HOPE DEALER In Amishland

Great devo that I read today. Enjoy! (you can get great devotionals sent to your inbox by signing up here ) Keep the Truth Today's Scripture “Guard and keep [with the greatest care] the precious and excellently adapted [Truth]…” Today's Word from Joel and Victoria The Truth of God’s Word is a precious treasure entrusted to us. It empowers us to overcome every obstacle. It’s important to keep this Truth in your heart and establish it in your life. How do you establish the Word in your life? When you make a habit of praying and reading God’s Word it becomes more and more alive to you. When you choose to obey it, you are guarding and keeping the Truth. For example, the Bible says that love covers an offense. When you choose to walk in love even when someone has offended you, you are guarding the Truth. When you choose God’s way, instead of the world’s way, you are guarding the truth. Society has so many different ideas of what is right and acceptable. We have to always choose Go

We will be showing this at our weekend service this week. Absolutely hilarious! Enjoy your day!

This past weekend got kicked off with my daughter and I making our first snowman (or girl) of the season. That was a real joy to hang out with her. We then packed up the fam and traveled to Gettysburg to visit one of my mentors, Gerry Stoltzfoos, to enjoy some time away. Saturday we invited some of the leaders at our church to join with Gerry and his team for some training. That was a great day together. I had the chance to spend some quality time with my wife and children, as well as some friends. I had to much quality time with my youngest Colby! He decided to wake up constantly both nights and torture us. I cannot tell you how happy I am to be home and have the kids in their own beds! I look forward to sleeping tonight in my bed also! (word to the wise, don't ever purchase a nice bed, it makes going away & sleeping in another bed very difficult, I know that sounds wimpy! Those of you with nice beds know exactly what I'm talking about) Anyway, we capped our wee

I think we have found a way to get more men into our church. This idea had to come from a group of guys. What great men of God. Hilarious! Read the news article below and then click on the site for more info. YBOR CITY, Fla. -- A Florida church issued a challenge for its married members on Sunday: Have sex every day. Relevant Church head pastor Paul Wirth said the 50 percent divorce rate was the catalyst for The 30-Day Sex Challenge. The church set up a Web site concerning the challenge, Local 6 reported. "And that's no different for people who attend church," Wirth said. "Sometimes life gets in the way. Our jobs get in the way." Oh, and the flip side of the challenge? No rolling in the sheets for the unwed. Church member Tim Jones and his fiancee agreed to take on the challenge, though he acknowledges it'll be a tough month. But he added: "I think it's worth trying to find out other things about each other." click here

This is the last installment of our blog messages on James for now. Sorry that I'm a little late on this one, I had a busy weekend. The last of these points are adapted (as was our series) from Rick Warren's message series on the book of James. Here you go! You do four things to diffuse any conflict conflict: 1. GIVE IT OVER TO GOD "Submit yourself then to God." v. 7. Let God be God in your life. Give Him control. Put Him in charge. Yield yourself to Him. This is the starting point. Quit trying to run your own life. In v. 1 it says "...your desires that battle within you..." James says that conflict that happens with other people happens because you have conflict on the inside. You don't get along with other people because you've got a civil war in your life. This is the real issue. If you're in charge, then anytime somebody comes along that doesn't go the way you want to go, then you get uptight. You get irritable. You get

There is no mid-week due to the combination of ice and a parking lot on the side of a hill. The comedy night meeting will take place next Wednesday night along with all of the other scheduled activities.

James 4:1-10 The last 2 desires that cause conflict, which we are all aware are... The Desire Have Stuff (Pleasure) "... you want only what will give you pleasure" (vs. 3) There is nothing wrong with pleasure. I personally appreciate the fact that God allows us to experience pleasure. But when pleasure becomes the number one goal in your life -- if it feels good, do it -- you're asking for conflict. Seeking self-pleasure will lead you down the wrong road. The Desire To Be Important (Pride & Power) "Pride leads to arguments ..." Prov. 13:10 (LB) It's a desire to impress. It's the desire to be full of pride, to be number one, to impress others. James defines the fact that blowouts (arguments) occur because of these three desires that battle within us. James goes onto tell us two reasons why our desires aren't fulfilled. Number one: We don't pray. We don't ask God. We look to the wrong source. We look to people to fulfill ou

You just can't make this stuff up. Finally a grown man that I can out lift. I'm sure that we'll see this guy in movies sooner or later. Is it appropriate to find this immensely funny? I'm not even sure why I think it is funny. Maybe I am just mean, judge for yourself and don't snicker. click here Also, I think I found my english teacher from high school! click here How did this guy teach for all of those years without ever knowing how to read? It makes me think of how I've gone on all of these years without understanding algebra. Crazy...

James 4:1-10 We're going to be looking at what James has to say on “How to Avoid Arguments”. As I talk with couples one of the most common complaints I hear from people is "We just can't seem to get along. We argue so much. We love each other. Why is it we have major blowups over such minor issues?" I talk with parents who say, "With my kids there is constant drama tension. I don't understand why we're always in an argumentative mode." James talks about that. In this passage on how to avoid arguments he gives us both the causes and the cures. At the very start of this message, think of the person that causes the most conflict in your life. You're going to get the most out of this message if you think about the person who causes conflict in your life and how to avoid arguments with them. James doesn't beat around the bush. He gets right to the point. Long before modern psychology came along he had some profound insights on the cause

Tonight I had the opportunity to hang out with my small group. Michele and I (and the kids) get together every other week with 4 other couples to enjoy and encourage one another. I love each of them deeply and it is so cool to grow together and to see what God is doing in each of our lives. We shared this week about all of the people that are coming to our weekend services and how they are coming to know Jesus! That's what all of this is about, Jesus. We talked about how we want to grow in our walk with God and prayed for one another. What a great night. It's so rewarding to have friends that encourage you in your walk with Jesus! Do you have friends? If not, pray for some and take a step, you'll be glad you did! This week I'll be sharing one more blog message, so stay tuned...

This past weekend I had a great time hang'in with my family. We spent one of our nights enjoying a meal together, playing uno and downing some serious chocolate fondu. My kids were incredibly silly that night and it was great moment together. Unfortunately, my wife and I ceased to realize that filling our kids with sugar at 8 p.m. would hinder their ability to be quiet. It would hinder their ability to eventually go to sleep as we had expected. As we played uno we kept trying to get our kids to 'settle down.' What were we thinking? What were we expecting? We were expecting the opposite of what we should have based on what we gave them. We do that in our lives all of the time. We believe God to do great things, but often times we don't always fill our lives with the rights things. We need to fill our hearts with faith and good things from God's word. I want to challenge you to fill yourself with the right things this week. Fill yourself with God's wo

Rick shared that If you want God’s power in your life, you need to overcome these three temptations (sins) and he gave the antidote to overcoming each one: (the scripture reference is 1 John 2 1. Lust of flesh , -the temptation to feel good (feels good, do it- hedonism) sex passion Integrity (means wholeness, from the word integer, meaning 1, not compartamentalized) “what you see is what you get” the titanic myth- 1st boat in which they built the hull in compartments. The assumption is you could take on water in one compartment but it wouldn’t sink. Theoretically that is true, but a hole in the boat is a hole and will sink you. You cannot sin and not hurt other people. 2. Lust of the eyes - the temptation to have (I see it and I want it- materialism) salary possession Generosity (every time you give, you become more like Jesus) You can give without loving but you cannot love without giving *Psalm 72- Solomon's prayer for fame- This seems like an odd prayer, but G

Let me pause from my normal blogging for a moment and post a speech that I just read by Mitt Romney. He has ended His bid for the white house but it is one of the best speeches that I've heard in a long time. It's worth the read even if you don't like Him or if you're a democrat. (ignore his democrat references if it bothers you). Great stuff! click here

I'm was in Washington D.C. today at a coffee house called 'Ebenezzer's.' It is the ministry center of an innovative church called, 'National Community Church,' led by Mark Batterson. He was hosting Rick Warren (pastor of Saddleback church and author of the Purpose driven life) for an informal luncheon. I traveled down with one of my mentors (Dan McNaughton) who is an incredible Pastor and Leader in his own right. I don't get away enough so today is a special day. I got to spend about 6-7 hours in a car connecting with Dan. It was a real privilege. Back to Rick Warren. Here are a few of the thoughts that Rick shared to a group of 75-100 pastors. (including me) *More people attend church on one weekend than attend sporting events all year long combined. The local church is important and the hope of the world. *Never confuse significance and prominence. (You may not be prominent, but you are significant to God) *Courage is not the absence of fear, it

What an awesome day we had yesterday! The church family came together and we saw God visit us in a powerful way. The music was fantastic, God's presence was awesome and the word was challenging. It was one of those messages where I hear myself speaking and say, "that's God stuff, because I'm not that good." I'm so thankful to be a part of a great church with truly great people!

3. Give people the right of way by not minimizing their feelings. "Wisdom is ... considerate" "gentle" (GN) "courteous" (LB) "Kind words bring life, but cruel words crush your spirit." Prov. 15:4 This is a tough one to do, especially when someone's feelings are biased and off base. You can still listen even without agreeing with the other person. Other times you just don't want to hear what someone else has to say, even if it is legit. This one is tough, especially for married couples. (experience tells me) 4. Give people the right of way by not criticizing their opinions or suggestions. "A fool thinks he needs no advice. A wise man listens to others." Prov. 12:15 (LB) This is a great verse to remember, especially when you believe you are always right. I never struggle with this one, how about you? 5. Give people the right of way by not focusing on their mistakes. "Love forgets mistakes; nagging about them pa