Glad Tidings Church Muncie

Eighteenth century missiologist Henry Venn once said, "A feeble, nominal Christianity is the great obstacle to the conversion of the world." His statement is rich with contemporary implications. Join us this Sunday as Pastor Kevin concludes his Following Jesus series and discusses the call and importance of being witnesses of Jesus, and the necessary power source we must all embrace.

Special speaker Chad McAtee, Indiana District Superintendent of Assemblies of God, shares part six in our series, Following Jesus.

It was at the Sea of Tiberius, that one of the most informative encounters between Jesus and one of His disciples ever took place. It is the narrative of the resurrected Christ interacting with with failed Peter, who had promised great things but had delivered only failure. It is the story of restoration -- of a broken vessel made whole. Join us Sunday as Pastor Kevin continues his Following Jesus series with the story of Peter, and a reminder that God still uses broken things.

"Doubting Thomas" is what we often call him, but does Thomas, also called Didymus, meaning "twin," really deserve that tag? He is the Follower of Jesus that we will discover this Sunday, as Pastor Kevin continues his series "Following Jesus." We will learn how Thomas, though at the first he seemed to question, became the disciple who may have taken the cross most seriously and modeled the mostly stedfast confession. He became a Jesus-follower that sacrificed his life for an eternal cause. Join us Sunday as Pastor Kevin preaches "Thomas-The Power of Wonder."

John, the brother of James, was one of the first disciples that Jesus called. Called to follow Jesus away from his fishing vocation, John became one of the twelve disciples and part of the inner-circle of three along with Peter and James. Despite his calling and privilege, John was a very flawed Christ-follower. This Sunday as Pastor Kevin continues his series, Following Jesus, he will be focusing his attention on John - A Flawed Follower of Jesus and will explore how John, despite his flaws, was still a candidate to be used by God.

The ladies that went to the tomb of Jesus on that first Easter morning did not go there expecting a resurrection. In fact, the whole notion of resurrection caused them to be skeptical. But Jesus met their skepticism head on and when they left the garden tomb that day they had been transformed. Join us Easter Sunday for part two of Following Jesus, as Pastor Kevin discusses the eternal impact that will emerge when skeptics are transformed and embrace the truth of the resurrected Christ.

A heart that embraces OBSCURITY without complaint, a determined commitment to act in OBEDIENCE even when the plan of God cannot be understood, and a willingness to take OWNERSHIP of God's calling. These were the qualities of the two forgotten followers of Jesus that first Palm Sunday and will be the subject of this week's message, the opening message of Pastor Kevin's new series, Following Jesus.

We are in such a hurry today -- unwilling to wait, too undisciplined to be patient, and too often failing to grow. To many the thought of slowly growing and patiently watching for the coming of Christ is scandalous. But the implications if we do not, are devastating. This is the subject of the final message of Pastor Kevin's series, Grow in Grace. Join us Sunday as we hear from 2 Peter 3:11-18, the message, How Long Will You Wait?

New Testament scholar Douglass Moo writes, "The Christian must always live with the expectation that human history may suddenly come to an end." Join us Sunday as Pastor Kevin shares his next message in the series Grow in Grace and tackles significant issues surrounding the coming of the Lord. Why does it seem that the coming of Christ is delayed? What does that delay signify? And, how does that delay impact the hope of His coming? These and other questions will be discussed in Sunday's message from 2 Peter 3:8-10, Like a Thief in the Night.

Theologian Marva Dawn writes these challenging words, "As our culture has worked hard to establish equality among persons, we've somehow put God into that parity and gradually reduced our sense that this is a breathtakingly transcendent GOD that we are talking about." Join us Sunday as Pastor Kevin explores how this holy God is at work in our world every day and what the implications for His activity are for us. This Sunday -- 2 Peter 3:1-7 -- A Holy God at Work.

This Sunday Pastor Kevin will continue his series from 2 Peter, and will deal specifically with attitudes, characteristics, and motivations of end times false prophets and the great threat that they pose. The Church must engage the world in this crucial hour. Join us Sunday for Pastor Kevin's exposition of 2 Peter 2:10-22 and his message, We Cannot Be Silent.

This Sunday Pastor Kevin will continue his series from 2 Peter, Grow in Grace by dealing with the present reality of cultural godlessness and the clarion wake-up call to the Church today. 19th century Catholic theologian Cardinal Newman wrote, “Our great security against sin lies in being shocked at it. When that is gone, we are in danger of no longer being distressed by it.” Join us Sunday as we look at 2 Peter 2:4-10 and discover how we can make an impact Living in a World on Fire.

While different opinions on certain biblical issues should be expected and embraced, as Douglass Moo writes "... it is fatal to allow complete tolerance on every issue that comes along. Christianity would be evaporated of its essence and consist of little more than a vague reference to God." Join us this Sunday as Pastor Kevin continues his series from 2 Peter, Grow in Grace, and explores the issue of false teachers and doctrine with the message, Belief Matters -- Eternally!

The coming of Christ is not a message rooted or anchored in myth, but rather grounded in a historical event and the certain authority of God's Word. This will be the focus of Pastor Kevin's message next Sunday, part four of his Grow in Grace series from a study through 2 Peter. Join us Sunday as we learn about Christ's coming in the message, Without a Doubt.

This Sunday, in part four Grow in Grace from 2 Peter, Pastor Kevin will focus our attention toward the steadfast and unchanging truth of God's Word. The concern God in Scripture and with Peter in his second letter, is not that truth will not be known -- but that it will not be remembered. We must reflect upon it often! Join us this Sunday for Established in Truth.

This is not a call to make New Year's resolutions, but is a challenge to make 2024 the very best year of spiritual growth and fruitfulness. It will not happen unless you, as Peter writes, "Make Every Effort."

Christian Missionary Alliance founder, A.B. Simpson said this: “We are so content at the old level that God often has to compel us to rise higher by bringing us face to face with situations that we cannot meet without much greater measures of His grace. It is as though He had to send a tidal wave to flood the lowlands where we dwell to compel us to move into the hills beyond.” Spiritual maturity is God’s expectation for us and He has not left us to achieve it on our own. In part two of Pastor Kevin’s series from 2 Peter, Grow in Grace, we will learn what promises God has given to us and how we may access them. Join us Sunday for the message, A Rewarding and Worthwhile Pursuit.

Diligence is the key theme of Peter’s final words found in his second letter to the believers dispersed because of persecution. His letter was urgent because he knew that his death was imminent, and for that reason, he chose this theme. His urgent words still speak to us today. In a culture that is rife with moral deterioration and all too often, spiritual hopelessness. Peter points us to hope that is found in grace and the diligent pursuit of that grace. Join us Sunday for the first message in Pastor Kevin’s new series from 2 Peter, Grow in Grace.

With special guest Pastor Scott

When the angel said to Mary, “Are you willing to believe the impossible?” Mary said, “Yes I am!” Without that “yes,” there would be no Christmas. The miraculous birth of Jesus to His mother Mary will be the subject of Pastor Kevin’s message on Christmas Eve, and the final message in this year’s Advent series. Christmas is still filled with miracles, but someone must say “yes” to the impossible like Mary so that God can reveal His power to us. Join us for a special worship and communion service and this encouraging message from Luke chapter one.

Besides Jesus, there may be no more important miraculous birth recorded in Scripture than that of John the Baptist, born to Zechariah and Elizabeth in their old age. John’s life and birth will be the focus of Pastor Kevin’s 3rd message in this year’s Advent series, Miraculous Births in the Shadow of the Manger. This miracle birth serves to remind us that God’s promises will never go unfulfilled, those who embrace God’s promise will find that cultural norms may challenge holy expectation, but ultimately God’s faithful and powerful presence will accompany those who are obedient. Join us this Sunday!

Samuel was another judge of Israel, miraculously born to his barren mother.  He spent his later life working to finish properly the work that King Saul had failed to do, yet even after completing the work, its ultimate fulfillment would not be realized immediately. This week, in the second message of the Advent series, Miraculous Births in the Shadow of the Manger, Pastor Kevin will explore Samuel’s life and examine how, like Samuel, Jesus in His weakness came to finish a work that still awaits its ultimate fulfillment.

“For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” These were the words of the angel to the barren wife of Manoah, promising the birth of a son—the one who would be a judge of Israel, named Samson. While a message about Samson may seem unusual for the Advent season, the circumstances around his miraculous birth are relevant to the Christmas story—for what Samson BEGAN to do (deliver Israel), Jesus completed in His coming to Bethlehem and His death at Calvary. Join us Sunday for part one of Pastor Kevin’s 2023 Advent series, Miraculous Births in the Shadow of the Manger.

We cannot fake running the spiritual race. Our weaknesses will become apparent, our neglect unveiled, and sin will be exposed if we fail to run faithfully. This is the focus of Pastor Kevin’s message Sunday—the final message in the Sufficient series from 2 Corinthians. Three lurking dangers of our culture will be identified and we will be  challenged to honestly appraise our spiritual condition. 

The notion of “tolerance” has become a cultural obsession and more often than not, the Church is left without a response. In the 11th chapter of Paul’s 2nd letter to the Corinthians, he lays out three crucial principles that can help us navigate the slippery slope of tolerance and the pitfalls that seek to ensnare us along the way. Join us for Pastor Kevin’s message, Dangerous Tolerance,  the next to last message from the series, Sufficient.

Pastor Rico Tice wrote, “Success is hearing, ‘Well done’ from the only lips that matter. Failure is being successful at the  things that don’t truly matter at all.” As we return to 2 Corinthians this week, Pastor Kevin will address the lurking danger of pride and indifference when we focus on others rather than ourselves. His message titled We Dare Not, will warn us against the danger of routinely asking God to “intervene in our circumstances while hoping He'll keep His nose out of inner things like our spiritual indifference and pride.”—John Boykin in The Gospel of Coincidence 

“Darkness is my closest friend” —these were the words of the Psalmist. “Everywhere the perpetual endeavor of the enemy of our souls is discouragement. If he can get the soul ‘under the weather,’ he wins. It is not really what we go through that matters, it is what we go under that breaks us. We can bear anything if only we are kept inwardly victorious.” These are the words of Amy Carmichael in Learning of God, and they speak to the struggle that plagues so many believers today—depression and anxiety. Pastor Kevin unpacks Psalms 88 and 77 and addresses these issues—how we can help others who are dealing with depression and how we can find hope in our own situation?

Guest Pastor Robby Bradford presents the third week of our Kingdom Builders Missions Emphasis, What Loves Does.

Guest Scott Hanson

On Sunday, Pastor Kevin returns to the pulpit with his "Sufficient" series - "Spiritual Warfare & Threats to the Gospel."

With special guest Pastor Ryan Chapman

Maximus, the first known bishop of the Italian city Turin, penned these words late in the 4th century: “Rightly, he is sad, who is not drawn to payment by love, but forced by fear. A Christ debtor, then is joyful, and Caesar’s sad, because love urges, the one to payment, and punishment constrains the other; the one is invited by rewards, the other compelled by penalties.” Christian generosity is not motivated by law but by love and can therefore be undertaken with cheerfulness. This will be the focus of Pastor Kevin’s message this Sunday from 2 Corinthians 9, as he continues his series, Sufficient. 

Pastor J.D. Grear says, “If you are not generous, you’ve never really experienced the Gospel.” As Pastor Kevin continues Sufficient, his series through 2 Corinthians and teaches part two of his close-up look at 2 Corinthians eight and nine, he will unpack five crucial keys to Christian giving and underscore the twin truths that generosity is easy for those who know what they have belongs to God, and is a response to His generosity revealed to us in Christ.

J.C. Ryle penned these powerful words, “Two things there are which man has no arithmetic to reckon, and no line to measure. One of these is the extent of man’s loss who loses his soul. The other is the extent of God’s gift when He gave Christ to sinners.” This is the indescribable gift of which Paul wrote in second Corinthians. Pastor Kevin continues his series Sufficient Grace with his first of three message from 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 and discusses why generosity is the only perfect response to God’s indescribable gift in Jesus. 

The Psalmist beautifully declares that God’s majestic creation and His holy Word reveal the fullness of God’s faithful character.  This revelation of God demands a response from every human being.  As we explore and examine the poetic masterpiece of Psalm 19, we will be left to answer one simple question: how will I respond to this revelation? 

Special speaker Randy Carter from Priority One shares "Perhaps."

“The same tears that break our hearts may also nourish us in ways that matter most to God.” These words of Phillip Yancey provide the jump off point for Pastor Kevin’s message, “The Response of Sorrow,” as he continues his series from 2 Corinthians, Sufficient. We will explore human sorrow, worldly sorrow, and godly sorrow and learn about the profound implications of each. 

“To applaud the will of God, to do the will of God, even to fight for the will of God is not difficult ... until it comes at cross-purposes with our will. Then the lines are drawn.” These are the words of author Richard Foster. How are we to live out the will of God in a world that stands in opposition to our faith and the cause of Christ? How is our faith to affect us in the marketplace and can our faith be integrated in the political arena? Peter said that we were exiles and aliens in this world and Pastor Kevin will discuss what that means and what it looks like in his Big Sunday message, Aliens, Elections, Exiles, and Boycotts.

Missionary martyr Jim Elliot said of his generation in 1956, “we have a noncommittal morality. Nothing is so bad and nothing is so good. Everything is a muddle of both.” If true then, how much more so now? The only answer is for the people of God to live with hearts “wide open” to the power of the Holy Spirit as we carry the Gospel to a dark and broken world. Pastor Kevin continues his Sufficient series from 2 Corinthians with the message, Hearts Open to the Gospel.

As we learned last week, to the Church has been entrusted the ministry of reconciliation and that ministry is desperately needed today. All of us are called to DO ministry but not are called INTO THE ministry. But, for those who are, this calling must be seriously considered and faithfully embraced. This week Pastor Kevin will examine the call and ministry of Paul and challenge us all to, in the words of P.E. Hughes, “re-examine as before God, our own relationship to the crucified, risen, and ascended Lord and with doubled earnestness, dedicate our lives and talents afresh to the single-minded prosecution of the cause of Christ.” 

“The highest Christian love is not devotion to a work or to a cause, but to Jesus Christ.” These are the words of Oswald Chambers in The Place of Help. This kind of devotion is only possible if we have been reconciled to Christ, and the message of reconciliation is the message with which we have been entrusted. Never has it been more needed than today. This Sunday Pastor Kevin will examine what that message is and how desperately we need to present it with clarity and effectiveness.

“Our world isn’t a very good amusement park. No it’s a broken place groaning for redemption. Here is meant to make us long for forever. Here is meant to prepare us for eternity.” These are the words of author Paul David Tripp and an apt summation of Pastor Kevin’s message this week as he continue his series Sufficient, from 2 Corinthians. He will discuss Paul’s focus on our earthly bodies, their inherent weakness, the suffering they endure, the groaning that leads to their full redemption, and the responsibility we carry while still housed in them—for we have not been saved for a life of aimlessness or indifference but to live as unto the Lord. 

“Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.” This is how Paul opened the fourth chapter of 2 Corinthians and mercy was the theme of his ministry. Mercy is not only the expression of God toward us, it is to be the expression of all believers. As Rodney Stark said, “A merciful God requires humans to be merciful.” Pastor Kevin continues his series Sufficient from 2 Corinthians and share the hope that emerges from uncompromising mercy.  

In a world so easily enamored by the brilliant and glowing faces of high tech spirituality, neatly-packaged faith talks, and charismatic personalities, let us never lose track of the fact that only as we behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus can we be made like Him. THIS is the focus of our attention as Pastor Kevin continues the series Sufficient, with a message from 2 Corinthians 3:7-18, With Unveiled Face.

The late J.I. Packer wrote these words. “It is impossible at the same time to give the impression that both I am a great Christian and that Jesus Christ is a great Master.” This truth is the essence of Paul’s teaching in the section of 2 Corinthians that we will be addressing this Sunday. Our sufficiency is found only through Christ and for us to live a life that reveals the greatness of Christ, we must learn to rest in His sufficiency. Pastor Kevin continues his series through 2 Corinthians with the message, “Such Trust Through Christ Toward God.” 

In his 1979, Christianity Today article, These Times, author Austin L. Sorenson wrote, “A child is not likely to find a father in God unless he finds something of God in his father.” In his Father’s Day message, Pastor Kevin will take a fresh look at the parable of the prodigal son and identify principles that will help fathers discover the great potential they possess to duplicate their lives in their children and demonstrate how we can all encourage, support, and empower our fathers to experience the full blessing of that potential.

Guest speaker David Wigington shares where to turn when you don't know what to do.

William Barclay once said, “A saint is someone whose life makes it easier to believe in God.” The apostle Paul told the church at Corinth that they were to be the temple of the Holy Spirit that provided a great light in a city darkened by pagan worship. Today WE are to be the same. In this sermon Pastor Kevin continues his series Sufficient and unpacks 2 Corinthians 1:12-2:13 , describing the characteristics of those who make it easier for people to believe in God.

Jesus called us the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world”. What did he mean, and what does it look like to be salt and light? Guest speaker Pastor Clayton Bates takes a closer look at part of Jesus’ Sermon On the Mount and discover the roadmap He gave us to lead others to him.

The world instinctively rejects the notion that suffering can serve any good purpose, but the inspired Scriptures say differently. In fact, the Bible teaches the possibility of experiencing “redemptive suffering.” Russian author of the classic War and Peace once wrote, “It is by those who have suffered that the world has advanced.” Paul suffered deeply and yet his ministry transformed the world. This Sunday, Pastor Kevin continues his series Sufficient from 2 Corinthians with his message, “Redemptive Suffering.”