Mount Helena Community Church

Jason Harris teaches out of Proverbs 31 on the value of the Bride of Christ.

There are infinite reasons to worship God. In this week's message, Jeff Wald teaches on four of those reasons and invites us to take seriously the power of the words we sing.

Evil will increase until Jesus returns. Yet we are to rejoice and never worry—because God is good and just, and in the end he will make all things right.

Jesus explains the problem of evil using the Parable of the Weeds in Matthew 13:24-30.  Jesus explains that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seeds, but whose crop was corrupted by an enemy planting weeds among the wheat. The weeds will always be with us here on earth, and will never be eradicated until the “fullness of the Gentiles has come in” (Romans 11:25)—that’s us! At that time, the “weeds” will be burned and all of the good seeds, Jews and Gentiles together, will be harvested. Evil is growing—but so is God’s kingdom! When Christ left earth, it held about 250 million inhabitants and only a tiny percentage were Christians yet, while now it holds nearly 8 billion, and about 2.3 billion practice some form of Christianity! God is building a kingdom containing billions of believers, and one day he will burn the weeds and harvest the grain. But until then, we live in a weedy garden!

In our Christian walk, we may occasionally find ourselves taking steps away from Jesus just as Peter did when he denied Christ (Luke 22:54-62). Despite this, Christ welcomes each step we take back towards Him, not condemning us for our lack of faithfulness.

In the U.S., studying the Bible is declining more and more. Study it! God’s living word changes us! It is sharp and// powerful; it divides soul from spirit, and it judges our hearts (Hebrews 4:12).

The story of Jesus and the withering fig tree emphasizes the value of bearing spiritual fruit. With that in mind, how do we believers bear more fruit? Through connectedness with God in faith.

Whether we realize it or not, we are all called to be fishers of men. Scripture instructs us to make disciples of all nations - but how do we go about doing that? By growing the net!

Kids want “sweet,” but adults learn to appreciate “bittersweet” – a life of hopes and dreams, mixed with the death of those hopes and dreams. Satan steals our hope (Genesis 3:1-15), but God gives it back (Luke 8:49-56). Like a dying seed in the soil, hope fades slowly, as it did for Jairus and his daughter while they both faced her death. And like that dying seed, she did die. But after hope was dead, Jesus took her hand and gave her new life, saying, “Get up!” And he says the same to you.

As a Christian, does your life look different from those who have no faith? Do you exhibit mercy to those around you? What is the example you're giving to the world around you?