Mesa Community Church's Blog page

New Episode available

A new episode has been added to "From Richard's Heart." Steve Gortz filled in for Richard. Steve gives an encouraging message, sharing briefly his vision of God's work within our congregation. Visit our Podcast page to listen to this episode or to subscribe to this series.

Podcast

We now have a podcast series on our web site. "From Richard's Heart" is the name of our new podcast. The series will include sermons, guest speakers, interviews, "fireside chats," whatever happens to be on Richard's heart. "From Richard's Heart" will help us enhance our outreach on the World Wide Web. To check out "From Richard's Heart" go to From Richard's Heart

Added Pictures

Added some of the pictures from Herm's Birthday celebration today. What a joy to see so many people celebrate with us. Lord willing, i will have more to add later.

Thanks to everyone who made today such a memorable day for us.

Belt of truth

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place--Ephesians 6:14 NIV

Every day i go to work with a belt around my waist. At work i often wrap my belt around a person to aide in transferring that individual to or from a wheel chair. The belt can't do its job properly unless i securely fasten it around the person's waist. Sometimes the belt almost hurts when i cinch it down. The tight belt helps me safely complete a safe transfer. Some people don't like having my belt around them. i still use it however. The belt prevents falls. The belt guides the wearer to the correct destination. the belt telegraphs when someone is about to do something dangerous. The belt of truth does that for us.

]]> When we accept God's truth, we remain safe. Sometimes the belt of truth hurts a little bit. i interpret that as God making sure he can keep a tight grip on me as i go through life. The belt of truth allows God to hold me up when i stumble. The belt of truth guides me on the correct path. The belt of truth enables God to gently guide me away from a dangerous behavior. Most of all the belt of truth re-assures me that God will keep me safe from straying far from God's Grace.

Thank you, God for wrapping your belt of truth tightly around me. Amen.

New look

i've made some major changes to our home page today. Most of our home page's formating is accomplished via CSS. In theory Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) provides me greater control over the look and feel of our web site. In reality, i now have a whole new can of worms to manage now. At least now we have a "drop shaddow" around the "Verse of the Day." The menu across the top of the page is easier to manage now too.

Unfortunately i discovered a few wierd anomalies caused by the code changes i've made. The good news is most of the anomalies disappear when you hit the refresh button on your browser. There are a few issues with Internet Explorer for Windows i hope to investigate before the week's end.

]]> If all goes well we will have more content for our site soon. i also hope to convert the rest of the site to CSS formating too. Our church has so much potential. My prayer is this web site will help everyone who visits here see this potential. i also pray everyone will know how richly God has blessed us.

Lazy days of Summer

Summer has hit Colorado with a bang! The heat is almost unbearable right now. Many people are away on various summer activities right now. Some people are discouraged by our "lower" attendance right now. Yet we have cause to rejoice.

]]> This Sunday i noticed we were only 4 people shy of trippling our Sunday attendance from a year ago. That's cause for praise--especially since many of our "regular" people are away for various reasons. Many of us fail to see God's blessing in our midst, but i know as we focus on God's calling for our lives, he will bless us and our congregation.

Today one of our church families announced they will be going on a missions trip to Africa. i find that extraordinary. We often see individuals or even couples leaving on a mission trip, but an entire family? That is an extraordinary statement about an entire family's commitment to serving God body and soul. My guess is the kids will champion the cause of Christ more than the parents just by their being themselves.

This may be the lazy days of summer, but God has yet to be lazy in our life. As we focus our attention on God's calling, God brings us people whom we can minister to and who in return minister to the world. Thank God for his work in our lives.

Parked Domain

We now have a parked domain--hooray!! Members and friends of Mesa now can reach us via htt://www.MesaCommunityChurch.org or via http://www.MesaMemorialBaptistChurch.org . Either URL goes to the same place.

Later, i hope to add a prayer page, missionary and missions page. If you have other ideas for our web site, let me know, and i will see what can be done.

Tax time--ugh.

�This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.� (Romans 13:6-7)

Time to pay taxes. i never enjoy tax season. However, the Bible clearly states i should pay the taxes i owe my government. i benefit from the goods and services provided by the government. Therefore i should be willing to pay for those goods and services. Does God want me to pay taxes when i don't agree with how my governing authorities behave?

]]> Paul would say yes. Without taxes i would have no police, fire fighters, army, etc. to protect me. Paul argues that governing authorities exist as God's servants. Rulers will answer to God when they abuse their power. If i don't like what my elected officials are doing, i can write them, i can protest, and i can vote for someone else. Surely these are benefits worth paying for.

i don't enjoy paying taxes. i will pay the taxes i owe, though. i will pay them not because my government says i must, but because God wants me to pay the taxes i owe my city, state, and country.

Friends, haven't you any fish?

5He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?"
"No," they answered.

6He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

7Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water.
--John 21:5-7 (New International Version)

Sometimes you can do everything right and still experience failure.

]]> The disciples were expert fishermen. They knew how to fish, where to fish, and when to fish. They had the right equipment. They did everything correctly. Yet, the disciples had nothing to show for their efforts. These experts failed to catch fish.

When Jesus asked, "Friends, haven't you any fish?", they had to confess no. Notice, however, Jesus did not say anything about how they didn't know what they were doing, that they failed to follow basic fisherman's instructions, or they should abandon the fishing business. Notice also the disciples did not recognize Jesus yet.

Jesus told them to make one almost trivial change, and he gave them a promise: "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." i suspect the disciples figured the worst thing that would happen is nothing. Then they could tell this stranger on the shore, "See, there are no fish to be caught here." Many of us know when Jesus promises us something, he often understates his promise. The disciples threw the net on the right side of the boat, and the number of fish they caught overwhelmed them. Immediately they recognized the stranger as the Lord. The disciples recognized this blessing came from their Lord Jesus--not their own skills and talents. Note well, the blessing did not occur until the disciples used their talents and skills according to the Lord's leading.

When we fail to accomplish our commission, will we be willing to listen to the Lord's leading? We will be asked to make minor changes in our routine, but we won't be accused of incompetence or disobeying God. We probably won't recognize the Lord's hand when we do the small change. We will have no doubt regarding God's work in our lives when we do his simple request.

Welcome to Mesa Community

Welcome to our church community. We are a small group of Christian believers who celebrate the power of God's love in our lives. Over the weeks and months to come i hope this space will be an area where the friends and members of our church can share their Christian walk and offer praise for what God has done through our church community.