As we conclude our study of Paul’s final letter in the New Testament, Pastor David preaches on 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18, in which Paul reflects on having finished his life’s race. In God’s timing, this sermon came just hours after one of our elderly saints passed away after a long illness. Listen in on this timely word from the Lord:
Pursuing Peace
Jesus said some challenging words in the Sermon on the Mount, found in our New Testament in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. Today I’d like you to take a few moments to find and read Matthew 5:38-48. Do that, if you would, before reading the rest of this article.
There is something counter-cultural about the way Jesus calls us to live. In the first-century world, the relatively young Roman Empire controlled Palestine, the area in which Jesus lived and ministered. Jews such as Jesus could have been forced to assist Roman soldiers in carrying supplies and materials for certain distances. Walking “the second mile” thus became something counter-cultural, almost revolutionary: it broke down the difference in power between a Jew and a Roman.
In the first-century world, if someone slapped you (with his right hand) on your right cheek, this was a power-building maneuver: the aggressor states his dominance over you with this action. Turning the other cheek (to receive another slap), as Jesus instructs, leaves the aggressor with an uncomfortable choice. Either he must use his left hand, which was considered unclean, or he must use his right hand again – but this time using the front of his hand, not the back of his hand, to strike your left cheek. Slapping with the front of the hand was understood as a challenge between equals; you might expect the aggressor to say “I challenge you to a duel!” at this point. Again, this is counter-cultural, almost revolutionary: Jesus tears down expectations of power-based relationships between people.
One year ago, a teenage girl stood up for the right of girls like her to receive an education. As a result, in October 2012 she was targeted by aggressors who wished to silence her message by eliminating the messenger. She and several others were shot, many of them killed, but she survived the gunshot wounds to her face. This girl spent the next year recovering and continuing to speak out against the injustices in her world. She became so well-known and beloved for her positions supporting justice and peace that she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this year. Her name? Malala Yousafzai, a sixteen-year-old Pakistani girl.
In a recent television interview, Malala said something truly astounding. When asked what went through her mind when she realized the Taliban (her eventual attackers) wanted her dead, she said:
I started thinking about that, and I used to think that the Talib would come, and he would just kill me. But then I said, ‘If he comes, what would you do Malala?’ then I would reply to myself, ‘Malala, just take a shoe and hit him.’ But then I said, ‘If you hit a Talib with your shoe, then there would be no difference between you and the Talib. You must not treat others with cruelty and that much harshly, you must fight others but through peace and through dialogue and through education.’ Then I said I will tell him how important education is and that ‘I even want education for your children as well.’ And I will tell him, ‘That’s what I want to tell you, now do what you want.’
Malala Yousafzai is a practicing Muslim. Jesus is seen as a prophet within Islam, and in many ways I see Malala’s words above echoing Jesus’s thoughts from the Sermon on the Mount. What she said is counter-cultural, both in Pakistan and in the western world. Her stance toward her aggressors breaks down power dynamics and asserts the ultimate value that each person in the world has in God’s eyes.
What if we were to pursue peace as strongly in our own lives? What if we loved and prayed for our enemies? What if this is what it means to be “perfect” or “complete” or “mature,” as Jesus commanded us to be, in imitation of our heavenly Father?
Pastor David
Fulfilling Your Ministry
What do running a 5k, having itching ears, and serving in the church have in common? Well, they all are part of Pastor David’s reflections on 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5, the sermon text for this week’s message. As we continue our study of this letter to Timothy, how does this passage call us to fulfill our own roles within the church? Listen in to the sermon by clicking this link.
The Unchained Melody
In 2 Timothy 2:8-15, Paul writes to Timothy some words of encouragement and reminder about what is really important. Rather than quarreling about words, Timothy and the church people he serves should hold fast to the eternal Word of God, Jesus Christ. How can this passage transform the way we use words in our everyday lives? Listen in to Pastor David’s sermon on this topic:
Carrying the Baton
This week, we begin a study of 2 Timothy, a letter from Paul to a young church leader who is charged with “carrying the baton” of Christian faith into a new generation. With whom do we identify, Paul or Timothy? How should we run the race? And how does this metaphor affect our daily lives? Listen in to Pastor David’s sermon on 2 Timothy 1:1-14 by clicking the link below:
October Youth Update
We have shifted into HIGH GEAR and are off to a flying start of a new church & school year. We are meeting EVERY Sunday evening @ 6:00 and we want you there! Come join us for fellowship, fun, games, food, prayer and the Word of GOD. We are presently discussing & learning about the “Circle of Prayer” and its application of our daily life. 6th & 7th grade boys meet after school on Tuesday every week. With a new year, it’s important that you complete the 2013-2014 permission slip, which covers activities, trips, and van riding for the whole year. They were sent to everyone, but let us know if you need one. Thanks!
Our quest to raise the funds for Winter Retreat in January and the International Youth Convention in Nashville next summer has begun. After a very successful Mum Sale, we are moving on to a “Baked Potato” supper on Wednesday, October 9th (next week) and a Gift Card sale in the latter half of October. Gift cards are easy and contribute a % of money for each one sold. They don’t have to be for gifts because you can purchase gas cards, grocery cards, haircut cards, restaurant cards, shopping cards and the list goes on. We all know items we will be purchasing – with the cards you just plan ahead and help the youth. Olive’s Yard is also going to need raking soon, plus we are tentatively selling Poinsettia’s & Wreaths for Christmas. Meanwhile, collect the pop cans & bottles; they bring in change to us in big ways.
We will be having a “Swimming Party” for all youth 6th grade – college on Sunday, October 13th @ 3:00 PM. The van will leave the church @ 2:30 PM. There will be food & games following the swimming @ church then regular Sunday night youth meeting. We will be going “Bowling” on November 16, packing “Community Thanksgiving” groceries on November 24 and a “Christmas Party” on December 15. There will be NO youth on Sunday, November 10th because Pastor Jerry & Connie will be attending their granddaughter’s baby dedication in Holland, MI.
We have two Big Events to register for in December. Winter Retreat is the weekend of January 10-12, 2014. A $50 registration is due to the state office by Wednesday, December 4th. To accommodate that due date, we will need your $50 and confirmation of attendance by Sunday, November 30. Registration can take place after that date, but it costs more and the registrations are limited this year. Tommee Profitt will be the band along with Michael Thigpen as the speaker.
The second registration is the Early Bird Bonus Registration for the International Youth Convention in Nashville, TN on July 5–8, 2014. The cost is $115 and must be postmarked by December 12, 2013. Registration will continue, but the cost increases at different due dates. The Speakers, Worship Leaders and Christian Bands haven’t been announced but they will be “Big Names.” There will be many discussions about raising the funds for food, lodging and transportation.
The Guatemalan Team has been registered and they will begin monthly meetings in October. We have a team of 16 from 4 churches (mostly Mt. Haley) and will be going February 8–15, 2014. Thank you for your support.
We are anticipating a great year in the history of the Mt. Haley Youth Ministry. We want everyone to know that our ultimate desire is for each youth of Mt. Haley to accept and develop a relationship with Jesus Christ and to grow spiritually every day of his or her life. We have adapted seven spiritual growth principles (adapted from Andy Stanley) that we will work to develop in our youth. They are:
- Authentic Faith: Are our kids trusting God with the critical areas of their lives? (Proverbs 3:5-6)
- Spiritual Disciplines: Are our kids developing a consistent devotional and prayer life? (Romans 12:2)
- Moral Boundaries: Are our kids establishing and maintaining Godly moral boundaries? (1 Thessalonians 4:3-8)
- Healthy Friendships: Are our kids establishing healthy friendships and avoiding unhealthy ones? (Proverbs 12:20)
- Wise Choices: Are our kids making wise choices in every area of their lives? (Ephesians 5:15-17)
- Ultimate Authority: Are our kids submitting to the authorities God has placed over them? (Romans 13:1-2)
- Others First: Are our kids putting the needs of others ahead of their own? (Philippians 2:3-11)
With that in mind, parents and church, your prayers, support and encouragement are greatly appreciated, and we look forward every week to sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with our students through interaction, study, fellowship and relationship. Thank you for sharing your son or daughter.
Love God, Love People!
Blessings,
Pastor Jerry
Changing Colors
It’s that time of year again – those few weeks, here in central Michigan, during which millions of leaves change color and fall to the ground. This could cause a number of reactions within you: anticipation of the winter months that lie ahead; excitement for the prospect of earning money by raking leaves; or simply amazement at the colorful beauty of the earth.
I have been struck by this beauty in the past week or two. Even on my short walk from home to the church, I can see many shades of red, yellow, orange, and purple – all signs of the changing seasons. Have you ever wondered about why leaves change color in the fall? It has been a while since I studied trees in elementary school, so I Googled the subject and found 38.7 million results. It’s a popular subject!
As you may remember, leaves are green because they contain chlorophyll, a pigment crucial to the process of photosynthesis. Chlorophyll helps plants create energy from sunlight; it absorbs light with wavelengths in the red and blue areas of the spectrum. But chlorophyll reflects green light, which is why living leaves look green.
The trouble is that chlorophyll constantly decays, so it must be constantly replaced by plants. All spring and summer long, chlorophyll helps plants store up energy so that they can survive the winter. But when the days grow shorter in the fall and sunlight becomes less readily available, plants stop producing chlorophyll. At that point, leaves begin to die, slowly lose their greenness, and change into colors that really have been there all along but were covered up by the green pigment.
If you are sensing that I might turn this into an analogy about our spiritual lives, you are figuring me out: there’s a sermon in everything! However, I don’t want to compare our lives as believers to the changing colors of leaves for two reasons:
- Spiritual life is not cyclical. While trees go through this process year in and year out, we are not guaranteed regular, recurring periods of “spiritual dryness.” There may be seasons in which we wander in the wilderness, but the light of God does not take a winter-long vacation from us.
- The sin nature is not always lurking, buried deep within us. If we think of “green” as “life in Christ” and “red/yellow/etc.” as “sinful living,” then we might reason that our sinfulness is always buried just beneath the surface; if the greenness ever fades away, our “true colors” will show. But this is not the case. Salvation is about the gift of a new identity; our sins, red as scarlet, have been washed away by the blood of the Lamb, making us white as snow (Isaiah 1:18). We may turn from Christ and return to sin, but it is not as if sin were lurking inside us, waiting for the right opportunity to take over.
Take a minute to read John 15:1-17, in which Jesus says he is the vine and we are the branches. One thing is for sure: leaves (branches) do not stand a chance of surviving if they are disconnected from the tree (vine). Let’s stay green (bear fruit); let’s remain connected to Christ and to each other. Let’s continue to find new ways to love each other during the changing seasons of our lives!
–Pastor David
Prayer Changes Us: Supplication
In this final message during the month of “Septem-prayer,” Pastor David preaches on Psalm 34, an acrostic psalm in which each verse begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. How can this psalm transform the way in which we pray for specific needs? How should our prayer lives be more full than simply praying for the sick, grieving, or discouraged? Listen in to yesterday’s sermon:
Memorizing Scripture
If you were raised in church, like I was, you may have committed certain verses of the Bible to memory. When I was a child, my home church had various Wednesday evening programs. I remember one of them was called “Bible Mountaineers” – the different age groups of children had labels such as “Cliff Climbers” and “Summit Scalers” – and through the course of the year, we had specific verses and passages of scripture that we were encouraged to memorize. Those assignments ranged from simple verses (“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23 NIV) to entire chapters (I crammed all of 1 Corinthians 13 into my short-term memory one week!).
Even if you were not raised in church, or if you are not a believer, you probably know at least part of one Bible verse. All I have to say is “John 3:16” and some words might come to mind. (“For God so loved the world…”) Here’s an easy one to memorize right now: “Jesus wept,” John 11:35, the shortest verse in the Bible! That’s not a flippant idea, by the way; even that one verse reminds us, in its context, that Jesus feels the pain of the loss of loved ones. His friend Lazarus had died, and while the story ends with rejoicing in Lazarus’s resurrection, Jesus still wept when he was shown Lazarus’s tomb.
In any case, church-sponsored active memorization of scripture usually ends for us when we graduate high school – or even earlier. If you desire, as I do, that our children at Mt. Haley would be raised in the Christian faith and memorize important passages of scripture, then take this idea to heart: Our children will do what they see us doing.
This goes beyond memorizing scripture, of course. Our children will behave the way they observe adults behaving; they will worship how adults worship. They will resolve conflicts the way they see adults resolve conflicts. Our children are watching us, and if they do not see us taking discipleship, outreach, and community seriously, then they may not take those components of Christian life seriously when they are adults.
Why is it important for us to memorize scripture in particular? The Bible is the foundation for our journey of discipleship; it is God’s word for those who would follow him. The Bible contains everything necessary to describe, understand, and apply salvation in Christ to our lives. (By the way, this is as far as I go in approaching theological terms like “infallible” and “inerrant.” But that’s another conversation.)
Memorizing scripture keeps the word of God at the front of our thoughts. Memorizing scripture helps us recognize false teachings and ethically questionable practices. Memorizing scripture proves useful in our times of trouble, conflict, or sorrow. Memorizing scripture gives us words to say to others when they have such experiences. Memorizing scripture allows us more opportunities to meditate on the word of God on a daily basis. This is transformational!
So does your spiritual diet include this practice? Here are some passages that would be worthwhile to commit to memory. (Can you add to this list?)
- Psalm 23
- Psalm 46
- Isaiah 53
- Matthew 6:9-13
- Matthew 11:25-30
- Romans 8:28-39
- Philippians 3:7-14
- Colossians 1:15-20
- Colossians 3:12-17
–Pastor David
Prayer Changes Us: Thanksgiving
This week, Pastor David walks us through Psalm 30, a prayer of thanksgiving. We often express our thankfulness to God for various blessings, but giving thanks should be transformative for us, not simply an afterthought that we direct toward God. How does this psalm – written for the dedication of the temple – change our attitude toward thanksgiving? Listen in: