Grace Community Church

We are in a series of messages titled, Encountering God. In this series we have been learning how important it is To find out what God is doing in the world, and then adjust our lives to that. When we do, we will experience God at work in our personal lives and find His will and His purpose for our lives. However, adjusting our life to what God is doing will require a step of faith on our part. Taking that step of faith is often challenging and creates what I call in the ...title of my next message, The Crisis of Faith. The word crisis comes from a Greek word that means decision. It is used in regards to a crucial or decisive point or situation; a turning point. Our crisis of faith is a turning point in our lives where you and I must make a decision. We must decide what we believe about God and act on that belief. It will be a turning point in your life. How we respond at this turning pointthis time of decision, will determine whether or not you will experience God in your life. ______________________________________ Tony Mirabella, Pastor Grace Community Church A Culturally Relevant Church Anchored to the Unchanging Truths of God’s Word and His Eternal Purposes. [email protected] www.gracecommunityfayette.org Salvation is by God's grace through faith alone in Christ alone, nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else! Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

We are in a series of messages titled, Encountering God. Last week I shared with you the secret of our success as believers does not depend on being some spiritual super hero or genius. Anyone who is not afraid to adjust their life to God’s will and obey God and serve Him can attain success as defined by God’s Word in their lives. This Sunday, we will encounter God by learning how to Experience God’s Love. I am absolutely convinced that God has created mankind for a love... relationship with Himself. Do you know what it means to experience God’s love in your life? We are told in scripture that God is love. It is a divine attribute of God that is at the very foundation of our relationship with Him. When you have faced the tough circumstances of lifethe loss of a jobbusinessfinancesmarriagesevere illness, or the death of a loved oneHave you ever questioned whether God loves you? Let me tell you, it’s very normal to raise that question. In moments of weakness, in almost 49 years of full time ministry, there have been times I have wondered if God still loved me and if should I even continue in the ministry. During that time of uncertainty did God still love me? YES! Had His love for me changed? NO! Why? Because God is LOVE! ______________________________________ Tony Mirabella, Pastor Grace Community Church A Culturally Relevant Church Anchored to the Unchanging Truths of God’s Word and His Eternal Purposes. [email protected] www.gracecommunityfayette.org Salvation is by God's grace through faith alone in Christ alone, nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else! Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Dear Church Family and Friends, We are in a series of messages titled, Encountering God. Wouldn’t it great if each one of us could have an encounter with God during our lifetime? The Bible is filled with men and women who did and their lives were forever changed. The title of my message this Sunday is The Secret To Success. What does it mean to succeed? It all depends on your standard for measuring success. In our competitive, materialistic culture, most success or fail...ure is determined in dollars and cents and how much power you have. But we need to ask ourselves, where does true success lie? Success or failure with God is not dependent upon how much stuff we have, but upon our heart attitude toward God. Medical science has made it possible to transplant a heart so that people with a bad heart can live longer and better. As Christians, we are in need of a heart transplant so that we can see the world as God sees itWe need a heart transplant so that we can measure our lives and success more accurately. Jesus told us in Matthew 6 that where our treasure is, that is where we can find our heart.The implication is that success or failure with God is not dependent upon how much we have, but upon our heart attitude toward God. ______________________________________ Tony Mirabella, Pastor Grace Community Church A Culturally Relevant Church Anchored to the Unchanging Truths of God’s Word and His Eternal Purposes. [email protected] www.gracecommunityfayette.org Salvation is by God's grace through faith alone in Christ alone, nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else! Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

We are starting a new series of messages this Sunday titled, Encountering God. Wouldn’t it great if each one of us could have an encounter with God during our lifetime? The Bible is filled with men and women who did and their lives were forever changed: Noah was minding his own business when God spoke to him and told him to build an Ark. Abraham was living a non-descript life, at his father’s house when God told him to leave and go to a land that He would show him. Moses en...countered God in the backside of a dessert and God told him to go to Pharaoh and demand the release of the Hebrew slaves. Peter, James and John, had an encounter with Jesus and He told them to put down their fishing nets and become fishers of men. Saul was persecuting the church when he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus and became God’s evangelist to the Gentile world and wrote most of the New Testament. This happened time and again. And as I said their lives were forever changed. Can that happen today? Can you and I have an encounter with God that will forever change our lives and how we live our lives? It can, just maybe not in the same way as the examples I mentioned. During this series we will look at different ways we can experience God in our lives and the impact that encounter can have. ______________________________________ Tony Mirabella, Pastor Grace Community Church A Culturally Relevant Church Anchored to the Unchanging Truths of God’s Word and His Eternal Purposes. [email protected] www.gracecommunityfayette.org Salvation is by God's grace through faith alone in Christ alone, nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else! Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

We’ve been in a series for the last couple of weeks titled Life HurtsGod Heals. This has been a series designed to help us all overcome our hurts and the pain inflicted on us by others. This Sunday is the last message in this short series. Based on the feedback I have received, this series has really resonated with a number of people in our church. It’s been a difficult and sometimes painful process to prepare the material for this series. It forced me to deal with some of... the same painful things all of us have to deal with. As we wind up this series Sunday, I want to look at the last step in recovering from life’s hurts. The title of my message is Recycling My Pain. This step is about yielding ourselves to God so that He can use our experiences to help others. God wants to use us! He wants to recycle the pain in our lives for the benefit of others. If we can wrap our arms around this truth that God can and does use everything for good in our lives...and that He wants to use our weaknesses and pain to benefit others, life takes on a whole new meaning. What happens is that we begin to focus outside ourselves. When we begin to do that, it’s a sign of recovery. The proof of recovery is when we begin to focus outside of ourselves. ______________________________________ Tony Mirabella, Pastor Grace Community Church A Culturally Relevant Church Anchored to the Unchanging Truths of God’s Word and His Eternal Purposes. [email protected] www.gracecommunityfayette.org Salvation is by God's grace through faith alone in Christ alone, nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else! Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.