A Message from Pastor Mark Dear Church Family, Read this by Chad Bird and thought it might speak to you like it did me: Making a Mockery of Ordination The Hebrew phrase commonly translated as "ordained" in the Old Testament is literally "to fill the hands." For instance, when God told Moses, "Thus you shall ordain Aaron and his sons," (Exod. 29:9), he said in Hebrew, וּמִלֵּאתָ֥ יַֽד־אַהֲרֹ֖ן וְיַד־בָּנָֽיו, that is, you shall "fill the hand of Aaron and the hand of his sons." Why "fill the hands"? It reflects the ritual act of sacrifices being placed in the hands of men becoming priests (cf. Lev. 8:27), which they then offer before the LORD. To be ordained in Israel, therefore, like our word "mandate" (lit. "give into the hand"), was to be "handed" an office in which you use your hands for holy things. This ordination given by God was sometimes twisted and mocked in Israel. For instance, we read [...]

A Message from Pastor Mark Dear Church Family, I read this and it was so insightful I wanted to share it with you all: The Devil Left Him Until an Opportune Time John closes his Gospel by saying that Jesus did many other things, but if all those details were included, the world itself would not be a big enough library to hold all the books. It’s a good reminder to us that there are huge gaps in our knowledge, not only of what Jesus did but also of what he suffered. Yes, God has given us everything we *need* to know about our Lord’s life in the four Gospels, but nowhere near everything we *could have known.* Among those “could-have-knowns” is how many times the devil tempted Jesus. In Luke 4, at the end of the temptation account, Luke writes that the devil left Jesus “until an opportune time” (4:13). I suspect we focus so much on those [...]

A Message from Pastor Mark Dear Church Family, I’m so proud to serve with you all and from time to time I get to hear a powerful testimony from one of my brothers or sisters here. Friday morning at our Men’s Ministry prayer breakfast, I heard Miller Scanlan share his testimony and his wisdom on discipling other men. I asked him if I could share this here. I thought it would encourage you all! Good morning, I was honored and humbled when asked to speak before this group. This morning I wanted to share some of my experiences working with others, mainly covering discipling or mentoring, but before that I wanted to share part of my story and how God brought me to where I am today. I was raised in NM on a ranch where I learned the value of hard work and trust in myself. There was not much God introduced in my life, a handful of [...]