Mountain View Church Mountain View Church

This weekend, we started a new series through the book of Nehemiah. For these six weeks, we invite you to join us in reading the Scripture as we break down the chapters, trace the journey of Nehemiah and focus on specific themes from this story. As we continue in our second week together, we’ll be diving into the second chapter of Nehemiah and looking at the themes of call, provision and inspection. We encourage you to be open to what the Lord may be speaking to you through this reading.

If you’re NEW, we’d love to STAY CONNECTED! Simply fill out this form to keep in touch! https://mountainviewchurch.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/470/responses/new

Go to http://mvc.life to give an offering, signup to help, or ask for prayer.

If you need help or want prayer, email us at care@mvc.life Have a PRAYER REQUEST or praise report? Click HERE: https://mountainviewchurch.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/7/responses/new

Welcome to Mountain View Church!

This weekend, we started a new series through the book of Nehemiah. For these six weeks, we invite you to join us in reading the Scripture as we break down the chapters, trace the journey of Nehemiah and focus on specific themes from this story. As we continue in our second week together, we’ll be diving into the second chapter of Nehemiah and looking at the themes of call, provision and inspection. We encourage you to be open to what the Lord may be speaking to you through this reading, and come expectant as we gather again on Sunday!

If you’re NEW, we’d love to STAY CONNECTED! Simply fill out this form to keep in touch! https://mountainviewchurch.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/470/responses/new Go to http://mvc.life to give an offering, signup to help, or ask for prayer. If you need help or want prayer, email us at care@mvc.life Have a PRAYER REQUEST or praise report? Click HERE: https://mountainviewchurch.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/7/responses/new

Words are interesting creatures. They can send a person soaring to the most wonderful heights, or bring them crashing to the lowest depths. The Book of James holds a discussion about our tongues and the need to be careful with them, but it’s actually talking about words, and the way we use them to either harm or heal.

Words are interesting for other reasons too—as in the study of them. Words have history, specifically “history of meaning.” For instance, would you be excited if a house guest from England described your house as homely? Well, you should be, because in British English, “homely” means what Americans mean by “homey.” It’s a very warm compliment. Good words can also be ruined. Did you know that the word hussy (one which no one would appreciate being labeled) used to be a happily received compliment? Now considered an insult, it was once a treasured expression for an “excellent housewife.”

A word can also be soiled not just by the natural evolution of language, but by the power associated with it in painful experiences. For instance, the word loyalty is generally seen as a good, even biblical term. But for those who’ve been silenced, held back or held down by the demand for it—especially from a person who proved to be unworthy of it—loyalty can be a word that flares up deep pain from an old wound.

Can that noble word, loyalty be rehabilitated? Is there a working definition that serves not to subjugate, but to inspire and launch instead? Can the whip that is too often in its hand be replaced with a bloom? We’ll dig into that very question

There was a film released in 2013 about a group of terrorists who, motivated by resentment and a sense of being devalued, execute a successful incursion of the White House, sending the President into hiding and doing serious damage along the way.

There’s a parallel to be seen here between the film’s destruction of “the nation’s house” and the Christian faith many parts of the nation are currently experiencing. It appears that a form of philosophical terrorism has launched an unfortunately “successful incursion” into Christianity—one that threatens to send the faithful into hiding and cause serious damage to the household Jesus is building.

The primary weaponry of this attack: (1) A hard-lined assertion that arrival at biblical truth is held only by one’s doctrinal tribe, (2) the devaluing of nuance, and (3) an arrogant assumption that any consideration of another Believer’s perspectives should be seen as weakness, indecisiveness, and even doctrinal compromise.

Put simply, the American Church’s growing disdain for civil theological discourse among a diverse family of Christians may be undermining the Global vision that Jesus had. The Evangelical Church is becoming increasingly rigid and unteachable.

No, unlike the White House in the movie, Jesus will never fall. But he deserves to have his heart accurately represented by his children. This Sunday, we will attempt to address the question: What is teachability? And is the practice of it actually essential to the exciting yet demanding task of following Jesus into the future he dreams of for MVC?

When I was a kid, I had chores. It was my responsibility to take out the garbage (and wash out the trash can before I brought it back into the kitchen); mow the lawn (and, of course, rinse off the mower before I parked it in the garage); and pull the weeds in the yard (nothing to clean there except my muddy hands). I didn’t like doing chores, but I thought I had a better deal than my sister—who had to cook and wash all the dishes each night—so I didn’t complain. However, there was one particular duty I used to forget pretty regularly. I often found that it would be after dark before I remembered to feed our five hunting dogs. Since the kennel was tucked way back in the corner of our large yard, and since I was profoundly afraid of the dark, those poor dogs went without their daily feeding more often than I would like to admit. Unfortunately, my dad never forgot to ask, “Art, did you feed the dogs today?” And I’m sorry to say that fear trumped ethic too many evenings. Back in those days, when my fear was the loudest voice in my decision making, the dogs went hungry. I still have fears as a 68-year-old man. Though now I often experience those fears not as opportunities for failure but as the catalysts of something I’ve always admired in a person. Interested in hearing more? Read I Samuel 17

If you’re NEW, we’d love to STAY CONNECTED! Simply fill out this form to keep in touch! https://mountainviewchurch.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/470/responses/new Go to http://mvc.life to give an offering, signup to help, or ask for prayer. If you need help or want prayer, email us at care@mvc.life Have a PRAYER REQUEST or praise report? Click HERE: https://mountainviewchurch.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/7/responses/new

• Paint-grade doors when you’re remodeling and you’re going to paint everything white anyway

• The way the dishes are placed in the dishwasher—especially when it’s your birthday and someone else is doing the dishes for you;

 • The care with which the patio is swept when you know another sand storm is expected the next day;

• Rolling through a stop sign and calling it a “stop” when it’s 3 in the morning and you’re alone in the middle of the Nevada desert;

• Playing bogey golf when you only even play golf once a year anyway;

• Costco hot dogs for dinner after a chaotic day shuttling the kids from gymnastics to soccer practice and back again;

• Sending a text or email instead of a hand-written note;

• Surfing four out of seven days a week (well … some surfers would reluctantly agree to that restriction);

• The quality of the meat you purchase when it’s your mother-in-law that’s coming for dinner.



Everyone’s list is different, but everyone does have a list (mental or otherwise) like the one above: Things that are just, well… good enough!



And most of the things on those lists are relatively benign. In fact, it doesn’tmake sense to pay the extra for a beautifully finished birch door when you’re just going to paint it white anyway, right? In that case, paint-grade is good enough—so paint-grade doors stay on the list. So does the way the kids (or husband or houseguest) load the dishes into the dishwasher on your birthday, as does an imperfect sweeping of the patio in the face of another oncoming storm.



But we who follow Jesus—and even those who don’t—might agree that each of us also has a smaller list of values for which “good enough” will never do. Things like: loving a spouse most of the time; washing most of the dirt from our bodies when we bathe; keeping most of our promises; and, though we are assured that Jesus accepts us “just as we are,” being content to stay that way as we move through life.



Why should that list also exist? Because God never intended for us to settle for “good enough” when it comes to our faith. Be ‘perfect’ just as your Father in heaven is ‘perfect’ is the ultimate never stop growing statement! And while some are content with simply tampering around the edges of personal development and spiritual growth, we are certainly made for more.