Pastor Tony Ashmore continues the series "Touching Wonder" in this Sunday service.
Touching Wonder Part 4
Pastor Tony Ashmore
Sunday, December 27, 2009
www.churchatmirrorlake.com
A Life-Giving Church for People Just Like You!
Whether you are full of questions or ready to jump right in, there is a place for you at The Church at Mirror Lake. Our church is a place where you can build relationships with others, experience God in worship, be empowered by practical, life-giving teaching from God's Word, and have fun doing it.
Together, we are living the Winner's Life as we learn to love, serve, reach, grow and connect. So whether you're a spiritual seeker starting to ask questions about God, or a committed Christian looking to sink your faith roots even deeper, you'll feel at home at The Church at Mirror Lake.
If you believe Jesus really meant it when He said, "I came so people can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of," (John 10:10 Message Translation) then join us this weekend at one of our Jesus Celebrations. Until then, browse our website (a link is on the right of this page) where you'll find lots of helpful info and feel free to download one of our service messages or subscribe to our weekly podcast where you will receive the fresh, life-giving Word of God.
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Tuesday, December 29, 2009
12/24/09 - Christmas Eve Celebration - Pastor Tony Ashmore
Christmas Eve Celebration and Communion
Pastor Tony Ashmore
Thursday, December 24, 2009
www.churchatmirrorlake.com
Pastor Tony Ashmore
Thursday, December 24, 2009
www.churchatmirrorlake.com
Monday, December 21, 2009
12/20/09 - Touching Wonder PT3 - Pastor Tony Ashmore
Pastor Tony Ashmore continues the series "Touching Wonder" in this Sunday service.
Touching Wonder Part 3
Pastor Tony Ashmore
Sunday, December 20, 2009
www.churchatmirrorlake.com
Touching Wonder Part 3
Pastor Tony Ashmore
Sunday, December 20, 2009
www.churchatmirrorlake.com
12/16/09 - Personal Growth - Joe Keith
Joe Keith discusses "Personal Growth" in this Wednesday evening service.
Personal Growth
Joe Keith
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
www.churchatmirrorlake.com
Personal Growth
Joe Keith
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
www.churchatmirrorlake.com
Monday, December 14, 2009
12/13/09 - Touching Wonder PT2 - Pastor Tony Ashmore
Pastor Tony Ashmore continues the series "Touching Wonder" in this Sunday service.
Touching Wonder Part 2
Pastor Tony Ashmore
Sunday, December 13, 2009
www.churchatmirrorlake.com
Sermon Notes:
The Wonder of Christmas
Luke 11:33 Message “If you live wide-eyed in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. Keep your eyes open, your lamp burning, so you don't get musty and murky. Keep your life as well-lighted as your best-lighted room."
Luke 1-2 Joseph, Mary, Gabriel
Joseph: Like any man, he had dreams, probably plans, of what his life would look like:
- Career
- Family:
- Probably a hope to make a solid future for his kids in his village. Probably did not include assuring the future of every boy and girl ever born.
Mary: A young teen-age girl full of dreams:
- Husband and home
- Kids:
Gabriel:
- Had seen it all—the rise and fall of Lucifer
- The creation of Adam and his intimacy with God
- The betrayal by Adam
- Years of disobedience by generations of Adams
The story of Christmas is the story of an awesome God interrupting our temporal, broken world with everlasting plans that include us. Each person involved in the story had plans—for the initial days and years that make up the beginning and for the future that would be forever changed. Some had probably thought about plans for eternity, but most, like us, probably had spent a lot more energy on plans for now. Like Joseph and Mary, each of us are invited by God to participate in wonder—and to find our true destiny beyond our wildest dreams.
Keys to wonder we can learn from Joseph, Mary and Gabriel:
- Faith—Church history is not made by well-financed, well-resourced individuals and institutions. History is made by men and women of faith who have met the living God. “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”
- Obedience precedes understanding—What we see and know is not all there is. The end as we know it is not the end at all. But it does call us to a choice—our way or God’s way. (“Whoever wrestles with God…puts his whole life at stake.” Jacques Ellul) Never forget that nothing is impossible.
- Context is everything. The virgin birth only makes sense in the context God’s eternal plan. Our lives will make sense. Count on it. Live as if He is coming back and Heaven is real.
Touching Wonder Part 2
Pastor Tony Ashmore
Sunday, December 13, 2009
www.churchatmirrorlake.com
Sermon Notes:
The Wonder of Christmas
Luke 11:33 Message “If you live wide-eyed in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. Keep your eyes open, your lamp burning, so you don't get musty and murky. Keep your life as well-lighted as your best-lighted room."
Luke 1-2 Joseph, Mary, Gabriel
Joseph: Like any man, he had dreams, probably plans, of what his life would look like:
- Career
- Family:
- The perfect wife
- Sons to inherit his completed dreams
- Grandkids to enjoy
- Probably a hope to make a solid future for his kids in his village. Probably did not include assuring the future of every boy and girl ever born.
Mary: A young teen-age girl full of dreams:
- Husband and home
- Kids:
- Watching them grow up
- Watching them pick wives
- Holding grandkids
Gabriel:
- Had seen it all—the rise and fall of Lucifer
- The creation of Adam and his intimacy with God
- The betrayal by Adam
- Years of disobedience by generations of Adams
The story of Christmas is the story of an awesome God interrupting our temporal, broken world with everlasting plans that include us. Each person involved in the story had plans—for the initial days and years that make up the beginning and for the future that would be forever changed. Some had probably thought about plans for eternity, but most, like us, probably had spent a lot more energy on plans for now. Like Joseph and Mary, each of us are invited by God to participate in wonder—and to find our true destiny beyond our wildest dreams.
Keys to wonder we can learn from Joseph, Mary and Gabriel:
- Faith—Church history is not made by well-financed, well-resourced individuals and institutions. History is made by men and women of faith who have met the living God. “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”
- Obedience precedes understanding—What we see and know is not all there is. The end as we know it is not the end at all. But it does call us to a choice—our way or God’s way. (“Whoever wrestles with God…puts his whole life at stake.” Jacques Ellul) Never forget that nothing is impossible.
- Context is everything. The virgin birth only makes sense in the context God’s eternal plan. Our lives will make sense. Count on it. Live as if He is coming back and Heaven is real.
Monday, December 7, 2009
12/06/09 - Touching Wonder PT1 - Pastor Tony Ashmore
Pastor Tony Ashmore begins a new series entitled "Touching Wonder" in this Sunday service.
Touching Wonder Part 1
Pastor Tony Ashmore
Sunday, December 6, 2009
www.churchatmirrorlake.com
Sermon Notes:
The Wonder of Christmas
Luke 11:33 Message “If you live wide-eyed in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. Keep your eyes open, your lamp burning, so you don't get musty and murky. Keep your life as well-lighted as your best-lighted room."
Luke 1--Zachariah, Elizabeth and John the Baptist
Zachariah:
- A member of the priestly order-trained in the ways and service of the Lord and the temple—successful, but something missing
- Did his best to live for God, but what he wanted most had been denied to him
- Where he was supposed to be when he was supposed to be there (on duty with his priestly order—once in his lifetime opportunity to enter the holy of holies)
- Loved his wife, but lived in a culture that counted the ability to have a male heir as a definition of being a man.
- Disappointment, maybe even disillusioned
- Ridicule and lessened authority
- “Too late now” for dreams
Elizabeth:
- Descendant of Aaron—Jewish “royal family”
- Unable to conceive (Luke 1:25 keep people from looking down on me: When a married woman could not have children, it was thought that the Lord was punishing her.)
- Kept her innocence, even after years of disappointment—(evidence: she readily received Zachariah’s advances)
The story of Christmas touches every realm of life, from the rich to the poor (wise men and shepherds), from the esteemed to the despised (Jerusalem-the seat of power and fame to Bethlehem-a little shepherd’s town), from the outcast to the superstar (a pregnant teenager to the ruler of a country). From the start of the story with Zachariah, Elizabeth and John the Baptist, to its culmination with the recognition of Jesus, the baby, as the Messiah in the temple, the story unveils God’s plan for touching His people. It is a story that does not end, and a story that will empower our lives for greatness if we will simply allow the Holy Spirit to restore the awe and wonder it inspires.
That is what we learn from Zachariah and Elizabeth. The culture of our world, the nature of a broken world, works to dull us, to close our eyes to greatness and wonder, and to be lulled into a dutiful religious experience rather than an awe-filled wonderful relationship with a God who won’t stop loving us.
Keys to wonder:
- Child-like-ness
- Expectation—“Can I have…”
- Trust—“Catch me daddy”
- Vulnerability—“Help me, I’m not big enough.”
- Belief—“You said…”
Touching Wonder Part 1
Pastor Tony Ashmore
Sunday, December 6, 2009
www.churchatmirrorlake.com
Sermon Notes:
The Wonder of Christmas
Luke 11:33 Message “If you live wide-eyed in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. Keep your eyes open, your lamp burning, so you don't get musty and murky. Keep your life as well-lighted as your best-lighted room."
Luke 1--Zachariah, Elizabeth and John the Baptist
Zachariah:
- A member of the priestly order-trained in the ways and service of the Lord and the temple—successful, but something missing
- Did his best to live for God, but what he wanted most had been denied to him
- Where he was supposed to be when he was supposed to be there (on duty with his priestly order—once in his lifetime opportunity to enter the holy of holies)
- Loved his wife, but lived in a culture that counted the ability to have a male heir as a definition of being a man.
- Disappointment, maybe even disillusioned
- Ridicule and lessened authority
- “Too late now” for dreams
Elizabeth:
- Descendant of Aaron—Jewish “royal family”
- Unable to conceive (Luke 1:25 keep people from looking down on me: When a married woman could not have children, it was thought that the Lord was punishing her.)
- Kept her innocence, even after years of disappointment—(evidence: she readily received Zachariah’s advances)
The story of Christmas touches every realm of life, from the rich to the poor (wise men and shepherds), from the esteemed to the despised (Jerusalem-the seat of power and fame to Bethlehem-a little shepherd’s town), from the outcast to the superstar (a pregnant teenager to the ruler of a country). From the start of the story with Zachariah, Elizabeth and John the Baptist, to its culmination with the recognition of Jesus, the baby, as the Messiah in the temple, the story unveils God’s plan for touching His people. It is a story that does not end, and a story that will empower our lives for greatness if we will simply allow the Holy Spirit to restore the awe and wonder it inspires.
That is what we learn from Zachariah and Elizabeth. The culture of our world, the nature of a broken world, works to dull us, to close our eyes to greatness and wonder, and to be lulled into a dutiful religious experience rather than an awe-filled wonderful relationship with a God who won’t stop loving us.
Keys to wonder:
- Child-like-ness
- Expectation—“Can I have…”
- Trust—“Catch me daddy”
- Vulnerability—“Help me, I’m not big enough.”
- Belief—“You said…”
Friday, December 4, 2009
12/02/09 - What's Next PT4 - Pastor Tony Ashmore
Pastor Tony Ashmore continues the series "What's Next" in this Wednesday evening service.
What's Next - Part 4
Pastor Tony Ashmore
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
www.churchatmirrorlake.com
What's Next - Part 4
Pastor Tony Ashmore
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
www.churchatmirrorlake.com
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