The challenge I want to set forth is… to live a life that is so undeniable…to live a life that is unexplainable apart from God’s active work in your life. Open up your God box to recieve all that he has for you -Michael Hahn

Hi Mark,

The worship was wonderful, thought the video was quite moving and the sermon was excellent. But saw something I would like to share with you..

You noted that the blind man was not allowed in the Temple when he was blind. But that, after Jesus healed him of his blindness, he was only in the Temple for a short time before he was expelled.

Jesus said, “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind”, John 9:39.

And in the synagogue Jesus declared His mission, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord”, Luke 4:18-19.

The man healed of his blindness was kicked out of the Temple of GOD, where the Shechinah Glory of GOD no longer dwelt. But the the Temple came to him. And the man fell to his knees and worshiped Jesus, the Temple, in which dwelt the Shechinah Glory of GOD.

So while the bind man was delivered from his blindness and now could see and beheld his Saviour, those in authority were blind. Jesus saying, “If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth”, John 9:41.

I saw this same phenomenon some time ago, when I was in Kim’s life group, as we studied the passage in John chapter 5. You gave a sermon on this that was very meaningful to me about picking up your mat. But as we were studying this passage on the Wednesday we met, I saw that the man had lingered with his illness for 38 years and was unable to get to the pool to receive his healing when the angel troubled the water. But that, in the same way as He had come to the man who was born blind, Jesus, “the LORD, the fountain of living waters”(Jer.17:13), had come to him.

And Jesus commanded him saying, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath”, John 5:8-9.

And once again, the man did not know His name or who He was. And Jesus came to him, finding him in the Temple to tell him to stop sinning lest a worse thing come on him. And so the man went and told the authorities it was Jesus.

In both cases, the “Temple” had come to the afflicted and healed them. In both cases, the crime, the stumbling block, was that Jesus had healed them on the Sabbath Day. The religious establishment simply could not accept who He was, understand what His mission was and see, because their self-righteousness had made them blind, preventing them from accepting the obvious by faith.

Jesus healed the physical symptoms of blindness, but He had also come to heal us of our spiritual blindness. He had power in both realms: the physical and the spiritual. Those who will not accept Him, will remain not only in their spiritual darkness but in their sin. Which is a whole study in itself.

Blessings, Nancy Fortney

It is my prayer that each of you will take the time to simply ask God what He wants you to take away from your time in His presence on Sunday mornings.

–Pastor Mark

These words continue to come to me today as I contemplate the works of God in our community. God has placed within the Mountain View family two beautiful families, Doug and Anne Farmer and Thomas and Samantha Burnett, both of which lead camps that minister to children in our region. Many of you know that the Farmers lead Camp Shenandoah Springs in Madison, VA and the Burnett’s lead Camp Red Arrow, a CBM (Children’s Bible Ministries) camp located in Stevensburg, Virginia.

I spoke to the church family on Sunday about the opportunity that’s been presented to us to create a 24/7 camp for children this summer for one week at Shenandoah Springs. I’ve heard some exciting new developments from the Farmer’s today and I’ll be working with Doug tomorrow to find out just want positions he needs us to fill. Please keep praying! If God is leading you to join the Farmers and other volunteers from around the region to develop an incredible, memorable, and life changing week of camp for students around the region please let me know.

Also, Thomas and Samantha are diligently working with volunteers from many churches to get Camp Red Arrow ready for the summer. Although CBM camps have been running for year, this will be the maiden voyage for Camp Red Arrow and lots still needs to be done.  There are many NEEDS at the camp and incredible opportunities for families and life groups to be on mission!  Please don’t pass up this opportunity to quickly.  Take the time soon to talk about this with your family over dinner or during a life group gathering.

On a side note, I know the Burnett’s have a great need of ELECTRICIANS and PLUMBERS as they put the finishing touches on many of their buildings.

I’m attaching Camp Red Arrow’s  To Do List.  If you would like to read more CLICK HERE.

Mountain View–not everyone within our church family can go and serve at either of these camps, but if we do have the time then we should work together to remove any obstacle that would hinder kids from hearing the Gospel and receiving Jesus as Savior and Lord.

Blessings Mountain View!

Pastor Mark

This summer kids from all over the region will descend on this campus and will come face to face with the gospel of Jesus Christ. What a beautiful thought! As I drove away from there, proud to have served with my kids for the day, I wondered to myself…”How many Mountain Viewers even know this place exists?” (I’d never been to Camp Red Arrow until today. It used to be the Washington Redskins spring training facility), and “Lord, what role will you have us play in getting this camp ready for opening day?”  I wait to discover how God answers that second question. If you want to know more about Camp Red Arrow take a look at their website at www.campredarrow.com .

–Pastor Mark :-)

Making A Pearl
By: Melissa Handlowich

How do you talk positive in a negative world? I am learning how important words are. What we say is what we get. I’ve been talking to God about my word dilemma for months.

One day I heard someone say, “Don’t get FACT mixed up with TRUTH”. The Fact is I’m sick. The Truth is by his stripes I am healed. I’ve been asking the Lord for wisdom on how to say things. There’s a Scripture that says, she opens her mouth with wisdom and on her tongue is the law of kindness. I’ve got the first part down real good, the second part I’m still working on.

The Bible tells us the Trials & Tribulations will come. So how do you say your sick or having a major crises without complaining, when the Bible says to rejoice in all things. My feelings and emotions may not always agree with this. So the Lord reminded me of the Scripture that says to guard your emotions. So I continued to pray and seek God on this matter. If it wasn’t doable God wouldn’t have told us to do it. But how! Then I came upon the Scripture, with man it is impossible but with God all things are possible.

One day I heard a pastor talking about pearls and how they were made and how rare and expensive they are. The thing that makes the pearl begins with an irritation, a piece of sand that gets inside and just keeps irritating & irritating & irritating. What the process is on the inside I have no clue, but when it’s complete a beautiful pearl is the result.

On a pearl farm the irritant is sewn into the pearl because the natural thing to do is spit it out, so to speak.

God sees us, and wants us to be a beautiful pearl. He knows us so well, he knows the exact irritant that you need to get to where you need to be. So whatever or who ever has got you irritated, Rejoice! And it is possible when our eyes are on the maker of the pearl, as our mind is steadfast on Him, He changes us, like the pearl, from the inside out.

So when I’m going through an irritation and some one asks me how I’m doing. I try to smile & say, please pray for me, He’s making a pearl.

I hope this becomes an effective tool for communication for Mountain View as we move into the future.  I want to thank Tim Smith, Jr. for help us get this site up.  He’s not only great at creating websites but he’s a great teacher.  If he can teach me how to add all of this stuff to a site and manipulate the pages and navigational bars, there is hope for all of you.

Mountain View family, many blessing to you.  If you have information that needs to replace old information send it to office@mountainviewcc.net  and we’ll get it changed on the site.

Blessings,

Pastor Mark