Last week, Sam gave us two principles to live out that can transform our lives. And, most everyone would agree with what he said. But those two principles are easily ignored. It is the most interesting challenge. He said, if we pulled you aside and asked, “Should we have daily, consistent and rhythmic moments with God?” Everyone would probably say, ‘Yes.’ Second question, “Would it benefit you to weekly have down time to rest and have time to . . . Read More »
Where Is God When It Hurts?
Being in a personal relationship with God means you deal with reality – the reality of what is happening in your heart and mind. You deal with the reality of your relationship with God. You deal with the reality of your relationship with others. You deal with the reality. To find spiritual freedom and transformation means we must make a commitment to live in reality. That means we give time and space to be with God. That means . . . Read More »
Transformation, not Christian Activity
This series is about how we walk in a personal relationship with Christ that transforms us. To be clear, it’s not about religious activity like: go to church, give your old clothes to the poor, and attend Sunday school class. We aren’t talking about that. We are talking about transformation. How do we experience a personal relationship with God that transforms our heart. For example. I felt rejection and depression was growing inside of me. But because of . . . Read More »
How to Be in a Personal Relationship With Jesus
Today we are going to introduce the beginning of how to have a personal relationship with Jesus. We are not talking about church attendance or religious activity. We are talking about the kind of relationship that can transform you. Over the next several weeks, we will get more detailed about being in a relationship with Jesus. For example: What do you do when you have been deeply wounded in your past? What do you do when life is . . . Read More »
10 Reasons Your Christianity Isn’t Working
A couple of weeks ago I asked, ‘How is your Christianity working?’ I wanted you to think through your relationship with God. In your relationship with God, are you being transformed, or do you feel like you are pretending that things are better than they actually are? Maybe for you, Christianity isn’t working. If that’s the conclusion you have come to, that’s the reason we are walking through this series. Last week, Sam gave us a ferocious verse. . . . Read More »
We All Must Answer This Question
So last week was a pretty special weekend. We started a new series and it’s a very important one on Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. Then Sunday afternoon we headed to Messiah College for what is probably my favorite service that we do each year which is our baptism service. It’s so meaningful to watch people make a public commitment to God, and for me it’s an amazing experience to listen to them share what God is doing in their . . . Read More »
Is Your Christianity Working?
Today I want to open with a quick question for you to think through. How is your Christianity working? I don’t think there is anything more frustrating that when you buy something, bring it home, and it doesn’t work. My neighbor bought a new snowblower last year. When I snowed eight inches, he was pretty excited to fire that thing up. The only thing was, he started it and the belt broke. All he could see was eight . . . Read More »
The Busy Season Survival Guide
Well it seems official; summer seems to be coming to an end…the party is over in so many ways! School has started…which really seems to scream summer is over in the Hepner house. I will just say I had to grab my emotions this year taking the first day of school picture in front of the house as I realized this was my oldest daughter’s LAST first day of school picture…that was a bit of a moment for . . . Read More »
The Greatest Form of Discipleship
So this summer we have been having a lot of fun here at MRC. We have been working through a series on the church. If you think about what we have been doing with this teaching, we have been asking some pretty specific questions about the church and how you answer these questions is very, very important. The way I see it if we take a step back and look at this series the big questions look something . . . Read More »
Did God lose track of you?
Have you ever felt like God has lost track of you? Maybe you feel like God doesn’t seem to care about your problems. Or maybe God is being unfair with you? And because God doesn’t seem to care, we struggle going to God. Why would I go to a God who doesn’t care? That doesn’t make sense. We may have concluded that there is no joy in God. God doesn’t refresh my soul. God is an empty attempt . . . Read More »