Why Are You Here?

Click Here to Listen to the Sermon for Sunday, December 4,2011 by Pastor Rodger S. Loar

Scripture Reference:  1Peter 2:4-10 and 2Timothy 2:2

 

People have some funny ideas about church. 

The first one is that church is a building.  It’s not.   

The second is that church is a business that sells a product called God to the people who come.  It’s not. 

The third that going to church is just showing up on a Sunday morning.  It’s not

 The church is the body of people who gather together.  It is the living, breathing extended family of God, gathering together to worship him and to encourage each other.

It’s about living together in that messy, knocked-around, whoops-I-made-a-mistake, let-me-help-you-up-when-you-fall, kind of way. 

Peter calls us living stones, being built into a spiritual house with Christ as the cornerstone:  The Church!

Like the toy bricks that you had as a kid, we build upon each other to be a wall.  We are strong because we stand together and we stand with Christ.

The church is US!

Why are you here?  Why do you come to church on Sunday?  Why should you make it a priority to be together with your church family every week?

The answer is simple:  We are stronger together.  We encourage each other.  We build each other up.  The strong among us today help the weak.  And tomorrow, when we struggle, they will be strong to help us. 

Church isn’t about habit.  It’s not about business.  It’s not about going to a building because that’s what your parents did?  It’s about people.

Let me encourage you to make Sunday morning a priority.  Be here with your family through thick and thin.  Build them up and you’ll find that they build you up too.

Life is a Journey.  You don’t have to walk alone.

That’s why you are here.

Pastor Rodger

Why Am I Here?

Click Here to Listen to the Sunday, November 27, 2011 Sermon by Pastor Rodger S. Loar

Scripture Reference:  Genesis 1:27-31, Deuteronomy 6:5, and Matthew 22:34-40

Philosophers have been wrestling with the question of existence for millennia.  Why am I here?  The answers are there in God’s word.  From the beginning of the Bible, God lets us know the answer to the question, “Why am I here?”

God put us here for relationship.

We are here to care.

Care for God.

Care for Each other.

and Take Care of Creation.

That’s why I am here.

God put us here to take care of the place.  We are caretakers and we haven’t been very good at it.  All too often, Evangelicals get so focused on heaven, that we are no earthly good.  All arguments about global warming aside, we need to take care of the planet, and yet, we often push away others who care about the environment.  We seem to present the idea to the world that Christ is coming back, so it doesn’t matter how we keep the place.  But God cares about creation and we are called to take care of it.

We are also called to care for one another.  Do we do that very well?  Christians are unfortunately known for treating our own brothers and sisters in sin very poorly.  We have similar divorce rates and even higher abortion rates as the rest of the world.  God cares about our relationships with one another, so perhaps we should treat those better too.

Finally, We are called to care for God; to love Him with all of our hearts and mind and strength.  Sadly, we don’t do a very good job of that either.  Worship on Sunday is just another activity that might fall to the wayside for work or entertainment.  We don’t spend time with God in His word or in prayer.

God put us here to care.

That’s the answer to the question:  “Why am I here?”

The answer then calls us to get to work:

1.       Let’s care for God.  Make it a priority to spend time with Him each week.

2.       Let’s care for each other.  Get counseling, build relationships, seek help, so that when times are hard we can turn to those closest to us for support, and know that they will be there to walk with us.

3.       Let’s care for creation.  Let’s show the rest of the world that we care about the creation that God gave us.  Let’s glorify God by living simply, by cutting our trash, by recycling, by cleaning up.

Let’s care and show the world that we care. 

Pastor Rodger

We Are Back!!!

After hours of technical support, changing to a new server, internet provider issues, and not one, but two computer crashes, the Monday Morning Bible Blog has returned.  We will be restarting the blog beginning the first week of Advent (Sunday, 11/27/11).  If you would like to listen to any of the sermons that are missing between August & November, please contact Mountain View Christian Church to obtain a CD of the sermon:

Mountain View Christian Church
2927 East Campbell Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85016
(602) 955-9414

We're Sorry

Due to computer network problems, we have not been able to publish the last two Bible Blogs.  We are working on the problem and will put up any missing blogs and sermons when the problem is solved.

Wisdom - 31 Days of Proverbs: Wisdom versus Knowledge

Click Here to Listen to the Sunday, July 31, 2011 Sermon by Pastor Rodger S. Loar


Click Here for the August 2011 Proverbs Contest


Scripture Reference: Proverbs 1:1-33


Knowledge, Yeah, we’ve got. that Information, it’s all over the place. Data, it’s pouring out of our computers at an unbelievable rate. Trying to keep up with all of this is like trying to drink from a fire hose.

It’s been said, “Knowledge is power.” But, power needs control.

The problem with knowledge is that you need wisdom to apply it.

Wisdom, however, is not running in large amounts. In fact, it seems that the more information we have, the less wisdom that seems to be present.

Open any newspaper. Flip on the TV news. Look at the entertainment sites on the internet. There are plenty of intelligent people, people with college degrees, people in charge of companies and government agencies who are doing dumb things. These are smart people, but they lack wisdom.

The month of August is Wisdom month for MVCC. We will be reading the book of Proverbs, seeking wisdom. Proverbs 2:4 instructs us to seek wisdom as one would look for hidden treasure. We should search for wisdom as a thing of value.

Our challenge to you this month is to begin reading the book of Proverbs. Read one chapter each day, chapter 1 on August 1^st, chapter 2 on August 2^nd, and so on till you complete the 31^st chapter on the 31^st of August. Don’t worry if you missed yesterday, it’s easy to catch up. It should only take 5 – 10 minutes each day to complete the challenge.

Proverbs is a fun book of wise sayings. You’ll find yourself laughing at ones like Proverbs 25:24 (especially if you are a husband). You’ll find some that are humorous, but Oh so true like Proverbs 27:3 and others that are just plain wise advice such as Proverbs 22:24-25.

I encourage you to highlight the best proverbs that you come across. Share the advice on Facebook. Write them down and memorize them. Wisdom is a valuable thing.

Pastor Rodger

unBROKEN

Click Here to Listen to the Sunday, July 24, 2011 Sermon "unBroken Part II - Broken to unBroken" by Pastor Rodger S. Loar


Click Here to Listen to the Sunday, July 17, 2011 Sermon "unBroken Part I - Unbroken to Broken" by Pastor Rodger S. Loar


Scripture Reference: Romans 5:19


Much of the world believes that people are basically good.  But are we?  God's word teaches us that we are made in God's image, but that we are sinful and rebelious... Broken.  It also teaches us that God has redeemed those who have believed in Jesus Christ, making us whole again... Unbroken.

What are we then?  Broken or unbroken? 

When we come to realize that humanity is both broken and at the same time can be unbroken, then it changes how we treat each other.  If we recognize that the people we meet are children of God, made in his image, then it makes us treat them a little more special.  If we also realize that they are broken sinners that need God, it also makes us a little more understanding and hopefully grace-giving.  Finally, if we add in the idea that we are all redeemable through Christ, then it allows us to share hope with them where they are.

This isn't always easy, when you deal with someone who is a jerk, when you wonder about someone who has hurt a child, or who has murdered, when you deal with someone who time and again has hurt you.

But, when we balance the brokenness and unbrokenness of humanity, and we ultimately see that we too are the same, then we can be more welcoming, more grace-filled, more unconditionally loving and we can bring hope to a world that so desperately needs it.



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P.S.  I write this with a caveat:  I struggle with this too.  This very day, one day after giving the second sermon in this series, I encountered someone who was a rude jerk to me.  Though patient at first, I ended up blowing up and yelling at her.  I share this only to let you know that the struggle goes on and that even the rudest people you meet still need hope.  Let's keep working on this together.

Pastor Rodger

The Big Story and Your Part in It

Click Here to Listen to the Sunday, July 10, 2011 Sermon by Pastor Don Allen