Greatest Heroes and Legends of the Bible

Esther and I would like to announce that we have a new Biblical Teaching series coming soon in Children"s Church. It is called The Greatest Heroes And Legends Of The Bible Series DVD series. It is a 12 DVD series of 50 minute videos narrated by Charlton Heston. Here are a few of the topics: Moses and The Ten Commandments, Jonah and The Whale, The Miracles Of Jesus, The Nativity, The Last Supper, Crucifixion, the Ressurrection, and the Apostles. I know God wants to equip our children and this is solid Biblical teaching. It is our responsibility to teach the children. Pastor Dan and I have previewed these and they are excellent teaching tools for both children and adults. The adults are going to want to come to Children's Church to see the videos! Proverbs 22:6 (ESV) Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Esther & Annette your children's church servants.

Enlarge the Place of Your Tent

We want to welcome Tim and Christine Huber from Japan! This is an exciting time for PAZ Berwyn. We are in the midst of many new things for our church. Pastor Aaron is finishing his pre-encounter teaching on Sunday as we prepare for our Spirit Encounter at their new house.
We are getting ready to launch a new youth service at Nite Light in Berwyn and we are gearing up to start a Spanish service in Chicago. God is truly on the move in our midst. The train is already moving, all we need to do is catch hold of the vision and go for along for the ride!
I can't believe it but, I will be a junior in the fall at Trinity! God is good! Annette and Esther have some exiting things planned for the kids. Please consider allowing God to bless you as you serve in children's church. We are going to experience a growth spurt in the near future. We have a solid core group and now it's time to stretch our tents.

Isaiah 54:2-3 (ESV)2 "Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. 3 For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left,and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities.

Your offspring will possess the nations and inhabit the city! That is God's promise to us! We are here for such a time as this, strategically placed in Berwyn to change the spiritual DNA of the city! It is our children who will inhabit the land that we possess for them! We are not going to take this territory without a fight. But, be encouraged because we have a promise in 1 John 4:4 (ESV)"4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." Our job is to be obedient to God's call, to break down the barriers, and to engage the the enemy and defeat him! You don't defeat an enemy by sitting by and watching and hoping he will leave you alone. This is war! You take the battle to the enemy and attack! We do not have the luxury of being passive observers. You know too much, and you are a threat to the enemy.

Pastor Dan

Last week was an eventful week.

I'm sitting here this morning looking back at the last week. It all started when I got a call from my mentor and friend in Columbia, SC. He is the lead chaplain for Transport for Christ (TFC) there. TFC ministers to truckers and truck stop employees and patrons. Ted asked me to go to Rockford and visit a truck driver who had pneumonia and had been close to death. She drives team with her husband. I contacted my pastor Aaron Helland and we started over to Rockford on Thursday morning. As we were driving along and talking, we suddenly saw this wall of snow, dust, etc.... We passed through this wall to see an eighteen wheeler lying on its right side with the wheels still spinning. We pulled over and helped the driver get out and waited with him until the police arrived. We went on to Rockford and had a good visit with the driver and her husband in Rockford. It was truly a pleasure to minister to truckers again. I come from three generations of truck drivers and I hope to be involved with TFC for a long time.
Then, yesterday in church a lady who donates food every week was carrying a box in and hit her hand on the door. I took her to the emergency room and she end up with nine stiches in her finger as a result. I spent the afternoon with her making sure that she was taken care of. I said all of this to say this, I the Lord and find it an honor to be in His service.

Today is the first day of the rest of my life

I just got back from walking my dogs and I was looking at the sunrise and remembered what a former pastor of mine used to say alot. "Today is the first day of the rest of your life!" It takes me back to a simpler time in my life when my relationship with God was new. I was so excited about being a born again believer. I took everything at face value, if the Bible said, then that was all there was to it. Well... you know that is still true. It's easy as we get a little more "experienced" to start getting away from the basic principles of faith. It is my desire to not let that happen. The great thing about God is that He is the God of second, third, fourth, fifth ..... chances. The fact of the matter is, God is the God of ten thounsanth chances. I have two dogs. One is five years old (Scooter) and the other is two years old (Rocky). Rocky is the puppy but, he is almost twice the size of Scooter. He chases Scooter around the house all the time. When Scooter has had enough you hear this stampede coming through the house and here comes Scooter with Rocky right on his tail. Scooter comes and jumps into my lap for protection. We have the opportunity to do the same thing every day. When life is on my tail and about to overtake me, I run to God as fast as my legs will carry me! Our nature is to run the other way because maybe we missed it and feel ashamed. My two dogs trust me implicitly. They know that I will always take care of them regardless. I take them for walks and by the time we get back, I am carrying one in each arm. They know that if it gets too cold along the way, I will look after them. God is sitting on the edge of His throne just waiting for the chance for us to run to Him. He is not mad at us. The battle is over. Jesus paid the price over 2,000 years ago.

Philippians 3:13-14 (KJV)
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

God cannot fail

Well.. I would assume that by now that the only purpose this blog serves is my journal. I was just listening to Jesse Duplantis teaching and it was really good. He says that our only job is to believe. When God asks us to do something, it is impossible. It's not our job to make it happen, it's our job to believe that God will do it. This hits home with me as I am sure with a lot of other people. There are some things that I know God has called me to do, but I do not see any way in the natural that these things will or could happen. I trust God and I believe that He will make it come to pass. We are to believe God and speak of things that are not with as much certainty as if they had already come to pass. God is not confined to time or space. What God sees is all of eternity at the same time. Everything from before the creation of mankind to the vast eons of eternity are one "now." He is not wondering how it will all turn out. It is already done. This is a hard thing for my mind to grasp. Everything that ever happened or ever will happen has already been established.