Happy Mom's Day 2017

Sharing my heart about parenting with my church family on Mom's Day was pure joy for me. The vote of confidence my husband gave me by allowing me to teach our congregation was a blessing.

The Scriptures I used were Ephesians 6:1-4 and Exodus 20:12.
1 Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord,^[a] for this is the right thing to do. ² “Honor your father and mother.” This is the first commandment with a promise: ³ If you honor your father and mother, “things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.”^[b]
4 Fathers,^[c] do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.

¹² “Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

Here is the link to the slides I used. Parenting Tips
(You do not have to create an account in Dropbox to view the slides. Just close the sign-in box to view them.)

Here is the Facebook live feed. 

Thank you for all of the kind comments from my church family. I am so grateful you are raising your children to fall in love with Jesus as they follow your example!

Are You a Christian or Not?

It should not be that difficult to guess whether you are a Christian or not. Either you are a Jesus follower, or you aren't. You are living in obedience or disobedience. You are pleasing the Holy Spirit, or you are pleasing the sinful nature. (Romans 8:5-8)

The reading for our chronological study today comes from Ephesians 4 & 5, where Paul draws the stark contrast between children of light and children of darkness. In all honesty, a true Christian stands out in this dark world, because Christ's love shines through us. If you find it easy to blend in with the world, you are not saved. I beg you to choose to live as a dearly loved child of God!

Why Are You Here?

Why are you here? What is your purpose in life? I can tell you it is not just to take up space. It is not to store up as much material wealth as you can in 70 years. Your purpose is not even to make yourself or other people happy. Romans 12 gives us the answer to this question and gives us the tools to make it happen.

In view of God's mercy, grace, love, and forgiveness, we fulfill God's purpose for our lives by offering ourselves as living sacrifices in service to Him. We worship Him with our heart, soul, mind, body, and spirit when we use our gifts and talents to please Him. When He set us free from the bondage of sin, He empowered us to become His ambassadors of mercy, grace, love, and forgiveness in this dark world. How? As soon as we said "Yes!" to salvation, God filled us with a spiritual gift. Do you know what yours is? If you have no idea, then finding out may be the answer to your spiritual frustration.

 

Not only does Romans 12 provide a list of spiritual gifts for service in God's Kingdom, but Paul also wrote about spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4. If the most prolific writer of the New Testament thought spiritual gifts were important enough to explain them in three of his letters, I think you and I ought to pay attention to this teaching. You can find free tests all over the internet to research your spiritual giftedness. Here is a link with a vast number of resources: https://mintools.com/gifts-list.htm

My personal experience is that I find joy when I use my gifts from the Holy Spirit to worship God and to serve others. I would love to hear about your journey to find out God's purpose for your life!