Brainerd Church of the Nazarene
"A Community of Hope" in the Brainerd Lakes Areas
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God's Game Plan for Life

4/30/2015

2 Comments

 
If we are going to live life according to God’s Game Plan for our Lives, we really need to understand the fact that life begins and ends at home plate as we “Connect” with God.  It all starts and ends with Him.  We ask the question, “Where did I come from?  What am I to do? and Where am I going when life is over here on earth?”  Life begins and ends with God.  If we connect with Him, and allow Him to lead us, we are well on our way to living a “home run” kind of life as God designed it for us.

Our focus has been on Hebrews 12:1-2 where we find that the world has a pattern to how it wants to direct our paths.  So does God, but the world runs the bases backwards compared to God’s Game Plan.  Scripture tells us that we must be “transformed by the renewing of our minds.”  We must begin to think differently than the world thinks, and allow God to change our way of thinking, because “God’s ways are not our ways and God’s thoughts are not our thoughts.”

Really it all comes down to obedience, and our willingness to submit to God’s authority rather than our own, or even the world around us.  Can we submit to the will of God, or are we held captive or enslaved by the world? Our careers?  Our finances?  Our children?  Our hobbies?  Our desire to “Be Somebody” in the eyes of others?

1 John 1:7 states: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

Obedience to God is the key to unlocking real peace and happiness in our lives. Disobedience leads to guilt and a lace of peace.  It will grind us into a terrible mental and spiritual state.  In this verse, John says that if we walk in the light (if we are obedient), we will have a deep fellowship (stay connected) with Jesus.

When we walk in His light, we get things right with ourselves (commitment – 1st base), we then value others more than ourselves (community – 2nd base) and then we find success (as God defines it) in all that we do (competence – 3rd base) and we win in the end by finishing strong and staying connected (1st base) with God.

Know that you are loved and prayed for.  I am looking forward to seeing you all on Sunday as we gather together for worship.

Rev. Dave McGaffey

2 Comments

He is Risen

4/6/2015

1 Comment

 
Easter is the Sunday that should be ranked above all other Sundays.  Yes, it’s a holiday, but it is for us as Christians, the most “Holi-Day” as we honor the one thing that is unique to God alone, the resurrection of His son.

However, in order to get to Easter and fully understand all that the resurrection is, we must walk through today, Good Friday.  What happened to Jesus as He journeyed toward the cross and then was nailed to it, in itself was not good at all.  However, what Jesus did there for us, enables us to gain all the good that is in Jesus, and that goodness, has everything to do with what took place on that first Easter.

When the Hebrew people, those descendants of Abraham, had been exiled in Egypt and underwent all kinds of suffering, both brought on by themselves as well as the Egyptians, God intervened.  He sent the prophet Moses to the court of Pharaoh to demand the release of the people.  As our kids learned through quizzing this year, Pharaoh would not give in because the Hebrew slaves kept his “kingdom” financially strong.  So God sent plague after plague, and I’m sure, each time, Moses figured, “This one will do the trick.”  But, no.  Pharaoh stuck to his pride and his heart grew harder and harder.  And then came the Passover.

Here the firstborn of each household would die in the night, but not in the houses of the Jews, because they followed God's instruction to take the blood of a sacrificed lamb and spread it on their doorframes that the angel of death might "pass over" their homes and allow their children to live.

In the giving of the law to Moses, it was this event that led to the first holiday (Holy Day) on the Jewish calendar: Passover, a commemoration of God's saving grace.  It was not until the coming of the Messiah, however, that the Passover sacrifices were paid for, for all time.  Jesus became our Passover lamb, whose blood turns away the angel of death and purchases our eternal life.  That, my friends, is worth celebrating!

I am really looking forward to our time together this weekend as we celebrate OUR Risen Lord!

Pastor Dave McGaffey
1 Comment

We Must Walk Through Good Friday to get to Easter

4/3/2015

0 Comments

 
Easter is the Sunday that should be ranked above all other Sundays.  Yes, it’s a holiday, but it is for us as Christians, the most “Holi-Day” as we honor the one thing that is unique to God alone, the resurrection of His son.

However, in order to get to Easter and fully understand all that the resurrection is, we must walk through today, Good Friday.  What happened to Jesus as He journeyed toward the cross and then was nailed to it, in itself was not good at all.  However, what Jesus did there for us, enables us to gain all the good that is in Jesus, and that goodness, has everything to do with what took place on that first Easter.

When the Hebrew people, those descendants of Abraham, had been exiled in Egypt and underwent all kinds of suffering, both brought on by themselves as well as the Egyptians, God intervened.  He sent the prophet Moses to the court of Pharaoh to demand the release of the people.  As our kids learned through quizzing this year, Pharaoh would not give in because the Hebrew slaves kept his “kingdom” financially strong.  So God sent plague after plague, and I’m sure, each time, Moses figured, “This one will do the trick.”  But, no.  Pharaoh stuck to his pride and his heart grew harder and harder.  And then came the Passover.

Here the firstborn of each household would die in the night, but not in the houses of the Jews, because they followed God's instruction to take the blood of a sacrificed lamb and spread it on their doorframes that the angel of death might "pass over" their homes and allow their children to live.

In the giving of the law to Moses, it was this event that led to the first holiday (Holy Day) on the Jewish calendar: Passover, a commemoration of God's saving grace.  It was not until the coming of the Messiah, however, that the Passover sacrifices were paid for, for all time.  Jesus became our Passover lamb, whose blood turns away the angel of death and purchases our eternal life.  That, my friends, is worth celebrating!
0 Comments

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