Its that time of the year when churches bring out the garland and perform big Christmas events in hopes that the masses come in. We begin to see the sermon titles about Christ and the meaning of Christmas. It is also at this time we begin to see the challenge against Christ and his birth. A little over a year ago I was listening to the radio and an evangelist was sharing the Christmas story. This is a story that I have heard a hundred times over, yet this time I listened from a skeptic’s point of view. I will admit, the story sounded crazy! A virgin birth? An angel proclaiming the birth? So I began ask myself the very same questions a skeptic would ask. How can we know that it’s true? Could it be a myth? Did the authors of the Gospels get it wrong? Where’s the proof? How would I answer someone if asked the questions of doubt? I never was challenged as a child, teenager or adult to rethink the possibility that it was a fraud. I could give a good church answer, but what about critically

Wanting to beat the Thanksgiving crowd we left Southern California late last night and arrived home this morning …2:30am to be exact! We had a great visit with family. Good food! Lots of laughs and good memories! As our families grow, each visit gets harder and harder to leave. After a visit with my brother and his family, we took off into the night to catch the 99. During the drive home you get some thinking time, and I kept coming back to the last words of my “good-bye” with Sandy, my brother’s mother-in-law…”Enjoy life.” Those words, so simple, yet hit me like a ton of bricks. Let me explain. Sandy and Lloyd are missionaries. Lloyd is a contractor at heart, and so he uses his gift by building churches and orphanages overseas. Sandy loves people! When you walk into her presence you sense the love of God flow out of her. She always looks for ways to serve the locals wherever she is at. This couple has traveled the world and impacted so many lives! Including mine! I had the opportuni

I love this time of the year! Thanksgiving week kicks off the holiday season! So many memories and so much to be thankful for! The day my parents brought my brother home and I held him for the first time. Going to McDonald's with my grandfather as a little boy. Christmas day at grandma and grandpa's house. The day I gave me heart to Christ. My wedding day. The birth of my children. I could go. Each memory is like a stone of remembrance. In the Old Testament it was common for people to put up a "stone of remembrance" that shared an event that took place on the site. We do the same today, they are called historical markers. About a month ago I was traveling to a soccer match in the foothills and came to a single road out in nowhere! It was a small town with about five or six homes. It was odd to me. Where did this little town, no bigger than a football field come from? As we drove through I passed a landmark! I had to stop and read it, I was really curious. Come to find

con•fi•dence: full trust; belief in the powers, trustworthiness, or reliability of a person or thing I love to see the underdog rise to the top. I think we all do! Gideon was an underdog. In the first week we see the fear and his belief in the lack of ability, drive him to God. We see Gideon test God by making sure that it was God and not him thinking these farfetched ideas. As we see Gideon receive his answers, we begin to see a different Gideon. A Gideon, who is filled with confidence. A Gideon, that is not full of fear, but full of belief that God will do what he said He would do! The “mighty warrior” that was proclaimed back in Judges 6:12, starts to come to pass. Confidence #1: “Belief in the power of God” “Watch me,” he told them. “Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon.’” Judges 7:17 “Watch me!” “Follow my lea

It was early in the morning and I could not sleep. The weight of being the provider of the home was weighing me down. My job at the time was barley meeting the needs of my family. I was given a cut in pay and “politics” was beginning to dictate my future. Something needed to change. As I lay in bed, my mind was going a hundred miles per hour. How was I going to supply the needs for my family? How was I going to fulfill that call if I could not even take care of my family? Oh, I was frustrated and hurting. At that moment I was done with ministry! I needed a better job. Then in the moment of the silence I began to shoot the breeze with God. I remember telling God, “Lord I know you have called me. I know that you are a God who provides. Yet I am done! I am done with ministry! I have listened and I have acted, yet my family still struggles”. Then I threw my fleece out to God. “For years I have followed your direction. Yet tonight I am done with ministry, unless You provide a new way to mee

Some are loud. Others are quiet. Where one may be bashful, another may be comfortable in front of others. Whatever the moment or time, men and women rise to be great leaders, sometimes without even knowing that the calling of a leader rest in them. Some hide their leadership and some can’t wait to lead. I believe that each generation awaits a leader to lead the call towards greatness. In our culture few leaders have risen and many have fallen. I will admit, in whatever profession it’s hard to be a leader these days. I believe it is because what has been seen as right is seen as wrong. And what has been seen as wrong has now been accepted as right. That can cause a leader to hide and hold back. If there is a time for leaders to rise it is now! We will take a look at Gideon’s fears, testing, and confidence in these next few weeks. Let’s begin our study on Gideon. Introduction. Scripture tell us that the people had turned away from the Lord. If we look back a few chapters we can see

“The rich and poor have this in common; The Lord is the maker of them all." Proverbs 22:2 Whether you believe that the clouds opened up and God sent MAC, or believe that MAC is a future conspiracy of the anti-christ…you must admit the success of one who changed the landscape of technology of our time. This past week, as you may know, Steven Jobs, founder of Apple, passed away. After hearing his passing, a sense of sadness came over me. I’ve never known Steve. Never met him. Yet for me and my generation, this was the Thomas Edison of our time. His impact was epic! I remember working on a computer in college with the DOS program. Remember that? The black screen and green lettering! Man we thought we were in heaven! Then I remember working on the first Macintosh! I was blown away! Publishing became easier and you knew that a new era had just begun! A computer was no more for the government or large corporation, ordinary people could have access to technology. The internet comes al

“Come and follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” These words have been a foundational statement within the church for the last two thousand years. We hear it as a mission statement to go out into the world and share the hope of Jesus with others. I’m sure you have heard many sermons on this passage. Yet what was Christ saying to Peter? Why….”Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”? The words “Come follow me…” were powerful at the time, but I believe the words, “I will make you fishers of men”, become more powerful to Peter at the Day of Pentecost. These words have a significant meaning whether you are an employee, business owner or CEO. Becoming fishers of men starts with…”Come, follow me….” “Come, follow me” These words were powerful in the culture that Jesus lived in. I believe when we understand the context of those words, it becomes even more powerful in our culture. To understand those words we have to go back some. Hebrew education in the first century in

Luke is the author of the book that bears his name and Acts. Each book is very detailed. Acts records the first thirty years of history of the church, where the Gospel of Luke records the life of Christ and the events that surrounded his story. It was very important to Luke to get the story right, because at this time (around 60 AD) many stories were filling the marketplace about this Jesus character. Many stories were being said that contradicted the divinity of Christ, his death and resurrection. Words were being put into the mouth of Christ that never had credibility and for Luke he wanted to set the story straight! The word of Christ acts and salvation were spreading throughout the region, and in just thirty years or so was making an impact in the culture as a new religion sect was on the rise (Acts 11:28). Luke gives us his reason for writing his account in the first four verses of chapter 1… “Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled amon

                               Through the years I have come to believe that Paul was one of the greatest defenders of the faith. He had to be! In Acts 17 Paul visited Athens. A city that was polytheistic by all means. As Paul was walking the streets he notices altars set up to various god’s. One altar is said to have caught his attention, “The Altar to the Unknown God”. As was custom of the day a group of men, the Council of Areopagus(men who considered themselves as custodians of teachings that introduced new religions and foreign gods, NIV Bible Study), would listen to new ideas. Paul was brought before the council to share with them this "new" idea. The philosophers and others asked "What is this person trying to say?" What happens next is an example of one man using his knowledge of Christ and presenting him in such a way that he did not use Scripture but the very words of the culture's poets. He does not give a three point sermon, but shares his worldvie

"Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."    — G.K. Chesterton The call of Elisha has always stood out to me. Here is Elijah hiding in the caves for fear of his life. He had just shaken his culture by humiliating and killing the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18). God shows himself with such power that those that witnessed this epic confrontation of ideas fell to their knees and repented. Yet a threat from Jezebel, who was angry at the killing of the prophets of Baal, thrust Elisha into hiding. We then read the conversation between God and Elijah in 1 Kings 19:1-18. At the end, God assures Elijah of the 7000 men who have not turned their backs on God (vs 18). Thus the call of Elisha. “So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. Elisha t

A team is as good as its leader. Being involved with my wife’s business for the last twenty years I have heard many quotes, yet this is the one I use the most with my teams and their captains… "The speed of the leader is the speed of the gang." -Mary Kay Last weekend I headed back to my Ala Mater for the annual Alumni Game. It had been twenty years since I set foot on the field I once played on. I was excited and couldn’t wait to put on my cleats and kick the ball around with other fellow alums. As the time came for the announcement of players I was getting excited! Then I heard the announcer voice each alumni’s year they played. “2005…..” “2007…..” “2009…” “2010….” “Ed Limon….played between 1986 and 1991!” At that moment as I made my way to the center of the field, I felt so old! I was the oldest player there! Then the announcer named the starters for Vanguard University. “From England……” From Ireland….” “From Senegal…..” “All Conference…..” You get the picture. It was hu

e-van-tre-pre-neur [ih-van-truh-pruh-nur] n. a person who uses business or other venture to share their faith in the marketplace I was about twenty thousand feet in the air on my way to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. My brother and I were on our way to meet his father-in-law who was building an orphanage in a small town outside La Esperanza. As I sat there on the plane it was time to pull out the book I was reading and get some good reading time in! You know those moments were you do not want to be bothered, yet the title of my book caught the attention of my neighbor, “Anointed for Business” by Ed Silvoso. “Is that a good book?”, he asked. That one question once again proved how God sets up divine appointments. You know those appointments that come out of the blue and you walk away saying “Wow! Wow! Let me throw in another…WOW!”. Come to find out through our conversation, this gentleman was a missionary! Yet he was not your inside the box missionary who went into the country with the tit

This last month I was one of the many millions who watched the USA Women’s soccer team defeat Brazil in the Women’s World Cup in Germany. It was the knock out round…win move on, losers, go home! USA, ranked number one in the world, was down a player, due to a red card. Playing a man down the game was tied and sent into two fifteen minute overtime halves. Within two minutes, Brazil scores! For the next twenty eight minutes I saw a team so determined that you could sense something was on the horizon. With less than one minute left and on the verge of going home, the USA scored! My house was in an uproar as we joined in with millions shouting and screaming to what we just witnessed! As overtime ended and headed into penalty kicks, the USA came out on top and moved on to the next round! It is times like these that inspire people to do great things! What an inspiration to millions of people as they watched a group of women with so much determination to scream out the motto: NEVER GIVE UP!