“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Psalm 119:11
Praise the Lord for His Word. He has given us exactly what we need to live a victorious life not only by writing His words down for us to read, but by paying the penalty for my sin that I may live forgiven. Then He gave us what He promised by sending His Holy Spirit to live in me and through me. To top it all off, I am able to live in unity with the body of Christ and live out my faith in community. That is what we celebrated on Sunday when we looked at the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Wasn’t it good to be together on Easter? I am praying that some of our new friends will return this Sunday as we celebrate baptism together. Our District Superintendent, Geoff Kunselman, will be worshipping with us on Sunday. You will enjoy meeting Geoff and Mona as they lead our Northwestern Ohio District and Lighthouse Camp and Conference Center located in St. Marys, Ohio. I thought I would bring our attention to Psalm 119. The whole chapter is rich with the what, the why, the how to, and the importance of living out the Word of God. I would encourage you to go to your Bible and read all 176 verses and thank the Lord for the gift of His Living Word. Here are 10 things to remember about the Bible:
May God fill you through and through today as you seek Him with all your heart. We prayed for you to experience God in every situation today. Joy in Jesus! Pastor Mike
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John 1:1-5
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. I love the Spring. Seeing the beauty of the flowers, the smell of fresh green grass being cut evenly across the yard, birds singing a new melody – what a creative God we serve. Have you noticed how many birds are out and about? It seems like there are more this year than last. Maybe I am just noticing them more this year. The Easter season is all about Jesus coming down to earth to save us from our sin. The Apostle John refers to Jesus as the Word (or Logos in the original Greek). John says that he was with God in before all of creation, that Christ was with God, and that he is God. We also learn from this passage that the Word created the world, or was God’s agent of creation, and that “without him not one thing came into being.” The word Logos speaks volumes about the sacrificial nature of God. John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. In the third chapter of John, we see the wonder of the incarnation. Imagine it this way: Jesus is God (the only begotten Son) who exists before all worlds, and who, by his work, creates the universe. Jesus is not only present at the moment of creation, he brings it into being. He makes galaxies, moons, stars, animals, the trees, and then one day Jesus decides to become human and go through the birth cycle to enter the world. The God who made air is now dependent on air to survive. The God who made humans must now be dependent on two humans (Mary and Joseph) to feed and care for him. Only a holy God would choose to put himself through something he did not have to endure. It is his nature. We serve a God of love and this love is self-sacrificing. He emptied himself of his power and authority as God, and humbled himself and became obedient to a cross to pay our sin penalty. Jesus sacrificed himself because of his great love for us. It was the only way. It was love that drove him to the cross. It was not a weak moment, it was his way of life. This Sunday we will gather together and celebrate the power that lives within us. It is that power that enables us to walk in victory as a way of life. It will be worth inviting your neighbors to come and see what God has done for them. The first service begins at 8:30am and the second service begins at 10:45am. There will be a breakfast in between the services. Some of you need to make a call this very minute and give an invitation to come and experience Jesus like never before. On Thursday, I want to encourage you to come and participate in Maundy Thursday Communion. We will have 20 minute segments of communion starting at 5:30pm and going until 7:00pm. We want to actually step into the Upper Room and experience that very last night Jesus shared the bread and cup. Let’s continue to experience the God of grace and truth as we travel in this Holy Week. Joy in Jesus! Pastor Mike We have been working hard for the past 3 days at sprucing up our building and storage areas. We have had several people come and work many hours. They have painted, constructed, put drywall up, put LED lights up in the kitchen and dining area, painted, cleaned out, reorganized, put lighting in the upper Family Life Center, painted, prepared meals, prepared to paint, put scaffolding together, cleaned… Did I mention that we have been painting? Our children and teens worked hard on different projects outside from mulching to raking to picking up sticks to carrying different items to the dumpster. Things are really looking good and coming together. Let me mention that if you have time today or tomorrow to come and paint, we will not turn you away. We have to be done with the Family Life Center before Friday at 4pm so we can transition it over for our Easterrific event happening on Saturday. Call the church office and let us know if you plan on coming and if you will be joining us for supper or lunch. We need as many as we can as we finish these areas up.
As we have been renovating, I can’t help but think of the continual renovation that goes into our lives as we grow in our faith. Psalm 90:1-17 is a good passage to read and be reminded to number our days and seek for the wisdom of God. As we number our days we quickly realize how fast they go by and how we are to be intentional with the things we get involved in. I want to live my life on point and be intentional at everything I do. As I work to revamp, I want to work as to the Lord. Let me encourage you to take a spiritual inventory. Sit down and take a serious look at what you are doing to grow in your relationship with Christ. Ask questions like: Am I more spiritually mature than I was a year ago? What contributed to that? Do I love more like Jesus today than I did yesterday? When facing conflicts, do I run or do I work to resolve? If I am married, do I love and serve my spouse more today than yesterday? What is the priority of my heart? In Proverbs 24:3 it says, “By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established.” Seek to understand before you are understood today. May God bless you as you seek to grow in your relationship with the Lord today. If you want to have a place to ponder and work with your hands, join us in the Family Life Center. Joy in Jesus! Pastor Mike I am so thankful for our church. Sunday night was a wonderful time of worship and hearing testimonies about how God is working in the lives of our people. Then on Monday we had the funeral of Georgia Durain and on Tuesday the funeral of Margaret August. God helped us to celebrate the home going of two wonderful women. I was able to see our people in action as they served the families by providing a meal following the funerals. We had to have it in the classrooms by the office because our Twice Blessed Sale is going on. Our people didn’t complain about all the extra trips they had to make due to it not being down near our kitchen. Which reminds me of how many people are working Twice Blessed together in the Family Life Center and how people are going out of their way to meet and serve new people bringing their items to sell. There were many who came and helped set up all the tables and hanging devices for the sale following the service. This is such a loving and grace-filled atmosphere all across this place. I love our church.
Let me tell you a random story… The light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection. The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration, as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup. As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up.. He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a holding cell. After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects. He said, "I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the 'What Would Jesus Do' bumper sticker, the 'Choose Life' license plate holder, the 'Follow Me to Sunday-School' bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk, so naturally....I assumed you had stolen the car." I hope that you aren’t accused of acting like a heathen instead of a child of God. Thought you would enjoy a good laugh today. Remember to sign up for Camp ReVamp starting on Monday, April 8. Text REVAMP to 419-408-6174. It’s going to be fun to work together. Joy in Jesus! Pastor Mike |
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Rev. Mike McClurgSenior Pastor, Findlay First Church of the Nazarene Archives
March 2020
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