Grace is a gift we continually need, through our entire lives of faith. It goes beyond just the moment of realization how far we might be from God and his grace filled forgiveness of our rebellion. We need his grace daily and find his gift never runs out.

Mill Creek Church

A Continual Gift

As Mill Creek begins to gather together again in worship and life, we do so in a challenging time. People are hurting, confused, frustrated and angry. They need hope. But most importantly, they need grace. It's grace that changes everything.

Show Grace

After eleven weeks apart Mill Creek finally is able to gather together again. In the midst of some very trying and difficult times in our world, we have a great opportunity to bring hope and love to hurting people. We probably don't have to go far or do much, just remember the greatest rule.

Back Together

While we might not be able to parse the reasons for our pain and suffering, we know that Christ is with us and working to redeem our broken creation, broken hearts, and broken world. Maybe just knowing the end of the story can give us the hope we need to make it through the hard times.

Know The End

There can be great inspiration in life watching the underdog persevering and showing steadfast determination to achieve their goals. When life is difficult and too hard to handle on our own, how do we keep our focus on the right things? How do we stay in the fight?

It's Not Over

Jesus went through pain and suffering and we see him wrestling with this in the garden of Gethsemane. In our suffering, we can take heart that Christ loves us and that suffering is part of what it looks like to commune with him. Like Jesus did, take people with you into your pain. Turn your pain and hardship into honest prayers.

Share Your Pain

We’ve all heard the saying “God will only give you what you can handle.” This isn’t always true, however. Sometimes we experience moments that we can’t handle. Life isn't fair and bad things happen to good people. The problem of pain comes from humankind’s fall into sin. But, from the beginning, God’s heart has always been to redeem and rescue.

Why Is There Suffering?

Have you ever found yourself stranded because you pushed the limits too far on your tank of gas? Running empty is never a good thing. Hope is a powerful gift that God gives to his followers but how do we keep from running out? With all of the uncertainty of the world and fragility of our lives, hope starts with where we are looking.

Running On Empty

Feeling frustrated and angry? It's okay. Finding hope in dark times might require us to do something we would consider counter intuitive. Face the pain. Talk about it. Share our anger with God, tell him what's happening. It's called a lament and the Bible is full of them! And in that acknowledgement? We can find a path to hope!

Finding Hope In Dark Times

Death is a part of our world. It's the enemy of all of us. No matter our racial, gender, religious or physical make up, death is our enemy. It is no surprise that the followers of Jesus acted as if he was dead, he was! They saw it, experienced it and ran in fear after it. But his death wasn't the end. His death ushered in victory. That same victory can now be ours!

Death Doesn't Mean Death

In a time of hurt, confusion and loss, it can be easy to wonder where God is - does he care? Does he know? You would not be the first to ask those questions. Some close friends of Jesus wondered why he didn't seem to care when their brother got sick and died. Tragedy is often our opportunity to lean into Jesus and to ask ourselves - what do I really believe?

Come To Life

The Bible did not create Christianity. Christianity is the result of an event (the resurrection) that created a movement (the church) that produced sacred and reliable texts that were collected and bound into a book (the Bible). But how do we approach not being at peace with everything we read in the Bible? Paul—the apostle, Pharisee, author, preacher, and church planter—offers us clarity and confidence to move forward.

For The World

The Old Testament chronicles God’s redemptive, sequential activity in history. It’s a fabulous, gritty, epic history of the Hebrew people in which, over and over, Israel is reminded that they are a divine means to an end. So instead of seeing the Old Testament as a spiritual guidebook or a storyline that needs to be tidied up, maybe we should see it as something even better—the history of God preparing the world for a Savior. Click here for this week's Spotify play list: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1HgWb4EMXZ7cESl8SJvmZn

The Old Testament

“In the beginning” can be a loaded phrase—one that forces us into debate and doubt. But maybe we’re missing the point of Genesis 1:1—a point Moses made to a world where the violence and injustice of the gods justified and legitimized the violence and injustice of human rulers. Moses introduced a radically different, unparalleled, and untested worldview. Missed Sunday? Here's a Spotify Playlist of our morning worship: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/07LC4MNILrcr8gS3RgQmqM

In The Beginning

Most of us know some Bible stories, but very few of us know the story of the Bible. And you may be surprised to discover it’s a story that doesn’t actually begin in the beginning. It begins with the accounts of a few men who sat down to record the death and resurrection of Jesus. It begins with the words of his followers who were compelled to document the events that had changed everything for them—because they knew it could change everything for us.

First Things First

Welcome to the weekly audio podcast for Mill Creek Church in Rochester IN where our mission is to build real life disciples of Jesus. Our desire is that this podcast will encourage you in your journey of faith and connection with God.

hubhopper

Mill Creek Church

hubhopper