Ben Nico (Btm Left) and Luke Montgomery (Btm Right) were baptized in Pastor Steve's home swimming pool!
Ben Nico (Btm Left) and Luke Montgomery (Btm Right) were baptized in Pastor Steve's home swimming pool!
Join us as we continue in our "I Believe In You" Sermon Series. This Sunday, April 15, we're talking about raising kids in a way that says "I believe in you". Whether you're a parent, a grandparent, or someone who is helping to mentor kids, this message is going to challenge and inspire you to be all that God has called you to be!
ready to hunt!
Get set, get ready, GO...
Enjoying a great Easter Brunch outside!
Hope to see you this Sunday!
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]]>Laugh #1 – Gen 17:5 (conspicuous for its mocking nature)
God announces to Abram that he is changing his name effective immediately to Abraham – “father of a multitude.” You can bet that this 99 year old man, with only one son (Ishmael) was instantly mocked by everyone whom he told his new name. Everyone including his family and closest friends knew that this was an impossibility and so they laughed at the idea (perhaps behind his back). I have had people mock my calling and dreams also, what about you? Don’t let the negative people persuade you to stop believing in what God wants to do.
Laugh #2 – Gen 17:17 (conspicuous for its faith)
Abraham laughs when God re-affirms his covenant promise that Abraham will have a son with Sarah although they were 99 and 89 respectively. At first, I thought this was a mocking laugh but upon further review I’m convinced this was a laugh of amazement – a visceral, joyful, shocked outburst of some sort. Has God given you a dream or a goal or vision for something great that he intends to do for you or with you that elicits laughter? By the way, my vision for MVCC makes me laugh like this.
Laugh #3 – Gen 18:12 (conspicuous for its unbelief)
Sarah overhears God’s intended plan to give her a baby boy at the age of 89 and she laughs to herself. This is a laugh of unbelief – forgetting that God can do anything. Believing that God will always intervene in our lives to give us the desires of our hearts is a mistake. However, believing that God never does miracles on our behalf is also a mistake. We must never doubt when we hear that someone believes God is going to do a miracle, because He certainly can if He wants. Don’t forget that big miracles take no more effort than little miracles to a God who reveals himself to Abraham in Gen 12 as El Shadai (almighty God). And don’t doubt that God has something incredible in store for our church!
(Lack of) Laugh #4 – Abraham’s first 99 years (conspicuous for its absence)
Abraham, a man of faith, leads his wife and family and his larger Oikos, pursuing God whom he trusts will fulfill that which makes him laugh inside (the dream of an heir and nation through Sarah). However, no one else is laughing. First, Abraham uproots his family from their familiar and comfortable lives to a place that is unknown and which happens to be experiencing a famine (no laughter for sure). Later, he obeys God’s command to circumcise every male in his household (definitely no one is laughing). When you take the lead toward that which makes you laugh, don’t be dissuaded from your vision just because the going gets tough and no one else is laughing.
Laugh #5 – Gen 21:6 (conspicuous for its spontaneous emotion)
This is a laugh of unparalleled enthusiasm. Sarah credits God with bringing laughter to her and says that now everyone will laugh “with her.” It sounds like she’s excited that they’re no longer laughing “at her!” This is the fulfillment of the greatest desire of her heart… God could not have done anything else that would have made her laugh more than to give her a son. At this point everything she had endured as Abraham’s wife became worth it. There is nothing more fulfilling than to want something desperately, then choose to leave it in God’s hands, and finally to see God provide that need (or go above and beyond.)
Laugh #6 – Gen 21:3 (conspicuous for its vindication)
Abraham was instructed to call his son Isaac (meaning “he laughs”), but I suspect he would have called his son Isaac even if God had not given this instruction. Abraham felt vindicated by the birth of Isaac and was now laughing at those who had laughed at him and mocked him for believing God. He’s also laughing because his wife is laughing (when mom is happy – the whole family is happy). Much like the laughter of sports fans whose team finally wins the big one after years of hoping and believing and much like the underdog stories that make us laugh – God will bring vindication to those who persevere in their faith. There have been times that the people closest to me and yes, my own wife have had their doubts about my leadership. In the end it’s always good to be able to laugh!
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There are many different reasons why churches achieve a certain size. Certainly spiritual/moral strength is vital. Beyond this obvious characteristic we can also see the attitude, commitment level, friendliness, work ethic, and faith of the congregation playing a role. Of course the Pastor and the ministry team’s effectiveness as leaders and the clarity of their vision for the church is huge. Timing, location, and resources can also be a factor. However, one other factor is crucial…it is the will and willingness of the church to grow. It means understanding that no matter how much they accomplish, there are still more needs and more unsaved people within their area of ministry influence and asking ourselves, “are we willing to work hard to reach them?”
So an important question I want to ask you is, “do you want us to grow and why?” Let me turn this question a little bit to help you think about it concretely. If we grew to be a church of 500 souls what would that mean to you…would you be excited and why? I know my answer to this question, but it might be different than yours. Imagine MVCC soon becoming a church that hasn’t changed any core values and has in the process grown to have two worship services of over 100 adults; a Chicano ministry of over 50 adults; a youth ministry of over 50 teens; and a children’s ministry of 200! This is exciting to me for many reasons…why are you excited about being a church of 500?
]]>Someone texted me with this question recently and I’ll pass along my answer. I said go to the study blog on the church web site and read my entry on “money.” Regarding the question of net or gross - the OT examples of first fruits and tithes as well as the apparent customary 10% tribute that Abraham paid Melchizedek (pre-Old Covenant) were all gross percentages. On the other hand there is no New Covenant requirement for a specific percentage of giving. In case you think that “lets us off the hook,” don’t forget that the early church seems to have viewed 10% as way too low of a goal.
My challenge to our church is to make it your goal to trust God more – more than you did last year and the year before. If you gave 10% of your net income then trust him with 10% of your gross. If you’ve been tithing for many years and this has become routine, start giving more than 10% and see if God still provides for your needs. If you haven’t been trusting God at all with your money, then make a step in that direction – set a goal by faith and see if God doesn’t provide for your needs with the remaining 98 or 95 or 90 or 80% of your income. Make it your goal that one day you will be able to give away half of your income!
A friend of mine this week shared with me that he and his family have begun tithing for the first time in their lives and they have found that God is indeed providing for all their needs after they have first given generously to Him. The math doesn’t always make sense, but as for me and Tammy, we have always seen God provide. It is a trust issue.
]]>Let me ask a question back – why would they build a brand new McDonalds on Watson when we have a perfectly good McD’s in the Wal-Mart a quarter mile away? Or, why didn’t the struggling Hawaiian BBQ next to Chipotle simply merge with the now out of business, Ben’s Bagels? The answers – each has a unique and distinct purpose and style of business that appeals to certain people. They also have unique goals and a leadership team committed to the success of those goals. In ministry it goes beyond goals to calling, but similar to businesses, we see a need for what we are offering and we see many prospective “customers” in our community. The more restaurants and businesses the more variety and the more services that are offered to our community. The more Bible teaching church options (styles, sizes, personalities) the more opportunity there is to reach a larger segment of the Buckeye population.
The truth is that churches, like many of the individuals and businesses in the far west valley, are working their tail ends off to survive. Like some of the businesses, some of the churches may not survive beyond the next couple of years. Yet, even if they all make it, Buckeye is underserved when it comes to evangelical churches. In the “Bible Belt” you’d expect to see around 50 Christian churches in a town our size, with some of those churches being mega churches. In Buckeye we have less than half that many and they all are small churches and many of them are unable or unwilling to actively reach out with the Gospel. So, we are severely under-churched as it is and Buckeye is still one of the fastest growing towns in the Country!
When a place like Buckeye is underserved it is the local unchurched and non-Christian population that is most affected. Committed Christians will drive all the way into Phoenix if they have to, to find a good church (and many currently do,) but unbelievers who are drawn into church through personal invitations and the convenience of close proximity to a neighborhood or community church will not make this commute. Knowing this need and the reality that Buckeye continues to add population, we know that we need more Bible teaching, Gospel preaching healthy churches not less and the need is urgent.
The temptation for some Buckeye churches might be to hope that a better economy and a big wave of new growth will show up soon and propel us once again into a pattern of numeric and revenue growth and until then we'll hunker down and simply exist. Along with the hunker down mentality comes the idea of churches merging (which would mean fewer churches serving a growing population.) I try to eradicate this notion from the Christian community in Buckeye any time the topic comes up. I’m preaching the fact that we need more churches and more leaders/pastors!
The only way that I would advocate two churches merging would be from a position of strength not weakness or desperation. However, the only time this topic comes up is when people are feeling desperate. This topic was the center of a talk I had with Pastor Miguel some months ago. The Buckeye Spanish congregations like most churches in Buckeye have been feeling the impact of the declining economy and an exodus of attendees. The knee jerk response is to say we should just combine churches. The reality is that all three Spanish congregations in old town Buckeye were being led by called Pastors with congregations loyal to them and the style of their church. Pastor Miguel likes our style of being a casual church, but that’s pretty radical for the Spanish culture and many won’t attend a church where the pastor isn’t dressed in a suit. Likewise Miguel can reach some who the other churches aren’t reaching for various reasons.
So, our challenge isn't to figure out how to merely survive or to consider merging with other church plants. Our challenge is to reinvent ourselves for a different and evolving community. People are leaving Buckeye in droves, but people are buying those foreclosed/short-sell houses. Often, it's a different kind of person from the Yuppies who were coming from Phoenix, from California and from the mid-west, looking for instant equity and the promised entertainment/retail that was supposedly right around the corner. The new people coming to our community have a realistic view of their community and the deficiencies of the education system and the lack of development. These new people are open to God and to church (all the studies show that people are the most open to church when they have just moved to a new place) and we need to reach them!
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