A Letter to My Family, Friends and all the Rest (2022)

A Letter to My Family, Friends and all the Rest (2022)

Family, friends, acquaintances, and readers,

Thank you for making 2022 a momentous year. I have said this many times, but this year has been one of the best I have ever had. Throughout the year, there have been boundless opportunities. Each opportunity was an open door to abundance. I am thankful for each open door, but I am also thankful for you.

Wise men have said you are the sum of your five closest friends. Technology has brought us closer than in years past. Over 2022, we have established relationships, restored relationships, and strengthened others.

To those I have been friends with for a while now, I thank you for your support, encouragement, and love over the time we have known each other. To my new friends, I thank you for making this journey together. It is my prayer we will all, new friends, and old friends, learn to walk in simplicity, but in hope of a brighter future.

I am not a prophet, but the future is bright. I genuinely believe this is the greatest time to be alive and we have much to look forward to in the years to come. To this end, I welcome your moments of encouragement and strength as we walk together.

Over the past year, being one of the best, I have discovered the road is easier when you take a moment to breathe and renew your hope. Our hope is great, and the best days are ahead of us if we move with vigor, courage, and steadfastness.

2023 can be one of the best years in which we have ever lived… but we must want it and act on it.

The coming year will be like all the others: blessings mixed with opportunity. We must know where to look. It is upon us to open our eyes to see through the storm and find the light. While the chaos of the world will continue, we can find the anchor of the soul.

What will we need in 2023?

You! In this world, we need you, but we also need an improved version of you. While the “10-year-ago” version of you was good, we need the 2023 Growing Stronger You. The world needs the version of you that is growing stronger.

The world needs great people. I believe that 98.7% are good people. There are 1.3% of people who make things difficult, and we need to move past them to the 98.7%. We must find those looking to grow better and become united. We must find this unity in a hope greater than us.

Those growing stronger in 2023 will need open eyes. Your open eyes will allow you to look beyond the circumstances of the moment and to the greater life ahead. The future is bright. We must not allow the present, nor the past cannot distract our eyes.

With open eyes comes a strong mind. What goes into our minds settles in our hearts and comes out in our actions. Our actions follow the strong beliefs of our mind and the emotions of the heart. Our minds contain our core beliefs. As we walk this 2023 journey, we need people of strong mind and strong beliefs.

As I said previously, I am not a prophet, but I am an observer. In the next year, people will search. They will search for mental health, physical health, emotional health, and spiritual health. The past several years have been weary for many. Their minds need enrichment beyond what the past offered. Instead, they will search with forward focused eyes.

People have a longing. Their longing is for better times and brighter days. When we strengthen our minds, renew our hope, and cast our eyes on the future, we will become a shining light in the world. The brightness of hope will overshadow the challenges of the present.

The hope we have is not “seen hope.” It is a hope that is not seen. If we see the hope for which we aspire, then it is not hope. Hope in the present is only a wish. The hope the world needs is beyond this present age. It is the faith we have in the future, knowing that things will be better.

This coming year, I challenge you.

I challenge you to make things better than last year.

I challenge you to reach your potential and not settle for average.

You are a limited edition who can reach unlimited heights.

Thanks for listening.

Let us close this year in the next few days and use the momentum of 2022 to crush 2023.

Thank you for being my family, my friends, my acquaintances, and my readers.

May you be blessed!

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A Parent’s Influence

A Parent’s Influence

Every day I am amazed how far our influence in simple things can reach into the world. In a hurting world, our influence of a greater hope is needed more than ever in our lifetime.  People are hurting. They are hurting physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. The effects of the Covid-19 virus, many people losing or changing jobs, the current lection crisis and the added bonus of a crazy news cycle has cause many to feel discouraged and disappointed. It is during this time that we, as Christians, can become a powerful influence on people.

The radio personality Paul Harvey once said that every day we influence 150 people directly and 450 people indirectly. To think that we have the ability to influence around 450 people each day is daunting, but a great opportunity. My amazement grows even more when I see how parent’s actions flow into the lives of their children. The influence we have on others, directly and indirectly, is significant, but the influence we have upon our children is most significant.

It makes me ask the question, “What are we teaching our children?’

I can assure you if you are not teaching your children, someone or something else is.

[bctt tweet=”I can assure you if you are not teaching your children, someone or something else is.” username=”PreachersPen”]

Our duty as parents should be the same duty the Israelites were given by God – to teach our children His word. At the end of life, it will not be the ballgames they played, or the performances they had, it will be the eternity they have gracefully gained.

Take Deuteronomy 6.4-8 as an example:

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.”  (Deuteronomy 6:4-8; ESV)

Did you notice the remarkable things in those verses?

First, the word of God must be in the hearts of the parents before they can teach them to the children. Remember, if you are not teaching your children, then someone or something is. You need to be aware of the influences in your child’s life. Children need to be actively taught from their home. It is not the job of the Bible School to teach your children; the teaching must begin first in the home.

Second, the parents were to teach the children the precepts of God everywhere: inside, outside, in private, in public, simply everywhere. Are parents teaching children the word of God today? This is where your influence, as a parent will matter the most. If your children and not seeing how the Word of God is active in your life, then they may not understand the power of Christianity.

Our influence reaches to our children, no matter what we do. Let us commit today to becoming the Christ-like example our children need, not necessarily the example they might want.

Just a thought,

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“The Strength in Marriage” – Sermon Powerpoint

“The Strength in Marriage” – Sermon Powerpoint

The God ordained institution of marriage can best be understood in the relationship of Christ and the church.

As the apostle Paul writes to the growing church in Ephesus, he show them that the marriage relationship in similar to the relationship of Christ and His church. Within this relationship, there is live, submission, respect and sacrifice. When a Christian understands the relation of Christ and the church, he is able to put the same pattern into his marriage.

There is a higher purpose to marriage beyond what this world tends to consider.

Below is a PowerPoint slideshow of the lesson. Through clicking the link, you are able to print a PDF copy of the lesson or download a copy.

Thank you for stopping by.

If you have any comments or questions, use the contact form by clicking here.

Just some thoughts,

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California Redwoods and Your Congregation

California Redwoods and Your Congregation

A few years ago I ran across a small article on the California Redwood trees that intrigued me. Here is one statement form the article:

“The huge redwood trees in California are considered the largest things on earth and the tallest trees in the world. Some of them are three hundred feet high and over 2,500 years old. One would think that trees so large would have a tremendous root system reaching down hundreds of feet into the earth. The redwoods actually have a very shallow system of roots, but they all intertwine. They are locked to each other. When the storms come or the winds blow, the redwoods stand. They are locked to each other, and they don’t stand alone, for all the trees support and protect each other.”

The church is like the redwood trees; or maybe, better still, the redwood trees are like the church. When the storms of life rage against us, we reach out to one another to help bear the burden of the storm. Like the intertwined roots of a redwood tree, our lives are connected by the Savior, Jesus Christ.

As Christians, we want to follow the pattern of the early church because they were the starting point to where we are as a family. When they met on the first Pentecost after the resurrection of Jesus, they bonded instantly. They saw a need to assist one another as well as continuing in the apostles teaching (Acts 2:42-47).

The early church grew because of the continuation of the early church in the things the apostles taught them and I believe one of those things was the unity of the church. Jesus prayed for unity, because He wants everyone united, but also, because the bond of Christians is what helps us to achieve the peace that passes understanding.

Let us unite together to begin to change the world!

Just some thoughts,

A Parent’s Influence

Rewards of Christian Families – Part #1

All of us want the best for our families; both spiritually and physically. Our families are, typically, the closest people to us on the Earth and the love us despite our faults. Because of our relationship, we want the best for our families and, many times, we will go out of our way to help them in whatever accomplishment they seek.

The rewards of Christian families are great because those rewards transcend beyond this physical world and will last throughout eternity. Are you helping your family achieve heaven?

Reward #1 – Togetherness

The adage is, “A family that works together stay together.” The key word is together. One characteristic of Christian families is how they work together.  The togetherness of families results in unity.

This unity is seen in several ways:

  1. Unity in Effort – Consider 2 Timothy 1.5. Lois and Eunice made a united effort to teach Timothy the gospel but instill in him a genuine faith.
  2. Unity of Goal – Consider Philippians 3.14. A Christian’s goal is heaven and when Christians unite in their goal of heaven, the keep pressing on to gain it.
  3. Unity of Purpose – Consider 1 Samuel 1-2.21. Hannah had a purpose and she gave Samuel that same purpose – dedication to the Lord.
  4. Unity of Servanthood – Consider Acts 16.34. The Philippians jailer served Paul and Silas after the startling events and his families believed God.

Just some thoughts,