Posts by Michael Nelson

Weekly Update – November 28th, 2024  Thanksgiving is often a great time to catch up with friends and family members. Sometimes though, in the midst of trying to talk with someone you haven’t seen in a while, or sitting around a table with a bunch of people, it can get difficult to have real, meaningful conversation. Below are a list of questions, put together by Donald Whitney, to hopefully aid in meaningful discussions that fit the season. – What’s your favorite…

Weekly Update – November 21st, 2024  One of the common trends among many Christians is discouragement when it comes to prayer.  Often times, we have the tendency to set out on the path of prayer looking to pray for everything we can think of to only glance at our watches and discover that we have only been at it for all of 3 or 4 minutes.  Quite frankly we feel as if we are simply praying the same old things…

Weekly Update – November 14th, 2024 This week we returned to our series in the gospel of Luke.  So far, we have seen the births of John that Baptist (1:57-66) and Jesus (2:1-7), side by side. We have also seen a bit of John the Baptist’s ministry (3:1-20), ending with him being in prison for calling out Herod Antipas’ sin of adultery and incest (3:20). Yet as we came to chapter 3 verse 21, it is almost as if Luke…

Weekly Update – November 7th, 2024 One of the fundamental graces that has kept our democracy going for over 245 years is the smooth transition of power that occurs every 4 to 8 years.  Elections occur, voters vote and the losing party concedes allowing this country to remain peaceful as its history continues.  We all had the opportunity to witness this up close on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning as Donald J. Trump became president-elect of the United States.  President Biden has…

Weekly Update – October 31st, 2024 As many of you have recognized over the years, my main objective in communicating to you, whether from the pulpit or through this newsletter, is to make Christ known and how knowing him applies to our lives.  Therefore, I don’t stump for political candidates, nor do I advocate for certain political measures.  Yet, I want to delve into this area with you today because the amendment that is up for a vote this coming…

Weekly Update – October 24th, 2024 In Luke chapter 3 we are introduced to the ministry of John the Baptist.  He is the miraculous son, born to Zechariah and Elizabeth in their older age (Lk. 1:13), who is now in the wilderness preaching a “baptism of repentance” (Lk. 3:3).  He is said to be the forerunner of the Messiah, preparing the hearts of all who will “see the salvation of God” (Lk. 3:6) through Jesus Christ. But as people hear…

Weekly Update – October 17th, 2024 As was announced on Sunday, we as a church will be participating in Operation Christmas Child (OCC) this year.  OCC is an effort organized by Samaritan’s Purse and it involves a simple concept – providing boxes of Christmas presents to needy children.   On a grand scale, OCC will bring gift-filled shoeboxes to an estimated 220 million children in 170 countries on six continents this year. The idea behind OCC is for volunteers to fill…

Weekly Update – October 10th, 2024 No one ever expects their town to be the one hit when the storm warnings appear.  The storm’s path may be predicted, the weather sirens may go off, the skies may be black and a tornado may even appear, but hope is always held out until the last minute that disaster may somehow be averted.  This was not the case for many in Florida this week. As residents packed up and left under mandatory…

Weekly Update – October 3rd, 2024 It’s Sunday morning and it is raining.  One of the easiest things to say is, “I’ll just watch the service from home today, I won’t be missed this one Sunday.”  Or, it is Sunday morning and you are tired, “I’m going to catch up on some sleep today, I’ll catch up on the service later online, it is almost the same thing as being in person anyway.”  Perhaps you are having a conversation with…

Weekly Update – September 26th, 2024 Within the last week, I became aware of two ministry leaders who fell into “ministry disqualifying” sins.  One was very public, and his ministry is well known around the world.  The other was local and served in a supporting role at a church just south of us.  I won’t list the sins, nor will I give you the names, though you could likely figure it out. Instead, I want to process with you how…

Weekly Update – September 19th, 2024 As a Baptist church, one of our distinctives is that we are autonomous. Essentially what that means is that we govern ourselves and do not take directives from anybody outside of our own assembly. In other words, we are independent.  We see this principle of autonomy first come up in Matthew 18:16 when Jesus tells the church to remove an unrepentant person from their midst.  The call here is not to go to a…

Weekly Update – September 12th, 2024 The topic of abortion seems to have grown even more contentious than normal over the last several months.  With the overturning of Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, our political cycle has jumped headlong into the perceived positives and negatives of this outcome as each presidential candidate seeks to make use of this decision to their own advantage.  Now, my point here is not to highlight the position of each political party, but…