Mike McClurg
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Sermons
  • Contact

6/27/2019

The Spirit over the Flesh

0 Comments

Read Now
 
For many early Christians, the idea that Jesus came in the flesh was a hard pill to swallow. Many in the Roman world believed that everything physical or material was bad, that the goal of salvation was to escape this world. They thought the goal was to escape the physical and become a spirit. John took on the challenge of confronting that ungodly thought of his day. He writes,
 
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete.  1 John 1:1-4
 
John the evangelist wrote both the Gospel of John and the 3 Epistles of John known as 1, 2, and 3 John. You will see a similarity in the first part of the Gospel of John as he talks about the incarnate Jesus which means that He came in the flesh. 
 
In one sense, if the physical world’s only foundation comes from itself, then the early Christians would be right in the fact that it was not so good. But when the spiritual is in control of the physical then it can be controlled by the mystery of God. John wants to bring fellowship with man and God to the forefront. We are to constantly be growing closer to God and with others. The Christian message can be summed up with the greatest commandment, Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, then to love your neighbor as yourself. This will truly bring your joy to completeness. It is through the physical that Jesus impacts this lost world.
 
May God remind you that He loves you with a love so much that He came down to this earth and became a part of the physical world to show us how to love Him more and save us from sin. What a God we serve.
 
Thinking on this makes for a great day…
 
Joy in Jesus!
 
Pastor Mike

​

Share

0 Comments

6/20/2019

God Speaks Psalm 19:12-14

0 Comments

Read Now
 
We have been looking at God’s revelation to man as He speaks in the skies, as He speaks Scriptures, and now as He speaks in the soul.
 
He Speaks in the Soul (19:12-14)
12 But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. 13 Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression. 14 May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
 
Jeremiah 17:9 says, The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
Basically it is saying that we can’t even understand our own heart. We need the mirror of the Word to reveal it to us. The Psalmist goes as far as to ask the Lord to reveal his secret sins (Psalm 139:23-24).
 
As I have been reading through the Old Testament, I thought it was interesting that the Old Testament law provided for sins of ignorance but for sins of open rebellion and defiance there was no sacrifice (Numbers 15). Here David asks not only to be cleansed of secret faults but to be restrained from running into deliberate sin. David knew how deliberate sin could shackle his every thought of walking in freedom from fear and debilitating sin. In Romans 6, the Apostle Paul says that sin should have no dominion over us.
 
Could it be that David is telling us that it is an accumulation over time of the small hidden faults that are unbridled that could potentially lead to a willful, deliberate sin against God? It is so good to humble ourselves before God and give Him my all. 
 
I think that verse 14 ought to be our prayer before our feet hit the ground in the morning. “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer” Psalm 19:14. The word “meditation” here has the image of a musician plucking the strings of a harp. Who controls the music of your heart, God or Satan? Meditation is to the heart what digestion is to the body; it is the taking in of the Word of God and making it a part of the inner being. As the heart and mind think on the Word all day long, the Spirit guides the life. That is why I always talk about saturating in the Word of God. It is what we dwell on that will begin to permeate in our heart and mind.
 
I think of the Parable found in Mark 7 where Jesus says it is not the outside that makes a man unclean, it is what is coming from the inside.
 
This Sunday I will finish up the series, “Decluttering Our Past.” Many have been running from things of their past and the Lord is calling us to embrace them and fully commit it to Him. If we don’t thoroughly give it to Jesus then we take a chance of repeating something that God wanted to grow us through.
 
Make Psalm 19:14 your prayer each day as you strive to be more like Jesus…
 
“May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer”  Psalm 19:14.
 
Joy in Jesus!
 
Pastor Mike

Share

0 Comments

6/12/2019

God Speaks Psalm 19:7-11

0 Comments

Read Now
 

Last week we looked at God’s revelation to man as He speaks in the skies. This week we focus on God speaking in the Scriptures. 
 
He Speaks in the Scriptures (19:7-11)
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. 8 The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. 9 The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. 10 They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. 11 By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
​

The heavens declare God’s glory, and the Scriptures declare His grace. We know according to John’s Gospel that Jesus is the Word that became flesh. So Jesus encompasses the grace of God. Let’s look at the Bible which is the Word of God or should I say the embodiment of Jesus.
 
There is so much packed into these 5 verses. It shows us what the Bible is and what it does. It is worth unpacking and realizing all that the Word is and does.

The Bible is the perfect law meaning that there is no error in the Bible in historical fact or spiritual truth (Psalm 119:160). It does not change and it is sure and steadfast. It is pure in that it will not lead people to sin. It is better than all the gold in the world and sweeter than any honey. We do not need the artificial things of this world to satisfy us; the Word satisfies our spiritual appetite.  

What does the Bible do? I am glad you asked. It converts the sinner from his ways and restores the saint when he wanders. It makes the simple wise, enlightens, endures forever, enriches, satisfies, warns us of sin and guides us to better paths. It rewards us for keeping the Word. That may sound weird but James 1:25 says, “This man shall be blessed in his doing.” It is referring to putting the Word, the perfect law, into practice and not forgetting it. It’s like becoming an extension of the Word by becoming your every action and step. That’s what I want. I want to do the Word without hesitation. That it becomes my natural response when I am encountered by whatever comes my way.  

Take the time today to listen for the voice of God all around you. You may be shocked at what He reveals to you.
 
One of the ways you can hear the Word of God is by going to camp meeting in St. Marys. Go to our website and look up the schedule. There are evening services each night. Be intentional about growing in your knowledge of the Word of God. Look me up if you go sometime. Did I mention that they have free ice cream at their snack shack? 
 
I am looking forward to continuing my series on, “Decluttering Our Past” on Sunday which is Father’s Day. A small gift will be given to all the fathers who come to church.
 
Joy in Jesus!
 
Pastor Mike

Share

0 Comments

6/6/2019

God SpeaksĀ Psalm 19:1-6

0 Comments

Read Now
 
God’s revelation to man is the theme of this psalm. It is amazing that God speaks to us at all. Many men and woman, like throughout all of history, have no desire to listen to God, yet He graciously continues to speak. This Psalm brings our attention to the fact that God speaks to us in three ways. We are going to look at the first way and then look at the others in the following weeks.
 
He Speaks in the Skies (19:1-6)
1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. 3 They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. 4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. 5 It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. 6 It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.
 
God’s wisdom, power, and glory are seen in His creation. Our culture would like us to think that global warming is dictating the different weather patterns and leave God out, but the psalmist looked at the marvels of heaven and earth and saw God. There are also many other Psalms that marvel at God’s power through the earth (Psalm 8, 29), just to mention a few. Jesus mentions God’s handiwork in the lilies and the birds (Matthew 6:24-34). “Day after day they pour fourth speech; night after night they display knowledge” Psalm 19:2. Verse 3 continues, “There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.” We hear the voice of God in creation by seeing His wisdom and power. This demands that there is a creator God and the sustainer of the earth. To think that the earth just evolved out of nothing and arranged itself in this orderly manner is impossible to imagine when we have a God like we do.
 
Creation speaks a universal language to all nations (vv. 3-4). The Apostle Paul mentions that all people everywhere are without excuse because God makes it plain to them in Romans 1:18-32. 
 
Nature preaches a thousand sermons a day to the human heart. Each day begins with light and moves to darkness, from waking to sleeping, a picture of life without God. Each year moves from spring to winter, from life to death. We see the grass cut, fire destroying the waste, all the activities of nature are telling a story of God and from God. You would have to go through your day totally caught up in your own agenda to not see all the things God uses to speak. Maybe that is what we are guilty of from time to time.
 
Take the time today to listen for the voice of God all around you. You may be shocked at what He reveals to you.
 
Sunday begins the first Sunday of camp meeting in St. Marys at 6pm. Try to make it down for a service throughout the week. The schedule is located on our website if you are interested.
 
Joy in Jesus!
 
Pastor Mike

Share

0 Comments
Details

    Rev. Mike McClurg

    Senior Pastor, Findlay First Church of the Nazarene

    Archives

    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Sermons
  • Contact