Highly Favored

“The mistake we so often make is thinking that God’s interest and care for us waxes and wanes according to our spiritual temperature.” - Eugene Peterson

I’ve made this mistake often, and I’m guessing many of you have too.  What we see and what we feel can never change God’s interests and care for us.  We all need to be reminded of this truth and encouraged to live in it.  The ebb and flow of our emotions and circumstances vary greatly from days of ease and comfort to days filled with struggle and discouragement.  God’s favor does not ride the waves of our emotions or circumstances.  God’s favor for you flows from His love expressed in His promise to never leave you or forsake.  Favor is the promise of God’s presence accomplishing His presence in and through your life.

Listen to Highly Favored wk1

Identity Theft

I got to team preach this series on Identity Theft where we looked at the the truth that our identity crumbles when we build it on anything that changes.  God taught Pastor Scott and I a ton as we worked through this series together.  Thanks for listening and for sharing these messages with anyone whose spiritual identity has been stolen.

Identity Theft: Our identity crumbles when we build it on anything that changes.

I Am A Child of God

I Am Named By God

I Am Forgiven By God

I Am Always With God

Being New

It was a personal blessing to team teach this series with Pastor Scott Palmiter and with our conference superintendent Brad Button.  In this series we explore the life application of what it looks life to live all of life being made new in Christ.  Can we actually be made new or this just spiritualized idealism? Thanks for listening.

Being New - Kindness part1
"May we love the person and trust the Holy Spirit" - Superintendent Brad Button

Being New - Kindness part2
When we are being made new, Godly kindness becomes part of who we are

Being New - Speak Truth part1
For believers the question is not, what is truth, the question is who is Truth?

Being New - Speak Truth part 2

Lord, we submit our tongues to you And we believe in faith that even now as we ask you to fill our mouths with words that are: True, necessary, and beneficial. You will do it Amen

Being New - Speak Encouragement part1

Believers who are being made New are being transformed to speak encouragement.

Being New - Speak Encouragement part2

To speak encouragement we must first receive encouragement from God through worship, His Word and prayer

Being New - Taking A Gossip Fast

Gossip is anytime we tell someone else's story with no intention of loving them.

Being New - Taking A Complaining Fast

Complaining is anytime we tell our own story with no intention of bringing praise to God

Thrive

Psalm 92:12-14 (HCSB)

12 The righteous thrive like a palm tree and grow like a cedar tree in Lebanon.  13 Planted in the house of the Lord, they thrive in the courts of our God.  14 They will still bear fruit in old age, healthy and green,

All of life, both physical and spiritual, demands continual nourishment, refreshment, rest and movement.  It harms us when we lack any of these things.  Psalm 92 reminds us that living the new life in Christ affords us the blessing of living in His righteousness.  The verse describes this life not as a life of exhaustion or emptiness but rather a life that is thriving, planted in the house of the Lord, rooted in Jesus.  And a thriving life of the righteous is for every and all ages as verse 14 declares, They will still bear fruit in old age, healthy and green.  On Wednesday night August 19 we will be offering all who want to come nourishment, refreshment, rest and movement.  Be encouraged, your righteousness comes from the Lord, there is no such thing as self righteousness, righteousness comes from the Lord.  And in your life with Christ that is thriving and ever new we can all bear lasting kingdom honoring fruit from the Holy Spirit in each of us.  Let’s all participate in the divine activity of God, let’s thrive and bear fruit that brings glory to Him.  By His strength and indwelling let’s thrive into this fall together.

July Is The New January

July is the new January is the idea that new starts with God are not limited to the calendar or the season.  God is timeless and eternal and is not limited by time in any way.  As we face new starts we must encourage each other to anchor our lives to the core issues of Christian belief.  If we go through a new start anchored to anything less than Jesus we will find our world rocked again and again as we continue to bump up against discouragement and confusion.  In this series I was blessed to team teach with Pastor Scott Palmiter.  We used the Apostle's Creed to describe and define the twelve core issues of Christian belief.  All Christians should believe more than these twelve issues, but no Christian should believe less.
A great resource we used for this series is the book Common Ground by Dr. Keith Drury.
Thank you for listening.

July Is The New January wk1

July Is The New January wk2

July Is The New January wk3

July Is The New January wk4

Hope & Expectations

I'm thankful for the opportunity I had to preach last Sunday during a time of transition in our church.  I hope that what God has been teaching me will help encourage others on journey.  I ended the sermon with a personal confession that I adapted from the wonderful book Prone to Wonder.  I am including the confession text below.


God almighty you graciously fill our lives with many wonderful things.  You bless us with friends, family, and wealth that most in the world can't imagine.  We confess today that we are prone to love your good gifts far more than we love you.  We covet and long for things that you haven't given us, or we are filled with fearful anxiety if we think that you might take away the things or the people that we have come to love so much.

Thank you Jesus for never loving anything or anyone more than the Father.  Thank you Jesus for offering perfect worship on our behalf, and by your obedience we are made spotlessly clean.  Thank you Jesus for walking up the hill of sacrifice knowing there would be no substitute.  Thank you for the paying the price for our every idolatrous thought, sinful act, and moment of selfishness and unbelief that we would engage in.

Holy Spirit help us to see the many idols that draw our love and attention away from God and guide our selfish stubborn hearts to repent.  May you help us lift our eyes from the loving gaze we have set upon our expectations and let us instead fix our eyes on Jesus who has lifted us up so that his redeeming blood could cleanse us from all our self- worship.  May we by the power of the Holy Spirit set our eyes and our thoughts on the great throne room in heaven where The risen Jesus dwells interceding for all who are united to him.

Click here to listen to the sermon audio.  Thanks for listening 

Exactly What I’m Thirsting For

This series we have been doing from the Gospel of John has been rich season of growth.  I am still working out Pastor Dave's message, "Sword Swinging and Cup Drinking”.  What a powerful contrast in evaluating our reactions and our choices, and what a clearheaded reminder to “put down your sword”.  Beyond how this teaching reveals how my reactions look more like Peter than like Jesus, I’ve been wondering how this question impacts how we serve.  I wonder if sword swinging is faithless work that comes easy for us, maybe even natural for us, and it seems to sit comfortably with our pride - "I'm looking out for me, I'm taking care of myself".  While cup drinking demands humility - "I'm looking to God to care for me, in faith I'm receiving whatever His best is for me".  putting down swords that inhibit my serving.  In Ephesians 6 Paul prompts us to take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and to pray in the Spirit on all occasions.  I am asking God to search me and disarm me, to remove my swords of this world, that wound and kill, and arm me instead with the sword of the Spirit that guides me and directs my steps.  Holding the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God strengthens my faith as I drink the cup God sets before me, trusting that His best for me is exactly what I’m thirsting for.  Join me in asking God to search us and disarm us of any such swords of this world, and instead place in our possession the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.

Pastor Eric

Sent To Forgive, Forgiven To Be Sent

Thankful for the opportunity to contribute to our series on the Gospel of John.  This message is from John 20:19-23.  Jesus breaks through doors and hearts locked by fear and doubt.  Thank you for listening.

Sent - click to play sermon

Our First Mini Movie - The Wedding

Very excited to release our first mini movie from Midland Free Methodist Church, inspired by the  four part preaching series by Pastor Dave Kessler.  Thanks for watching.


The Wedding from Eric Wing on Vimeo.

What Do You Think About God?

Let’s consider together some important questions.  What do you think about God? Is he near or far, kind or angry - think for a moment about what you really think about God.  Next let’s consider what we think God thinks of you?  Is he please or embarrassed, are you the object of complete delight or do you think he might get your name wrong if you met at a potluck.  Spending a moment to consider both of these questions can reveal how close you will grow toward God.  What you think about God can shape your entire relationship with Him.  I have found that spending time with this question in my own personal worship time with the Lord has proven to be a refocusing moment in my journey with God.  His Word discloses His deep personal thoughts to me and my prayers disclose my deep personal thoughts to God.  Knowing what God thinks of me also has a great impact on my obedience - I am not motivated to obedience to gain His favor, or manipulate God into doing what I want, I am motivated to obedience because of the favor and lavish mercy He has already shown me.

What do you think about God?  and What does God think about you?  Here is a scripture that helps us answer these questions well, this would be a great verse to commit to memory.  

Zephaniah 3:17 “The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing”

Pastor Eric