I have been reading through the book of Nehemiah and it seems that the church is in the place where Nehemiah was. In the need for rebuilding. Nehemiah had been serving in the king’s palace but got a leave of absence in order to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. 

He began with a vision and pursued people to help him with that vision.  Along the way they faced many hardships and opposition only to prevail and rebuild the wall in 52 days.  At one point they had a tool in one hand and a weapon in another but they finished the wall in record time.

In building the church, we face obstacles and setbacks but we must press on.  The enemy of our souls does not want us to build God’s church so he tries to slow us down.  We must build with a tool in one hand and the sword of the Spirit in the other.  We must declare the Word of God that no weapon formed against us will prosper.  The Word of God tells us that God will build His church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.  Let’s press through and build His church.  If God be for us who could be against us.

I am trying to develop Hannah from a young age to be a Daddy’s girl and it seems to be working!  We have a daily ritual now that includes a Route 44 Iced Tea from Sonic, my recliner and a little bit of wet clothes.  Every night, we sit together as she dives her hand into my cup and pulls out ice to feed her and me.  We both wind up a little wet but it is a way that I try to make her like me and teach her the importance of Sonic Iced Tea.

Then tonight, I was ironing my clothes for tomorrow when she wanted to wear my shirt.  In fact, she wore my shirt all over the house and I cannot tell you how proud I was to see her walking in my clothes.  I am training her to be like me!

As I was thinking on training her to be a daddy’s girl it made me think about how I need to train her to be like her Heavenly Father’s girl also.  Children are impressionable and we must instill in them godly values and teach them to be like their Father in Heaven.  The Bible declares that we are to train up a child in the way they should go and we must seek to make them more like Him and not so much like us.

Our Rao’s bakery, just 2 miles from the house, will be opening in February.  Rao’s is a locally owned coffee shop that is alot better than Starbucks. (Sorry to all of you Starbucks fans.)

People swear by Starbucks coffee but I have never aquired a taste for their coffee.  On the other hand, Rao’s has a good blend of coffee as well as a good deal of specialty coffees.  My favorite is their house blend with Splenda and powdered creamer.  Sonya loves their Sugar-free Hazelnut Kona Mocha Frozen Coffee.  Josh likes their Sugar-free Carmello Frozen Coffee drink.  He really doesn’t like sugar free but it is all we will let him get.  Hannah is not allowed to drink coffee yet.  We told her not until she is two.

All in all, Rao’s beats Starbucks.  Coffee is God’s great creation, it has the smell of Heaven. 

If you are wondering, their Mid-County location is in the Old Novrosky’s across from Central Mall on HWY 365.  ENJOY!

Whew! We survived last week. Last week was filled with meetings and preparation for our Sunday School re-launch. School 4 LIFE went off without any glitches and it is good to be back to our schedule. The last four months went by quick but I believe that we have enhanced our minstsry by taking a few months off.

Yesterday we began our ELEVATE series. We talked about Elevating in our relationship with God and looked at the four levels of the spiritual life as seen in the Old Testament story of Moses, Joshua and the children of Israel. I was challenged to go to another level in my spiritual life. In 2008 I want to draw nearer to the Lord and elevate to the place He has for me. All of us should seek to go higher in our walk with God. I encourage you to take time this year to fast and pray. Whether it is a day or 21 days. Set aside a little time to press in closer to Him.

Next, Sunday we are going to look at Elevating Our Church’s Prayer Life. It will be a glance at the early church as well as the Life of Jesus, our great example. The Bible says, “He went a little further to pray.” We need to go a little further also!

Tomorrow, I was going to preach a one part message on our theme for the year, ELEVATE.  As I began to study it out, my first point took 13 pages.  For your sakes I decided to break the whole message up into several parts.  You do not want to miss this message tomorrow, however.  It is about elevating our relationship with God.  Going to another level.  We look at the story of Moses, Joshua, the elders of Israel and the children of Israel.  Each was at a different level in their spirituality.  This message will challenge you to go higher in your relationship with God.

The following weeks we will look at Elevating our Prayer Life especially as a church, Elevating Our Commitment To Ministry, Elevating Our Outreach.  I am excited about these topics.  I pray that you will make an effort to be at our Sunday Morning services.

Tomorrow is the new year. Another year to make a difference for the Kingdom of God.

As we look at another 365 days, have you made any goals (resolutions)?

You can tell there are alot of people who make new year resolutions. The most popular is losing weight and getting into shape. You can tell this by driving by the high school track in the month of January. It is packed! People are everywhere trying to get back into shape. February rolls around and there is a decline in people. Every month after, there seems to be a decline. We start the year off right but do we follow through?

Those who make these resolutions start off good but do not finish well. I think, in a lot of cases, we are all like that. I have goals I set every year and when March rolls around I find myself wavering on my goals. I even forget some of those goals. So I started doing something different. I started writing them down. I put them on a piece of paper that I can print and read over periodically. I even transfer a copy onto my Blackberry so I can read my goals when I get bored.

I challenge each of you to set some goals for 2008. You can set goals for several areas of your life.

Health/Physical
Personal/Spiritual
Family/Relationships
Education/Learning
Ministry/Church
Work/Career

Sit down in the next couple of days and write down your goals and put them in a place that you can refer back to them. It will help you have a great year.