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Review: Brad’s messages the last few weeks Who is God? Where is God? What? 7-11 Promise from Psalm 46:7,11-“The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” Know Fear (Transportation, Government, Education, Entertainment, Relationships, Finance, Nutrition, Health) Why? John 10:10-“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Matthew 14:30-“But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, Lord, save me.” Introduction: Mackenzie’s birth story (Yesterday was her 18 th birthday) Bethany placed on bedrest at 32 weeks while pregnant with Mackenzie At 35 weeks, she went into labor and doctors couldn’t stop it and because Mackenzie was breach, she was delivered via C-section I was able to carry Mackenzie to the NICU after birth where she spent the next 2 weeks   During this time of uncertainty, there was a lot to be anxious about.   However, Bethany and I had a...

  I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, (Philippians 1:3) Today, as we gather to say thanks to the God who gives all good gifts, I am thankful to God for all the people who have impacted my life and for all He has provided. Happy Thanksgiving from the Martin Family!  Enjoy your time with family and friends.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Martins! We have much to be thankful for.  Thank you God for the many blessings we have received.  Enjoy time with family and friends today.

For my morning devotions over the last few months, I have been reading one Psalm each morning and listing the character or attributes of God.  It has been a blessing to me.  I specifically look for words related to God not the person. This has reinforced a few thoughts for me: God is good!  So often, we make God out to be a grumpy mean deity in the Old Testament. The Psalms are a reminder of God being loving, good, and gracious. God is for us!  I am currently in Psalm 69 and I am reminded how God is for us as his people.  Many times the author of the Psalm asks for deliverance or help from God.  We see a God who is interested in the lives of His people. God is powerful!  Listen to these words from Psalm 68: " O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God; sing praises to the Lord, Selah to him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens; behold, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice. Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel, and whose p...

Wishing you a great Thanksgiving today! Enjoy your time with family and friends.  Remember we have much to be thankful for.  Thank you Jesus for your provision! Happy Thanksgiving from the Martin Family

As I mentioned yesterday, I am sharing Psalms in preparation for the Thanksgiving holiday.  Yesterday was Psalm 23 and today is Psalm 100. Psalm 100 A psalm. For giving grateful praise. 1  Shout for joy to the Lord , all the earth. 2       Worship the Lord with gladness;      come before him with joyful songs. 3  Know that the Lord is God.      It is he who made us, and we are his;      we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4  Enter his gates with thanksgiving      and his courts with praise;      give thanks to him and praise his name. 5  For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;      his faithfulness continues through all generations.

As you prepare to travel for Thanksgiving, I will be sharing two Psalms (one today and one tomorrow) as a reminder of our thankfulness and how God is the One who deserves the praises. Psalm 23 A psalm of David. 1  The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 2       He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3       he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths      for his name’s sake. 4  Even though I walk      through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil,      for you are with me; your rod and your staff,      they comfort me. 5  You prepare a table before me      in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil;      my cup overflows. 6  Surely your goodness and love will follow me      all the days of my lif...

Here are a few pictures from our time in Yates Center over Thanksgiving:

Wishing you a great Thanksgiving today from the Martin's! We are celebrating in Yates Center with my family today and then with Bethany's family on Saturday night.  I am looking forward to lots of turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and the desserts.  How about you?

Pictured here is a thankful tree made by Richelle Arrasmith and her family.  They were decorations during our Operation Christmas Child Night at Hesston MB last Wednesday.  The purpose behind the tree is to write on the leaves things you are thankful for.  As you celebrate Thanksgiving today, tomorrow or this weekend, make a thankful tree and remember to thank God for the many blessings in your life.  34 "Oh give thanks to the Lord , for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!" (1 Chronicles 16:34)

Last week, I had three opportunities to minister to three different people.  These all occurred on the same day and followed a great conversation I had with Jen Cox about listening to the Lord's guidance in our daily lives.  It was such a blessing to be used by God & each one I could have missed if I had been in too much of a hurry. The first was prompted by Prayer Coach which encouraged me to pray immediately when someone shares a burden or concern.  I received a phone call and the person was sharing a concern & I was about to hang up when I decided to ask if I could pray for them right over the phone.  They said yes and I was able to share the blessing of prayer. The second opportunity came when I had opportunity to be discouraged about a ministry situation.  Instead of focusing on the negative, I turned my focus on impacting people even if that means one person at a time.  I was able to use the potential discouraging situation to get to know...

As I was reading Prayer Coach on Thursday, I came across this quote, "When God's people have something to celebrate they are quick to communicate their joy to him."  So, I would like celebrate the kickoff of our Wednesday night children's ministries. We have filled the positions needed for Wednesday Night workers The class I taught on Wednesday night doubled in size as the night went on. Hide N Seek included several new faces from those in our community fuzion began its ministry at Hesston Middle School and had 37 5th/6th graders for pizza & games I am excited about the year ahead and look forward to sharing what God does in and through us as we serve our church and community through Wednesday night ministries.

Tonight at the dinner table, we talked about thankfulness.  I decided it would be fun to see how many times we could go around the table and share what we are thankful for.  The only rule was that we could not repeat what someone else had said.  It was a great opportunity to show the many things we have to be thankful for.  So, what are you thankful for today? Have a great Thanksgiving!

Typically, on a day off from school, I will take the kids to Lincoln Perk, the park, or Wellness Center Pool.  Today, I wanted to do something a little different.  As I was praying about this, I felt led by the Holy Spirit to find a way for the kids to serve on their day off from school.  I felt led to contact the Hesston Resource Center to see what we could do for them.  It so happened (or better yet God orchestrated) that our church had just finished a food drive for the Resource Center for Thanksgiving.   So, we were able to take all of the bags of food donated and deliver them to the Resource Center. At the Resource Center, the kids weighed, counted, and sorted the donated food.  The kids had a great time doing it and it only took us about an hour.  Thank you Hesston MB for your donation of 388 items which amounted to 373 pounds of food for Thanksgiving bags for our community!

Well, we had a great Thanksgiving together. However, it seems to be Thanksgiving night that has changed plans the last two years. Last year, we had Thanksgiving in Wichita with Bethany's family and then drove to Yates Center. In the middle of the night, Mitchell got sick and we had to pack up all the kids and head home early even though the plan was to go to Disney on Ice. The middle girls & Bethany drove to Topeka and was able to still enjoy time with the cousins. It happened again this year. We were in Yates Center and had a good Thanksgiving meal at my Aunt Kay Jean's house. We had fun playing some card games and the cousins enjoyed playing together. Bethany had to be back to work and I wanted to work some more on my sermon so we planned to head back to Hesston on Thanksgiving night and the kids would stay in Yates Center and we would meet up with them on Saturday morning. But I got the phone call at 2 a.m. that Molly was throwing up. She was very sick and kept...

As you gather around your table this Thanksgiving, I hope you cherish your time with family. This is a great time of year to think back on the last year and remember God's faithfulness and provision. Take some time to share with your spouse why you are thankful for them. Have your kids share about what they are thankful for. Share with a friend how they have blessed your life this year. Call or talk with a family member (grandparent, aunt, uncle, cousin, etc.) and share how God has blessed you this year. Let's not forget to thank our awesome, holy, almighty, loving, forgiving, providing, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, just God for who He is and what He has done and will continue to do. Make sure Thanksgiving is a day to say "thank you" to God for all your blessings! Check back on Black Friday for a post about ideas for Christmas devotions with your family!

The following is a post from Brian Haynes, author of Shift. His blog ( legacyblog.org ) has great ideas for family devotions. I thought his post today was really good and so I wanted to share it with you. Teach Your Kids to be Thankful for Mom The days before the Thanksgiving holiday always cause introspection on my part. About this time every year I find myself pondering the things I am most thankful for in life. I ask the Lord to bring to mind the greatest blessings of my life and then I pray, thanking Him for the amazing love He has lavished on me. I have noticed, the older and hopefully wiser I am becoming, the blessings have nothing to do with material possession. As I think about my blessings this year I realize every blessing comes in the form of a relationship. The things I am thankful for are not things at all but instead, people. Particularly I am thankful for my mother and my wife. They are 2 of the greatest blessings of my life. It is easy to take mom for granted… until she...