Author: Nick

All the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen . . . —2 Corinthians 1:20 Last Sunday night we finished the series of Extraordinary. It’s all about living all that we are meant to as children of God. It’s good to know the limits of our natural abilities. It is also good to maximize those abilities, by following the tenants of good health, by exercising our abilities to keep them sharp, by discovering and developing them. There is considerable focus on such maximization in our world. If we are not living up to our potential in the physical, intellectual or emotional, it’s usually our lazyness. God has gifted us differently, but we are responsible for putting the gifts He has given to maximum use. Unlike our natural abilities, the promises of God are back by all the goodness and power of the universe. “If we have received the Holy Spirit, God expects the work of the Holy Spirit to be exhibited in us.” “Never forget that our capacity and capability in spiritual matters is measured by, and based on, the promises of God. Is God able to fulfill His promises? Our answer depends on whether […]

The Bible characters stumbled over their strong points, never their weak ones. Every good thing we have comes from God. He gives us some “natural” talents and they become a source of pride for  us. We begin to believe that accomplishments using those talents are ours. That’s pride and a fall can not be far away.  God is most glorified when he uses us in a area in which we have no “natural” talent. We hear of his servants who are afraid to speak in public. He calls them to preach and many are brought to Christ. It is not necessary that our “natural” talents be unusable by God. If we will keep our perspective and recognize we do no good think on our own, he can use us though the gifts He gave us at birth and the gifts He bestows on us as needed. If we keep faith, we can and will be used. We have to get up when we fall. We will see miracles. That’s what Faith can do. Lord, keep us humble. It’s the only way we can be useful to you and we want to be used. We want to bless as you […]

God called to him . . . . And he said, ’Here I am’ —Exodus 3:4 When God called to Moses from the burning bush, Moses was ready, “Here I am.”  Am I ready.? Moses was ready because God had put him through some preparation. He had moved Him from wearing fancy clothes in the house of Pharaoh to the simple fashion of the wilderness, a leader of Egypt to a tender of sheep. He had moved him for thinking he was a child of Egypt to the knowledge that he was a slave, a child of the people of God. He had moved him from thinking he could do something about the suffering of his people on his own, to knowing that alone he could do nothing. Am I ready? Do I know who I am? A Child of God. Do I know I can do nothing on my own? Can I recognize His voice coming from the bush, because I’ve heard it and responded to it before. Is my time in the wilderness at an end and is it time to go into Egypt and bring the redemptive word of God? “When God speaks, many of us […]

Fearless begins next Sunday night, April 25, at 6 p.m. at Amana Christian Fellowship in Maurice. Get started now. Chapter 1, your reading assignment for week one can be found here.  Please read the Chapter before next Sunday night and join us. Begin to live a life of Faith Not Fear. Click here for more info. 

When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment . . . and plunged into the sea —John 21:7 Peter, Peter, Peter. So impulsive. Such a one to act without thinking. So quick to speak. If only I could be more like Peter more often. Peter heard it was the Lord and dove right in. Why won’t I dive right in? I’m more like the kid who can’t swim. He sees the other kids in the pool splashing around and having fun, but sits on the edge, one foot in the water. Afraid. It’s really a question of trust versus fear. I don’t dive in because I fear. I don’t trust enough. We recall the other incident with Peter and the Lord and the water. Peter didn’t dive in that time. He walked on. Sure his faith faltered and fear crept up on him and trust waned; but he took the first step. What is fear keeping you from today? What is He asking you to dive into that seems a bit too scary? Let’s take a chance. Let’s dive in. For once let’s act impulsively. He’s waiting. Be blessed. Nick

We love the mountain top. We love the feeling, the sense of God’s presence, the high. God can bring us to the mountain any time He chooses. He can surprise us with a mountain when we really need it. I like to make regular  planned trips to the mountain. The mountain, for me, is the place where I know I will see God work and know he will speak to me. For me that is Kairos. But we’ve been taught that we can’t live on the mountain tops.  We are told we have to live in the valleys. The mountain tops are not “real life.” These thoughts may be true to some extent. But we can bring the mountain top with us back into the valley. We must bring our everyday life up to the standard revealed to us on the mountaintop when we were there. Moses spent time with God on the mountain. He came down alone but he brought the glow and the law of God down with him. On the mountain He teaches us, by His word and by His presence. Hold on to that glow and word. It will help you through the valley times. […]

I find myself thinking that God and I are okay, at least on the main points. I have nagging feelings that we are missing each other but not on the big things. “Beware of ever thinking, “Oh, that thing in my life doesn’t matter much.” The fact that it doesn’t matter much to you may mean that it matters a great deal to God. Nothing should be considered a trivial matter by a child of God.” One of our great defense mechanism is “minimization.” Each day we strive to “hit the high points” and “do the important things.” Tragically, when we have time to reflect, we often realized we missed the important things. We confuse the urgent and the important. Don’t you hate in when you are  at a place of business, talking to someone there, and they stop the conversation to pick up the phone. That’s a case of confusing the urgent and the important. The same kind of confusion causes folks to stop what they are doing multiple times a day to “check emails” or to “answer a text.” As the illustration demonstrates, some things are urgent but not important; some are urgent and important; some are […]

“. . . the joy of the Lord is your strength” ( Nehemiah 8:10  ). We spoke yesterday of burdens. Some burdens which we should never carry and others which we carry but should always share. There is another burden. It brings joy and by its very nature it is shared. It is the burden of the presence of God. This burden belongs to the believer and it brings joy when the believer makes a moral decision about sin and the ever-present God can begin His work. “Where do the saints get their joy? If we did not know some Christians well, we might think from just observing them that they have no burdens at all to bear. But we must lift the veil from our eyes. The fact that the peace, light, and joy of God is in them is proof that a burden is there as well. The burden that God places on us squeezes the grapes in our lives and produces the wine, but most of us see only the wine and not the burden. No power on earth or in hell can conquer the Spirit of God living within the human spirit; it creates an inner […]