School has recently started back and the beginning of the school years brings out a lot of hustle and bustle. It was an emotional start this year since Kenlee started Kindergarten. She loves school but it is important to get into a routine. Brandon and Kendra have been busy trying to fit many things into their daily schedule. Of course, in all my great wisdom, I reminded them to stop and count their blessings. They have great jobs, a wonderful family and an extended family that loves and helps them. There is a special old hymn that reminds us to count our blessing and to name them one by one. In saying it out loud and thanking God for each one you can feel the tension start falling aw

Is Sunday School Important? Everyone believes in confession of sins -- if not their own, the sins of others. Bishop Sheen Is Sunday School Important, Dad? Daddy had a little boy; His soul was white as snow, He never went to Sunday School 'Cause Daddy wouldn't go. He never heard the Word of God That thrills the childish mind. While other children went to class, This child was left behind. As he grew from babe to youth, Dad saw to his dismay A soul that once was snowy white Become a dingy gray. Realizing that his son was lost, Dad tried to win him back. But now the soul that once was white Had turned an ugly black. Daddy even started back to church And Bible study, too. He begged the preacher,

But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. 1 Peter 1:15-16 To be set apart means to save something for a particular purpose. God has set us apart for a very specific purpose. We are to tell the world that Jesus saves! We are to show them God’s great and marvelous love for them by how we live our life. A life that is not conformed to the world but transformed. When our mind is renewed in Christ the world will see the fruit we produce: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Max Lucado quoted St. Cyprian in one of his devotions. This quote that

While watching “The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring,” the closing scene made me ask “How would you look at the path in front of you?” Up to this point the main character, Frodo, has inherited a powerful ring, a ring of darkness. He goes on a quest to destroy this ring along with eight companions. One of these companions is Frodo’s best friend, Sam. Both Frodo and Sam have been separated from their companions. As the movie ends the two are standing on a cliff looking at the treacherous landscape ahead of them and the mountains they have to cross in order to get to the volcano off in the distance. The volcano is their destination, because the lava from the volcano is the only thing h

Many of us work among those who question any form of deity, or have never stepped foot in a church, let alone accepted Christ as their personal savior. Their blinders are so far up that the only face that they can possibly see is their own and their god becomes the serving of themselves. Every day at work, I see many people come in with Christian t-shirts, and/or emblems. I also see many church and youth groups. These same people will come up and lie about their child’s age to get a discount on a ticket with a non-believer standing behind the counter with them knowing full well that they are not being told the truth. We have to take the customers word for it no matter what is being told. Wha

There is probably more than one scripture that comes to mind when we hear the phrase two by two. I am not talking about the animals in the ark here. What I am talking about is pairs. Pairs in ministry. Jesus sent his disciples out two by two. If you read slow and you stop and think about why he would do that, it begins to make sense and can encourage us today as we go out and minister. Matthew 21:1 New International Version (NIV) Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, Mark 11:1 New International Version (NIV) Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage

I, the Lord, am bringing new and fresh revelation to you, Beloved of Mine, about the power of atonement. You see, when you actually believe and accept that I have given you the clear(ing) from all your wrong doings, bad thoughts, ill gotten acquisitions, even “spoken” wickedness..., then you will understand the value I place on you. Creation and humankind was My idea of beauty and love to be pleasured and enjoyed. The many facets of My Person I planned to be gifts to My very own, to bind the broken-hearted, to open the prison doors, to set the captives free, and to show them the way of Salvation! Truly I tell you I was not the author of your troubles, but I am indeed the Rescuer, Helper, and

Did you know that there are over 33,830 denominations of Christian faith in the world? Why so many? I don’t really have the “right” answer to give you-and as a new Christian making a choice about their “sanctuary” isn’t easy! Do I go to the little church on the hillside with a picket fence, steeple and bell; how about the biggest church in town that offers so much for one to do-teen ministry, huge children’s department, stuff going on all the time, etc. We could count ourselves as part of the big church, come once a week and do everything else in a “cell group”-you have a little bit of both. Why so many church denominations? You have to decide if you are Baptist, Pentecostal, United, Ho

I recently read this devotional by writer Marion Bond West in GUIDEPOST: “There are only about thirty-five of us in our little congregation. We’re more like a family than a church. We used to be larger. I sometimes wonder what visitors think when they stop by. One early spring morning a new couple came in our service. Newcomers are easy to spot. Before the sermon, Pastor Tom asks us to share anything we’d like –what God has done for us that week or what we might need prayer for. One of the recovering addicts stood to say in a broken voice that he’d gotten a job. Finally, he was clean. Applause. Another shared what life had been like in prison and then when he became homeless, but now

A friend got a Jack Russell Terrier puppy. She took him to puppy training classes and worked with him diligently so he would be a well-trained dog. “Your dog can stay here while you’re gone,” she told her married son and his wife. They were making plans for a two-week vacation. Little did she realize the influence their older dog would have on her puppy. The puppy learned to beg for food from the table, dig holes in the yard, and howl until he was allowed to sleep in bed with the humans. He hadn’t been doing any of these things until he saw the older dog doing them. After the older dog went back to its home, the puppy needed retraining. The puppy didn’t have any influence on the older dog. T

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Revelation 12:11 I have been thinking a lot about our testimony lately. How do we get a testimony? When I was 12 my mom and I were in a serious car accident. I got trapped under the dashboard and the force of the impact caused my arm to break almost at the shoulder. That was scary was so scary and painful! I had a cast for months and was limited in what I could do because of where the arm was broken, breathing was painful. When I would take a breath, it pulled my shoulder up slightly and the wait of the cast pulled the other way. Years later most people wou

The major cause of stress in our life is worry. We worry because we wonder if we will have what we need when we need it. But anytime we expect other people to meet our needs instead of God, we’re going to be frustrated and disappointed, because nobody can meet all our needs. Only God can do that. If we want a cure for stress, we need to learn to look to God to meet our needs. Some of us find our security in our job, and when we lose our job, we lose our peace of mind. Others of us put our security in our marriage. Then our spouse dies or we go through a divorce, and we ask, “Who am I? What is my identity?” Or maybe we put our security in our money. There are a lot of ways to lose money. I re

There is nothing in this world like having a little one in your arms. That feeling moves you beyond all measure. Here you have a little being to shape, mold and nurture, their every need totally dependent upon you. Their greatest need….. Getting to know the love of their heavenly Father. They learn this by our words, by how we live our own lives in front of them, and by loving arms that cannot wait to reach out and pick them up. To not only be told how much that they are loved but to genuinely feel that love exudes from the ones that are holding them is their strongest source of security. Whether you still have small children in your homes or not, find time to love the children in our churc

But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. 1 Timothy 6:6-8 We recently returned from a wonderful vacation to Disney World. Our grandchildren Kenlee and Corbin were extremely excited. We spent several months planning our trip and dreaming about the fun adventures that lay ahead for us! We were set for two weeks of fun, swimming, character greetings and lots and lots of roller coasters! The trip was everything and more that we had dreamed about. The kids had a blast, it truly is a magical place. We

Just as the love in My touch brings an (almost) unspeakable wave of pure light [love, understanding, acceptance, forgiveness, belonging, good order, wholeness to the utter most...], in trust confidence, now and perhaps unto our meeting-face to face, continue to believe steadfast the hope of glory that is My word in you. Good comes, good is, good I, the Lord, give unto you. Hold fast to My instruction, and peaceably see the fruits of wise living. You are on display as My sons and daughters, showing whose you are... your likeness of Me, your Father. I am your treasure and perfect safety. Sing unto Me, find the praise of praises, and in acclamation enter My gates with thanksgiving, for it makes

Always Been Eternity X My Time on Earth Pastor Sam used this example sometime back and a couple of times since. All we have in this little bubble of time is “now” to live our lives in service to Him. It impacted me then and God has reminded me of it quite often. A few months ago, I ran away for 5 days. I was struggling with a whole bunch of things and I just needed some “me and Jesus” time to work some things out. Early in the morning I would sit on the deck and enjoy nature and the quiet. I took a song book, a Bible and a notebook. I would sing a hymn or two, no one heard me but God and the birds! I read a little and wrote a whol

If you we want to succeed in life, we must learn how to master our moods. When we’re dealing with an emotion that’s holding us back, we’ve got two options: we either change it, or we direct it. Some emotions are so destructive, so damaging, so hurtful, so non-effective, the only thing we can do is change it. We’ve got to change what we’re feeling. Philippians 2:5 says, “Your attitude should be the kind that was shown us by Jesus Christ”. Our attitude includes our emotions, so what we’re feeling should be the same as that of Jesus. We need to ask ourselves, “How would Jesus feel in this situation? Would Jesus get irritated with this waitress? No. Would Jesus yell at that person? No. Would Jes

In the song “Reckless Love” there is a line that goes “There’s no shadow You won’t light up. Mountain You won’t climb up, coming after me. There’s no wall You won’t kick down. No lie You won’t tear down, coming after me.” While we were at camp that Monday night, the guest speaker, Pastor Chris Brooks, told the kids that he wanted them to sing that course differently by the end of the week. He wanted to hear them sing “There’s no shadow I won’t light up. Mountain I won’t climb, coming after You. There’s no wall I won’t kick down. No lie I won’t tear down, coming after You.” What does it mean to us to change the words to say that we want to chase God instead of having God chase us? You see God

The first time I heard this song, I only heard parts of it and I thought the line “leaves the ninety-nine” was weird and out of place in a song about God’s love. I hadn’t heard the whole song so I was confused as to why God would leave the ninety-nine because doesn’t he want us to find souls. It was about three or four weeks before I actually got to hear the whole song and I instantly went “Oh, I get it now.” The course goes “Oh the overwhelming, never ending, reckless love of God. Oh, it chases me down, fights ‘till I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine.” There is a parable in Luke 15, where Jesus talks about how the shepherd left ninety-nine sheep so he could go and find the one that was lost.

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8 I am always telling the kids in Children’s Church that the devil is after their mind. If he can control their thoughts, then he will control them. The way we think can change our perspective on problems. I used to have an inspirational phrase on my office that said, “Change your thoughts and you will change your world.” It is true. Our thoughts not only shape our life but they influence our family,