September 1st, 2010
Have you ever been sick on a hot summer day? Surely you have and you were miserable…. Well, that might be an exaggeration, because in fact there were likely many things that made it bearable. There are people today in truly horrible situations and circumstances that really are miserable. I pray never to experience this kind of misery, but I know Jesus understood that kind of misery. He suffered greatly going to the cross and enduring the onslaught of our sin.
I don’t particularly like thinking about misery. Because I find it so unpleasant let’s change the subject. Let’s talk about comfort, a nice warm bed on a cold winter night piled high with blankets and a comforter. Oh that sounds good even in the middle of the day. Here’s another good one, sitting in the living room of my parents home eating a piece (or two) of apple pie, with some chocolate chip cookies and a cup of hot tea or coffee with my family all around telling stories and laughing about stuff we did back when.
Now that all sounds good, but at some point you have to get out of bed and leave your parents home. Out in the real world there are times of pain, struggle and suffering where we may not be able to get to those comfort places. Life is not like this all the time for most people, but what will we do when struggle comes or when we find our selves in shear, utter, misery?
In Philippians 4:4-9 the Apostle Paul gives us very clear direction and though your life may not be miserable today, I suggest you listen so you have something to fall back on or at least to share with a miserable friend. Moving From Misery To The Peace of God
Tags: Acts 16:16-40, Comfort, Misery, Peace, Philippians 4:4-9
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August 27th, 2010
So how important is forgiveness? Do I really need to deal with this issue? Does God really require that I be reconciled to my friend? Why can’t I just shoot them and be done? Okay these are not real questions I’ve been asked, but I’m sure we’ve all thought some of these things. In our series on Matthew 18 we’ve seen what God expects of us in regard to conflict resolution.
In the message “The Unmerciful“, we hear Jesus tell the story of what has been called the Unmerciful Servant. Jesus tells this story to illustrate how God views those who have received his mercy and yet withhold it from others. Trust me you don’t want to be the unmerciful. Instead you want to be the one who offers reconciliation and restoration to all just as Jesus did for you. Please take some time to listen.
Tags: conflict resolution, forgiveness, Grace, Matthew 18:21-, relationship, Restoration, Series on Matthew 18, Unforgiveness
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August 23rd, 2010
No matter who you are, there will be a time in life where someone is offended by you or you are offended by someone else. This will happen, unless of course you’re alone on a deserted island with no volleyball. The reality in life is that conflict does arise in relationships.
As A pastor I’ve noticed that life transformation is a great thing, but when people get mad, hurt, or offended they are most likely to revert to old life patterns. Rather than looking for God’s direction for resolving the conflict, they either withdraw and avoid, or go hunting and attack. Of course neither of those responses are very productive and often they severely set people back in their spiritual growth. What they need to learn early on is that God has a different way of doing things.
In Matthew 18 Jesus lays out a picture of how we are to deal with these issues. He starts out with a discussion of humility which leads into Matthew 18:15-20 where he gives us a pattern for conflict resolution. Considering that we are all in one family, it make sense that God our Father would give us some direction as to how we should relate to our siblings.
If you’re thinking there has to be a better way to resolve your relationship conflicts or your wanting some encouragement to do what you already know you need to do, please join us and listen to Relationship Restoration in Conflict.
Tags: confict, conflict resolution, Matthew 18:15-20, restoring relationships, Series on Matthew 18
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July 27th, 2010
The 4th of July is a day we in America think about independence and freedom. We talk about throwing off the oppressor in a way that is analogous to our salvation in Christ. Interesting that our freedom and independence was not a rejection of leadership, but rather to pursue a better form of leadership. When we leave sin behind, we do it because we have accepted a great leader.
As we continue the Series on Matthew 18 we consider verses Matthew 18:10-14. There Jesus tells us how he rejoices when he finds his lost sheep, the one who has returned from sin and now will follow God. If you thought God just wants to crush you, think again and listen to this message, A Shepherd to Lead Us.
Tags: God's Children, God's Love, God's way, Grace, Series on Matthew 18, Sheep, Shepherd
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July 19th, 2010
How does God evaluate greatness? Consider the question for a moment. Is it even possible for God to use that adjective to describe another being? I don’t think so. God himself is great. Nothing compares to him. How can anything else be great in comparison? We however want to be great. We want to be acknowledged for our achievements and we usually want the position, power and benefits that go with it.
When the disciples asked Jesus who would be great in God’s kingdom they exposed their total lack of divine perspective. Jesus probably blew their mind when he called a child over to stand in their circle and said, “if you don’t become like one of these you won’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” He was telling them they need to be humble and open to his instruction and molding. Their question shows that they thought they knew the plan, but Jesus showed them they hadn’t yet understood. We can be like the disciples and think we know what’s going on, but God wants to show us something totally unexpected.
Please listen to this message Greatness From God’s Perspective from our series on Matthew chapter 18.
Tags: Childlike faith, Faith, Following God, God's way, Greatness, Humility, Matthew 18: 1-9, Series on Matthew 18, Sin, Submitting to God
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July 12th, 2010
It is so easy to become a Father, but so hard to be a Father. Until one is a parent one cannot fully understand that statement, but people with a passion to be good parents understand because they recognize their own weaknesses coming out. We wonder have we disciplined properly? Have we given too much or too little praise? Do the kids have too many toys? Have we provided well enough for our children? These questions and many more go through the minds of parents as they analyse their progress in helping their children develop into productive members of society.
So what are we to do, how do we become the father God wants us to be? We really need to know what God wants us to do. We really need to prepare ourselves for the job so that we can prepare our children for the future that God has for them. Some feel deficient because they don’t have a good example. Some Moms are alone and don’t have a father figure for their children. Who ever we are, God really does have a plan to help us raise up our children.
Please listen as Pastor Mike, the least confident and most self analytical father of all, shares with us biblical instruction on Being The Father God Wants Us To Be.
Tags: Discipline, Father's Day, Fatherhood, Following God, God as Father, Instruction, Parenting
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July 10th, 2010
The day has been spent transforming our church facility into a fantastic High Seas Adventure destination. It’s been hot but we’ve done a lot of great work. These pictures don’t do this justice, but we’re really excited for the transformation that will come in the lives of kids as they are confronted with the greatness of the Love of God.
If you’d still like to register kids we still have space for those who are elementary aged, but the slots are filling up fast.
Tags: High Seas Adventure, Ship Pics, VBS, VBS 2010
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July 8th, 2010
Until we understand that God really does want us to succeed we often have situations and circumstances that challenge our faith. We are confronted by struggles and we wonder if we can succeed. The fact is God wants us to succeed and he wants to enable us to succeed. June 13, 2010 our former youth minister Shayne Arndt was our guest speaker. He spoke to us about God’s faithfulness not only to help us succeed, but to deliver us from our lack of faith. Please listen to Shayne as he tells how God brought him through struggles and doubts to a greater faith and how God does that for all who will trust in Him. Deliverance From Our Lack Of Faith – Shayne Arndt
Tags: Faith, Maturity, Ministry, Shayne Arndt, Testimony
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July 2nd, 2010
June 6th was a special Sunday as or former pastor now evangelist Jerison (Jed) Minton came to share with us and to see the result of his labor here in Ferndale. It was a great opportunity to consider our heritage in God. Click the link and hear Pasotor Minton’s message, The Joy of Our Heritage in God.
Tags: Heritage, Jed Minton, Psalm 61:1-5
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June 17th, 2010
Few of us enjoy waiting. The old saying, “a watched pot never boils” tells me that people have been struggling with the concept of waiting for a long time. I get frustrated every time I go to a doctor’s office and have to wait for them to get ready for me. On the other hand I am very pleased to gain from them the benefit of their training and experience. Some things I have found just cannot be rushed. Take some chicken out of the freezer and put it on the BBQ. In about 15 or 20 minutes it will look real good, but cut it open and you’ll have Chicken Sashimi or at least raw chicken in the middle.
I like it when my kids wait for me and I don’t like waiting for them. I like it when they are ready and anticipating our next move. I don’t like prodding them to go. I imagine that God has a similar perspective with us. We need to recognize who we’re dealing with. We aren’t in a place to make the creator wait for us or jump to our call. Instead, we need to put ourselves in the place of the inferior and wait on God. God tells us to humble ourselves in His presence and he will lift us up.
How should this understanding impact our prayer? There are many ways in which this plays out, but one way is we need to wait on God. Waiting on God can mean patiently praying for things while waiting for the answer, but it also means patiently praying not in a hurry to go on to other things. The story of Jacob show’s us a tenacious determination to hold onto God until we’ve received what He has for us. This is terribly hard if we never slow down. Over and over I have to be reminded that I’m speaking with God, seeking not my will, but His. He has promised He will empower me, strengthen me, lift me up and so much more. If I want something from God I shouldn’t be in a rush, asking and running away.
When I was younger I really wanted to buy a portable stereo. I researched. I talked about it. I saved my money. In the end I found the best thing on the market and even found an open box demo $30.00 less than anywhere else. When I went to buy it my Dad told me to keep my money and he paid for it himself. Wow! I was blown away. I had not expectation he would do that, but he did it because he felt I had gone through a very good process and had learned well how to handle my money. So he let me keep the money and have the boom-box. We still listen to it today and it still sound great some 20 years later.
My Dad could have just gone and got me a boom-box when he heard I wanted one, but that wasn’t his interest. His interest was seeing that I grew to be responsible. Like any good father, God wants us to grow. At times that means learning to spend time waiting on Him, staying in prayer until He responds. It always means allowing Him to have His way. He even did this with Jesus. It’s interesting to note how many times, before some major event, Jesus went out to a lonely place the night before and prayed through the night. He too needed to let the Father have His time.
Is it possible that God has way more for us if we’ll just wait on Him? I’m sure he does. If I want to gain the benefit of His wisdom and knowledge, his help and strength, his comfort, then I need to be willing to wait on His timing and give myself over to time spent with Him. Join us and listen to Pastor Mike Rody’s message Waiting on God from his Series on Prayer. I pray it will inspire you to take more time to linger with God or as the old time Pentecostals said, “tarry at the altar”.
Tags: God's Timing, Jacob, Learning to Pray, Pentecost, Power of God, Prayer, Series on Prayer, Tarrying, Waiting, Wrestling with God
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General Council of the Assemblies of God