Pastor Micah shared a message entitled "Hide & Seek" this week to help remind each of us why the Bible is so important to us today! He pulled out a few key words from 2 Timothy 3:16-17; profitable, complete, and equipped that help us understand the importance of God's Word! Only through spending time in God's Word can we truly grow into the man or woman of God that He is calling us to be. Spending time in His Word and allowing the Holy Spirit to work in our lives is how we become most fully equipped in our lives so that we can do every God work that God has for us to do!

Pastor Micah shared four things the sufficient Word of God is used for to make us complete believers and equip us in every good work:

1. Teaching
2. Rebuking
3. Correcting
4. Training

Check out this original game of "Hide & Seek" as King David shares his heart in Psalm 119:10-11. “I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (NIV). 

Bottom Line: King David was continually seeking God with his whole heart, and the way he was doing that was by hiding (or storing) God's Word in His heart. That is Pastor Micah's prayer for each and every person. 

Pastor Micah shared a message this week titled "The Meaning Of Pentecost!" The Day of Pentecost is a historic event that took place as God poured the Holy Spirit upon the Early Church to empower, equip, and enable us to reach the world for Christ! Pastor Micah approached this message with a 30,000 foot view looking at the connection between the Passover and Pentecost Festivals. We know that the Holy Spirit has been actively involved since the Creation story back in Genesis chapter 1. The Prophet Joel prophesied about the Holy Spirit coming hundreds of years before the day of Pentecost occurred. The initial out pouring of the Holy Spirit was marked by 3 symbolic phenomena:

1. The sound of violent rushing wind!
2. Tongues of fire resting on each head!
3. Witness to the nations for His glory!

Bottom Line: God’s purpose at Pentecost was to equip His church with the power of the Holy Spirit so that we would be His witnesses to all the nations, resulting in His eternal glory. (Habakkuk 2:14)

Pastor Micah finished up our current series this past Sunday called "Taking the NEXT Step!" Throughout this series we are focusing on the topic of stewardship and looking specifically at the Biblical principles of tithing, offerings, and trusting the Lord with everything He has placed in your hands!

In the first week of the series we looked at the Biblical principle laid out for tithing. The second week Pastor Micah shared a tool called the ‘giving ladder’ that helps each of us to see where we’re at when it comes to giving in our lives. In the 3rd and final week Pastor Micah challenged you to seek the Lord and see what He would have you to do for the rest of 2024 in regards to your giving. He shared a tool call a P.L.O.W. card:

• P-Pray: Ask the Lord that He would help you know what it is He’s asking you to give at this time.
• L-Listen: To hear an answer.
• O-Obey: Obey and follow through with the answer the Lord gives you.
• W-Wow: Watch and be amazed at what will take place when you pray, listen, and obey God’s leading in your life.

If you’re currently giving at a level that you know you could do without God then I’m going to challenge your thinking, and say that I don’t think you’re actually hearing what God wants you to do. When we obey God’s leading in our lives it’s the key that unlocks the wow factor in our lives. 

Bottom Line: This series may be hard for some people to hear, but throughout this series we hope you will be open to taking the next step in the area of stewardship with tithes and offerings. 

We celebrated all of the great moms, grandmothers, step mothers, foster moms, and mother figures God has blessed our great church and community with! Pastor Micah shared a message called "A Mother's Heart" which focused on how mothers experience the greatest of joys, but likewise experience the deepest of pains. By looking at 3 lesser known moms from scripture we walked away with 3 questions:

1. Jochebed (Exodus 2): Where do you need to surrender control to God?
2. Zarephath (1 Kings 17): Where do you need to trust God’s promises and step out in obedience even in the midst of doubt?
3. Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11-12): Are you living a story in need of redemption? In what part of life do you need to live in the hope that God is redeeming your story?

For each of us we must cling to the promise we find in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” 

Bottom Line: So wherever you find yourself today—needing to surrender control, wanting to step deeper into trust and obedience, or hoping that God can redeem your story—let’s allow our lives to reflect the true heart of a mother: filled with great joy and deep pain, but covered in His grace, which is always enough.

Pastor Micah picked back up our current series this past Sunday called "Taking the NEXT Step!" Throughout this series we are focusing on the topic of stewardship and looking specifically at the Biblical principles of tithing, offerings, and trusting the Lord with everything He has placed in your hands!

In the first week of the series we looked at the Biblical principle laid out for tithing. This week Pastor Micah shared a tool called the ‘giving ladder’ that helps each of us to see where we’re at when it comes to giving in our lives. The third part of the series I’m going to challenge you to seek the Lord and see what He would have you to do for the rest of 2024 in regards to your giving. Here is a recap of the 5 steps of the giving ladder discussed this past week:

1. A POTENTIALGiver (Anyone with any form of income)
2. An EMERGING Giver (Someone who gives occasionally, and without any particular rhyme or reason)
3. A CONSISTENT Giver (Someone who gives at a regular basis at a consistent level)
4. A TITHE Giver (Someone who gives 10% of their income to the local church)
5. An EXTRAVAGANT Giver (This is someone who gives above 10% of their income to the local church)

Bottom Line: This series may be hard for some people to hear, but throughout this series we hope you will be open to taking the next step in the area of stewardship with tithes and offerings. 

Pastor Laura shared a message this week called "A New Thing" focusing on how after Jesus went back up to Heaven he commanded the Apostles to go to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit to come. In Acts chapters 1-3 we read about how even though God was doing a new thing it's not always easy as wait for the new thing to take place. 

Here are 3 things we can learn from the Apostles as they waited on the new thing to take place:

1. The Story Ended (or sho they thought)
2. They Began To Prepare
3. The Spirit Came

There are also 3 key questions we need to ask ourselves when waiting for God to do a new thing. These come from the story of the lame man being healed in Acts 3:

1. Where Are You Sitting?
2. Where Are You Looking?
3. What Are You Expecting?

Bottom Line: The end of something is often an amazing opportunity for something new to come. Good things can happen even when you’ve been stuck for a long time.

Pastor Bethani shared a message titled "Please Pass The Faith" which focused on the importance of passing on our faith to the next generation. In particular as Pastors Bethani and Sarah wrote this message it was focused on passing down the faith to Generations Z and Alpha (those born since 1996). Here are a few highlights for you:

• Passing on the faith to the next generation is the responsibility of the entire church.
• Passing on the faith means we talk about what God has done in our lives with those who are younger than us. In other words: commend, declare, and sing the greatness of God! (Psalm 145:4, 6-7)
• God has equipped us as a church to pass the faith to others. Each of us has a role to play. What is your role?

Pastor Bethani challenged each person to take time and intentionally pray this week about what their role could be here at Chisholm AG to help pass the faith along to the next generation! 

Pastor Bethani shared a message titled "Promise In The Valley" which focuses on Genesis 15 and relates it to the mountain highs and valley lows we experience in life. The point is that every mountain is followed by a valley but we always have a mountain of a promise in Jesus. This message offers hope to everyone in their low times in life and helps those in the high times of their lives that the lows will come but the promise we have in Jesus remains the same.

Bottom Line: Jesus' valley low was our mountain high. When we walk through the valley, we need to cling to the promise we have in Jesus!

Pastor Micah started a new series this week called "Taking the NEXT Step!" Throughout this series we will focus on the topic of stewardship and looking specifically at the Biblical principles of tithing, offerings, and trusting the Lord with everything He has placed in your hands!

This week we looked at the Biblical principle laid out for tithing. The second part of this series I will share with you a tool called the ‘giving ladder’ that helps each of us to see where we’re at when it comes to giving in our lives. The third part of the series I’m going to challenge you to seek the Lord and see what He would have you to do for the rest of 2024 in regards to your giving. 

Bottom Line: This series may be hard for some people to hear, but know that I’m sharing this because I really believe that it’s for your benefit more than anything else when you learn how to tithe and give to the Lord.

Pastor Micah wrapped up our 2024 Easter series this year, "Empty." As Easter has been approaching we've focused on how through an empty tomb we find the ultimate fulfillment in our lives through Christ! This series unpacks the idea of emptiness by following people connected to the death of Jesus and showing that only at the empty tomb will we be made full.

As we celebrated Easter this week we looked at the story of Mary and her experience at the tomb following Jesus' resurrection. Mary had come to the tomb feeling empty and seeking a full tomb. She left finding an empty tomb and being made full! After Jesus appeared to her, she ran back to tell the other disciples that Jesus defeated death and that she had seen their Lord!

God has gone to great lengths to be with you and to fill your emptiness. He provided a solution for all of the sins that leave you feeling empty through the sacrifice of His son Jesus on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. He provides you a full life now here on Earth and an eternal life after death! Why? Because God loves you!

Bottom Line: Jesus’ death and resurrection repairs us and now the Holy Spirit fills us. We no longer have to experience emptiness because the presence of God is IN us. We are made full!