Mary and the Angel

Merry Christmas everyone! Today I have an illustration from a sermon I heard a couple weeks ago about Mary, Jesus' mom. The sermon was about Luke 1:26-38, and you can watch/listen to it here.

I got a bit off track on this illlustration. As I listened to Josh's sermon about Mary's story I thought about the different descriptions of angels we are given in the Bible, and thought about how I would approach it. In the past I have drawn a man with wings, which seems to be the most acceptable version these days. But then I got to thinking I always try to stay as close to scripture as I can so I really should strive to be correct with this drawing. While listening to the sermon I worked on Mary, and then over the course of the next several days I drew up the different versions of angels and came up with what you see here and what I hope is a fun and different way to present them. These two are from Ezekiel 1. Then I remembered that angels are described in the new testament as shining or glowing men, but they don't describe wings. So maybe I should go that route next time. I sure had fun with putting this all together.

While the angel is definiteyly not the focus of this story (the impending birth of our Lord and savior is) I hope you like what I came up with.

I hope you have enjoyed this illustration, and that you will go and listen to Josh's sermon, it was really good. God bless you all, and merry Christmas!

Sunday Sermon Series From the Book of Acts

Hello everyone. Today I have a couple of illustrations from sermons I heard last spring, when we were working through the book of Acts. Usually I have complete, finished illustrations to show you. Sometimes I take the time to color them, I really miss doing that, but I just don't have the time anymore. These are rough, not completely finished illustrations. The scripture covered in the first illustration is Acts 13:13-52, and the scripture covered in the second illustration is Acts 15:1-41. I have another good sermon and illustration inbetween these two and while I love the concept I came up with it was in to rough of a stage to present here.

In this first piece of scripture Paul lays out a succinct, complete gospel message in Antioch and Pisidia. From Egypt, to David, to John the Baptist and then Jesus. The people BEGGED to hear more of this teaching as they went out, and the next Sabbath huge crowds turned out, which filled the Jewish leaders with jealousy and anger. Go and read verse 46 to see if Paul and Barnabus were intimidated, haha... yeah right. They tell the Jewish leaders if you won't hear it, we'll take the gospel to the Gentiles(and the Gentiles rejoiced!).

I really enjoyed drawing this scene, and love the way it came out. It's a different sort of a scene than I usually draw. Most often I try to draw an action. Something exciting, to draw the viewer in. This time Paul is preaching, the others are sitting and listening. I really like how the characters came out, and how they I was able to stay "on character", or make them look like my other drawings of Paul and Barnabus.

The second piece of scripture covered here is Acts 15: 1-41. Here Paul, Barnabus and the Apostles and elders get together to settle the circumcision of the Gentile believers, with Paul and Barnabus saying all you need is Jesus, not Jesus plus the law, or circumcision, or anything else. James agrees with them, and backs them up in verses 13-21, the entire group agrees, and sends Paul and Barnabus out to spread the news. Then we come to the split. The group also agrees to send Silas and Judas(AKA Barsabbas) to help on the journey. Barnabus also wants to take John Mark along on the trip(who if you remember left Paul and Barnabus back in Pamphylia in the beginning of the story), and Paul is against it. A sharp disagreement ensues, and the parties split up with Barnabus and John Mark going to Cyprus, Paul and Silas to Cyprus. I leave you to ponder that whole situation, perhaps at some point I'll get to hear a sermon about how they work it out in the end, but that's a story for another day.

As you can see here this drawing is as I said in a rough stage. Their feet aren't even completely finished, and some of the textures are not as refined as I usually like to get them. I really wanted to share these with you all, so I hope you don't mind.

The characters we see here are Paul and Silas, Barnabus and John Mark (That's the same John Mark that left them and went back to Jerusalem back at the beginning of chapter 13, which really cheesed Paul off). This sermon is the last one our family went toat NW Gospel Church in Washington before we moved to Kansas. June of 2023 seems like ages ago. While we miss our family and friends in the Pacific North West, we have found a terrific, strong church family to join at North Side Baptist Church.

I hope that you have enjoyed my synopsis of the sermons, and my illustrations. to hear the sermons please go here(Acts 13), and here (Acts 15). I hope that you are challenged or encouraged by my post.

As always if you have any questions please feel free to drop me a line, if I don't know the answer I'll find out for you. May God richly bless you my friends, until next time.--Ryan

Sunday Sermon Series Maturity of Faith

Hello everyone! Today I have an illustration from a sermon I heard pastor Ryan Whitley preach last month. October 1, 2023 to be exact. The scripture covered is Ephesians 4:7-16 and the audio can be found here.

Pastor Ryan begins by explaining that spiritual growth and maturity in believers is our goal, not just a larger flock. Living a life worthy of the calling we have received. Paul tells us that we should not be babies anymore, infants in the faith. God wants us to mature. We should not be tossed back and forth by the waves. We should be stable, of sound judgement. What does that look like for us, how do we mature? 1. Spirtual gifts to serve the body. That means using the gifts (skills and abilities) that God has blessed you with, for the benefit of the church, the body of Christ. 2. God gives us spiritual leaders. Leaders who challenge, encourage, equip the body and point us continually to Christ and the power/promise of the gospel so that we might go out into the world and share it. 3. God gives us unity so that we can work together. We can't all serve on the worship team, but if we show up willing and ready to do what we can, to serve the body then we grow into maturity.

What then does maturity look like? We become Christ like. We serve others, we show love one another. We are the hands and feet of Jesus. Showing non believers love while remaining grounded in our faith(see John 8:3-11). We leave behind our life of sin. We do our part individually, cooperating/serving together.

So why the drawing of the man in the boat, and Jesus reaching out? Because to be mature we must be be stable regardless of the waves that come in the storms of life. Jesus is there the whole time. The last few months have taught me that. "Hold fast, and trust in Him." has been on my mind daily. God is using our circumstances to force us to grow, to mature, to be strong in our faith. To trust in Jesus for EVERYTHING. To put GOD first.

I hope that you have enjoyed my synopsis of the sermon, and my illustration. Please go and listen to the sermon by Pastor Ryan there is good truth revealed in this scripture for new Christians who want to learn what is next, and for older Christians who need to know what the goal is. I hope that you are challenged or encouraged by my post. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me, if I don't have the answer I'll ask my pastor and get back to you. May God richly bless you my friends, until next time.--Ryan

Sunday Sermon Series Ephesians 2

Hello everyone. Today I have an illustration from a sermon I heard on Ephesians 2:1-10. To listen to this sermon click here.

It is very easy for me to see the sins of "others" and over look my own. Jesus said something about seeing a speck in your brother's eye, but missing the log in your own. Hmmmm... So often I think of sin as an isolated action such as telling a lie, or making a selfish decision to put myself before the person in front of me. But here scripture tells me(verses 1-4) that sin is not just an action, it is a condition of my heart. Dead in sin, my condition is critical. Try as I might I cannot escape that on my own power. No amount of good deeds can balance out the weight of my sins.

Only God can save us through Christ. BUT GOD... had a plan to save us: GRACE. He sent Jesus to live among us, to die on the cross, to pay the price for our sins so that we might be reconciled to God the Father, able to be with God in Heaven for all eternity.

Then the result of salvation is good works. To live as Christ, love one another. The good deeds I do, the unselfish actions, the merciful and compassionate actions are a result of and reflection of Christ in my life. They are not an attempt to earn my salvation since my salvation comes entirely from my faith in Christ as my savior. All to Him I owe.

Grace is the cause, the means is faith, and the result is good works. Keep it simple.

I hope that you have enjoyed my synopsis of the sermon, and my illustration. Please go and listen to the sermon by Pastor Ryan there is good truth revealed in this scripture. I hope that you are challenged or encouraged by my post. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me, if I don't have the answer I'll ask my pastor and get back to you. May God richly bless you my friends, until next time.--Ryan

Patriotic Project August, 2023

Hello everyone! Much has changed in my life since I last posted. My wife Angela and I gathered up our family and all our belongings and have moved to the midwest, specifically Winfield, Kansas. It has been quite a journey, with many unexpected challenges, and many blessings along the way. Today I have drawings from a freelance job I was blessed with last month (when our family most needed it).

I was asked to create some illustrations with a patriotic theme, to be eye catching and brightly colored. For this project I was sending my client original artwork, instead of the usual digital files. So I set to work trying to figure out what images would convey patriotism. As you can see from these roughs I started out illustrating the song America the Beautiful. Then I tried charicatures of founding fathers, and great presidents. Abe was a winner, but I couldn't capture George quickly, so I gave up on that concept (I've never been great at charicatures). I also tried an Uncle Sam whom I have tried to draw before but never done a good drawing of, and of course a bald eagle.

America the Beautiful was just a little too ambitious, in the space I had to work with. I never progressed beyond thumbnail sketches with it. If I could have done each section and put them together digitally that probably would have worked, but it still would have taken too long to produce.

The Liberty Bell and the waving flag elements worked and were an easy choice. All those stars on the flag proved a big challenge at the size I was working at. So I switched to waving stripes.

Patriots, a minute man, another tighter, more refined eagle, and a colonial flag round out the group of final elements that I roughed out. I ended up using all of these as guides for my final drawings. Below is a draft of the Liberty Bell. I've never drawn it before, and I wanted it to be accurate. I think it came out pretty good. I looked at these tighter drawings in my sketchbook, using them as reference for the final drawings.

And here we have scans of the final artwork for the project. The client was happy with how it came out, and so was I. I hadn't used colored pencils for a piece of finished art in quite some time. It was fun to do something different for a change. I hope that you have enjoyed this break down of the process, seeing the rough work, and my final illustrations. May God richly bless you my friends, until next time.--Ryan

Sunday Sermon Series 1st Samuel - March 24, 2023

Hello my friends! Today I have drawings from a sermon I heard back on February 12, 2023 at NW Gospel Church. The title is When God Comes To Town. You can listen to that sermon here. The scripture covered is 1 Samuel 5:1-7:1.

At this point in the story the Isrealites brought the Ark of the Covenant with them to a battle without being told to (by God), and it is captured by the Philistines who bring it back to Ashdod (as a trophy, or prisoner of war) and put it in the temple of Dagan (the father of Baal). The next morning the Philistines find that Dagan had fallen face down. So they took Dagan and propped him back up(verse 3). The next morning Dagan is on the floor again, only this time the head and hands have been broken off, only his trunk was left intact. From this point on the Philistines changed their religion to say that no one may step on the threshold of the temple where their god lost his hands, head and feet to Yaweh. Yaweh alone is God.

The Ashdod were then stricken with a plague of tumors. And they got together with the lords of the Philistines and decided to send the Ark to Gath. But God inflicted the people of Gath with the plague, so they sent it to Ekron, where the people panic. They've been following along, they know what is going to happen to them. So they decide to send the Ark back to Isreal. The Philistines are learning that Yaweh is sovereign. God can and will take care of things Himself. We are living in His world.

So the Philistines send the Ark back, making 5 golden tumors, and 5 golden mice as a guilt offering. They put the Ark and the offerings in a cart yoked to a couple of cows (listen to the sermon to hear Pastor Andrew lowing like a cow) who headed straight the border at Beth Shemesh.

C.S. Lewis: "The ancient man approached God (or even the gods) as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man the roles are reversed. He is the judge: God is in the dock. He is quite a kindly judge: if God should have a reasonable defense for being the god who permits war, poverty, and disease, he is ready to listen to it. The trial may even end in God's acquiial. But the important thing is that Man is on the Bench and God in the Dock."

No sinner can stand before the Lord, this holy God. We learn about God's judgement in this message, and also about Jesus' provision. Grace, and mercy. This is not the end of the story. There is so much more to this message, that I cannot cover here so be sure to listen to the full sermon.

I hope that you have enjoyed my synopsis of the sermon, and my illustration. I hope that you are challenged or encouraged by my post. May God richly bless you my friends, until next time.--Ryan

Sunday Sermon Series 1st Samuel 2:12-36

Good day my friends. Today we have a message that will encourage God's people through contrasting the failure of sinful leaders with the ministry of the Great High Priest. The sermon I listened to as I drew this illustration was on January 22, 2023 and can be found here. Please give it a listen, it's a good one. It is both challenging and thought provoking, and most important of all it reveals God's nature to us.

This scripture is very clear "the sons of Eli were worthless men" (2:12). Hophni and Phinehas were using their position and power amongst the people of God for selfish gain. They used food (meat from the animals brought forth for sacrifices) and women however they pleased, and God is clearly not pleased. We are all too familiar with worthless men and failing leaders. The Lord meets us here, as he promises a faithful priest, one who will do His will, cover the sins of his people.

Sadly, those with any window into religion know that the scene of Eli's sons is all too familiar. We have all seen and been burnt by religious hypocrisy and depraved, selfish leaders. The Lord sees it as well. He promises not only to judge the wicked, but to bring a faithful leader to save his people.

The failing of religious leaders is one of the great stains on the reputation of the church. This failure has been happening for thousands of years. The Christian perspective is unique in this sense - it is not about man's search for or journey to God (as all other religions are), it is about God's constant pursuit and faithful provision for us, in his son, Jesus Christ—the only leader who has never failed. Jesus has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins (because he has no sin) and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself on the cross.

Samuel is seen here watching the sons of Eli as mentioned in verse 26. He is growing in stature and in favor with the Lord and man. He sees what they are doing, he knows it is wrong. In the next sermon at Northwest Gospel Chursh we learned about how it worked out for Samuel and Eli, and his worthless sons. Give it a listen too.

I hope that you have enjoyed my synopsis of the sermon, and my illustration. I hope that you are challenged or encouraged by my post. May God richly bless you my friends, until next time.--Ryan

Trusting God Through the Storms of Life

Hello again. Today (February 21, 2023) I have an update for this post. I have created an animation to go along with the illustration. Here we see our character tossed about by the storm. It's startling, but he trusts in God to be there with him through the storm. So many people ask why bad things happen. We live in a fallen world my friends, and despite of our choices and the choices of those around us God is with us and will guide, strengthen, and encourage you through it. Talk to Him, pray-pray-pray, and trust in Him.

Hello my friends. I hope you are all doing well. Today I have a drawing from the beginning of January. I hope to create a short simple looping animation of the main character here floating above the background.

Is Jesus the focus of your life, or just a part? Trials in life force us to deal with this question. Jesus is the reason we are all here, the purpose of life is to figure out what we are going to do about Jesus. But once we figure out we are broken sinners, repent, and ask Him to reign in our lives, our work isn't done. We must live as Christ: "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." (Matthew 6:33) In good times, easy times, hard times, trials, every decision, everything we do and say should reflect Jesus. We are called "to live as Christ"(Ephesians 4:22-24). Love God, and love one another.

The sky in this drawing is mostly clear, with a few light puffy clouds. It seems tranquil. I drew it that way because many times on the outside things can look fine, but inside they really aren't. A storm is raging. You have to really know someone to know if they are walking through a challenging time. No one knows us better than God. "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah1:5 He is there, reach out to Him. He loves us so much. Remember that, and talk to Him. Pray. Pray often like Jesus did.

I hope that you are encouraged by my post. May God richly bless you my friends, until next time.--Ryan