Leaders

Birthdays, Christmas, Tests, Results, Health, Weather, Game Time, Fridays, Sundays, Wednesdays, Vacations, Mission Trips, Heaven. What do all those above have in common? Some make you anxious while others we greatly anticipate. Some of them have moments of temporary excitement yet long lasting memories. Some bring moments of disappointment and despair, but only one of […]

Birthdays, Christmas, Tests, Results, Health, Weather, Game Time, Fridays, Sundays, Wednesdays, Vacations, Mission Trips, Heaven.

What do all those above have in common? Some make you anxious while others we greatly anticipate. Some of them have moments of temporary excitement yet long lasting memories. Some bring moments of disappointment and despair, but only one of them produces eternal rewards…Heaven.

10 So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill.
11 As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning.
12 When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up– one on one side, one on the other– so that his hands remained steady till sunset. (Exod. 17:10-12 NIVO)
15 Moses built an altar and called it The LORD is my Banner.
16 He said, “For hands were lifted up to the throne of the LORD. The LORD will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation.”
(Exod. 17:15-16 NIVO)

Do you remember who was on the battlefield? The entire Israelite army with a man named Joshua leading the charge. It took everyone to win the battle in front of them. It took 2 people named Aaron and Hur to hold up the arms of Moses. God was involved in all.
The mission in front of us all requires a total team effort and an intentional focus on the challenges and opportunities our Lord provides us all. He never expected nor expects any one person to do it all. Victories come through team efforts. Each person intentionally choosing to put in individual efforts, helping hold up arms until the war is won.
Give thanks to the Joshuas, Aarons, Hurs, Moseses, and the soldiers in your life. Heaven awaits. Let us love deeply and live with Heaven in mind.

Kidmin 101

This past Sunday night, I shared five core values that our Children’s Ministry is founded on. These values are what helps keep each event, activity, and class in line with our overall mission. The core values are: 1. Know: Our children will learn to know God and the...

Faith On a Shelf

I have this hat that my dad brought back to me from a business trip to Atlanta when I was 9 or 10 years old. You can see that I’ve worn it a lot. In fact, I wore it to just about everywhere I went during the summer when I was a kid. Church camps, grandparents’ house,...

“Jesus Loves Me”

After being led in this song by two of our young men Sunday night, I was reminded of a quotation from Karl Barth. On April 23, 1962, Karl Barth (the renown 20th Century Swiss-German, neo-orthodox theologian) spoke at Rockefeller Chapel on the campus of the University...

That’s Not a Candle

Several years ago, there was story shared about a woman from Connecticut whose power had gone out during a storm. She left her house to go to a local hardware store to purchase some flashlights, but the store was closed. She returned home and found what she thought...

The Post-Christian Problem

I attended the New Day Conference in Murfreesboro, Tennessee at the end of last week with a small group from Riverchase. It was a good conference and I left encouraged about the opportunities we have to fulfill the call of Christ to make disciples. On Friday evening,...

Josiah’s Reform

In the thirty-one years of his rule, King Josiah proved to be a faithful man of God and a great king of Judah. He served God from the beginning as a young king and grew into a greater understanding of God’s will and a determination to follow that will. He made a...

You Are What You Eat

You Are What You Eat You’ve heard the phrase, “You are what you eat.” Simply defined, it means that you should eat healthy if you want to be healthy. This phrase can trace its roots back to the early 1800’s. It came from the 1826 work The Physiology of Taste, in which...

It Is Well

Above the piano in our house is a large wood sign with the phrase, “it is well with my soul” on it. Kimberly and I purchased it during a season of our life together where we were not completely sure what the future had in store for our little family. Since then, the...

Do Over

  I messed up on recording my recent radio programs. The sound quality was so bad Mark could not run them on the air. So, I deleted them and recorded them again.   I sure wish I could do that in real life with all the other mistakes I make. Just delete them...

Don’t Believe Your Preacher

Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. (2 John 1:9 ESV) Here is the test. The “teaching of Christ” is, of course, the very word of God. So, if your...