Pastor Barry Mooney
What does MCC mean by "don't journey alone..."
At Mountainview Community Church, we refer to our faith walk as a journey and we believe that everyone is on this journey. I am not sure why you chose to click on this link on our website, but if you are reading this I can only assume that you are interested in Jesus. May I offer you a personal experience to consider?
My journey with Jesus began during the summer of 1980. I had long ago concluded that God existed, but I was not entirely sure that He wanted any kind of relationship with me. Earlier in the summer, I took a job with a local supermarket. The owner was a believer and had an unusual practice of closing his business on Wednesday afternoon at a peak shopping time so that he and his family could attend a Bible study at a local church. After the study, he would return and re-open his business. He would never pressure any of his employees, but each week he would invite us to attend the study along with his family.
A large obstacle for me was what I considered hypocrites. People that wore their faith on their sleeve, but it never really seemed to impact their lives. This was not true for the man I worked for. It seemed to me that the more I watched his daily life (and I watched very closely) the more I saw that his faith was real. He gave money from his personal resources to those in need. He delivered groceries at no charge to shut-ins. Jesus actually made a difference in his life! Because of his faith journey, I was truly interested in Jesus.
One night I started attending the Bible study. In time, I sought out the pastor for counsel. I had heard the gospel on many occasions throughout my life but, for reasons I am not really sure of, I did not understood that God's Grace is given freely and without obligation to anyone who wants it. I remember thinking that I should not make the decision to follow Jesus until I could follow through with commitment.
After hearing my concerns, the pastor opened a copy of the New Testament and located a letter from Paul, Ephesians 2:8-9. He read it and explained to me that the passage meant that Jesus had already accomplished everything that God required in order for me to have a relationship with Him. I truly was separated from God because of my selfishness and sinfulness. He also explained that my relationship with Him was not based on my human effort, but rather on God's unmerited favor and love. I could not clean up my life on my own. I could chose to be "good" for a while, but eventually I would fail. God understood that, so He did for me (and you) what we cannot do for ourselves. This was truly "good news" to me. For the first time in my life the gospel made perfect sense and I was so overwhelmed by what I heard, that I gave Jesus my life. It was God's love for me that won me.
At this writing, Jesus has been my Lord and Savior for 24 years. I have learned that following Him is a day to day faith journey. Looking back, I can revisit many places where I have witnessed His faithfulness. I have depended on Him for daily strength to deal with common physical problems such as Crohn's disease & heart disease. I have walked with Him through the sorrow of the loss of my father to cancer and I depend on Him now as my mother struggles with lymphatic cancer. He provided strength to me and my wife as our four-month-old daughter was rushed to the hospital, diagnosed with bacterial meningitis, and we were told that she may not live. She was completely healed and even her doctor said that he could not explain why she was alive. She is now a teenager and doing great. People assume that she has side effects from the meningitis, but she has none.
I have known Him to be a generous God. He blessed our family with a son in 1999 and I have watched Him provide for my family in miraculous ways. He has answered countless prayers. Sorrow, happiness, difficulty and anticipation are just a few of the many words that any Christian could use in describing their walk with the Lord, they certainly help to describe my experience with Him. He is indeed Good, Gracious, Merciful and I will ever be grateful to Him for redeeming me and giving me the opportunity to serve Him.
I hope that my story has helped you and I pray that you will chose to accept to accept Jesus' offer of eternal life and forgiveness. Simply admit that you are powerless to change yourself and turn your life over to Him. Ask Jesus to take control of your life and then allow Him to do it. One of the other promises that helped me in this regard is from the New Testament letter to the church at Rome, "Say the welcoming word to God-"Jesus is my Master"-embracing, body and soul, God's work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That's it. You're not "doing" anything; you're simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That's salvation. With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: "God has set everything right between him and me!" - The Message, Romans 10:9.
Others have found that the model prayer listed below to be helpful:
Lord Jesus, I am powerless to change my sinful behavior. I have lived my life up to this point without any real regard for you. I am turning the control of my life over to you and I am accepting your offer to save me and grant me eternal life. I want a life journey and relationship with you.
If you sincerely prayed the above prayer, Jesus has saved you and you now are beginning an incredible life journey. You will need some direction on this journey. Email us at info@mountainview-church.org and we can help you get started.