I know that this is a little bit late, but below you will find the outline that Jeremy and I used when we taught about “The Armor of God”.

Armor of God

Again it was not the intent of Jeremy and I to discuss spiritual warfare, but more about the piece’s of armor (& weapon) He gives us.

Love you all!

Rich

David Crowder Band – \”I Saw the Light\”

When I’m listening to the radio in the car during the day, I listen to the Word FM. For those of you that are not familiar with the station. In the morning there is a show on called “morning with Brant”.

Anyway every Monday morning they play this song on their show, which always FIRES ME UP. (side note – they should play it daily)

However Brant says the trick is you have to actively participate as you listen to the song. For example; clap your hands, stomp your feet, dance around, or simply sing along.

If you actively participate you will leave with a smile on your face and the LOVE of Jesus in your heart.

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!

Rich

I’m currently reading the book entitled Wild Goose Chase Reclaim the Adventure of Pursuing God by Mark Batterson and I wanted to share this part of the book that I just read.

“What if Moses had held on to his staff? I think the answer is simple; The shepherd’s staff would have remained a shepherd’s staff. I don’t think God would have used Moses to deliver Israel. I think Moses would have gone right back to shepherding his flock.

If you aren’t willing to throw down your staff, you forfeit the miracle that is at your fingertips. You have to be willing to let go of the old identity in order to take on a new identity. And that is what happens to Moses. This is a miracle of transformation. Not just the staff turning into a snake, but a shepherd of sheep turning into the leader of a nation. But Moses had to throw down the shepherd’s staff in order for it to be transformed into the rod of God…

…Where do you find your identity? What is the source of your security? Is it title? a paycheck? a relationship? a degree? a name? There is nothing wrong with any of those things as long as you can throw them down.

If you find your security outside of Christ, you have a false sense of security. And you have a false sense of identity. As long as you hold on to your staff, you’ll never know what you could have accomplished with God’s help. And let me remind you this: Your success isn’t contingent upon what’s in you hand. Your success is contingent upon whether God extends His mighty hand on your behalf.”

So; what is God asking you, more importantly what is He asking me to throw down?

Love you all,
Rich

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth today you will be with me in paradise.” This is the word of the Lord

It’s never to late to put your faith and trust in the Lord…..

Have a great Easter everyone!

Heidi and I love you all…..

Proverbs 8:32-36
” Now then, my sons, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways. Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not ignore it. Blessed is the man who listens to me; watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord. But whoever fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death.”

“Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.”

A good friend shared this with me this week and it has been echoing in my head ever since. Have a great Friday everyone!

Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23

Come after me – to become a disciple and requires that a disciple:

1)      deny himself – not simply denying certain things, but denying personal control of one’s life

2)      take up his cross – embrace God’s will, no matter what cost

3)      follow me – following the example and teachings of Jesus

Recently in our small group we have started to read the book Spiritual Disciplines For the Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney. The book takes a look different spiritual disciplines and how we need to not only be aware of the them, but working those disciplines into our daily lives.  Below is a excerpt from Chapter two Bible Intake (Part 1) page 38-39; actually Whitney refers to the book Reading the Bible from a Welsh pastor named Geoffrey Thomas.

“Do not expect to master the Bible in a day, or a month, or a year. Rather expect often to be puzzled by its contents. It is not all equally clear. Great men of God often feel like absolute novices when they read the Word. The apostle Peter said that there were some things hard to understand in the epistles of Paul (2 Peter 3:16). I am glad he wrote those words because I have felt that often So do not expect always to get an emotional charge or a feeling of quite peace when you read the Bible. By the grace of God you may expect that to be a frequent experience, but often you will get no emotional response at all. Let the Word break over your heart and mind again and again as the years go by, and imperceptibly there will come great changes in your attitude and outlook and conduct. You will probably the last to recognize these. Often you will feel very, very small, because increasingly the God of the Bible will become to you wonderfully great. So go on reading in until you can read no longer, and then you will not need the Bible any more, because when your eyes close for the last time in death, and never again read the Word of God in Scripture you will open them to the Word of God in the flesh, that same Jesus of the Bible whom you have known for so long, standing before you to take you for ever to His eternal home.”

This was a huge encouragement to me personally. So many times I feel that when I read my Bible I don’t allow the Word to deeply affect me the way it is meant to, because I put the pressure of making myself feel as though I need to know everything. When instead I should mediate/digest each verse I read from the Bible and ask the Lord how this could be applied to my life.

I have had a couple people ask me to share this story again with them. For those of you that were not in class on Sunday 2/14/10, we started using the book Christian Beliefs 20 basics every christian should know. The chapter that Craig Yoder and I taught from was chapter 2 “What is God Like”

I read the story below when I was talking about God Exists. Not sure where of how I came across this it was a word document that I had saved on my computer. I tend to keep things like this when I find them because I figure they will come in handy one day.

A man went to a barbershop to have
his hair cut and his beard  trimmed.
As the barber began to work,
They talked about so many  things
and various  subjects.

When they eventually touched on
the subject of God, the barber  said:
‘I don’t believe that God  exists.’

‘Why do you say that?’
asked the  customer.
‘Well, you just have to go out in
the street to realize that  God
doesn’t exist. Tell me, if God exists,
would there be so many sick  people?
Would there be abandoned children?
If God existed, there would be neither
suffering nor pain.
I can’t imagine loving a God who
would allow all of these  things.’

The customer thought for a moment,
but didn’t respond because he  didn’t
want to start an  argument.
The barber finished his job and the customer
left the  shop.
Just after he left the barbershop,
he saw a man in the street with  long,
stringy, dirty hair and an  untrimmed
beard.
He looked dirty and un-kept.

The customer turned back and entered
the barber shop again and he  said
to the  barber:
‘You know what? Barbers do not exist.’

‘How can you say that?’
asked the surprised  barber.
‘I am here, and I am a barber.
And I just worked on you!’

‘No!’ the customer exclaimed.
‘Barbers don’t exist because
if they did, there would be  no
people with dirty long  hair
and untrimmed  beards,
like that man  outside.’

‘Ah, but barbers DO exist!
What happens is, people
do not come to  me.’

‘Exactly!’-
affirmed the customer.
‘That’s the point!
God, too, DOES exist!
What happens, is, people
don’t go to  Him
and do not look for  Him.
That’s why there’s so much pain
and suffering in the  world.’