Dan Gould

Author: dgould77

  • Bible Challenge – Genesis 10

    “These are the clans that descended from Noah’s sons, arranged by nation according to their lines of descent. All the nations of the earth descended from these clans after the great flood.” v32 (NLT)

    Chapter ten doesn’t have much application but does give us a lot of information about how Noah and his family populated the Earth after the flood.  Notice that evolution is not mentioned here.  The Bible says that All the Nations were descendants of Noah after the flood.  This is our family tree.

    Today, think about the legacy that has been passed down to you from your family. What kind or legacy was left to you? What kind of legacy will you pass on to the rest of your family?

     

  • Bible Challenge – Genesis 9

    “I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth.” v.13 (NLT)

    We’ve all seen a rainbow!  As kids we have probably looked for the pot of God that is supposedly at the end of the rainbow.  The rainbow is a sign to us of the covenant God made to Noah.  This covenant had three parts:

    1.) Never again will a flood do this much damage.
    2.) As long as the earth remains, seasons will come as expected.
    3.) A rainbow will be visible when it rains as a sign to all that God will keep he promise.

    God remains faithful even when we remain faithless. The rainbow reminds us of His promise and His faithfulness.

    Today, what are other signs/things that God has given you to remind you of His Love, Faithfulness, & Promise? Take some time to reflect of al the things that God has done for you and thru you, you might be surprised!

  • Bible Challenge – Genesis 8

    “Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, ‘I will never again curse[a] the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.’” v.20-22

    After being locked in a boat with all the worlds animals and family members, the first thing Noah does when coming off the Ark was to build an Altar.  On the altar, presented God with an offering, and the Bible says that God was pleased by the aroma.

    Everyday, we have an opportunity to offer our lives as an offering, a living sacrifice to God, by the purity of our heart, motives, and sacrifice we are either a pleasing aroma to God or a stench in His nostrils.  Today you have an opportunity to live selflessly, sacrificially, with a pure heart and motives. What kind of offering will you present to God?

    Today, will you be a pleasing aroma to God or a stench.  How you live, what you say and don’t say are important, Live Wisely!

  • Bible Challenge – Genesis 7

    “A male and female of each kind entered, just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord closed the door behind them.” v.16

    Have you ever wondered how Noah got all the animals on the Ark? Did Noah and his sons spend years collecting all the animals? In reality the creation, along with Noah, was doing just as God had commanded. There seemed to be no problem gathering the animals – God took care of the details of that job while Noah was doing his part by building the Ark. Often we do just the opposite of Noah. We worry about the details over which we have no control.

    Today, will you trust God with obedience, and leave the details in His hands?

  • The Lost Generation … this isn’t what I meant!

    If you missed my post yesterday about The Lost Generation then check it out here.  If you think the video above is what needs to be done to have an effective Senior Adult Ministry or a way to help Senior Adults be apart of the Modern Church, then you missed the essence of the post. It is more than just trying to get them to be hip, cool, relevant, or any other culturally relevant term you want to use, it’s about creating a ministry that communicates and reaches our growing Senior Adult population.

    However, this background to this video is inspiring.  This video was created by a church and used to kick off a student event.  This captures the idea of what I said yesterday of Creating Opportunities for Senior Adults to be Involved. Enjoy the video!!!

  • The Lost Generation

    I’ve been sitting on this post for a while now, but I think we might be missing something that will impact the trajectory of the local church if we’re not careful and intentional about reaching and meeting the needs of all generations in our community.  Let’s face it, over the last 10-20 years the modern church as we know it has changed.  Churches have embraced a more casual, contemporary … which has been termed the “new traditional” style of musical worship, and have focused on reaching a younger generation.  Sometimes, well most of the time, we do this with good intentions expecting an older generation to understand and to accept change with open arms. But what happens if they don’t?

    I am by no means saying that the church doesn’t need to focus on a reaching a younger generation, but I think the church needs to be careful at reaching a younger generation at the expense of loosing our older generation. Yes there are major difference in each generation. From the style & volume of the music, to the way we dress and talk, to the speed of our walk, we are different.  But that’s what makes the church so special.

    Throughout scripture we see the importance of an older generation investing in a younger generation with the wisdom they have gleaned from their journey with Christ and life in general. We especially see this modeled in scripture as an older Paul urges and encourage a younger Timothy.

    So what can we do? This is a great question, and one I think the church needs to be asking since we are on the embarkment of the Baby Boomers getting ready to enter into what we call a senior adult status.  I don’t know that I have all the answers but I think somethings can be done.  Here are some suggestions.

    1. Create a Senior Adult Ministry

    This can be led by volunteers or by a Senior Adult Pastor.  Senior Adults, like teenagers “know it all!” That’s not always a bad thing in this sense. They know what they like and what they don’t like, and many of the people they hang out with are like them.  Being able to have intentional ministry geared for Senior Adults can create opportunities that the church may be overlooking.  Yes, it takes time and effort, but so does the music, children’s, and student ministries of the church.

    2. Create Opportunities for Senior Adults to be involved.

    The reality for all of us is the this, we are down on the things we don’t know about.  Keeping Senior Adults involved in the life of the church creates a healthy dynamic where it’s not an us vs them mentality.  Some of my greatest youth workers were Senior Adults, and some of my greatest encouragers as a young Student pastor came from Senior Adults.  When we take the time to include them they can and will bless the ministry in huge ways with time, money and resources.

    3. Create a Multi Generational Worship Culture.

    This isn’t a “my way or the highway mentality”, and this isn’t the only responsibility of the Worship Leader who is picking songs …  it is a TEAM effort! Creating environments that reach a demographic or generation is nothing new.  As the church worships together on a weekly basis, there should be crossover from each of these ministries sprinkled throughout the Worship Service.  Many times when we think of this we think solely about the music, but hopefully there is more to your worship service than music.  Sometimes it can be as simple as recognizing an age group during a talk and speaking directly to them during a service. But it could also be a s simple as singing songs that seem to be tied to a generation in style, but beneficial to the entire church in message.

    I admit that maybe this is just a mind dump post.  But these are the thoughts that have been on my mind lately as I transition into a new role in the church … moving from a Student Pastor to a Community Pastor. I do however think this is going to be something that the church has to address in the near future, or we may just in fact, lose a generation.

    I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas of how we can begin to do this more effectively.

  • Bible Challenge – Genesis 6

    “So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.” v. 22 (NLT)

    What a powerful statement!  Sometimes when we read something in the Bible we take away the present day challenges that faced the people God used. There was nothing special about Noah.  What set him apart is found in verse 9.  The Bible says that “Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God.”  What a statement! But what God asks him to do next is crazy … build a boat!!!

    Now we love the story because we see how it ends, but let think about this from Noah’s perspective.  Here are some excuses he could have given with legitimacy,

    • “But the closest body of water  is some 400-500 miles away from where I am!”
    • “What is rain? That’s absurd”
    • “There’s no-way I can get ALL the animals in one boat!”
    • “It will take way to long to build a boat that big, I mean, I don’t even have power-tools”
    • “Everyone is going to laugh at me and think I’m crazy!”

    Noah could have given anyone of these excuses and not built the Ark.  However, Noah didn’t make excuses, he simply did exactly what God had commanded! Powerful!! But it’s also convicting!  How many times has God asked you or I to do something and we gave excuses instead of doing everything God commands.

    The reality is this, each one of us have Ark like moments where God ask us to do something great for the Kingdom. But sadly, some of us are giving excuses instead of following His lead!

    Today, will you be like Noah and take advantage of the Ark like moment and do exactly as God commands, or will you shrink back with excuses and miss the opportunity?

  • Losing a Teen to Suicide

    Losing a loved one is never easy, especially if it’s a child or teenager, let a lone a suicide.  A lot of questions come up around someone taking their own life. But for those that know Christ, we can cling to the promise found in Romans 8:31-38 which says,

    “What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
     35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

    38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:31-39 (NLT)

    Sometimes we want to put suicide in a category all by itself.  However, suicide is included in the word nothing. If someone is in Christ, nothing can separate them for His love.

    With that being said, we need to remember that  …

    Sorrow and Grief are never easy!
    When we lose someone we love it is difficult to let go and say goodbye.  Even Jesus, who was fully God and fully man, was filled with sorrow and grief when his friend Lazarus had passed away.  The Bible says in John 11:35 that “Jesus Wept.”

    Now I understand that each of us grieve in different ways.  Some of us need to get away and spend some time alone while others need the company of friends. Whichever the case, I encourage you to allow yourself to grieve.

    I believe God is a God of Comfort and He is willing to comfort those who ask for His help in this grief process. As you grieve I would encourage you to allow God to comfort you.  His Word says,

    “He heals the brokenhearted, binding up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3

    Jesus said in Matthew 5:4,

    “God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Matthew 5:4 (NLT)

    As you continue to grieve allow God to comfort you as His Word promises He will do, and allow yourself to cry, to laugh, and to share stories that you remember about that loved one.  This can help bring healing to yourself and those around you.

    The loss of a loved one causes us to realize how fragile and short life can be!
     None of us know exactly how long we have to live.  We are not promised another year, another month, or another day.  Each day is a gift from God.

    The Bible reminds us just how short life is:
    In Job 9:25 it says, “Mans days are swifter than a runner.”
          James 4:14 says, “Our life is like the morning fog – it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.”

    The loss of a loved one causes us to search for answers!
    When we loose something we try to find it.  When we experience a loss of life we try to find life.  This process causes us to look for answers about God, about life, about death, and about eternity.  Maybe you have asked yourself some of these questions.  The Bible has much to say about each of these,

    About God
    1 John 4:8 says, “God is love.”

    Now it is easy to say God is Love when things are going well, but to be honest, it can be difficult to believe “God is love” when things go wrong or not the way we expected them too.  But the truth is, that even though the circumstances change, Gods love for you and for me never changes.

    The passage goes on and says,

    “God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.  This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” 1 John 4:9-10 (NLT)

    Jesus talks about life and says in John 10:10,

    “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10 (NIV)

    John 3:16 says,

    “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, and whosoever believes in Him should not parish, but have everlasting life.”

    In John 14:6, Jesus says,

    “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.”

    You see this life that Jesus is talking about can’t be earned, bought, or taken away.  It is simply a gift from God.  It is the gift of salvation that He wants each one of us to have.  It doesn’t matter what we have done or where we have been God offers this gift to each one of us, all we have to do accept the gift.

    Romans 10:13 says,

    “For ‘Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”

    As you search for answers, have you found the answers you have been looking for?  If not, I would encourage you to ask God to reveal those answers to you and to help you understand the things, you don’t know.

    Jeremiah 33:3 God says,

    “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”

    The loss of a loved one causes us to live life differently!
     Upon receiving the news of losing a loved one, life as we knew it changed.  No matter how hard we try we cannot change the past, the only thing we can change is the future.  God has a future for each and every one of us.  He says in Jeremiah 29:11

    “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”

    This is the promise that we can live on.  It is a promise of hope and a future that can be ours through Jesus Christ. Even when our world seems to fall apart or we don’t understand why things happen, God is near.  He is willing to help, He is willing to comfort, and He is willing to heal.  Will you trust Him today and ask for His help?

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  • Bible Challenge – Genesis 5

    “Enoch lived 365 years, 24 walking in close fellowship with God. Then one day he disappeared, because God took him.” v.23-24 (NLT)

    How would your life be summed up? I know, many times we don’t want to think about death and dying, but this really isn’t about death and dying it about living. What we live for is what we with leave behind as a testimony of out life. What will you be known for. What will others learn from your life. What will they say about your faith? These shouldn’t become boxes to check on a bucket list, but goals to achieve and then live by.

    Today, Take some time to think about whats important to you and write out some life goals that you hope others will see in your daily life. If you were to sum up your life in a sentence or two, what would you want it to say?