Second Stage Ministries

I did this last year and I wanted to do it again. Last year on this date I chose a word for 2017 and wrote a post about it. This year I want to do the same and I hope that this word will not only be for me but for other as well. I hope this word breaks chains and unlocks things for you in 2018. I know it will for me. The word I have chosen for 2018 is NEW . Now let me show you where this word comes from. Let me direct our attention to the passage of Scripture below from Isaiah: “ This is what the Lord says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a NEW thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” - Isaiah 43:16-19 NIV As you read the story of I

Do you like getting presents? Of course we all do! Do you like giving presents? Now see that's where it gets a little tougher. Maybe you don't know what to get for someone and you struggle every year to find something for them. Maybe you feel that they don't deserve a gift. They just flat out don't deserve it. Maybe there are some other variables involved that make it hard for you to give a gift. Sometimes with give gifts that have strings attached. We give gifts to get attention or something in return. We give gifts that will benefit us just as much as the person to whom we are giving it. We give gifts with strings attached. In the movie, How The Grinch Stole Christmas , he succeeds at stealing The Who's things thinking that he will destroy their Christmas. But when The Who's celebrate Christmas anyway without anything at all, the Grinch can figure it out. Then he has a revelation that "Christmas doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas

This is something that can be overlooked in a quick glance at the Christmas story. Let's take a look: “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.'  'When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.'" - Luke 2:8-12 +15 NIV Shepherds were the lowest of the low. People usually didn't associate with them. Nobody introduced them as friends and surely no one would have

I had many different thoughts for what to focus on for this Christmas season. But if we know anything for the Christmas story is that our plans can be shaken up when God gets involved. God flies in and changes things up and that sometimes is the best thing that can happen to us. As I was sitting in church this weekend, God dropped this idea in my head. So here we go. As we see Mary and Joseph in Luke 1 and Matthew 1, they are engaged to married. They were both young and thought that they knew how it was going to go. Joseph had a job and was a good man. They probably had plans of how it was going to go. How they would get a place to live and call their own and what the wedding would be. But one night god changed all of their plans. God sent Gabriel down to have a conversation with Mary. The appearance of the angel freaked Mary out a little bit. I mean let's be honest we all would be a little freaked out if a heavenly being just showed up in our presence. Then Gabriel

I had a different plan for this post, but this verse came across the Bible app yesterday and it just jumped out me. Here is the verse: “For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you." - Isaiah 41:13 NIV This was such a good reminder for me. Life can throw a lot at us sometimes, but we don't have to face it alone! God is holding our hand and going with us. At the beginning of this Christmas season, I am also reminded of one of the names of God - Emmanuel (God with us). [1] This verse in Isaiah just brought all of this together for me at a time when I needed it. A peace came over me in that moment. A peace that can only come when we know that God is in control and He is right there. When I picture this verse, I see God and myself (or insert yourself here) walking along the paths of life with my hand in His mighty hand and He is whispering the words "Don't be afraid, I'm here with you.&quo

This past month, but mostly this past weekend, we looked at the following verse with the 4th and 5th graders at my church: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  - 1 Thessalonians 5:18 NIV When we look at Paul's life, we see this verse in a different light. Paul is not just telling the Thessalonians to be thankful because it's a good thing to do. Paul is writing these words after going through some rough times. At the beginning of his ministry he wasn't very well received. Paul, known as Saul at the time, was killing and persecuting followers of Jesus trying to eradicate the last bits of the ministry of Jesus. Then one day he was on his way to get more people and he met Jesus on the way there. A light blinded him and he had to be escorted to town. Paul then began to preach the gospel and the people were shocked. But they couldn't believe that he had changed. So they ran him out of town. [1] Paul would then

Why Don't We Say Thank You? I presented this question this past weekend at church to the 4th and 5th grade students that I was teaching. Here are some of the answers that they came up with: Fear Excitement Forget to Don't want to Ashamed Don't think they deserve it Thank you is understand I want you to read a story from Bible that I saw in a little different light over the last few weeks and I want to show you what God showed me. The story is found in Luke 17: “Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, 'Jesus, Master, have pity on us!' When he saw them, he said, 'Go, show yourselves to the priests.' And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked

In this series of posts, we have seen God speak the universe into existence. We have seen how He formed and made us unique. We are His masterpieces! Then, we saw how God set a rhythm for rest by taking a rest after He created everything. Next, we took a look at the paradise that Adam and Eve were given to take care of and live in. They walked with God! But then we saw that all change with one choice that Adam and Eve made. They chose to take and eat from the tree that God had told them not to eat from. This caused evil to be brought to light. They were kicked out of the Garden for the choice that they had made. We looked at the punishments that were handed out. Lastly, we looked at Cain and Able and how the bad choices continued as we witnessed the first murder. But in all of this God still loved and protected Adam, Eve and Cain. But their actions set off a change that sent the world into a downward spiral and we see God say these words in Genesis 6: “The Lord saw how great th

We are on to chapter 4 - where the story takes another big turn. At the beginning of chapter 4 we meet to brothers - Cain and Able. One of the first things I noticed in this story is that Eve praised the Lord for blessing of a son - Cain. “Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.” - Genesis 4:1 NIV Even though God had to punish them and kick them out of the Garden, Eve was still aware of where her blessing of having children came from. But that is really not the focus of this chapter. The focus is her sons. The Bible tells us a little bit about Cain and Able. “Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.” - Genesis 4:2b NIV So I get picture of Cain being this muscular and rugged type of man. He was out in the fields working planting crops and weeding the fields. Able on the other hand was a shepherd. He watched over the flocks and made sure they had wha