Thursday, March 27, 2008
Watch out!!!
I was driving home from church last night and guess what happened. I'm not 2 miles from home and I hit a deer with our Honda Accord. We both lost: the deer died and my front end is smashed. Hopefully it will not take 3-4 weeks to get it fixed. Anyway be careful, the critters are on the move.
Monday, March 24, 2008
WOW!
There is a worship song that says, "Amazing love how can it be? That you my king would die for me. Amazing love I know it's true and it's my joy to honor you. In all I do, I honor you." These are the thoughts of my heart as I think back over yesterday: Easter.
God is so good and loving and merciful and gracious to you and me, sinners hopelessly lost without Christ. I am so amazed at the PRIVILEGE (we don't deserve it, neither have we earned the right) God has provided us in that we can come into His presence. This access to God is made available through the finished work of Christ: His death, burial and resurrection. Praise God He is not dead; He is alive. And He did it all for me, and He did it all for you. "Jesus loves me this I know, for the bible tells me so." Thank you God for your great love which you have effectively demonstrated to us by way of the cross of Calvary (Romans 5:8).
God is demonstrating His love to you and I here at HGBC also. He is still alive; He is still on the throne; He is still at work in your life and in mine! That is something to get excited about Christian.
I am just beside myself (and that is an interesting place to be) with what God is doing in this place: that is in you and me. Our Easter services just blew me away. The crowd was awesome (149 in SS/ 367 in worship), the music was awesome (great job Tim, the choir and the actors), and God gave me great liberty in the preaching of His word. When I gave the invitation seven people raised their hands that they had prayed to receive Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. "I pray that God gives them the courage to make that decision public at their next opportunity. God help them. And God help us to be the examples they need as they begin this new and incredible journey with You."
I want to leave you with a verse today. It is Romans 15:13 "Now may the God if hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
Serving Him,
Pastor Mike
God is so good and loving and merciful and gracious to you and me, sinners hopelessly lost without Christ. I am so amazed at the PRIVILEGE (we don't deserve it, neither have we earned the right) God has provided us in that we can come into His presence. This access to God is made available through the finished work of Christ: His death, burial and resurrection. Praise God He is not dead; He is alive. And He did it all for me, and He did it all for you. "Jesus loves me this I know, for the bible tells me so." Thank you God for your great love which you have effectively demonstrated to us by way of the cross of Calvary (Romans 5:8).
God is demonstrating His love to you and I here at HGBC also. He is still alive; He is still on the throne; He is still at work in your life and in mine! That is something to get excited about Christian.
I am just beside myself (and that is an interesting place to be) with what God is doing in this place: that is in you and me. Our Easter services just blew me away. The crowd was awesome (149 in SS/ 367 in worship), the music was awesome (great job Tim, the choir and the actors), and God gave me great liberty in the preaching of His word. When I gave the invitation seven people raised their hands that they had prayed to receive Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. "I pray that God gives them the courage to make that decision public at their next opportunity. God help them. And God help us to be the examples they need as they begin this new and incredible journey with You."
I want to leave you with a verse today. It is Romans 15:13 "Now may the God if hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
Serving Him,
Pastor Mike
Saturday, March 22, 2008
"And the Gift Goes On"
Well, the meeting is over, Bro. Herb has gone home, but I believe the effects of the meeting will be with us for an eternity. The truth was spoken into our hearts, minds and lives. Jesus said, "You will know the TRUTH and the TRUTH will set you free."
I have been thinking of this liberating truth for several days. I believe Jesus knew that His children would often times get caught in "bondage/chains/tradition" or what ever image you want to transfer to the idea. The truth of the matter is that the church which belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ has failed to come through when it comes to what Jesus left us here to do. We have built building and drawn crowds together, we have built institutions but have failed to build people-true disciples of Jesus.
A true disciple of Jesus will build people who understand that their one, primary objective is to build people who will change the world. Jesus said the world is our target and nothing less will do. Bro. Herb Hodges helped us this week in coming to realize that something is missing in the life of our church, we have not been building people in the same manner and fashion as our Lord, Savior and Leader.
The good news is we don't have to develop a strategy, Jesus has done that for us. He left you and I a very excellent example to follow. All we have to do is put into practice exactly what we see in Him and the way He built His disciples.
That is where FREEDOM is found. May we all be "free indeed."
Serving Him,
Pastor Mike
I have been thinking of this liberating truth for several days. I believe Jesus knew that His children would often times get caught in "bondage/chains/tradition" or what ever image you want to transfer to the idea. The truth of the matter is that the church which belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ has failed to come through when it comes to what Jesus left us here to do. We have built building and drawn crowds together, we have built institutions but have failed to build people-true disciples of Jesus.
A true disciple of Jesus will build people who understand that their one, primary objective is to build people who will change the world. Jesus said the world is our target and nothing less will do. Bro. Herb Hodges helped us this week in coming to realize that something is missing in the life of our church, we have not been building people in the same manner and fashion as our Lord, Savior and Leader.
The good news is we don't have to develop a strategy, Jesus has done that for us. He left you and I a very excellent example to follow. All we have to do is put into practice exactly what we see in Him and the way He built His disciples.
That is where FREEDOM is found. May we all be "free indeed."
Serving Him,
Pastor Mike
Monday, March 17, 2008
O Brother Where Art Thou?
Not that bad of a movie, but man if you miss our services today (March 16) you missed a great blessing from the hand of God. We began our "revival" meeting today and Bro. Herb Hodges was used mightily to bring honor and glory to Himself. He spoke this morning on Revelation 3:20 and preached an amazing message on salvation. Tonight he preached a message which he calls "the Glove" and used Galatians 2:20. If you missed it get the CD. (We do record the messages. They are $3 per copy if you want one; call the office and place your order.)
He is speaking each night at 7pm and also 12pm on Wednesday but you must sign up to attend the lunch meeting. I encourage you to attend every service, take notes and get the sermons on CD so that you can go over them repeatedly every year from now on.
During the invitation today we had two precious souls come forward to present themselves as candidates for baptism and membership. We didn't know it at the time but one other precious soul was about to be saved at the conclusion of the service. God is up to something BIG at HGBC. "Get all excited, go tell everybody..." Come and bring someone with you.
I also want to encourage you to participate in our Easter Sunday activities "Friend Day" and celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are participating in a Sunrise Service at Spring Park on the river at 7AM on Sunday morning. Please come and have a great start to the day. After the Sunrise Service we will be having breakfast at the church and then having Sunday School and our morning worship service. We are expecting God to do great things in our midst, just as He has been doing. If you have never seen God at work, come visit us at your earliest convenience. God bless you.
Serving Him,
Pastor Mike
PS. Just wanted to let you know if you are still interested in reading through the bible in one year I have placed a link on the page. Just click on it and you can print out a reading schedule, just start today and read from there until you have completed the task. I also noticed that you can read the assigned passages on the website from any translation you prefer. Just thought I would throw that out as a gentle reminder. Read on my friend.
He is speaking each night at 7pm and also 12pm on Wednesday but you must sign up to attend the lunch meeting. I encourage you to attend every service, take notes and get the sermons on CD so that you can go over them repeatedly every year from now on.
During the invitation today we had two precious souls come forward to present themselves as candidates for baptism and membership. We didn't know it at the time but one other precious soul was about to be saved at the conclusion of the service. God is up to something BIG at HGBC. "Get all excited, go tell everybody..." Come and bring someone with you.
I also want to encourage you to participate in our Easter Sunday activities "Friend Day" and celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are participating in a Sunrise Service at Spring Park on the river at 7AM on Sunday morning. Please come and have a great start to the day. After the Sunrise Service we will be having breakfast at the church and then having Sunday School and our morning worship service. We are expecting God to do great things in our midst, just as He has been doing. If you have never seen God at work, come visit us at your earliest convenience. God bless you.
Serving Him,
Pastor Mike
PS. Just wanted to let you know if you are still interested in reading through the bible in one year I have placed a link on the page. Just click on it and you can print out a reading schedule, just start today and read from there until you have completed the task. I also noticed that you can read the assigned passages on the website from any translation you prefer. Just thought I would throw that out as a gentle reminder. Read on my friend.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
An Oximoron
The place we are in West Virgina is called "WinterPlace." We are suppose to be skiing at a place called WinterPlace and yet it is about 55 degrees and has been raining for most of the day. But there is still hope! The storm front is moving through and on the backside of it is COLD weather and SNOW!!! Hopefully and prayerfully I might add, we are expecting things to be good the rest of the week. Hope you are having a blessed week.
Pastor Mike
Pastor Mike
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Elvis Has Left the Building
I'm outta here! We are on vacation. Goin snow skiing and can't wait. See ya when we get back. Love ya. Mean it.
Pastor Mike
Pastor Mike
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