Looking Through a God Lense

Hello my friends. Today I have a sketch from the sermon we had at Northside Baptist church last week. Joshua Pope delivered this message about how the Bible tells us we are to view ourselves, and how we view God. You can listen to the complete message here.

UPDATE:

I had time to do a quick color version of this illustration. The idea is that when we look through the lense of Jesus we see the world as it is, hence the color where Jesus overlaps the globe.

We want to get to Heaven and spend eternity with God. The first thing we need to do is be honest with where we are. You can't figure out how to get someplace if you don't know where you are. Be honest. What shapes your perspective? Is it the world? Are you listening for the call of God? Where are you? Who do you hang out with? Are they a good influence? Do they pull you away from Christ, or push you towards Him?

We are all seperated from God, because of the sin we choose. God cannot abide our sin. God had a plan to fix it though, He sent His son Jesus to pay the price for us through His death on the cross. We need to look honestly at ourselves and see the need we have for God's grace. Talk to God about it. Ask forgiveness, and then to live for Jesus, the instructions on how to do that are right there in your Bible. If you want to learn more about choosing Christ please send me a message.

In my illustration here we are looking at the world through a Jesus lense. Just as it should be. I wanted to add color to the part of the globe that you see through Jesus, but I ran out of time. Maybe I can knock that out quickly after lunch.

I hope that you have enjoyed my synopsis of the sermon, and my illustration. Please go and listen to the sermon by Pastor Josh. I hope that you are challenged or encouraged by my post, and that you will open your Bible and learn more about God and how much He loves you. 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 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 Acts 5

Hello everyone! Today I have my 200th post on this blog. Wow. That seems like a lot. When I started (September 24, 2007) I was just posting so that I could participate in Illustration Friday (a world wide group of artists who would illustrate a topic each week, then critique, encourage and praise each other sadly that site is long gone). Now my posts are mainly sharing the good news of Jesus Christ I hear in church. Today I have an illustration from a sermon I heard back on October 30th, 2022. The title is Rise of the Resistance. You can listen to that sermon here. The scripture covered is Acts 5:12-42.

At this time God's power is growing his people. This is a work of God, not of man. The apostles were not selling a popular movement with charisma. God was saving sinners, the gospel of Jesus was advancing. Jesus is the news, we are to spread the news just as the apostles did.

The spirit was working through the apostles and many signs and wonders were done in Jerusalem. Sick people were healed, and unclean spirits driven out. Even Peter's shadow was used as we are told that it passed over a man and healed him. People start to come from the outlying areas to be healed and to hear the good news, much to the chagrin of the Sadducees.

As the religious leaders bring opposition against the apostles, the witness of Christ is validated as an authentic work of God. But the Sadducees efforts to stop the apostles by arresting them backfires and helps to spread the good news. Every scheme of man bows to God's plan. During the night an angel of the Lord comes and opens the doors of the prison. The angel leads the apostles out and says "Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life." So the Sadducees find the apostles in the temple the next day preaching. They have them arrested and brought before the council again, angry that the apostles refuse to obey. Peter makes a fine speech, laying out the gospel for them, and saying that the apostles must obey God, not men.

Well that didn't sit too well with the Sadducees as you can imagine. They decided to kill the apostles. Old Gamaliel spoke up and said you'd better think about that again. He talked some sense into them, pointing out that killing the apostles would be like pouring gasoline on a fire, but if this was man made plan it would fail. So instead they beat the apostles and kicked them loose.

The final verse in this story sums it up well:Acts 5:42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus. So remember, every scheme of man bows to God's plan.

I drew the dramatic scene of the angel of the Lord releasing the apostles from prison. As you can see I didn't go for the modern "winged baby angel" in a diaper but a grown warrior type. I gave him a glow, as they are often referred to as hard to look at because they are so bright.

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, and that you will go and listen to the sermon, it's another good one. May God richly bless you my friends, until next time.--Ryan

Sunday Sermon Series: Acts 2:1-41

Hello my friends! Today I have drawings from a sermon I heard back on September 18, on the book of Acts. I highly reocommend that you listen to it here. I hope this illustration draws you in, and leaves you wanting to hear more about the joyous topic: the Pentecost!

Pentecost happened 10 days after Jesus' acension into Heaven, 50 days after the Passover. Pentecost was a day of feasting for the Israelites, as they gave thanks to God for their harvest. I have 12 men here representing the apostles, (with Matthais, the recently anointed apostle from Acts:1:26) but according to the sermon, all the followers of Jesus were gathered there. That puts the actual number at about 120. So there they were... and then the miracles happened. When Jesus returned to His place on the throne next to the Father, the Holy Spirit was sent to Earth. Those gathered heard a sound like rushing wind; something like fire appeared above their heads, and they spoke in foreign tongues.

Peter clarifies in Acts 2:14 that this day was prophesied and was a fulfillment of God's promise: That this Jesus was God, was delivered up to death, was raised from the grave, and was exalted on the throne.

I was so happy when the movie Risen came out. I love movies about Jesus, but I had been anxiously waiting for a movie to be made about AFTER the cross. The cross is where Jesus worked out our salvation, but it doesn't stop there. He is RISEN! And then He was seen! AND THEN... He ROSE into heaven!! Yeah, I got excited there. The day of Pentecost is an exciting part of the story -- His story. I'm excited to depict it here. I drew the apostles amazed here, and I still get a chuckle now and then because they look sort of like Simpsons characters having a bright idea if you have no concept of what the story actually is. They should look *gasp* amazed! They heard a miracle, saw a miracle, and then they spoke a miracle!

I hope that you will listen to the sermon and learn more about this amazing day when God's promise was fulfilled. On the day of Pentecost, God delivered on His promise, birthing the church through the power of the Spirit bearing witness to the work of the Son.

May God richly bless you my friends. Until next time... --Ryan

Sunday Sermon Series: Colossians 1:15-23

Good morning everyone, I hope you are well. Today I have an illustration for you from a sermon by Pastor Shaun Hart two weeks ago(to listen to that sermon click here). This illustration became so complicated that it took me longer than usual to assemble all the pieces.

The main point I took from this sermon and scripture is: Jesus in all things is first and foremost. Through Him all things were created. He is one with the Father, and through Jesus I am saved. Keeping my focus on Him both helps me through times of trouble, and keeps me from other troubles.

One illustration Shaun used to drive this point home was the story of Odysseus and the sirens from Greek mythology. The sirens if you recall were half bird, half fish creatures who would beguile or lure the sailors who were passing by. The sirens sang a song that was so beautiful the sailors would either sail right into the rocks, be shipwrecked and die, or they would jump overboard and try to swim to the rocks and be killed that way. When Odysseus heard of this he decided he could fix this problem. So he stopped up his ears with wax and tied himself to the mast so that he could not be seduced. In the Argonauts Orpheus tells Jason he has a different plan. Orpheus played on his harp a greater song, so great that the sailors never even heard the sirens.

A greater song. Such is the song that Jesus sings. His song is so much better on so many different levels that the songs we hear in this world. So much so that when we listen to Jesus, the songs of this world have no appeal to us. When Jesus is at the helm, the wind at my sails, and the very ship I sail only then can I manage this world.

As I worked on this illustration (which I would dearly love to have time to animate!) I listened as I often do to Truth for Life with Alistair Begg. Through no coincidence I am sure, I was surprised to hear Alistair relating the same story to illustrate the exact same message. Here is the link to that sermon: Truth for Life. I had to go through quite a bit to find that link for you, apparently the archives for listening through your phone are completely different than those on the web here. Thankfully on the mobile app you can share a link to a sermon, so I shared it with myself and got you the link. Ovey. The whole sermon is great, the part I reference specifically is about 17 minutes in. You should give it a listen.

This pencil sketch was done with a Pentel .7mm P207 mechanical pencil in a Pentalic Sketchbook on 70lb paper. It was scanned and then colorized in PhotoShop. I hope you enjoyed this post, and that it encouraged you or challenged you. God bless, and have a great day! --Ryan

Chicken Running

Hey-howdy-hey friends and neighbors! Today I have an animated gif for your viewing pleasure.

Earlier this week I was working on my next Sunday Sermon Series illustration. I realized yesterday that I wasn't going to finish any time so soon I switched to working on the concept you see here which was mentioned by Pastor Shaun. He mentioned in passing (I don't remember it as one of his main sermon points, but it stuck with me as you can see) that the church without Jesus is like a chicken with it's head cut off. There is simply no point to Christianity without Jesus.

So of course I quickly drew a chicken with it's head cut off, spastically running along, dead as a mackerel even though the chicken doesn't know it. The chicken is supposed to be moving in a hurky-jerky manner. I couldn't tell if the shadow on the ground was distracting or not. Without it I thought it looked a bit like the chicken was just floating. Either way, this short animated loop serves as a nice interim post while I finish off the more involved illustration which includes sirens, the singing mythical half bird/half fish creatures. Ooooo! Look for it next week sometime.

This pencil sketch was done with a Pentel .7mm P207 mechanical pencil in a Pentalic Sketchbook on 70lbs. paper. It was scanned and then colorized in PhotoShop. The animation was also done in PhotoShop. I use Photoshop for straight forward frame by frame animation quite often. As always I hope you enjoyed this post. God bless, and have a great day! --Ryan

Sunday Sermon Series: April 24, 2017 - Colossians

Hello friends, I hope you are all well! Today I have another sketch in my Sunday Sermon Series. I drew this while listening to Pastor Shaun's sermon yesterday. We began a new study in Colossians.

This is my cartoon version of the apostle Paul. Here we see Paul writing to the Christians in Colossae, people he had never met before. He introduces himself as an apostle (not a disciple) "by the will of God," meaning he was chosen by Jesus (see Acts 9 for the story of his conversion on the road to Damascus). This established his authority to speak into their lives. He told them he was thankful for them, and the faith and hope that lived within them. He encouraged them to live a life worthy of the Lord (that showed the character of Christ). He reminded them to give thanks to the Father that they were delivered (rescued from the darkness Col. 1:13), qualified by the Father to share in the kingdom of light (Col 1:12), and redeemed by the Son, forgiven of sins (Col 1:14).

I drew Paul with a serious expression, rather than putting a thoughtful "searching for the right word" expression on his mug. Maybe it is his pre-conversion life, seeking out and having Christians put to death that makes me think of him that way. Maybe it's that in so much of his writing he talks about the law, and that he was so very good at a legalistic lifestyle before Jesus stepped in to his life and changed his direction. These things dominate my thoughts when I picture Paul. I just don't picture him the same way I do the apostles who were fishermen, a tax collector, or a doctor. It's hard for me to imagine/draw him not being serious. And yet surely at some point he must have smiled and laughed. He did know joy and peace in the midst of his trials and suffering.

I realize this drawing doesn't have a lot of action in it. I usually try to draw an exciting or compelling verb. Here Paul is sitting and writing. But Paul's writings have affected the lives of so very many people in the best way possible. So perhaps his writing has had more action in it than most things I've drawn so far.

This is just the beginning of this study, I hope to post more from it in the next 10 weeks. Let me know what you think about this drawing or my commentary here. Any mistakes are mine, and should not reflect poorly on Pastor Shaun or Harley (who taught in Sunday School this week). This pencil sketch was done with a Pentel .7mm P207 mechanical pencil in a Pentalic Sketchbook on 70lb paper. It was scanned and then colorized in PhotoShop. The color layer in PS has only 35% opacity. I feel this lets the pencil work show through, yet gives the appearance of a light wash of color. I hope you enjoyed this post, and that it encouraged you or challenged you. God bless, and have a great day! --Ryan

Sunday Sermon Series April 2, 2017

Howdy friends and neighbors! This week's drawing was inspired by a sermon by Pastor Shaun about seeing. Shaun's sermon was about what Jesus saw, specifically in Zaccheus (who was as we all know a wee little man, and a wee little man was he!).

This got me to thinking about how we as Christians see those around us. Do I see those in need around me? Do I share the hope that is Christ within me? Those were the questions I asked myself as I drew this.

I started with a scene I am familiar with, a bus commute. I spent 8 years riding buses and trains back and forth from Clark County to downtown Portland. Once the pencil drawing was completed and I had started on the colorization I realized I had dated myself. Not one of these commuters is looking at a smart phone. When I rode back and forth people read books, newspapers, some of the women knitted, I sketched. There were no smart phones. Make no mistake though, people were just as able and willing to turn the outside world off.

I thought about rendering the type in 14 different fonts, to make it more appealing to the Instagram crowd. But that's just not me. I kept the colors to a minimum, to help convey a glum feeling for the lost people on the bus. I purposely chose ugly colors for the bus seats, because I think it is fun to use those nauseating colors that were used everywhere in my youth. At my friend Matt's suggestion I colorized "Everyman's" hair so that it stands out from the blinders he wears. The pencil drawing is much "sketchier", or looser than my usual drawings posted here. This is not for effect but because I didn't have time to redraw any of it, so I just used my original sketch.

This pencil sketch was done with a Pentel .7mm P207 mechanical pencil in a Pentalic Sketchbook on 70lbs. paper. It was scanned and then colorized in PhotoShop. I hope you are encouraged by this post. God bless, and have a great day! --Ryan

Celtic Cross Autumn

Good morning everyone,

Here is the latest in my Celtic cross series. This one is a bit more involved, not in the intricate design on the cross itself but in the background, as you can see.

As usual I created this with a pencil and paper. The color is all done by painting on a single color layer in PhotoShop. I originally sketched the concept out last year, and spent a few evenings last week working out. The last time I spent this much time drawing leaves was when I illustrated Jairo Penaranda's book "The Little Leaf" which is available here. Like most people I enjoy fall, the bright colors in the trees. I'm especially enjoying it this year as we had such a hot dry summer here. I'm very thankful for the cooler temperatures, and the rain.

I chose simple colors, and gradations of a single color for each leaf, instead of multiple colors for the leaves. After spending a few days on the drawing I don't have the time to spend making a photo realistic painting (I've never enjoyed that style myself, why not just take a picture, and save the wear and tear on your hand and wrist?). I like to keep it simple too, it appeals to me.

This is a close-up of a portion of the pencil drawing before I colorized it in PhotoShop.

Thank you again for stopping by my blog. I hope that you enjoyed what I have shared with you here, and that you have a terrific day today, God bless. --Ryan

Sunday Sermon Series: Prodigal Son July 26, 2015

Update!

Hey-howdy-hey, I made time to do a color version! Well, I needed a break from the chickens I had been drawing for weeks(and will be drawing for weeks to come, but more on that later...), so I spent the last four mornings colorizing the prodigal son and the pigs. this time I made extensive use of underpainting, which I don't normally do. I think it adds richness, and depth to the color. anyway... I hope you all enjoy it, and that you are staying cool.--Ryan

Howdy folks. Today's illustration is another in my Sunday Sermon Series, from this week's sermon at Hockinson Community Church. The sermon was about the prodigal son parable Jesus told and is found in Luke 15:11-32.

I have read this piece of scripture many times, and have heard at least two sermons that I recall on it. Pastor Andy's sermon had a little bit different take(as usual) than the other sermons I had heard. Andy has a terrific knowledge of life/society during Jesus times. I always knew that when the prodigal son asked for his inheritance and the freedom to leave that it was a slap in the face to his father. What I hadn't ever heard before was that it was so much more than that. In those times, and that society it would have been perfectly acceptable for the father to kill his son for the disgrace he had heaped upon him. So the prodigal son's sin could have, should have, cost him his life. But the father saw him coming and ran to him, forgave him, sacrificed the fatted calf for him, welcomed him back with open arms with no questions asked. "For this son of mine was dead, and is alive again; he was lost and is found." (Luke 15:24)

We suffer the same when we try to shake God off, and live for this world. But if we seek repentance God is always there, running towards us. The tag line sums up what I took from this sermon. I think we should routinely stop and look up from our busy, hectic routine. We should assess our lives, our direction, what we are doing and saying(and why we are doing and saying it), and see if it aligns with God's will(and please know that when I say we, I am most definitely including myself). It's easy to get off track in life, but it's also easy to get back on track. Just turn towards Him.

I did not have time to colorize the drawing this time. With the temperature back in the 90's this week I can spend very little time in my office. Also I have little time these days for work what with Angela, Stella and the boys and the house/chores needing my attention. I like the drawing itself, but am not one hundred percent happy with it. I was going for a more subtle expression of self realization/shock at his predicament for the prodigal son there. More of a "the fog is lifting "What the..." moment. As it is, he looks suspiciously like Marty Feldman if he stuck his finger in a light socket. That's fine because I always liked Mr. Feldman, but it wasn't what I was going for originally. But, with little to no time to rework things what you see is what you get around here these days.

As always I hope you enjoyed this drawing. I hope this post was informative to you and helps you in some way in your walk. Thank you for stopping by. God bless.--Ryan

Sunday Sermon Series

Last Sunday our sermon was about the story of Ruth. Ruth is a story about how God redeems broken lives, brings light to the darkness.

One of the points Pastor Mike touched on was how Naomi's faith was highly visible to those around her. Naomi's faith made a big impact on her daughters-in-law, both of whom refused to leave her side even though their husbands (her sons) had died. Ruth went so far as to return to Naomi's homeland with her (a land that was a bitter enemy of Ruth's birthplace, Moab), and help provide for Naomi. Picture giving up your life here, moving to Iraq, or Iran for good to help your mother-in-law after your spouse has just died.

Rather than do what was easy or comfortable for herself, Ruth did what was best for Naomi. Ruth had seen something in Naomi that convinced her to do this. She had seen Jesus, she had seen "love one another" worked out day after day in Naomi's words and actions. It led me to think about how hard I try to "love one another", and how much harder I should be trying.

So as I listened to the sermon I drew this sketch. Jesus is seen directing Naomi. She is providing for a man, maybe a homeless man, I don't know, but a person in need. He definitely suffers from cartoony giant feet.

I hope you enjoyed this drawing, and thank you for stopping by.