Mill Creek Church

Easter is the celebration of life and hope for the follower of Jesus. In a preview of coming attractions, Christ’s healing of Lazarus shows how he releases the chains of death from every believer. Like Lazarus, we are commanded to “Take off the old and come to life”! Thus, we are called to be people of hope and life.

Christ’s compassion and love toward his enemies prompted him to heal those who came to torment him, revealing his gracious and loving heart. Today, he can heal our angry and violent hearts and help us to better understand forgiveness. It's not an emotion or a feeling, but a decision to cancel a debt owed us.

Beyond just physical healing, Christ extends healing to the lonely, outcast, and downtrodden, offering them a place and shows his dedication to those who are isolated. In the story of the leper, Christ reveals a heart for the outsider and love for the lonely. The church now has the opportunity to reach out and love those who feel unwanted.

In the story of Jesus healing a blind man in John 9, Christ reveals himself as “the light of the world,” the one to bring spiritual sight to a blind and dark world. But even if we are "right", we can still struggle with blindness. Those who are healed of spiritual blindness should exemplify compassion and hope for those still in darkness, allowing Christ’s light to shine through them.

Jesus came to earth to reveal the true nature and character of God. Throughout his work with people, including the miracles of healing people, Jesus shows that God's desire for our lives is wholeness, completeness and restoration. If we are willing to let go of our past, he is ready to make us new!

The many promises of God can give us hope, perspective, and direction in the troubling times of life. And that's a promise from Jesus - we will have troubling times! Even in a harsh message meant to call people back to God, we find the promises we need when times are dark.

Jesus invites us to pray and to pray often - consistently and persistently. He gives us the framework for how to pray like him. But what do we do when there is no answer? What's our hope when God seems to be silent?

Jesus told his followers to pray to avoid temptation. But before we can pray that with a clear conscience, there are some things we need to ask ourselves first.

The habit of prayer is a big part of being a follower of Jesus. But it's hard and frustrating and often times we don't really know how to pray. God already knows my needs, so why pray? Because the purpose of prayer is to surrender your will, not impose it.

When Jesus prayed, his followers saw something much different than what they were used to in their prayers. One of them had the courage to ask, teach us to pray! Jesus provides a model for his disciples that places prayer in the context of relationship with our heavenly Father. Can we be willing to ask Jesus - how do we pray like you? 

Building habits that bring about real change starts with how we see and what we believe about ourselves - our identity. As we worship God in his fullness, the process of being transformed into the likeness of Jesus becomes even more evident because we are learning to submit to the assurance of God’s presence in our lives.

Serving others through deed and action is a natural byproduct of the internal change brought about through following Jesus. However, we should not generously help others out of a prideful, selfish desire to be seen. The natural outflow of drawing closer to Jesus and seeking to imitate him is being able to use our lives for service to others.

The rapid growth and use of technology in our lives can bring many positives but there can also be some real consequences. It is easier than ever to hide behind screens, to live in the realms of anonymity and lose the relational and social capital that matters. Jesus shows us that the simple habit of gathering around a table for a meal can be powerful and help us in a season of great division and...

A new year brings a unique opportunity for change and transformation. While there are many voices trying to influence us to change certain parts of our lives, real, long-lasting change is found in the ways and disciplines of Jesus. He models for us a lifestyle that can affect every area of our lives. He knew prayer would be critical to our well-being and instructs us in the framework for a dynamic...

The beginning of a new year is a wonderful opportunity to look back and look forward. Where did we struggle? Where did we grow? Most of all, where did we see the presence of God in our lives? It's good to take time to remember what God has done as we consider the plans and concerns about this new year. God’s faithfulness in the past reminds us that we can trust him for the challenges of the future...

It's the most wonderful time of the year, except when it's not. The Christmas season is about joy and expectation but it can also bring about feelings of sadness and depression. In Christ, the promised Prince of Peace, we can find our peace during times of sadness. Through Him, we can find wholeness and restoration, even if the external circumstances of our lives never change.

As much as we love Christmastime, it can become exhausting. The busyness and schedule can make us fatigued. We have so many burdens, it's easy to miss the simplicity and power of this familiar story. From the beginning, the Bible emphasizes the importance of rest. But Jesus invites to something greater than just one day of rest, he invites us to partnership with him which can mean rest for our sou...

In the craziness of the Christmas season, it is important to remember to release worry and anxiety into the hands of God. Whether trying to meet our expectations of perfection or being fearful of the future, we must trust God as Mary did in her time of joy and worry. Worry adds nothing to our lives. But God is always there for us.

It is the Advent season, a time of anticipation and expectation for the arrival of Jesus. Instead of enjoying the incredible story and growing through the message of God coming to earth, we can quickly become weary with the busyness of the season. But let us not miss what is most important by carving out some empty space to stay engaged and find joy for our weary souls.

The pursuit of a meaningful, fulfilled life is a normal human endeavor. But where do we find life is that is truly life? Social media and slick marketing would seem to have answers for us but those will be dead ends. The drive for more is a constant moving target. In what might seem to be upside-down thinking, Paul says we have to give away to find true life. It is through generosity that we find...

From the fullness of our gratitude, we can pour out generosity. As we cultivate thankful hearts for God’s goodness, provision, and presence, generosity will flow naturally from our lives. God's grace is something we do not deserve but God knows we need. It's because of the extravagant generosity that God has shown me, that I can show others the same extravagance.

We are taught to offer thanks to God not only occasionally or when wonderful things are happening; instead, we are to give thanks in all circumstances. How is that possible? How do we give thanks, even when life is hard? Once we learn to shift focus away from where we are and learn to give thanks for who God is, we can begin to discover the secret to thanks living.

Developing a practice of gratitude and thanksgiving to God can help lead us to a life of generosity. Thankfulness brings us into the presence of God and is an appropriate response to what God has done in our lives. Growing a lifestyle of thankfulness can happen by intentionally building a spiritual practice of gratitude and learning to express spontaneous appreciation throughout each day.

Wouldn’t it be great, once we believed in Jesus, we immediately became perfect? But we don’t. We want things in an instant. As soon as I do something, I get the reward or “blessing.” We desire an “instant society,” but that isn’t God’s way. We are called, not to perfection, but a willingness to grow. A willingness to take the obedient steps every day that bring us closer to God and His ways.

There are lot of ways we can handle and deal with our messy lives. Most of us become good at faking and pretending but the writer to the Hebrews tells us that God can't be faked out. Instead of being scared, Jesus knows what it is like to be fully human and can empathize with our struggles. We are not alone in the struggle. Jesus advocates on our behalf when the struggle is more than we can handle...