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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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”.

The story is exciting, but the end result is amazing. In our modern era the Holy Spirit is still at work just as powerfully as on that day.  Join us and listen to this message Power To Do The Job.

May 23rd was also a very good day where we baptized three individuals and celebrated a  baby dedication.  Now we don’t baptize babies but like Mary and Joseph did we present our babies to God.  We baptize people, children or adults, who have accepted God’s authority in their lives and are ready to make a public declaration of that fact.  So if you like you can also listen to our baby dedication (May 23, 2010) and our baptism service (May 23, 2010) we didn’t include these in the podcast but have included the links here above.