Mountain Park Church Podcast

A Consecrated Year: The prophetic word that God has given us for the life of the church in 2024 is consecrated. Pastor Brenda takes the first Sunday of 2024 to review what that word consecrated means and invite us to ask the Spirit what he might want to invite us to personally consecrate to him this year.

For Renewal PT 1 Our mission is to "live the way of Jesus for the renewal of Niagara" but what does the word "renewal" really mean? What do we mean when we say that word? The word renewal comes with a lot of excitement for some, a lot of fear for others and big shrug of the shoulders for a few. Many people have a preconceived idea of what they think renewal means, so we want to take a few weeks to clarify what we mean by that word and what we are calling you into this year.

Dawn —The Darkness Cannot Prevail How do you feel about the state of the world right now? It can be depressing to look around us because it seems as though things are just getting worse, getting darker. The story of the coming of Jesus is a story of the victory of God over the best efforts of the kingdom of darkness to overthrow the rule of God on the earth. The gospel of Matthew begins with a genealogy that may seem boring and irrelevant on the surface, but is pregnant with meaning about the purposes and power of God for us even today. Through this genealogy, Matthew is reminding us of the victory of God through every generation and that God is still overcoming the darkness.

Consecrated PT 4-Take Off Your Sandals As Joshua is on the doorstep of conquest and victory he is confronted by the Commander of the armies of the Lord. In this interaction, Joshua might be expecting to get some battle strategies for the next mission, but instead, when he asks the angel what he is to do, he is told to take off his sandals because he was standing on holy ground. In taking off his sandals, Joshua was being invited to surrender his power, dignity and ownership, and God is still in the business of asking if we would be willing to surrender these things in our own life.

21 Days of Prayer Invitation

Consecrated Pt 3: Consecrated For Crossing. Every great move of God on the earth is ignited by men and women willing to walk through the fire of consecration. It was consecration that prepared Joshua and the Israelites to cross the Jordan into God’s calling.

Consecrated PT 2: Consecrated For Calling Every great outpouring of God’s presence on the earth has been ignited by men and women who first walked through the fire of consecration. Consecration is essential to living out God’s call on our lives.

Consecrated-PT 1-Consecrated For An Uncommon Life There is a word found repeatedly in scripture that God is deeply passionate about. It is the word we have heard the Holy Spirit calling our whole church to in 2024. It is consecration. But what does that word mean and why is it important to God?

Three things marked Jesus’ life: the presence of God, formation into the image of God and a life of responsive mission. Our vision is to see the invasion of God’s kingdom on the earth as it is in heaven through us. To do that, we must live the way of Jesus for the renewal of Niagara by becoming people of presence, formation and mission. In order to be people of presence, formation and mission we need to order our lives around scripture, spiritual practices and dependence on the Holy Spirit’s gifts and power. These were the training tools of Jesus and they are the things that we need today so that we can become people of presence, formation and mission.

Our vision is to see the people of God live the prayer of Jesus “may your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We long to see our cities filled with men and women who’s lives have become living cathedrals of God’s kingdom presence and power. We long to see the church realize again that we are the place where heaven touches earth, our lives are meant to be the place through which heaven invades the earth. The problem is often that we are building our lives with the wrong blueprints, not the blueprints of the kingdom to build cathedrals of God’s presence, but the blueprints of the world, the flesh and the devil to build castles and fortresses.

We long to close the gap between what we read in scripture and what we experience in our every day lives. If we are called to be these living cathedrals of gods, kingdom presence, and power on the Earth, as it is in heaven, there must be a way for us to begin living the reality of heaven. The invasion of gods kingdom on earth as it is in heaven through us begins with living the way of Jesus, for the renewal of Niagara. But what does it mean to live the way of Jesus?

Vision 2030—PT 1: On Earth As It Is In Heaven Through YouWhat is the will or heart of God on the earth? It is found in the great prayer of all prayers, “your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The will of God is invade the earth with his tangible presence and kingdom. That prayer is not only good theology, we are called to live it the way Jesus himself lived it. In this first part of our Vision 2030 series we are taking a 30,000 foot view of God’s vision for our lives and our church, the invasion of his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven; through you. We are calling ourselves out of small thinking and a spirit of limitation. We are calling ourselves to repent for living dependent on our own strength and capacity. We are calling ourselves to become a living cathedral of the Father’s tangible kingdom on the earth as it is in heaven. UNCODE.initRow(document.getElementById("row-unique-0"));

Foundations Pt 13: The gift of evangelism and shepherd/pastor. What really is the gift of evangelism and what really is the gift of shepherd/pastor? Maybe we’ve been thinking about the shepherd from a one-dimensional reality that doesn’t give the full picture of what it means to not only care for the sheep, but go to war for them in spiritual places.

Foundations Pt 12: What does it mean to operate in a spiritual gift? Why does Paul call them manifestations and what do the manifestations of the Spirit through encouragement and teaching look like? What about the 5-fold list in Ephesians 4, are those gifts or offices, or both?

Foundations Pt 11: The Manifestations of God’s Love The spiritual “gifts” that Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 12, 14 and Romans 12 are not things that a distant and far away God send down to his people. They are the very evidence of His presence, character and heart. That is why Paul calls them manifestations, because the manifest the tangible presence of God. Not only does God manifest his power, he also manifests his heart to love and serve and support.

Foundations Pt 10: The Manifestation of Faith, Words of Knowledge, Wisdom and Why God Uses His Expressions Of Power Today We are wrapping up the very loose category of power manifestations with a recap of what Paul means by manifestations, what he might be referring to with the 9 that he lists in 1 Corinthians 12 and why God still uses these today.

Foundations PT 9: The Gifts Of Healings Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is still operating in the same ways, expressing the same compassion and mercy and expressing the nature and character of God to heal.

Foundations Pt 8: Hearing The Voice Of God and The Prophetic (Dr. Rob Reimer) The most basic underlying need we have is to able to hear and discern the voice of God. Without God’s voice, there is no prophetic ministry. So how are the ways that we can hear God’s voice? How do we interpret his voice? What is the New Testament guideline for how to deliver and use the prophetic in the church today?

Foundations Pt 7: Being Filled With The Holy Spirit There are many words the Biblical writers used to describe the interaction of the Holy Spirit with those who follow Jesus. The question is what were the Biblical authors trying to describe when using the specific language they did? In this message we are taking a look at Luke’s use of the word “filled” and “full” as well as some of the references to the word “baptism” in reference to the Holy Spirit. How can we best understand the nature and desire of the Holy Spirit in relation to our everyday lives today?

Foundations: Pt 6 The Holy Spirit, Tongues and Interpretation. Things can get messy when we start entering into the realm of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in public, but the mess and sometimes improper use should never lead us to relegate the gifts to the sidelines. As dysfunctional as the Corinthian church was, Paul wasn’t telling them to stop, he was giving boundaries that were healthy. Part of that is understanding what Paul was teaching by way of correction. What is the gift of tongues that Paul is describing in 1 Corinthians 12-14? Is it the same gift we see released on the believers on the day of Pentecost? How do we use this in our own private devotional life, and more importantly, how do we use this gift in the corporate life of the church? And after all of that, what about interpretation?