Welcome, guest!
Create an account for a personalized experience,
or log on if you have one.
|
|
Welcome, guest! |
FROM THE PASTOR'S PEN
JANUARY NEWSLETTER 2012
Every person is on a quest, in pursuit of something they value in life. But every human quest pales in significance to one ultimate pursuit—the search for God. It is on that quest that we find the answers to our deepest longings.
Maybe you are on this quest. If you are, there is a promise to embrace. God has said, You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)
We at Old Union Church would like to be a part of your search. Sundays beginning New Year’s Day through Feb. 5, we will examine the key signposts that must guide anyone’s search for God. Wherever you are in your pursuit of the things that really matter, let’s seek to know God together. Then, make a difference in someone else’s life and invite them to join the quest with you. To assist you on your quest, take time to become familiar with these special Psalms—32, 33, and 34.
Make 2012 a year to truly find and know the God your heart is searching for!
Pastor Mike
December 2011
There are many rooms in my Father’s home, and I am going to prepare a place for you…When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so you will always be with me where I am. John 14:2-3
As a kid growing up as an only child in rural
My mother would create a December calendar on a sheet of paper and I would tape it to the inside of my bedroom door. Each night I would make a large “X” to fill the square of the day just passed and count the days until the 25th would arrive. As I tracked the approach of Christmas, every December day was colored with that anticipated joy.
Jesus came first to planet earth, accepting the humility and weakness of infant flesh. He did so to identify with our humanity and to lay down his physical life as the only adequate sacrifice for sin. That manger arrival is the basis of our celebration of Christmas.
But Jesus has promised to return to planet earth. He will come a second time to take his true followers to his Father’s home and inaugurate his kingdom rule over all things. That is a day to anticipate. That day will be filled with more than presents and food and family fun. It will be the beginning of life lived in a perfect environment. It will be the beginning of life ruled by absolute peace and joy. It will be the beginning of life filled with maximum purpose and fulfillment. Our wildest of wish lists will be checked off and met.
As I went to bed each December night, I could see the lights of our Christmas tree casting their colors just outside my bedroom door. I dreamed of Christmas day. I imagined the gifts I hoped to receive. I looked forward to the hours of fun. Filled with that Christmas anticipation, life was as rich and meaningful as a young heart could experience it.
The anticipation of Christ’s return should do the same for our faith-embracing hearts. Its promises are abundant. Its realities are amazing. Its realization is sure. A life lived in true expectation of that day will be filled with a sense of constant hope and wonder.
May visions of Jesus’ coming and the home to which he will take us “dance in our heads” and give us a sense of Christmas joy every day of the year. Merry Christmas!
Pastor Mike
November 2011
Often our view of the church, the body of Christ, is too narrow. We may demonstrate little interest outside our own local church or circle of churches. Maybe we have little focus beyond our own denomination or limit our concern to followers of Jesus in our community or country.
Ray Vander Laan makes a powerful point regarding this as it relates to persecuted Christians around the world. Persecution is identified biblically as the norm for Christians. Every generation has seen its share of hostility toward Christians in various places around the world. Our present period of history is no exception as millions of followers of Jesus are subject to some form of overt persecution. But not all Christians suffer directly. We here in the United States know little about suffering because of our faith in Jesus. We should be extremely grateful for this unique environment in which we are privileged to live. But we need to also understand that from a biblical perspective we are suffering. When the body of Christ is persecuted anywhere in the world, we share in that suffering.
Referring to the relationship of each member of the body of Christ to one another Paul wrote, …its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. This should be especially true when it comes to persecuted Christians in other areas of the world. We need to embrace their suffering as brothers and sisters in Christ, sharing in it through prayer and ministering through financial means to their needs.
November 13 we will observe International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church in both services. It will be a moving and poignant time of worship as we become more aware of their physical plight and as we embrace the scriptural call to be one with them.
Don’t miss this service. But don’t wait until then to begin praying for persecuted Christians. To raise your level of awareness and help you pray more effectively visit www.OpenDoorsUSA.org. Then join us on November 13 as we visibly demonstrate our solidarity with our persecuted extended church family. It is the least we can do as members with them in Christ’s church where there are no human boundaries.
Pastor Mike
October 2011
No. Life isn’t particularly easy. Being a follower of Jesus in a spiritually decaying culture doesn’t make it any easier. But in spite of the fact that we are often swimming upstream, God has provided the resources for us to live productive and meaningful lives here in this world before we arrive in heaven.
We have spent the last six weeks exploring the benefits and blessings of scripture. God has given us his empowered Word so that we are fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do. (2 Timothy 3:16)
He has sent Jesus, the Word made human, to flesh out the way of faith and do for us all that we could never do for ourselves in regard to dealing with sin and providing salvation.
He has also made available the Holy Spirit, the oft neglected member of the trinity. Jesus promised His disciples that He would not abandon them but would always be with them. (John 14:18) He expanded that promise to include all of his followers to the very end of the age. (Matt. 28:18) It is the Holy Spirit who fulfills that promise as He is ever-present, ever-personal, ever-providing. Jesus, who took on a resurrection body after rising from the dead, could not fulfill the promise in that form. So He sent the Holy Spirit to live with and in the life of every person who makes the decision to follow Him. Yes, the Spirit is Jesus present with us.
In the coming weeks we will explore the Holy Spirit, who He is and what He does. We will eliminate some of the fuzziness and fearfulness related to embracing His work in our lives. And we will see that by relying upon His divine presence and power we can live in a spiritual sweet spot despite the challenges and resistance of the world around us.
I will ask the Father, and he will give you another (just like Jesus) Helper, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. (John 14:16-17)
Pastor Mike
September 2011
It has been ten years since the nightmare morning of September 11, 2001. Few of us have forgotten where we were when the news of the terrorist attack reached us. None of us have forgotten how we felt. It is even more important that we not forget some of the crucial lessons that pushed their way to the forefront of our thinking on that horrifying day.
Life is tentative and uncertain. No one could have imagined the scenario of events that would take nearly 3000 human lives that morning. None of those who died had any thought that the previous day was their last. We must live daily with a sense of death’s imminence, such that we are prepared for our eternal future and certain of our eternal destination.
Misguided religion is a destructive evil. Americans, Christians included, were outraged at the evil perpetrated by militant Muslim ideology. But the reality that most would miss in the aftermath of 9/11 is that any religious system has the capacity to cause tremendous damage. When religion is separated from a relationship with the one true God and becomes an end in itself, serious harm to people is inevitable. Christianity is not exempt. When it deteriorates into mere religion it can become a source of evil just like any other.
Triumph always arises from tragedy. The countless stories of courage and faith that were told following the events of September 11 remind us of the sacrificial spirit that resides in many. Miracles abounded. Scores of lives were spiritually touched and transformed. Broken lives found restoration and hope. And in the amazing accounts of triumph arising from tragedy, God’s eternal story is mirrored.
Tragedy reorients our priorities. For days after September 11, the things that typically occupied our minds and energies became back-burner matters. We had all received a quick dose of divine reality. Much to which we devote our lives and time is mere trivia. The things that really matter are few and obvious, but they are usually lost in the clutter of daily living. Tragedy restores a focus we need to permanently embrace.
On this landmark anniversary, we will declare that “We will not forget.” We should not. We should not forget the heroism, the sacrifice, the loss. But as we remember, let us not forget these and other lessons that God shouted to us on September 11, 2001.
Pastor Mike
| Contact: yahoo.com@oldunioncu - Search - Logon | Copyright © 2012, Old Union Christian Union |  |