A Great Future

“Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will."—Matthew 24:42-44

Jesus takes His disciples aside and begins to share what will be the complete scope of God's plan. The question is, do they get it yet? Jesus’ return will not set up an earthly kingdom but instead will end the question of God's sovereignty and character. His return will not be something that can be predicted, but, must be planned for and anticipated. 

As Christians, we see the entire scope of the Bible as the backdrop to explain God’s love and desire for us. The story of Jesus, His incarnation, ministry, execution, resurrection, and second coming become the linchpin that holds it all together. 

In our next sermon series, “The Great . . .,” we will be looking into what the Bible teaches us about the war in Heaven, the need for the Bible, the time of trouble, end-time events, and the second coming. This past year we have seen and experienced the world change. Is this art imitating reality or is this God shaking the world awake to the reality of His love? 

We invite you to pray with us, study with us, and hope with us as we lead in our next study.

–Pastor Jackie James

After

Then he focused his attention on Thomas. “Take your finger and examine my hands. Take your hand and stick it in my side. Don’t be unbelieving. Believe.” Thomas said, “My Master! My God!” Jesus said, “So, you believe because you’ve seen with your own eyes. Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing.”—John 20:27-29

Several times after the resurrection Jesus appeared to his disciples. Each encounter brought them a deeper love for Him. We are told not all the disciples were present the first time Jesus appeared to them. Thomas was absent. When he rejoined the group, he could see and hear the joy and hope, but he had doubts. 

When your heart has been shattered, it is hard to have hope even when others around you say “It will be alright.” Even when you want to walk in faith, it is hard.

Thomas's response to his friends is simple; “I need to see it for myself.” Eight days later, Jesus appears to them again, and this time He looks right at Thomas and invites him to come close and touch his wounds. 

Last week I asked the question, “What does the resurrection mean to you?" Until Thomas saw, and was invited to touch, Jesus’ wounds for himself, the resurrection meant nothing.

I don’t blame Thomas for his response. In fact, I think we should all be with him. Our faith must be rooted in a personal, unshakable experience with the risen Savior for ourselves. Not merely an emotional waterfall or theological path but a moment where we are engulfed with spirit and truth, which is only God given. 

This week my prayer for each of us is that we have an encounter with the risen savior. An encounter that redefines us as sons, daughters, husbands, wives ... Christians. 

–Pastor Jackie James

Humble Beast

This past Sunday, Christians all around the world celebrated Palm Sunday in celebration of Christ’s arrival to Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Palm Sunday marks the end of Lent and the beginning of Holy week. Coming out of the wilderness of fasting, repentance, and self-reflection, Christians begin to walk alongside Jesus in the final week of His life. Early on Sunday morning, I read the story of the from the Triumphal entrance to His burial. One thing particularly stood out to me this time: Those who carried him.  

On the first day of the week, Jesus rode past the walls, and into Jerusalem, carried by a donkey. The people greeted Him as their king with palm branches shouting, “hosanna in the highest!” On Friday, He would be completely abandoned and mocked by Roman soldiers. The soldiers would put a purple robe, a crown of thorns, and a sign above His cross that read, “The king of the Jews.” His corpse would hang on Golgotha’s hill, to be carried by Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, to be buried in a tomb.

On Sunday He was carried by a donkey and on Friday He was carried by two friends. No one ever talks about the donkey or the friends in any meaningful way. And that is because they are but perfunctory details; they are small details that make the narrative flow. Yet, they had the greatest privilege: 

They carried the king.

I desire to be like that humble beast that carried Him in and those friends who carried Him out. To live my life as one who carries Jesus while remaining a perfunctory detail. What a privilege it is to humbly carry the king.

The way up is down. (Luke 14:11)

–Pastor Alex Portillo

Citizens of Heaven

But our citizenship is in heaven. –Philippians 3:20a (NIV)

I was 4 years old. I stood with my daddy in front of the ice cream truck and when he said, "Jonny, you can have anything you want," my mouth opened wide, my eyes doubled in size, my hands started to sweat, and my head thumped with every rapidly increasing hear beat. I knew, with the trust only children possess, a trust without doubt, without question, without hesitation... I knew one thing.

Because my daddy had the power to get me whatever ice cream I wanted and HE was the one who spoke those words, I really could have any ice cream bar I wanted. Words cannot describe my joy in that moment, the exquisiteness of my expectation, the awesomeness of my anticipation, my giddy eagerness.

The words in Philippians 3:20 are from your true daddy–NOT your earthly daddy who may have kept many promises or only a few but your true daddy who is truly trustworthy. Your daddy who loves you and whose loving power defines the very makeup of reality is telling you, “You are a citizen of heaven.” What does this mean?

Citizenship is about what defines us and our value. The Philippians who were Roman citizens thought they had some great advantage over other church members who weren’t, but God invites them into a new citizenship that can unify and give an “eagerly awaiting” (Philippians 3:20b) hope. Over the course of my life, I’ve identified with all sorts of things God wants to redefine.

“My citizenship is in…

how productive I am.

what people think of me.

the United States and the choices of our leaders.

how things are going in my community, job, family.

how my day is going.”

To each, God replies, “Your citizenship is in heaven.”

Whatever you face in this life, let your question be, “How does the fact that I am actually a citizen of heaven instead of this broken world change the way I will affect, and be affected by, this situation?” I invite you to trust as a child and hold on for the ice cream.

– Pastor Jonny Moor

Abide in me

This was one of the last pieces of wisdom Jesus gave the apostles before His crucifixion. Though they were unaware that Jesus would be taken from them that night, Jesus spoke these words to them with this in mind. How were they to remain in Jesus if He was to be taken away from them that night? Fortunately for us, this was one of the few moments that Jesus was clear:

“If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love… My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” –John 15:10-12

They were to abide in Jesus by loving each other the way Christ had loved them: through self-sacrifice. This is how we abide in Christ: by laying our life down for our friends.

The timing of these words is important. Jesus could have taught them this important lesson earlier, but He did not. He chose the night of His betrayal because our natural impulse in response to chaos is to protect ourselves. Consider where the apostles were on resurrection morning. In the wake of the chaos, Judas had hung himself, Peter had betrayed Jesus, and the apostles had hidden themselves behind locked doors filled with fear (John 20:19). When their teacher was being tortured and killed, they ran. When chaos came, they did not abide, they did not remain, they did not love. They looked out for themselves.

Abiding in Christ means praying, reading Scripture, meditating on holiness, seeking wisdom and understanding, and developing spiritual disciplines. But we would miss a crucial part of what it means to abide if we do not take Jesus’ words seriously: “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love… My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”

We do not abide in Christ alone. We abide in Christ together. And ‘together’ means more than proximity, it also means effort. In the wake of chaos, spiritual practices become hard, but abiding with each other becomes near impossible. But the wisdom of Christ challenges us to be steadfast in chaos: to abide in Christ by abiding with each other. In the concluding words of Victoria Wescott’s sermon: “In the chaos that is to come, will you remain in Jesus?”

Lord, may we abide in you as we abide with each other.

—Pastor Alex Portillo

Press Forward

"Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."—Philippians 3:13, 14

After each sermon, there is always a moment when I realize there was something more I should have or could have said.

This week, during my message, a section of the passage that I unpacked included the words “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

As I continued to think about this passage, I began to wonder if maybe we should be asking ourselves "am I pressing on or am I content with being a bench warmer?"

It also hit me that maybe I should be asking, “in what ways does Meadow Glade Church encourage its members to press on?" This is a hard question, but it is also an important one. We want to be a community which encourages the lifelong pursuit of growing in Christ.

Meadow Glade Church, YOUR church, offers a wide range of growth opportunities for members of all ages. Here are just a few examples . . .

Children's Ministries: Vacation Bible School; Children's Sabbath School; Children’s Church; Pathfinders

Youth Ministries: Anchor Cafe; Youth Sabbath School; Teen Midweek Bible Study; Youth Ignite

Young Adult Ministries: YA Sabbath School; MGC Podcast

Adult Ministries: Midweek Prayer Meeting; Adult Sabbath School; Connect Groups

This is not a comprehensive list and only represents very traditional forms of spiritual growth opportunities. But where do you think you might fit in this list? Are you taking advantage of any of these? What can we do to help promote, encourage, or participate in your spiritual growth.

We may stumble, but we keep pressing forward.

We may not know the placement of each step, but we keep pressing forward.

We may stumble, but we keep pressing forward.

–Pastor Jackie James

Success

“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ”
–Philippians 3:7, 8

Gains and successes - as Christians we know we aren’t supposed to want those things. But… of course we do. And sure, sometimes it is selfish. We want to have nice things because they are, well, nice to have! And we often can’t help but want to be respected in other people’s eyes.

Sometimes, though, gains and successes are truly unselfish. We want to do well at work to help others. We want to succeed on a test or a project because it will help the rest of the group as well. Success isn’t always selfish, and that makes it a good thing… right?

Here in our text, this kind of unselfish success may be exactly what Paul is talking about being “garbage.” When my gains and successes are selfish, I already know, deep down, that they are not the goal of life, that these things are just surface. I don’t really need anyone to tell me that, I can feel guilty all by myself. However, when my gains and successes are for the benefit of others as well (though also for myself), I feel good about my own abilities and talents.

Sidebar–feeling good about ourselves is a good thing! God loves us and wants us to love ourselves! So, what is the problem? The problem comes when these things become our goals, and then we accomplish them and start to feel confident in ourselves alone. We see less and less of our need for God. Then, when failures come (and they will), we crash and burn–mentally, emotionally, but especially, spiritually.

What is the solution? If we are supposed to feel good about ourselves and accomplish good things for others, but we aren’t supposed to focus on success, what do we do? It’s not success that is the problem, it’s our focus on what makes something successful. If our own successes, or even the successes of those around us, are the goal, they become a block from Christ’s success. But, if in everything we do our goal is to let Christ shine–no matter the success or failure of our own wants, then we will become the Christians we are called to be.

What interaction was hardest for you this week? Where do you feel you struggled most? Take a minute to think on that. Then ask: how can I use that moment for Christ? This is where it starts.

–Pastor Jana Lee