Two Diagnostic Questions
Question 1 – Have you come to the point in your spiritual life where you know for certain that if you were to die today you would go to heaven or is that something you would say you’re still working on?
Question 2 – Suppose you were to die today and stand before God and He were to say to you, “Why should I let you into My heaven?” what would you say?
As a Pastor I don’t give a lot of advice about raising kids. I might later after my kids are older and they finish educating me. Not long ago I read again that parents are still the number one factor in the children’s decision making process (with their friends being the second). I sat down and thought if I had just a few things to implant to make my kids a success, what would they be. So far, I boiled them down to just four. I thought if I could just convince them to adopt these for themselves I feel like I would be a success as a parent. One thing that I did know was that I couldn’t make them adopt my goals for themselves, they would have to want them for their own.
So here they are:
1. Be a productive member of a local church all of your life. Without godly people inputing into your life, you are left with the television being the value promoting agent. Plus, everyone needs a place to serve others with the church being the only organization ordained by God other than the family.
2. Marry a Christian spouse who is “equally yoked.” After talking to hundreds of divorced people they tell me the worst mistake they ever made in their life was marrying someone who was not equally yoked according to the Bible. Either they were not a Christian, a Christian in social aspects only, or they just wanted to do the bare minimums as a Christian believer. In each instance, the marriage failed because the most important ingredients of a healthy marriage just were not there.
3. Finish college or equivalent trade school. With training, most people can get a job that will support their family.
4. Learn to listen to the Holy Spirit for guidance. This one was added lastly after seeing people who are doing all of the above but still making bad life decisions. Learning to follow the Holy Spirit may be the most important but is a process we must do become
You may ask how I plan on encouraging my kids to adopt these goals? Well first, I do my best to follow them myself, and secondly, and I just talk to them about these all the time.
When my book comes out in a few years I will
What is Financial Peace University?This life-changing program teaches your congregation to achieve their financial goals by eliminating debt, saving for the future, and giving like never before. They will be challenged and motivated to make a plan for their money and change their family tree forever.
Financial Peace University (FPU) consists of a 13-week video curriculum—taught by financial expert Dave Ramsey—that incorporates small-group discussions to encourage accountability and discipleship. Financial Peace University is highly entertaining for everyone, with a unique combination of humor, informative financial advice and biblical messages. More than one million families have already had their lives changed by attending FPU.
Financial Peace University Will Teach You:
How do I join? You can email me or sign up at church. Let’s get started changing our financial future.
Watch this video for encouraging testimonies of Financial Peace University.
After being a Christian most of my life and reading the Bible almost on a daily bases for a lot of years I have found a new way to read my Bible. No, its not while swimming or anything like that and it isn’t actually “reading,” it is listening to God’s Word on MP3. I know that the Bible recorded on cassettes or CD’s have been around for a lot of years but this is the first time I have taken the time to ingest the Bible by listening.
Wow. It is like I have never heard some of these passages before. A ministry out of Dallas called, “FaithComesByHearing.com”" has taken on the challenge of recording the Bible into as many languages of the world that they can afford to and send them to people in villages and towns who have never read the Bible before. Their ministry discovered that many people groups couldn’t read even if the Bible was translated into their language.
After hearing their mission we decided to hand out free MP3′s to our church and asked our congregation to listen to the New Testament in the first 40 days of 2010. I am about half way through and it is so refreshing. What is making this experience so exciting is that the people of Faith Comes By Hearing didn’t just read the Bible in a monotone voice, they dramatized the Bible with many different speakers, music and sound effects.
If you would like to get on board, just ask for a free MP3 at church while they last. If not, you can order one directly from their ministry at the link listed above.
Divorced parents have an incredibly hard job raising kids today. People who couldn’t get along while married usually can’t get along when divorced either. Here are some really good guidelines divorced parents can follow…for the kid’s sake.
The Ten Rules for Dealing With Ex-Spouses
1. Put the children before your feelings.
2. Reach out for help if you need it.
3. No downing your ex. No matter what.
4. Biological parents make the rules; Step-parents uphold them.
5. Don’t use the kids as weapons against your ex.
6. Don’t hold grudges.
7. Try to put yourself in the other persons shows when problem solving.
8. Be honest and straightforward.
9. Respect each other’s homes.
10. Compromise whenever possible.
