Wow!  There’s something INCREDIBLE going on @ Mars Hill!  It’s in the atmosphere & all I can say, “It’s a move of God!”  We’re busy attending to last minute details in order to offer THREE excellent worship experiences for the broken, battered, & bruised!  Please join us and experience “Resurrection Power” this Easter!

Good Friday Worship @ Mars Hill!

Friday, April 2, 2010 @ 7pm

Mars Hill Baptist Church

5916 W. Lake Street

Chicago, IL 60644

www.marshillchgo.org

Good Friday is the Friday immediately preceding Easter Sunday.  It is celebrated traditionally as the day on which Jesus was crucified.  Why is Good Friday referred to as “good”?  What the Jewish authorities and Romans did to Jesus was definitely not good (see Matthew chapters 26-27).  However, the results of Christ’s death are very good!

Tonight’s message: “One Tough Week”

Come Alive This Easter @ Mars Hill!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

SERVICE TIMES:

8:ooAM

10:30AM

Mars Hill Baptist Church

5916 W. Lake Street

Chicago, IL 60644

www.marshillchgo.org

I’m starting a brand new series this Easter called, “Cheaters.”  Why the title “Cheaters?”  Everyday, we face a variety of responsibilities and opportunities: work..family..hobbies…sports leagues…community events…the list is endless. Each of these things competes for out most valuable resource, OUR TIME. To give each of these the time it deserves or demands would require more time than we have. So, we cheat. We give up something in hopes of gaining something else of greater value.  So, we cheat!  Come hear a life changing message that’ll cause you to reevaluate everything you do!  As a matter of fact, grab three friends and bring them with you and discuss how you’ll “cheat.”  Trust me, this series will CHANGE YOUR LIFE!

Sunday’s message: “What’s My Number?”

What are your plans this weekend?

WHAT!?  No TV? Are you CRAZY?

No, we’re doing a media fast.  Like any kind of fast, this kind of cleansing is tough but the benefits are worth it.  David Lewis, who coined the phrase information fatigue syndrome, writes: “Information is supposed to speed the flow of commerce, but it often just clogs the pipes.”

The daily onslaught of news, entertainment, e-mail, advertisements, and other media often prevents us from being able to process any of it at all.  And the time we spend absorbing this information cuts heavily into the time we could be spending on activities that nourish us rather than drain us . . .

Research has shown that both news and television programming can have an intense effect on mood, even causing sadness and anxiety.  Without the “noise” of the media running through your head, you are freer to focus your attention inward.  Ideas will present themselves to you more readily, and you will find yourself available to revel in the small joys of your own life.  You also will be freer to live in the present moment, rather than focusing on what’s going on in the news or your favorite soap opera.

(more…)

Devastated.  Shocked.  Confused.  Numb.

These are a few words that come to mind regarding the earthquake that rocked Haiti.  Our leaders will meet tonight to discuss our church’s response to this great tragedy.  I will share our plan of action tomorrow.

Labeling any natural disaster as God’s judgment is nonsense.  True “judgment begins with God’s family” (1Peter4:17), not others.

Peter warned that God judges all people according to their deeds.  He also disciplines and judges his own children in order to refine them, as Peter has explained in 1 Peter 1:6-7.  This judgment purifies and strengthens believers, readying them for God’s Kingdom.  Natural disasters are the result of living in a broken world!  Please pray for nation of Haiti.

“Lord, let your glory reign in the midst of this devastation.”