Way too many people don't know what is possible with God. This man's life is a great example of what God is willing to do through anyone who will trust in Him.
You can live an amazing life with God if you are willing to develop your faith.
Today and next week at HVCC, we are talking about how to build your faith muscles. You can listen to these online for free any time you want at www.hiddenv.com Look under the Cardiac 9-1-1 and open the two middle messages.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
George Mueller - How to strengthen your faith
In giving advice gained through daily trials of his faith, this father of the orphans laid down rules for Christians to follow by which they might also strengthen their faith. These rules are:
1. Read the Bible and meditate upon it. God has become known to us through prayer and meditation upon His own Word.
2. Seek to maintain an upright heart and a good conscience.
3. If we desire our faith to be strengthened, we should not shrink from opportunities where our faith may be tried, and therefore, through trial, be strengthened.
4. The last important point for the strengthening of our faith is that we let God work for us, when the hour of trial of our faith comes, and do not work a deliverance of our own.
"Would the believer therefore have his faith strengthened, he must give God time to work," he declares...
1. Read the Bible and meditate upon it. God has become known to us through prayer and meditation upon His own Word.
2. Seek to maintain an upright heart and a good conscience.
3. If we desire our faith to be strengthened, we should not shrink from opportunities where our faith may be tried, and therefore, through trial, be strengthened.
4. The last important point for the strengthening of our faith is that we let God work for us, when the hour of trial of our faith comes, and do not work a deliverance of our own.
"Would the believer therefore have his faith strengthened, he must give God time to work," he declares...
George Mueller - How to discover the will of God
Many asked Mr. Muller how he sought to know the will of God, in that nothing was undertaken, not even the smallest expenditure, without feeling certain he was in God's will. In the following words he gave his answer:
1. I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter. Nine-tenths of the difficulties are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the Lord's will, whatever it may be. When one is truly in this state, it is usually but a little way to the knowledge of what His will is.
2. Having done this, I do not leave the result to feeling or simple impressions. If so, I make myself liable to great delusions.
3. I seek the will of the Spirit of God through or in connection with the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay myself open to great delusions also.
4. Next I take into account providential circumstances. These plainly indicate God's will in connection with His Word and Spirit.
5. I ask God in prayer to reveal His will to me aright.
6. Thus through prayer to God, the study of the Word and reflection, I come to a deliberate judgment according to the best of my ability and knowledge, and if my mind is thus at peace, and continues so after two or three more petitions, I proceed accordingly. In trivial matters and transactions involving most important issues, I have found this method always effective."
And did this plan work?--one asks. Let Mr. Muller's testimony answer.
"I never remember," he wrote three years before his death, "in all my Christian course, a period now (in March 1895) of sixty-nine years and four months, that I EVER SINCERELY AND PATIENTLY sought to know the will of God by the teaching of the Word of God, but I have been ALWAYS directed rightly. But if honesty of heart and uprightness before God were lacking, of if I did not patiently wait upon God for instruction, or if I preferred the counsel of my fellow men to the declarations of the Word of the living God, I made great mistakes. (Italics his.)
1. I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter. Nine-tenths of the difficulties are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the Lord's will, whatever it may be. When one is truly in this state, it is usually but a little way to the knowledge of what His will is.
2. Having done this, I do not leave the result to feeling or simple impressions. If so, I make myself liable to great delusions.
3. I seek the will of the Spirit of God through or in connection with the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay myself open to great delusions also.
4. Next I take into account providential circumstances. These plainly indicate God's will in connection with His Word and Spirit.
5. I ask God in prayer to reveal His will to me aright.
6. Thus through prayer to God, the study of the Word and reflection, I come to a deliberate judgment according to the best of my ability and knowledge, and if my mind is thus at peace, and continues so after two or three more petitions, I proceed accordingly. In trivial matters and transactions involving most important issues, I have found this method always effective."
And did this plan work?--one asks. Let Mr. Muller's testimony answer.
"I never remember," he wrote three years before his death, "in all my Christian course, a period now (in March 1895) of sixty-nine years and four months, that I EVER SINCERELY AND PATIENTLY sought to know the will of God by the teaching of the Word of God, but I have been ALWAYS directed rightly. But if honesty of heart and uprightness before God were lacking, of if I did not patiently wait upon God for instruction, or if I preferred the counsel of my fellow men to the declarations of the Word of the living God, I made great mistakes. (Italics his.)
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
How to really get ahead
Came across this today in my message prep. I love it!
Author Malcolm Gladwell shares his research that shows few people get to the top of their game without putting in at least 10,000 hours of preparation.
"The closer psychologists look at the careers of the gifted, the smaller the role innate talent seems to play and the bigger the role preparation seems to play."
Whether it's Bill Gates, Michael Jordan, the Beatles, Yo Yo Ma, Mozart, or Warren Buffet, it appears no one gets to the top without putting in their 10,000 hours. If you put in 40 hours a week, that's 5 years. If you only find 20 hours a week to work on your area of excellence it will take 10 years. If you're just squeaking out 5 hours a week - it's going to take 40 years. Talent will only take you so far; it's the hours of work that will separate you from the pack.
The problem is that we have become an "instant" society. We have been spoiled with email, cell phones and microwaves - and become impatient with the nanosecond required to load a new web page. College graduates expect the $100,000 job and the $500,000 house instantly. Talented musicians and athletes expect fame and fortune long before investing 10,000 hours in practice. Writers give up after writing their great novel in a weekend and after a month of searching for a publisher. Christians are often confident their idea came from God, thus assuming success will be easy and instantaneous.
So where have you put in your 10,000 hours? If you are in a job that you hate, have you been investing hours in an area of excellence that will give you a new opportunity? Or do you just waste the hours away from work, hoping for something more fulfilling to appear? If you are a writer, a musician, a landscape designer, a web designer or a husband, have you put in your 10,000 hours of concentrated preparation to be great in that area?
I trust this is an encouraging bit of information. You don't have to regret having average talent, or not having the highest IQ, or being born into the wrong family. Just find your area of excellence and put in 10,000 hours of preparation. You'll bypass those with more "advantages" and find success that others only dream of.
What are of your life are you pushing on? Where are you striving and driving to excel? I just spent hours of my life condensing a book on creativity down to 28 pages so that I can now turn it into a conference on creativity that I hope to teach in the fall. I love reading things like this because they inspire me to keep working.
Author Malcolm Gladwell shares his research that shows few people get to the top of their game without putting in at least 10,000 hours of preparation.
"The closer psychologists look at the careers of the gifted, the smaller the role innate talent seems to play and the bigger the role preparation seems to play."
Whether it's Bill Gates, Michael Jordan, the Beatles, Yo Yo Ma, Mozart, or Warren Buffet, it appears no one gets to the top without putting in their 10,000 hours. If you put in 40 hours a week, that's 5 years. If you only find 20 hours a week to work on your area of excellence it will take 10 years. If you're just squeaking out 5 hours a week - it's going to take 40 years. Talent will only take you so far; it's the hours of work that will separate you from the pack.
The problem is that we have become an "instant" society. We have been spoiled with email, cell phones and microwaves - and become impatient with the nanosecond required to load a new web page. College graduates expect the $100,000 job and the $500,000 house instantly. Talented musicians and athletes expect fame and fortune long before investing 10,000 hours in practice. Writers give up after writing their great novel in a weekend and after a month of searching for a publisher. Christians are often confident their idea came from God, thus assuming success will be easy and instantaneous.
So where have you put in your 10,000 hours? If you are in a job that you hate, have you been investing hours in an area of excellence that will give you a new opportunity? Or do you just waste the hours away from work, hoping for something more fulfilling to appear? If you are a writer, a musician, a landscape designer, a web designer or a husband, have you put in your 10,000 hours of concentrated preparation to be great in that area?
I trust this is an encouraging bit of information. You don't have to regret having average talent, or not having the highest IQ, or being born into the wrong family. Just find your area of excellence and put in 10,000 hours of preparation. You'll bypass those with more "advantages" and find success that others only dream of.
What are of your life are you pushing on? Where are you striving and driving to excel? I just spent hours of my life condensing a book on creativity down to 28 pages so that I can now turn it into a conference on creativity that I hope to teach in the fall. I love reading things like this because they inspire me to keep working.
Follow up to last Sunday's message
Interesting. I came across this video today while doing research:
Youtube: Dateline: The power of faith
Again, it simply reinforces what we talked about on Sunday.
Youtube: Dateline: The power of faith
Again, it simply reinforces what we talked about on Sunday.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Sunday update
Did you know we had 140 more people in Church on Sunday compared to one year ago?
We had a blast on Sunday talking about a humbling topic. Wow. I needed a nap after that one.
Some great stories from yesterday again. We had a visitor from out of state who came up to me with tears in his eyes to tell me how much the service meant to him. Cool!
Jamie Johnson is on vacation so Todd ran the entire service on Sunday in Richland Center. Way to go Todd!
I'm SO excited already about this series. Wait until you hear what we're talking about the next few weeks. By the way, the invite card titles are wrong...sorry about that. Once I got into the topics a little more, I just fell in love with one and decided to stretch it into a two week deal. I rarely ever do that, but it fit so perfectly for this week.
If you have a friend who's faith is struggling a little bit, don't let them miss this Sunday in Dodgeville (or the week after in RC). Trust me. You won't believe what you see. One of the videos being prepared is an amazing TRUE story.
We had a blast on Sunday talking about a humbling topic. Wow. I needed a nap after that one.
Some great stories from yesterday again. We had a visitor from out of state who came up to me with tears in his eyes to tell me how much the service meant to him. Cool!
Jamie Johnson is on vacation so Todd ran the entire service on Sunday in Richland Center. Way to go Todd!
I'm SO excited already about this series. Wait until you hear what we're talking about the next few weeks. By the way, the invite card titles are wrong...sorry about that. Once I got into the topics a little more, I just fell in love with one and decided to stretch it into a two week deal. I rarely ever do that, but it fit so perfectly for this week.
If you have a friend who's faith is struggling a little bit, don't let them miss this Sunday in Dodgeville (or the week after in RC). Trust me. You won't believe what you see. One of the videos being prepared is an amazing TRUE story.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Are Christians using their brains?
I to an email today that said this:
Christianity can withstand intellectual scrutiny. The problem is that most Christians cannot.
So said apologist Josh McDowell in a recent talk to a gathering of men's ministers. Over the past 17 years McDowell has asked over 4,000 pastors, leaders, and parents why they believe the Bible is true. The result? According to McDowell only six "came close to giving an intelligent answer."
Even worse, McDowell reports that many Christians suggest Christianity is true merely because they believe it. "That's voodoo thinking," McDowell says. "Where did we ever get that crazy idea that something is true just because we believe it?"
I can't stress how much I agree with this. Christians seem lazy intellectually today. Whenever we do a series on Sunday morning designed to help Christians answer the tough questions of life, our attendance falls. Nobody seems to care if they can answer the questions of life. Very strange.
For those of you who want to start, go google the websites of Josh McDowell and Lee Strobel. Watch some of the videos and start learning more about what you believe.
Christianity can withstand intellectual scrutiny. The problem is that most Christians cannot.
So said apologist Josh McDowell in a recent talk to a gathering of men's ministers. Over the past 17 years McDowell has asked over 4,000 pastors, leaders, and parents why they believe the Bible is true. The result? According to McDowell only six "came close to giving an intelligent answer."
Even worse, McDowell reports that many Christians suggest Christianity is true merely because they believe it. "That's voodoo thinking," McDowell says. "Where did we ever get that crazy idea that something is true just because we believe it?"
I can't stress how much I agree with this. Christians seem lazy intellectually today. Whenever we do a series on Sunday morning designed to help Christians answer the tough questions of life, our attendance falls. Nobody seems to care if they can answer the questions of life. Very strange.
For those of you who want to start, go google the websites of Josh McDowell and Lee Strobel. Watch some of the videos and start learning more about what you believe.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
The most embarassing moment ever...
Ok...Have the children look away from the blog for a moment...
I read a book last weekend called "Transforming church in rural America." It had one of the funniest stories I've ever read.
A couple was into role-playing in...um...certain situations that are appropriate for husband and wife relationships. Nuff said. Anyway, the husband was dressed up like superman and was "flying" from the dresser to the bed to rescue his wife who was handcuffed to the headboard when he got knocked out cold by the ceiling fan. Out of reach of the phone, all the wife could do was yell for help from the neighbors, who called the fire department, who broke down the door and found them, well...yeah...you know how they found them.
There's a lesson there!
I read a book last weekend called "Transforming church in rural America." It had one of the funniest stories I've ever read.
A couple was into role-playing in...um...certain situations that are appropriate for husband and wife relationships. Nuff said. Anyway, the husband was dressed up like superman and was "flying" from the dresser to the bed to rescue his wife who was handcuffed to the headboard when he got knocked out cold by the ceiling fan. Out of reach of the phone, all the wife could do was yell for help from the neighbors, who called the fire department, who broke down the door and found them, well...yeah...you know how they found them.
There's a lesson there!
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