3 Ways To Improve Your Mood #dogood

Has the Turkey worn off yet? Its only been a few days since Thanksgiving, and for most people I would think that they are kicking the Christmas plans into high gear. Thanksgiving is over. Turkey and mashed potatoes and some pepper spray on black friday. Done and done. 

I want to encourage you today to not forget about being thankful. Thankfulness is an attribute that has the capacity to drastically influence our happiness and mood every day. Often times when people spend time thinking about what they do not have, instead of thinking about what they do have, their mood improves. 

Do you practice thankfulness on a daily basis? Here are some quick tips to increasing thankfulness in your life. 

1. Genuinely thank anyone for anything that they do for you. Make it a point to look them in the eye, send them a message, call them on the phone. Let people know that you appreciate whatever they did for you. Don't let anything slip by. 

2. Spend a few moments reflecting on things to be thankful for first thing in the morning. Thank God for these things. There are big things to be thankful for, and small things to be thankful for. I am thankful for my family, but bless God, I thank him every day for my hot cup of coffee in the morning!

3. Get excited about the little things. Maybe the load of laundry equaled up and no socks were lost. Perhaps you got the coveted front parking spot at work. Somehow your sandwich got an extra piece of meat in it today, whatever it is, be thankful for the small things, not just the big things. 

Hope that helps. Don't give up on Thanksgiving. Its not just for one week a year, you should do it every day. 

blessings

pastor matt

Posted via email from Faith and Victory Church Blog

Guest Blogger! Todd Sommer and The Irrigation Pipe Dinosaur

This is the lesson that I have learned from my father.  We should never place limits on God and we should always be open to the opportunity to do something slightly crazy for God's glory. 

My father has always been a collector.  From the working stoplight, to a chair that has the shape of a hand, to the giant wooden marlin, you never quite knew what dad was going to bring home.  About a year ago however he started bringing home more and more fossils.  Maybe to some people that might sound strange but to my family that sounds perfectly normal.  You see dad has always had a passion for rocks, science, and archaeology.  

For some people science and God don't mix, but for my Dad it's always been a passion to make people realize that they do.  So as he was collecting rocks as fossils and thinking and praying he came up with the idea of creating a Creation Museum.  The idea is little crazy when you type it out on paper. 

My father is going to open a Creation Museum in Broken Bow NE (population 5000).  

Undaunted by such minor things my father has pushed forward and is not only opening this museum sometime in the spring of next year, but has also managed to construct a giant replica of a Tyrannosaurus Rex (made out of irrigation pipe) to place in the front just so no one could possibly miss what he was trying to do.  

When I asked dad what was the reason you decided to open the museum.  He said “To show that the bible is the authoritative word of God.  To do that,  I need to show that Evolution is not true.” 

I look at that and I think “wow” that is so cool.  He took his passion and his desire and transformed it into something that is supporting one of the bedrock principals of our faith.  The bible is true.  

This is the essence of what it is to be Christian.   You take your time, your energy, your money, your passion, your talents and you give it to God.  You surrender it all.  Granted most of us will never be able to open a Creationist Museum, but we can choose to glorify God with the things that we are good at. 

So whatever your talents are I hope that in the back of your mind your thinking, I wonder how God could use this to further his kingdom.  Also if you ever happen to make your way to NE stop on by the Boneyard Creation Museum and take a look at what happens when you are a little crazy about following God.  

Blessings,

Todd Sommer 

Posted via email from Faith and Victory Church Blog

An #MMA Fighter In the #WalMart Parking Lot?

I don't get it. It happened again this week. Someone wanted to fight me. Seriously, I'm not joking. 

A couple of days ago, we were walking through the walmart parking lot ( I needed a new pillow for my big head) and apparently Crystal and I did something wrong as we were walking. Or at least that is what we gathered from the yelling. 

We got there and parked, and got out of our vehicle, and began to walk towards the door. As we walked, I did notice another vehicle with its engine running and its reverse lights on immediately as we began to walk down the line. So when we got to it, we didn't stop, we kept walking, because it hadn't begun to move. (it had been in the same position for 20 seconds).

I'm not exactly sure what parking lot etiquette is, but I think that in most cases, pedestrians have the right of way. 

Or maybe I am wrong, because a few moments after walking past this vehicle, what sounded like an irate man began to holler in our direction (there wasn't anyone around us) and berate us for not letting him out of his parking spot. He called out about what we were wearing and appeared to be encouraging me to interact with him. 

So I didn't what any 6 foot 5, 250lb pastor would do. I turned around, cocked my neck, and said "what did you say?" as I was walking towards him. Then, I proceeded to take him down to the asphalt and put him in a rear naked choke. 

How you like me now? Services at 9 and 11 sucka!

Okay, I didn't do that, but I thought about doing that. What did I do? Absolutely nothing. I just kept walking. I didn't turn around. I didn't look. I didn't speak. 

I have learned in my short life that turning around to confront an irate person that far from you makes it worse. It never goes well. 

Why am I telling you this? Proverbs 17:19 He who loves a quarrel loves sin.  

Sure, I'm sharing an altercation in a Wal Mart parking lot, but I am sure that you have interactions in your life that are quarrelsome. Times at work or at home when people try to get you to argue or fight with you. Here is my advice- don't even get into it with them. It never turns out well. 

When you are a person that walks away from a physical or verbal altercation, things turn out better. Getting involved with them rarely turns out well. Granted, you have to swallow your pride to be able to do this, but in the end you will end up honoring God, and not getting yourself into trouble. 

If you love a quarrel, you love sin. That's what the Bible says, and I'm sure you don't love sin. 

Walk away. 

Be blessed

pastor matt

Posted via email from Faith and Victory Church Blog

Cancel The #NBA Season? #OccupyWallStreet

I think that the occupy people are slipping. According to a recent article about the NBA it appears that there are over 4 billion dollars in profit revenue available that they have not addressed. Some of them need to pack up their stuff and go to the NBA headquarters in Mid-Town. Its only about 5 miles. They could probably walk it in an hour or so. You can read the article here. http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/e119fa50-0eff-11e1-b585-00144feabdc0.html

I figure that if these guys are all about going after greedy people that have too much money that aren't sharing it with the 99% and this is another stream of untapped revenue that they should seriously consider. There is no shortage of people who are making ridiculous amounts of money that they should be protesting in the NBA.

Do they realize that these people are making millions for bouncing, passing and throwing a inflated round ball? Furthermore, they have burdened the American people with higher taxes to pay for civic centers in which they play and they are making even more revenue selling licensed products to kids and adults alike. I tell you that if Freddie Mac was making money on $75 dollar jerseys that kids were wearing to school they would be protesting that lickety split!

Or maybe they aren't doing it because the know the reality- they don't have what it takes to play in the NBA. If LeBron quit tomorrow, there isn't a person in one camp at any occupy event that could fill those 200 dollar Nikes.

Here's the issue- I can completely understand that natural tendency that we all have to find someone or something to blame for our problems. Often times, we find a person or an organization that we decide is the reason for our problems and then we 'set up camp' and protest them. Either in person, or in our hearts. This search for a reason for our problems will always leave us empty, because the reality is that most of our problems have been created by ourselves.

Deep down inside a lot of people know that we don't have what it takes to be in the NBA that's why we don't protest them. For me, I don't have the level of dedication, or the natural ability to throw the inflated ball through the wire hoop. I can't jump. I know this about myself. I don't blame the NBA. I don't protest those guys.

So what do we do? Trust God in the midst of our challenges. Realize that he can take care of us. Do not be angry at people who seem to 'have more'.

What am I saying today? I'm not sure- but this is what I got- I love the story of the fishermen in Luke chapter 5. These guys were struggling to catch some fish and they listened to what Jesus said, and then they had so many fish that their boats almost sank. Part of that lesson was that Jesus wanted them to trust him for their increase and provision. Jesus didn't say "go and take someone else's fish" he said "trust me and you will get more fish".

The NBA can do what they want. I don't care. Jesus can fill my nets.

be blessed

pastor matt

Posted via email from Faith and Victory Church Blog

Do You #Love Your #Money Too Much?

Money is an awesome thing, and by awesome, I mean that it has a whole lot of power over people and institutions. People feel as though money equals power, therefore they clamor to get as much of it as they can. They will do whatever it takes to get it. Think of all the news stories that center around money. Political clout attached to money. Books about money. Money money money. It truly makes the world go round. 

Take these guys-http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/nov/09/four-men-rob-barona-casino/ they tried to rob a casino for 250k and found out that the display case they tried to rob only had about 3k in it. Oops. Better luck next time. 

Money in and of itself is not inherently evil. Its just cotton fibers and paper with ink on it. We place the value on it, its not valuable for the substance that it is. There is the same amount of paper in a one dollar bill as there is for a hundred dollar bill. But people will still do anything for it. 

This should not be so. 

People who spend their life seeking after riches often find that it is not as satisfying as they had initially hoped. There is a bible verse that talks about  money that I think says a lot " People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction." (1 peter 6:9). Often times people who want more than anything to get rich find themselves in ruin and destruction because of the things that they were willing to do to gain money. It can destroy you. 

Why am I sharing this with you today? Because I think that people think about money a whole lot more than they talk about it. They worry about it, fret about it and focus on it. Money is a good thing in that it can pay some bills, put some food on the table and get some clothes on your back, but it is not everything that it is cracked up to be. 

I am writing this today to you as an encouragement if you are a person who focuses too much on your finances. Here's the encouragement- don't get so wrapped up in it. Its just money. You can't take it with you and it is not everything in the world. Your value is not connected to your bank account and your purpose is not to amass wealth. 

Be free from your love of money today. Sure, make money, pay your bills, but do not love it to the point that it brings your ruin and destruction. 

be blessed

pastor matt

Posted via email from Faith and Victory Church Blog