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.

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

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

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

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 DISCIPLES!  Start 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

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!

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