As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. 

⁹ "I will give it all to you," he said, "if you will kneel down and worship me."

 ¹⁰ "Get out of here, Satan," Jesus told him. "For the Scriptures say,

   'You must worship the Lord your God
      and serve only him.'^[a]"

Eric Matthews

Zander Built Construction Inc. 

God is with me

 ¹⁴ David continued to succeed in everything he did, for the Lord was with him.

God I pray that each day I will grow closer to you, I know you are with me and I want to live like it. 

Eric 

Breakfast!

See you in the morning!

Cleaning up the Mess - Mark

Psalms 11:7 MSG
God's business is putting things right;
he loves getting the lines straight,
Setting us straight. Once we're standing tall,
we can look him straight in the eye.

Psalms 11:7 NIV
For the LORD is righteous,
he loves justice;
upright men will see his face.

Now that the trucks and the trailers are gone, God is cleaning up the mess. He is setting us free and making the lines straight again. Thank you Jesus for cleaning up my mess, and for giving me a fresh start.

You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head.

Each day I will remember that any giant I may face is no match for my God. This will be my war cry. I am ready for battle. 

Eric

Falling Short

Since coming off the fast, it seems that my focus has been redirected and not with my eyes towards God. Reading has been sporadic at best and i have found the world closing around and pretty much given me a beating. As i try and focus on the word it seems like an urgent problem occurs conveniently. Mark I praise you and your family for sticking through and keeping God the primary focus. I'll take the beating but from now on i will be Faithful again in the little things he has set before me; Reading his word and speaking it back to my brothers.

Mark The Champion!

Let's not wait to lose it all before we are passionate about Jesus and in the Word everyday!  Let's press in now, so we can withstand the storm when it comes.  Mark pressed in before these hard times hit.  Now look how he continues to praise God as the bank begins to repossess his house, trucks and more.  Well done Mark!  This is only the beginning for you and your family.  You are God's champion ready to be used by Him to do great things for the Kingdom of God!  I am honored to be your friend!

40 Days of Taunting - Mark

1 Samuel 17:16
Each morning and evening for forty days, Goliath took his stand and made his speech.

1 Samuel 17:26
David, who was talking to the men standing around him, asked, "Who does he think he is, anyway, this uncircumcised Philistine, taunting the armies of God-Alive?"

1 Samuel 17:45-47
David answered, "You come at me with sword and spear and battle-ax. I come at you in the name of God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel's troops, whom you curse and mock. This very day God is handing you over to me. I'm about to kill you, cut off your head, and serve up your body and the bodies of your Philistine buddies to the crows and coyotes. The whole earth will know that there's an extraordinary God in Israel. And everyone gathered here will learn that God doesn't save by means of sword or spear. The battle belongs to God—he's handing you to us on a platter!"

During my 40 day fast, Satan loved to taunt me and tell me that fasting would not make a difference. I must take an active step. I am ready to slay the giants that are taunting me and stealing my hope.

"When faith is all I have, that is when God creates and builds His champions"

Prayer request

I have two small prayer requests for the men. I pulled a muscle in my shoulder blade last thursday and my wife Jeanice is having a fair amount of hip pain. We would appreciate some prayer for healing so things can get back to "normal".

BTW- I have been faithfully reading my bible every day and feeling very good about it. My days are more ordered, within reason, and I am much more centered and able to weather the storm of life. Dan

Sarcasm

Paul seemed to like the stuff. I suppose it made his point.
I hope I'm never at a place where it needs to be used on me.
Don't you wish people simply responded to love?

My Weakness - Mark

2 Corinthians 13:5-9
Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith. As you test yourselves, I hope you will recognize that we have not failed the test of apostolic authority.

We pray to God that you will not do what is wrong by refusing our correction. I hope we won’t need to demonstrate our authority when we arrive. Do the right thing before we come—even if that makes it look like we have failed to demonstrate our authority. For we cannot oppose the truth, but must always stand for the truth. We are glad to seem weak if it helps show that you are actually strong. We pray that you will become mature.

I have been concerned that my failure would cause those around us to stumble. Would they question the sovereignty of the God that we serve? Would they say, "Where is your God now, why didn't He save you?" Perhaps their perception of my God will come from the way I respond to the situation. If I mope around all day, our neighbors will see a God sized failure.

I must choose to face each day with a smile on my face resting in the joy of my salvation. The things of this world are temporary, and He will use my failures for His Glory. When I trust that His grace is enough, my testimony is restored.

I have not lost my Spiritual authority. I rest in the knowledge that God will use my weakness to build the faith of those around me, and He will increase their spiritual maturity.

More Like Him - Mark

2 Corinthians 11:30
If I have to "brag" about myself, I'll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus.

Every trial makes me more humble and more like Him. Thank you Jesus for the trials!

2 Corinthians 11:3 - Stacy

.."And now I'm afraid that exactly as the Snake seduced Eve with his smooth patter, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ." ... Be careful as we go thru daily life, because the snake will start out with the small things, small distractions and work his way up. To me that includes trying to mess me up with my Bible reading, things to distract me from loving my wife, getting angry with my kids... etc.. I am thankful that Christ keeps me on track and if I do get side tracked, I quickly put God back in first place. My love for Jesus is way stronger than what satan can ever offer.