HOME Moments with Mike
Peace of Mind
[Moments with Mike]
09/09/2010
By Landry, Mike
Peace of Mind…now that is a great thought. Even though we are promised peace and should have peace, so many do not. What is the problem? Understand this…no one or nothing can take peace from you, you must give it up.
There are 3 things we choose to give up for our peace. (1) We try to change people instead of letting God change them. (2) We get impatient and upset over plans and schedules. (3) We take matters into our own hands and try hard to make things happen. We try to live life by human and flesh efforts, instead of through the power of the Spirit.
I think we know the solution. Keep our minds focused on Him and choose to believe. Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You”.
Pastor Mike
What is Your Vision for Life?
[Moments with Mike]
08/31/2010
By Landry, Mike
What is your vision for life? How do I know what my vision is? How can I find my purpose? Here are some practical steps:
1. Look within you – what moves or excites you?
2. Look behind you – what lessons and wisdom have life experiences taught you?
3. Look around you – fulfilling your purpose requires having the right people in your life.
4. Look ahead – Helen Keller said, “The only thing that’s worse than being blind, is having sight but no vision. What do we see through the eyes of faith?
5. Look above you – our calling, vision and purposes have to come from God. Knowing and doing God’s will is the secret to a successful life.
I got these thoughts in my devotion this week. I hope they are a blessing to you. God bless you and have a great week.
Pastor Mike
Hope
[Moments with Mike]
08/24/2010
By Landry, Mike
Far too often we hear of someone who has taken their own life. You wonder how someone could get to such a state of hopelessness that they think the only way out is suicide. The death of hope is the result of a culture that has forgotten God. God is the only source of real hope. Satan is a master of spreading hopelessness.
There are several people in the Bible that found themselves in desperate situations. Job even said, “What is my strength that I should hope?” But they found a way out. Sometimes they just had to obey God; other times listen to God. But ultimately they had to believe and trust God.
So, if you find yourself in a dark place and the walls are closing in around you, don’t give up hope. Look up; your help comes from above. God is still greater than any problem or situation you may encounter.
Pastor Mike
Find the Balance
[Moments with Mike]
08/17/2010
By Landry, Mike
I’m writing this blog on Tuesday, August 17, 2010. It is the first day of school for
Most people I know don’t have the luxury of doing only one thing. Most ladies who work outside the home, are also mothers, wives and volunteers at school and church. Many men are fathers and coaches and have duties at church. So, most of us wear many “hats”.
Finding the balance is difficult but necessary. The key is to keep your relationship with God and family where it needs to be. Do the best you can and trust God with the rest. Hope you have a great week. Remember, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.
Pastor Mike
The 3 R's
[Moments with Mike]
08/11/2010
By Landry, Mike
“Getting back to basics”, you hear this all the time. To be honest that thought not only intrigues us, but is longed for. We have done a good job at complicating life. Most would enjoy life better if we could just simplify it.
In education the basis for learning has been the 3 “R’s –
How about our spiritual life or maybe just life in general? Have we gone away from the core issue that would be to simplify an otherwise complicated existence? Let’s focus on prayer, God’s Word, worship and service. These are the basic elements of our spiritual life. Isn’t this what Jesus meant when he said, “Seek you first the
So I want to encourage you go get the clutter out, get down to the bare bones so to speak, get back to the basics of our life. Then we will find purpose and only then will we experience the abundant life that is ours through Christ. I hope you have a great week. God Bless.
Pastor Mike
God's Got This!
[Moments with Mike]
07/28/2010
By Landry, Mike
I see a lot of burdened hurting people. People are out of jobs, some are going through difficult health problems and add to that the stress of everyday life. It is easy to go from an overcomer to being overcomed.
We need to come to an important conclusion... there is one God and we are not Him. At our church staff meeting this week, we came up with this statement, “We are not here to do God’s work; we are here to let God work in us and through us”.
We need to trust God to do what only He can do. Most things are out of our control, but definitely in His. Rest in the promise that all things work together for the good of them that love Him. Never forget that no matter the circumstance, God is working in us. So relax, God’s got this! I hope you have a great week.
Pastor Mike
The Miraculous
[Moments with Mike]
07/13/2010
By Landry, Mike
We want to see the walls of
God wants us to join Him in His great work. It isn’t that God needs us—He wants us. I think you can understand that is does us good to join hands with God in His work. It is true that from time to time God does say stand back and watch me. Most of the time He asks us to participate with Him in a great work.
God wants to do the miraculous. Sometimes He asks us to do the natural and let Him do the supernatural. Just think about it, isn’t it wonderful to join hands with God as He works.
This Sunday, I will be preaching on “The Preparation for the Miraculous”. I hope you can be here at
Pastor Mike
July 4th
[Moments with Mike]
06/29/2010
By Landry, Mike
We call the fourth of July the birthday of our country. It is also called Independence Day. July 4, 1776 is the day the Declaration of Independence was signed declaring our independence from
Five signers were captured as traitors and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost sons while serving in the Revolutionary Army. Nine died of wounds or hardships suffered during the war. Wow, what a price for freedom!
Many have died since to preserve this grand vision of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We have a great heritage. We owe a great debt of gratitude.
As a Christian, I want to remember how precious freedom is. I also want to remember that our nation was founded on the principle of God and His Word. Let’s not forget the God who made us a great nation. My prayer is that we will continue to be one nation under God
I hope you enjoy your 4th of July. Have a great time eating hot dogs, ice cream and watermelon. Have a good time playing baseball and shooting fireworks. But, take time to worship and thank God who has blessed us with such a great nation. God Bless
See you Sunday,
Pastor Mike
Expectation of Heaven
[Moments with Mike]
06/22/2010
By Landry, Mike
This is the last Sunday of Great Expectations. We started with the Expectation of our Relationship with God. Then we had our Prophecy Conference which focused our attention on the Expectation of the Coming of the Lord. Of course, Father’s Day we looked at the Expectations of a Father. This week we will conclude with the Expectation of Heaven.
What does Heaven hold for the believer? What is it like and who will be there? All of these are great questions. How about this question? What do I expect out of Heaven? Wow! Not that is a good question. This week we will explain the Great Expectation of Heaven.
Pastor Mike
Expectation of His Coming
[Moments with Mike]
06/08/2010
By Landry, Mike
“Thinking about the Second Coming of Christ makes me afraid”; honestly I hear that a lot. Should the teaching and preaching of the Second Coming strike fear in the hearts of a believer? I don’t think so. In fact, in the New Testament that very message was a message of hope. It kept the early believers going. Truly the Second Coming is the hope we are to look forward to. In other words there should be a great expectation of His coming.
This week we will have Dr. Jimmy DeYoung speaking on prophecy for us Sunday morning (10:15) Sunday evening (6:30) and again Monday evening (6:30) here at Bethel Ministries. Please try to come each service. May God use this time to prepare our hearts for His coming. May we like John say, “Even so come Lord Jesus.”
Pastor Mike
Managing our Heart
[Moments with Mike]
05/25/2010
By Landry, Mike
The Bible states in Proverbs 4:23, “Guard your heart above all else for it determines the course of your life. This Sunday’s topic is “Managing our Heart”. To manage our heart is to manage our lives.
When the Bible talks about the heart, we know it is not meaning the organ that pumps blood through the body. So, what is meant by heart? This word, heart, stands for all mental and moral activity. It is the seat of spiritual life, grief, joy, desires, affections, thoughts, understanding, conscience, intentions, faith and will. To sum it up it is the place of emotion, reason and choice.
Wow, that is a lot to manage. It is easy to see that control of the heart can only come through the power of the Holy Spirit. If our heart is not “right”, our life cannot be right. This week do have a right heart. Hope to see you here.
Pastor Mike
Managing our Possessions
[Moments with Mike]
05/18/2010
By Landry, Mike
Take a look around your house; we have a lot of stuff. Some would even say our life is cluttered with things. There are some things that are a necessity, some things are wants, but there are things that are just wasted.
It has been my experience that our possessions, if we are not careful, can come between us and God. Jesus dealt with this in the life of His Apostles when He asked, “Loveth thou me, more than these?” We must be careful not to let our possessions or philosophy become a barrier in our walk with the Lord.
This week we continue our series on Life Management. This Sunday’s topic is “Managing our Possessions”. Please make plans to come this week as we learn to apply Biblical principles to our possessions. Let’s not let our prosperity get in the way of our relationship with Christ. Hope you have a great week.
Pastor Mike
Managing the Future
[Moments with Mike]
05/11/2010
By Landry, Mike
How can we manage the future when you can’t predict or control it? That is a good question.
Even though we don’t know what the future holds we do know God who is in control of the future. The bottom line is, the closer I am to God the better the future looks.
With this in mind, here are some practical thoughts about our future. First, plan for the future. It is ok to plan for the future as long as we understand God’s will supersedes ours. In faith and obedience we need to yield ourselves to what God wants. Secondly, we need a purpose. God does have a design for our life. Finding God’s purpose is necessary in managing our future.
So I leave you with two things; plan and purpose. The future is as bright as the promises of God. I hope you have a great week.
Pastor Mike
Fears
[Moments with Mike]
04/28/2010
By Landry, Mike
This Sunday we begin May’s series “Life Management.” This week we will deal with fears. When you search the internet you will come to the conclusion there is a lot of fearful people out there.
I found a list of 110 most common fears. This was a survey of over 10,000 people in 20 different countries. People are afraid of everything from snakes which is #1 to kissing #94. There is even a fear of growing fat # 90 on the list. At least that ones doesn’t seem to affect me.
To be honest some are even a little strange like nomophobia (the fear of no phone service) or emetrophobia (the fear of vomit); believe me I’m not making this up; to tetraphobia (the fear of the number four). There is even a fear of yourself (autophobia).
How do we overcome all these fears? We know that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but instead a spirit of power, love and a soul mind.
Faith and trust is the key to victory over fear. So what phobia has a grip on your life? Let God and His Word become the answer. Sunday we will deal more in depth with how through faith we can overcome our fears. I hope you have a great week. May God bless you and your friends.
Pastor Mike
Focus on the Flowers
[Moments with Mike]
04/22/2010
By Landry, Mike
I’m looking out of my office window and see beautiful flowers blooming. We have a prayer garden and those flowers make it an added joy to go and spend some time with God. I love spring. The warm weather, flowers, outdoor activities and extended daylight are just a few things that make this an enjoyable time of year. But then there is pollen!!!! Like many, I suffer with allergies that this pollen brings on.
So this brings me to my thought for the week. Even in the best of times there will be trouble and difficulties. Life at its best is not perfect—not here. In the midst of all the great things God is doing, problems do pop-up from time to time. We can choose to focus on those difficulties or the blessings. I chose to focus on the flowers, not the pollen.
I hope you have a great week as we focus on the greatness of our God.
Pastor Mike
