Welcome!
I hope you can find pieces of my messages on Sunday to take home and use to grow in your spiritual walk during your week. I’m glad you are reading, and I look forward to hearing from you! -Tim
Is the end near?
Sermon audio from yesterday’s service is online! Yesterday’s topic covered the end times. Many people have asked about the music in Yesterday’s service. Check out Scott Allen’s blog to read a little bit about our worship package! To read a bit more about the message, check out Connecting Point on the Adult Ministries blog, or you can listen to the sermon audio here:
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Why is there so much pain, suffering, and evil in the world? -Part 2
Last Sunday I finished a two part message on why there is so much pain, suffering and evil in this world. To read about the conclusion of this topic, check out Connecting Point on the Adult Ministries blog, or you can listen to the sermon audio here:
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Why is there so much pain, suffering, and evil in the world? -Part 1
Last Sunday I began a two part message on why there is so much pain, suffering and evil in this world. To read a little bit about part one, Check out Connecting Point on the Adult Ministries blog, or you can listen to the sermon audio here:
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How to defend my position on homosexuality in a pro-gay culture?
That was the title of my message on Sunday. At the end I encouraged those who wished to dig deeper into this matter, to read the book by Stanley Grenz entitled, “Welcoming but not Affirming: An Evangelical Response to Homosexuality“. In my opinion, it is a response based on grace and truth.
Tim
Listen to the message here:
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Prayer for the Spirit’s Control
This is the prayer from my message today that I challenged us all to pray this coming week, on a daily or even an hourly basis.
“Lord, I pledge my allegiance to you today. Enable me to have the discernment to walk in obedience, to sense wrong when I encounter it and to stay away from it. Keep me strong when temptations come. Guard my tongue from saying the wrong thing or saying too much or speaking too quickly. Enable me to resist outbursts of anger. Fill me with Your Spirit. I want the fruit of the Spirit and new nature (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control) to show in me today. Take my eyes, my tongue, my emotions, my will, and use me, Lord. Amen”
May we all see evidence of the Spirit in our lives as we invite him to control our lives!
Tim
Listen to the message here:
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You Are Who You Are for a Reason
This is the poem I ended my message yesterday with:
You are who you are for a reason.
You’re part of an intricate plan.
You’re a precious and perfect unique design,
Called God’s special woman or man.
You look like you look for a reason.
Our God made no mistake.
He knit you together within the womb,
You’re just what he wanted to make.
The parents you had were the ones he chose,
And no matter how you may feel,
They were custom-designed with God’s plan in mind,
And they bear the Master’s seal.
No, that trauma you faced was not easy.
And God wept that it hurt you so;
But it was allowed to shape your heart
So that into his likeness you’d grow.
You are who you are for a reason,
You’ve been formed by the Master’s rod.
You are who you are, beloved,
Because there is a God!
- Russel Kelfer
Listen to the message here:
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Wonderfully Made
Today’s message was based on Psalm 139:13-14, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
My challenge for the coming week is to thank God each day for some aspect of the wonderful design of our human bodies:
Monday: thank God for your sight,
Tuesday: thank God for your hearing.
Wednesday: thank God for your legs, feet, arms and hands.
Thursday: thank God for your sense of smell & taste.
Friday: thank God for your sense of touch.
Saturday: Thank God for your vital organs: Brain, liver, heart, stomach, lungs, and kidneys.
Tim
Listen to the message here:
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Easter Preparation Scripture Reading
In order to help prepare yourself for the Easter Celebration please read the following Scripture sections in a reflective way:
Monday: John 13
Tuesday: John 14
Wednesday: John 15
Thursday: John 16
Friday: John 17
Saturday: John 18-19
Sunday: John 20
Remember the times for the Easter services: 8:30 – 9:45 – 11:00!
Tim
New Year’s Resolution Challenges
In my series to begin the new year, I am using five parables of Jesus as the biblical foundation for five New Year’s Resolution challenges. Here are the ones I have give so far:
From the parable of the four soils in Luke 8:4-15 the first New Year’s Resolution: “I will read my Bible regularly with an open and receptive heart and mind.”
From the parable of the loaned money in Matthew 25:14-30 the second New Year’s Resolution: “I will be a good steward of the skills and resources God has entrusted to me and I will serve in causes in this world that matter to God.”
From the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 8:1-8 the third New Year’s Resolution: “I will pray regularly and persistently because I believe that God will answer my prayers and because I believe that praying regularly and persistently will make me a more mature Christian.”
From the parable of the rich fool in Luke 12:16-21 the fourth New Year’s Resolution: “I will choose to live below my means so that I am able to give generously to the causes that matter to God.”
From the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son in Luke 15 the fifth New Year’s Resolution: “I will befriend people who need Jesus.”
“True followers of Christ who really get it right, give themselves to people. Most importantly, they give themselves to pointing people to faith in Christ. That is the highest and best use of a human life – to have it serve as a signpost that points people toward God. If you really believe in the redeeming and transforming power of God’s presence in a person’s life, then the single greatest gift you can give someone is an explanation of how to be rightly connected to him.” – Bill Hybels from Just Walk Across the Room
Tim
Recommended books on Prayer
These are the three books I mentioned in my message on Sunday. If you want to be motivated to a more consistent and meaningful prayer life, any of these books will do that for you.
Too Busy Not to Pray by Bill Hybels
Prayer, The Great Adventure by David Jeremiah
Prayer, Does it Make any Difference? by Philip Yancy
I have read all three and can say that they are all worth reading!
Tim
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