Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Awesome Funny

Sunday night Ben and I ran some errands together. As we drove I asked him what he learned in children's church. He replied, "We learned about the man who had no food, the one we sing the dong about. I could not think of a Bible character that we sing about who had no food. So I asked a few more questions.

I asked, "Did God give him food?"
Ben said, "Yes, God made the ravens bring him food."
"Oh, I know that story." I said.
I could not think of a song about that Bible story (ravens brought Elijah food at the brook Cherith, 1 Kings 17) and so I asked him what the song was.
Then he sang, "Kalijah was a wooden Indian standin' by the door..."

Monday, July 28, 2008

Fair Parade

This week is the fair parade outreach!

Our float will have a patriotic theme. We have ordered a 8' X 12' flag for the float and lots of patriotic colored fringe and decorations to add to the float. The float will be pulled by a red Farmall H that will look really good with the float.

We have a few people to help Friday night and a few people to walk on Sunday. It would be great to have a few more walkers. The route is about 1.5 miles. We will not have people riding on the float this year. We are planning on handing out bottled water this year.



For other tractor pictures click on Vintage Tractors. They have a lot of great pictures.

Weekend Rewind

Sunday was a beautiful morning!

I woke up late! So, my day started with a bit of a rush. Worship was great in both services. LeAnn did a great job opening us in prayer. In the second service two great things hapened. First, a young woman was saved and confessed Jesus as her savoir. She was really touched and I know that God will continue to do great things in her life. Second, a lady who has attended three times came forward at the end of church and thanked me. She stated that she could tell that God was really changing her life by being in chruch. She was very moved and I know that God is doing a great work in her life. I am very excited for both of these ladies!

Kids Camp Re-Cap



Camp was fun and great for the kids. It is a great opportunity in the middle of the summer to learn character and grow closer to Christ. It is a ton of fun too!

Joe Conaway won the belly flop contest. Stephanie Scheperle won 5000 points for her girls by beating the rock wall. Several of the kids learned to spend extra time in prayer. Angel was baptized in the Holy Spirit. Some of the girls were able to give their anxieties to the Lord as they prayed with Stephanie.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

What is Hapening Spiritually?

This week in the evening service there have been three messages. The first on Monday night had to do with choosing Jesus first. The second message on Tuesday night had to do with allowing God to help us overcome fears. The third night had to do with the power of the Holy Spirit in our life for witnessing.

I know that God is working in our kids. They are learning to pray on their own because they are spending time in prayer at camp. Being removed from all the typical distractions of life really makes a difference. We pray that when they get home that many of the lessons that they learn here will not be left at camp, but will effect the life forever. We want them to be closer to Jesus, and do more for Jesus than they have ever done before.

In the daily Bible times the kids have been learning about the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Wednesday At Camp






Wednesday night Ginger and Chris drove to camp to visit their kids. It was tough to tear Stephanie Scheperle away from them when it was time for them to leave. And we thought we would have trouble with the kids being clingy!

Monday, July 21, 2008

We made it to camp!

We have arrived! Ahnna got sick and threw up all over the van! Just kidding! Everything is going great. I do not have the internet connection that allowed of to post pictures last year. I am posting from my phone. Until tomorow.

The Story I Would Not Share

In the second service I was telling a bit of my story. I decided (out loud) to skip a story that popped into my mind about my childhood. Several people shouted, "Just tell us!" I was short on time and this story is not necessarily helpful to the message. As promised here is the story.

When I was in 6th grade my family made our first 45 gallon batch of wine. The recipe called for a bottle of pure grain alcohol to be added to jump start the fermentation process (I guess?). I had just learned a new concept in the process of helping and so, I begged to start the siphon. I got a mouthful! It seemed like it burned the rest of the day. It turned out that adding the alcohol was a bad idea. The wine was like 25% alcohol. Just like NyQuil.

Well, not a smart move on my part. Not wise of the adults involved either. Well, now you have it.

Sometimes I wonder at the difference in the way my kids are going to grow up compared to the way I grew up. I am glad.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Weekend Rewind

We had a good morning. Several things were different. First, we have changed the service order and will be doing the announcements at the front of the service to force us to start on time. Second, we prayed for each other by taking prayer requests out loud. It takes a bit more time, but it makes the service feel like family because we actually hear the requests of each person. Finally, I did the response time differently at the end. We pointed out two types of people that do not drink. This, I hope, gave encouragement and enlightenment to those who may be having a drinking problem, or knows someone who is. There is hope. God can do anything.

Just in case you are wondering, I did not expect everyone who abstains from alcohol to fit into both of these categories. It was simply two categories that I though would be helpful to those who are trying to decide what to do, or how to help someone they know.

Friday, July 18, 2008

I Don't Drink Beer by Tim Hawkins



(If this video won't play, click on the blog title and it will bring this post up in a new window that will work.)

I found this video surfing you tube with my sister Laura Carpenter. I assume it is open to use since it runs credits at the end. It is by Tim Hawkins, he is extremely funny. I think it is a creative way to express my feelings on drinking.

It is from you tube so other Tim Hawkins videos are advertised at the end of the video. That is just the way the feed comes, I am not encouraging you to watch them all, that's up to you.

Just so you know, the song is, "I Will be Here" a Christian love song by Steven Curtis Chapman. It is a popular wedding song. In case your not into 90's Christian music, that is part of why the video is so funny. Tim Hawkins just put new words to it.

PS. Though I don't drink anymore, I really do hate that Anheuser Bush is being taken over. I feet the same way when Chrysler was purchased, and more recently the Chrysler building in NY. On a lighter note does that make Bud Light a foreign beer? LOL

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Numbering My Days

Psalm 90 includes a prayer that says, "Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Today is my wife's birthday. Last night we were talking about Psalm 90 together because it is in this month's Missionette lesson, good (God) timing!

Birthdays are always a great time to review our lives. For many this is depressing. God has no intention to depress you each birthday. In the Bible old age is a privilege (I am not saying my wife is old!). As we get older we should be racking up wisdom and learning experiences with God. Don't get depressed on your b-day. Be thankful and be motivated.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Jars of Clay

While on vacation we visited the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Inside were artifacts from the Roman era. This is a small clay lamp that is about 2000 years old. When I saw it I thought of Paul's words:

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that his all surpassing power is from God and not from us." (2 Cor. 4:7). Paul is alluding to the fact that Bible says we were created by God from dust. We are earth and to the earth we will return is roughly what Job said. Though we are simple jars of clay in one sense, we are containers of an amazing glory in another. I am not talking about the beauty or complexity of the human body, but the potential of the human body to house the Holy Spirit.

The follower of Jesus has the Holy Spirit living on the inside. The Holy Spirit is the power that allows us to live pure, think holy, and work for God. 1 Corinthians 6 says that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We have an amazing treasure on the inside.

Jesus said that his followers are the light of the world. Paul may have been thinking about Jesus statement and this type of little clay lamp when he wrote 2 Corinthians 4:7. We are simple little jars, not much to look at, but we carry a priceless treasure inside, the power of the Holy Spirit and the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Grading a Lot of Papers

Last night was another late night of grading. I worked till 1:30 A.M. Amazingly, I am not tired this morning. I am excited about the mental activity that grading requires. Along with the Wednesday sermon series I am doing on Church history I feel like the last few months of my life has been nothing but study. I like the challenge. However, I have to be careful with my time.

I am heading off to a Pastor's meeting and will return later today.

Weekend Rewind

Taking Names

Sunday I did a different kind of response to the message. I talked about the importance of regular Bible reading for a believer. At the end I took down the names of those who would like to read the Bible in the next 12 months, and would be willing for me to keep them accountable by calling every now and then. I also supplied bible reading plans for folks to follow.

I know that it is going to create extra work, but it will be great work! I will have a chance to call on people and talk to them about what they are learning in the Bible as they read. I know that we will be a stronger church for it if we will all follow through.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Late Night Academics

Some of you know that I am an instructor at the Missouri Baptist University Franklin County extension. Right now I am teaching two directed studies and 9 students in a three-hour course. So, as you can imagine, I am experiencing a few late nights. I like the work, but it is tiring. Pray for strength.

By the way, a lot of my summer reading is on hold. I worked hard and finished a lot before these classes started.

Gardening

Thursday night we went to visit a friend Don. He is in his mid 70s and fell two weeks ago working in his yard and broke the ball joint in his hip. He had surgery and arrived in a rehabilitation center in town two days ago, which is where we were visiting him.

In our conversation he asked if we wanted to pick his green beans for him. So, this morning, after the donut shop we went to his house, met his wife Betty and worked in the garden. Then we were served lemon aid and had a great visit. Don and Betty are very nice people. We met them through our weekly trips to Schulte's Bakery on Friday mornings.

OK, so I realize that this post is following yesterday's post about Ben. This was totally unintentional. But, I encourage you, teach your kids to be outgoing and love people. How? Take them with you while you are serving others. If all you take your kids to are concerts and Chuck-E-Cheese, then your kids will grow up to be people who expect to be served. Take your kids to the nursing home, hospital, soup kitchen, church dinner, missions trip and they will grow up to be people who serve others and change the world. That is my hope for my kids. I will keep trying. God will keep helping.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Proud of Benjamin

Yesterday I talked with a lady in our church who quit smoking two years ago after decades of addiction to cigarettes. She and my wife prayed about it on a Sunday morning and she never smoked again, no drugs, no patches, no pills, and she gives God all the credit. Though she is free from smoking she is still feeling the effects and has emphysema. She was in the hospital a few months ago for it.

She explained that Ben approached her on Sunday, gave her a hug and asked, "How's your breathing doing?" I was stunned to hear her story. We have not talked to Ben about her hospital stay. She said, "He almost made me cry. He's gonna grow up to be a Dr."

I am glad that being closely involved in the family of God is helping my kids become sensitive to people. There are many reasons to go to church regularly. Church is about salvation, but it is also about character development.

The Story of the Saints

We started a study last week in the Wednesday night Bible study that I was at first a bit worried about, but it is turning out to be great. We are looking at church history. We need to learn what we can about the story of Christianity, so that we can be better informed for our future. Here is the introduction from last week:

Why is our story important?
This week we are starting a series on the history of the church. We will look at the history of Christianity with two special emphasis. First, we will emphasize the experiences of the typical Christian rather than focus on the theologians. Second, we will review and test each section of our story against the Scripture and teaching of Jesus.


Our story is important because we have the opportunity to critique our mistakes and victories. We do not believe that all of our (Christians) actions and traditions have been infallible or free from error. We can learn from the past. Also, it is apparent that often history repeats itself. We will find that doctrinal error also repeats itself.

The first week received a lot of response. We will be recording the series, making a set of CDs to purchase and will make a booklet out of the handouts so that you can follow along with the CDs.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Old Truth in a New Day

The Bible is a great book for a few reasons. First, it is inspired by the Holy Spirit, so it is God's message to us written through some faithful people. Second it is always relevant because God never changes and human nature never changes. Individuals can change through the power of Jesus, but humanity deals with the same stuff, regardless of time or place.

I have been reading Isaiah. You would think it is like reading some old history book with a lot of useless trivia, but it is not! It is like reading a commentary on the news today.

Isaiah warns that a nation who does not follow the Lord will:
1. Be a nation of beautiful homes that are sitting empty (bad housing market Isa. 5:9)
2. Farms that are not being tended (I just heard a report about the collapse of collective farms in Russia and that free market farms, though few, are growing Isa. 5:10)
3. Be a nation that abuses drugs (a recent report on NPR said that 40% of Americans have tried marijuana. Isa. 5:11)
4. Parade sin and lose the ability to feel shame (Isa. 3:9)
5. Be filled with dishonesty and crude language (Isa. 6:5)
6. Be filled with conspiracy and conspiracy theories (Isa. 8:12)

I am amazed at the Bible. It is an ancient book, but it is like reading our news today in many ways.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Word of Encouragement

I just wrote a letter of encouragement to a person I have been praying for who is in a very difficult situation. I had to be careful and a bit vague in the letter because I believe that it will be read by some others before she receives it. Well, that made the letter a bit vague, but it also made it broadly applicable. I believe it might bless a lot of people if I post a portion of it.

I want to encourage you to stay strong in the Lord. He is good even when the situations of life are not so good. The Bible says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your path.” (Proverbs 3:5) I know that you know what it is to be saved and that Jesus is Lord. The Bible also instructs us to, “…set apart Christ as Lord.” (1 Peter 3:15) That is, we should continually keep our commitment to him.
I know that God will bring you through. Job said, “I know that my redeemer lives… in my flesh I shall see God.” (Job 19:25-26) David said, “I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” These men believed that God would give them eternal life in Heaven for serving him, but they also believed that God would save them in the current distress of this life too!
I encourage you to do some study in the Scriptures and find these passages for yourself. Stand on the Word of God and he will answer you. Please stay in touch. I will keep praying for you.

Weekend Rewind

Sunday was very tough for me.

Our Small Group did a fourth of July gathering and I was up way too late Saturday night. First service went fairly well, but then in second service my brain went into slow motion!

The sermon was on tolerance and how the Bible instructs us to be full of grace and mercy while at the same time being firm in our faith. It was a very difficult sermon because it needed to be given very carefully. It was about a very fine line and about the balance that the Scripture gives us to love the world like God does and still live a pure and holy life of witness for God. I feel like I really ruined the second service sermon. I may begin taping the first service. I think that I am consistently preaching better in the first service. Occasionally the second service will be more fun because I have become comfortable and secure in the topic so that I can have more fun preaching and it keeps peoples attention better. However, between the difficulty of the subject and me being tired Sunday second service was so-so in my book.

Worship was great Sunday and it was good to celebrate communion together.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Great 4th

Yesterday was fun and quiet!

We have been so busy that we really wanted to rest on the 4th. We stayed home and played with the kids a lot. The great thing about our house is that we are so close to the park that we can watch the fireworks from the back yard. We made a fire in the fire pit, made hobo coffee, cookies and took it easy.

Today we are meeting with some friends for a cookout.

The 4th is also great because we are getting good news from John and Stephanie.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

More Sumer Reading

Last week I finished reading and writing a book report for a journal. I will post more later. On vacation I received a signed copy of, Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson. It was great to meet him. I told him I had read Carl Sandberg on Lincoln in January. his response was, "All six volumes?"

I also took all the atheists books back to the library. I read most of all of them so that I could get at least the bulk of their arguments and their tone of writing.

I have a stack of other books to read still. One text book for the fall. Then, Jesus Among Other God's by Ravi Zacharias, and Contageous Christianity by Bill Hybles. I started the second one and then got side tracked by two other books this spring.

Study Day

Wednesday has to be a study day! I need some serious study time today. My time has been eaten up since I returned from vacation. I am going to go to the coffee shop and hide out for a while.

Everybody Must Get Stoned

There is this dumb old Bob Dylan song with the same title as this post. I don't like the song, but it is what I thought when I heard a report on NPR today about drug use.

16% of Americans have tried cocaine. 40% have tried cannabis (perhaps not all have inhaled). The highest use of cocaine was in the 1970's and was among baby boomers. According to the report, we in the U.S. are more likely to use drugs than citizens of European countries. I hope the research or my interpretation is flawed!

Well, not everyone is getting stoned! I am in the 60% who have never tried marijuana, praise God! Also, don't feel like there is no hope. Christians can make a difference. Did you know that in the years between 1820 and 1850 that alcohol use among Americans decreased from 7 gallons of 200 proof alcohol per person per year to under 2 gallons per person per year? It was due to the temperance movement (McPherson 1988). While the immigrant population was increasing from heavy drinking cultures, the numbers still fell!

Never be afraid to stand for what you know is right. Not everyone is getting stoned these days. Those who are, are in the minority.

Visit People Day

Today was visit people day.

I started in the morning visiting the hospital in St. Louis, then in Washington, then taught a college class, visited a person recovering in Union, and went back to the Washington hospital. Got home at 10:00 p.m. Long day, good day.

Weekend Rewind

It was a very busy and fast weekend for my family. We did a lot of traveling.

Sunday was good. In the first service I preached the message just the way I had hoped to. In the second service worship was absolutely perfect! Beautiful and powerful. One visitor said with tears, "Those songs really touched me, every word." However, I struggled to speak in the second service even though the message is the same.

We missed Pastor John, but he needed time to be with his wife and daughter in the hospital. It has been a roller coaster week for them.