Written by Pastor Steve Eicher

For the past week I really have been doing some soul searching and seeking our Heavenly Father. As most of you know that one of my identities for the past 35 years has been Senior Pastor of HMC. So now that I am now longer in that position do I lose my identity? No of course not my identity is in Christ, who gave Himself for me.

I have had many people ask me what religion I am, of course they are asking what denomination I am. I usually tell them that I am a Christian (follower of Jesus) with a Mennonite flavor.

You see our identity is in Jesus Christ, not by what we do. 

Taken from-- June Hunt, Biblical Counseling Keys,

—    God chose me.

—    God adopted me.

—    God redeemed me.

“He chose us in him before the creation of the world.… In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.… In him [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding” (Ephesians 1:4–8).

• The Presence of Christ is within you …

“Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27)

•   The Power of Christ works through you …

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness.” (2 Peter 1:3)

•   The Character of Christ is reproduced in you …

“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.” (Romans 8:29)

•   The Life of Christ is reflected through you …

“For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.” (2 Corinthians 4:11)

This week's devotional by Michal Troyer        

For this week’s devotional I chose Proverbs 15: 3 “The eyes of the Lord are everywhere keeping watch on the wicked and the good”. When things get too quiet at my house I go to investigate because my boys are probably getting into something they should not. This one time I found my oldest sitting on the floor playing with sprinkles that he had dumped on the floor! He was playing and did not notice my presence. He was enjoying just spreading those sprinkles everywhere and yet he knew that he was maybe not supposed to be doing that. We do not always think that people are watching or paying attention to us, but God is always watching and caring for us. We still need to do what’s right in God’s eyes. So be encouraged that God is on our side, his eye is on us and he blesses the good choices we make.   

  Written by Elton Gingerich

 2 Chorinthians 1: 8-9 says 8. For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our troubles which came to us in Asia. That we were pressed out of measure above strength, insomuch that we despaired even life. 9. But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in the God which raised us up.

                 I would say that none of us have ever been in the situations that Paul was in in his lifetime. He was shipwrecked, beaten until near death, or had to be lowered over a wall in a basket at night to escape those who wanted to do him harm. Although we do have things in our lives that we allow to cause us stress. Some of them may be finances, jobs, people, relationships, planning a wedding, or planning 2 weddings. Stress has a tendency to cause us to do things or become someone that we don’t want to be, and make us vulnerable to satan's temptations. We snap at people, become impatient, or become depressed. Many times stress causes us to take our eyes off God, and focus on ourselves and our problems.

                 1 Peter 5:6-7 says. 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. 7 Casting all your cares upon Him; for He careth for you.

                 Remember when you become stressed with the situations you find yourself in, trust God and give those things to Him and allow Him to calm the storm that is in you.