Seven Mile Road

How do you turn it around? You know you’ve been headed in the wrong direction and haven’t been very focused on God in your life. Maybe your circumstances are causing you to question the way you’ve gone? Or it could be behavior or desires that you see within yourself that surprise you. What do you do to see God present in your life once again and how to get out of the rut of your sin? These are que...

1 Samuel 6-7:2The Philistines have Israel’s God captured, or so they think. The Ark of the Covenant, the holy symbol of God’s presence, which was so easy to take and move around and place inside their temple, is now causing all sorts of national problems. The Philistines can’t handle God’s presence, the ark must go. Maybe when the ark is returned to Israel all will be better again? Not so much. Is...

"Is God the Lord?” After Israel loses a big battle, the Philistines think very little of God. After their capture of the ark of God, the Philistines set it up in the house of their god, Dagon. Israel’s God seems weak and defeated, but is that true? How will he respond?

“Why were we defeated?” After defeat in an important battle, the people of God look to God for deliverance but don’t address the real issue: their sin. They try again but don’t turn from sin, leading to another lost battle, more ruined lives, their enemies capturing the Ark of God, and one of the most terrible lines in the whole bible, “The glory has departed from Israel.”

As we continue in 1 Samuel we see Israel is livingIsrael is living in the dark because God’s speaking to his people was rare. Then, into that darkness God calls Samuel to be his prophet, bringing the light of his word to Eli and Israel. Just like our bodies need food when we are hungry, we need the prophetic Word of God in order to live. We will be asking ourselves this question: Are we living our...

After Eli, the priest, has confronted his sons regarding their sin, God sends an unnamed prophet to confront Eli. Eli’s house has been honored by God for generations and received great blessings, but has, in return, dishonored God. God rejects Eli and his line, but his redemptive plan won’t end. Instead, He will raise up another line of priests who will be faithful forever.

As we find out the priests are stealing from God in his Temple, the darkness increases in the Book of Samuel. After all, sin is to be confessed, not committed, in God’s presence. And even when confronted about their sin, these priests won’t stop. Yet, God was also growing a light in the darkness. We’ll find that, amidst all of the corruption and contempt, the boy Samuel is growing in favor with Go...

This is the end of Hannah’s story. She made a big ask, she promised a huge response, God answered her prayer, and she moves forward in faith. Hannah turns Samuel over for lifelong service to the Lord. The gift she received from God becomes a gift from Hannah to the world. Hannah is a link in the glorious chain of God’s promise of redemption tracked through history. Hannah’s God is holy and soverei...

The Book of Samuel begins with the story of Hannah, a barren woman who has felt forgotten by God and frustrated by her family. Completely heartbroken, Hannah’s pain grows year after year. But Hannah does not give up her faith. Instead she pursues God in worship and prayer until … when things are seemingly at their worst … God gives her peace, remembers her, and makes Hannah “no longer sad.”

The Melrose staff give an update on January at Seven Mile Melrose

Justin and Sara sit down to talk about plans for the Gottlieb's upcoming sabbatical. 

Advent is the season of reflecting on the arrival of Jesus, the son of God, as a human. God the Father sent Jesus his Son to free us from sin. In itself, this is an incredible and undeserved blessing he has given us. What’s even more amazing is that God sent Jesus to elevate us to be full members of God’s family. Through our union with Jesus, we have full access to God as our Father. This is an ev...

Peace. We all want it. We want peace with one another, and we want peace with God. Our world is full of advice on how to get peace: better organization, better planning, better relationships and use the Breathe app on your watch. But all of that is just advice on how to manage. What we really need for peace is news, especially the news that "God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under...

“When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son.” As we begin our advent series *The Fullness of Time* this Sunday with these words, we’ll hear and see that the certain hope of Christ’s coming into a fallen world 2000 years ago also gives us certain hope today.

Psalm 145 Depending on life situation, praising God can seem easy or impossible. So, how do you praise God when nothing in life seems to be going right? In Psalm 145, David grounds his praise of God in his character rather than our circumstance and shows how we can praise God with everything without ending.

Have you ever wondered, “Will I ever be holy and blameless?” The gap between who we are and who God calls us to be is large, and we can feel hopeless to get there. As Paul closes his letter to the Thessalonians, he assures this baby church that disciples of Jesus will one day be holy and blameless … and it won’t be because they are great or smart or hardworking. They will be made holy and blameles...

How does a family function and get a long in peace together? It’s one of the aims in our homes, but also in the church. Paul tells us how to conduct ourselves in 4 important areas in order to keep the peace in the church. It’s these “house rules” that help us to think about how we relate and work together as God intended.1 Thess 5:12-22

The return of Jesus often raises so many questions in our minds. It did for the Thessalonian church plant also. “What happens to the dead when Jesus returns?” “When will Jesus return?” “How should we live as we wait?” Paul reminds the Thessalonians that our Gospel identity prepares us for Christ’s return. This Sunday, we will look at how the return of Jesus both gives us courage and calls us to li...

What's happening in and around Seven Mile Melrose this month!

Who knows the will of God? How in the world could we possibly know what the God of the universe wants us to do? Well, as it turns out, God has told us exactly what His will is. God’s will is not a mystery, it is not hidden, it is not buried, it sits right on the surface for everyone to know. This is the will of God, your sanctification. This is Paul in his most direct, his most helpful, his most l...