Christ teaches people to pray with confidence and intimacy. His approach to God was both reverential and tender. He removed the need for an intercessor like a priest, making communication with God accessible to anyone. Christ teaches us how to pray for forgiveness, have confidence that our needs will be met when we ask, and turn to God when life is difficult. His example and instruction promote a relationship with God marked by gratitude, humility, love, peace, and joy. Without Christ, people pr...
Mar 22, 2015•40 min
Christ presented Himself as a guide to God. He used phrases like "light" and "way" to describe His work. He claimed to have a unique relationship with God so that anyone who heard Him or witnessed His life gained insights into the very nature of God. His approach to God was unique. Jesus Christ abolished the need for sacrifices as a means to forgiveness. He also turned the purpose of spiritual practices away from a means to a right standing with God to a means of fellowship with God and aid to p...
Mar 19, 2015•38 min
Probably the greatest contribution of Christianity to the world is the focus on love. Prior to Christ, God was perceived as distant - too holy and dangerous to approach. In the Roman world, the gods were capricious, manipulative and self-serving. Humans went to great lengths to gain their attention and favor. Even when one did, there was no guarantee that the strength of his god would prove sufficient over another god's designs. Christ promoted the God who is loving, kind, interested and involve...
Mar 08, 2015•40 min
Christ presented an ethic code that was not prevalent in His day. He calls us to love our enemies, lead by serving, and care for the poor. He promotes humility as a virtue (unheard of in the Roman world) and teaches that the way to greatness is through self-sacrifice. In a world that valued power, honor, and strength, His message was confusing and unusual. Yet, His virtues have taken over the world. We respect the humble over the proud, admire the compassionate and venerate those who serve other...
Mar 01, 2015•44 min
The life and work of Jesus Christ was a critical part of God's restoration of the world to His original intention. Jesus came to bring all people back to their Creator. His desire was grand in that He wanted the whole world restored. Everything Jesus said and did was meant to change the world, not just a few people or a small region. Jesus wants us to continue with the work He started. Bringing the message and work of Jesus Christ to all cultures of the world is an essential part of our mission ...
Feb 22, 2015•44 min
Don Golden, VP of Church Relations at World Vision, talks about the motive and power of doing good in the poorest regions of the world.
Feb 08, 2015•37 min
God is Creator. He has a purpose for Creation that included people. This purpose includes a relationship with God, peaceful relations with one another, and a stewardship of the world. These three intents are God's desires for humanity. We disrupted all three in an important moment with God and have continued to disrupt all three throughout time. God wants to repair and restore His design for His Creation. It's His art restoration project. Doing this will bring glory to the artist and wonderful g...
Feb 01, 2015•40 min
Studying God's Word can seem intimidating to some and not challenging to others. In this message, I want to share techniques and resources relevant to people at different stages in their spiritual journey. We'll look at how God's Word is a powerful gift to our spiritual development. Then, I will present how people new to faith, growing in faith or mature in faith can study God's Word differently in order to meet their growing needs. We'll talk about the importance of reading, studying and reflec...
Jan 25, 2015•47 min
Knowing that God's power and promises make us holy, we can partner with God in confidence by making effort to grow in Christian character. God's commitment to us enables us to grow. Therefore, we can work with confidence to refine our character under the guiding work of the Holy Spirit. We can examine our character develop our faith, moral virtue, Christian knowledge, self-control, commitment to faith, reverence towards God, love for other Christians, and love for all. Working on these qualities...
Jan 18, 2015•45 min
We begin our spiritual journey with Christ by grace. We continue in our journey by growing daily towards spiritual maturity. This journey is as much by grace as is our salvation. God has provided some 'great and precious' promises that enable us to participate in God's divine nature, ensuring our growth towards godliness. This guarantee releases us from the fear that we are not righteous enough, good enough or holy enough for God. It is not dependent upon our works to make us acceptable before G...
Jan 11, 2015•41 min
Guest Speaker: Marty Pomeroy
Jan 04, 2015•40 min
Too often people equate joy with happiness. This means that joy comes and goes with the ebb and flow of our own chemical processes and external circumstances. However, while joy may have emotional qualities to it, it is not an emotion, but instead a character choice. We discover that joy lasts when we make that choice as an active participant in our lives. This means that joy can be a lasting experience when we maintain an eternal perspective on life and consider the following qualities to joy: ...
Dec 28, 2014•42 min
The most common response to the conception and birth of Jesus Christ is joy. John the Baptist rejoices in Elizabeth's womb, Mary rejoices that she has been chosen to bear Christ, the angels rejoice with the Shepherds and the Magi rejoice in just seeing the star. What is it about this child that human beings and supernatural beings all rejoice at His arrival? Jesus is the fulfillment of all promises regarding the hope of Israel. They saw the arrival of the Messiah bringing help to people caught i...
Dec 24, 2014•21 min
Joy has an emotional quality that must be guarded and nurtured. Since we are commanded to rejoice always and resourced with joy through the Spirit, we should be able to build a lifestyle of joy. There are habits we can learn to help us be joyful in all circumstances. When we feel our joy diminish (or even lose it), we need to take stock of our lives and review these habits. They can refresh, renew, reinvigorate our joy.
Dec 21, 2014•40 min
Dec 14, 2014•42 min
Joy is part of the character of God. He possesses joy and expresses it. It is His reaction when people obey Him and when creation operates as He designed it. Human joy is similar. It is our reaction to the character of God, the gifts of God, and His work on our behalf. Joy comes when we align ourselves with God's design and experience the peace of a soul realigned to its created purpose. Joy then becomes our response (seen through our actions) to God for all He is and has done. Consequently, the...
Dec 07, 2014•38 min
God has called me to gather more people into God's family. How has He called me to do this? God wants to use ordinary people, empowered by God, to make a difference together - wherever they are! That means He wants us to make a difference with the people in your life, your community and our world. God cares about people everywhere. He wants to reach everyone, not just some. To do that we give, pray and serve to that end. God has called us to do that now - not later. People are dying for a relati...
Nov 23, 2014•34 min
God has called us to serve Him. Our call is to be a bi-vocational minister for Jesus Christ. We have been called to make a difference with our lives. Serving God with your life creates joy, improves all the relationships in your life, makes your life meaningful, and leaves a legacy from your life.
Nov 16, 2014•45 min
God has called us to become like Christ. We call this discipleship - the process of becoming like Christ.
Nov 09, 2014•41 min
God has formed us for His family, another name for the church. It's there that we learn our true identity, find support from others, discover our unique value, receive caring protection, and become productive. This fellowship is an important gift from God that helps us fulfill our call to be productive members of God's family.
Nov 02, 2014•42 min
God is love. He created us in order to love us. Therefore, my calling is to enjoy a relationship with God as a member of His family! You are called to be a son or daughter of God. Because He is love, God wants to express His love to people. The Bible describes God's love as wide enough to be everywhere, long enough to last forever, deep enough to handle anything, high enough to overlook my sins. This means you can feel accepted not ashamed, bold to bring my needs to God, peaceful in pain you don...
Oct 26, 2014•42 min
God has a calling over every person's life. It answers the questions, "Why am I alive? What am I supposed to do with my life?" Your calling is a gift from God, a gift that reveals His purpose for your life. It is unique to you. Your sins won't remove it or eliminate it. Your job may play a part in fulfilling your call, but your call is greater than your job. The church helps you fulfill it. God empowers you to achieve it. There is a prize for those who live out their calling. Over the next five ...
Oct 19, 2014•43 min
Oct 12, 2014•44 min
Pastor Mike addresses different generations--teens, young adults, parents, and empty nesters--directly with encouragement for them in their roles and gently challenges their choices that inhibit their spiritual growth as well as their ability to raise up the next generation.
Oct 05, 2014•38 min
Churches that support every member in the family help the next generation. The Christian faith is best passed on, one generation to the next, by building relationships, sharing Biblical truth, encouraging family members, supporting & caring for them during difficult times, investing in them with wisdom and love. Ministry partners can serve the next generation by directly investing into children and teens as well as their parents. Many adult believers speak to the influence of Children/Studen...
Sep 28, 2014•40 min
The Family is the primary source of spiritual influence into the lives of children and teens. They spend a few hours a week (at best) at church and many times that under their parent's influence. Studies consistently show that parents are an important influence into the lives of teenagers and children, their values & worldview influencing their children's. If we want to reach the next generation, the church has to consider how it can help and partner with parents. (For the sake of this messa...
Sep 21, 2014•44 min
God cares about the next generation of believers. He always has. The Bible contains stories of young men and women who He used to do a great work (Joseph, David, Esther). They are both the future of the church and a present mission field. Every church is within forty years of disappearing. God cares about the Next Generation because they are the future leaders of the church. They will shape, direct, preach, persuade, care, inspire and lead the church in the future. If we care about the future of...
Sep 14, 2014•42 min
Pastor Mike's Vision Sunday Message.
Sep 07, 2014•40 min
Week 4 of the series "Time of Your Life". If we live as though the best satisfaction, purpose, pleasure and meaning we can experience is while we live, then we will be disappointed, finding life to be meaningless. Solomon reflected on the meaning of life. He discovered that life has no purpose or meaning if we define it only by the days we have "under the sun". If we consider eternity, then we will redefine the purpose and meaning of life. We will invest the days of our lives in what contributes...
Aug 31, 2014•41 min
Week 3 of the series "Time of Your Life". There is a cumulative value to investing small amounts of time in important activites. In a corollary fashion, there is no value in investing small amounts of time in random things that interfere with the important. This is why God advises us to carefully consider how we use our time. As Paul states in Eph. 5:15-17, we should count our days like an investment. If we invest wisely, it will pay off in the long run of our lives.
Aug 24, 2014•42 min
