Pastor Mickey

Many years ago, an Indiana candymaker had a desire to create a symbol of the true meaning of Christmas. So he made the “Candy Cane”. As a Christian, he incorporated several symbols of Christ’s birth, ministry and death. He began with a stock of pure, white hard candy. The white symbolized the Virgin Birth and sinless nature of Jesus. The hardness was for the foundation of the church, and the promises of God. The candymaker made the candy in the form of a `J’ to represent the name of Jesus, who came to earth as our Savior. It also represents the staff of the ‘Good Shepherd’, with which He reaches down into ditches to lift out fallen lambs, which like all sheep have gone astray. Thinking that the candy was somewhat plain, the candymaker stained it with red stripes. He used three small ones to show the stripes of scourging Jesus received, by which we are healed. The large red stripe was for the blood shed by Christ on the cross so that we could have the promise of eternal life. Unfort...

2 Cor. 5: 19 "For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation." NLT –God trusts you! Your fourth Christmas miracle is that God has a job for you to do- This is the wonder of participation. He has chosen us to share the wonderful message with others. Let’s share our faith…Let’s share the life, love and liberty that Jesus brings! He did not commit the Great Commission to angels, but to us! Here is the message of Christmas that we are to tell everyone, everywhere- That God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them! This is wonderful news! NLT - Matthew 28:19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Here are some suggestions for telling others about Jesus during this Holiday Season- First, look for the lonely- Family, friends an...

2 Cor. 5: 19 "For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation." NLT Your third Christmas wonder is that God will forgive you. The wonder of salvation. God is no longer counting man’s sins against him. The sin that was ours was placed on Christ, and the righteousness which was His, is imputed to us. NIV -2 Corinthians 5:21 "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." Now we have forgiveness of our sins, and we have been given right standing with God. What a glorious exchange! No wonder we rejoice at Christmas. The curse of sin is broken off our lives through the new birth! Sin no longer has power over us. Isaac Watts wrote it this way in “Joy to the World”: "No more let sin and sorrow grow, nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make His blessing known, far as the curse is found. Far...

God is For You, not against you! 2 Cor.5:19 NLT "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation." Your second Christmas miracle is that God is for you. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. Listen, God is not mad at you! The hostility that existed between God and sinful humanity ended at the Cross! NLT - Ephesians 2:13 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. When two parties who were estranged are reconciled, they are brought in to a new relationship. The past is forgiven. Through the death of Christ, we are brought back in to right relationship with God our Father. His payment for sin has been fully satisfied by His blood. Son ship in the family of God is made possible when we receive His payment by faith. NIV - John 1:12 Yet to...

On a stormy night, a little girl was awakened by thunder, and ran to the safety of her parent's room. As she snuggled into the bed between her mommy and daddy, her father tried to reassure her saying, "There's no need to be afraid, God is with you..." "I know, Daddy", said the little girl, "but right now I need somebody with skin on!" 2 Cor. 5:19 NLT "For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation." "For God was in Christ" speaks of the Christmas Miracle of--- "The Incarnation-God is with you!" John 1:14 "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." For the Christian, God is not in some far distant place; unapproachable and aloof. But because of the Incarnation, God has skin! He knows all about pain, rejection, suffering and even death, having tasted death for us all. He even knows about te...

Centuries ago an agnostic king of France was discussing philosophy and religion with his royal court counselor. After numerous arguments were presented by the Christian advisor in favor of the position that God had revealed Himself in the Holy Scriptures, the king finally demanded that his counselor prove to him that God existed in an argument using only two words. The counselor replied, "The Jews!" In those two words the counselor summed up one of the most miraculous demonstrations of God's supernatural intervention in human history. The survival and prospering of the Jewish people during thousands of years of brutal persecution, pogroms, and the tragedy of six million Jews massacred in Hitler's Holocaust is a mysterious miracle unparalleled in history. Each of the mighty empires of the past - Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome - who conquered Israel and carried her Jewish citizens into slavery have themselves turned to dust. Yet the Jewish peopl...

***A parable is told of a community of ducks waddling off to duck church one Sunday to hear their duck preacher. After they waddled into the duck sanctuary, the duck choir quacked a few lively tunes, and the duck preacher spoke eloquently of how God had given the ducks wings with which to fly. He pounded the pulpit with his beak and said, “With these wings, there is nowhere we ducks can not go! There is no God-given task we ducks cannot accomplish! With these wings we no longer need walk through life. We can soar high in the sky! Shouts of `Amen!’ were quacked throughout the duck congregation. The duck preacher concluded his message by exclaiming, With our wings we can fly through life! WE......CAN.....FLY!!!!” More ducks quacked out loud AMENS! in response. Every duck loved the service. In fact all the ducks that were present commented on what a wonderfully convicting message they had heard from their duck preacher....and then they left the church and waddled all the way home. Will...

1 Samuel 17: 40-54 MESSAGE “Then David took his shepherd's staff, selected five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the pocket of his shepherd's pack, and with his sling in his hand approached Goliath. 41-42 As the Philistine paced back and forth, his shield bearer in front of him, he noticed David. He took one look down on him and sneered—a mere youngster, apple-cheeked and peach-fuzzed. 43 The Philistine ridiculed David. "Am I a dog that you come after me with a stick?" And he cursed him by his gods. 44 "Come on," said the Philistine. "I'll make roadkill of you for the buzzards. I'll turn you into a tasty morsel for the field mice." 45-47 David answered, "You come at me with sword and spear and battle-ax. I come at you in the name of GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel's troops, whom you curse and mock. This very day GOD is handing you over to me. I'm about to kill you, cut off your head, and serve up you...

It is not the critic who counts; nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcomings; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end, the triumph of high achievement; and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. ~ Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919)

Before you answer, please read this- TEN REASONS WHY I NEVER WASH! 1. I was forced to as a child. 2. People who wash are hypocrites - they think they are cleaner than everybody else. 3. There are so many different kinds of soap; I can't decide which one is best. 4. I used to wash, but I got bored and stopped. 5. I wash only on special occasions, like Christmas and Easter. 6. None of my friends wash. 7. I'll start washing when I get older and dirtier. 8. I can't spare the time. 9. The bathrooms are never warm enough in winter or cool enough in summer. 10. People who make soap are only after your money. Speaking of the Church, Paul writes in 1 Cor. 12:25-27 NIV “so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it...

Ernest Hemingway told a story about a father who, having become estranged from his son, reached the point of desperation in trying to reconcile with the wayward boy. Finally, he went to the newspaper office in Madrid and took out an ad that read: " Dear Paco, meet me in front of the newspaper office tomorrow at noon. All is forgiven. I love you, your Father. " The next day at noon in front of the newspaper office, 800 "Pacos" showed up! This past Father's Day Sunday, I shared a message on "The Father's Blessing". I taught on four elements of THE BLESSING, taken from Gary Smalley's book by the same title. Unconditional love and approval that comes from a healthy relationship with parents; this best describes what the "Blessing" is all about...Here are the ingredients of the Blessing for you- the message in it's entirety can be found at www.life623.com Check it out today and share it with a friend! Biblical truths on how to ...

You and I have just been given one of the greatest privileges anyone has enjoyed in the past 1,000 years. We have carried the torch of the light of Jesus Christ into a new millennium. Only one other generation of Christians was ever given that honor! Although our society is in a moral free fall, and hangs only a thread away from cosmic chaos, in many ways the light is brighter than it was ten centuries ago. The speed of church growth and world evangelization is unprecedented. Unreached people groups are being penetrated with the Gospel. Truly, a global awakening has begun, and you and I are a part of it ! Today’s global uncertainties call for a fresh commitment to Christ and His honor worldwide. The world is in serious peril. Top secrets have fallen into the hands of terrorists and rogue governments creating the threat of nuclear war. Disease and tribal conflicts are ravaging Africa. Paul warned, “In the last days, perilous times will come…” Jesus said that sign...

Two of the most important verses in the New Testament-- Gal. 3:13, 14 “But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” (Deut 21:23) 14 Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.” NLT The Blessing of Abraham is so important that Jesus died to get it to us. What is Abraham’s Blessing? Since it cost Jesus His life to get it to us, we should find out more, and appropriate it for our own lives, homes and ministries. It is more than just the promise of a son; although God did promise that his seed would be as numerous as the sands of the sea, and the stars in the sky. A large portion of Abraham’s spiritual journey was spent carrying the promise of God, never seeing the `blessi...

Re-Evaluating Discipleship A typical model for local church ministry reflects two distinct classifications of Christians: the mature and the immature. The New Testament describes the goal of the Christian experience as becoming "mature," but it also reminds us that we will never actually reach this ideal this side of eternity. Certainly, some church leadership positions should not be available to a Christian novice; on the other hand, I'm not sure that developing fully devoted followers of Christ is even possible in this life. A church's determination to relationally separate new believers from their pagan pasts and re-inculturate them into our "fellowships" can actually sabotage its ministry by short-circuiting the organic process of world-change. The traditional paradigm for discipleship requires time, fellowship, and formal discipleship training to prepare Christians to begin their active role in evangelism. But after the required regimen is completed ...

Jesus commissioned us to reach the lost, and He both modeled and taught a strategic formula that would facilitate that great endeavor. Throughout the New Testament, when God's Spirit changed a life, a world-changer was born. Whether it was a demon-possessed man, a swindler named Zacchaeus, a royal official with a dying son, a tax collector named Matthew, a Centurion named Cornelius, a businesswoman named Lydia, or a recently unemployed Philippian jailor, they all were sent back home to their oikos. Oikos, the Greek word for "extended family," encompasses our relational worlds . It will include anywhere from eight to fifteen people whom God has supernaturally and strategically placed in our spheres of influence. Those relationships not only frame our primary evangelistic targets, but in reality they must frame our primary ministry strategies for the church. Our mission is simple--not easy, but simple. Christians who believe that it's their job to witness to everybod...

Jim Wallis took some scissors to his Bible. He was a seminary student at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School when he and some classmates decided to eliminate a few verses. They performed surgery on all sixty-six books, beginning in Genesis and not stopping until Revelation. Each time a verse spoke to the topic of poverty, wealth, justice, or oppression, they cut it out. They wanted to see what a compassion-less Bible looked like. By the time they finished, nearly two thousand verses lay on the floor, and a book of tattered pages remained. Cut concern for the poor out of the Bible, and you cut the heart out of it. God makes the poor His priority. When the hungry pray, he listens. When orphans cry, he sees...(Max Lucado-Out Live Your Life) Proverbs 19:17 AMP “He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and that which he has given He will repay to him.” Proverbs 22:9 MESSAGE “Generous hands are blessed hands because they give bread to the poor.” Proverbs 29: 7 AMP “The [cons...

This week marked the 33rd Wedding Anniversary I share with Glenda, the love of my life...We have been so blessed to walk arm and arm through these past years. Perhaps the greatest thing about our life together, in addition to holding our children and grandchildren for the first time...is ministering to people! Our pastoral call has brought us in contact with some of the most awesome people on the planet. We have met brothers and sisters in Christ on three continents, as we worship our Lord and Savior with them! Yes, there have been difficult times, when walking through tragedy, death or disease...but the good times far out-weigh the bad... We love our call, and consider ourselves fortunate to bear the name of Jesus to the nations of the world! We are humbled to serve His people, and to walk through life together!!

On Dec. 31st at 11:59 pm EST, over one billion people around the world watched as the “ball” dropped in New York City’s Times Square. The 1st "time-ball" was installed on top of England’s Royal Observatory at Greenwich in 1833. After the success of that event, approximately 150 such time-balls were installed around the world. But few survive and still work. The tradition is carried on today in places like the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, DC, where a time-ball descends from a flagpole at noon each day - and of course, once a year in Times Square, where it marks the stroke of midnight. New York City actually held a New Years celebration as early as 1904, but it wasn’t until 1907 that they “dropped” an iron and wood ball and adorned with a hundred 25-watt light bulbs. It was 5 feet in diameter and weighed 700 pounds. From that date until today, the ball has dropped every year except 1942 and 1943 during the City’s WWII “dim-outs”. Crowds still gathered in ...

When I was a boy, growing up in India, I often went to a potter's house near my high school. I was fascinated to watch him make clay vessels. During those visits, I never saw the potter take a hardened lump of clay and put it on his wheel to make something out of it. He, just like every other potter in the world, used only soft and tender clay to work with. So does God! The prophet Jeremiah tells us that God is like a potter and His people are the clay He wants to form into a beautiful vessel. In order to accomplish this, God looks for soft and pliable hearts. Man measures the quality and usefulness of a person by his education, ability and expertise. Yet God determines his true value by the condition of his heart: "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). What Happens if the Clay Is Hard? If the clay is hard, the potter will spend days pouring water on it and pounding it thoroughly until it becomes soft. It took God 20 long ...