(December 8, 2009)

Prayer House News!

Aren't you happy there is no mid-week classes this Wednesday because of Family Week? With all the snow they are predicting - it might be nice to just spend the night at home - except for the fact that we have Christmas Caroling. Our annual time of caroling is upon us again.

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Today our pastoral staff is spending half the day vision casting for 2010. Please be in prayer for us, we just want God's will for our church.

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Unshakable Kingdom

Developing Good Habits

First of all lets talk about habits. Habits are very difficult to change. Unless of course you are a nun. They change their habits all the time.

A habit is not inherently evil. A person can have good habits and bad habits. Typically we only hear about a person’s bad habits and so we often relate habits to bad things but that is not necessarily true of all habits. Brushing your teeth is a good habit.

A habit is something that has been repeated so often it becomes involuntary. There is no new decision of the mind each time the act is performed.

When I ask people if they find it easy to fall out of the habit of prayer many of them say, “Yes.” I disagree with that. I don’t believe we just fall out of any habit. If something is a habit it is something that is deep seated, it has become a defining part of who you are.

As I see it there are basically two ways habits can be broken. 1. God can deliver you. 2. Or you can work yourself out of a habit with as much effort as it took to develop it.

So if we are talking about a good habit, like the habit of prayer, it’s probably safe to say that God is not going to deliver you from it. I have never met a person yet that said, “I had this great prayer life going and one day God simply delivered me from it.”

So if God is not going to deliver you from the habit of prayer, the only other way to break it would be with much and deliberate effort. You don’t simply fall out of a habit. Therefore, if someone says that it’s an easy thing to fall out of the habit of prayer, the truth of the matter is, they probably never really developed the habit.

A true habit is more than just a desire to do something. It is something that has become a part of you. Breaking it is difficult because of the need it meets in your life.

Just think of how a person’s lifestyle is primarily a compilation of habits. As time moves along our habits determine the quality of our life. It basically comes down to a battle of habits. You may be able to get away with a bad habit for a time but ultimately it will catch up with you. The way the New Testament puts it in Galatians 6:7 is this;

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” I find it quite interesting that this verse which tells us that we can fully expect to reap the effects of our habits, whether good or bad, first says, “God cannot be mocked.”

A good habit is humility before God. It’s recognizing the fact that we owe our lives to our creator and that we will live according to His rules and precepts.

A bad habit is deciding for oneself how you will live your life regardless of what God tells you to do. When the verse says, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked,” it’s referring to how those who live with bad habits, in direct defiance to God’s Word, they are playing God. To play God is to believe you can control the outcome of your life. Don’t be deceived, you are not God. You will reap the results of your bad habit.

continued tomorrow

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Medication: A Merry Heart

Ten Words that Don't Exist but Should...

Parents need more words to describe the weird things that happen to them on a regular basis. Here are some suggestions.

1. AQUADEXTROUS (ak wa deks'trus)adj. Possessing the ability to turn the bathtub faucet on and off with your toes.

2. CARPETUATION (kar pet' u a shun)n. The act, when vacuuming, of running over a string or a piece of lint at least a dozen times, reaching over and picking it up, examining it, then putting it back down to give the vacuum one more chance.

3. DISCONFECT (dis kon fekt') v. To sterilize the piece of candy you dropped on the floor by blowing on it, assuming this will somehow 'remove' all the germs.

4. ELBONICS (el bon'iks) n. The actions of two people maneuvering for one armrest on an airplane.

5. UNDUST (un dust')n. The small line of debris that refuses to be swept onto the dust pan and keeps backing a person across the room until he finally decides to give up and sweep it under the rug.

6. LACTOMANGULATION (lak' to man gyu lay' shun)n. The act of manhandling the "open here" spout on a milk container so badly that one has to resort to the 'illegal' side.

7. PEPPIER (peph ee ay')n. The waiter at a fancy restaurant whose sole purpose seems to be walking around asking diners if they want ground pepper.

8. PHONESIA (fo nee' zhuh)n. The affliction of dialing a phone number and forgetting whom you were calling just as they answer.

9. LATTEBLOW (la tay' blow)v. Unintentional expusion of milk through the nose during a laugh.

10. TELECRASTINATION (tel e kras tin ay' shun)n. The act of always letting the phone ring at least twice before you pick it up, even when you're only six inches away.

(December 7, 2009)

Prayer House News!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! It happens every year - it's just that we hope the first snow won't happen as soon as it does each year. Oh well, it will make for a good Family Week.

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Christmas Caroling is happening this Wednesday. Meet us at the church for a great time of singing and ministering.

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The Unshakable Kingdom
Developing Good Habits

The first message in this series dealt with “Abiding Fellowship,” the Second message dealt with the “Unshakable Word of God,” the Third message was called, “I have prayed for you,” which challenged us to trust in God’s love for us.
Today I want to talk about developing good habits. This may not sound very spiritual but I think by the time we are done today your thoughts will be confirmed. It probably won’t be very spiritual.

Hebrews 12:25-29 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? (26) At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." (27) The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken-that is, created things-so that what cannot be shaken may remain. (28) Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29for our "God is a consuming fire."

This series was inspired by what I perceive to be problems not only in our church but in the church at large as well. We just seem to be having trouble actually living out the Christian life. According to what we just read, as Christians, we are to be attached to an unshakable kingdom and yet it seems that many who profess Christianity have been shaken loose from this kingdom. So the question needs to be asked, “What is going on?” “Why has it become so difficult for Christians to actually live like Christians?”

It would seem that part of the problem is that many of us have not fully entered in to the fullness of the Kingdom of God. And many times, that which keeps us from fully entering in are the habits of our lives that prohibit us from becoming all that God wants us to be.

continued tomorrow

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Medication: A Merry Heart

Basically Useless Trivia

Smokey the Bear has his own zip code. It's 20252.

The underside of a horse's hoof is called a "frog."

The two most commonly sold items in grocery stores are breakfast cereals and soda.

The average resident of Nevada gambles $846 each year in casinos.

Sir Isaac Newton was born the same year Galileo died.

In an early draft of Star Wars, the character of Luke Skywalker was called Luke Starkiller.

Of the 17,000 poems Emily Dickenson wrote, only seven were published during her lifetime.

Stalin loved Tarzan movies.

President James Monroe spent the last 50 years of his life with a bullet in his shoulder.

Twenty percent of all publications sold in Japan are comic books.

The Sun is at least 94% hydrogen.

The world's record for keeping a Lifesaver in the mouth with the hole intact is seven hours and 10 minutes.

More redheads are born in Scotland than other part of the world.

"Shambles" used to mean "slaughterhouse."

The average iceberg weighs 20 million tons.

Bill Gates gets four million e-mails each day, but only about 10 make it to his in-box because of his anti-spam software.

The white part if your fingernail is called the "lunia."

Jesus Christ spoke Aramaic (I thought he spoke King James).

Eighty percent of migraine sufferers are female.

(December 4, 2009)

Prayer House News!

RPM was good last night. Its great to have a group of men to stand in prayer with you.

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This morning is our Men's Breakfast at Bonnie's Diner. See you at 7:00am

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Remember to bring food for our pantry this weekend when you come to church.

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Unshakable Kingdom

Shaken

Please note: I began this series in August of 2001. I felt God telling me that something was going to happen to us and a nation. A month into this series the 9/11 tragedy hit our nation. This message was preached the Sunday following - on Sept 16, 2001

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

This is the first verse that came to me as I watched the terrorists destroy much of New York City and the Pentagon. It made my blood boil as I watched how underhanded they were by stealing our own planes, killing our own citizens, and destroying our property.

I thought to myself, that is exactly the devils M.O. The devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy however, this verse really refers to the soul of man more than anything else. That is what the devil is out to get. He is not out to simply bring physical destruction to our nation however, if in the midst of the physical destruction he can capture the soul of a man then he will do just that.

The great tragedy of this past week was not the destruction of the World Trade Centers or even the Pentagon. The great tragedy were the souls that died without Christ. I remember when I was flying regularly I used to board the plane and I would say, “God have mercy on me,” then I would get looking around and I would definitely see people who didn’t know God.

I once was sitting on a plane and the man across the aisle from me was reading a Playboy magazine and I thought, “Great, I just asked God to have mercy on me and to bless this flight and here’s a guy reading something that I am quite sure God is not going to like.”

Then it hit me. I don’t need to ask God to have mercy on me. I need to ask God to have mercy on those that don’t know Him. That became my little strategy. I thought if I ask God to bless those that don’t know Him then He will keep the plane safe for their sake.

Why should he keep it safe for my sake, if something happens to me I would simply go to heaven. BUT, that is just the issue I want to make here. As I watched the plane fly into those buildings my first thought was what about the guy reading the playboy, what about the person cheating on their mate, what about the individual on that plane that has hatred and bitterness in his heart. What about them?

The devil came, he stole, he killed, and he destroyed.
If anything is going to make your blood boil it should not be towards the Muslims. It should be towards the devil and what he does to deceive men. The terrorist were deceived just like many on the plane were. The devil has their souls now. That’s tragedy.
Don’t say you trust in the same God whose altars you have destroyed. If you are going to worship God you must come to this altar.
END

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Medication: A Merry Heart

Clone

In light of the consideration of human cloning, we must ask the hypothetical question:

If you pushed your naked clone off the top of a tall building, would this be:

a. Murder?

b. Suicide?

c. Merely making an obscene clone fall?

(December 3, 2009)

Prayer House News!

I love the holiday season. I'm only working a half day today (12 hours).

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This weekend is our Food Pantry collection time. If you have some non-perishables you can give - please bring them in.

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Tomorrow morning is our men's breakfast time at Bonnies Diner. See you at 7:00am.

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Unshakable Kingdom

Shaken

Please note: I began this series in August of 2001. I felt God telling me that something was going to happen to us and a nation. A month into this series the 9/11 tragedy hit our nation. This message was preached the Sunday following - on Sept 16, 2001

All that I have talked about up to this point is personal repentance. Now I want us to focus on national repentance. Many have said, “How could a good God allow this to happen?” First of all let me say that this is a matter of divine order than anything else. God has set many divine laws in order and when those laws are violated we will simply reap the results of them. For instance: gravity. It’s a law.

Secondly, it assumes that we are squeaky clean in order to express shock at anything bad happening to us. Are we a squeaky clean nation. Was New York City a bastion of Holiness? Was it noted as a place a person would go to in order to get closer to God? No, it wasn’t. It was known world-wide as a place of sin, the financial capital of the world, and Broadway with all its trappings.

Just so you know, I did not personally appreciate what was stated by Jerry Falwell about homosexuals and abortion as the reason God allowed this to happen. For the church to point to the world and say, “Shame on you,” we miss the point. However, suppose it’s true. Suppose the reason God sends judgment on a nation is because of it’s sin (and I believe that actually does happen. We have one account after another in the Old Testament). The question we must ask ourselves is; “How did our Nation get the way it did?” Should sinners act any differently than say - sinners? The problem is not the world acting like the world – the problem is the church acting like the world.

If our nation is going to repent it will have to start in the church. If we really want to instill a spirit of holiness within our nation then we are going to have to walk before God acceptably with reverence and awe. The task is ours. Where is our brokenness over our own lack of obedience to God? How will a church that spends more time figuring out how to look like the world, ever convert it? God is shaking us to a renewed holiness and repentance.

Just think of what will happen to us as a nation if the church is not successful in ushering in a spirit of repentance. We will do two things. 1. We will trust in our military might. 2. We will proclaim a false dependancy upon God.

Look at what happened in Isaiah’s day.
Isaiah 36:5-7 You say you have strategy and military strength--but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? (6) Look now, you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces a man's hand and wounds him if he leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. (7) And if you say to me, "We are depending on the LORD our God"--isn't he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, "You must worship before this altar"?

Isaiah is talking to the King of Assyria in these verses. He is challenging his position and what he is putting his trust in. The King was boasting of his own military might and strategy. But Isaiah says that those are empty words because of their rebellion against God. In verse 7 he nails them. If you say to me, "We are depending on the LORD our God"--isn't he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed.

Isn’t that great! He says, you say you are worshipping the very God whose places of worship you won’t even frequent. You tore down His high places. How can you worship a God that you want nothing to do with? Then he says in essence, “If you are really going to worship me you must worship before this altar.” In other words, if you are really going to put your trust in Me, then you must do it my way. You must worship me before this altar.

I watched on the National Day of Prayer of TV. It was a very moving service coming from the National Cathedral. I also watched many men talk of their dependency upon the very God that they have sought to destroy through many of the laws and bills they have passed. So here is the dilemma and the challenge to the church. Up to this point it would seem that our Nation is ready and willing to repent but it doesn’t yet know Christ. How can it repent to a Savior it doesn’t really know?

We have an obligation to take advantage of this moment and pray as never before for a true spirit of repentance to come upon us as a nation. And in order for that to happen, it has to first come upon us. We must come before THIS altar with reverence and awe, bowing before Him as our creator and Lord. We must usher in a spirit of repentance that will make their attempts at repentance very real and powerful.

Don’t you understand folks, God loves us more than we can understand. He gives us so much mercy we can’t even understand it. God is waiting for us to repent but not out of anger – but rather out of love. God’s words are not out of a spirit of anger but rather, they are definite.

Lam 3:32-33 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. (33) For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.

This verse could say be reworded to say, through grief, he will show compassion. The terrible events that have overshadowed everything this past week may turn out to be the source of some of the greatest blessing we will ever know. Men will definitely come to know their Savior through this, and there is no greater show of compassion than for a just and holy God to bring mercy to an unjust and unholy individual. All men need to do is repent.

continued tomorrow

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Medication: A Merry Heart

If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 38 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by, you might live in Wisconsin.

If you're proud that your region makes the national news 96 nights each year because Rice Lake is the coldest spot in the nation, you might live in Wisconsin .

If you have ever refused to buy something because it's "too pricey,"you might live in Wisconsin .

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March, you might live in Wisconsin .

If you instinctively walk like a penguin for five months out of the year, you might live in Wisconsin .

If someone in a store offers you assistance, and they don't work there, you might live in Wisconsin .

If you may not have actually eaten it, but you have heard of Head Cheese, you might live in Wisconsin .

If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you might live in Wisconsin .

If you have either a pet or a child named "Brett," you might live in Wisconsin .

If your town has an equal number of bars and churches, you might live in Wisconsin .

If you have had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you might live in Wisconsin .

If you know how to say Oconomowoc, Waukesha , Waunakee, Stoughton , Menomonie & Manitowoc, you might live in Wisconsin .

If you think that ketchup is a little too spicy, you might live in Wisconsin.

If every time you see moon light on a lake, you think of a dancing bear, and you sing gently, "From the land of sky-bluewaters,"....you might live in Wisconsin.

(December 2, 2009)

Prayer House News!

Tonight is our mid-week classes. We have something for everyone. See you at 6:30pm.

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Hey men! Come and join a bunch of us for an informal breakfast on Friday morning at Bonnies Diner on 22nd Ave. (2100 block). It starts at 7:00am

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Unshakable Kingdom

Shaken

Please note: I began this series in August of 2001. I felt God telling me that something was going to happen to us and a nation. A month into this series the 9/11 tragedy hit our nation. This message was preached the Sunday following - on Sept 16, 2001

2 Peter 2:7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men.

This verse is talking about Abraham’s nephew Lot and how God rescued him from Sodom and Gomorrah. However, it makes an interested comment about how Lot was oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men.

This is a reference to a spirit that becomes predominate when unprincipled men rule the earth. What we are talking about is a battle of spirits and how we are effected or even influenced by them, sometimes without even realizing it. I believe it is very possible for us to be subject to, not possessed by, but subject to, the predominate spirit in our midst.

This is what really interests me in what appears to be happening to our nation. There is definitely a rising sense of patriotism, last Friday night at 7:00pm people were standing outside holding candles in response to a national day of prayer.

Patriotism is not Christianity but it certainly helps it’s cause. To love your country does not equal loving Jesus but it causes us to look to a source greater than ourselves. It definitely looks as though we are going to war. Initially, there will be a lot of emphasis put on prayer and spiritual things. It’s possible for those things to wane after some time but the good thing about it all is the potential for that sense of sobriety to usher in a spirit of repentance that our citizens will become subject to without even understanding it.

I believe God’s purpose in this shaking is to shock men back to their senses so that they may be thankful, and to worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.

continued tomorrow

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Medication: A Merry Heart

Top Ten Signs You've Eaten Too Much at Thanksgiving Dinner

10. Hundreds of volunteers have started to stack sandbags around you.

9. Doctor tells you your weight would be perfect for a man 17 feet tall.

8. You are responsible for a slight but measurable shift in the earth's axis.

7. Right this minute you're laughing up pie on the carpet.

6. You decide to take a little nap and wake up in mid-July.

5. World's fattest man sends you a telegram, warning you to"back off!"

4. The government tells you to lose weight or else.

3. Getting off your couch requires help from the fire department.

2. Every escalator you step on immediately grinds to a halt.

1. You're sweatin' gravy.