Success God’s Way – Dr. Mike Spaulding

Posted on October 29, 2022 by ccpastormike

I remember hearing a story not long ago about a young, up-and-coming stockbroker who dreamed of making it big one day. He adjusted everything in his life to enhance his career and realize his dreams.

One day this young stockbroker had a chance encounter with a friend from school and during their conversation about their lives since graduation, the young stockbroker decided to impress his schoolmate with the potential success he was hoping to achieve.

He took his friend on a drive to the local marina and began to point out the huge yachts at the dock. He pointed to one and said, “That one belongs to the senior partner at Merrill Lynch. That one over there is owned by the CEO of Goldman Sachs. And look at that yacht over there; that is the pride and joy of the top seller at Prudential-Bache.”

The young stockbroker glanced at his friend expecting to see a look of wonder and awe but instead, he saw a pained look accompanied by silence. The young stockbroker was taken aback and asked his friend what was wrong. The friend responded, “I was just wondering, are there any customer’s yachts you can show me?”

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The Time Is Now

Posted on July 4, 2022 by ccpastormike

The Time Is Now[1]

However political parties may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.

George Washington

Independence Day 2022 is here. It is a time of reflection and deep thought concerning what Independence Day 2023 will look like. America is in distress. Wickedness and evil people have gained control of our governments at every level. The disaster that Americans are experiencing right now will not change unless we decide to take appropriate action to change it.

One thing among many that the last two years has cemented in the consciousness of a growing number of Americans is that elected representatives at the local, state and federal level routinely disrespect those they claim to represent. This disrespect has been building for decades but is now unmasked for even casual observers. The last two years pulled back the curtain and snapped the last threads of illusion. Politicians are wholly owned by corporations and foreign governments, as brokered by their lawyers and bag-men, also known as lobbyists.

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To Pray to God — or Whoever – Rob Pue

Posted on March 7, 2022 by ccpastormike

Deuteronomy 6, the words of Moses: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

And a warning from Jesus in Matthew 18, “Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

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A Word For You Today from Acts 4:8

Posted on March 3, 2022 by ccpastormike

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said… Acts 4:8

Courage and boldness come by and through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Our passage for consideration today is one example.

The context of the early chapters in the book of Acts is the giving of the Holy Spirit whom Jesus promised the Father would send (John 14:26). When the Holy Spirit arrived and filled the disciples in the upper room where they were gathered, the Jews from all over Jerusalem were drawn to them because of the manifestation of miracles most especially that of speaking in languages which those that gathered to observe what was happening could understand.

Peter took control of the situation (Acts 2:14) and announced to all those gathered that what they were witnessing was the fulfillment of prophecy and he referred to a passage in the book of the prophet Joel.

Peter’s boldness hit a high point in Acts 2:36 when he testified that the very man the religious leaders insisted the Romans crucify was none other than God’s promised Messiah, Jesus the Christ! Let this example be one that we remember when given the opportunity to speak the truth that salvation is found only in Jesus Christ.

Pastor Mike

An Open Letter to Hayden

Posted on February 24, 2022 by ccpastormike

I receive lots of emails from people. I respond to those seeking information and assistance. When I receive other types of contact I normally disregard them, especially if they are of the argumentative type. I simply do not have the time or interest in engaging people who seem to have no point in the communication but to air their supposed grievances.

I am making an exception for Hayden if that is his/her real name. I received the following message from Hayden:

Why should I believe in your version of Christianity over the thousands of others that exist? Because the Bible says so? Your opponents will say the same thing. The Bible can be used to justify almost if not all interpretations and versions of Christianity. Every Christian believes that they’re right, god is on their side and if you don’t adhere to their interpretation the punishment is to burn in hell forever. Christians everywhere are all pointing fingers at each other threatening one another with the prospect of burning in hell forever. That being the case, why should any of us take the Bible and Christianity seriously?

For the record, I’ve never interacted with Hayden in any context. I do not know if he contacted me because he watched or listened to a sermon that I taught, a conference presentation that I gave, or a conversation that I had on a podcast. I simply do not know why Hayden would contact me with his questions concerning Christianity. I am glad that he did though because I want to provide Hayden with answers to his questions.

If Hayden and I had a conversation I would respond to his questions this way:

(1) Study the Bible for yourself and then choose what “flavor” you believe best reflects what you understand the Bible teaches.

(2) Refuse to take part in the behavior you cite and that you find abhorrent and criticize.

(3) Not all Christians are as you describe. Many understand that there can be some room for interpretation on lots of subjects.

(4) Neither I nor anyone that I am acquainted with, point fingers at other Christians and tell them they are going to burn in hell because they do not believe the same things that I do. There are people like that but not everyone and certainly not a majority of Christians.

(5) Hayden, you are responsible as an individual to understand what God has revealed to you. You cannot gauge Christianity, the faithfulness of God, or the veracity of the Bible based on what imperfect people do or say.

(6) #1 above will require that you are a born-again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is based on the following three verses of the Bible:

John 3:5-7 – ⁵Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. ⁶That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

Romans 8:12 – ⁹However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. ¹⁰If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. ¹¹But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

1 Corinthians 2:6-14 – ⁶Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; ⁷but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; ⁸the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; ⁹but just as it is written,

“Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard,
And which have not entered the heart of man,
All that God has prepared for those who love Him.”

¹⁰For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. ¹¹For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. ¹²Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, ¹³which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

¹⁴But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

Hayden, I encourage you to read the Bible for yourself and ask God to help you understand what you are reading. He is willing to do that if you are willing to sincerely seek Him. I pray that you will.