From Death to Life

I want you to know that I had church in my office long before we had our service yesterday morning. A little girl named Kim was brought to my office because she had prayed to receive Jesus Christ as her personal Savior last week as a result of our children's ministry; her mother and older sister were with her. After talking with Kim about the decision she made and making sure to the best of my ability that she understood what she had done and why she needed to do it, we talked for a few minutes about baptism. When that part of the conversation was over, I looked at Kim's mom and asked her about her personal relationship with the Lord and if she had ever been saved, and she said she had been saved since she was a teenager. (One thing is for sure, she heard the gospel more than once in my office.) I then turned to Kim's older sister Michelle and asked her about her spiritual condition, and without hesitating she said, "I want to be saved!" I went through the gospel once more and talked with her about her need for a Savior, and right here in my office a dead person was made alive through the power of shed blood of Jesus. Michelle got saved. I was so excited. I can't wait to see those two precious young ladies publicly identify with Christ as the baptismal waters are stirred. Just thought I would share that with you today.

"Get all excited, go tell everybody that Jesus Christ is King..."
Pastor Mike

What a week!

Man, I want to thank Nate Kelley and Hubert Hughes for taking me to the Gulf of Mexico fishing for a couple of days. (Morgan and Melissa are in NC.) It was such a peaceful and relaxing time. They also let me :)~ catch more fish, keepers that is. But I promise not to say anything from the pulpit Sunday. I caught a 22" red fish; right smack dab in the middle of the slot limit. I caught two flounder and 8 or 9 speckled trout that were keepers. If the minimum size limit on trout was 12"rather than 15" the boat wouldn't have held them all. But we did bring some beautiful fillets home. Can't wait to fire up the grease.

I'm looking forward to Saturday also. It's Eric Rendell's birthday and 8 of us are going on an offshore fishing trip. I have been deep-sea fishing several times, but never like this, on a private charter. Can't wait to see what bites a hook at 150' deep.

I have been in the office the last two days preparing for Sunday. I am looking forward to finishing the three part series on "In the Last Days" from Mark 13. Sunday morning we will look at what we are to be doing until the "time" comes. Then on Sunday night we will begin Mark 14, specifically studying v. 1-9. It's the story of Mary and her alabaster box. Can't wait to see what we are willing to give to Jesus after that message. In between those two sermons I will be sharing with our mission team to Honduras about the "vital vision" we must have in serving God. Looking forward to that as well.

Hope your week has been as good as mine! Melissa, come home soon. I miss you and Morgan.

Serving Him,
Pastor Mike

Rained out and Rescheduled

Fun in the Son was rained out Sunday, but we had an awesome service with those who showed up anyway. It has been rescheduled for Sunday June 22. We will use it as a kick-off for VBS.

Fun in the Son 08

I am looking forward to Sunday. It will be the occasion for our 3rd annual "Fun in the SON" day at HGBC. We are having a block party from 10-1 and we just hang out with our friends in the community. We have some good fun and food, and we give them an opportunity to get to know us and more importantly to know Jesus. If you are in the neighborhood please drop in, we would love to see you.

Serving Him,
Pastor Mike

Theology 102

I am enjoying my time teaching Theology 102; it's my discipleship class at HGBC, meeting on Wednesday nights at 6:30. We have been looking at the Doctrine of Christ- the Person of Christ for the last 7 weeks. (We did Theology 101 last year.) We will finish looking at the Person of Christ tonight and proceed into a study of the Work of Christ next week.

It has been very refreshing to restudy these mighty truths from God's Word concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. We have been studying what the bible teaches concerning the deity and humanity of Christ Jesus. We have looked at how these truths have been addressed and handled by the Church throughout history, briefly looking at the early church fathers and the theological minds of the "Enlightenment." (I put it in quotation marks for the reason that it doesn't seem to me that these men were really enlightened at all, but rather they seemed to be greatly deceived by the enemy, continually ignoring or disbelieving what God says emphatically and implicitly in His word.) The Word of God has been under continual attack since the Garden of Eden, and it has worked so well with humanity that the enemy of truth has continued to use it with amazing success. Hence the reason I am teaching Theology 102 to anyone willing to come and learn.

We must "Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing (rightly handling and skillfully teaching) the Word of Truth" (II Tim. 2:15, Amplified).

Serving Him,
Pastor Mike

A New Step in the Right Direction

I am excited about the potential of God working in our church. I am so blessed to serve such a wonderful church. I am excited because we are beginning a second time for outreach tomorrow night. We are beginning a second night of GROW each month. I believe that God Will Reward Our Work. I thank you for your willingness to go out and minister to people in our community. Be praying for the contacts and visits we will make tomorrow night. Can't wait to see you there.

Serving Him,
Pastor Mike