This is an exciting time of the year. Student’s are graduating, changing grades, going off the college, and summer is starting! But this time of year can also be scary because it is a time of change. And when we are faced with change, sometimes all we want to do is stay where we are comfortable. But what does God call us to do? How does God call us to handle times like these? Scripture: Matthew 17: 1-9

Message: The message of Corinthians is church is family. We are to love each other, endure each other, and celebrate each other. Family will do all these and more. Today, pray for your church family. Everything that a good family does church is intended to do. We are to love our church and do so well. Extra Mile: Take a look at Acts 15, it is a compromise. James, the half-brother of Jesus, steps forward and offers a compromise between competing factions of the church. In the early church,...

This week we are looking at a classic story from scripture. The Good Samaritan is a story that tells us who our neighbor is. We are tempted to label this as a story that teaches us that everyone is our neighbor. However, that’s not really what Jesus says. So who then does Jesus say our neighbor is? Extra Mile: Jesus puts the legal expert through a mental exercise in order to show him who his neighbor was. Turns out, it is the last person he would ever expect to help him and probably the...

Message: The Christian life is about you, and it’s not about you. All of us need Jesus - we need the forgiveness and life he offers us. Once we are saved by Jesus, though, a change happens. Our lives are to be lived for others. In our Scripture today, Jesus starts a new age. It is an age where believers focus less on ourselves and more on showing and telling the life of Jesus to others. The Extra Mile: Each of the disciples is called to follow Jesus early in the Gospels. They answer and...

God helps those who can’t help themselves. That includes each and every one of us, but this can sometimes be hard to admit. We like to be in control and feel like we can change even the worst of our situations, but when we come to grips with the fact that we can’t help ourselves into heaven we actually begin to have a deeper relationship with God. This week, be vulnerable with God. Maybe this is centered around something specific that you are going through or maybe it is just needing help in...

The Bible is our sacred book. Within it are countless truths we hold dear. God creates. God loves us. Jesus is the Son of God. The Bible also records failings and ideas that did not work. King David shattered the 10 Commandments. Leviticus offers sacrifices and laws that we do not follow any longer. The Bible has to be interpreted - and that is our theme this Sunday at Munger. The Extra Mile: While immensely important, the Bible is not the only source of faith. The tradition of the church,...

Message: They are simple phrases. They sound Christian―like something you might find in the Bible. We’ve all heard these words - passed down over generations. Maybe we’ve said them. They capture some element of truth, yet they miss the point in important ways. We'll spend some time together to search for the whole truth by comparing common Christian clichés with the wisdom found in Scripture. Scripture: We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we...

The Sabbath was over, and it was almost daybreak on Sunday when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 Suddenly a strong earthquake struck, and the Lord’s angel came down from heaven. He rolled away the stone and sat on it. The angel looked as bright as lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards shook from fear and fell down, as though they were dead. The angel said to the women, “Don’t be afraid! I know you are looking for Jesus, who was nailed to a cross....

The Sabbath was over, and it was almost daybreak on Sunday when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 Suddenly a strong earthquake struck, and the Lord’s angel came down from heaven. He rolled away the stone and sat on it. The angel looked as bright as lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards shook from fear and fell down, as though they were dead. The angel said to the women, “Don’t be afraid! I know you are looking for Jesus, who was nailed to a cross....

It is Palm Sunday where we remember Jesus entering Jerusalem as the start of Holy Week. The crowds expected Jesus to start a revolution, but it did not happen the way many thought it would. Think back. Has Jesus ever answered a prayer in a different way than you asked? It is a hard question. God’s plan, however, is often different than our own and Holy Week is a story along those lines. The Extra Mile: Do a little online digging into the Feast or Festival of Sheaves or Shelters. Jesus would...

As the Book of Job closes, God appears to Job and speaks to job from a whirlwind. The words God speaks are one of power. Where was Job when the universe was created? By what power has Job created anything at all? As creations of the Lord, we have to know our limits. We can know in go much, but ultimately we are called to have faith in that the Lord will lead us to all that is good. The Extra Mile: An interesting part of Job is Job 42:7-9 where God rebukes Job’s friends. The friends have not...

In our Bible passage today, Jesus is the same and also entirely different. Luke 24:36-49 is a resurrection appearance of Jesus. He died, and now is raised. He is the same and also completely different. When reading this passage notice Jesus accepts his change. He is different now, and is setting the example for who we can be. To really change, you and I ultimately are called to accept the person Jesus is making us into and Jesus also encourages us to accept the change for the better. The...

Job and his friends are asking the question that many of ask at some point in our lives; why do bad things happen to good people? Job’s friends are convinced he is suffering because he has done something to deserve it. But in our scripture for this week, Job provides another perspective that can completely change the way we approach our struggles. Extra Mile: This scripture comes to us in the middle of Lent. A time when we intentionally reflect on our wrong doings. To this point, Job and his...

Lament acknowledges the reality of the situation. It opens us up to pain. It revises our assumptions of the world and it helps us to reconstruct our relationship to who/what we have lost. Lament has its crucial place in worship and produces the fruit of hope in a future in which lament will have no place. God may be light, but His best work is always done in the dark. Scripture: Job 7:1-11 Pastor: Ryan Waller

How do we respond when we suffer tragedy we do not deserve? Welcome to the Book of Job. The problem of suffering is a fundamental human problem. We all have asked, ‘Why did God allow this?’ Or ‘Why has God not stopped this evil?”. The Book of Job is going to make a run at answering this question so jump in as we read this book through Lent. You will find the Bible does not back down from any hard questions - rather it takes them on full force. The Extra Mile: The Book of Job begins with an...

In our Bible passage today, Jesus is the same and also entirely different. Luke 24:36-49 is a resurrection appearance of Jesus. He died, and now is raised. He is the same and also completely different. When reading this passage notice Jesus accepts his change. He is different now, and is setting the example for who we can be. To really change, you and I ultimately are called to accept the person Jesus is making us into and Jesus also encourages us to accept the change for the better. The...

There are many themes in the Bible - on of them is ‘We are part of God’s Plan’. God could work without us or accomplish ends around us, but chooses to work with us. God hears our prayers and uses them as a part of a larger story as only God can. For Hannah, this brings a measure of comfort - God takes our petitions and uses them for a larger purpose. The Extra Mile: There is a similarity in the stories of Zechariah (Luke 1) and the story of Hannah is Samuel 1. Take a look at both of these...

One of the overlooked attributes of our ancestors is that they waited. Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, knew what it was to wait for the birth of a son. Israel knew what it was to wait for the coming of the Messiah. Although at times God moves in a rapid way (the miracles of Jesus) often God moves in time. This week, practice waiting - otherwise known as patience - and in patience we will find a Biblical virtue our grandparents knew well. The Extra Mile: Flashback to last week :)...

Sometimes we do not find what we hope to find. We believe that something will make us happy only to discover it does not. We achieve a goal, and then find out our satisfaction is less than we thought. Israel did this too in that it became a nation, built and rebuilt Jerusalem - but it was not enough. They had to return to obedience to find joy. Nehemiah is about rediscovering joy through obedience, and that is what Munger focuses on this week. The Extra Mile: The book of Nehemiah is about...

We all want to improve this time of year. And the decisions we make now can help us make those improvements. One decision that may help us more than any other is the decision to be consistent. To be who we want to be, we need consistency” Extra Mile: Being consistent is always hard at first. This is why we rarely stick with our New Year’s resolutions. We try to be better about exercising or reading but then we mess up and we feel like it’s just another year of failing to reach our goals. But...

God loves us. The truth is God always has. Because of human decisions, though, there are times that come and we find ourselves a little lost, and we need to return to God’s love. The good news is God is willing to help. When we take a step towards the Lord, the Lord takes a step towards us . As 2024 begins, we should know that one step towards Jesus is not just one, but two, as God rushes to meet us. The Extra Mile: The Bible often has built-in assumptions that we as modern readers might...

Jesus heals. In the miracle stories healing is a prevalent theme with many people who are in need healed by Jesus. In these stories we get a clue about Jesus. He has a heart for those caught in this dilemma of being less than whole and stuck with no apparent way to get better. Jesus was their only hope, and when we make a similar ask the promise Jesus makes is that He will be there. The Extra Mile: When Jesus heals, it is always a person who the culture of Jesus’s day would consider...

Healing was a central part of the ministry of Jesus. Typically, it was believed in Jesus’ day that if someone was sick it was a sign of disfavor from God. Jesus reversed this. Needs that people have became a way for the glory and power of God to be revealed. Our weakness is not a sign that God has left us, rather it is an opportunity for God to work and meet our need. Extra Mile: It is notable that the healing in Mark 1:21-28 that the demons recognize exactly who Jesus is. While the...

Jesus loved a party and his miracle at the wedding Cana reveals some of who Jesus is. Jesus is a celebration and wants the joy of the Lord to be part of our lives. Faith always should lead us to joy and it is toward joy that Jesus wants to lead us. The Extra Mile: Water and wine are highly symbolic in the Bible. Go online and search ‘water’ in the Bible and then do the same with ‘wine’. In Biblical cultures both are metaphors for what God is able to do in our lives. For example, God’s...