Victory News (Page 3)
Victory News – March 8, 2019
PASTOR’S MESSAGE Dear Friends, The President said what? The pastor said what? Our military did what? The teacher did what? To me, scandals aren’t just things that happen; they are things we don’t expect to happen. Scandals deal with things we didn’t see coming. At this time in the Christian church year, we focus on the scandals surrounding the death of Jesus. This includes everything from the church leaders finding the innocent Jesus guilty to the atheist finding Jesus innocent…
Victory News – March 1, 2019
PASTOR’S MESSAGE Dear Friends, How’s that sharing thing going for you? Most two-year-olds have the “not sharing” thing down pat. It’s kind of like, “No way am I giving you what I have, and more than that I want what you have.” They struggle with sharing, even though we taught them to share. Sometimes, we adults are good at not sharing too. For those of us who are Christians, we have the greatest news of all and we often want…
Victory News – February 22, 2019
PASTOR’S MESSAGE Dear Friends, Economists talk about bad debt and good debt. Bad debt is when you buy things you really don’t need and charge them to your credit card. Bad debts depreciate in value while you are still paying them off. Good debt is when you take out a loan to pay for something that will likely appreciate in value, like a home. Many of you know that in God’s economy there is bad debt. The bad debt is…
Victory News – February 15, 2019
PASTOR’S MESSAGE Dear Friends, My son has a dog named Chief. When my son adopted Chief as puppy, everything and everyone scared Chief. People just wanted to hold the cute little Labrador puppy, but Chief was so afraid he would run away. Now, Chief loves to play with people, but he is still afraid of the vacuum cleaner. Sometimes, people run away from God. They are unsure or maybe even super scared. Plus, God knows all the “bad stuff” they’ve…
Victory News – February 8, 2019
MESSAGE OF ENCOURAGEMENT Dear Friends, Did anyone watch the Super Bowl last week? I watched the first half of it. But, like a lot of Americans, I was underwhelmed. The commercials weren’t that funny. The half-time show wasn’t entertaining. Honestly, the game itself lacked action and drama. This phenomenon is quite common, isn’t it? We often build events and situations up in our heads, only to be let down by reality. There’s only one place we can be sure won’t…
Victory News – February 1, 2019
MESSAGE OF ENCOURAGEMENT Dear Friends, What a week, huh? A huge snow storm, followed by an arctic blast of cold, sent nearly the whole state of Wisconsin into a state of shutdown. School and business closures significantly altered or eliminated many people’s daily routines. While this disruption was a wide-spread phenomenon affecting millions of people, alterations to routines happen at an individual level all the time. It is easy to fall into the trap of believing that God doesn’t care…
Victory News – January 25, 2019
PASTOR’S MESSAGE Dear Friends, Song lyrics. Stats. Things other people did to us. We remember a lot of things. Sometimes we just go on auto-pilot because we know how to do something or how to get somewhere. Growing up, we had this assignment in Confirmation class called memory work. Our students still have it today. I remember giving the Christmas assignment to a Confirmation class years ago: learn Luke 2:1-20 … 20 verses. One of the students, who was bright…
Victory News – January 18, 2019
PASTOR’S MESSAGE Dear Friends, Anticipation… a snowstorm is coming! There used to be days when I would lose sleep over this. I always wanted the storm to bring more snow that predicted! Now, not so much. I think having a family tempered that for me. Every day we face a storm: a storm of sin. Our own sin threatens us as well as the sins of others. Each day I can’t wait to hear God speak to us through his…
Victory News – January 11, 2019
PASTOR’S MESSAGE Dear Friends, How’s the New Year started off for you? It has been less than two weeks since we started 2019. Already, I know of a cancer diagnosis, a potential genetic disorder, two car wrecks, a home repair in the thousands, and many more difficult situations. Life can be overwhelming if we focus in on the what is going on or trying to figure out the why this is happening. And you know what we try to do,…
Victory News – January 4, 2019
PASTOR’S MESSAGE Dear Friends, New Year’s Resolutions used to be very popular. But, in recent times, New Year’s resolutions have become less and less a part of our lives. I think I know why: because we are tired of failing. As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. (Luke 9:51) This verse said in another way: as the time approached for Jesus to be crucified, he resolutely set out for…
Victory News – December 28, 2018
PASTOR’S MESSAGE Dear Friends, Are you ready for 2019? Some things will be the same, and some things will be new. Like you, I don’t know exactly what will happen in 2019 but I do know who will be with us! And the God who will be with us is faithful. I am excited as we move forward together because God and his grace and mercy will be leading, guiding us. Along with the Apostle Paul this is my prayer…
Victory News – December 21, 2018
PASTOR’S MESSAGE Dear Friends, I love looking at Christmas decorations. We broke one of our family’s unwritten rules last night: we drove through Candy Cane Lane without snow on the ground. The decorated neighborhood is beautiful. There were thousands of lights, along with snowmen, reindeer, Olaf, and many manger scenes. Seeing that manger scene reminded me that we need Jesus and the manger more than we realize. We have sinned by breaking God’s law so many times. But because the…