personal, rather than performative.

A. W. Tozer wrote, “If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on.” Ouch. The church was never meant to run merely on programs, personality, or habit. We are meant to live empowered by the Spirit of God! And sometimes the clearest evidence of the Holy Spirit is not speaking loudly, but loving deeply. A patient response when anger would have been easier. Peace in the middle of chaos. Courage to speak truth, kindly, so it might be received and useful. Strength to keep going when life hurts.

People may still look at a Spirit-filled life and wonder, “What has come over you?” And perhaps the answer is ... Holy Spirit.

Lord Jesus, thank You for not leaving us powerless or alone. Fill us fresh with Your Holy Spirit today. Give us courage where we have been fearful, wisdom where we have been confused, and compassion where we have become cold. Let our words, actions, and attitudes point people toward You. May something so holy and life-giving come over us that others see Your presence at work in our lives. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.

If someone watched the way you handled today’s challenges, would they recognize evidence that the Holy Spirit has come over you?

If you don't have a church family, consider joining us for church Sunday morning. Service times and locations, as well as how to watch online by Zoom, or watch the pre-recorded message now, is found at https://pennsvalleyparish.info/may-24-2026-day-of-pentecost-worship/

05/22/2026

Devotion: Speaking a Language the Heart Can Hear
In The Message version of Romans 10:14, the Apostle Paul asks:
“How can people call for help if they don’t know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven’t heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them?”

I understand that verse personally.

There was a time when I tried to figure out faith on my own. I read the Bible a lot, but I read words I didn’t understand, wrestled with ideas that felt distant, and somehow managed to make something life-giving feel impossibly complicated. Left to my own limited understanding, I got lost in the language of religion instead of discovering the heart of Jesus. The sad truth was, the heart of Jesus was impossible to get to on my own. I needed to be introduced to Jesus by someone who knew him.

Then God sent a preacher named Denny! Well, it was more like God sent me to a church at my boyfriend's invitation whose preacher was Pastor Denny.

This pastor didn’t try to impress people with complicated theology or polished religious phrases. He spoke plainly. Clearly. Patiently. He broke things down until they made sense to ordinary people like me. For the first time, the Gospel sounded less like a foreign language and more like an invitation.

That is what I think about when Pentecost comes around.

In Acts 2, people from many nations heard the good news “in their own languages.” God could have chosen spectacle for spectacle's sake, but instead He chose what gets to our heart...understanding. The miracle was not merely that people heard noise from heaven. The miracle was that hearts finally understood what God was saying.

Some people need theology explained through stories. Some through kindness. Some through honesty. Some through lived experience. Some through the calm voice of someone who simply says, “Here’s what Jesus means, and why it matters today.”

John Wesley believed the Gospel should be preached plainly enough for common people to grasp it and deeply enough to transform their lives. He often preached outdoors because he refused to let church walls or formal language become barriers to grace.

Faith is rarely discovered in isolation. God often sends a voice we can understand. But I've never seen a story in the Bible of anyone who figured it out without God sending a helper to them.

Maybe today God is sending someone like Denny into another person’s life through you. Not to preach perfectly, but to speak faithfully. To explain hope in words people can actually hear.

Lord Jesus, thank You for the people who took time to explain Your love in ways we could understand. Thank You for patient voices, faithful teachers, and ordinary witnesses who helped us find our way when we were confused and searching. Fill us today with Your Holy Spirit so our words may carry grace, clarity, and compassion. Help us speak in ways that bring people closer to You rather than pushing them away. Let our lives translate Your love into something others can see and trust. In Your holy name, Amen.

Sometimes the greatest act of Pentecost is not speaking louder, it is learning how to speak so another heart can finally understand. 🙏

05/21/2026

Devotion: What Bullies Taught Me About Desiring Their "Good Opinion"
There’s a prison many people live in without bars or locks: the fear of what others think. One critical comment can ruin your day. One disapproving look can shake confidence. One rumor can keep someone from stepping into the calling God placed on their life. What if? Yeah, but... That’s why Proverbs 29:25 speaks so plainly: “The fear of human opinion disables;
trusting in God protects you from that.” The Message paraphrase

What a freeing truth!

Most of us have spent far too much energy trying to manage perceptions we were never meant to control. We replay conversations. We explain ourselves endlessly. We worry about whether people “understand” us. But the moment we realize we cannot build a peaceful life around winning universal approval, something changes.

One day, someone I admire and respect said to me, regarding seeking the good opinion of other, “I have no right to know someone’s opinion of me, nor do I care to. It only slows me down and steals my growth potential.” I never thought about it like that, but geez, cuts straight to the heart of it. That mindset breaks chains. Why? Because it shifts authority back where it belongs with God.

Jesus Himself was misunderstood constantly. Religious leaders criticized Him. Crowds abandoned Him. Even His closest disciples sometimes doubted Him. Yet Jesus never chased approval. He remained faithful to the Father.

John Wesley once warned against living for the praise of people rather than the approval of God. He believed holiness required inward integrity more than outward applause. Likewise, A. W. Tozer wrote that a person set on pleasing God gains a remarkable freedom from the tyranny of human opinion.

Think about a compass. A compass doesn’t panic because storms surround it. It keeps pointing north. In the same way, disciples of Christ are called to keep orienting themselves toward truth, obedience, and love. Not toward the shifting winds of public opinion.

That doesn’t mean we become arrogant or unteachable. Accountability matters. Wise counsel matters. Repentance matters. But there’s a difference between humbly listening and emotionally living hostage to everyone else’s approval.

Today, Proverbs 29:25 reminds us that fear shrinks us, but trust in God steadies us. If you are walking faithfully with Christ, doing your best to love, serve, forgive, and obey, you can release the exhausting burden of trying to control how everyone perceives you.

You were never called to manage every opinion.
You were called to follow Jesus.

Lord, free me from the fear of human opinion. Help me care more about faithfulness than applause, more about obedience than acceptance. Give me wisdom to receive correction humbly, but courage to let go of unhealthy approval-seeking. Teach me to walk in the confidence that comes from belonging to You. May my life point toward Christ instead of constantly defending myself before others. Fill me with peace, clarity, and holy courage today. Amen.

When you stop needing everyone’s approval, you finally have room to fully obey God’s call.

05/20/2026

Devotion: Motivation is the Key to Living a Good Life
One of the clearest signs of maturity is learning the difference between what we feel like doing and where the Spirit is leading us. Rarely are they the same thing.

In Galatians 5:16, Eugene Peterson paraphrases Paul this way in The Message: “My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness.”

That word compulsions is revealing. Paul is not talking about an occasional temptation or a passing mood. He is talking about the pull of a life directed only by appetite, emotion, impulse, ego, or convenience. Things that are celebrated by those who benefit from it. Think about it. In the verses before this, Paul warns believers not to use freedom as an excuse to “do whatever feels good” at the time. Real freedom is not found in following every urge. Real freedom is found in becoming the kind of person who no longer has to be ruled by urges, but, allows Spirit to overrule them.

You know how the GPS tells us what to do? Most of us have ignored directions or argued with the GPS, "why are you taking me that way??? I'm taking the shortcut!" Sometimes that “shortcut” turns into a dead end, road construction, or twenty extra minutes lost because GPS knew what we did not. Feelings make terrible navigators when they are left alone. The Spirit, however, sees farther down the road than we do.

John Wesley believed the Christian life was not simply avoiding sin but growing daily in holy love through the work of the Holy Spirit. Wesley taught that grace changes not only our destination, but our desires. The Spirit slowly teaches us to want what is good, life-giving, and Christlike.

C. S. Lewis observed that fallen humanity is not simply weak; we are often “far too easily pleased.” We settle for temporary satisfaction when God desires deeper transformation. Yes, it takes more time to get there, but it's really worth it in the end!

Why does this matter? Because a life directed only by feelings eventually becomes unstable. Feelings shift with stress, exhaustion, anger, loneliness, fear, or pride. But the Spirit produces something steadier: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Those qualities build healthy homes, strong friendships, faithful churches, and enduring lives.

Hear me when I say that living by the Spirit does not mean we never struggle. We do. It means we stop treating every impulse like a command. We begin asking a better question than, “What do I want right now?” Instead we ask, “What kind of person is Christ shaping me to become?”

Lord, Thank You for not leaving us to be ruled by every passing feeling. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit today. Teach us to recognize Your voice above the noise of impulse, fear, and selfish desire. Shape our hearts so that our choices reflect Your love and wisdom. Help us walk steadily, faithfully, and courageously in the way of Christ. Amen.

Following your feelings may satisfy a moment.
Following the Spirit can transform a life. 🙂

05/19/2026

Devotion: Grace Is Not a Participation Trophy
A common misunderstanding of Ephesians 2:8-9 is this: “Since salvation is by grace, nothing else matters.”

But read the whole passage of verses 1-10. In The Message, Paul reminds us we were once “spiritually dead” and trapped in old ways of living. Then comes the turning point: “Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it.” (Ephesians 2:8)

My point is this. Grace is not permission to stay the same. Grace is God rescuing us to become something new so we don't stay stuck.
Verse 10 completes the thought: “He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do.” It's active. It's invitation to more.

It’s like someone pulling you from a burning house. You wouldn’t stand in the yard saying, “Well, glad that’s over,” and then walk back into the flames. Rescue changes direction because our eyes are opened to where were really going that we don't want to be.

John Wesley preached that we are saved by grace alone, but grace never leaves a person unchanged. Dietrich Bonhoeffer warned against “cheap grace” which is wanting forgiveness without transformation.

Grace is free. But, my friend, it is never meaningless.

Lord, thank You for loving me when I could not save myself. Help me not only receive Your grace, but respond to it with a changed heart, willing hands, and a faithful life. Let my life reflect the new creation You are making me to be today. Amen.

Grace is not just God getting you out of something. It’s God calling you into something.

05/18/2026

Here is the video I could not get to work yesterday. We will accept gifts for this ministry Sunday, May 24th. - Pastor Theresa https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18fRTa2yrH/

05/18/2026

Devotion: Changed People Speak Differently
In The Message, The Message renders 1 Peter 3:15 this way: “Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy.”

While pondering this verse today, I remember my Gram. She admitted she started smoking at nine years old. Nine. For decades ci******es were simply part of her life, until one New Year’s Day she quit cold turkey and never touched another one again. No dramatic speeches. No endless excuses. She saw the need, made the decision, and stayed with it because she knew transformation rarely comes easy.

Transformation leaves fingerprints on a person.

That’s what makes Peter so fascinating. The Peter we meet in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John is, well, let's be real: impulsive, loud, defensive, and sometimes spiritually clueless. This is the man who tried to correct Jesus when Jesus explained the cross was coming. Jesus’ response was sharp because Peter’s thinking had become influenced by fear and human ambition instead of God’s heart. This is also the same Peter who drew a sword in the garden and denied even knowing Jesus by the fire.

Yet the Peter we meet later in Acts and in his letters sounds different. A lot steadier. Definitely humbled. And fortunately for those he encounters, a gentle shepherd.

When Peter says believers should answer others “with gentleness and reverence,” those are not empty religious words. That is hard-earned wisdom of experience from a man Christ transformed.
Grace had worked on him.
Failure had humbled him.
The Holy Spirit had reshaped him. Because Peter let it be.

John Wesley said, “Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; they alone will shake the gates of hell.” Wesley understood that real Christianity is not cosmetic improvement but holy and tangible transformation. God changes not only what we believe, but how we speak, react, and treat people. Developing boundaries, guiderails and guardrails that become fully understood as no longer optional.

Likewise, A. W. Tozer wrote that the Holy Spirit does not merely comfort believers but transforms them into Christlike people. Peter became living proof of that truth. The world has plenty of loud opinions today. Maybe you've been privy to several already this morning. Harshness gets rewarded with clicks. Outrage gets attention and applause. But transformed people carry themselves differently. They have to. A changed heart often reveals itself first in changed words.

And perhaps that is one of the strongest witnesses we can offer: not perfection, but visible, not optional, transformation.

Lord Jesus, Thank You for being patient with us while You shape us into who we were created to be. Like Peter, we often speak too quickly, react too harshly, and resist the very lessons You are trying to teach us. Yet Your grace does not give up on us. Transform our hearts so deeply that gentleness, reverence, and compassion become natural evidence of Your work within us. Give us courage to speak about our faith, but also wisdom in how we speak. Let our words reflect the character of Christ more than the noise of this world. Help us today to live as people who are truly being changed not only in belief, but in attitude, conduct, and love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

If someone listened carefully to the way you speak to (or type about) others under pressure, would they hear evidence that Christ is transforming you? Happy Monday, friend! It's good to be back. 😁

05/17/2026

Enjoy today's worship service.

Too often, we live as if Christ is distant or absent. But Scripture reminds us that He is seated in authority, actively at work, and calling His Church to be...