Sunday Morning Message from November 27th, 2005

"The Triumph of Faith"
Habakkuk 3:1-19
Click here to download the MP3 file. It's 9.8MB and 42 min. long.

Song by Matt and Chris

Here's Matt and Chris' rendition of DC Talk's "What If I Stumble," from the 13th.

Sunday Morning Message from November 20th, 2005

Click here for the audio file (.mp3). This week's message is 10.1MB and about 44 minutes long.

Recap of Habakkuk 2:6-20
1. God answers Habakkuk’s complaint (that the Babylonians would be used byGod to discipline God’s people) in two ways:
-in difficult times when God’s ways seem mysterious, the righteous must liveby faith
-the Babylonians would themselves receive God’s judgment and one day God’s glory will fill the whole earth
2. God launches five indictments (woes) against the Babylonians (and allwho live like them). Wiersbe characterizes them as “greed, selfishness,murder, drunkenness and lust, and idolatry.”
3. Each indictment illustrates the “sowing and reaping” principle ofScripture (Proverbs 22:8; Galatians 6:7). Each violation, each failurecarries the seeds of its own destruction. What a person or nation sows theywill also reap.

Sunday Morning Message from November 13th, 2005

Click here to download this week's message, which is 9.9 MB and 43 minutes long. Today's message is from Habakkuk 2:2-5.

Recap of Habakkuk 2:2-5
1. God replies to Habakkuk's second complaint: the Babylonians would be used to discipline God's people yet they themselves would be judged by God.
2. The revelation was to be written down so it could be preserved for the future and be disseminated, since its fulfillment was yet future.
3. Two paths in life are revealed:
-the path of the "puffed up," the path of self-sufficiency, pride, arrogance, which leads to self-destruction and death
-the path of faith, which leads to life, the abundant life of "security, protection, and fullness."

Sunday Morning Message from November 6th, 2005

"Getting God's Perspective" Part 2.
Habakkuk 1:12-2:20
Click here to download the MP3 file. It's 9.1MB and 39 min. long.

Sunday Morning Message from October 30th, 2005

"Getting God's Perspective"
Habakkuk 1:12-2:20
Click here to download the MP3 file. It's 18.7MB and 40 min. long.

Sunday Morning Message from October 23rd, 2005

Click here to download this week's message, which is 10.5 MB and 45 minutes long. Today's message is, "When life makes no sense..." from Habakkuk 1:1-11.

Sunday Morning Message from October 16th, 2005

Click here to download this week's message, which is 10.1 MB and 43 minutes long. Pastor Joe's message is number 7 in his 7 part series on prayer. He wraps up the teaching by focusing on Practical and Effective Prayer.
Matthew 12:22
Mark 3:20-30

Luke 11:14-23

Recap of 10/16/05:
1. We do not seek to “bind” Satan in prayer:
-our concern is not the power of Satan but the “schemes” of Satan (Ephesians 6:10-18)
-our concern should not be the strongholds of Satan but the “footholds” of Satan (Ephesians 4:26,27; 1 Corinthians 7:3,5)
2. A pattern for prayer: the acrostic A-C-T-S (or if you prefer C-A-T-S)
-Adoration, appreciating God for His character, attributes and actions
-Confession, naming specific sins, agreeing with God about them and acknowledging to God our true nature
-Thanksgiving, our response to God’s blessings (family, spouse, job, etc.) and His care over us (including hardships) – 1Thessalonians 5:16-18
-Supplication, prayer for our needs and the needs of others (including all authorities) – 1 Timothy 2:1,2; Ephesians 6:18,19
3. Fear and anxiety are reminders to pray. Philippians 4:6

Sunday Morning Message from October 9th, 2005

Click here to download the mp3 file. This week's is 9.3 MB and 40 minutes.

Recap of 10/9/05:
1. Prayer is not a substitute for action nor should it be an excuse for inaction. (Nehemiah 4:9)
2. We must learn to accept “later,” “no,” and silence as answers to prayer.
3. Prayer is not manipulating God into doing what I want, nor is it demanding of God something I want.
4. Prayer is an essential part of the abiding life of fruitfulness that Jesus talks about in John 15.
5. Since God knows all things, including our needs, why pray?
-biblical prayer is relationship oriented not results-oriented.
-God is our Father and wants us to come to Him with our needs, joys, weaknesses, hurts, etc.
-we don’t pray so that we can instruct God in our needs but so that we can have union with Him

Sunday Morning Message from October 2nd, 2005

Click here to download the mp3 file. It's 8.2 MB and about 36 minutes long.
This week, Pastor Joe's message is the fifth installment in his series entitled "Prayer 101".
Recap of Luke 11:5-13
The “how-to” of prayer:
1. Luke 11:5-8 - We should be persistent in prayer because, if a human friend will respond out of his reluctance to our need, how much more will God respond Who is never inconvenienced, never bothered, never reluctant and does not need to be persuaded to meet our need.
2. Luke 11:9-10 – God waits for us to “keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking,” not because He is reluctant to hear and answer us, but because He desires fellowship with us. Fellowship with God is a primary aspect of prayer.
3. Luke 11:11-13 – Even as human father respond to their children’s requests with good, not harmful things, so God, our Heavenly Father, gives good things to those who seek Him. He will give us better things than we ask for, because His will is best.

Sorry for the absence!

I've been on vacation, and haven't been able to keep up with the blog for a few weeks. I've got the 11th, 18th and 25th up... so we should be up-to-date.

It appears that our church website is currently down, so I'll get to work on setting that straight.

Also, we started getting a lot of "spam comments" today, so I turned on the word verification feature. Please don't let that discourage you from leaving some feedback for us, or sharing what you think about a particular message.

Thanks for tuning in.

-Mat

Sunday Morning Message from September 25th, 2005

Prayer 101 (part 4)

Click here to download the mp3 file. It's 10.5 MB and about 46 minutes long.
This week, Pastor Joe's message is the fourth installment in a series entitled "Prayer 101".

Recap of Matthew 6:12-15
The “how-to” of prayer:
1. After requests related to God’s interests (desire for His name, His kingdom and His will) we then bring requests related to our needs
-for personal, temporal needs (food, clothing, shelter)
-for spiritual needs (need for daily cleansing to maintain temporal fellowship with God)
-for deliverance both from temptation and in temptation.
2. Jesus emphasizes the need to be forgiving people. Dangers in not forgiving:
-it blocks us from receiving God’s forgiveness on a daily basis (blocks our fellowship with Him)
-it build resentment in us which will affect us emotionally or physically
-it may bring God’s discipline into our lives (1 Corinthians 11; Hebrews 12)
-it reflects the standards of the world not the standard of Jesus Christ

Sunday Morning Message from September 18th, 2005

Prayer 101 (part 3)

Click here to download the mp3 file. It's 10.0 MB and about 44 minutes long.
This week, Pastor Joe's message is the third installment in a series entitled "Prayer 101".

Recap of Matthew 6:9-11
The “how-to” of prayer:
1. We come to God in prayer on the basis of our relationship with Him, He is our Father.
2. Though He is our Father, He is “in heaven,” i.e. transcendent and sovereign, with unlimited resources.
3. We begin with requests related to God’s interests: desire that He be honored, His kingdom be established and His will prevail.
4. We then bring requests related to our needs: the first request being for our personal, temporal needs.

[repaired] Sunday Morning Message from September 11th, 2005

Click here to download the mp3 file. It's 5.5 MB and about 24 minutes long.
This week, Pastor Joe's message is the second installment in his series entitled "Prayer 101".

Recap of Matthew 6:5-8
The “how-not-to” of prayer:
1. Prayer out of an insincere attitude:
-to be noticed by others
-for public consumption
-for appearance sake (to appear pious)
2. Prayer with meaningless words:
-mindlessly repeating prescribed prayers
-repeating the same phrases over and over again
-believing the efficacy of prayer was in its length

Sunday Morning Message from September 4th, 2005

Click here to download the mp3 file. It's 10.9 MB and about 46 minutes long.
This week, Pastor Joe's message is entitled "Prayer 101". The Scripture references are Luke 13:1-5 and Matthew 6:5-15.