Tuesday, December 29, 2009

RESOLUTE!


Do you make New Year's resolutions?  If so, what are yours for 2010?

There are many things in our life of faith that God wants us to make resolutions about...that He wants us to be "Resolute" about.

Throughout this brief series we will examine 3 key areas that God will bless if we are resolute in doing them!

Sunday, Jan. 3 - I Will Glorify God in 2010
Sunday, Jan. 10 - I Will Grow Spiritually in 2010
Sunday, Jan. 17 - I Will Give Generously in 2010

We hope you will join us as we kick off 2010 with a determination, passion and focus to be "Resolute" about the things that matter to God!

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

God Questions


Do you have questions you would like to ask God?

Pastor John will be sharing a sermon series beginning January 24th simply entitled "God Questions".  While we won't be able to answer everyone's questions with a sermon, we will be choosing a few key questions that we think many people wrestle with.

We need you to submit your questions and who knows, maybe your question gets answered through one of these sermons!  Send your questions to Pastor John at jcrump@mooresvillechurch.org.  In the subject line just put "God Question".  Thanks for your participation in this important sermon series!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Light of the World


"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." -Jesus

Join us for the Brooklyn Tabernacle's "Light of the World" Christmas Musical on Sunday, December 13th at 6PM. The musical will be performed by the Mooresville Church of God Sanctuary Choir, Mooresville Church of God Children's Choir and God's Shining Light Childcare. This celebration of Jesus' birth not only features traditional songs and the biblical story, but also explores the need for us to respond to The Light that came into this world. Come and experience the passion for the Savior, Jesus Christ and his sacrificial love he shows all the world. Admission to the concert is FREE.

You won't want to miss the preview performance of the musical as they perform 2 selections at Meadow Lakes Assistant Living Center located at 200 North Meadow Lakes Drive beginning at 3:30 PM. There is also a Spaghetti Dinner beginning at 4:30 PM in the Fellowship Hall at Mooresville Church of God on December 13. Come early to the musical and enjoy this excellent fundraiser opportunity. For tickets, contact childcare director, Amy Marine at 317-831-1418, Ext. 300.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Letters at Christmas



We hope everyone will join us this Advent season as we celebrate the birth of our Savior with our sermon series:

LETTERS AT CHRISTMAS

We will hear some letters written by people in our congregation to God!  And we will spend our sermon time hearing from some of God's letters to us! 

We will focus on these themes this season:  Light - Love - Joy - Peace - Life

Join us this Sunday, November 29th as we celebrate the 1st week of Advent by examining the theme of "Light" in the Christmas story!  The following weeks will be:

Dec. 6 - Love
Dec. 13 - Joy
Dec. 20 - Peace
Dec. 27 - Life

On December 13th at 6:00 pm our choir, under the direction of our Pastor of Worship Ministries, Jeremy Towne, will we be performing the Brooklyn Tabernacle Christmas musical "Light of the World".  Join us at 4:30 that day for a Spaghetti dinner fundraiser for our new daycare center!

We pray that this Christmas season will be a source of light, love, joy, peace and life for you and your family!  Join us at Mooresville Church of God as we celebrate together!

Merry Christmas!

Pastor John

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

REVIVE!


Question:  How does God tend to revive a person, a church or even a nation? 

Well...that's a good question isn't it?

God's word has answers.

The pattern, while not always neat, tidy and orderly, looks something like this:
  • Brokenness:  (Psalm 51:17) God breaks us down, revealing our desperate need for Him!  When God breaks you...it's beautiful brokenness.
  • Repentance:  (2 Cor. 7:10) God's call to us is to redirect our lives in His direction...in His way...in His plan...to turn away from self and turn toward Him!
  • Surrender:  (Phil. 3:7-8) It's at this point that God calls us to lose our lives for the sake of His will and His plans for us!  He calls for complete surrender!
  • Holiness:  (Gal. 5:22-23) Broken and contrite hearts, repentant and surrendered lives lead to God's work producing holiness...being set apart for Him!
  • Praise:  (1 Cor. 10:31) As we are being made holy by God our lives sing a song of praise to Him and reveal His glory to the entire world around us!
Do you need God to revive your life?  Revive your soul?  Revive your heart?  We most definately need God to revive our churches and our ministries!  We most definately need God to revive our communities and our nation!  God has given us a path...He has promised us His Spirit and His power!  Let's pray together that God would REVIVE His people, His church and all of His creation! 

In His Grip,

Pastor John

Monday, September 28, 2009

On Your Mark! Get Set! GO! - Week 3 - Our Purpose


So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:  that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.  God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Our mission, as given to us by Jesus in the Great Commission is:  TO MAKE DISCIPLES (2MD).  Someone may approach you and ask the very relevant question, "Why are you supposed to make disciples?"  Or they may say, "For what purpose are you making disciples?"  At Mooresville Church of God we believe that the verses above from 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 give us the answer to those questions:  The purpose, OUR PURPOSE for making disciples is RECONCILIATION.  From the moment that humanity rebelled against God and sin entered the world, God's primary task has been to reconcile humanity and all of His creation back to Him!  To restore, redeem and reconcile all creation back to it's original, perfect relationship to Him!  Our purpose in making disciples is so that every person will be reconciled to God and also reconciled to each other!

This call to be ambassadors of reconciliation presents us with an obvious choice:  We can either choose reconciliation in our own life or not.  We can either be ambassadors of reconciliation in our world, or not.  That choice is scripturally laid before us in Romans 8:5 which says:  "Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires."  This quickly brings to mind additional, important questions:

- What does the sinful nature desire?  We'll look at original sin to answer that one (Gen. 3:6-9)
- What does the Spirit desire?  We'll look at the beginning of the Spirit's ministry for that one (Acts 2:41-47)

The Sinful Nature Desires...

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"  Genesis 3:6-9

1.  The Sinful Nature Desires Self Obsession
Adam and Eve wanted what they wanted (knowledge and power) more than they wanted what God wanted (perfect relationship with them).  As a result of their self obesession, reconciliation with God is now necessary for all of us.

2.  The Sinful Nature Desires Isolation
When sin crept into the world the immediate reaction of Adam and Eve was to isolate themselves first from each other (fig leaves to cover themselves) and then from God (hiding from God).  This is always the outcome of sin!  It rips apart, divides and causes division!  Our need for reconciliation with God and each other becomes even more obvious!

3.  The Sinful Nature Desires Hell
God calls out to Adam and Eve, "Where are you?"  When God can't find you...you are eternally lost.  And being eternally lost means being eternally separated from God.  At this point we become desperate for reconciliation with God and with those who are already reconciled to Him!

The Spirit Desires...

 Those who accepted his (Peter's) message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.  They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.  Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.  All the believers were together and had everything in common.  Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.  Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,  praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.  Acts 2:41-47

1.  The Spirit Desires Reconciliation with God
After the Holy Spirit was poured out on the early church and they were empowered to do the work of reconciliation, the first thing we see after Peter's first sermon are 3000 people being reconciled to God!  This is always priority number 1 for God and His people!

2.  The Spirit Desires Reconciliation with People
Immediately after these 3000 people are reconciled to God you see this beautiful community begin to form where they worshipped together, ate together, prayed together, learned together, sold their possessions so no one would be in need!  God's presence in their lives led them into life-giving and healing relationships with each other as well!

3. The Spirit Desires Heaven
"Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."  Doesn't that sound like a little glimpse of heaven to you?  The final and eternal act of reconciliation with God and His people is when your time on earth is complete and you are in God's presence...in heaven!  Once you are in heaven then the original plan God had when he put Adam and Eve in the garden can be lived out to perfection!  Perfect relationship, perfect union, perfect world!  That's what reconciliation with God brings!

Our purpose:  RECONCILIATION!  God longs for us to be reconciled to Him, to each other and to become ambassadors of reconciliation in this fallen world!  Will you join us in fulfilling that purpose? 

In His Grip,

Pastor John

Sunday, September 20, 2009

On Your Mark! Get Set! GO! - Week 2 - The Mission

"Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everthing I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." 

Matthew 28:18-20

Here's a good clarifying question:  If Mooresville Church of God ceased to exist...who would miss us?  In other words, are we making such an impact in the lives of people, in our community, and in the world that if we vanished, people would be impacted deeply by our absence.  This is simply one of many good questions that we MUST ask ourselves if we are to stay focused on the mission that God has called His church to!

So what IS our mission?  What did Jesus command us to do as His body?  In the above verses Jesus could not be any clearer!  Our mission (if we choose to accept it) is:  TO MAKE DISCIPLES!  Can you remember that?  If not, here's an abbreviation:  2MD!  Yes, it really is that succinct!  Our mission is to make disciples through every aspect of life and ministry at our disposal.  Worship?  It's a tool to make disciples!  Fellowship of the believers?  According to Acts 2 as a result of their fellowship "the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved"!  Service to our community?  God told us to let our light shine so that people would see our good deeds and be led to praise Him (Matt. 5:16)!  EVERY aspect of ministry and life is to be used to MAKE DISCIPLESStart in Matthew and start working your way through the New Testament:  Everything Jesus taught and modeled for His followers was designed to make disciples!  Preaching, teaching, serving, healing, confronting, debating, loving, singing, enduring persecution...EVERYTHING was for the purpose of drawing people into discipleship with Jesus!

What must happen in each of us as well as in Mooresville Church of God in order for us to accomplish the mission of MAKING DISCIPLES?  We can look back to last week's sermon for the answer to this question.  As Jesus cleansed the temple in Matthew 21:12-15 he does three things.  And Jesus does these three things if He comes into a individual life, into a family, into a business, or even into a church:

1.  He cleans out what shouldn't be there:  Sinful attitudes and behaviors, disunity, divisivness.  All of it!
2.  He changes traditions and habits:  Any tradition or habit that is a barrier to making disciples must go!
3.  He clarifies whose house it is:  It's not my house or your house...It's Jesus' house...He sets the mission!

Jesus said, "All authority in heaven and on earth is given to me...".  In other words, we don't have a say in this!  Jesus said it...we decide if we will follow...and if so, then we carry out the mission!  And after declaring that all authority was His, He said, "Therefore go and MAKE DISCIPLES, baptizing them...teaching them to obey everything I have commanded"!  And then He concludes by telling us to remember and to remind potential disciples that He will be with us throughout the process!  He will never leave us or forsake us!  He is as committed to us as He is asking us to be committed to Him!

Our Mission:  TO MAKE DISCIPLES - 2MD!

Will you join us in this adventure?  Will you get into this race?  Will you run hard for His sake?  Will you strive for the prize?  We have a mission...it's a life and death mission for millions of people...ON YOUR MARK --- GET SET --- GO!

In His Grip,

Pastor John

Saturday, September 19, 2009

God's Shining Light Daycare & Preschool

Mooresville Church of God would like to announce the opening of our new daycare and preschool!

God's Shining Light Daycare & Preschool will serve children ages infant thru 12 years. 

Amy Marine is our director and can be contacted at 317-831-1418 for details about registration, hours, programming and pricing.

Congratulations to Amy and her staff for their hard work in getting this great ministry organized and ready to serve our community!

Come to our OPEN HOUSE - MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 6-8 PM!  Hope to see you all there!

Monday, September 14, 2009

On Your Mark! Get Set! GO! - Week 1

Today was Bridge Day at Mooresville Church of God!  Our hope was to begin building a bridge to our community and to people who live near our building.  We want to be able to partner with families, with businesses, with public service providers and be a part of the fabric of our part of Mooresville!

To the people of Mooresville Church of God we say a heart-felt "THANK YOU"!  The hard work, committment and determination shown by you all has been inspiring, motivating and encouraging!  You have truly shown what it means to partner with your pastoral staff to accomplish something great for God's fame, for His sake, and for His church!  This is YOUR victory!  Well done!

To those who visited with us yesterday in our morning worship service or at the Block Party we say a heart-felt "WELCOME"!  We're so glad you spent the day with us!  We want to assist you in being a part of the dynamic work that God is doing through Mooresville Church of God in these days!  You've come at an exciting and important time in the life of our church!  We look forward to connecting with you and serving with you!

Come Home Running

Sunday's message was simply titled, "Come Home Running".  We looked at two important Bible passages:

1.  The parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) and how God's extravagent love for us is portrayed through this powerful story of salvation, reconciliation and grace!  We looked at the son's past, present and future and tried to put ourselves in his place as he is welcomed home by a loving Father!

2.  An unusual moment in the life of Jesus when, with anger and indignation, He cleanses the temple of sinful activities that have been happening there. (Matthew 21:12-15)  We looked at how the things He does in that temple are the same things he does in us (since we are His temple now!) when we invite Him into our lives!  The 3 things Jesus always does when he comes into our lives are:

- He cleans out what shouldn't be there:  Whatever sinful things exist in our life, Jesus' first desire is to clean it out and start the process of making us a "new creation" (2 Cor. 5:17).  Jesus cleansed that temple of moneychangers and businesses that were needed, but had lost sight of their purpose and role in the temple. 

- He changes the habits and traditions:  Even after sin is cleaned from our lives we still have to reorient our habits and acitivites so that sin won't creep back in!  Jesus changed the habits and traditions of that temple by driving out the cheating moneychangers and re-establishing His house as a house of prayer!

- He clarifies whose house it is:  Jesus comes into our lives and reminds us that He bought us at a price (1 Cor. 6:20) and that we belong to Him!  He went into that temple, cleaned it out, re-established healthy habits and traditions and then reminded everyone, "It's MY house"!  And His house is to be a house of prayer, a place where God can reside.

God really blessed us on Sunday, September 13, 2009!  We had 225 people in our worship service, we had approximately 300-400 people at our Block Party.  Most importantly we had 12 people who made re-commitments of some type!  God's presence and activity in our lives and in His church was awesome!

Thank you Lord for Your grace, Your extravagent love, Your provision, Your promises to us!  You've blessed us and we are grateful people today!  May our lives and our service be a pleasing response to Your powerful presence and activity among us!

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory!

Humbled by His grace,

Pastor John

Friday, September 11, 2009

THIS SUNDAY - BRIDGE DAY & BLOCK PARTY!!

This Sunday is our big outreach day! Building a bridge to our community and celebrating life together at our Block Party! Thanks so much to everyone who worked so hard on building renovations, Block Party plans, Daycare preparations...ALL OF IT! We're blessed at Mooresville Church of God with a lot of dedicated and capable Christ-followers!
Pray with me that God will honor our efforst as we honor Him with all we've got! Are you excited? Let's see what our God will do!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

"Give Us Clean Hands, Give Us Pure Hearts..."

In recent weeks we have been asking God to let us see people, our community and each other through His eyes. We've asked, through prayer, for Him to give us His heart for people who are far from Him. We want to weep over the things that make Him weep and rejoice over the things that make Him rejoice! As we anticipate our outreach effort this Sunday, September 13, 2009 -- Our Bridge Day & Block Party events -- we felt the need to ask God to do some interior work on us, His church. So we asked a few key questions:

What Made Jesus Weep?

1. Lost People - Luke 19:37-44
Jesus wept as he looked out over Jerusalem and contemplated how so many people had not believed that He actually WAS the Messiah and had not accepted His gift of salvation through faith in Him. He was moved to tears that anyone would be eternally separated from God! And He asks us to weep over lost people too!

2. Sick & Dying People - John 11:32-36
Some of Jesus' closest friends were the sisters, Mary & Martha and their brother, Lazarus. When Jesus gets word that Lazarus is sick he and his disciples begin to make their way to his home. But by the time they arrive, Lazarus has died. As Jesus sees Mary, Martha and some of their friends and family weeping and mourning, it moves Him to tears as well. Jesus weeps over people who are physically, spiritually, emotionally and relationally sick or dying. Our infirmity in any of these areas moves our Savior to weep for us! We are also called to let ourselves be moved by the sufferings of others as we follow Jesus' example.

3. The Burden of Doing His Father's Will - Luke 22:39-46
As Jesus knelt in the garden called Gethsemane, He cried out to His Father in heaven, He sweat blood, He was in anguish over seeing God's will done on this earth! His words, "...not my will, but yours be done" must become OUR words each day as we seek to actually BE His church! Doing God's will brought Jesus to tears! It should move us in exactly the same way because we are the living body of Christ!

What Did Jesus Tell Us to Rejoice In?

1. When we are persecuted for His sake - Matthew 5:11-12
Jesus didn't just tell us that we would be persecuted for His sake, He told to REJOICE when it happens! While this may not make sense to the rest of the world, this is kind of the point...that the world would see us joyful in the face of persecution, suffering, trouble and hardship! What a testimony to God's grace, power, provision and promises! As we are able to rejoice in our sufferings we grow in our understanding of what Jesus did for us! His sacrifice on the cross was painful and cruel, but through His own power Jesus rejoiced in doing it because it paved a way to His Father for all of us!

2. That our names are written in heaven - Luke 10:20
No matter what happens to us down here on earth we can rejoice because of the promise of heaven! As we are obedient to the call of Christ, receive salvation, pursue holiness and strive to be like Jesus, God imparts an ability to rejoice no matter that...we lost our job...our marriage is struggling...we're neck deep in debt...no matter what comes! We can rejoice because our names are written in heaven!

3. That what was lost, is now found - Luke 15:3-7; 8-10
In these verses Jesus tells two powerful parables that illustrate the rejoicing that happens for us and in heaven when someone far from God comes to know Him personally! However, the second parable, the parable of the lost coin, challenges believers in some ways too: In order to find the lost coin the woman illuminated the darkness and eliminated the dirt. And when she illuminated what was dark and eliminated the dirt, what was lost...was found! In our efforts to reach people who are far from God, we may have to let God illuminate the dark places of our lives and clean out the dirt and dust that has accumulated there. When we let God do that, then our hearts, our minds, our attitudes and our spirits are prepared to be used by God to reach the world around us!

Lord, give us clean hands! Lord, give us pure hearts! Help us to weep for what makes You weep! Help us to rejoice like You rejoice! Help us see the world, people, ourselves and our churches through Your eyes. We need You! Apart from You we can do NOTHING! Come in power and bring glory to Your Name!

Amen!

In His Grip,

Pastor John

Sunday, August 30, 2009

2 Sunday Challenge

This Sunday, September 6th - 10:30 am
A Day of Prayer for Our Community


Please join us this Sunday as we dedicate a day to praying for our community. Churches aren't perfect, nor are people, but our community needs it's churches to step up to the plate and fight the spiritual battles that must be won if we're to see lives transformed and changed!

It is our responsibility to labor in prayer for the people, needs, public servants, schools, businesses and future of the greater Mooresville community! We must also pray for each other as we individually fight the good fight every day at our jobs, in our families and in our church. Won't you join us this Sunday as we carry out an important responsibility of the church: Being prayer warriors for the sake of our people, our church, our community and our world!


Bridge Day, Sunday, Sept. 13 - 10:30 am
Block Party, Sunday, Sept. 13 - Noon - 4:00 pm

Have you invited the person you're bringing to our Bridge Day and Block Party? We need for everyone to bring 1 person! We want to celebrate what God is doing among us by sharing this good news with anyone who doesn't know Him personally!

Come dressed in your shorts and T-shirts, celebrate God with us at 10:30 and then stay for the Block Party immediately after our morning worship service! This is your opportunity to change the world by changing a life! Invite them to be a part of this fun and potentially life-changing day!


Lord, would you bless our efforts as we look ahead to these important days together! We need Your presence, Your Spirit, Your power, Your boldness, Your provision! We need good weather! We need you to inspire those who are far from you to come. We commit, Lord, that as they come we will do our best to make You known! May all we say, do and accomplish be only and always for Your glory!

In Jesus Name we humbly pray,

Amen!

Friday, August 21, 2009

Are You A Leader?

Beginning this Sunday, August 23rd, we will spend two weeks examining the topic of leadership from two perspectives:

Aug. 23 - Pastor John will speak about leadership from a pastors perspective. Answering a couple of important questions: "What is the call of Jesus to pastors?" and "How should a pastor lead among the people he is called to serve?" These are key moments for our congregation as we continue to develop the relationship between pastor and congregation. This will help us understand what the pastoral staff is called to do as leaders as well as help us define what lay-leaders within the church are called to do as leaders.

Aug. 30 - Scott McDonald will be speaking to us about leadership from a lay-leader's perspective. Scott is a dedicated follower of Jesus Christ. He served in executive positions at Fed Ex / Kinkos for 12 years before taking a Managing Director role with Oakwood Worldwide. Scott, his wife Leisa and their two daughters, Emily and Abby, live in Carmel, Indiana where they attend Northview Christian Life, a thriving congregation of approximately 3000 people. Scott began to sense the call of God to use his own leadership gifts to serve the church as well as expand God's kingdom. Scott became an Associate Trainer with Equip (Dr. John Maxwell's ministry to train and mentor leaders within God's church all over the world). Scott travels to Panama and soon to Guyana to do leadership development with pastors and church leaders in those developing countries. In addition Scott heads up the leadership development ministry of his church. He has served a variety of lay-leader roles in the church. He is passionate about helping pastors lead effectively, and helping lay-leaders lead effectively!

In addition to Scott's Sunday morning message he will return Sunday afternoon at 2:30 and offer a "Leadership 101" course for any persons in the congregation that would like to explore their potential as a leader! You will not want to miss this opportunity to begin exploring how God can use YOU as a leader in His church! We hope everyone will plan to be a part of this excellent leadership training opportunity!

Monday, August 17, 2009

Just Walk Across the Room - Summary

OK, so here's a quick review from weeks 1-3 of our series "Just Walk Across the Room":

God has called us to reach people who are far from Him. That task is exciting and challenging, but it's not always easy! So here's some steps we can take to (with the help of the Holy Spirit) be productive and successful in carrying out God's mission of reconciling EVERYONE to Him!

1. Enter the "Zone of the Unknown" - This is being willing to walk across that room, even when it's a bit scary or uncomfortable, and reach out to people who need connection with God (and may need connection with YOU).
2. Follow the Promptings of the Holy Spirit - This is simply keeping a prayer connection to God so that as you walk across that room and connect with people who are far from Him, you'll be able to discern what He wants you to say and do!
3. Just Walk!! - OK, no more talking about it...this is actually DOING it! Walking across that room, confident in the leading of God's Holy Spirit and prepared to connect with whomever God has led you to!
4. Develop a Friendship - An old saying goes, "People won't care how much you know until they know how much you care". Do just spitting out the "4 Spiritual Laws" or leading them down the "Roman Road" may not be enough! They will need to see you cultivating a friendship with them first! They want to know they aren't a notch on your evangelistic belt! They are dearly loved by God. They want to know they are dearly loved by you too!
5. Discover their Story - This is simply becoming an expert listener. They will want to tell you their story eventually. You can hear the obstacles, questions, pain and hurdles they may face in coming to know the God that you love! It will take time in building the friendship, but hearing a person's story is a privilege!
6. Discern Next Steps - Once you have begun a friendship and begun to hear their story, you must stay connected to God and use wise discernment in your next steps of helping them draw near to the God who loves them, wants to save them and desires a personal relationship with them!
7. Tell them God's Story - As you discern your next steps the time will come when it's time to tell them God's love story with humanity! You get to tell them the John 3:16 perspective! That God loved them (and us!) so much that He sent His ONLY SON to die in our place! How they receive it and respond is not up to you...your job is simply to tell the Good News of Jesus!
8. Tell them Your Story - After they hear all the wonderful things about God they will likely want to know, "What difference has it made in YOUR life?" That's a question you need to be prepared to answer! So consider what your life was like BEFORE you knew Jesus Christ - How you came to know Him personally - And what your life has been like since! That's a simple but effective framework for telling your story!

As you consider all of the above steps here's a good clarifying question to answer:

What kind of vision for your life are you living? Is it a small, easily manageable, safe vision that requires little or know reliance on God? Or is it a large, sometimes risky, GRANDER vision that may cost you something, but will be exciting, fulfilling and God honoring?

If we are to live the "Grander Vision" of God we must build a foundation for that vision based on these steps:

1. The Priority is People - Luke 5:1-11
Jesus modeled this over and over in the Bible! He made the masses of people a priority and He made the few who followed him daily a priority! He spent time with people, listened to people, healed people, taught people, mentored people, confronted people, rebuked people. His priority was always PEOPLE! In the above Luke passage we see him teaching the masses as well as teaching and calling Peter, Andrew, James and John! He made them push out into deep water to catch the fish! The deep water isn't the safe place, but it's evidently where the fish are! So we too must push out into the less safe places of life so that we can reach those people God is calling us to influence for His sake!

2. The Focus is Their Potential - Luke 5:27-32
Author and speaker Max Lucado once said, "God loves you just the way you are but He doesn't want to leave you that way...He wants you to be just like Jesus"! Through God's eyes we all have almost limitless potential! We MUST begin to see ourselves and other people through God's eyes! In the above Luke passage Jesus sees the potential in Matthew (also called Levi). First is his potential as a follower of Jesus. But also Jesus saw Matthew's potential to reach people who were far from God! And what's the first thing Matthew does? He throws a party! A party where all of his cheating and sinful tax collector friends would hang out with Jesus and all of the disciples! GENIUS! We must see our own potential as well as the potential in those people God calls us to reach!

3. The Starting Point is Prayer - Collossians 4:2-6
So after 4 weeks of preaching and processes, where do we start on this business of walking across rooms, yards, offices, family rooms and bedrooms to reach people who are far from God? Well we start at a very familiar place...PRAYER. We must commit ourselves to pray earnestly, without ceasing and with passion and endurance for the people God has called us to reach! In the above Collossians passage Paul is asking his readers to pray for him and for all of the disciples as they carry out the mission God had given them to reach the entire WORLD for His sake! In fact he starts out the passage by saying, "devote yourselves to prayer..."! Be devoted to it! So what are you waiting for? Start praying for that person right now!

Well, there it is...a good challenge...a dynamic calling...a way of life for Christ followers! Walking, running, calling, emailing, texting, driving, flying...WHATEVER IT TAKES to reach the people God has called us to reach with His love, grace and saving power! So don't wait any longer...

...just walk across the room...and let's see what our God can do through US!

In His Grip,

Pastor John

Monday, July 27, 2009

Just Walk Across the Room - Week 1


"Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend,
somewhere along in the bitterness,
and I would have stayed up
with you all night,
had I known how to save a life".
(How to Save a Life - The Fray)

As I hear the lyrics from this song it brings to mind a number of times in my life when I've seen difficult, painful, tragic or fatal situations in someone's life. Sometimes later I've begun thinking, "If only...if only I could have...if only I would have...if only I had known...". For Christians the statement doesn't need to be, "if only I had know how to save a life". In fact, what if the answer to the question "How to Save a Life" is simply to walk across a room and be willing to enter into the lives of people all around us that simply may need someone to reach out to them.

We know that this perspective does not answer the question fully, but it is a significant first step! Because until we walk across that room there is NO CHANCE of God using us to offer hope, encouragement, healing or new life to the person that the Spirit is urging us to reach. So here are some initial first thoughts on walking across that room and reaching the person that God has called you, prompted you, and challenged you to reach:

1. People who want to reach those whom God has placed in their sphere of influence must first enter the "ZONE OF THE UNKNOWN".

This zone is the place where we wonder, "what's going to happen", "what are they going to think", "what are they going to say to me", "what am I going to say to them". It can be a scary place, because the unknown is always a little scary and intimidating. But we MUST go there if we are to be used by God for His purposes! Think of all the biblical people who entered into difficult, scary, intimidating and unknowable situations simply because God called them to go! Abraham, Moses, David, Esther, Mary, Joseph, Peter, Paul...and of course...Jesus, as He endured separation from His heavenly Father for the first time in eternal history so that we could be reconciled to God! In each of these situations God brought victory and advancement of His purposes and His kingdom through ordinary people like you and me! And He's still doing that today!

2. People who want to reach those whom God has placed in their sphere of influence must stay sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

It is our job to grow spiritually. Churches play an important role, our family and friends play important roles, but it is ultimately our job to grow in our maturity and sensitivity to God's movement and call on our lives! Galatians 5:25 states, "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit". This is a great command that will further our ability to walk across that room when God prompts us to do it! To NOT walk across that room, or to put it off or deny the promptings is nothing short of disobedience to God! This is a hard but true word for us today! There are many, many examples of the tragic and sometimes fatal results when the people of God disobey God's promptings to accomplish His will and reach those who are far from Him!

3. People who want to reach those whom God has placed in their sphere of influence must...simply...walk across that room!

Remember Nike's slogan from a few years ago? God is asking us to "Just Do It". When God says go, we go. When God says speak, we trust Him for the right words. When God says listen, we close our mouths and listen to Him and to the person He's calling us to reach! And we do this in the knowledge that what God is asking us to do, Jesus has already done...to perfection. Jesus left a place of security (communion with the Father and the Spirit), took a cosmic walk across time to enter into our world, put on flesh and bones (a Zone of the Unknown for Him!) and being led by the Spirit of God He changed the world for you and me sacrificially giving His life in exchange for ours!

So here are 2 good challenges for all of us today:

1. Just walk across whatever room God is prompting us to traverse in order to reach the person He already has in mind for us to reach!

2. Send a word of thanks to those persons who walked across the room for us! Send a card, an email, a letter, make a phone call, go visit them...whatever it takes...so that they know how much their boldness to walk across that room for your sake means to you!

Let's see what God will do through us as we keeping walk across rooms for His sake!

In His Grip,

Pastor John

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Important Upcoming Events!

FINANCIAL PEACE UNIVERSITY
BEGINNING THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 2009
MOORESVILLE CHURCH OF GOD





All MCHOG families are encouraged to take this course! See Mike & Vanessa True for questions and to sign up!
Cost - $100 per couple
(See Pastor John if financial assistance is needed)


BRIDGE DAY & BLOCK PARTY!!
SEPTEMBER 13, 2010
BRIDGE DAY WORSHIP - 10:30
BLOCK PARTY - NOON - 4:00




This is an important outreach opportunity for our congregation! Plan to invite your friends, neighbors, family members, co-workers...EVERYONE!

See Matt & Maggy Fisher to volunteer for a team for this important event!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Just Walk Across the Room - This Sunday!

Here's an important question:

How do you save a life?

Well, what if the first and most important step to saving someone's spiritual life is just to walk across the room. Does that sound difficult?

Within the Church we have often made personal evangelism (the process of sharing our faith with others and inviting them into relationship with Jesus Christ) seem like rocket science. We sometimes complicate it. We sometimes make it seem like something that ONLY those with the spiritual gift of evangelism can do. This is a potentially fatal error that we've made in church and ministry life! God calls EVERYONE to reach out and share the new life they've received with those around them!

This Sunday we begin a new 4 week series that will help you learn simple, practical ways to share (not force or coerce!) your faith with those around you. And it may very well start with the simple step of...just walking across a room...and speaking to the person God has prompted you to share with!

Do you want to potentially help save a life?

Then...Just Walk Across the Room!

Hope to see everyone this Sunday!

In His Grip,

Pastor John


P.S. I hope everyone is creatively giving thought to what you will do to multiply the "talent" you were given last week! If you haven't received your "talent", just see Pastor John and we will get it too you! You have 11 more weeks to multiply it! Let's see what God will do!

Monday, July 20, 2009

Imagine...If Jesus' Dreams for His Church Came True

What do you sing about? This is your joy!

What do you weep about? This is your burden!

What do you dream about? This is your passion!

These three questions were posed to me a number of years ago as help in guiding me toward God's desire and will for my future ministry. As I ponder these questions now, I think they are great for us to ask, but I also wonder, "What did Jesus sing, weep and dream about?" Let's think about that for a few minutes...

If we had to narrow the list to 1 thing that would bring so much joy to Jesus that it would make Him sing, it would be glorifying His Father in heaven! Jesus said, "Father, the time has come, glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you...I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do" (John 17:1 & 3).

What would make Jesus weep? How about seeing his dear friends hurting and grieving at the death of their brother? How about looking out over Jerusalem after He had tried to tell them, tried to help them see that the Messiah had come? How about His anguish in Gethsemane as he cried out that God's will be done instead of His own? Jesus wept. His heart was broken for lost and hurting people...it still is.

What did Jesus dream about? Many, many things. But if we had to narrow them down, here's some biggies: Accomplishing His mission / Seeing the Father's will done / His Church! How about those three for starters? To accomplish His mission, hand it off to His disciples, have them establish His church and seeing the Father's will done through it all! This HAD to be the largest part of what Jesus dreamed about! So what were His dreams for His church?

So many dreams, do you agree? Just like a loving parent, He must have had huge dreams for His followers, His church! But if we had to sum it up in one statement, maybe it would be His dream that they would become EVERYTHING He created them to be. By doing that they would almost assuredly cause many, if not all of His other dreams to come true!

The parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14-30) give us some indication of the passion, conviction and expectation that Jesus had for us to use all of our gifting, abilities, energy, money, resources, time, EVERYTHING that He has placed at our disposal! If we do that we almost surely will become everything He created us to be! And so in this parable we see His pleasure with those who multiplied their "talents" and His displeasure with those who wasted the opportunity to expand His Kingdom! He symbolically uses money in this parable because He knew that we would all relate to the Master and the servants as they toil to multiply what they have at their disposal.

Our congregation began an exercise in faith on Sunday, July 19. To live out and illustrate the possibilities of the parable of the talents we gave each family in our church $50. They have 12 weeks to multiply it. They are charged with using their gifts, talents, abilities, energy, time, EVERYTHING at their disposal to expand what God has given them! Then on Sunday, October 4 we will have a celebration offering when we gather in the multiplied "talents"! We will also hear the stories of how people creatively found ways to be faithful with God's money and multiply it! We felt strongly that this was a strong, safe investment of God's money in God's people! We are excited to see what God is about to do as we strive to be and become EVERYTHING He created us to be!

In His Grip,

Pastor John

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Bridge Day & Block Party - Sunday, Sepember 13!


Join us Sunday, September 13 for an important day in the life of our congregation and community!

At 10:30 am we want to build a bridge to our community by inviting them to participate with us in our morning worship celebration! We want to celebrate what God is doing in our lives, in our church and in our community!

At noon we will move outside for our first Neighborhood Block Party! There will be live music, food, games...something for all ages! We are inviting local businesses to partner with us to provide a fun and relaxing opportunity for the people, businesses and church of this neighborhood to connect and celebrate life together!

ALL OF THIS...AND IT'S FREE!!

Our congregation believes that God has called us to be agents of reconciliation in our community. Sometimes that means sharing our faith and meeting urgent needs all around us. But sometimes it just means providing environments where our community can join together to share a meal, have a conversation, listen to some music, play and celebrate together! WE HOPE YOU WILL HELP US DO THAT ON SEPTEMBER 13TH!!

Get the word out to friends, family, neighbors and co-workers! We hope to see you Sunday morning, September 13 at 10:30 and that you'll stay for lunch at our first Neighborhood Block Party!

Monday, July 13, 2009

Imagine...

Over the past few weeks we've been imagining what could be if God or His people accomplished some big things like...

Imagine...if all Christians tithed - Did you know that if all Christians around the world tithed their income (gave 10% to the work and mission of the local church and kept 90% for themselves) we would generate approximately 143 Billion dollars more than we currently give! With that money we could fund every church budget, feed, clothe and educate ALL impoverished people around the world for that calendar year, and still have a few billion left over just for evangelistic efforts! Think about that...it is within the power and reach of THE CHURCH to eradicate poverty in our lifetime! God's Word encourages us to give...period. It doesn't demand a certain dollar amount or even (in the New Testament) a certain percentage. But we now know that if we could live on 90% and give away 10% we could change the world for millions of people...in one year. Just imagine...

Imagine...if we saw "the church" as being for them and not for us - You might ask, "what do you mean "them" and "us"?" What we mean is that Jesus intended the purpose and work of the church to be primarily for the lost and hurting people of the world. It was through evangelistic and benevolent ministry that we would connect with people who needed God's intervention in their lives! But over the centuries we have slowly and subtly fallen into a club mentality. A mentality which says, "Hey, this is my club, I give the money to support it, it should be and do what I want it to be and do for me!" This is very, very far from Jesus' hope and dream for His church. It's not about fun events for Christians, it's not about night after night of Bible studies and classes for people who have been in the church for years and years. It's about ministry and discipleship that makes a difference in the lives of people who are far from God or who are hurting, downtrodden, sick or lonely. The purpose of "the church" is to be the people who carry out those ministries, not to just be the beneficiary of them! Imagine if we were not only hearers...but doers of the Word...just imagine...

Imagine...If God Brings Revival to His Church - Throughout biblical history and throughout modern history God has chosen times, places and people to revive spiritually so they could be equipped and empowered to do 2 primary things: 1) Know Him and glorify Him more! 2) Accomplish His mission in the world! If you do a Google search on "Revival"or "Christian Revival" you will find countless articles and descriptions of how and when God has done this over the years in nearly every part of the world! Why should we not imagine that He will do it now...for us? We cannot push a revival button and make it happen. Only God has the ability to revive His church! But we do know that some common denominators were always in place when God chose to bring revival to a group of people: 1) Waiting on God 2) Praying for Revival 3) Preparing our hearts and lives for it 4) Repentance for those things that have been barriers to God using us 5) Requests for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven 6) Resistance to the attacks of the world, the flesh and the devil as they battle against the church and against the purposes of God! Imagine if God brings revival to His church in Mooresville...in the United States of America...and in the world! Just imagine...

This coming Sunday we will be finishing this month-long series with Imagine...If Jesus' dreams for His church came true - What were some of the dreams that Jesus had for His people, His church? Have they come true? Can we be a part of helping them come true? Is there some tangible way that we can participate in the dreams of our Savior? The answer to all of the above (we believe) is YES! In fact, we're going to look at one particular dream of Jesus: That his people would multiply the gifts, talents and resources He gave them to accomplish great things in this world for His sake! And you will have an opportunity to actually live that dream out in a very tangible way beginning this Sunday...join us and find out how!

For His Sake,

Pastor John & Pastor Jeremy

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Prayer for the Taylor Family & for Grace Church


Tonight Mooresville Church of God is grieving with Jim & Sharon Taylor and the entire Grace Church (Mooresville) family. Jim and Sharon's son, Jarrod, died this afternoon (Saturday, July 11). Please join us in praying for the Taylor family, all of their close friends, Grace Church and for our entire community. Jim & Sharon are special people and have become vital leaders in the Mooresville Community. Our hearts are heavy for our friends, colleagues in ministry and brothers and sisters in Christ. Jim and Sharon we love you and extend our hearts and our hands to help and support you during these challenging days!

With much love,

Mooresville Church of God

Friday, July 10, 2009


A 2 Sunday Challenge!!

Here's 2 Sundays you don't want to miss! In fact, 2 Sundays we NEED you here!

This Sunday, July 12th: As we continue our "Imagine" series we are asking you to imagine...if God brings revival to us! Can you imagine it? But more importantly...can you believe that He wants to? Join us as we seek Him together and implore Him to pour out His Spirit in a fresh, new, exciting way!

Next Sunday, July 19th: You do not want to miss this Sunday! Something will happen that may have never occurred at MCHOG before...we are going to hand out money! You heard right...hand out money. You need to be there to find out why, how much, the purpose and the plan!

Listen...God is moving at Mooresville Church of God! Isaiah 43:19 says, "See I am doing a new thing, now it springs up, do you not perceive it?" Another way to put is, "Can you imagine it?" God goes on to say in Ephesians 3:20-21, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

Let's see what God will do over these next few weeks!

In His Grip,

Pastor John

Monday, June 15, 2009

Family Bonds: The State of Our Church Family


The state of our church family at Mooresville Church of God is:

1) Growing - Numerically and Spiritually!

2) Hungry - We are getting hungry for community impact, healthy relationships with each other and to experience the manifest presence of God in our lives and ministry!

3) Getting Focused - We are steadily getting focused spiritually, in our ministry plan, and on God's call to us as a congregation!

Because of these truths we can say that the state of our church family is:

1) Strong!
2) Good!
3) Forward Moving!

So if this is all true, then some natural questions arise:

1) Where do we go from here?

I believe we stay focused on the major calls of God, including:

- The Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20) - This is the heart of what God is trying to do in the world through His church!

- The Great Commandment (Mark 12:30-31) - This is at the heart of HOW we accomplish the Great Commission; by loving God with all that we are and then loving others in the same way!

- The Early Church Model (Acts 2:42-47) - If this happened once...it can happen again! The passion, determination, power and effectveness of the 1st Century Church can be ours today!

2) What should we be doing?

I believe Jesus' words to His disciples in Acts 1:4-14 detail what we should be doing immediately...Wait...Pray...Prepare! Wait on God to empower, equip and direct us! Pray daily, moment by moment, every chance we get, for this to happen SOON! And prepare our hearts and minds so that when God pours our His Holy Spirit in a new, fresh way, empowering us to do new ministry with new effectiveness, we are ready to act!

3) What are the keys to effective ministry that will change the world?

There are many things we could list: Faith, love, patience, all the fruits of the Spirit and many other godly traits and practices! However, from a "big picture" perspective there are two primary keys:

- Prayer - Jesus said that His house should be called a "house of prayer". We should be crying out to God in prayer, asking Him to empower, equip, resource and lead His church in such an obvious way that we can't miss it, that we will do it, and that we will succeed in it! If we don't ask, seek and knock...God will not answer! We must labor in prayer until God moves and acts on our behalf!

- The Holy Spirit - In his book "Fresh Power", Jim Cymbala says, "The degree to which we understand and experience the Spirit of God will be the exact degree to which God's plan for our churches will be accomplished". God then says in Zechariah 4:6, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord Almighty"! We can try every invention of humanity, but until God's Spirit moves in a fresh, empowering way, we will not succeed in our efforts to change the world!

4) What will inspire God to send a fresh outpouring of His Holy Spirit?

We are planning a preaching series about these things in the next few months (that's how important we believe an understanding of these godly actions are!):

- Brokenness - This is allowing ourselves to be humbled before the Lord. To be broken open so His Spirit can flow out of us!

- Repentance - This is consciously choosing to turn and live differently than we presently are in order to be better used by God for His purposes! Repentance is a key to knowing and following Jesus Christ effectively!

- Surrender - This is choosing selflessness. This is following in Jesus footsteps by saying, "not my will, Father, but Yours be done!"

- Holiness - This is growing in Christlikeness; being set apart for God's purposes; conforming every aspect of who we are and how we live to God's will and desires for us as His children! And it springs from brokenness, repentance and surrender!

- Praise - Everything we are about, everything we do, everything we are should lead to glorifying and praisinng God! Only He is worthy of praise! Everything should eventually, always lead to us praising Him!

Let's begin with prayer and call out to God for Him to give us a fresh empowering of His Spirit and then let's change the world as we act in obedience on His call for His church to make disciples! As we do that together, a beautiful community of faith continues to develop and God is glorified! Let's get praying together...

In His Grip,

Pastor John

Blog Archive