Spiritual Warfare Inside Community – Don’t Drop The Rope!

So today we are coming to the conclusion of the Spiritual Warfare series, and I have to tell you that I will be sad to see this one go.  Because it is just so important to us that we see this stuff for what it is and engage into it with intentionality.  Here at MRC we care about you so much and it has really been our biggest prayer through this series that we would be able to . . . Read More »

Focusing On What You Have

You know it has been really interesting to me how many of my talks with you have come back to this idea of focus.  Focus sure has been coming up a lot lately, and it seems to come up in scripture a lot too.  We are to focus on God, we are to fix our attention on Him.  Paul says it this way… 2 Corinthians 4:18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on . . . Read More »

You Want Me To Love…WHO?

You know last week we were talking about trying to have God focus in a world that is constantly pulling us away from God.  The way I see it, that really is the ultimate challenge for us, to stay focused on God in a world full of things that just seem to pull our attention away from God and onto everything, and anything but Him.  What was interesting to me was that when we looked around the Bible . . . Read More »

Sure Would Be Easier To KEEP The Peace

You know this series we are in is really interesting.  We have been able to talk about some really big subjects like grace, and The Bible, and Following Jesus, and community and last week Kim and I had a chance to talk to you about serving others.  Serving others is a really big deal here at MRC and I felt like we really had to go after the importance of living our lives as Jesus lived his.  I . . . Read More »

Can I Die Without Dying?

So we have been walking through a series where we are really looking at some of the foundational truths of our belief system.  We hit on things like love and grace, and the Bible, and worship, and following Jesus…and I loved Ken’s talk last week on community.  Boy oh boy, can that community thing really get messed up inside a church setting.  What is interesting to me is how we would actually expect anything else!  We take a . . . Read More »

Toxic People Kill Community

Why is community, why are relationships, so hard? You can replace the word ‘community’ with the following; school friendships, marriage, work place, church, sports teams, etc. In each of these relationships, community can be a challenge. Why is it that in high school, someone can say you are best friends and then a month later, that person takes an instragram picture of them around a fire put with their friends and you aren’t there. That hurts. Why is . . . Read More »

Why Can’t We All Just Get Along?

Hebrews 10:23 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching. NIV So why would the writer of Hebrews make a point to tell us to keep meeting together?  It sounds like some people are tired of meeting together . . . Read More »

There’s No Replacement For Experience

So today we continue this walk through the book of Romans, and this particular chunk of scripture really captured my heart.  If you recall last week we jumped into a really heavy chunk of the letter didn’t we?  Last week we talked about how we had some good news and some bad news right?  Paul presented us with a problem, not just a problem but THE PROBLEM.  We suppress the truth.  The truth is that there is a . . . Read More »

Wake Up

Jesus came to be in relationship not create a religion. Jesus ate lunch with a man named Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a known thief in the community. He was hated because everyone knew, he stole their taxes and they couldn’t do anything about it. Jesus spent time with him and noticed a complete change in Zacchaeus. Jesus announced to his disciples around Him, The Son of Man came to find and restore the lost. MSG Luke 19:10 Jesus was . . . Read More »

Putting People In Their Place

Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that . . . Read More »