Guest Bio
Mike has been an executive marketing director and financial services broker specializing in retirement, savings, and life insurance. Mike is the father of three boys: Braden, Hunter, and Caleb. He is married to his beautiful wife, Helaina, for over ten years now. For the last 13 years, Mike has been serving the Lord as a youth pastor, and now the senior pastor at a church called The House of The Lord located in Moreno Valley, California.
TOPICS DISCUSSED
[2:09]– Distinct characteristics of God
[5:27]- Manifestation of God’s Grace
[14:05]- God’s way of handling the atrocities in the world
[17:15]- Forgiveness
[20:20]- The crease in the love and mercy of God
[22:14]- Manifesting God’s mercy and grace, specifically in your work
[32:19]- Message to humanity
Summary of topics discussed
Distinct characteristics of God
Mike describes for me God’s Grace, Mercy, and love. He states that these three things are our foundation as Christians.
“We talk about love. It’s once we understand how much God loves us that we began to love others. Once we understand how much mercy God has extended to us, we start to think about it. It’s easy to forgive others when we look back at how much God has forgiven us. And finally, Grace, Grace is probably the biggest thing. Grace is what God is prepared to give his children, even though we don’t deserve.”
Manifestation of Grace
He shares that people would let you down and narrates an exciting instance where he saw that happened.
“I think if I can look back at instances in my life that have helped me move forward. Here’s a great one. I was let down by a school that I played at.”
God’s way of handling the atrocities of the world
Mike states that we need to understand that God is good and he knows everything.
“Well, the short answer is this. We don’t know everything and why everything happens. But we do know we serve a loving God…”
Forgiveness
Mike lets me understand the difference between justice and forgiveness. He states that “God provides justice because He is all just God. But through what Jesus did, He gives us also forgiveness. But then he gives us on top of that, through His Son, Jesus, Grace, he gives us Heaven, even though we don’t deserve it.
Crease in the love and Mercy of God
He explains to me that the bond between a mother and a child is great, but it does not compare to the bond we have with the Father, that regardless of what our past may look like, He loves us and still nourishes us.
“That’s what brings him back to your question. Well, then, no wonder why He gave His life. The most important thing is to understand is that as we talk about the love and the grace, and mercy, we find out in the story of what Jesus did on the cross.”
Manifesting God’s grace and Mercy specifically in your work
He shares with me the two sides of the business and how to offer respect and dignity first without expecting it to be given first
“We’re in a business world. So I have to be direct with my people. I have to let them know that we have to offer services that are needed. If you’re not sitting down with people offering services, you’ll never have a chance to sell the product. There’s the product side, and there is the ethics side.”
Message to humanity
Mike shares with me his message to humanity is Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
“My message to humanity is straightforward. God loves us wants a relationship with us. But our sins have separated us. So my message to the whole world is that Jesus is the way the truth in life. And he has provided a way for us to be saved and for us to be forgiven because of his great grace, love, and mercy”–
Links and Resources:
The Bible
“Allah is closer to us than our jugular veins.” (Quran 50:16)