The MPC Podcast

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

                                                                                                                    2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV                           

Some of our earliest memories are “don’t touch that,” “stop,” “leave that alone,” “don’t hit,” etc. These warnings and admonitions are spoken by our loved ones who are there to protect and guide us.  They help us develop a sense of safety and of what is right and wrong.  As we grow older, we learn to rely on their teachings and find comfort and support in following their instruction. However, somewhere during adolescence and early adulthood, many of us start to believe we know it all and we no longer need their guidance.  We think “I got this,” and frankly, we often resent the advice given from others, and we barrel headfirst into disastrous situations.

Unfortunately, some of us continue along this path for many years and sometimes decades, often turning from one thing to the next seeking answers and advice. We wonder why our decisions aren’t yielding the desired results and why our lives are in turmoil. Finally, we ask, what do I do now? 

The answer is Jesus.  When we turn to Jesus and earnestly seek and study the Word of God, we become better equipped to run the race of life. I challenge you to listen to God’s voice as it is shared in Holy Scripture. 

Let us pray:

Dear God, please help me to lean not on my own thoughts and ideas but to diligently seek and study your Word daily for guidance and direction and serve in spirit and in truth. In Jesus’s name, I pray, Amen.

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“looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

       TITUS 2:13

THOUGHT

So many predictions of the end of the world have come and gone. These predictions are unsettling and often fill people with fear. Yet the Bible does refer to a time called "the day of the LORD" when He will return. It will happen but only God knows when.

It's a day that Jesus’s followers can look forward to. Considering that time to come, the apostle Peter tells us how the believer can live with joyful purpose (2 Peter 3:10-18). We can look upward by living Christ-honoring lives. We can look inward by making every effort to be found at peace with God. And we can look outward by being on guard, so we aren't carried away by the wrong influence of others.

How do we do this?  By "growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." When we grow in character through His written Word, we begin to relate more closely to Jesus, the Living Word. The Holy Spirit take God's Word and guides us in the way to live.

The day of the Lord shouldn't be a fearful day for Jesus's followers. Our King will return to make all things right and to rule forever. We wait for that time with great anticipation.  It is our "blessed hope."

Let us pray:

Jesus, thank you for your guidance as I interact with others during this 40-day Lenten season and beyond.  Help me to recognize their needs and concerns.  Even when I'm with others, I ask to be attuned to You and to Your guidance – to know when to listen and when to speak.

Your grace is sufficient for me when I am afraid to share or don't have the perfect words to say. Especially in my weakness, You have room to work through me, so I thank You for going before me in every interaction, empowering me to carry out the good work which You have planned for me in advance.

May you be glorified in and through each of us as we serve you, our King! May we gladly yield to Your rule in our lives now as we look forward to the day when You reign for all eternity.

In Jesus’s name, we pray, Amen!!!

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”For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.”                                                                             1 John 3:12-15 NIV 

A Thought: 

In today’s current time, we are bombarded with stories of people, ideologies and governments that commit unkind acts against others. The lesson of loving one another must continue to be taught to the younger generations. There is strength in being righteous. It is not an easy path because all parties around you will not be excepting of deeds done in the light. The sacrifices of the father must always be taught to all believers and non-believers, especially the young. 

Let us pray:

Gracious and Merciful Father, 

You have blessed us with the ability to exercise free will. May Your word be the catalyst to clear and righteous thinking and action. The path of our daily walk can be filled with pitfalls of evil disguised as the easy road to the things that we may desire. Guide us with your eternal light Lord so that we may make the right decisions on this road we call Life on Earth.  In YOUR name we pray, Amen. 

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For where jealousy and sinful ambition exist there will be disorder and every vile practice.                                                                                                  James 3:16

Peas and carrots . Pancakes and jelly. Grandmas and hugs. The list of go-together is long and sadly not all is warm and fuzzy as the few listed here. Jealousy and selfish desires just naturally go with all kinds of bad things. Can’t have one without the other.

None of us wants these things. I don’t know of anyone who wakes up and says, ”Today is the day I’m going to be jealous and try to hurt everyone who has something I want”. NO, these things creep into our lives slowly, but if you are not careful, they take over. They become who you are whether you want to admit it or not.

But don’t be fooled. These character traits are not what GOD desires and expects of us. When these things are present in your life, there are some things that won’t be….that cannot be. You can’t have the peace and contentment of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit cannot reside with these things.

What negative and sinful thoughts and feelings are you harboring? How are they affecting your relationships? Your job? Your intimacy with God? Ask God to lessen these things and increase them with joy and contentment.

Let us pray:

Eternal Father open me to be more like you and less of self during this lent season in Jesus name I pray, Amen.

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Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10a NKJV.

Recently, a hot water heater tank leaked in my basement. It made such a mess. I had to call the insurance company and get things cleaned out. Finally, I was able to have my basement remodeled. It looked lovely. I enjoyed admiring the new fixtures, including the freshly painted walls and flooring.

The boiler and water heater are in a room off to one side in the basement. The boiler room was not part of the remodeling. As I was putting away some things in the boiler room, I was struck by how much clutter and filth there was. The dust seemed a mile high. I said to myself, "I don't like this part of the basement." So I tidied it, dusted, washed, and removed some old stuff.

As I was cleaning this unsightly part of my basement, the Lord brought this verse to my mind – "Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me." I started thinking about how I have some clean areas of my life that I let everyone see -- I come to church, get dressed up, smile, help out, and give financially to God's work.

But when I come down to it, I believe that parts of my heart are probably just as dirty and dusty as my basement's boiler room. These include feelings of resentment, holding grudges, jealousy, and disobedience. It takes time with God to identify the areas in my heart that need cleaning. God gently exposes those things to me gradually as I study the Bible, meditate on His Word, and pray. God uses the power of the Holy Spirit to cleanse and remove those "dirty" elements of my heart as I confess my sins to Him.

Let us pray: Thank you, O God, for the power of your Holy Spirit that convicts, cleanses, and restores. I confess my sins to you. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. In Jesus’s name, I pray, Amen.

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“You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. 2 You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice.

       Exodus 23:1-2 NKJV

God insists on honesty, irrespective of who it may be. One should not be partial or show favoritism or by any means pervert the court of justice by taking sides with the majority or speaking falsely against someone. It is better for us to stand alone than to take part in such practices.  The Scripture reminds us that our Heavenly Father is not pleased with such behavior. Standing with God is always better than following the crowd.

Let us pray:

Dear God, we thank you that You love us and we ask You to forgive us of our sins.  Help us to understand your will and ways so that we will represent you in a better way. Grant us your peace and teach us to respect humanity by treating everyone equally just like You do.  In your name, we pray, Amen.

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God didn’t give us a spirit that makes us weak and fearful. He gave us a spirit that gives us power and love. It helps us control ourselves.                                                                  2 Timothy 1:7 NIRV

Often when we think of Jesus, we don’t always acknowledge all the characteristics of His humanness in our thoughts. He, our Lord and Savior purposely, willingly, took on human form so that we would know that He could relate to every aspect and facet that we journey through in this life.

We think of the physicality of Jesus during this time of Lent because Jesus is being harmed and physically bruised by the nails in His hands and feet or the piercing of His side. We celebrate the blood streaming down because we know that this blood was the atonement for our sins. However, do we think about the psychological challenges that Jesus was facing?  Those challenges are not far from the mental challenges we face daily.

One of the aspects that we encounter is our emotions. Emotions are the open awareness of psychological and physiological outcomes of expressions towards events and experiences that life has to offer. 

I believe Jesus experienced a barrage of emotions during the final days of His earthly experience. Just the thought of the coming days and weeks of an impending end to His walk on earth, His thoughts had to be daunting. Jesus saw and heard the schemes that people were plotting against Him.  Can you imagine knowing that people, friends, and foes, are speaking ill of you?  How many emotions can you conjure in your heart at just the thought of such an awful experience?

Can you imagine knowing that in days you are going to die? The cascade of emotions would be overwhelming.  While the physical pain Jesus felt was taking place, imagine how emotionally battered He was seeing people that He loved watching Him endure such pain.  Remember, Jesus was human so I am imagining a wellspring of emotions that plagued Him during those difficult days.

But God…Our loving Father has not made us weak and He does not want us to fear because He is God.  We are His children and we can call on Him for power and love to help control every emotion that we’re going through in every situation.  Our Father has prepared us even for the most difficult days that we can have.  When life is taking us through twists, and turns, and trauma is building all around us we have an egress. It is choosing to accept the presence of God in our life, living with His word hidden in our hearts, and truly loving God, ourselves, and the people in our lives.

Let us pray:

Father God, help us to acknowledge our most vulnerable moments when life has broken us down to the point when even our mental wellness is challenged.  Be our strength, God, and help us to find rest in you. Father, help us to be aware and kind to those who don’t know You and find it difficult to be present in the reality of their lives. Give us all peace and take us to a place where we can acknowledge You as Lord and Savior of our lives. In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen.

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Scripture: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

In a world full of uncertainty, it's hard to know how to feel about the future. While we all hope for brighter days ahead, many times the present seems to speak of only impending darkness. When the world around us causes us to lose hope, that's when we must look to the words of

the One who knows the future and has it in his hands.

The words of Jeremiah 29:11 were not only words of comfort and confidence from the prophet to the captive Israelites, they are also God's message for us today: "I know the plans I have for you " declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

God knows the future and wants us to trust him for the journey ahead. No matter how bleak the circumstances, God promises "hope and a future."

Let us pray:

Holy and Merciful Father, we thank You for the blessings of this day. We ask forgiveness for

those times we've fallen short of your will for our lives. As we prepare spiritually for this season of Lent, I pray that You are a presence of peace, healing, hope, and grace in our lives. Help us to keep our focus on You, realizing that You are the source of our living hope. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen 

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“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” ~  Hebrews 11:6 KJV

Thought:

Faith is a gift! The scripture tells us that everyone has been given a measure of faith and that faith grows as we hear the word of God. That’s why we have to make time every day to read and study His word because you’re feeding your faith. If we want to please God, we must have faith in Him and acknowledge that He exists. The more you feed your faith, the more you know Him and understand His goodness.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us faith so we can be pleasing to You. Thank you for filling our hearts and minds with Your truth. Transform us into your image and let everything we do bring glory to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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“He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30 (CEB)

As I’ve meditated on our church’s Lenten theme: Doing Less, Becoming More, I said, “Lord, this seems simple enough, yet how do I do this? I have so many things to do, my plate is full.” Then my answers came: Pause…be still. Be intentional with your prayer and devotional time. Be humble. Be kind. Bless others and give love.

My desire is to be in alignment with where the Lord would have me to

be.

May you be blessed and inspired on your spiritual journey during this

Lenten season.

Prayer:

Lord, please provide us with wisdom and guidance as we seek to

decrease so that you may increase. In the name of Jesus, I pray, Amen.

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