Posts by Michael Nelson (Page 13)

Weekly Update – March 24th, 2022 In just a few weeks, we as Christians celebrate the cornerstone of our faith.  As the apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:14, “if Christ has not been raised, then our faith is in vain.”  What this means is that the resurrection does matter.  We can’t simply resort to saying that Christianity is about doing good for others or living a morally pure life.  If Christ has not been raised, then he is just…

Weekly Update – March 17th, 2022 As Covid restrictions have relaxed and people seem to be moving beyond the pandemic, we have begun to see a number of visitors on Sunday morning once again.  Some are repeat visitors, others try for a Sunday and then we may see them again in the future, but either way, our church has had a number of new people walk through its doors.  In the New Testament we see a command given to Christians…

Weekly Update – March 10th, 2022 This coming Sunday night (3/13), we will begin a new series titled, Follow Me.  This six week series is designed to challenge us on what Jesus truly meant when he uttered the words, “follow me” to those who would be his disciples.  Here is a brief description of the study: “What did Jesus really mean when he said, “Follow Me”? In this new book, David Platt, author of the New York Times bestselling book,…

Weekly Update – March 3rd, 2022 In the big picture of Paul’s letter to Timothy, we have quickly seen that all is not right in the Ephesian church where Timothy is stationed.  False doctrine is being taught with an emphasis being placed upon “myths and endless genealogies” (1:4).  These so-called teachers were teaching what is “contrary to sound doctrine” (1:10), so much so that some were making “shipwreak of their faith” (1:19).  One of the ways that the apostle Paul…

Weekly Update – February 24th, 2022 This past Sunday, we took time to pray for the situation involving Ukraine. Since then, tensions have escalated with Russia now posting over 190,000 soldiers on the Ukrainian border. It is expected that many peaceful Ukrainian cities will soon find themselves under Russian aggression. Send International is a missions organization, and they have posted 11 ways for you and I to pray for the Ukraine. Here they are below: 1. Ask God to redeem…

Weekly Update – February 17th, 2022 Last week, we considered 1 Timothy 5:1-2 in our church gathering.  The emphasis on the church being the family of God especially came to the forefront of this passage.  Consider these short two verses again, “Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.”  Through our common redemption in Jesus Christ, we are not…

Weekly Update – February 10th, 2022 On Sunday evenings, we have been going through a study called The Explicit Gospel.  As the study explains, and as many of you have surely noticed, is that there are a lot of people out there, some of whom claim to be Christians, who have no idea what the gospel actually is.  On a regular basis I will have conversations with people who confirm this claim.  One conversation may be a man telling me…

Weekly Update – February 3rd, 2022 Last week I explained why it is we pray the way we do in our morning services.  I said that we pray together as a church with intentionality, as we come before the Lord unified as one, following the pattern given to us in the scriptures.  As we pray, we have four prayers during our service.  These prayers are meant to give us the full breadth of what prayer is, as we come before…

Weekly Update – January 27th, 2022 Is there value in praying together?  Hopefully you would respond with a resounding, YES! That is why we keep our prayer list up to date, or we take prayer requests during Sunday school, right?  We pray before meals together, before meetings at church, and before various other events as well.  Therefore it should be a given that we would also pray together during our Sunday morning services.  But praying multiple times in our service? …

Weekly Update – January 20th, 2022 After two years, we are going to pick back up in our study through 1st and 2nd Timothy.  As we do, what we will once again see is that there is a foundational truth that we must be crystal clear on.  That truth is the gospel message. The problem that the apostle Paul is addressing as he writes to his “child in the faith” (1:2) is that a distraction away from truth, leads to…

Weekly Update – January 13th, 2022 Last week we looked at 1 Thessalonians 3:6-13 in our worship service.  In this passage, verse 6-7 says this: “But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you – for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted…

Weekly Update – January 6th, 2022 One of the things that has encouraged me over the course of my Christian life is reading biographies of Christians who have gone before us. Hebrews 12:1 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Though this passage is referring back to Hebrews…