The emptying of our nest of 4 beautiful children has allowed us to reset our lives by living light for the sake of spreading the Light through the local gospel ministry of the Stillwater Community Chapel. (https://stillwater-chapel.org/) This blog is the musings and ministry of the Wolfgangs as we have gone wherever God leads. May we always live light and in the Light, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
God gave us a good weather window to travel...yeah God!!!
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Berthoud Pass
Here we are at the top of Berthoud Pass. It was a whirlwind week to conduct a "hand off" service in Wisconsin on 3/17 and then preach a Palm Sunday sermon in Colorado on 3/24. We give God all the glory for this happening. So there are two video links at the bottom of this blog. One is for the Wisconsin service and the other is for the Colorado service. I racked up over 12,000 in the last 7 weeks.
I love to take these pictures sitting from the front row of chairs and listening to the one God has provided for the church I had been serving for 20 months. I now have 3 and I am so thankful for the opportunity God gave us to serve Him in this type of ministry over the last 5 years. It has been great to add to our daily prayer list Zach in Maine, Chris in Ohio and now Stephen in Wisconsin.
This was our set up for the 2000+ mile trip. No "hiccups" except for the strong eastern winds in Kansas. Of course everything was quite a bit dirtier when we arrived. We were so thankful that Stephanie didn't have to drive separately and we could enjoy the trip together along with Buddy our dog.
My part of the service in Wisconsin was to commission to new teaching pastor. 2 Timothy 3.16-4.6 was the text I used. It is a text that I am speaking back to myself as I am charging another with the calling of a pastor. My points were:
We elevate God's words. 3.16
God's words equip the man of God. 3.17
We acknowledge the true audience. 4.1
Our what is to preach the word; our when is in and out of season; our how is to mirror what God's word does in v.16; and our why is because they will not endure sound teaching. 4.2-4
How we are to be is very important. 4.5
God provides shepherds for His flock. 4.6
It was great to collaborate with the district superintendent and it is sweet to have the new teaching pastor end the service. The "hand off" is complete.
I enter now a new phase of ministry at the Stillwater Community Chapel. I went from my assessment of a packed house of maybe 300 in Wisconsin to a small group of 25 with 10 being children in Colorado. The shift in delivery and style couldn't have been more drastic. Stephanie plays the piano and I lead the songs for now and we are starting to walk through the Gospel of Matthew. We jumped ahead to the Palm Sunday passage and will do the same for the Resurrection Sunday passage this week but then we will venture back to Matthew 1.1 and track it all the way through.
Trying to be more interactive, I pulled out the white board but I also asked questions looking for answers from those in attendance. At about mark 30:30 I asked a question about what the children were doing and a grade school boy answered the question so perfectly(turn up your speakers to hear). God made the point as it was in His scriptures that the young are to cheer him and give perfected praise. It was the highlight of the morning. It was probably the most convicting too. Our children watch our actions and are mimicking them.
I know many were praying for us on this transition. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. I are excited to see what God is going to do amongst the mountains of Grand County.
James 4 has brought up some interesting study. First, "the quarrels and fights among you." Those are usually worse than you think even though we try to minimize them. The source is simpler than you think because it is coming from within you. The solution is easier than you think because the solution that James gives is that we need to humble ourselves before the Lord. Any sincere resolution is specific and brief. Beware of lengthy resolutions that usually include explaining it away or excusing some of the behavior. As I have seen before, the words are a sign of the heart. I read this week that if we have a critical heart we usually start by speaking evil of another to ourselves. Then we progress to speaking evil of another to that person with a running tally in our heads of all their wrongs. Finally, we speak evil of another to others and broadcast in a way that we are thinking that we are h...
Probably the last snowshoe hike for the season. I will have to deal with mud, ice and snow here and there if I venture up the trails. I think I have snowshoed more this season than last even though we didn't have the snow depth of last year. As I put away the snowshoes I will start dreaming of next year! We finished up chapter 22 this Sunday. The testing is done! 4 different groups get into the ring with Jesus. They are testing Him but soon they realize that He is testing them. Jesus never really goes into the defensive mode that is normal if you are being questioned or tested but stays in the offensive mode to bring about a bigger issue than the one raised. Group #1: Chief priests and elders They questioned Jesus' authority. Jesus turns it back upon them to question their discerning authority regarding the baptism of John the Baptist. They gave a non-answer. Group #2: Pharisees and Herodians They questioned Jesus' loyalt...
The Never Summer Mountain Range is behind me. It is always amazing to me how people will respond more quickly to a picture than to the text. I updated our Facebook cover photo and profile picture and people are responded left and right to it. I do not get as much response when I print text to the same group of people. I think this bears true with the response to video presentations of the Bible over just the written text of the Bible. But since we don't have actual video footage of Jesus (sorry Chosen) I feel it is important to not just rely on someone's artistic presentation of the text but to read it for ourselves. The question would be, "Am I reading more than I am watching when it comes to God's words?" I have purposely not used much video in my preaching opportunities because video will steal the show, no pun intended, to the actual passage we are looking at. I think we need to train ourselves again to rely on what we are reading rat...
Hoping to be able to follow your teachings from the Book of Matthew. -Francine
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