Daniel chooses wisely because of godly friends

I am getting ready to teach on the life of Daniel and the choices that he made. Last week we looked at godly friendship based on the relationship between Jonathan and David. You can read that article here. Godly friends influence us in godly ways helping us make godly choices in life. Daniel had a similar situation in his life. He was placed in a situation where he had to choose between doing what God’s Word teaches or what everyone else around him was doing. Daniel made the right choice and God rewarded him. What can we learn from Daniel’s story?

Brave Esther, a godly friend to Israel

Last week’s lesson for children’s church was “Be a godly friend like Jonathan and David“. I pray that the children will apply what they learned this week and see how God uses them. This week’s lesson ties in with being a godly friend by focusing on Esther and her brave actions which saved the lives of all of her friends, the entire race of Hebrews. I would like to look at this historical account and see what we can learn about godly friendship and bravery.

Being a godly friend like Jonathan and David

As I prepare to teach during Children’s church this weekend, I want to write out my thoughts in article form so that I can think through the teaching process as well as share what I have been learning with you. I will be teaching on friendship based on Jonathan and David’s godly friendship. Their story is an amazing one and it parallels Christ’s friendship with us, how we benefit from it, and then how we are motivated to pass this blessing on to others by befriending them and introducing them to our friend, Jesus Christ.

Overcoming Fear L4 part 4

As you can tell, lesson 4 is quite long since it has already been divided up into 4 parts. I have been greatly encouraged by this study and I do not think that it was by chance that I was studying and teaching this course when God called me to follow Him on one of the scariest endeavors of my life. I have been put in situations over the past 6 months that have forced me to apply what I have been learning and teaching. God is good and has been faithful to His promises over and over again throughout this journey.

A little premarital counseling

I have been asked to lead a wedding ceremony for a member of our church, Good News and today I have our first premarital counseling session. I would like to share some of the information here in this article as resource for those of you who are planning on getting married one day.

I have been married for almost 11 years and most of the stuff that I will write about has come from my own personal experiences. Before doing anything else, you must study the Bible study course “Marriage without Regrets” written by Kay Arthur. Secondly, you must buy the book that accompanies the study. These must be read and studied constantly before you get married and during your married life.

Does America really need a LGBT history month?

I was shocked to learn of this news the other day, the fact that Obama has declared the month of June as “Homosexual Pride” month and that homosexual activists have declared the month of October (conveniently while children are in school) as “LGBT History” month.

I would love to know your thoughts on this. I am shocked at this blatant propaganda but at the same time I am not surprised. This is how the homosexual agenda works and it started 1,000s of years ago, all the way back in the book of Genesis. Here are some insights on the homosexual agenda.

New Series: Overcoming Fear L1

This past Saturday night, we began a new study with our youth group, Generation of Purity. Many people fear because we live during difficult times. Many do not know what the future holds and therefore, worry and fear. I chose to teach the 40 minute Bible study, Breaking free from fear, written by Kay Arthur. It is a great study of the people of the Bible and how they overcame fear. I want to write this article based on lesson 1 of the study.

Advice on getting married

The other night, we were blessed at the youth group to have our Senior pastor, Vasile Filat, come and join us and teach us the Biblical perspective on how young people are to act while waiting to get married and what are the proper steps to take in order to get married. It was an interesting and helpful lesson so I decided to share it via an article, especially for those who do not speak Romanian. So, here are the 9 simple steps to the process of marrying according to God’s will.

Two more summer camps down

I had the privilege of spending 20 amazing days at two different camps during July and August. It was a wild ride leading and the whole thing left me exhausted like no other time in my life. In fact, after the first camp, I almost ended up in the hospital because of extreme fatigue. I left church on a Sunday morning and headed to the hospital because I was experiencing dizzy spells. When I called my friend who is a cardiologist, she told me to go to the emergency room right away because I was demonstrating some early warning signs of a heart attack. I went and did all the tests and discovered that I was fine. My heart rate was slow and slowing down to let me know it was time to take a break. The doc suggested that I take a few days off. I took one day off and then I went to a week long festival for all of our leaders. I was refreshed physically and spiritually there and gained the needed strength the lead the next camps.

The English camp

This was my 13th summer to lead at our annual English summer camp. We had about 200 students attend the English camp, along with about 50 public school teachers. I met some awesome people from several different States in the USA who came to serve with us. Volunteers came from MS, MO, NC, TN, LA, and VA. There were 15 countries represented at the English camp. I had 4 of my English students attend camp. I was very excited because 3 of them had yet to accept Christ as Lord and Savior. The two main studies were “Someday, a marriage without regrets” written by Kay Arthur which was studied by the advanced students and the Gospel of John for the beginner and intermediate students. God worked in a mighty way and over 30 people accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. My two non born again students did not make a decision to follow Christ but they were very impressed by all the things that they learned from the Word of God. I was able to build some good relationships and all of my students want to continue studying in the Fall once school starts back. I am very excited about that and pray for new students as well.

The Youth camp

After the festival was over, I had one day to go home, see my family, and then prepare for the youth camp which started on the 5th of August. First we picked up the American team from GA who came to serve with us at the camp. We chose “Lord I want to know You” as the study for the youth camp. Upon arrival we were greeted with many trials and obstacles. We had 130 campers registered and to our surprise, 150 showed up. Together with the campers and leaders, there were 190 people at camp the first day. We only had portions for 150 🙂 . We managed and God blessed us with an amazing camp. More than half of the campers were non born again. After 5 days of intense study, we gave a call to repentance one night and 15 students came forward and accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. We let two days pass and on the final night of camp, around the campfire, we had another call to repentance and 20 more accepted the invitation. By the end, 35 new souls had their names written in the Book of Life. We were amazed at God’s goodness. The trials and obstacles actually worked toward the furtherance of the kingdom of God. One day we played a game with the entire camp and some of the conditions were to go into the near by village and share the Gospel with people as well as do random acts of kindness. It was great. Even the non born again students liked the game. The camp was also blessed to have the best live Christian band in Moldova as the praise band for the camp, Not an idol. On the final night of camp they held an awesome concert. One of the conditions for them to be at camp was that they do the Bible study with us. They had such a great time and we challenged them to write new songs based on what they were learning. One of the songs that they wrote will be a future hit once they record in professionally. They wrote it based on lesson one of the study. You can hear it here.

Is it important to have a profession?

I went to teach my two 8th grade classes yesterday and the theme of the lesson was the importance of choosing a profession. After finishing the Bible study “What does the Bible say about sex”, I have been invited to add a Biblical perspective on the topics covered over the course of the rest of the semester during civics class. Yesterday’s topic was careers, as I have already mentioned. I would like to share some of the truths from the lesson here.