Village SDA Church Berrien Springs MI : Pastor's Page

Home > About Us >

Pastor's Page

August 6, 2010 -

God wants to do something significant in our lives! Something beyond our ordinary. Beyond the status quo. Something far-reaching. Drastic? Perhaps. Radical? For sure and always. It begins with a radical prayer for God to throw us out into His harvest. Prayer can change things. Radical prayer can change things radically. God would bring a radical change in our lives, which will also radically change the lives of others and our world.

Today’s “THE RADICAL PURSUIT: Ask God To Throw You Out” reminds us that it is time for us to take a solid look at our present commitment to Christ and to give the Lord permission to throw us out into His work in a way we’ve never ever before imagined or experienced. Let us answer Christ’s compelling call to discipleship and join Him in His radical work of transforming lives. Praying the
radical prayer will ever be an act of worship. May we begin so today.

June 5, 2010 -

“Worship is our way of life!” our Village letterhead reads. Fact is worship is “the only” way of life. Period. It’s not an option, though we might think so. Worship is something we all do all the time—everyone of us, Christian, Buddhist, atheist, Muslim. We just don’t think of it that way. Worship is an activity of the soul. The thing we do. It connects with what captivates us, the air we breathe day in, day out. Just follow the trail of your time, energy, affection, and money and you will find a throne. And whatever is on that throne is the object of your worship.

No book of Scripture touches the heart of worship more than the Psalms. Here the passion of the soul unfolds and we catch glimpses of where we really worship—and how we become what we worship. The Psalms invites us to draw in the fresh wind of eternal worship, and learn to give all our life to the only One worthy of it. Today Character in Crisis: Don’t Forget To Breathe invites us to recover piety—those disciplines of the soul that connect us with our Holy Creator. Let the Lord be worshiped. Yes! Absolutely yes! Amen. Amen.

May 29, 2010 -

God is something of a cosmic romantic. He ordains and enjoys a good love story. Song of Songs paints the portrait of such a love story and right from the beginning provides principles to get us off to a good start. But it’s more than a story about courtship and marriage or sex; it unfolds dimensions of love in the wider circle of family, human relationships, and self-sacrificing service. And because God has chosen human marriage as a figure of His relationship with His people, our discoveries of love in Song of Songs will afford wonderful insights to the intimate bond between our soul and Christ in the grandest love story of all.

This powerful little book addresses character challenges every one of us face in interpersonal relationships and our sexuality. Today Character in Crisis: Passion Fierce as the Grave touches the heart of our existence—the desire to be intimate and loved by another. We are invited to both experience and live God’s love.

We’re all over our heads on this one. So, if parents deem this topic might be to risqué for little ears, we invite them to move to the Parent’s room.

May 1, 2010 -

How does one bear the silence of God? When all hell breaks loose and we find ourselves living on a painful ragged edge? When God seems nowhere to be found, and we’re ready to throw in the towel? How do our perceptions of the unfairness of life and the seeming absence of God impact character? These are important questions, for sure. But the more important question is not whether God is present or absent, but “Do I fear and serve God for nothing—disinterestedly—because of love and trust, no matter what? And if so, Why?”

As Scripture’s first written book, Job speaks with compelling relevance about God, ourselves, and our adversary. This second Character in Crisis message—“For Nothing? When Silence is the Voice”—draws us into the Great Controversy and the ultimate question of the character of God. Why do you serve Him?

April 17, 2010 -

Life rambles to nowhere. It chases its own tail. It’s hard. Boring. Empty. Filled with pain and disappointment. “Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!” In a confession of failure that bares his soul, Solomon recounts his desperate, torturous pursuit for meaning, hope, and joy—and how he almost loses his very self in the process. He lives five different lives. Each life shakes the foundations of his character to its core. Coming to terms with reality finally brings Solomon face to face with God. Only there does he find any hope of putting himself back together.

Written nearly three thousand years ago, Ecclesiastes speaks with compelling relevance. In this first Character in Crisis message—“Been There. Done That. Now What?”—we are invited to inwardly mirror our Creator. It begins by fearing God and choosing to be like Him in our everyday life. Such is worship.

March 5, 2010-

“The LORD bless you, and keep you; The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.’ Blessings!” Numbers 6:24-26

God’s blessings! Every one of us desires them, welcomes them, and seeks them. We are not always aware of God’s blessings. Often we do not acknowledge them or appreciate them with heartfelt thanksgiving. So many of God’s blessings are taken for granted or sought only after great failure or emptiness. Most of us don’t know what we can do to either receive God’s blessings or experience them in their fullness.

Revelation’s seven blessings bring us to the heart of God’s desire to bless and what it means for us to open ourselves to receive them. As we worship Him, may our hearts bless Him even as we receive His blessings anew. May the blest bless His holy name.

February 20, 2010 -

Some things are down right scary just thinking about them. Some things make us wonder about God. Some things don’t even seem possible—let alone be right or just! Revelation’s seven last plagues have a way of causing us to pause and wonder about many things including God, the lost, and last day events.

As horrendous as these final judgments might be, they both parallel people’s inner condition and give reason for singing songs of deliverance and praise to the Lamb.

The Exodus masterplot of a people delivered from a pursuing Pharaoh provides the interpretive key—giving incredible hope amidst the chaos as well as the urgent appeal to turn our hearts to God today as we hear His gracious invitation. The redeemed will always love to sing songs. May such praise flow from our hearts even this morning.

January 16, 2010 -

God is good! He is alive. Present. Active. We are witnessing His presence and power in our midst. He has set before us an already open door of unbelievable opportunity and an incredible guarantee of success if in faith we would seize the moment. Such was the experience of the Church of Philadelphia. Great challenges threatened to block the way God opened before them. In the midst of their inadequacies and looming difficulties they had to decide whether to give up or go on. Would their obstacles become yet another closed door or through the power of Christ would these very barriers become part of the open doors of opportunity for extending the gospel to the world?

Would Philadelphia believe the One who claimed to have the key to their future and who had opened the door of opportunity for them? Would they have a spirit of boldness to enter a new future?

These are questions we must ask ourselves as we ponder the incredible opportunities God is opening before our Village Family. The One with the future’s key in His hand would catch our ears with vibrant hope. Will we boldly step through His opened door? I hope so. May our worship steel our faith toward such vision.

January 2, 2010 -

With Christmas behind us, another year now opens its fair unwritten pages before us—2010 A. D. Uncharted waters for sure. Yet holy light is streaming from the open door. Every one of us should thirst for more and more of its illuminating power because the earth is growing darker and darker everyday. Many have not experienced the fullness of this light upon their heart. There are souls to be saved all around us, and each of us has a work to do to be reconciled to Christ. This is the work to take hold of in the New Year.

We are living for time and eternity, and we want heavenly light to flash upon our pathway and in return we want to extend its blessings to others. If we connect with God, His Spirit will flow through us as a channel, to refresh and bless all around us.

If “In A Year” unfolds the opportunities and risks that lay before us in the New Year, it reminds us too, of all that God is willing to do to see us bear fruit both for His glory and for all eternity. Happy New Year!

Larry Lichtenwalter, PhD
Senior Pastor