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Loving you with the love that Christ gives!
Sunday February 28th, 2021
Always, Go With God
Ecclesiastes 2: 24-26
24 A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink (and find satisfaction in their own toil.(This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? 26 To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Stand Firm
1 Corinthians 15:58
“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
Trust
Proverbs 3:5-6
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.”
No Fear
Isaiah 41:10
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Awaken each day and commit yourself to standing with God, trusting Him, and letting go of fear. You can’t hold onto all that pressurizes life and God at the same time.
Be free in your spirit, nothing can harm you there if you have God with you.
Pastor Mike
Sunday February 21st, 2021
1. Acknowledging – Psalm 51 (NIV)
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
2. Confessing 1 John 1:9 (NIV)
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
3. Asking John 16:26 (NIV)
26 In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf.
4. Turning 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)
14 if my people, who are called by my name,will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
In our relationship to God, to repent is to turn away from sin, and turn completely to God. So, to repent is a 180-degree turn.
Pastor Mike
Sunday February 14th, 2021
TRANSFIGURATION SUNDAY
It has been said that “To listen to God in worship is greater than to hear any man/woman preach.” It is interesting to observe the level of restlessness in worship when the congregation is asked to “join in a moment of silence.” Even a modicum of silence, a pregnant pause tends to suck all the air from the room. These moments in worship call to mind the Habakkuk 2:20 passage, “the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” While this call to the sacrament of silence probably served a different purpose for Israel, the manifest presence of an All-Knowing, All- Seeing, Ever-Present God ought to inspire a sense of awe, reverence, and honor for God. Our corporate worship often rushes to fill the spaces that rightfully belong to God.
Pastors and worship leaders can create a time of attentiveness to what the Spirit is saying to the church by calling attention to appropriate scriptural passages and the advantages of corporate listening. The silence of our souls can hush the external and internal noise, allowing the voice of God to be heard in every heart.
“This is my Son, the Beloved . . . listen to him!” (Matt. 17:5)
You are encouraged to experience the story and glory of the Transfiguration through the practice of lectio divina, a monastic practice of reading scripture, not to be studied, but as the living word; the word made flesh. There are typically four steps involved in this ancient-modern practice: read, meditate/reflect (on the meaning), pray (mental/silent), contemplate (engage the thoughts, imagination, emotions, desires).
How might your congregation be drawn closer together and closer to God in worship through the sacrament of silence? The first two verses of this hymn might give us a clue.
Open my eyes that I may see glimpses of truth thou hast for me,
Place in my hands the wonderful key that shall unclasp and set me free.
Silently now, I wait for Thee, ready my God thy will to see,
Open my eyes, illumine me Spirit Divine!
Open my ears that I may hear voices of truth thou sendest clear;
And as the wave notes fall on my ear, everything false will disappear.
Silently now, I wait for Thee, ready my God thy will to see,
Open my ears, illumine me Spirit Divine!
From the hymn, “Open My Eyes, That I May See,”
Clara H. Scott (1841-1867) The United Methodist Hymnal, 454
Pastor Mike
Wednesday February 10th, 2021
Matthew 10:34-39 NIV
34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn
“‘a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’
37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
• The discovery of the one who created you.
• The discovery that your creator redeemed you from the curse of sin, with His own life.
• The discovery that He stands with your life, so you are inclined to stand with His!
Like Martin Luther King, we are driven to make an uncompromised decision.
“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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C.S. Lewis describes the result of deciding.
Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different than it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing into a heavenly creature or a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures, and with itself.
C.S. Lewis
The result is clear, having been given a free will, free to choose, we are forming who we are and are ultimately responsible by reason of our choices.
Choose Well . . . .Pastor Mike!
Sunday February 7th, 2021
As we say in our Invitation to the Table, “Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him, who earnestly repent of their sin, and seek to be at peace with one another.” If you can say you do or have done these three things, you are welcome to receive.
Additionally, all baptized Christians, of any age (including infants) and any Christian denomination are welcome to the Lord’s table. It is Christ’s table. He welcomes all who are baptized in his name, and so do we.
We affirm the historic Christian precedent that people are normally baptized prior to receiving communion. Yet, as our invitation notes, baptism is not required. If you come and are not yet baptized, we will encourage you toward baptism at your earliest convenience.
John 6:53-54 NIV
53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.
Matthew 26:26-30 NIV
26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”
27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the[a] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
30 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
John Wesley on Communion 
Wesley himself communed several times a week. He believed that it was commanded by Christ, and that the benefits (forgiveness, grace, assurance) of receiving communion should motivate one to commune constantly.
Missed a one of Pastor Mike’s Messages see links below for 2020- 2021 messages!