This Sunday, we will hear a personal testimony from Eli Allen. I will offer a reflective message from Ephesians 3:16-20.

Ephesians 3:16-21

Christ was always Gods plan to restore the world. These are some of the points that I will teach on this Sunday:

1.      A prayer for strength.

A source of strength that comes from the Holy Spirit. Jesus wants to move in and take up residence in your heart. 

2.      Love; God does not give His power for show. The essence of the Christian life is love. There’s nothing easy about love. Be able to love each other well. 

3.      The step of knowing. That we would grasp the love of Christ. This a love that goes beyond mere understanding. To fully experience the full scope of his love. 

4.      The full measure of God's goodness.

Grace and Peace,

Stephen

Monday our nation celebrates Independence Day, which commemorates the day that the 13 original colonies joined together to declare their independence from Great Britain. In fact, the first time we were ever referred to as the “United States of America” was in the Declaration of Independence, which was accepted by the leadership of the 13 colonies on July 4, 1776. July 3, we were a collection of colonies. July 4, we were the United States of America. That’s why we call July 4 the birthday of our nation. So, I hope you take some time to recognize and give God thanks for the blessings we enjoy as a nation.

I hope you take some time this weekend to consider what virtues make our nation strong, and what obstacles make us weak, and what part each of us can play in building a nation that will last another 246 years.

Grace and Peace,

Stephen

Satan never stops lying to the believers, trying to convince us that we are not who God declares that we are in Christ Jesus. The Bible says so much about our true identity. I'll be unpacking some of Satan's schemes to undermine us and walk through some practical tips to help us live a victorious life and experience the fullness of God. I hope to see you tomorrow!

I love y'all

doug

Why do we ask the question, what would Jesus do? Is it because when we become Christians, we become one with Christ? We commit our life to Him. If we're dedicated to our commitment, He will give us the strength we need to deal with whatever we face in life.  We depend on His strength, and as we do, we become more conformed to His image, living the Gospel that He taught us and anxious to do so. We're supposed to renew our minds, and the new mind that we're supposed to acquire is a Jesus-like mind. With that kind of mind, you know that you are living in the center of God's will.

Are you living in the center of God’s will? How do you know whether you are or not? By allowing the Holy Spirit to renew your mind and put a right Spirit within your heart. The new mind and spirit is the transformation that occurs when you conform to His will and not the pattern of the world. Romans 12:2 “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

What does it mean to acquire a Jesus-like mind? Study the gospels and the letters of Paul. Learn as much as you can about Jesus. Mirror his lifestyle. Serve others. Affirm them. Validate their concerns, pray for them, and embrace them. Stop judging. Surround yourself with other believers. 

How do you renew your mind, heart, and spirit? Seek the things of God daily! Today, there's much confusion about what it is to be a Christian. Churches have defined it in many ways; how we worship, the music we use, etc. Being a Christian has been defined by particular rules, such as what we wear, the version of the Bible we use, how we baptize folks. In a society that has become very secular, we need to get to the point of what it is to be a Christian. Peter sought to answer that in 1 Peter 2:21: “You were called to this kind of endurance, because Christ suffered on your behalf. He left you an example so that you might follow in his footsteps.”

In Luke 10, Jesus tells a story of a man attacked on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho. Some people coming down the road see he has been robbed and is injured, in a desperate condition; they are too busy to stop and help (the women in the truck story—pouring ran). The Good Samaritan sees the man and stops to help. He goes beyond normal courtesy, even placing himself in danger. Jesus says at the end of this story that we are to go out and “do likewise.” We need to be the people who help if we are going to do what would Jesus would do.

Grace and Peace,

Stephen

There are three ingredients that are necessary to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ into the world. The first is power. Jesus, in his final instructions to his disciples, told them to wait in Jerusalem “until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49) That power would be the Holy Spirit at work in their lives.

For example, on the Day of Pentecost Simon Peter preached and 3,000 souls were added to the church. But that’s not all. In a relatively brief period of history the tiny Christian community swept across the entire Roman Empire. Power was promised and power was delivered. The very gates of hell were threatened by the battering ram of God’s Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is experienced, people walk with courage and confidence. No one asks, “Can we do this, dare we try that?” Nothing is impossible to people who are led by the Spirit. Misty Creek is a living example of a people who are led by the Spirit.

The second ingredient in taking the Gospel of Christ to the world is purpose. There is no power without a great purpose calling us to accomplish great things. That purpose comes from a shared vision. God declares through the prophet Joel, “I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams . . .” What vision has God given to the people called Christians? It is a vision of the entire world joined into one family—the family of God. I am thankful that Misty Creek is an outward church not inward. A church called by the Holy Spirit to take the Gospel of Christ to the world has power, it has purpose—and it has one thing more.

It has God’s presence. Jesus had ascended to be with the Father. What would his disciples do now? He was the Way, the Truth, the Life for them. What would happen to the sheep without the shepherd? They were not to worry, Jesus told them. “I will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever . . .” (John 14: 16) That Counselor came like a mighty wind, like tongues of fire at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is Christ’s presence in the hearts of his followers.  

Grace and Peace,

Stephen

Pentecost is meant to be a little preview of heaven. In Revelation 7, John is given a vision of what heaven will actually look like. In verse 9, he says he sees a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. And what is the great multitude doing? Singing praises for their salvation through Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. So Pentecost was a preview of this explosion of praise that naturally flows from God's people. But so is worship. Every time Jesus followers get together to worship or pray and sing praises or to learn the Bible or do mission projects, there should be an outbreak of praise. Think about your last few conversations at church? Did they revolve around politics, work issues, family issues, sports? Or did they revolve around declaring the wonders of God? If we want the transforming power of the church at Pentecost, then we need to start with a shared passion for God’s work and an outbreak of praise to God. Pentecost was an outbreak of praise.

Another blessing of Pentecost is a call to prophesy. Notice what Peter says in verses 17-18 when he quotes the prophet Joel: “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit on all your people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my spirit in those days, and they will  prophesy.” Notice it says all, everybody. And they will prophesy. God isn't just talking about those 120 believers who were there on the day of Pentecost. God is talking about a day when every believer will prohesy in God’s name. God is talking about you and me. Don't let the word prophecy scare you. Prophets are simply truth tellers. They are chosen by God to share the message of God. A message of warning period, a message of hope.

But every prophet's message is essentially the glorious and grace-filled message in verse 21 of our Bible passage today: “And everyone who calls on the name of the lord will be saved.” that's the message you and I need to share with our family and friends and neighbors and coworkers and random strangers and everyone. Share it with your words. Share it with your actions. Share it with your life. God didn't pour out the Holy Spirit, the spirit of Jesus Christ, so we could keep God’s glory and power and love and truth inside these four walls. The call of the church is not to fill churches but to fill heaven. You and I are called and equipped by the Holy Spirit to be prophets, to share the truth of God and salvation through Jesus Christ with everyone. Every person we ever meet is God's opportunity. What God opportunities are right in front of you?

Grace and Peace,

Stephen

This Sunday we’re going to talk about a prayer that moved both Heaven and earth. Imagine visiting a foreign city in which you are falsely accused of a crime, attacked by a violent mob, stripped naked and beaten, and thrown into a dark prison cell. Few of us will ever endure that kind of violence and injustice. But many of us know what it’s like to lose everything that is important to us. Everything that is secure. Many of us know what it is like to feel trapped and alone and beyond all help. And that brings us to the first question for this morning: How do you respond to life in your weakest and worst moments? I’m not asking this to shame anyone this morning. I’m asking because our weakest and worst moments expose what we really believe in and what we really value. So how did Paul and Silas respond to being treated so unjustly? Verse 25 tells us. We read, “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” Think of that! In their weakest and worst moment, in a prison cell, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. Is that the way you respond when you are placed in a really bad situation?

Do you think Paul and Silas only worshipped God because they expected that God would rescue them? Were they praying for rescue? Were they praying for strength? Or were they praising God for His goodness? I suspect it was the latter. Whatever the content of that prayer, it was powerful enough to break open prison doors and yank shackles off of hands and feet.  Think of it. In their weakest and worst moment, when everything had been stripped away from them, Paul and Silas proved Who they truly believed in and what they truly valued. I don’t believe they prayed for God to save their lives; I believe they prayed and praised God because in Him they found the true purpose of life. What could be more freeing than that?

Who is listening to you?” Let’s look at our focus verse, verse 25, again: “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” That’s important. The other prisoners were listening to them.

The prayers of Paul and Silas didn’t just give the prisoners a brief moment of freedom. They set all the prisoners free. Which led to the jailer and all the members of his household coming to faith in Jesus Christ. Which set all of them free. Which led Luke to write his story in the book of Acts—a book which has led countless people to find freedom in Jesus Christ over the past 2,000 years. And it’s my hope and prayer that you will remember this story and will trust God in your weakest and worst moments.

Grace and Peace,

Stephen

I want to ask you a question: how do you respond when God—or life itself—changes your plans? This question is relevant for everyone because at some point in your life, God, or life, if you will, will suddenly and unexpectedly change your plans for your day, maybe even for your life. There is an old “Peanuts” cartoon strip that I suspect we all can relate to. In the first panel Charlie Brown says, “I learned something in school today, I signed up for folk guitar, computer programming, stained glass art, shoemaking and a natural foods workshop.” In the second panel he says, “[Instead] I got spelling, history, arithmetic, and two study periods.” In the third panel Charlie’s friend asks, “So, what did you learn?” 

Charlie says, “I learned that what you sign up for and what you get are two different things.” Welcome to life, Charlie Brown! What you sign up for and what you get are often two different things. So how do you respond to unexpected disappointments? To a sudden change in your plans? How you respond will, in large part, depend on your trust in God and your commitment to place your life in God’s hands, to let God use you for His work.

If you’ve ever questioned God’s will for your life, if you’ve ever thought that your life just took an unexpected detour, then you can appreciate this story from Acts 16. Paul and Silas and Timothy discovered that sometimes God’s will looks like an unexpected detour or a closed door. “The Holy Spirit often guides as much by the closing of doors as He does by the opening of doors.” And how we respond to these unexpected moments, those closed or opened doors, says a lot about our belief in God, and it says a lot about how God can use us to accomplish His will. Do you expect God to do something important with your life? He will! Do you believe God has a purpose for you? He does!!

Grace and Peace,

Stephen

I want us to focus today on Peter’s response in Acts 11:1-18 because it’s a powerful example of how to pivot our mindset from being God’s bouncer to being God’s ambassador. Peter ends his story by saying, “So if God gave them the same gift, He gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?” He was referring, of course to the gift of the Holy Spirit. If God gave Gentiles the gift of the Holy Spirit, Peter is saying, how could they be excluded from the church?

Here’s a powerful question: Are there times when you and I could be standing in God’s way?  

Are our beliefs, attitudes, prejudices, or actions interfering with the work of God in our community? 

Are we withholding the love and truth of Jesus Christ from certain people or certain groups because we think they are unacceptable to God? Are we standing in God’s way or standing in God’s will? 

When we really understand the greatness of God’s grace, we realize that we can’t leave anybody out. Do you want to be in God’s way or in God’s will? The best way to ensure you are in God’s will is to ask yourself the questions, “How big is my spiritual family?” and “How great is God’s grace?

In God’s eyes, there’s only one type of person: greatly loved and worth dying for. In the book of Galatians 3:28, the apostle Paul writes, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” We are not God’s bouncers; we are God’s ambassadors. It’s not our job to put limits on God’s love. It’s our job to share the love and the salvation of Jesus Christ with everyone we meet, so that all God’s children can someday be gathered into His kingdom.

Grace and Peace,

Stephen

      I don’t think you can overestimate the influence of a parent on a child’s sense of compassion. Compassion is what being a follower of Jesus is all about. Compassion is concern for the suffering of others. It’s an active response to another person’s pain. Compassion is at the heart of our lesson for today. Some people seem gifted with compassion, and some not so much. Do you think that’s why our world seems less compassionate these days? Do you think we’ve lost the courage to care? Do we keep a secret store of indifference as a sort of self-protection against getting hurt? 

     Those are some questions that flow from our Scripture lesson from Acts 9 for this coming Sunday. It is the story of a remarkable disciple of Jesus Christ named Tabitha. Our story begins like this, “In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor.” 

      Someone once wrote that a truly great life can be summed up in just a few words. An epitaph of excellence. This is our introduction to Tabitha: “she was always doing good and helping the poor.” What a wonderful epitaph. Here we are in the year 2022 talking about a woman who lived two thousand years ago. Why? Because of the caring life that she lived. What a legacy Tabitha left us. As long as people tell the Gospel story, Tabitha will not be forgotten. You and I were made to be Jesus in the world. That means living with a sense of purpose and translating our compassion into action. And if we commit to living this way, then our lives will have an eternal impact too.

Grace and Peace,

Stephen