Center Point Assembly

This is a portion of our Christmas Eve service with Pastor Mike speaking on the importance of "Opening the Gift" of Jesus. As a child, Christmas was all about opening presents on Christmas morning. There's nothing wrong with giving each other gifts, but do we have the appreciation of the most important Gift, being Jesus. The point of the message tonight is in the "Opening of the Gift" not just receiving it. What does it mean to "Open the Gift of Jesus"? Listen in to understand what this means and looks like...

Special guest speaker Ryp Hankins delivers a message challenging us on what it means to be "Reluctant" in our walk with God. Reluctance is really disobedience to follow the "Call of God" during the seasons of our life. The challenge for us, are we listening and then willing to obey the call of God to do what He is asking of us. This means being willing to risk our reputation by being willing to stand on His. Are we doing that or are we reluctant? Listen to hear more about that means...

Pastor Mike continues in the series of 1 Peter and what we find is that the story of Christmas is revealed in the action of Submission. Jesus had to submit to the plan of His Father, Mary & Joseph submitted to the call of their lives and so did all the other characters in the story of Jesus birth. And we find that is just the beginning of what submission in action is all about. We find that submission is the key to fullness of life... The question is are submitting and under active submission to our Heavenly Father?

This week Pastor Mike is continuing on in the study of 1 Peter and talking about the difficult subject of "Submission". This may be one of the harder subjects to speak about because our natural flesh man would prefer only to submit to himself. The act of submission is an act of coming under the mission of another, and most of the time that is a foreign idea and always requires a humble heart. We discuss various forms of submission, but most importantly we must first submit to God through His Son Jesus, and then we must submit to His Church that He established. Listen in to hear more about what submitting and submission mean and look like...

Pastor Mike talks today about being thankful as instructed in God's Word. The question is: Can we really be thankful in all circumstances? It's easy to be thankful when things are good, but what happens when bad things are happening? Can we be thankful then? Are we supposed to be? Is there anything that is so bad that we aren't supposed to be thankful? These are all good questions. We will find thru this message that God is faithful in all of our struggles as we trust Him. But first, the question must be asked and answered: Am I a truly committed follower of God? If that answer is YES, then God has many promises for the true follower of Jesus that gives us assurance and hope for a great future no matter what is happening today... Listen in and see if this is true or you...

Pastor Mike continues in the study of 1 Peter as Peter emphasizes that we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a precious special possession of God. How does that make you feel? To think that God would look at us as a precious special possession, that He would see you and I as "special". We all like to be special, don't we? But being chosen and special comes with a level of responsibility to respond in the way a chosen special person would. That we would "chose" Him back is the best way we could honor Him. The question is what does that look like? How do we live our life now as a result of Him choosing us? Listen in...

Pastor Mike continues the study on 1 Peter with a timely message following the recent election results and last weeks message stressing the importance of basing our vote on the "foundation" of the party and not the personality of person running. The message today is talking about Jesus being the Cornerstone of our faith. The Cornerstone is a perfectly cut stone and is the first one laid as the foundation and the rest of the building is measured against it. Likewise, Jesus is the perfect Cornerstone of God's design for our life and we are to build upon that. Once the Cornerstone is in place, it never moves or changes, likewise, Christ has been set in place and His standards of morality never change. This provides security for the true Christian as we have a foundation to build upon and live according to. Listen in to be warned and encouraged to choose and not reject this precious Cornerstone...

Pastor Mike talks about Politics in todays message. The right and freedom that we have to vote is God given and we are instructed in scripture to be concerned and involved in the political process of our government but not be controlled by it. We have the most important election in the history of our nation this week and your vote is very important. You may say, it's only one vote of millions, how can it be that important? We will discover this morning, that God sees and weighs the intents and motives of the hearts of men, and we will be accountable to God's just justice when we stand before Him. If you line your self up and vote for something that is contrary to God's Holy Word understand that God will see your heart and you will be held accountable even if you're only one vote. Your vote will last for eternity so be sure that you understand and that it agrees with God's Word before you cast your vote.

This week Pastor Mike continues in the second chapter of 1 Peter discussing what it means to be a "Living Stone" hewed from the "Living Rock" of Jesus Christ. By the mercy and ultimate sacrifice Jesus paid on the Cross for us, we are a Holy Priesthood qualified by the Blood of Jesus to enter the Most Holy of Holies any time we want to spend time with our Heavenly Father. Do we really appreciate this? Are we protecting our relationship with Jesus from all the trappings and distractions of this world? Listen in and be challenged by what it means to be a "living Stone" the same way that Jesus is the "Living Rock" so that we can be precious of God our Father as Jesus is...

Pastor Mike continues the series on 1 Peter and today as we begin chapter 2. The topic is how we grow up in our spiritual life? We begin by getting rid of many things that are just not compatible with the Love of Christ in our lives. Peter is pretty direct with some specific concerns in the life of all Christians. It's also interesting that scripture refers to us as children quite often if we are to acceptable in the eyes of God. Peter uses the example of a new born babe craving milk in the same way as a new born Christian craving the pure spiritual milk of God's Word. The key word is "pure" verses "defiled" or "spoiled" spiritual milk. We need to have a consistent source of "pure and undefiled" Godly nutrition in our lives as we grow from the milk to the meat of God's Word... Listen in and be challenged by the Word of God - are you craving the pure spiritual nutrition of God's Word?

The series on 1 Peter continues with Pastor Mike speaking one of his hardest messages on what it means to Love the way God loves, from the heart. Many messages on love have been given, but unless we understand the true message of love requires sacrificial love we're only fooling ourselves on what true Godly love is all about. God's love required Him sending His Son Jesus Christ to be the sacrifice for our sins. That's an all encompassing love and that's the love that we are to have for each other. That's why this is a hard message for this pastor to give because this kind of love requires action and many times a sacrifice. Listen and be challenged to love the way the God loves us and proves it...

This weeks message is from Ernie and Carrie Bywater. They are pastors that are beginning a new missionary venture called Network 211. They speak briefly about that which is an awesome new offering to the lost world around us. I encourage you to visit their website www.network211.com However, the meat of the message that this pastor feels very passionate about and timely is the message on "reconciliation" that they brought. The area of offense and being offended is a major strategy of the enemy and it is prevalent in all places, including in homes, marriage relationships, and even in the church. Please take the time to listen and then apply what you have heard.

Pastor Mike is continuing the series on the 1st letter of Peter written to the scattering of Christians around Asia Minor. This is an exciting and challenging letter. This week we are talking about the judgment of heavenly rewards, which is the second judgment for the Christian. Many people have a hard time with the concept of rewards in heaven and the fact the Christian is going to be judged according to their works on earth as a basis for their eternal rewards, but that's what scriptures say. The other aspect of judgment and probably more important one is having a reverent fear of the Lord. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. Listen in and understand how important it is to have a reverent fear of the Lord in all aspects of living a pleasing lifestyle unto our Heavenly Father...

Pastor Mike continues the study of 1 Peter focusing today on "Holy Action". Peter calls those that are following Christ to 1) - be Holy as God is Holy, and 2) be prepared for action. Holiness and action come together as faith and action come together. Our holiness is not an end-all in itself, rather our holiness prepares us to be used by a Holy God to work in and further His kingdom. If we are going to be effective laborers in this dark and forsaken world, we must walk in the holiness of God so that we can be effective in our labors for Him, being holy and set apart, yet relative to the world that we're sent into to be a worker. This message helps us see our role and responsibility in loving Jesus first, focusing on our relationship with Him so that we can have His mindset as He sends us into the world applying what we have learned and being pleasing to Him. Holy Action is what we need...

Pastor Mike continues in the study of 1 Peter, verses 8-12. This week we establish our spiritual foundation as being of utmost importance when it comes to understanding what we believe in. The emotional experience of being a Holy Spirit filled and Baptized believer is powerful without question. Yet it's so important that we have a "Solid Foundation" to build upon so that we don't depend on our emotions as our foundation. Emotions can be fleeting and fickle, thus a life of drastic highs and lows, and prime for false teachings. This is what Peter is helping us with today. So listen in and build you life on the foundation of God's Holy Word and all that He is teaching us and then expecting us to follow and build upon.

Pastor Mike continues the study on the book of 1 Peter. Today we focus on suffering. This is one of the most misunderstood things about God and something that all of us may struggle with at some point in our life. Why suffering? What is the cause of suffering? Why does God allow suffering? Why do good people suffer? Have you ever asked these kind of questions? God loves you and He wants you to have a proper understanding of suffering. Satan uses suffering to destroy a person, God uses suffering to perfect a person... Major difference in purpose. Listen in to understand where suffering originated and why God continues to allow it.

Former Pastor and great friend of Center Point, Ryp Hankins delivers a powerful message of exhortation and encouragement to "Get Some" of the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He describes the reason that the "Church" of today is not effective and pleasing to the Lord is because we've given away the power the "Church" was given by the Holy Spirit. The devil does not the fear the church that does not operate in the power of the Holy Spirit, but he trembles when the church and the people that make up the church operate in the gifts of the Spirit that we're given on the Day of Pentecost way back then. We must understand and appreciate that those gifts are for today and just as effective and available now as they were then. Not only are they available for us, they are needed that much more as we fight the fight and live the life of victory...

This may seem like a different kind of message to post, however there were many requests for this to be posted. This is the funeral message of Pastor Mike's mother Joan. It's a message of "Living Hope" in the midst of earthly sorrow and mourning. The fact is that as believer and follower of Jesus Christ, we have a Hope that is alive and eternal with everlasting rewards and promise that never perishes, spoils, or fades. With this certainty, living a life of obedient holiness is a privilege and joy, never a burden... Listen in and celebrate life eternal with a Living Hope in Jesus!!!

Pastor Mike continues to dig into the first letter of Peter. Today we discuss the Hope that Peter encourages his readers to have in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. This Hope actually is a "Living Hope" based on the fact Jesus, our redeemer and savior is alive today never again to die, therefore our eternity is based on Him and His truth. Listen is and be encouraged today and transfer your Hope from this world and into the never ending and never failing love of Jesus...

Pastor Mike continues to unveil the truths given in the introduction of the first letter of Peter by continuing in the fundamentals of true Christian faith. Today, we discuss the awesome power of the Blood of Jesus and His perfect obedience making His death the only way to pay for the sins of mankind. God requires a perfect relationship and the only way we can have that is thru the complete and irreversible sacrifice of a perfect man, Jesus Christ to redeem all those that choose to accept it. Listen in for details on how that applies to all of us...