Merry Christmas! It’s a wonderful season for the church as we celebrate the most important moment in human history. It’s a time to be with family and friends to celebrate the virgin birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is moment where a miracle became a reality and we learned that nothing is impossible with God. It’s a story of the eternal promises of life, Jesus becoming a man with the ultimate sacrifice of death to pay for our sins through His resurrection, the fulfillment of prophecy and becoming our Messiah, our Savior, our hope in a hopeless world. The reason we celebrate Christmas, the miracle that changed the world. It’s for me, for you, for us, and the world. May your Christmas season be joyful! Continue reading
Hypocrisy and “Thanksgetting”
Today’s Chronological Bible reading includes this verse, Romans 2:24, from the New Living Translation:
No wonder the Scriptures say, “The Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of you.”
There’s a problem among Christians, especially in North America, and that problem goes by a one-word name: hypocrisy. Echoing the words of Romans, it is no wonder that people outside Christianity have no room for God in their lives, especially when Christians are so adept at saying one thing but doing another. Continue reading
What’s Going On in the Church of God?
Earlier this month, several of us from Mt. Haley attended the Michigan General Assembly of the Church of God. This annual meeting gives us the opportunity to learn about what is happening in ministries around the state and even around the nation. The main speaker this year was Jim Lyon, the General Director of the Church of God in the US and Canada.
He shared some amazing news with us, and I’d like to share those updates with you, too. Continue reading
The Pattern of the World
A couple of weeks ago, on November 1, I preached on Romans 12:1-2. The sermon, part of our series on evangelism, was a call for us to experience deep transformation in Jesus Christ and then to live into the perfect will of God. The sermon led directly into sharing the Lord’s Supper together, an experience of deep transformation in which we encounter the crucified and living Christ in a mysterious, powerful way.
In the sermon’s conclusion, I spoke these two sentences:
The world’s way of living is to ignore the mercy of God and to live for our own comfort and preservation. When we separate ourselves from those who are not like us, we are simply accommodating to the pattern of the world.
I would like to expand on those thoughts with you now. Especially now, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris. Continue reading
Drawing Near to Jesus
The woman reaches out to touch Jesus’s cloak. Jesus stops in his busy day to look around and see the needs around him. How is the healing story in Mark 5:25-34 related to our work of evangelism? Listen to Pastor David’s sermon, the last in our series on evangelism.
Breaking Free From Spiritual Inertia
Are you busy, or are you a busybody? Are you spiritually active or spiritually inert? What roles do you play in your church? Listen to Pastor David’s message on 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15.
Avoiding Cultural Accommodation
Mercy: receiving a gift of something good when you deserve something bad. Evangelism is all about diving deep into God’s mercy and allowing his love to overflow into the lives of those around you. Listen to Pastor David’s sermon on Romans 12:1-2.
Letting Scripture Breathe
What are you reading in the Bible these days? What is your routine? Do you read a lot, or a little? We can get tied up in a lot of questions like these when we think about our spiritual lives.
Here’s a different sort of question to ask yourself: Where does scripture breathe into your life? Continue reading
November Youth Update
We enter November with Olive’s yard raking project completed and two events in our history. We had a successful swimming party at Four Seasons Health Club on October 11th and enjoyed the corn maze, hayride and other activities at Grandma’s Pumpkin Patch last Sunday. Our youth meetings are reaching about 8 kids a week and our GRAD meetings are hosting 5-6 young adults. We are continuing to reach out to those families to join us regularly with Sunday morning Worship participation & attendance then urging parents to help in having their youth to grow spiritually through the ministries of Mt. Haley. Continue reading
Doctor of Ministry: I’m Not Going Anywhere
Recently, I have heard a few people at church express their concern that my Doctor of Ministry work is leading to one inevitable outcome: my “moving on” to another pastoral position at some other church. If those few people had the courage to share their feelings with me directly, I can only imagine that others of you may be feeling the same thing privately.
Let me clear some things up for you: I have no intention of leaving Mt. Haley any time soon. I am not doing this Doctor of Ministry degree as a “career advancement” move. I’m doing these studies because I believe in this ministry, the Mt. Haley Church of God, and I want to enhance both my skills as a pastor and our ministry together as a congregation. Continue reading