Simplicity of The Gospel

"Welcome Back Kotter" was a hit TV Show which aired in the 1970's. I didn't watch it too much because of some of the male vulgarities shared on the show, but I did agree with the main theme of the show. Here’s a brief synopsis of the show: High School teacher returns to his alma mater in order to help some students in a remedial class that had been written off by society, they're parents, the other teachers and even the principal. These students were considered to be born losers and destined to stay that way. But Gabe Kotter (the teacher) who graduated from the same high school, after having attended the same remedial class, had a passion to teach these kids to live above the lowly expectations the world had applied to them. Mr. Kotter, not only taught these students in class, but he also invested in their lives outside of class and truly cared about their welfare. One of Mr. Kotter’s students, Arnold Horshack was well known for always raising his hand and say

This is a picture I took of my boys last week. Michael, my oldest, just got home from Cross Country practice and was tired. In this picture Michael and his precious little brother (Kevin) who is his best friend, are lying on the floor just sharing with one another all that happened during their day at school. I wanted to share this picture today because this has been a daily occurrence since the day Kevin was born. My oldest son, whom I love dearly....well, is quite a handful to say the least. He's the child who put the word "strong" in strong-willed. I didn't know much about having children before I had them and all the people around me at the time, who had kids, only had girls. So I just assumed that only boys were so demanding, time-consuming and just, well...a mighty challenge. When we found out we were having another son, I literally had a panic attack, right there in the doctors' office. The first thought that ran through my mind was that there w

DEEPER 2008 DEEPER 2008 is just around the corner! Registrations have passed 2,000 and climbing fast. We are excited about the preaching, worship and fellowship we will experience together. There is still time to register and if you haven’t signed up your teenager….do that too! Kirk Cameron will be hosting a “teen track” at DEEPER. Your teenager or college student can get 2 hours of fast paced evangelism training along with hearing all the other DEEPER speakers. The teen track includes: 3 Keys to overcome fear and reach the lost. How to avoid 99% of all arguments by learning to make contact with your hidden ally in the heart of the unbeliever. Interactive sessions. Lots of video and on-the-street footage of live witnessing encounters. Real time role-play. Training manual to take notes and take home. Tell your youth pastor about this. Sign up 5 students @ $59 each and get the 6th free! Sign up today at: deeperconference.com Registration closes next week! The

Happy Word-Filled Wednesday everyone! May the Lord our God bless you as you fervently seek Him, and live only for His pleasure! For more blessings today in God's Word, visit Amydeanne at the 160 Acre Woods !

Ahhh….falling in love with Jesus, how can I count the ways? I cannot. For Who the Lord Jesus is, and all that He has done for me; there is no number, and no way to measure the splendor of His majesty. Therefore, how can a person ever choose one moment, one time, one instance, over any other: to recall and share His greatness, His kindness, His faithfulness? I believe this is difficult for any of us. As even the Apostle John felt the same way, for he chose to close his gospel letter with this profound and true statement: “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” ~ John 21:25 (ESV) The memory I have chosen to share with you, is not one of extraordinary circumstance. Instead, I wanted to share one occasion that best depicts the epitome of my daily life, with my exceptional Savior, Jesus, the Christ. Several years ago, as I was driving home one morn

As I was completely enjoying my time with the LORD this morning my heart cried out: “Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” ~ Psalm 73:25-26 I sat and meditated for a moment on the fact that God is my portion, my inheritance, my Gift (through Jesus Christ) forever. In the Old Testament, the Israelites were given an inheritance – a plot of land (territory) that was given to each tribe for generations to come. But the Levites who were anointed and elected by God to be His priests, were not given any portion of land as their inheritance, instead, the Lord God said to them: “And the LORD said to Aaron, ‘You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.” ~ Numbers 18:20 (emphasis added) How incredible is THAT?! All the other trib

Please watch the video above, which includes interviews by: R.C. Sproul ~ Founder& Chairman 0f Ligonier Ministries Joni Eareckson Tada ~ Founder, CEO of Joni & Friends Dr. Tony Evans ~ Sr. Pastor, Oakcliff Bible Fellowship Dr. D. James Kennedy ~ Founder, Coral Ridge Ministries Dr. Ravi Zacharias ~ President, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) I'm so excited about this! If you've never watched Way of The Master (WOTM), you're really missing out! When we were introduced to this show several years ago, it just blew us away! We never realized how "easy" it was to evangelize! We didn't need to be a graduate of seminary, we didn't need to memorize a million Scriptures, we just needed to know the Ten Commandments and our personal testimony of God's gift of salvation through His one and only Son, Jesus Christ! My family found such freedom in this. Does that mean evangelism isn't still a bit scary for us? NO! It still is,

Today at "Live Well" Darlene asked a very poignant question: Is Meekness a Weakness? Wow! I can sit on that for a few days! How about you? Darlene also shared some wonderful Scriptures that really pierced my heart, I'd like to share this one: "It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glorious to seek one's own glory. A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls." ~ Proverbs 25:27-28 Darlene also shares with us the definition of meekness as opposed to what we often mistakenly take it to be. It reminded me of a time, many years ago when I heard a youth Pastor teach about the Fruit of the Spirit and when he got to gentleness (which is a synonym of the word "meek"), he said, "Most people equate 'gentleness' with a wimp, particularly if you're referring to a man. Or if to a woman or anyone else, it is often misrepresented as 'mousy', 'weak', or even 'stupid'. But the t

(This is an aerial view from the aircraft my husband was traveling in during his tour in Iraq.) "...and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, 'Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for You and one for Moses and one for Elijah.' For he did not know what to say , for they were terrified. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, 'This is my beloved Son; listen to Him.' And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain , He charged them to tell no one of what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead." ~ Mark 9:3-9 (emphasis added) I know the picture I chose to share today is not of a mountain (as the Scripture I chose to share refers to)...or rather, it doesn