Garden Grove Church of the Nazarene
Our people - Our church
Be perfectly united. This is impossible if you focus on the messenger rather than the message. The main thought that can unify us is the message of the cross. All things crumble in the shadow of the cross.
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).
Listen to the April 7 sermon:
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Good Friday: it was a very long, long day. It began around six o’clock in the evening with the Passover dinner, then out to pray, Jesus gets arrested, spends all night in trials, the next day with Pilot. That night Jesus prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” Jesus set the example, he did not run away.
It takes faith to have the willingness to follow God. Do you live for Jesus and not for yourself, even when you have to suffer? We must choose to live for Christ whatever the cost.
Listen to the March 29 sermon:
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Palm Sunday March 24: Holy Week begins with a Palm Sunday message by Pastor Mike Powers at 10:00 AM.
Good Friday March 29: Join us for this meaningful time of worship as we commemorate Good Friday. Our Good Friday Service will begin at 7:00 PM.
Easter Sunday: Pancake Breakfast at 8:15. Fresh pancakes, strawberries, sausage and beverages. We will not have Sunday School on Easter Sunday.
Cantata, “Arise My Love” at 10:00 AM.
Hear our Performance Choir under the direction of Michelle Ruth as this music stirs your deepest thoughts and emotions concerning the Easter message…death has lost, and love has won. JESUS IS ALIVE!
When we pray and God gives us a vision, he wants us to do something. How important is it to be obedient when we pray? If we obey, God works in ways he wouldn’t otherwise. We are given a mission from Jesus: “So the Father sent me, so I am sending you.” (John 20:21). “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” (Mark 1:17)
We are not all evangelists but we are responsible to tell others around us about Jesus. If you don’t tell the people around you about Jesus, how will they hear? If they don’t hear, how can they have faith and believe?
Use your natural abilities to build the Kingdom of God. Personalities and natural abilities are different. Find something you really like to do and you can do it all day long and it’s fun. Do you know your passions, abilities, gifts? What is your passion? Find what fits your skills and abilities. Zero in on “who am I?” Say, “Lord, here I am, what do you want me to do?” The Holy Spirit says he will bless you with effectiveness. Do we know what the Lord wants us to do? What he wants this church to do? We are in this community to build the body of Christ.
Pray daily; “Lord, let me see an opportunity to build your kingdom, to use my skills to speak for you.” We can give people the words of life. Tell someone this week, “Jesus loves you and He died for you!”
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Over the past several weeks, we’ve been looking together at what the Bible has to say about heaven and about glimpses of what it will be like. In this sermon, Pastor Jim follows up on a that series with a message that he hopes will enable us all to seriously consider the responsibility that we have to live our lives here on earth in right relationship with God.
Why? Because our eternal life depends on it!
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One of the foundational issues concerning the Christian faith is the issue of choice. When we begin to really think about what it means to have a choice to make, a decision about whether to choose God or not, the reality sinks in that for there to be a choice, there has to be an alternative to heaven.
Remember Joshua’s words to the people:
...fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. …if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. (Joshua 24:14-15)
The stark reality of life is that if we’re not loving and honoring God, if we’re not giving our attention and allegiance to Him, we will end up serving and giving our allegiance to someone or something else. The choices we make today will determine the life we will live beyond this life.
It’s God’s ultimate plan for every single person to be in Heaven with Him someday. So what is the “other option”? What is hell?
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We are hopelessly locked into a space and time perspective regarding how the world works. We measure everything! Weight, distance, height, depth… We need to know how long something will take, how long ’til something happens, how long we have to wait!
We are locked into time and space and can hardly even comprehend how we could possibly exist without it. Time is a commodity that we never seem to have enough of.
Yet once in a while, we are reminded that time and space were provided for mankind by the eternally existent God, the One who has always existed and is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is the One who is not contained, not restrained by time and space.
As we continue with our series on heaven, allow me to briefly take you to a place in our reading of Heaven Is For Real where we’re made to think about the meaning of “time” in Heaven.
Do not forget this one thing, dear friends: To the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day. The Lord is not slow in doing what he promised – the way some people understand slowness. But God is being patient with you. He does not want anyone to be lost, but he wants all people to change their hearts and lives. (2nd Peter 3:8-9 NCV)
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Scars tell stories don’t they? I would guess that most everyone here has one or more scars they could point to that would tell us a story about you. And down through history, the center focus – the powerful symbol of the forgiveness and the healing of our hearts that God offers through His Son – has been the nail scarred hands and feet and the wound in his side.
Heaven Is For Real! is a simple, yet profound, story written by Todd Burpo, a pastor in the Wesleyan Church, about his son, Colton, who, at the age of three, experienced a near death trauma (that I will let you read about for yourself).
The story that began to emerge for Colton’s parents in the months following that experience is the beautiful and extraordinary story of this little boy’s trip to heaven and back.
Off and on through the next several weeks I will be using little pieces of Colton’s story to focus our attention on the Christ who we love and serve, and on heaven, the place that Christ has gone to prepare for those who love Him.
19That Sunday evening, the disciples were together behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jews. Jesus stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you!” 20When he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were glad to see the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”
22After he had said this, he breathed on the disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23Whenever you forgive sins, they are forgiven. Whenever you don’t forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
24Thomas, one of the twelve apostles, who was called Didymus, wasn’t with them when Jesus came. 25The other disciples told him, “We’ve seen the Lord.” Thomas told them, “I refuse to believe this unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my fingers into them, and put my hand into his side.”
26A week later Jesus’ disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27Then Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Take your hand, and put it into my side. Stop doubting, and believe.”
28Thomas responded to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” 29Jesus said to Thomas, “You believe because you’ve seen me. Blessed are those who haven’t seen me but believe.” (John 20:19-29 GW)
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