Charles Spurgeon once commented that every Christian should read with the Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other.   While there is great truth to this statement, Christians must guard against using the newspaper to understand the Scripture.   If the newspaper is our lens, then we will be tempted to despair, but with the Bible as our lens we will learn to say, “..but God” when the world seems out of control.  Join Pastor Wheeler as continues our study of the Minor Prophet, Micah.

Get the 02-03-2012 Bulletin and listen to The Turning of the Tide, Micah 7:1-8. 

The 23rd Psalm stands out in the Psalter as a prayer and song of pure trust — no lament, no complaint, no struggles with doubt or fear.  Though most of us have memorized, or at least heard, Psalm 23, it continues to yield a thousand sacred sweets to the believer who sings it in faith whether in the green pasture or the shadowy valley.   Listen as Pastor Wheeler takes us to this Psalm of refreshment, which restores our soul both in season and out.

Get the 1-27-2013 Bulletin and listen to In and Out of Season, Psalm 23. 

Losing your wallet used to be uncomplicated.   Recovery was simply a matter of cancelling your credit cards and getting a new driver’s license.   But in these heady days of the internet and identity theft, we may quickly find that we have a cyber doppleganger in Hong Kong who is living it up at the expense of our reputation.   As grievous as this is, have Christians ever considered that they steal God’s identity when they live lives in direct conflict with their profession of faith?   Pastor Wheeler considers this thought as he continues to examine our ingratitude toward God’s grace when we fail to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.

Get the 1-20-2013 Bulletin and listen to Identity Theft, Micah 6:6-8. 

Reformed worship has always followed the trajectory of grace and gratitude.   God reveals His grace in the gospel and His people respond with grateful worship.   Our worship always exhibits this ongoing conversation between a gracious God and a grateful people.   But what conversation does our life exhibit?   Do we desire to live holy lives as the fruit of grace?  Does our lifestyle, our speech, our focus, or our thought life express ingratitude in response to God’s grace?   Listen as Pastor Wheeler begins to examine this well known passage from the minor prophet Micah to see how professing Christians often show ingratitude to God.

Get the 01-13-2013 Bulletin and listen to  “Grace and Ingratitude,” Micah 6:1-8. 

The New Year is always a time of great expectation.   As we stand at the head of a new year, the calendar is empty and clean.   The year before us is full of promise, so unlike the year that is past with all its cares and crises.   Yet we know this is only a trick of perspective.   The new year holds just as many uncertainties and the old year.   The Bible, however, commands us not to worry.   How can we every keep that command?   Listen as Pastor Wheeler examines the final verses of the prophecy of Habakkuk to see how God calls us from worry to worship.

Get the 01-06-2013 Bulletin and listen to “From Worry to Worship,” Habakkuk 3:17-19. 

What will your New Year’s Resolution be?  The turning of the year is a good time to reflect on our commitments and our priorities.   The Bible makes it clear that God created time and the seasons so that we might reflect on our commitments to Him and His priorities for us.   From this powerful and moving passage in the obscure prophet Habakkuk, Pastor Wheeler challenges us to make New Year’s Confessions rather than New Year’s Resolutions.  What is the difference?  Listen and find out.

Get the 12-30-2012 Bulletin and listen to “New Year’s Confession,” Habakkuk 3:1-19. 

Every mother wants the world to dote on their new baby, especially their firstborn.   Because of the inexplicable circumstances of Jesus’ birth, Mary was denied the dotage of friends and family.  But God sent shepherds and sages and Simeon to adore Jesus in his infancy.   No doubt, Mary was thankful for Simeon’s joy at taking the Lord Jesus in his aged arms, yet Simeon’s words contained a dire and foreboding prophecy for this young mother — her precious baby was set for the rising and falling of many in Israel and as a sign that would be opposed and a sword would pierce her own soul too.    Simeon had been waiting for the consolation of Israel and, no doubt, associated the prophecy of Zechariah 13:7 with the babe in Mary’s arms.   Join Pastor Wheeler as he unfolds this terrible and wonderful prophecy of our Savior from the prophet Zechariah which offers hope to broken and weary sinners.

Get the 12-23-2012 Bulletin and listen to “Born to Die”, Zechariah 13:7. 

It is easy with all that has happened in the last two weeks to become cynical; cynical about humanity and even cynical about God.   The author of Hebrews wrote “Now in putting everything in subjection to Christ, the Father left nothing outside His control.  At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to Him.”   Sometimes this disconnect between the reality of Christ’s reign and the appearance of it makes us cynical about God’s promises.   The people of Malachi’s day were also cynical.  “Where is the God of justice?” they cried.   But God patiently deals with critics and cynics.   Join Pastor Wheeler as he examines Malachi’s prophecy of the coming of Christ as the only answer for the cynicism of Malachi’s day and of ours.

Get the 12-16-2012 Bulletin and listen to “Bah, Humbug,” Malachi 2:17-3:5. 

It seems that every year there is one particular toy or gadget that is the hottest, the most desired gift.   Stores are sold out, there are fights and confrontations between customers, wrestling to lay claim to the coveted prize — a battery operated fur-ball that taunts anyone who squeezes it.   Why do we attempt to move heaven and earth to acquire what will not last, yet spend so little effort laying hold of what will last forever?

The minor prophet Haggai preached to a discouraged people.  The prophet called them to quit chasing after temporary and fleeting desires and to cultivate and build on an eternal desire — the desired of all nations, the coming Lord Jesus Christ.   What is the object of your desire this season?  Is it truly the “desired of all nations?”  Join Pastor Wheeler as he examines this beautiful and timely word from the Lord call us to make Christ our most desired gift.

Get the 12-09-2012 Bulletin and listen to “The Most Desired Gift,” Haggai 2:1-9. 

During the Christmas Season, as we read the gospel narratives of the nativity, we often begin to wonder about things God has not revealed.  Was there an innkeeper and was he grumpy or compassionate?  Was the start of Bethlehem a real star?  Or was it a comet, Kepler’s conjunction or St. Elmo’s fire?   Were there three wise-men?  Were they kings?

It is not without reason that the Scripture warns us against vain prying and calls us to concentrate on what God has revealed.  Such questions tend to become a distraction and reduce the nativity passages in the New Testament to the level of myth.   As the prophet Micah indicates where Jesus would be born, he points us beyond the question of the place to the nature and purpose of the one who would be born there.   Listen as Pastor Wheeler examines the dangers of asking the “wrong question” when we come to the passages surrounding the incarnation of Christ.

Get the 12-02-12, Bulletin and listen to “The Wrong Question,” Micah 5:1-6.