Recreate Church

Seeking Jesus.  Today, Pastor Michael is turning over the reigns to Billy Huneycutt and the message today is about seeking Jesus.   Today we are concentrating on “seeking” and “Jesus”.   And we find Billy covering Jesus where a huge crowd is converging on Him, with Jairus, a synagogue leader, pleading earnestly with him, to put His hands on his daughter so that she will live and be healed.   This...

Nothing Energizes Like Purpose! Today, Pastor Michael is continuing our study on “overflow”.  Today’s topic that ties into overflow is energy.  Energy is a strange thing: when you’re young you have time and energy and no money.  When you’re retired you have money (hopefully!) and time but no energy!  And then there’s that “in-between” time, when you’re raising your family and you have no time, no...

Oil and Treasure (also known as:  Blessed to Be a Blessing!) Today, Pastor Michael is looking at the Principle of Overflow.  This is rooted in the 23rd Psalm at verse 5, where we hear, “my cup overflows”. This is a symbolic meaning of how God blesses us beyond our capacity.  What do we overflow with?  Joy and peace come to mind immediately.  Last week we talked about time.  Today we are exploring...

Happy New Year! Today, Pastor Michael is starting off our New Year with a throwback to a responsorial reading of the Bible.  Michael is reading the 23rd Psalm, likely the most famous verse in the Bible and our church audience reads back to him.  Psalms 23 (CSB) 1 The LORD is my shepherd; I have what I need. 2 He lets me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters. 3 He renews my li...

It’s Christmas! Today, Pastor Michael is all about Christmas and he’s piggybacking off the story of the Grinch’s heart.   In our culture, today, we use the heart for a lot of emotive responses. In the Hebrew culture of Ezekiel, they didn’t express emotions via the heart, they used the bowels (whoa!). The Bible uses the heart as the center of the intellect; not emotional responses.  When the Lord t...

Family.   Today, Pastor Michael is in Genesis and talking about creation, family and people needing other people.   People need meaningful, social interaction.   Our culture, in the pandemic, has moved towards more social disconnection and social isolation.  People need people and interactions with other people; God made us to be familial and social.  If you don’t have that family, you still have...

Deviled Ham! Today, Pastor Michael is back in Mark and discussing a man the odds were against.  His life was so messed up, he didn’t have a devil’s eggs chance of making it through a Baptist pot luck.  His problems look absolutely impossible to overcome.  Then he met the God of possibilities! We find Jesus and His disciples have landed in a region noted as the Gerasenes (Decapolis) and it is impor...

Is This Boat Gonna Sink? Today, Pastor Michael is letting Billy Honeycutt talk about Mark Chapter 4.  Billy is chatting, in the beginning ,about a video with a bear that we had to trim out for DRM (digital rights management) but is available at Preview YouTube video The Preacher And The Bear - Strolling Down Memory LaneThe Preacher And The Bear - Strolling Down Memory Lane .  Billy is taking about...

Small Seed, Big Tree. Today, Pastor Michael is talking about something small becoming something BIG.  We’re back to parables, big ideas = common themes. At the time Jesus spoke, folks knew about mustard seeds and plants.  Today: not so much, but the story / parable still is strong.  So, Jesus is speaking here, in Mark 4: 30, about mustard seeds and speaking in hyperbole.  The mustard seed isn’t th...

Citizenship. Today, Pastor Michael is having Duncan Crook deliver the message.  Duncan recently required his US citizenship and is using that experience to compare it to being a citizen of God’s kingdom.  What would it look like to live as a Kingdom citizen in your workplace?  What specific actions would a Kingdom citizen do?  What did Jesus say his followers would be like? In the book of Mark, Du...

Be Good Dirt! Today, Pastor Michael is back in Mark and we find Jesus avoiding the crushing crowd that His ministry has created of late.  Folks around the land are flocking to hear His message and Jesus actually has to go out into a boat to preach to them, it’s gotten so bad. Jesus is preaching one of His most famous parables, the parable of the sower.  This parable is about a seeds thrown into fo...

What is Family? Today, Pastor Michael is letting Nick Dowdy have the reins today.  Nick is tackling a verse in the Book of Mark that he and Pastor Michael both felt led to lead a discussion on, notably on being a part of the family of God. Jesus’ mother and brothers were standing outside, looking (‘seeking’) him and other’s were telling Jesus that they were trying to find him.  Jesus used this opp...

Are Some Sins, Unforgivable? Today, Pastor Michael is continuing his study in the Gospel of Mark.  Our subject matter this Sunday is, unforgivable sin.  Everyone has their list of super hard to forgive, almost "unforgivable" type of things we cannot tolerate; we’re not sure how we would ever get over it.  God’s ability to forgive is greater than ours.  But is there something that God cannot forgiv...

The Pharisees Didn't Get the Parable Memo! Today, Pastor Michael is continuing his study of the book of Mark.  We pick up with Jesus’ ministry expanding quickly and the disciples were, at this point, getting hangry!  Add to this, his family, from Nazareth, was at his point in his ministry, thinking he was quite crazy! The family couldn’t get him to leave and there was another group that felt he wa...

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work! Today, Pastor Michael is giving us a crash-course on the twelve disciples (apostles).   So who are the twelve?  1—Simon (renamed Peter) 2—James & 3—John (the “Sons of Thunder”—how cool is that!) 4—Andrew 5—Philip 6—Bartholomew 7—Matthew 8—Thomas 9—James 10—Thaddeus 11—Simon (the Zealot) and lastly (and for good reason, no doubt!) 12—Judas. Some had already become...

Jesus Versus the Religious Establishment. Today, Pastor Michael is talking on how Jesus did not come to offer more religion to folks, but to give a true connection to God. We find Jesus at a synagogue and he meets a man with a shriveled hand.  The Pharisees had their eyes on this man, not only because of what he represented, but they wanted an opportunity to accuse Jesus.  The Pharisees were wanti...

Come Follow Me…The Law, a Relationship. Today, Pastor Michael is turning it over to Billy Honeycutt who is furthering some of Michael’s past lessons on the law versus relationships.   Billy starts off in Mark, Chapter 2, verse 23 and finds Jesus and his disciples out picking grain, something the Pharisees were none too keen on that, as it was the Sabbath.  But is the Sabbath for man or the law? Bi...

Rule Keeping versus Relationships. Today, Pastor Michael is back in the book of Mark looking at the Pharisees, John the Baptist, Jesus, his followers, the whole enchilada.  And all those folks are trying to figure out what is going on…why don’t Jesus’ disciples fast for starters.  Why do they have to be so different?  Mosaic law only required fasting only on the Day of Atonement but by the first c...

God Doesn’t Choose People Like People Choose People! Today, Pastor Michael is talking about Matthew and how the Lord doesn’t pick people for His use, as we pick people.  We pick up in Mark, Chapter 2 and the story finds us in the vicinity of Capernaum and Jesus passes a tax office.  Not like today’s tax offices, this was a place where folks paid their taxes, so it wasn’t exactly a destination of c...

Remove the Roof to Healing. Today, Pastor Michael is talking about Jesus being all around Galilee then on to Capernaum, which was kind of his home base of ministry.  Hometown of Simon Peter as well and folks are wanting to get their healing on. Jesus was most likely staying with Simon Peter in Capernaum. So everyone hears that Jesus is back in town, so folks swarmed the house to get some of Jesus’...

Who We Are. Today, Pastor Michael is talking a little bit about who we are today.  Identity and what we stand for and what we believe. We’re trying to recapture something very old.  We aren’t nearly as formal as most church services are.  In the Old Testament it was less about formality than vibrance.  For us it’s not about being seen and more about making progress towards Jesus. Our motto is “No...

Why Sometimes God Heals and Why Sometimes He Doesn’t. Today, Pastor Michael is back in the book of Mark.  Being the fast paced Gospel, we have to pay attention to Jesus’ ministry, where he’s healing people, left and right! Jesus is healing folks and there is no rest in His work.   Everyone’s here and we need healing!  Yet, we need to rethink our assumptions on healing.  For one thing, we assume he...

Nobody Transforms Lives Like Jesus! This week, Keith Stephenson shares the radically honest story of a life in progress. Next week we return to the Gospel of Mark where we tackle the tough question, "Why doesn't God heal everyone?"

Church People and Jesus People: Not the Same Thing! Today, Pastor Michael is in his series on Mark and Jesus is in Capernaum, going to a synagogue on the Sabbath.  Entering, Jesus was offered the chance to preach and was on a pretty good roll when one person in the crowd interrupted the service. This guy jumps up and wouldn’t you know it?  He has a demon in him, not too cool, but he reacted to Jes...

Is Following Jesus Worth the Cost? Today, Pastor Michael is discussing Seward’s Folly, the purchase of Alaska coordinated by William Seward.  Many felt it wasn’t worth the cost, but William Seward felt it would be an asset for America.  Today only a few states have more millionaires per capita than Alaska, a treasure trove of natural resources. Many felt it was not worth the cost. The cost of foll...