daddy4ms

Introduction: Sabbatical as defined by The American Heritage Dictionary-“A leave of absence usually granted every 7 th year for travel, research and rest.” Today is my last Sunday at HMBC for the next 3 months as I begin my sabbatical next Sunday.   I want to begin by saying “thank you” to Hesston MB for understanding the importance of sabbatical for its pastors.   This policy has been in effect for many years and not all churches offer this to their pastoral staff so I want to start by saying thanks to you. I greatly appreciate the opportunity.   What will I be doing?   My focus for this sabbatical is going to be prayer so I will be going to a few 24 hour of prayer locations in Dallas and in Kansas City. I will be taking an online class on leading prayer ministry in the church in addition to visiting with some other church leaders about prayer ministry in their churches.   This will also include a time of rest for me which will include some time at a beach (...

Introduction : What is joy?   Video from The Bible Project o    Definition : Attitude God’s people adopt not because of happy circumstances but because of their hope in God’s love and His promises. Joy is not determined by their struggles but their future destiny. o    It was a dominant theme in the book of Philippians that we preached through a few years ago. “It has its basis in the hope and confidence of faith…it is also a fruit of the Spirit…Because faith and its joy do not come from ourselves, Paul can be confident and rejoice” [1] no matter what Joy in Life (vs. 11)     Quote of Isaiah 35:10 o    suggests that God should act now like he will in the end of time [2] §   This quote sounds like a prayer Jesus taught us to pray “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)   Vs. 11-The ransomed will return--From Babylon o    They are not experiencing this p...

For the past several years, I have chosen a word for the year.  Some of those words have been: God's power, gospel, in Christ, and abide.  As I thought about 2019, the word that I am going to focus on will be Holy Spirit.  So, this is more than just a word, it is a person.  I look forward to growing in my understanding of who the Holy Spirit is and what He does from Genesis to Revelation.  Each week I will share a few verses that are connected to the person of the Holy Spirit. The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2  And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3  And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God , you know.” 4  Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the w...

We often forget.  We see throughout history the Israelites and the church forgetting. We need to be reminded often of who God is in Scripture, church history and in our lives and churches. The names of God are important because these names are not just what God does, it is who He is.  I hope this will encourage you as you are reminded of how good, great, and awesome our God is. I am the life 6  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6) What it reminds me?  Jesus came to bring us life.  In John 10:10, it says He came to bring eternal or abundant life.  This is not just heaven, but life on earth today.  Jesus did not come to make bad people good, but instead dead people alive.  I am thankful for the life I have in Christ and how that changes how I live today.  For more on this topic, check out Matt Heard's book, Life With A Capital L.

We often forget.  We see throughout history the Israelites and the church forgetting. We need to be reminded often of who God is in Scripture, church history and in our lives and churches. The names of God are important because these names are not just what God does, it is who He is.  I hope this will encourage you as you are reminded of how good, great, and awesome our God is. I am the life   6  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6) What it reminds me?  Jesus came to bring us life.  In John 10:10, it says He came to bring eternal or abundant life.  This is not just heaven, but life on earth today.  Jesus did not come to make bad people good, but instead dead people alive.  I am thankful for the life I have in Christ and how that changes how I live today.  For more on this topic, check out Matt Heard's book, Life With A Capital L.