Responding to God's Call - Moses as an example

I can sure relate to Moses and his response to God's call on his life. God's callings are often unexpected and a shock.

Romans 15:4, "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope."

As a pastor I find great comfort from the Scriptures that gives me hope in finding God's help to fulfill His calling in my life. O Lord help me to be completely dependent on you and walk by faith moment by moment of each day!

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A Message on Forgiveness

The struggle of forgiveness or the poison of unforgiveness, the choice is yours!

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We often talk about God's blessing but what about blessing God?

September Pastor's Chat:

We have come to the last item that Christ deserves to receive from us as mentioned in Revelation 5:12—blessing! What does it mean to bless the Lord?

The word bless, according to Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary, when used in reference to God means “to praise; to glorify, for benefits received,” or “to praise; to magnify for excellencies.” Certainly there are many benefits which we receive each day for which we should bless God. If we spend time in the Word of God reflecting and meditating on God’s Excellencies, how can we not break forth in verbal praise and tell others about the Excellencies of our God that we have beheld? God is worthy of blessing! Are you blessing God with your praise and adoration simply for who He is, as well as for his wonderful gifts to men? Or is there something in your heart that just isn’t comfortable about a God who wants to be worshiped? We certainly don’t look kindly upon men who set themselves up as someone great and display a desire to be worshiped and idolized by others. Does the question, “What makes it right for God to want to be worshiped?” lurk in the deep recesses of your heart and cause you not to abandon yourself in wholehearted worship of Him? Well, God is not a man! He was never a man who became a god! He is! He is eternal! He is great! He is perfect! He is creator! He is the one who sustains our very life! He holds this world together! He is all powerful! He is all knowing! He is present everywhere! My friend, God is worthy of our praise simply because of who He is. He is God! We will never experience true satisfaction until we find it in blessing God as Psalm 103 and 104 reveal. Please read them soon.

With prayer, Pastor Mark

The best sermon I have ever heard on worshiping God from the heart. I hope that you will listen and grow in your ability to simple take pleasure in God simple for who He is. Click hear to listen!

Wisdom from Scripture for Parenting

These articles were originally written for the “Archer” a homeschooling news letter that we published for our church’s homeschooling umbrella school where I served as the Principal for a few years (2002-2003). It is my hope that they might be an encouragement to Father’s who are wanting to raise their children for the Lord.

Introduction: The need for a Scriptural foundation for parenting!

Post 1- Establishing our goal in parenting – Proverbs 22:6

Post 2 – Reaching our goals in parenting – Proverbs 22:6

Post 3 – Teaching our children – Deuteronomy11:18

Post 4- The child’s role in being parented

Post 5 – The Father’s role in parenting – Ephesians 6:4

Post 6 -The Father’s role in parenting – Ephesians 6:4 – Part two

Post 7 -The Mother’s role in parenting – Titus 2:3-5

With prayer, Mark Worden

Announcing a new Bible teaching blog entitled "Magnify"

Over the next few days I will be posting 7 articles dedicated to fathers on a new blog entitled "Magnify" Let me know if they are helpful to you!

You can find them at http://magnifythelord.wordpress.com

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there who are trying to raise their children for the Lord!

With prayer, Mark Worden

Musings about Fatherhood

A Father’s Heart: Provoke Not Your Children to Wrath

While I was growing up, one of my favorite past-times was getting under-my-sister’s-skin. In other words I liked provoking her to anger. Even after trusting Christ at the age of 18, I still fell to this temptation but now felt convicted for my unkindness to the point that I would even ask her forgiveness. It is amazing how knowing Christ as Savior begins to change us and better our relationships within our families!

Nearly 10 years later when I became a father, it revealed that I still enjoyed irritating people, though I was unaware that I was doing anything wrong. This time it was my new baby daughter of just a few weeks old. Well, we had this new camera that had this automatic rewind and rapid picture taking capability, so I snapped a picture of our little one who was sleeping so sweetly in her car seat. Nothing wrong with that! But the flash kind of disturbed her rest, and she had a little frown upon her face. So I snapped another picture, the bright flash glaring into her little face. She became a little irritated now, and I was so amused by her reaction that I snapped another one, and another one, and another one–until my baby daughter was wailing in helpless frustration. She was crying and I was laughing. I was laughing at the frustration that I had the power to arouse in another person. I was laughing at the expense of someone for whom I was supposed to protect and tenderly care. It was so easy to do—so fun—so wrong!

I continued to provoke—I called it teasing my daughter. I did not really begin to change until about 6 years later when my wife encouraged me to find out what the Bible teaches about parenting. At that time I was floundering as a father, had been abdicating my responsibilities, and desperately needed help. The Bible had the wisdom and instruction I needed to be the father that God wanted me to be. Two of the scriptures that particularly grabbed my attention were Ephesians 6:4 “And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,” and Colossians 3:21, “Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.”

I was deeply convicted of my unkindness in provoking my daughter to anger by those clear scriptural commands! What a contrast to the nurturing father God wanted me to be! By following the parenting practices of my ancestors, I was unwittingly discouraging my daughter. I was neglecting to build a relationship based upon loving respect. With God’s help I began to overcome the pleasure of provoking my daughter and instead began to lovingly train and correct her. I turned back from a path that had been leading me to ruin and began traveling a path that has brought me tremendous joy. God’s way made all the difference.

May God grant us fathers the grace to resist the temptations to provoke our children to wrath and give us the wisdom to train them for the Lord.

With Prayer, Pastor Mark

Note: The Bible study that changed my life in the area of parenting is available on our church blog: http://magnifythelord.wordpress.com/bible-study/the-privilege-of-parenting

More Bible teaching on parenting can be found here.

Key Verses on Fatherhood

Psalm 103:13, “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.”

Proverbs 3:12, “For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

1 Thessalonians 2:11, “As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children.”

Ephesians 6:4, “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”