Co-pastor’s Blog

Easter Week Photos

Here are the links to the latest photos published to our FaceBook page. Have a great time checking it out, and come on out to see us to join in all the fun and excitement!

Easter Sunday Celebration under the tent:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151361693098483.1073741830.223945178482&type=1&l=553eed76a2

Palm Sunday under the tent (Brrrr):

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151361656468483.1073741826.223945178482&type=1&l=d6680557d6

Easter Week Preparations:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151361646073483.1073741825.223945178482&type=1&l=c5f32e2b1b

We Love Our Visitors

Cowboy Way Church is blessed with many visitors each week, and it occurred to me recently that it would be really awesome if all of our members knew what the visitors say about us. Our cards for first-time visitors have a comments section at the bottom that allows them to give us any message they want. So below, I have listed out every single comment that our visitors have put on those cards this year, in the order that we received them, beginning January 1, 2012. I left out prayer requests and names, just in case someone didn’t want theirs to be public. Year-to-date, November 30, 2012, we have had 485 people fill out a visitor card, and this is what they have to say about us:

1. It is a joy, honor, & privilege to attend a church that is not dead but “ALIVE” in Jesus Christ.
2. Been coming for about 2 months. Love it
3. Thanks for having me
4. Love It!
5. We are looking for a church to call home. Soon to be married!!
6. Awesome Praise & Worship. We will be coming back.
7. I want to come to church.
8. Awesome church of God!
9. WOW Word of Word Wonderful preaching, praise & Worship
10. I am grateful for all and appreciate all except yelling is not for me. I am for affirming the Truth and good.
11. Thank you for today!
12. Can you please put me on your mailing list
13. Thank you! We enjoyed the visit. Everyone was so friendly!!!
14. Loved it!
15. Enjoyed the worship service “Praise God in Jesus” with the Holy Spirit as comforter within me. Amen!!
16. Thank you for your hospitality and sharing Praise & Worship of our Father with me. This is my second visit and I’ll be coming back.
17. Thank you!
18. Great service – church and people are Blessed! Thank you, God Bless
19. We were very blessed to get to be here
20. God is good
21. It’s a lovely church
22. Wonderful service
23. Really feel comfortable here.
24. Great Service!
25. Love it more than ever
26. Church is Amazing. Will be back. Love the way y’all do the service! Looking 4 new church. Will definitely be back!
27. Loved it!
28. Looking for a church home! You can feel the LORD doing His work in this church. Amen!!! God has blessed me so much in my life & still is always & everyday! Amen John 3:16
29. Visiting
30. What a great service!
31. Visiting – thanks for worship
32. <3
33. Thank you for making me feel welcome
34. Loved the sermon!
35. Came to see a friend get baptized
36. Loved it, feel so much better after prayer!
37. I came to see friends Baptized – AMEN. AWESOME message today. Thanks!
38. This is a beautiful place all around!!
39. We are looking for a church home that we feel at home with . Especially my grandson. With me today.
40. Just dropped by to check out the church.
41. I came here to pray for this church and for the harvest before you.
42. Dan you are the Best
43. Great blessing. Hope to visit again soon.
44. Wonderful!
45. Thank you for all the prayers & food as my family and I was going through
46. It was a blessing to worship here.
47. This message today spoke to me about the test. Thank you so much!
48. Looking for a church that has good youth for the Kids.
49. My daughter & I enjoyed VBS. Excellent job! That is what brought us to visit a Sunday service.
50. I absolutely love the music!
51. Love it! Coming back!
52. Looking for church home – The music was great & set the mood for worship. The message was straight on & sparked a new fire.
53. You have a very good Band as I know. I also have a band & I play lead guitar.
54. Very encouraging. Excellent!
55. Loved it!!
56. I would like to join the church.
57. I’ll be coming regular. Y’all don’t play! You have CHURCH
58. Love this church. Have been searching so long!
59.
60. Really enjoyed message & laid back atmosphere!! & music***
61. First visit was funeral service. I brought my husband and child today.
62. A friend of mine has told me so much about (her) church. She loves you all so much. And I have enjoyed coming to (her) church so much. Pray to come again. And please pray for me.
63. We will be back
64. I think this church has a great sense of humor.
65. I decided to visit this church because I heard good things from a close family friend.
66. I am blessed to be here in y’all’s church. I have a DVD of one of your services & worship, and I loved it. I play flute on worship @ my church.
67. Awesome service!
68. X
69. I also brought my sister & brother-in-law from out of town. I visited once before & so impressed, I wanted to share with them.
70. Very refreshing to come to a church where the people are real, everyday people & not trying to keep up with the Jones’ as the old saying goes.
71. Great!
72. Thank you for having me.
73. I really like the message that was giving today. Morning service.
74. Really love the family feeling. Great message.
75. We really enjoyed it
76. Awesome service!
77. Looking for a church closer to home. I am a member of a church in Fort Worth.
78. Enjoyed very much
79. Thank you Dan, and praise God for your sermon which led us to the front for prayer.
80. Awesome service!
81. Love this church & will definitely be here next Sunday!
82. Awesome service & music
83. Awesome service! Very touching. Thank you!
84. Very Enjoyable
85. Great worship
86. I love this church. It is different, and I like it.
87. Glad that I’m joining a church that I am comfortable with and very happy here, and will come again.
88. Interested in Bible study and playdays.
89. Amazing service
90. Seeking new church home.
91. I enjoyed the entire service and truly felt welcome here.
92. WOW! I love this church!
93. Looking for a church home

Dreams & Visions

How many of you believe that God speaks to you directly? How do you know that? It is written in God’s Word:
Hebrews 12:25 “See to it that you obey God, the one who is speaking to you. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, how terrible our danger if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven!” (NLT)

Okay, so He speaks to us today, and there is danger in not listening to Him. I can testify that that is true? So how does He speak to us? In what ways? The Word of God, the Holy Spirit, circumstances, others, nature, dreams & visions, etc. Many people don’t know or don’t believe that their dreams mean anything because they don’t know that they can come from God, of course they can come from other sources too. God will tell you the difference.

You want all that God has for you, right? If we believe something is from God, then we should pursue it and discover it. Job 33:14-16 “God does speak – sometimes one way and sometimes another – even though people may not understand it. He speaks in a dream or a vision of the night when people are in deep sleep, lying on their beds. (NCV) Then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction. (NKJV).”

Dreams can be foretelling, but they can be any type of message from God. Dreams from God can sometimes simply be a gift from God with no meaning because dreams can relieve stress in the body. Strategic dreams are those timely telegrams from God that confirm direction or give instruction or release insight and understanding about our lives and circumstances. These dreams can bring answers to questions when we need them as well as bring answers to questions we don’t even know to ask. These strategic dreams can be weapons in our lives. We can access God’s arsenal of weapons by seeking Him. We become skillful with His weapons as we learn His ways. We learn His ways by paying attention to the truth He reveals and by submitting to His order and following-through on His directions.

God-given dreams:
reveal His will, seal instruction, warn, stir to repentance, bring deliverance, impart wisdom, reveal heaven’s or hell’s strategies, release prophecy or reveal destiny, bring hope or restoration, reveal Himself

Here are 2 safeguards when trying to determine if the dream is from God or not:
God-given dreams will never contradict God’s Word or His character.
God-given dreams will bring edification to the Body of Christ.

So what do you do when you must search out the meaning of a dream?
Write out the dream (Habakkuk 2:2), noting the timing, setting, atmosphere, emotions you felt during the dream. Ignore the emotions you felt after you woke up, even if remembering the dream brings on those emotions.
Highlight the things that stuck out to you in the dream
One-by-one, ask God if it is real (literal) or symbolic.
Find the meanings of any symbols through prayer, meditation, and other helps (see below)

*This information came from “Understanding the Dreams You Dream” by Ira Mulligan

A few resources to help you:
Bible
Strong’s Concordance
Bible Dictionary
Dictionary
Encyclopedia
“The Ultimate Guide to Understanding the Dreams You Dream” by Ira Milligan
“Getting to the Heart of Dreams” by Kathy Gabler
Books about dreams by James W. Goll
Books, lectures, and studies about dreams by John Paul Jackson

Don’t Believe Everything You Read

I have started the year off on a reading spree. I’m on my third book, which is a record for me. This third book is written by a well-known Christian author and teacher, and I have never read any of his writings before. I was very excited to start this book because of the subject matter, but as I have made my way through the chapters, which are filled with great information, I have seen several places where the author makes huge assumptions about what the biblical writer meant, or I have seen several places where he quotes a biblical writer or character as saying something (within quotation marks) that, in fact, is actually just an assumed dramatization of the biblical account. Now, don’t get me wrong – he has said nothing that goes against what the Bible teaches Jesus, but each time I see one of these things in this book it just makes me cringe! There are so many people out there who are reading books by Christian authors or are singing along with Christian songs on Christian radio without actually thinking about whether they are hearing and repeating the truth or not.

When I was trying to decide which seminary to attend my mentor, Ted Pressley, told me that I needed to go wherever the Holy Spirit led me. Then, I was to remember that no matter where I went, I was always to measure everything they said and taught against the Word of God because it is the only Truth without any error.

If you have been to many of our services at The Way you have probably heard Pastor Dan say that if he or anyone else ever says anything that does not line up with the Word of God, then it is a LIE!!!

So, as we start off this year, we must keep in mind that the Bible is the only book without error – Measure everything against it because it is the only true standard. Don’t just believe something because a respected Christian leader said it, and don’t sing every song you hear on Christian radio just because it’s a Christian radio station. Think about what the books or the songs are teaching. In this new season we want the Truth and only the Truth, not what man portrays as being the truth.

Matthew 22:36-40

36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” 37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

Why Do We Worship?

“We learn in Genesis that from the very beginning God created us for Himself, to enjoy relationship with Him and to bring Him praise and glory. We therefore worship God as our Creator. But we also worship God as our Savior and Redeemer. Our worship is therefore a response to both who He is and what He has done in rescuing us and reconciling us to Himself. First John 4:10 states, ‘This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.’