The Sweetest Frame

It's that time of year. Everyone is talking about resolutions. Most people I'm hearing from aren't making them, because they never seem to be able to keep them. Today, I found a link to some incredible resolutions made by Jonathan Edwards. If you have a few minutes, they are a good read and a good reminder about keeping our life focused on Christ. You can read them here...

Here are some of my favorites from 2007: Favorite Blog: blog.worship.com - A variety of information. Some good freebies every now and then. I really liked the series on the Greatest Need of the American Church . Favorite Coffee: (I started drinking coffee back in October) Maxwell House French Roast - though I just had some Kenya from my Starbucks Sampler - Thanks Crystal - and it runs a close second. I really like the Nestle French Vanilla Creamer too. Favorite TV Show: Heroes. This has been the first year that I can remember watching so little TV. Our life is so crazy now that we don't follow any particular show anymore. But I have been following Heroes online . I think I'm addicted. Favorite Album: United We Stand - Hillsong United . This one's not even close. I love Hillsong United and I can still listen to this album over and over. I still think that in Heaven everyone will have an Australian accent. Favorite Moment: I'm afraid this one's a tie. When Nancy ...

I'm going to try and start posting new music that I find on Tuesdays. I'll also try to post the set that our praise team did the previous Sunday. If you have something new that you really like, please let me know about it. I love to share great music. For the first Music Tuesday - I'm already cheating. I haven't bought the CD, but I listened to the samples on iTunes and listened to the song Yesterday, Today, Forever by Vicky Beeching on Youtube . Set List for Sunday Morning December 30th: Come, Now is the Time to Worship Holy is the Lord How Great is our God We Fall Down Sunday Night: Trading My Sorrows Love the Lord Shout to the Lord Lord I Give You Me

This has been amazing. Yesterday at church one woman shared her Bless Back story. Her family used their Bless Back money to make pies and then deliver them to others. She delivered a pie to her sister whom she hadn't seen in a year. They had been having a disagreement, but her sister welcomed her in. I think the most exciting thing to happen from the Bless Back Challenge is how everyone is looking for an opportunity to serve. I'm wondering why we didn't do this sooner. :) You can read all the stories on the Bless Back Page.

I know everyone is pretty leary about setting goals and New Year's resolutions and all that. But back in November I set a goal to create 30 posts in the month of December. And this is post #32. Yeah!!! Sometimes you actually can keep a goal! :) If you are setting some goals for this coming year, I encourage you - don't quit. I may not keep up the pace that I have set in December, but I hope to post more than just 2 or 3 times a month. I hope to keep on pace for about 1 per day. If you have a blog, let me know. I always love to read what other people are thinking. Happy New Year!

I think I'm going to give a go at reading through the entire Bible in 2008. I found an excellent tool to help me with this goal. If you already subscribe to some blogs or rss feeds, you can actually have your daily scripture reading delivered to you by RSS. (I think you can also have it emailed if you like that better. ) I think I'm going to try the ESV. Here's the feed for that one. http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/share/rss2.0/every.day.in.the.word/ If you want to try a different translation check out http://www.biblereadthrough.com/readthrough/index.cfm I'll keep you updated on how this turns out.

Today I am reading from Romans 15 5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, 6 so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. One heart. One mouth. This is what we should strive for - unity without the loss of truth. This isn't always easy. Everyone has an opinion, even me! But the Lord's word reminds us to work together for His glory. Lord, help me to set MY feelings aside for YOUR glory.

I gave out my nice seasonal shot last week. This shot is way out of season, but it was the first one that I came across while looking through my recent photos that I really liked. This picture was taken at the Great Pumpkin Patch in Arthur, IL.

I know you were hoping to read some great article about Vegetarians, but this idea actually comes from Romans 14. 2 One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. Paul uses this chapter to remind us that we are not to cause our brother to stumble. I like to sum up this chapter with the idea of principle vs. preference. When something is a biblically founded principle, we need to stand firm on that issue. But when something is a preference, we need to allow some latitude in how that particular matter is carried out and viewed. Of course the problem is determining whether an issue is a principle or a preference. This is where the third "P" comes into play - prayer. My favorite verse from this passage is verse 17... 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by...

No offence to Kermit the Frog. I am a big Muppet Fan. But that's a post for another day. I was able to have a good discussion with some of my wife's family over the holiday's concerning the topic of environmentalism and Christianity. Here is the blog article that really got me to thinking. I imagine we all could do a little better as far as it relates to being good stewards of this planet. My concern is how much emphasis should we place on the environment versus the souls of our neighbors and others around the globe. I'm considering starting with some small steps to make our house a little more environmentally friendly, but I sure don't want to major on the minors here. I still think that there are bigger issues at stake. I don't want to place my focus on the temporary when I know it should be on the eternal. I'm sure that God is pleased when we take care of the resources he has left in our care. But I never want to value a bear, or seal, or whale or tree o...

"You should be in debt." Bet you haven't heard that one too much. Romans 13:8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. Actually the scriptures say that we should not be in debt except the debt we have to love one another. It's amazing - if we will keep this one commandment - to love your neighbor as yourself - we'll actually end up keeping the whole second half of the ten commandments. So whom do you owe? Lord, help me this week to continue paying on my debt to my neighbors - those you have placed in my path.

I think I may have received the best present ever last night at our Christmas Eve service. A friend of mine who has been coming to our services for quite a while gave her life to God last night. We didn't have an altar call, but she came forward to the piano bench after the dismissal prayer. She had been "fighting" for a while and last night she decided to give in and follow Christ. It was a fantastic close to a good service and a good year. Thank you Lord for working even when we're not always paying attention. Merry Christmas!

This video clip has provided tons of entertainment for me and my son. We also showed it at Church Sunday as a reminder to "get out of the boat." Usually when you take a faith risk - you are so rewarded you want to do it again. This video really demonstrates that idea.

I was excited about spending my 5 dollars and prayed and contemplated what to do. My first idea was to buy some of those self-heating hot chocolates from Wal-mart and then hand them out to construction workers along with a "Be My Guest" invite card for the church. Unfortunately, Wal-mart was all out of those hot-chocolates. (If I get some time, I'll post about how they started my coffee addiction.) So for my second idea I got to thinking about the people that have to work Christmas day. (Wouldn't that be a bummer!) So I decided to try and get together a goodie basket for our local Police Department for those guys and gals who would be working on Christmas day. My son hadn't figured out what to do with his $5 yet, so he decided to join in. We had a lot of fun just going around to local businesses and trying to see who else wanted to be part of this project. Our first success story was the local CVS. They girl at the counter asked what we needed and what we were doi...

When I was preparing for the first " Bless Back " message I came across this verse from 2 Corinthians 9 11 You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. The phrase that keeps sticking with me is that God doesn't want us to be occasionally generous - he wants us to be generous on every occasion . My prayer this time of year is that God would help me to not just do something nice every once in a while, but this would be a habit. After all, He has blessed me so that I can Bless Back!

As I read Romans 13 today, I'm reminded to honor and respect those who are placed in authority over me. Romans 13:7 Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. But something always comes to mind when I read verses like these. I am supposed to honor those in authority - but I am to fear the Lord. 1 Peter 2:17 Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king. God, please help me not to be afraid of anyone but you. Let me live a life free from the fear of man.

Enjoy reading blogs, but hate going to everybody's page to check and see if they have posted anything new? Google Reader may be for you! Some of you may happen to understand all of the stuff about RSS feeds, XML, ATOM, etc... But for the rest of us - there's Google Reader . I'm sure there are lots of good blog readers out there. But I really like google reader because I can log into different machines and still get to read my current blogs. I think you need a Google account to use reader - but don't worry, it's FREE! If you want to keep up on certain blogs, log into the reader and then just add them to your list of blog subscriptions. Then whenever you go to Google Reader, you'll get the latest posts all in one place. I love it!

Here goes nothing... I like to follow Scot McKnight's Blog - Jesus Creed . He has something called "Friday is for Friends." He's an avid reader and does lots of book reviews. I'm a terrible reader, but I love to take pictures. I think what I'm going to try is to post one of my own pictures each Friday. We'll see how long this lasts. But hey, it's worth a shot. So here goes the picture for today... (If you click on it, you can get a full res shot) I shot this picture while shooting Christmas lights at a friends house. I love the lights and the little bit of snow. Hope you enjoy it. and Merry Christmas!

Can you be both happy and sad? This seems where I find myself this week. I'm still in Romans 12 in my devotions today. And this verse is the one that pops out to me. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. This is a time of year that I do a lot of rejoicing. I know for some the holidays are sad time, but for most they truly are the "Most Wonderful Time of the Year". I am looking forward to spending time with my family and my kids and hopefully I'll get to see a few nieces and nephews as well. I love rejoicing together. We just love to be together. The Lord has been so good to our family. But this past weekend my wife lost her Grandad. It has been very hard, partly because it came as a shock. He was in relatively good health. When I think about my wife's family - I hurt and cry because this is so hard on them. Grandad was so important to so many. I think the Lord tells us to rejoice and mourn - because it's one way of turnin...

Why is it that God's word just hits you right in the stomach sometimes. The passage I'm reading in my devotions has already been used by God in my life to draw me close to him. It's some of the most practical advice for pleasing God that is given in all the scriptures. Romans 12:9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves . 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyb...

Talk about a blessing! It is so amazing how God's Word is continually confirmed. Yesterday at our Church was Bless Back Sunday. We invited our people to be part of the Bless Back Challenge. Everyone who attended services yesterday - and believe me with all the ice and snow it wasn't easy to get there - received and envelope with a small blessing of $5 inside. One person received an envelope with $100. They were challenged to use their blessing to share the love of Christ within the next two weeks. Psalm 67:1-2 was our key text: 1 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, Selah 2 that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. We are hoping that our blessing will be used to make God's name great among all nations, starting right here in our own community. We encouraged people to treat their "blessing" as a talent. And to pray that it might be multiplied instead of buried in the ground. (Matthew 25). As I receiv...

What is a better use of your life? To do what your good at or to try and be better at the things that you're not so good at? Romans 12:3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. I often find myself comparing...

Today has been a pretty rough day. My wife's grandfather passed away this morning. He was a tremendous man. He was a great father and grandfather, and a devoted husband who has taken care of his wife and made good on the promise "for better or for worse." My wife's grandmother has been homebound for many years now and Grandpa was faithful to her all those days. He was also ornery. One of my favorite sayings of his was "Different Prices, Different People, Different Days." If you showed up to buy something, it might just depend on how he was feeling - and more important - how he felt about you as to what price you would get. He never liked being told what he was going to do - especially by the government. He had great taste in TV shows. He loved WKRP and Andy Griffith. He had high standards. He wanted things done a certain way. And he would work with you until you did it "right." He loved to talk about theology and politics. He always ha...

I'm not much in to politics, but I found this Candidate Match Game to be very interesting. Check it out and see what you think. What does it say about you when your "Top 3" are split between Democrats and Republicans?

Have you ever made a prediction only to end up looking like a fool? Here is a quote from Bob Jones to Billy Graham when Billy was debating about leaving Bob Jones College. “Billy, if you leave and throw your life away at a little country Bible school, the chances are you’ll never be heard of. At best all you could amount to would be a poor country Baptist preacher somewhere out in the sticks.” -- Seasons of Refreshing -- page 250 -- Keith Hardman Of course, Billy did leave and the rest is history.

"In view of God's mercy" - that must be one of the most difficult statements to fully appreciate in all of the scriptures. Romans 12:1-2 says 1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. How wide is God's mercy? How far reaching? I can only understand a glimpse of it, and it is more than I can bear. I deserve the pit of Hell. I deserve punishment for my transgression. I deserve justice - but I don't want that. Instead, God gives me mercy. He sends His son. Jesus dies and He takes my Hell and my punishment and my "justice." God gives me mercy. In view of this - what could I ever hold back from God? Nothing. And that...

I was talking with my brother yesterday and he expressed his awe about this passage in Romans. It was such a blessing to him and yet it was almost impossible for him to put into words what it meant to him so that he could share that blessing with others. Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! 34 "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" 35 "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?" 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. If you want to hear this in song check out Andrew Peterson's Appendix A . It's called Doxology.

This passage in Romans reminded me of a simple truth. We are saved by grace through faith, we are rejected because of unbelief. This is a constant truth in the scriptures. And it shows up here again in Romans 11: 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid.

Reading through Romans some more today, and hearing some of the same ideas from the Lord. Romans 10:14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? Preaching is not always popular. Peace-making brings persecution. I think we have to be careful when some want to minimize "preaching" because we're afraid people don't connect with it. Some might say it is an out-dated mode of connecting with people. While I do believe that creative art and drama and music all can do some "preaching" - it's not the same. I believe there will always be a need for people to proclaim the gospel and make plain the scriptures. Because this is how people come to faith. In this same passage Paul says... 17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. We need people to communicat...

Big thanks to Jacob Riggs at AFrayedKnot for sparking these thoughts with his post on " How Young Americans View Christianity ." After I watched the video clip about the book UnChristian, it really got my mind spinning. I've spent some time this morning looking over the UnChristian Website and I have found a lot of interesting information. I'd highly recommend Christians to read it over. I have a feeling this may be a small group study that we pursue in the near future. After a quick skim of information, this really stood out to me: The Perceptions of Christianity from Outsiders age 16 to 29... (I believe this information comes from Barna) 1. Antihomosexual - 91% 2. Judgemental - 87% 3. Hypocritical - 85% 4. Sheltered - 78% 5. Too Political - 75% 6. Proselytizers - 70% In other words Christians (or at least the term "Christian") have a reputation more for their anger and hatred than their love. I'm sure we need to be very careful about these stats. One ...

Just what do you call someone who is headed for heaven? Thankful. Other than that it can get really confusing anymore. Are you born again? A Christian? A Christ-follower? A member of the Way? Have you been SAVED? Justified? Regenerated? In my last post I was looking at the changing of evangelism. Is the emphasis on who you are - or what you believe. I don't think it was coincidental that my devotions this morning were from Romans 10: 8 But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gent...

When I was a kid at my home church in Decatur, I remember going on visitation. I remember handing out "God's Simple Plan of Salvation" tracts and one of our leaders being chased down by a German shepherd. :) Basically our goal and hope was that someone would read the tract agree with the information and pray the sinner's prayer. As I grew older there seemed to be less emphasis on this type of evangelism and more on what was termed "lifestyle" evangelism. Basically we would try to live like Jesus would live and hopefully people would see that we were different from the rest of the world, and they would ask us why and we could tell them our salvation story. Our hope was by seeing that we were different, they would want what we had and ask Christ into their life. I found this quote today from Out of Ur : "The old paradigm of evangelism was a transactional sharing of the gospel. I would try to get people to intellectually agree with me. But the new paradigm...

I've been working on the theme for the next year - "Chasing God." Today in my devotions I was reminded that there are quite a few people who are chasing God, but that's not the only thing that matters. You must chase God with knowledge... Romans 10:1 Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3 Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. 4 Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. I think this knowledge is a " head " knowledge AND a " heart " knowledge. I know in some circles people are saying "I need deeper teaching." But what can be deeper than actually applying what you are learning? Yet on the other hand it is not enough for someone...

Tough stuff. Romand 9:13 Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." Some have used this passage to say that God hates some and has already damned them to Hell. And he loves some and has destined them for Glory. I do agree with that assesment, but I base it upon God's foreknowledge. I know that there is a lot of disagreement out there about foreknowledge. But I think God damns and loves based upon how we respond to Christ. I think that is Biblical . This whole chapter is a strong reminder to me that not all Israel is Israel and not everyone who is going to church is THE Church and not everyone who proclaims the name Christian or Christ-Follower is truly a disciple. A righteousness that is by faith. Lord, help us to walk by faith and not by sight, and not by stumbling over the law or the "stumbling stone."

Kudos to Kim and Scott for sending this video clip my way. We used it in Church yesterday and it was a powerful reminder of God's love for us and that we can find HOPE in the face of loss. This is one of those things that really is worth passing along. "God gave his son too. He understands. He will always understand. He will always - jut run to Him." -- Logan.

This article - Church "R" Us - was an interesting read. I'm a little concerned with the idea that "I love everybody" because I love the Church. I guess, I'm not sure that all those people that Steve Brown mentions are really in the Church. They all should be loved, don't get me wrong. But I still think we need lines that identify "in" and "out." After all - even Jesus had those lines - Sheep and wolves, wheat and tares etc... But this quote he attributes to Wesley from that article really got my attention. "Everybody who belongs to Jesus belongs to everybody who belongs to Jesus." Some people think our church is weird because we often still use the terms "Brother" and "Sister". But these terms serve a purpose. They remind us that we are family. And that has big implications on how we live. If I view an older man as my Father - I'm less likely to lose my temper and more likely to speak respectfully to...