Some of my Christian friends celebrate Halloween. Others, like us, do not. I believe the most appropriate Christian response to Halloween is to study the matter for yourself and follow the convictions of your own heart. Let others do the same without condemnation. I have had several people ask why we chose to stop celebrating. The answer is simple. After much research and prayer, we felt the Holy Spirit lead us away from it totally. Deut. 18:10-12 tells us to stay away from sorcery and witchcraft. We could not find a way for our family to partially celebrate halloween yet avoid these evil aspects of the holiday. We spent two years fighting the Holy Spirit's leading before we followed.
This link contains some of the information that I found in my research. We followed the convictions of our own hearts. Please don't feel like we are judging you if your heart leads you a different direction than ours did. Blessings. :)
http://http://www.crcbermuda.com/reference/holidays-and-observances/503?task=view
Friday, October 30, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
A Parent's Responsiblity
from http://www.surfinthespirit.com/teens/parents.html
What Exactly Are Your Parent’s Responsibilities?
Sunday, October 25th, 2009
by Pastor Art Kohl
You parents have been given these responsibilities by God:
1. Clothing
To clothe you in a Christian manner
To oversee your dress, appearance, hair, and make-up
To teach you to avoid worldliness and immodesty
2. Food & Nutrition
To feed you with nutritious meals
To not feed you unhealthy food
To teach you to avoid the world’s junk food, which leads to physical maladies and unruly behavior
3. Discipline
To discipline you with the goal of teaching you to be a decent, law-abiding citizen and Christian
To produce an atmosphere of quiet and peace in your home
To purge you of stubbornness, rebellion, and pride
To have your will be submitted to God’s will
To teach you – through education, chastisement, and work – to be a responsible, contributing human being
To teach you to control your emotions
4. Entertainment & Communication
To protect you from evil people and influences
To teach you to avoid evil communications of today (on the Internet, on TV, in movies, in chat rooms, in worldly music, on cell phones, in video games, and so on)
To approve of all reading materials, books, posters, magazines, etc.
To oversee and approve (or disapprove) of friendships and relationships
5. Privacy
To know what is in every bedroom, desk, drawer, etc., at all times.
To oversee all e-mails, computer programs, etc.
To oversee what you are watching, listening to, or talking about
6. Education
To lead you to Jesus Christ, and teach you that He can be your Saviour and Shepherd.
To educate you in the Bible before you leave the home.
The home is under the authority of the parents and they have every right and responsibility to do these things listed above. There are no perfect parents. But whether your parents show hyprocrisy or consistency, you are to obey and honor them. If you have a stepmother or stepfather, you are to be subject to them, too (see Luke 2:51).
Most children live under their parents’ authority, in their parents’ homes, for about 1/4 of their lives. God promises to bless children with long life if they will obey and honor their parents. Children and teenagers should submit to the Scriptures and the power of God in their lives. This list of responsibilities is based on my 36 years of familiarity with the Bible.
What Exactly Are Your Parent’s Responsibilities?
Sunday, October 25th, 2009
by Pastor Art Kohl
You parents have been given these responsibilities by God:
1. Clothing
To clothe you in a Christian manner
To oversee your dress, appearance, hair, and make-up
To teach you to avoid worldliness and immodesty
2. Food & Nutrition
To feed you with nutritious meals
To not feed you unhealthy food
To teach you to avoid the world’s junk food, which leads to physical maladies and unruly behavior
3. Discipline
To discipline you with the goal of teaching you to be a decent, law-abiding citizen and Christian
To produce an atmosphere of quiet and peace in your home
To purge you of stubbornness, rebellion, and pride
To have your will be submitted to God’s will
To teach you – through education, chastisement, and work – to be a responsible, contributing human being
To teach you to control your emotions
4. Entertainment & Communication
To protect you from evil people and influences
To teach you to avoid evil communications of today (on the Internet, on TV, in movies, in chat rooms, in worldly music, on cell phones, in video games, and so on)
To approve of all reading materials, books, posters, magazines, etc.
To oversee and approve (or disapprove) of friendships and relationships
5. Privacy
To know what is in every bedroom, desk, drawer, etc., at all times.
To oversee all e-mails, computer programs, etc.
To oversee what you are watching, listening to, or talking about
6. Education
To lead you to Jesus Christ, and teach you that He can be your Saviour and Shepherd.
To educate you in the Bible before you leave the home.
The home is under the authority of the parents and they have every right and responsibility to do these things listed above. There are no perfect parents. But whether your parents show hyprocrisy or consistency, you are to obey and honor them. If you have a stepmother or stepfather, you are to be subject to them, too (see Luke 2:51).
Most children live under their parents’ authority, in their parents’ homes, for about 1/4 of their lives. God promises to bless children with long life if they will obey and honor their parents. Children and teenagers should submit to the Scriptures and the power of God in their lives. This list of responsibilities is based on my 36 years of familiarity with the Bible.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Update on Kid's Day Out
No matter how many tactics satan tried to use to distract us from our goal, Kid's Day Out was a huge success. First obstacle-J. lost his job. No job means no money to purchase supplies. Obstacle #2-our church outreach was schedule for the same day, so many of our potential volunteers were not able to help after all. Obstacle #3-H1N1. Gabe ended up sick the day before the event. Carmen ended up sick during the event (still praying that she didn't infect anyone) and Logan got sick the morning after the event. All I can say is, God is the ultimate orchestrator and provider. I was not able to attend the event since no one wanted to stay home and watch a sick kid, but God provided just enough volunteers to get everything done. I would have loved to have gone, but God had a role for each of us and apparently my role was to organize the event and to cook and deliver the side dishes. I was remarkably ok with that. Afterall, J. and I had just talked about this being HIS ministry and if a ministry is really God's, it can go on without the people that started it. There were a total of 17 kids and 10 adults from Over the Rhine. They had a blast hiking with a nature scavenger hunt and meeting the farm animals (3 goats, a sheep, then chickens and rabbits). They met the horses and loved Dolly's cool tricks. They even got to help care for the horses and got a short ride. Fishing was fun, too, even with all of the tangled lines. (we probably could have used more volunteers with the fishing. maybe we will switch to cain poles in the future.) Several kids baited their own hook for the first time and two of them even got to hold a fish! These kids don't get to experience life outside of the city very often so this was an experience of a lifetime. I loved seeing the all of the photos of the days events, especially the expressions on the kids' faces. Along with the 27 people from OTR, we also had 7 coordinators at the event along with 3 helpers. We also had 17 people from our church come to hang out. I am really looking forward to our next event. It might even be an overnight. I am so thankful for everyone who helped make this event and this ministry a possibility. I am thankful to all who prayed and encouraged us. Without them, this would still be an impossible dream. I am thankful for those who donated supplies and money. The helped to make this a reality and touch the kids in practical ways. I am thankful to Nancy and her family for all of their hard work and for being there the day of the event to keep things running smoothly and for ministering to these kids from OTR. We definetly could not have done it without you. Your kids are leaders in the making. And I am especially thankful to Derek and Jessy for opening up their property to us and for going above and beyond by even purchasing animals for the kids to meet. They were more excited about this then we were, and that is how we know that God orchestrated this whole thing. This ministry belongs to God. I am so thankful to be a part of it. I can't wait to see what he does with it next!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Elisheva Ministries
Well, it's official (sort of). Our dream of Grace of God Ranch is beginning to become a reality. We have a ministry name and we will have our first ministry event in just a few weeks. We decided to call this ministry, Elisheva Ministries. Elisheva is the Hebrew form of the name Elizabeth, which means dedicated to God.
We want to thank everyone who has been joining us over the last few years in praying for our dream of Grace of God Ranch. Recently, we have really felt God leading us to use what we have instead of waiting for a camp facility. While we were willing to use our own back yard, it didn’t have much to offer for camping or even for a day trip. In talking with some friends about our dream, God provided a location to use. Hence, Elisheva Ministries is born.
We will be having our first official event for Elisheva Ministries in October. Kid’s Day Out will be held on Saturday October 17th 2-6:30pm. Working together with Pastors Johann and Paul from OTR Living Water Ministries, we are planning a day of fishing, hiking, and horseback riding fun for a group of ~15 inner city kids.
The purpose of Kid’s Day Out, and the general vision of Elisheva Ministries, is to provide children in the inner city with the opportunity to experience life outside of the city, to feel the grass between their toes, to see a small part of the glorious natural world that God created, and to feel the love and grace of Jesus through the caring volunteers and fun activities.
We still have much to do with this ministry to get it off the ground. We need to write a mission statement, a vision statement, to select a board of directors, to draft bylaws, to develop a financial plan, and much more in order to establish ourselves as a non profit organization. We are not actually "official" yet. But we are one step closer. I have no idea what I am doing. But we will do whatever it takes to share the love and grace of Jesus with others.
Thank you for your prayers and support.
We want to thank everyone who has been joining us over the last few years in praying for our dream of Grace of God Ranch. Recently, we have really felt God leading us to use what we have instead of waiting for a camp facility. While we were willing to use our own back yard, it didn’t have much to offer for camping or even for a day trip. In talking with some friends about our dream, God provided a location to use. Hence, Elisheva Ministries is born.
We will be having our first official event for Elisheva Ministries in October. Kid’s Day Out will be held on Saturday October 17th 2-6:30pm. Working together with Pastors Johann and Paul from OTR Living Water Ministries, we are planning a day of fishing, hiking, and horseback riding fun for a group of ~15 inner city kids.
The purpose of Kid’s Day Out, and the general vision of Elisheva Ministries, is to provide children in the inner city with the opportunity to experience life outside of the city, to feel the grass between their toes, to see a small part of the glorious natural world that God created, and to feel the love and grace of Jesus through the caring volunteers and fun activities.
We still have much to do with this ministry to get it off the ground. We need to write a mission statement, a vision statement, to select a board of directors, to draft bylaws, to develop a financial plan, and much more in order to establish ourselves as a non profit organization. We are not actually "official" yet. But we are one step closer. I have no idea what I am doing. But we will do whatever it takes to share the love and grace of Jesus with others.
Thank you for your prayers and support.
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