Grace Community Church of Whitmore

Mark 5:25-34 In this passage, we read that many people in the crowd had pressed in and touched Jesus. Jesus was unsure of who had touched Him when power left Him and the woman with the issue of blood was healed. Her touching of Him was done with intention. We know that in His humanity, Jesus veiled some of His deity, which in this case was knowing who it was that touched Him; however, the power to heal was still evidently very much resident in Him. The question is, why w...asn't power leaving Him and entering into every one that was pressing in around Him? He answered that in v.34. The woman touched Him with 'faith', seeking healing. Faith was the conduit that connected His power to her healing. We are often told to pray with 'faith' throughout the gospels. Praying with faith isn't as much about us getting what we want as a result (because that won't always happen) but believing in the power of God to deliver, which requires us believing/trusting in WHO He is first.

It was 7:40am this morning and I was debating on participating in a national prayer call or not. It was part of a nationwide evangelistic effort. However, I had many other things to do. I prayed for wisdom. What do you do when you have no sense of direction one way or another? In high school, my good friend in a moment, adopted the slogan, "when in doubt, sit out". It has always been something we looked back on and laughed at, as we used it to justify many shenanigans. ...However, I adopted another slogan since, "when in doubt, step out (in faith)" based on Acts 16. I have always marveled how the Apostle Paul intended to minister in Asia minor (modern day Turkey) but was stopped by God, then redirected to Macedonia. Paul used time, effort and resources to fulfill an effort only to get shutdown ... the same way we do ... then God's plan was revealed. He was walking by faith & wisdom and some things worked and some didn't, but, nothing was wasted. When it was time, God called for Paul... I decided to "step out" on the side of some prayer time with people from all over the nation. Each Thursday morning, at 8am, these calls takes place, however, I hadn't participated in one until today. When you call in, no one knows who is or isn't on the call. When I called in, there was a Pastor from the Los Angeles area giving a testimony about uniting churches together in a gang riddled area to evangelize, followed by a time of reconciliation among the Latinos and African Americans. It was quite powerful. There were Pastors from the East Coast and Mid-West sharing testimonies as well. Then the founder of the organization asked, "Is Pastor John Rodrigues on this call from Northern California ... Pastor John Rodrigues?" I couldn't believe it! He didn't ask for anyone else and he and I didn't have any prior contact with me letting him know I would be on. I let him know I was there, on the call. He expressed his deep concern for California and their desire to reach California for Christ. He asked about how things were going here and I told him. We all recognized that what America needs more than anything is Christ and we need to take action. THIS is the hope of America and the world - to come to know Him! It wasn't quite the Macedonian call of Paul but I believe God intends to continue saving sinners in California and that was made evident today! We'll be sharing more about how we can all join together to get the gospel out very shortly, whether you are part of Grace Community Church or not ... in the North State or not ... it isn't about building OUR church but building HIS CHURCH!

(Mark 6) Jesus sent the disciples out with a message, known as the 'gospel'; in a word, how is the gospel described as an action in v.12? Repent. Now, some think that the message of the gospel changed after Christ went to the Cross, is that true? Look at the first message preached at Pentecost and what Peter said in Acts 2:38. He began with the same word, "repent". When we truly 'believe' that Jesus died for our sins and understand the gravity of that display of God's lo...ve and we respond to the gospel in faith, how do we do so? We repent! We repent of our rebellion against God and start following Him, which includes living according to His ways ... not as a means of salvation but of gratitude, worship, respect, honor and reverence. God doesn't just tell us He loves us, He showed us - He sent us His Son to die on the Cross (Jn 3:16). Consequently, we don't just say we love God, we demonstrate that we love God with our lives lived in repentance and faith (Jn 14:21).

Resurrection Sunday 2021

The greatness of the Son (Heb 1) https://youtu.be/V12Dd3Yrd0o

Good Friday Service 6:30p Please join us as we celebrate Christ, His Cross work and great love for us!... All invited! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Resurrection Sunday Service 10:30a Please join us as we celebrate Christ's victory over the grave and our hope of eternal life! Please feel free to bring a guest! Snacks and coffee provided Questions? 472.1245

In Mark 5 (1-20), we read a powerful story of deliverance from demon possession. Go back and read the description of the man possessed, then read of the man seated in the boat delivered (v.15). He wanted to continue on with Jesus, the One who had liberated him from his torment. Jesus had another idea, he wanted the man to go spread the good news of what the Lord did for him. This is giving God the glory! We live in a Christian culture that has completely lost this! The B...ible teaches of Christians doing life together (corporately), sharing their lives and being vulnerable and YES getting hurt in the process because that's what happens in a fallen world. Look at Paul, Barnabas and Mark, having challenges and coming back together (Acts) ... Paul left in prison alone, asking for companionship, yet holding nothing against anyone (2Tim) ... men who loved one another and continued on in the love of Christ because the church of Christ was bigger than them and not about them. The Lord delivered the demoniac, so the Lord gets the glory. Christ saved you, you need to go tell others so that He would get the glory and they would know that He can do the same for them. Let's be 1st century Christians in the 21st century chaos of a world.

(Matt 27:38-56) What does it feel like to have the wrath of God poured out on you? Jesus was experiencing this in v.46 along with something else He never had - the abandonment of His Father as He turned His back on Jesus, the sin-bearer on the Cross. God couldn't look upon His Son, as the sin-bearer, as He bore our sin. So many go through life believing that they are walking with God each day, not realizing that their sin is a barrier between them and God. We are not in 'u...nion' with God until we repent of our sins and turn to Jesus as our Lord and Savior, trusting in Him alone for salvation (Jn 14:6). Even as believers, when we are not dealing with sin in our lives (sexual, anger, etc.), our 'communion' with God is hindered like a kinked hose. We cannot persist in sin and walk with God; as the saying goes, you cannot have your cake and eat it too. As we are headed into Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, if you have not trusted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, what better time to do it than now? If you are not sure, there is a great little video below you can watch. If you are living in sin as a believer, why not ask God for forgiveness today? https://www.gotquestions.org/get-right-with-God.html

Matt 27:27-37 It is worth the time to watch a movie like 'The Passion' or another movie recounting Jesus' life & death this time of the year. As I like to emphasize, there is a level of humanity in Christ that many undervalue. When you realize that Jesus was so weakened from His beatings that the Son of God could not carry His own cross to the place of His execution (v.32), you understand all the more what it is to have a 'sympathetic High Priest' in Jesus who can identify with all our weaknesses. Yet, over and over, He calls us to Himself to "come" and unburden ourselves by taking our load and giving it to Him (Matt 11:28-29). Isn't He wonderful! Isn't He worthy of all our praise and worship! I tell you, He is.

This beautiful image was captured while I sat in the passenger seat, looking out the window of our car and my wife drove. From this time of the year, until fall, I will continue capturing all kinds of pictures of cloud formations like this; I love cloud formation pictures. The heavens truly declare the glory of God (Ps 19)! A pic like this also reminds us of something else - a storm. Whether you are inside and see it or not, a storm will still come, won't it? There is a s...torm coming. We know definitively that it is coming because the Bible tells us so. Good news is that God has a glorious plan for those who are His own. How much of the storm we will experience before that glorious plan is manifest, remains to be seen. What we do know, is that many aren't ready to be part of Christ's glorious plan of redemption. Additionally, Satan has masterfully created a divisive environment, where many in the church don't want to make disciples of the lost as we have been commissioned to do so (i.e. the great commission) before the storm comes. It isn't that the church is lacking the message, apologetic skills or opportunity, many in the church presently lack the heart for those different than themselves. Satan has so stirred up conservative v. liberal, white v. black, vaxxer v. non-vaxxer, etc., that he doesn't need to worry about our evangelistic form. We have allowed worldly issues to be elevated above loving neighbor and as a result we see others as our 'adversaries' as opposed to those needing Christ. Satan wins when we don't love others as we do ourselves. Satan wins when we are off Christ's commission. Satan wins when we are part of the division problem in our country (and world). Satan wins when we are fighting the wrong battles. Do you see it yet?

Matt 27:12-26 Could this really happen? Could a crowd of people that so joyfully welcomed in Jesus one day, within a few days be turned to want Him executed and even want to watch it happen? I believe that some of us would answer with a reserved "yes"; while others are wondering if it is truly possible. Could people want to publicly see leaders killed and even cheer? Remember, we are not talking about a man who led a mass slaughter either. This is not Adolph Hitler. They... literally didn't like him (anymore). This is an indictment of the human heart ... maybe even ours. Am I right? It is amazing how wicked and deceitful our hearts can be. Jeremiah writes, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick" (Jer 17:9) Even as believers our love and motivations are skewed. Hence, the writer of Proverbs says, "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life" (Pr 4:23) What can we learn from this going into Resurrection Sunday and the greatest display of love in the history of the world? What can we learn from this during this time we are in?

The power to live and love like Christ comes not simply from the command to do so but the example of Christ in His life, the power of His Spirit and the demonstration of His love on the Cross. We desperately need to relearn the love of Christ... (please 'subscribe' to our YouTube page to get automatic notifications) https://youtu.be/lcThvMXSexU

(Matt 4:18-22) This morning's reading is short and could seem to be insignificant but it is very instructive for us. Notice what happens when Jesus calls these men to follow Him - they literally leave everything behind and immediately begin to do so. There are two examples here of two sets of men. The second set (James & John) leave behind their vocation (fisherman), possessions (boat) and their family (father) for Christ. This illustrates what leaving behind 'all' for Christ looks like, i.e. Christ was now their main focus and priority in their lives! Not work, not possessions, not family. Is He yours? When you came to know Christ, did you reprioritize your life for Him or do you need to do so now?

Matt 4:1-11 In this powerful passage, we see so many things worthy of note. First, it was the Holy Spirit that led Jesus out into the wilderness to be tempted. This is consistent with what we see throughout Scripture - God sovereignly has to grant access to us by Satan; most famously in the book of Job. In another passage, we see Jesus speaking with Peter, telling Peter that Satan has demanded to "sift him (Peter) like wheat" (Lk 22:31). What happened later that night? P...eter denied Christ three times! But, do you remember what happened in between? The Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus told the disciples, including Peter, to pray that they would not enter into temptation (v.40). The disciples opted to sleep and Peter (and the disciples) entered into temptation and denied Christ 3 times! What is known as the Lord's Prayer or the Disciple's Prayer, states, "and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil"; this is a prayer 'to God'. So many try binding evil demons, saying unbiblical prayers, etc. after reading unbiblical books, listening to unbiblical sermons and Satan must rejoice at these unbiblical teachings because people don't learn to appeal to the ONE who has control over him - God! When you're being sifted like wheat, when your life is in turmoil, when Satan is using you for a soccer ball, appeal to his handler - God.

(Matt 3:11-17) For some, there isn't much to be seen here and you want to move on, but for others, this is an enlightening passage and one that will protect them from false teaching, how so? In v.17-18 we see illustrated for us what is referred to as 'The Trinity': God in three persons. God is one but He is manifest in all His divine qualities and attributes equally in three separate persons, i.e. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Here we have the eternally existing Son being... baptized (v.16), the eternally existing Spirit of God (Holy Spirit) descending from Heaven (v.16) and the eternally existing God the Father speaking from Heaven (v.17) all in the same setting. In the Bible, each is referred to God (singular), yet each is a separate person ... hence, the aforementioned doctrine of the Trinity. There are false teachers today who will say that God shows Himself at different times in different ways, known as 'modalism'. TD Jakes is known for this heresy. You now know the truth from the Word of God and can demonstrate these teachings to be false!