Center Point Assembly

Pastor Mike continues on with the Series on the short book "Lessons From a Sheep Dog" by Phillip Keller. This week we discuss lesson 3 & 4, "Learning to Trust" and "The Delight of Obedience". We see Lass now at the Sheep farm and learning how to do her job with her new master. She is learning the ins and outs of herding sheep, and one of the first things both she and her master must learn of each other is "TRUST"... We find in this lesson a very important lesson with God, that as we learn to TRUST Him, he TRUSTS us back with more spiritual blessing... Listen in to find why... Also, we learn that to obey God is a blessing and a true delight. It's really only as we learn to obey that life becomes the joy that it is intended for us to have... Obedience is not a burden, it's a true joy and a delight... Again, listen in...

Pastor Mike continues with the book written by Philip Keller, "Lessons From a Sheep Dog" with lesson 2, titled "Set Free - To Follow". In this discussion we see the indescribable joy that God our Heavenly Father has when we willing give up our perceived "freedoms" as a human being, created in His likeness and choose to live a life of love and dedication to Him. We see for our benefit that it's only then as we willingly place our life into the 'boundaries' of living for Jesus can we truly be free and enjoy the freedoms thereof... Prior that decision, we may feel we are living a life worth living, but in all reality we are living a life destined to be destroyed... God frees us as we are set free to follow...

Pastor Mike is beginning a series from a book written by Phillip Keller titled "Lessons From a Sheep Dog". Today he reads a good portion of the story and discusses Lesson 1 - In the Wrong Hands. This lesson focuses on Lass, the border collie being rescued from the wrong owner that doesn't understand Lass's true calling in life to be a working dog and thus sees her rambunctiousness as disobedience and is totally uncontrollable. She is destined for destruction if a new owner isn't found and ultimately rescues her. In a similar fashion we as people living in our flesh are also under the control and ownership of the "wrong" owner, Satan and are also destined for destruction unless we are purchased by a new owner, being Jesus Christ. Satan sees us only to destroy us, Jesus sees us as the potential He created us for, a restored relationship with Him and His Father through the power of the Holy Spirit... Come along with us on this journey of Lass, the Sheep Dog...

Pastor Mike celebrates freedom on this Memorial Day weekend by talking about the freedoms we have in our spiritual life and the cost thereof. He discusses the fact that we must surrender our lives to gain Christ's freedom, we must choose to walk in freedom once it's offered and finally that freedom comes with great responsibility as we walk in it. Freedom means living within the boundaries that God has established for our eternal rewards, it's a joy and never a burden...

Pastor Mike continues a discussion about our Graduation day and applies the truths of living a daily Christian life as we "work out our salvation with fear and trembling" in front of the world. Like after graduating from High School, life comes to the Christian the day after salvation, and it's in those days that our real work begins, and the beauty of God's word to us says, "it's not burdensome to obey God's commands" but rather it makes us over comers and victors in this world and beyond...

Pastor Mike takes the time this morning to basically describe the "salvation" experience in the similar manner that we work our way thru our education process and "Graduate" into the next phase of our life. He takes the time to define the so often quoted terminology of Christian speak and lays out the plan of salvation for all to hear and to understand. God our Father gives us the ultimate Graduation Gift - Eternal Life... Did you receive it?

Pastor Bob Moody was a guest speaker and he presented a challenge to our body with "Three Questions" that challenges us all to live Christ-like lives with the intention of having friends and family members live in unity and combined effort as we focus on winning the lost for Christ. Would our community be worse off if our church all of a sudden didn't exist? Would it even know we were gone? Good questions for all of us to consider as we live our lives as ambassadors for Christ...

Pastor Mike continues in the theme of Worshiping God in Spirit and in Truth with three major points: Urgency of the moment, Being a Living Sacrifice, and Doing all for Glory of God so that we lead others to Jesus. The only way we can do any of this is to place and keep Jesus as the "Center Point" of our life. As we position Him as the Central focus of our lives, people will see us as different and this will draw men unto Jesus... Ultimately, this is how we Worship God - in Spirit and in Truth which is pleasing to God... Come Worship with us...

Pastor Mike examines the topic of Worshiping God in the manner that God receives... The question is, does He receive all forms of worship? Isn't it important that we understand scripture so that we aren't spending time and effort living in ways that aren't lining up with Godly expectations? God loves us and He wants us to follow His commands so that life is a delight for us... It can be just as He says as we live our lives so that we can worship Him in spirit and truth...

Pastor Mike celebrates the Easter season with a message that talks about the new life that spring time ushers in and with it the very nature of the new life that Jesus gave us on Easter morning so many years ago. Jesus provided many miraculous things for us that day, things we could never do on our own, and it's only becoming of us to understand and accept every thing He did for us and celebrate that marvelous life we have as a result... Come enjoy Easter with us.

Pastor Mike explores the final week of the life of Jesus. The week begins with Jesus being ushered in as the "king of the Jews". The people called out Hosanna, Hosanna - meaning "Save Now", they were expecting Jesus to save them from the Roman rulers. However, Jesus came to set up his kingdom in the hearts of men and he was willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice. Jesus never lost his focus and never questioned his purpose, he understood what he was there to do. We can learn from his example in our life today as well. Jesus understood the urgency to accomplish everything he needed to in the last week of his earthly life. We as well must understand the urgency in our lives to also live a purpose driven and missional life to accomplish the will of God in our lives... Listen is as we learn more about the final week of Jesus' life....

Pastor Mike takes this day to review the call that God has placed on his life and in his ministry over the past three years of his time in Charlevoix Assembly of God. He reviews a letter that was written in August of 2009 and relates the consistent message that was given then to the entirety of his ministry as Pastor and leader of the body in Charlevoix, a call to holy and righteous living...

Pastor Mike looks at the growth of our spiritual life in a similar fashion as we grow physically. God has given so many common concepts so that we can easily understand what it means to grow. The most significant aspect of growing up to become a spiritually mature person, pleasing to Jesus is that it requires a choice from us and a level of commitment to discipline ourselves to allow the Holy Spirit to help us in this effort. We must depend on Jesus as we live this life so that we can grow up in him...

Pastor Mike looks at Spiritual Warfare and the many Compromises we make in our life and draws the conclusion that to be victorious in our Spiritual life, we must not allow compromise to come. There is no Compromise in Warfare. The enemy of our soul will not let one person enter into Heaven without a fight, and compromise is not an option. The Devil doesn't settle for a little compromise, he is in it for the kill and once we begin to compromise with him, he won't stop until it's too late... But we can win this battle through the POWER of the Holy Spirit and a resolve to WIN! Rak Chazak -- Amatz - you will have to listen to know what that means....

Pastor Mike takes the time this week to explain and teach on what the Baptism of the Holy Spirit means for those in the Early Church and for us today. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit with the initial evidence of Speaking in an unknown heavenly tongue is for every man and woman today. The power of the Holy Spirit is a vital and proactive part of our spiritual warfare. The enemy wants to keep you from experiencing this as this gives you a supercharged prayer life that will defeat the enemy in your life.... Listen in and learn what the scripture teaches....

Pastor Mike takes an Old Testament example of the "call" that God makes to his people to enter into the Promised Land and applies to our lives today. The church as a body of believers often finds itself being called to move into a higher level of commitment and willingness to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. The question is: are we willing to move? Are we trusting God to take us into the Promised Land, or do we find ourselves like the Israelites looking for a "new leader" to take us back to Egypt? A place of disillusionment and perceived comfort... The call is for all of us, are we willing to move forward with the Holy Spirit or not? Once a call is made, we will never be the same...

Pastor Mike delves into what it really means when we experience the revelation of the Love of the Father and how humanly it is impossible to absorb it without our extravagant response back to him. Like Mary anointed Jesus with the very expensive Alabaster Jar of perfume in preparation for his burial, our extravagant form of sacrificial worship to him today is preparing for his soon return as the Redeemer King and Lord of Lords... Come worship him with us....

Pastor Mike presents a biblical teaching on prayer and fasting and encourages the body of Christ to engage in this actively for the next month or so. God loves the humble heart and opposes the proud. Fasting causes the heart to be humbled before the all mighty God and it accelerates our approach into His presence. It qualifies us to be blessed by God as we obediently bring our natural desires under submission to Jesus... and we pray for His will be done in our lives.

This is a special service that the Lord visited with us and gave us several words of admonishment and clear instruction that our church and in all reality the churches of America must wake and realize the Lord will not be mocked... We are all experience a "last call" of is presence with us... Press in, seek Him, and chase after while we still have time....This is a review of a 2 hour alter service... Listen and pray that God continues to speak to us and we will listen and move with him.... A copy of the written word is included as a PDF...

Pastor Mike respectfully gives his resignation to this church and encourages the body to be a functional body of Christ as the church begins transition process. Change is the most consistent thing in life, and a pastor change can be a productive thing in the life of a church if it is handled properly. God purpose never changes but seasons in life do, it is God's design...