Chapel of Hope, Fenton, Michigan

There is a grassroots movement that is swelling, gaining intensity and effectiveness in the Christian Church today.

What is it?

People doing church simply in homes, the workplace, coffee shops, or restaurants.  People doing church around the table while having a meal together.  People who wouldn't call themselves Christians but are gathering together in search of him. People who would call themselves Christians meeting together as a support and accountability group.  People who attend a traditional church who are meeting in "cell groups" in homes.  And people for whom these unusual meeting places is their only expression of church.

Especially in American society, people are looking for community, people who will love and care for them even more strongly than their families.  We do not get that sort of support anywhere, and find ourselves with a huge vacuum in our souls, hungry for family, hungry for a friend who will love us unconditionally.

After the day of Pentecost, the new disciples met from house to house, and occasionally in the outer court of the Temple or the local synagogue.  It was in this context early believers changed the world.  They took the gospel to friends and shared it with them over a meal, and Jesus Christ became real as they broke bread together.

The Bible never, never says the church can save you from your sins.  It does say the blood of Christ can cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Who IS this Jesus, whose name is used as a swear word more than it is used in reverence?  Is the God he proclaimed one who is full of anger--or full of mercy?

 We'd like to help you explore those issues--in the comfort of YOUR living room--if you are willing.  We'll make it easy for you to seek Jesus.  Whenever people meet to seek Jesus, HE is the one in charge (or should be).  We are promised that, if we seek Him, we will find him.

Will you begin to seek him today?  Don't know where to start?  Let us come to you and help you seek Jesus.  Call or email us today.

BECOMING SPIRITUALLY AND EMOTIONALLY STRONG

Most people have been told things that are not true--things that have caused deep hurt and pain.  These inner injuries sometimes lock us into looking at other people and life in general through those lies.

Have you ever answered someone louder and with more "heat" than they deserved?  Do you have trouble forgiving someone?  Do you feel wounded by someone or by something that happened in the past?  Or do you know someone with one of these issues?

Would you like for disrespectful or hurtful words to bounce off you like bullets do off Superman?

Click here to read the article "Becoming Free and Strong Inside".

THE GOOD PERSON TEST

Do you consider yourself a good person?  The world would be a much nicer place to live if everyone lived by the Ten Commandments, wouldn't it?

You ought to be able to pass the "Good Person Test" then.  Click here to see how you fare!

Come on, I DARE ya!

MESSAGES OF HOPE IN TROUBLESOME TIMES

Are you frightened about the future?  Do the economic prospects for our area trouble you?  Are you concerned about the attitudes, behavior, and friends of your children?

Check out the BLOG page for messages from Pastor Dan that deal with these issues that challenge and concern you.

On our BLOG PAGE you will find important postings like The Good Person Test.  Below are listed shortcuts to these important postings.  At your leisure, click on the links listed at the side of the BLOG PAGE and read these important posts.

• The Good Person Test
• The Atheist Test
• What Is the "Baptism of the Holy Spirit"?
• An Introduction to the Book of Acts
• A Call to Fast and Pray (Joel 1:1-15)

It is a historical fact that, while a few Gentiles may have hated the Jews, most Gentile Christians worshipped with their Jewish brothers and sisters until Constantine became the Roman emperor and made it criminal for anyone who called themselves a Christian to celebrate what the Bible calls "the feasts of the Lord".

If Christians were not celebrating the Feasts of our Lord, then why was it made illegal?  If it was a bad thing, why did the Apostle Paul celebrate them?

God Himself declared the Feasts of the Lord were to be celebrated by His people FOREVER.  Christians only stopped celebrating them when the Emperor Constantine, who worshipped the sun god Mithras, suddenly thought Jesus and Mithras were the same person.  Constantine was never converted (He worshiped the sun to the day he died), and he hated Jews. So he made it criminal for a Christian to celebrate Sabbath or one of the Feasts of the Lord. Constantine also made it illegal to worship in homes, as had been the practice for the first 300 years of the Christian faith.

This was the will of a man, NOT the will of God!

Jesus said Sabbath was made for us, not us for the Sabbath.  The day we rest does not matter.  But our bodies need rest.  God wants us to rest and have fun one day each week! 

The Feasts of the Lord are pictures of how Jesus fulfilled God's promises of Messiah, forgiveness of sins, and the restoration of Israel to faith.  They are teaching tools, not legalistic rituals.  God gave the Feasts of the Lord for us to CELEBRATE and to learn God's heart.

We think that is a GOOD thing...don't you think serving and learning about God should be FUN? 

We do not make celebration of the feasts a legalistic requirement, because these were given for our good, not to bind and enslave us.  But we encourage everyone to observe the feasts, as well as observe shabat, or Sabbath, a 24 hour period of not doing regular tasks.  God would not have told us to observe such things if they were not for our good.

Part of Messianic worship involves the use of the SHOFAR, the ram's horn.  The people of Israel used it as a call to worship, as well as sounding the call to battle.  As we are sure you know, we are in a spiritual battle daily with God's enemy Satan and his demons, who wish to sidetrack us from serving God wholeheartedly.  At the sound of the shofar, the walls of Jericho fell.  With the choir singing and shofars sounding, the five armies that surrounded Jerusalem turned on one another and fought each other unto death during the reign of King Jehoshaphat.  At the sound of the shofar, Ai fell. And on and on we could go with how God used the shofar in both battle and worship.

The early believers celebrated with dance and with banners as well.  One of God's Old Testament names is God My Banner.  The use of banners increases the participation of the worshipper in celebrating Jesus and ushering in a special corporate presence of the Holy Spirit.

We are priviledged to have a couple who are called to teach people and congregations about the ministries of flags and shofars, and have a calling to encourage other churches to return to their first century roots.  Tom and Jeanne Revoir are available to teach and train in the use of these instruments of worship and spiritual warfare.  You may contact them through our Contact Us page.

We would be delighted to have you join us in learning about our Lord and worshiping His incredible majesty or to enquire further into Messianic worship and the first century Messianic Church.  Again, go to our Contact Us page with your questions or you may click on the link below.