Christmas 2013 Gift List for Kids

For kids, Christmas is the happiest day of the year.  Colorful Christmas lights twinkle with joy.  Santa Claus is everywhere, whispers promise of gifts to kids.  Laughter fills the room, may it be big or small. White colored snow dancing in the air, holiday bells can't stop singing.  Gift of love is heartfully felt.  Never ending list of Christmas presents.  To give you a hint, let's start with a Christmas 2013 gift list for kids. 

1)  The Tales of the Kingdom offers fast-paced action and exciting storytelling with a enduring Christian message. Enjoy the beautiful, full-color illustrations as these classic allegories teach kids and adults the importance of trusting God as they unveils fundamental truths about good and evil.

2)  Tales of the Resistance  contains 12 stories about Hero's participation in the underground taxi resistance against the evil Enchanter, challenger to the one True King. High drama unfolds as everywhere Hero turns there are suffering people in need of his help! You'll meet Carny, Doubletalk, Sewer Rat #1, the Boiler Brat and the Most Beautiful Player of All. And you'll feel the tension of Traffic Court and the Burning Place. But mostly, your readers will be reminded that God's Kingdom is all around us, if we care to find it, and that the presence of the King dispels all darkness from our hearts and souls.

3)  Tales of the Restoration  is the long awaited conclusion in the Kingdom Tales trilogy, the one True King has broken the reign of the evil Enchanter and the restoration has begun. You'll meet Grandma Vigilantes, the Girl with the Very Loud Outside Voice, along with beloved friends Little Child, the Princess Amanda, Hero, and others. Each character is learning how to find a special place in Bright City, to do a job no one else can do.

This Christmas 2013 Gift List for Kidss are now available on Amazon.

The Book of Revelation: Lesson 32 - Chapter 13:11-18

Do you like riddles?

According to the dictionary, a riddle is a mystifying, misleading or puzzling question to be solved or guessed.

Revelation 13:18 has to be one of the greatest mysteries of all time. It reads:

“This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666.”

By way of background, neither the Greek nor the Hebrew tongue used a system of numbers. Actually, the letters of the alphabet had numerical values. For example, A was 1, B=2, C=3, and so on. A name could therefore be converted into its corresponding numbers. In the ancient world this was called gematria.

Today, a guy could be clever and say, “The number of the girl I like is 11325.” Who’s going to know that A=1, M=13 and Y=25 and Amy is his heartthrob?

Some scholars believe this 666 number stands for Nero. If the name of Neron Kaiser (“Nero Caesar” in Greek) is put into Hebrew, the numbers work. Be that as it may, few of the early interpreters of Revelation saw this as the right solution.

The truth is, all kinds of people have worked on this puzzle. During the time of World War II, someone came up with a system where A=100, B=101, C=102, etc. Guess what?

	H	107
	I	108
	T	119
	L	111
	E	104
	R	117
	Total:	666

But John didn’t write Revelation in English. What we have in our Bibles is a translation of the original Greek, which used an alphabet that differs from ours. All of this discourages me from working that much on this given problem.

I assume that when the time is right, someone far wiser than I am will come up with the solution to this mystery.

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Visit the Mainstay Ministries website for a variety of sermon series for 2013,  resources for pastors and congregations.   . 

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The Book of Revelation: Lesson 29-A - Chapter 13:1-10

All kinds of questions come to mind when reading chapter 13 of Revelation. The initial one is who or what is “the beast coming out of the sea” in verse one.

To help answer that, I want to do a little exploring in the book of Daniel. You should understand that Revelation is deeply rooted in the Old Testament. Here is where we can look for clues as to the meaning of its various symbols.

Daniel is considered the prototype of all Jewish apocalyptic writers. Resaid, he’s the originator of this type of material. All others follow his model. So we’re looking for what the beasts in Daniel 7 represent to help us identify Revelation 13’s beast.

Daniel said: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me … four great beasts, each different from the others, came out of the sea.

“The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle…

“And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear…

“After that … one that looked like a leopard…

“After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful…”

But what are these beasts in Daniel 7? Well, the answer is given in verse 17.“The four great beasts are kingdoms that will rise from the earth.” Today we don’t use the word kingdom all that much. We would probably refer to these as world empires, or, in contemporary talk, superpowers.

I believe Revelation 13 draws on the imagery of Daniel 7, even incorporating in verse 2 the leopard, bear and lion characteristics into this final kingdom / superpower being described. “The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion.”

In summary, since Daniel’s beasts are kingdoms, that’s probably going to be true of the beast of Revelation as well. However, this leaves us with the problem of which kingdom or superpower, and what about the pronoun problem?

(…to be continued…)

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sermon series for 2013

Visit the Mainstay Ministries website for a variety of sermon series for 2013,  resources for pastors and congregations.  

Recommended Books for Father’s Day 2013

Recommended Books for Father’s Day 2013

Salt & Light - In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus called His followers to be salt and light to the world around them. In our day, the Devil has successfully contaminated the salt and hidden the light—and our world is in darkness. Learn how you can overcome his attacks in this dynamic book.  We need corrective-action plans now in the body of Christ or, like Israel would often do, we are going to continue to fail to fulfill God’s mission in these last days, which for Christians is to be the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world.” Everyday we hear about the war against terrorism. However, very few American’s, including Christians, are knowledgeable about the spiritual warfare taking place in America even though it has been more detrimental to our country as millions of individuals and families have suffered from it. To help give you the knowledge you need to understand this spiritual warfare and the deceptive tactics and methods that Satan is using is covered in this book.  Christians in America are faced with domestic moral standards and issues that are of tremendous urgency. Every “Born Again” Christian is called to act against conventional wisdom, against social expediency and often against the popular will. We have a mission to fulfill, a responsibility to make our country, and the world, a better place by preserving all that is good as given to us through God’s Word. We are to be people not to make others proud of us—but who think of and put the “Kingdom of God” first. That is what being “salt” and “light” is all about! However, we can only do this if we are prepared.  This book is now available at Mainstay Ministries .

Bible for Personal Revival - Discover the Presence of Christ—and the Key to Revival. Some people attend church each week with a yawn. Others think that reading the Bible is just a ticket to another guilt trip. They haven’t yet learned how exciting and energizing the Christian life can be—but they’re about to! The Spiritual Adventure Bible is designed to “wake up” sleepy Christians and help them catch a vision for what God wants to do in their lives.  This unique study Bible, based on the successful 50-Day Spiritual Adventure seminars, is a ticket to an exciting and wonderful spiritual adventure. It features the same kind of practical Bible-based teaching that has already helped millions of people experience personal revival.  There are many Bibles on the market with varied approaches. But the Spiritual Adventure Bible is different. David Mains says, “We don’t need more technique. We need the presence of Jesus Christ.” This study Bible introduces readers to Jesus as a living person who has a lot to say about their everyday lives. The Spiritual Adventure Bible is a call to renewal and to action that will help both new Christians and seasoned believers respond to the powerful presence of Jesus. It’s designed to spark revival—in individuals, in their churches, and in their communities.  Features include:New International Version combines ease of reading with accuracy of translation in today’s most widely used modern translation.52 Spiritual Adventures with action steps challenge Christians to recognize Jesus’ presence and follow in his footsteps every single day.250 Profiles show what happens in the lives of people and communities when they experience the power fo God’s presence in a dramatic way.Double-column format with center-column, cross references. NIV Concordance.

The Day that Changed America  - Have you built your spiritual ark of protection for three last days?  America which has a strong Christian foundation and has received much Christian teaching is experiencing an overwhelming increase in the spirit of lawlessness, permissiveness, rebellion and selfishness. Why? America is the center of Christianity in these last days. Seeing that his time is short, the enemy is on the attack, dragging down Christian leaders, destroying Christian homes, destroying Christian values, and attacking the foundation of our nation.  Whether we realize it or not, we are involved in a spiritual warfare that has caused the moral values in America to deteriorate more in this last generation than in all of the previous years of our country’s history. This attack shows no sign of stopping. Statistics show it is getting worse.  Jesus warned that as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in these last days. “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family” (Hebrews 11:7). Noah was Salt & Light in his time and God showed Noah how to build an ark of protection to save himself and his family. Christians need to build their ark of safety for these end-times. Not a physical ark like Noah, but a spiritual ark.  The teachings I wrote in the book Salt & Light will help equip you with the spiritual building materials you need to build that ark for you and your family. This book is based on spiritual principles that work for our times. They are spiritual principles that will help you live in spiritual safety despite the enemy’s brutal attacks .These principles taught from the Word of God have stood the test of time even during a period when our country’s moral values have deteriorated so dramatically. Grab a copy of The Day that Changed America  at Mainstay Ministries.

Two are Better than One - The truth is this: We cannot do it on our own. Nor did Scripture intend for the life of the Christian to be a solo life. Hungry Souls ministry is based on the premise that we are strengthened with others walk alongside us. We are developing a Covenant Group paradigm so others may begin to experience the amazing gifts given when a group of people commit themselves to holy growth together. This book helps you develop one prayer partner relationship, and it was written because we discovered that a majority of Christians have not even established a regular praying friendship. Tested through Mainstay Ministries’ 50-Day Spiritual Adventures, this practical little booklet has affected amazing change in 1000’s of believers’ lives.  These books are perfect gift list for Father’s Day 2013.

The Book of Revelation: Lesson 28 - Chapter 12:11-17

Can you remember being around someone who was really mad? I’m talking not just angry, but out-of-control rage.

That’s how Satan is pictured in the remaining verses of Revelation chapter 12. He’s been hurled to the earth, and he’s filled with fury (v. 12) and enraged (v. 17).

Because the object of his hatred is the Lord, he vents his animosity at God’s people. That’s why I believe the woman who gave birth to the male child represents Israel.

The worldwide dispersion following the destruction of Jerusalem was incredibly hard on the Jewish people. But in another sense, it was also their long-time protection. It’s like the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river the dragon spewed out against the woman.

How long has this strange protection lasted? According to this text, this prolonged period of “intense hardship and persecution” has gone on for “a time, times and half a time.”

Seeing himself as frustrated in this pursuit, the dragon then “went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

This big-picture review of history from God’s perspective will bring us to the introduction of the Antichrist in chapter 13. Like his name implies, the Antichrist is an evil figure who will be the final world-ruler and who epitomizes the program and passion of Satan.

So with one grand sweep we see in these verses what the world is really about from a heavenly perspective. It all centers around the person and work of Jesus and His ultimate victory over all who attempt to thwart His plans and purposes.

Even so, we need to realize that the devil isn’t finished yet, nor has his anger died down at all.

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sermon series for 2013

Visit the Mainstay Ministries website for a variety of sermon series for 2013,  resources for pastors and congregations.  

What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do - Sermon Series 2013 Preacher's Starter Kit

What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do - Sermon Series 2013 Preacher's Starter Kit

Pastor: Order your Preacher's Starter Kit for this 50 Day Spiritual Adventure (or order our Deluxe Campaign Starter Kit) to utilize this exceptional sermon series in your congregation.

Your Preacher's Kit contains the following items:
1. One 300-page Pastor's Manual full of eight Sundays of sermon and service helps.
2. One Adventure Guidebook When Life Becomes a Maze
3. Two Adult Journals, What to Do
4. Two Student Journals

The 50-Day Spiritual Adventure is an incredible way to terach your people how to become doers of God's word, not just hearers only. Here's why:

Reason #1: This "What to Do" Adventure gives you a wealth of sermon and service ideas to create eight unforgettable, transformative Sundays.

Reason #2: This Adventure also gives your people sermon application journals  to explore God's Word on Sundays and "Do what it says." James 1:22b

Reason #3: This Adventure helps extend the life of your sermons through sermon application steps found in every journal.


Reason #4: This Adventure gets everyone in your church on the same page spiritually for eight Sundays in a row.

What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do - Sermon Series 2013 Preacher's Starter Kit is  now available at Mainstay Ministries.

Sermon Series 2013 - Untapped Miracles Deluxe Campaign Starter Kit

Sermon Series 2013 - Untapped Miracles Deluxe Campaign Starter Kit

Pastor: Order your Deluxe Campaign Starter Kit today if you want to use this 8-Sunday sermon series called "Untapped Miracles for Tapped-out Christians" as a church-wide campaign. Our Campaign Starter Kit contains everything you need to unfold this series from the pulpit, plus integrate it throughout the adult, teen and children's education ministries of your church. Purchase this to get started (or consider ordering our Preacher's Starter Kit if you just want to preach or teach the series instead).

Included in the Deluxe Campaign Starter Kit are the following:

1. One Preacher's Starter Kit

2. One Small Group Leader Guide

3. One Discussion Starter/Drama Video DVD

4. One Student Leader Guide

5. One EDGETV Youth Video VHS

6. Two Teen Journals

7. One Children's Curriculum

8. Two Kids Journals (grades 3-6)

9. Two Kids activity books (grades K-2)


The total value of this Sermon Series 2013 - Untapped Miracles Deluxe Campaign Starter Kit package is $358.85, but you save 36% ($128.90) off the purchase price.  Visit Mainstay Ministries for details.