Mount of Olives Church

Pentecost Sunday As the story goes, one day the sun and the wind were having an argument as to which one of them was the mightiest. The wind boasted of his great many storms. He spoke of how much damage he could do at cyclone, hurricane and even typhoon speeds! The sun, however, pointed out how he could scorch the earth and even damage the skin of humans. In the midst of their argument, they saw a boy walking home from school and they decided to have a contest to determine which of them was the greatest. The contest was to see who could remove the boy’s jacket. The wind went first and as he blew, the boy cinched his jacket around his body. The harder the wind blew, the colder the boy got and the more tightly he held on to that jacket. So with one final blow, the wind ballooned up the jacket like a parachute! And as it began to break free from the boy’s body, he quickly secured it, zipped it up, and locked it into place. Next was the sun’s turn. He came out from behind the cloud and hi...

Many times during his missionary journeys, Paul was forced to leave a town before he felt his work was fully finished. Such was the case in Thessalonica, which was the largest and most important city of Macedonia. After just a few short weeks, he was forced to leave the fledgling church he had just started there. But even as he pressed on with his work, his mind also returned to those he had left there. And, in the case of Thessalonica, his love and concern for these new followers of Christ led him to send his most trusted companion, Timothy, back to give them further guidance and see how they were doing. Paul’s heart was certainly gladdened when Timothy returned to him with an encouraging report. Paul later wrote the following to those there saying: 1 Thessalonians 1:6-7 NIV “You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Ach...

Prayer Have you ever been in a group of believers and thought to yourself, “I can never pray as well as them.” Well you’re not alone. Let me share a personal experience. When I was on staff at Mount of Olives Church, every week we would have a meeting. We always started the meeting in prayer and then closed in prayer. Pastor Steward would open, and then he would ask, “Who of you would like to close out in prayer?” I’ve never seen so many heads go down so fast, including my own – thinking to myself, “Oh my goodness; I can’t pray like the pastors.” Talk about stressing out – I would sit as far as I could from Pastor Steward in meetings. But as time went on, I realized prayer doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t have to be eloquent. All it has to be is a true conversation from your heart to the heart of our Father in heaven. I’ve come to realize that all God really wants is to hear from us. He wants us to talk about every aspect of our day, including our feelings, our desires, our worr...

Robert Robinson was what you would call an “unruly child.” At only eight years old his father died, and he was raised by his loving mother. In spite of Robert’s intellectual giftedness, he had a penchant for mischief. Robert’s mother sent him off for an apprenticeship when he was only 14, but once he got out of the home his life got worse. Instead of working and learning, Robert chose excessive drinking, gambling, and carousing with the wrong crowd. Caught up in his reckless life, Robert and his friends decided to go to an evangelist meeting one night just to heckle the preacher, George Whitfield. Sitting in that meeting, however, Robert felt as if the preacher’s words were meant for him alone. He couldn’t shake the feeling that God wanted him to surrender his life and serve him. When he was twenty, Robinson gave his life to God and entered the Christian ministry. At the age of 22, he wrote the song “Come Thou Fount,” for his church’s Pentecost celebration. It was written as his own sp...

There are many things that we can do to improve the relationships in our lives. In this new year, it might be good to ponder the various things we can do to enrich the interactions we have with others. We can listen more and talk less. We can be more considerate and ask how our actions might impact others. The great film producer, Samuel Goldwyn, offers something additional when he said, “When someone does something good, applaud! You’ll make two people happy.” So, start watching for things people are doing that you could “applaud”, and then step up and tell them. You will find it will help to develop stronger and better relationships. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. Pray with me: Heavenly Father, we live in such a negative and fault-finding world. It is almost natural for many people to point out what is wrong with everything, including us. As a result, most people are starved for some kind of admiration. Help u...

I Thessalonians 5:16-18 NRS Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. In this passage, the Apostle is describing three elements of a healthy church. 1) They are a church filled with joy. This means the healthy church is not filled with legalism, but rather joy in knowing the Good News of what Christ has done for us through His death and resurrection. A church of joy knows the good news of the Gospel and celebrates it. 2) It is a church of prayer. It is a church where the members, both collectively and privately, are always in prayer; a church where the faithful know prayer is their greatest and most powerful weapon. 3) A healthy church is one where the family of God is always giving thanks. This church is always looking for a reason to give thanks, even in the most difficult times.  Paul concludes verse eighteen by stating it is God’s will for us to be this kind of church. God’s will is t...