How should we pray? What is prayer, anyway? How do we misuse prayer? To answer these questions, Jesus gives us a model prayer to follow in Matthew 6:5-15. Listen to Pastor David’s – and the congregation’s – reflections on prayer:
Fulfilling the Law, Part 3
We are not persecuted; we are privileged. Even so, Jesus calls us to a radical love for our enemies in Matthew 5:38-48. Listen to Pastor David’s message about how we can and should go about that kind of love.
Church of God Convention Recap
Last week’s convention in Oklahoma City gave Pastor David a few solid takeaways that will affect our life together at Mt. Haley. Listen in to his reflections on this meaningful event!
Hear and Forgive
When you pray, how do you expect God to respond to your prayer?
Once upon a time, when the Israelites completed the temple in Jerusalem, King Solomon offered a prayer of dedication. This prayer is recorded in two different Old Testament books (1 Kings 8:22-53 and 2 Chronicles 6:12-42). Solomon’s prayer reflects his desire for God to keep the nation strong for many years to come. Yet it contains clues about how the ancient Israelites thought about prayer – clues which can influence how we pray today. Continue reading
Mission in the Ivory Coast
Bobby and Jenny Mihsill are our Living Link missionaries to the Ivory Coast. How does 1 John 1:1–2:2 relate to them – and to us?
Life in Christ
Do you know John 3:16? “For God so loved…” It seems like many people, especially Christians, know that verse, but what about its context? If we only read John 3:16, being a Christian could just depend on a mental acknowledgement of Jesus. But that’s not what John 3:14-21 is about. Listen in as Pastor David continues our series of messages with connections to human trafficking. (And visit www.free2work.org when you are finished!)
January Youth Update
Happy New Year! I was happy to see 2014 come to a close and have great expectations for 2015. Knowing that God is always good all the time helps to shape my reactions to life with the knowledge that He is always in control and that my purpose in life is to be like Jesus and to bring God glory in all things.
With that said, we had have great moments in our Youth Ministry this year and we have also struggled. Our conventions and retreats, the new retreat location at Cran-Hill, the SYC and especially the IYC were filled with the Holy Spirit and many students advanced on their decisions to serve the Lord. The fundraisers were especially important as they bonded us together, weekly meetings went well and most of our activities were well participated. The Detroit weekend and Guatemala were fantastic mission opportunities and God was glorified! Students were baptized and many are much more open to walking in faith. GRADS @ Grahams has been a ministry for those people who need a place in the church.
We celebrate our success, but we also recognize the struggles that every ministry endures. Thanks for the prayers for me as I lost my dad this year but rejoiced because I know he has been healed of that terrible cancer & pain, and is now dwelling in the house of the Lord. I have also struggled with my eyesight, dealing with several surgeries but knowing that soon God will restore my sight.
We are a ministry in transition. We have lost several key players due to the natural process of graduation and the group has become younger. Through God’s grace, patience and love, my role now is to weave the students into a ministry where they accept each other, appreciate each other, care for each other, work with each other, not judge each other and most of all, love each other through God’s grace as we grow in Christ. We live in a culture where the easy thing to do, if we don’t like something or someone, is to walk away from it and not even try anymore. My prayer is that God reclaims the group, brings everyone back into the fold, resurrects leaders and creates a comfortable, loving, accepting atmosphere that glorifies God. We welcome your prayers!
At the time of your reading, we are either preparing to depart for Winter Retreat, experiencing Cran-Hill Ranch or celebrating the things that God did over the weekend! We are taking 9 students and I know the weekend is FULL with students and counselors from all across the Church of God congregations in Michigan. We’ve had a great speaker in Brett Talley from Indianapolis Church of the Crossing and are probably enjoying the worship of Josh Lavender & his band out of Florida! Winter Retreat is always a weekend of the Holy Spirit with students drawing closer to Jesus and His love. A shout-out goes to my wife, Connie, the CHOG Director of Youth Ministries in Michigan. Hundreds of people have been blessed with her leadership and the success of state activities and I know she humbly serves to bring glory to God.
The NEXT Big event is the annual YOUTH LOCK-IN on Friday night, January 23rd where we insanely lock ourselves in the church to eat, play wild and crazy games, watch movies, pray and devote, (maybe sleep?) and generally stay up all night. This is, hands down, the most asked for and biggest highlight of the year for many of our students. Details will be coming SOON after the retreat is finished, so watch for them. HOWEVER, WE NEED parents, helpers, volunteers, bodies, to experience the night with us. We are asking for people to help us in 2-3 hour shifts throughout the night to guarantee a success. Connie and I could handle this, but it’s more fun and easier with help. Thanks! Call us!
Guatemala is becoming more and more official each day! 15 servants from 5 different churches (8 from Mt. Haley) will be departing for Guatemala City on Thursday, February 5th and returning to Midland Thursday, February 12th. We have been spiritually prepared and challenged, we have insurance, we have bonded together, our plane tickets are purchased, and we are ready except for the packing. We still need your prayers, money for the house and other expenses and your encouragement. God has BIG plans for Mt. Haley and the Guatemalan community.
This month we will still pursue the study of “Who is the Holy Spirit” and in Sunday School we are still looking at “InTune with Purpose, Purity, Power and People.” GRADS @ Grahams are starting an 8–week study on Revelations which should provide some great discussions.
We NEED your help! I am just going to be blunt. Let’s make a New Year’s resolution. The Youth Ministry has 3 events every week – Sunday School @ 10:00 AM, Mt. Haley Youth @ 6:00 PM and GRADS @ Grahams at 8:15 PM. We are beginning to be a very “tardy” youth ministry. On a typical youth meeting night, we usually begin with 2-3 students at 6 and it may take up to 45 minutes after the start time to have everyone there. The same issue effects the other two meetings also. All the meetings have been well planned to fill up the opportunity to share God’s Word. We ask your help in keeping our meetings start times (and dismissals) punctual. We almost always are open 15 minutes prior to the meeting and want to begin on time. Thanks for the help!
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 and our congregation for holding the youth up in PRAYER.
Love God, Love People, Live It!
Blessings, Pastor Jerry
Life Without a Pope
As I type these words tonight, there is no Pope heading up the Roman Catholic Church. This is rather significant in terms of world affairs and religious news: only once in a long while is there a transition of power in this position, and never in the past several generations has there been a Pope who has resigned, like Benedict XVI has done. This is the kind of thing that gets my religion-antennae perked up!
The Church of God has had a mixed view of the Roman Catholic Church (which I’ll abbreviate RCC) since our inception in the late 1800s. Originally, we viewed the RCC as an evil institution, one which embodied some of the most evil and grotesque images in the book of Revelation. This was rather fundamental to our identity as the Church of God and, for a while, seemed to be the primary way for us to view that group.
Our view toward Catholics has become much more generous, generally speaking, in the past few decades. We are becoming more and more aware that many true, honest Christian believers exist within the vast 1.2 billion adherents that the RCC claims. Personally, one of my high school friends grew up as a United Methodist but converted to the RCC when she married one of my Catholic friends. Both are firm, fully-committed believers in Jesus Christ and are raising their children to know and love the Lord.
Now, you’ll notice that I have not pursued priesthood in the RCC. I serve as a pastor in the Church of God movement on purpose, and I’m not about to switch loyalties. After all, my view of Christianity allows for a great deal of diversity of denomination. To quote one of our heritage hymns (by modifying its intent), “we reach our hands in fellowship to every blood-washed one.” I believe we must be very gracious in distinguishing who, in fact, is washed by the blood of the Lamb.
So how should we react to the RCC being between Popes and struggling to search for a leader? For all its problems (and I believe there are many), the RCC is very important to a large number of honest Christian believers. To that end – and that end alone should be enough to convince us – we should pray for our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters during this time of transition.
After all, we too are in a period of transition in the Church of God. Our current General Director, Dr. Ron Duncan, is retiring soon, and a search team is working hard to interview candidates and to make a recommendation for Dr. Duncan’s successor. (There are a few somewhat insignificant parallels between this process and the RCC’s Conclave to choose the next Pope. In short, though, our General Director is not our Pope.) Just as we should pray for God’s wisdom in guiding those who will select a leader for our group, which numbers about a million people, so too we should pray for God’s wisdom among those who will select the spiritual leader for a group one thousand times larger than ours.
We live without a Pope all the time; we live under the reign of Jesus Christ alone, and we journey freely in his kingdom with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. But for those brothers and sisters in Christ who live in a system that normally has a Pope but does not right now – for these people, let us pray. (1 Thessalonians 5:25)
–Pastor David
Election Time
You may have noticed that it’s almost election time here in the United States. Incredible amounts of attention, time, and money have been poured into this election season, and all of this will come to a climax on Tuesday, November 6. How should we, as followers of Jesus Christ, approach the elections – and their results, whatever those should be?
I’d like you to look up and read a few different Bible passages today. First, consider Romans 13:1-7. Paul is writing to Christians in Rome – the seat of the Roman Empire which persecuted early Christians. And yet he encourages them to understand the governing authorities as rulers who have been put in place by God; therefore, Christians are to pay taxes, give honor and respect, and submit to those who are in authority – even those who might persecute them for their faith. How blessed we are to live in a country in which power transfers peacefully and without threat of imprisonment or bloodshed for those who disapprove of those in power! How much more important it is for us to fulfill the call of Romans 13 as citizens of this country!
Next, look up 1 Peter 2:13-25. Here, Peter is writing to Christians in various places in southwest Asia, who again were being persecuted for the sake of Jesus Christ. Like Paul wrote in Romans, Peter encourages his audience to respect, honor, and be subject to all types of human authority – even those that would cause them harm. Peter’s rationale for this type of behavior is that those who suffer for the sake of Christ are imitating Christ and are becoming more like Christ. After all, Jesus Christ suffered terribly at the hands of the government; he even died by capital punishment, and yet he never sinned but committed himself to God. How blessed we are to be free from the threat of bodily harm because of our belief in Jesus! Pray for those in our world today who do experience such harm! And put 1 Peter 2 into action in your relationship to those in authority over you!
1 Timothy 2:1-8 calls us to pray consistently – and to be thankful – for our local, regional, and national leaders. Jeremiah 29:1-7 calls us to work diligently for the good of our society, even if that society is foreign to us and is not our true home, as Babylon was for the Israelites in exile.
Friends, let me encourage you to do three things. First, make sure you are informed about all of the issues and individuals, local and national, that will be on Tuesday’s ballot (even if you are reading this after Election Day). Second, make sure you find time to vote, because voting is the legal, peaceful, authorized, and best way for us to make our voices heard. Third, and most importantly, once the elections have passed, pray for those who are or will be in authority over us. Respect those who are in authority over us. And give thanks to God that these decisions and transitions can be made in our society without threat of violence.
And pray for those places in the world where that last sentence is not true.
–Pastor David
October Youth Update
We are off to a GREAT start for the new school year! We have added 5 new Sixth Graders plus a couple of others in higher grades. Our newly remodeled youth room looks FANTASTIC! We need to run a few weeks so that it feels ‘lived in,’ however that will come soon enough. We can’t express enough how much we appreciate what the church has done. Special thanks go to Kevin Mudd and Ron Hyde, as we know that they directed and completed most of the remodeling. We hope to give a special ‘Thank You’ to the church in the near future.
Youth still takes place every Sunday @ 6:00 PM. Van-Pick-Up usually begins around 5:00 PM. This month we will also begin holding an after school youth meeting for 6th Graders every week with Pastor Jerry & Pastor David facilitating the class. As our group as grown, we have discovered that with the group consisting of 6th graders through seniors in high school, there is a wide discrepancy for instruction and discussion. 6th graders will be involved in all youth ministry activities, but will be separated for instruction & discussion. We believe this will help in our spiritual growth and maturation for all the students. After we finish the series, ”Spread the Word,” our youth meeting topic will be “The Ten Commandments.”
We are working through Romans in our High School Bible Study on Sunday mornings @ 10:00 AM. Ron Hyde is working with the Middle School boys and Maggie Hyde is working with the Middle School girls. We hope to have Van-Pick Up on Sunday mornings so more can attend and the van would run between 9:00 AM and 10:00 AM. If anyone would be interested in riding with Pastor Jerry, please contact him.
Our 2012-2013 Medical Release and Permission Forms have been mailed this month. Students should have these forms completed to ride in the van plus attend all youth ministry activities. The forms run from September 1, 2012 to August 31, 2013. Once they are completed they are good for the year. PLEASE help us by completing these forms ASAP.
This month we plan on participating in the October 20 Potluck and Hay Ride @ Peg & Chuck Hyatt’s home. On October 28, @ 2:30 PM we will go to Grandma’s Pumpkin Patch then return to church for supper & our youth meeting. We will be having a Bake Potato Bar on Sunday, November 11th to help raise funds for the Michigan CHOG Winter Retreat in December. On November 18, our youth meeting that day will be a service project, packing Thanksgiving Baskets for families at the Aldersgate Methodist Church in town. Our next BIG event will be Winter Retreat on December 28-30, 2012. This event is for all students’ grades 6-12 and costs $105. Registration is in early December. We will be doing fundraisers in preparation.
The MUM sale was very successful. We will be working at Olive’s this month to help our accounts. We are also having a ‘Mt. Haley’ apparel sale (hats, T’s, sweatshirts, windbreakers) this month and will be having a Scripts Sale (gift cards) also. We hope to do well with our Potato Bar and we will need students to work that to help their youth accounts. Every student has a “Youth Account” where we do fundraising to help them pay their way to events. Our two main events of the year are Winter Retreat @ Spring Hill in December and State Youth Convention in May. We will also working with high school students to earn funds to go to the International Youth Convention in Nashville, TN in the summer of 2014.
We THANK everyone who has participated in our Youth Prayer Partner ministry. The good news is that we need to recruit more prayer partners because we have more kids to pray for. If you are interested in praying for our youth and would like to become a ‘Prayer Partner,’ please contact Pastor Jerry.
Your prayers, support and encouragement are greatly appreciated and we look forward to sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with your student this year through study, fellowship and relationship. Thank you for sharing your son or daughter.
Love God, Love People!
Pastor Jerry