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if my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 WEBI have a Dilbert cartoon about tech support taped to our internet router because it reminds me of our service provider here. Each time that we call them with a problem,...

It happened, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, It is the king of Israel. Therefore they turned about to fight against him: but Jehoshaphat cried out, and Yahweh helped him; and God moved them to depart from him. It happened, when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him. 2 Chronicles 18:31 WEBJehoshaphat,...

RHM Devotional: Understanding God from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. Today I want to talk about understanding God. I believe that this is a crossroads that everyone comes to at some point, and it causes many to stumble. I have seen so many people turn back from their commitment to Jesus because they could not understand what He was doing. Many of us like to sketch out things like an architect,...

RHM Newsletter #33, 2018 Year-end Wrap-up from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. (For those interested, there are quite a few more photos in the video version of this newsletter :)) For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be on his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 WEB Hi...

RHM Devotional: Spiritual Bullies from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. Today I want to talk about the heart of Jesus towards the lost sheep, compared to the heart of the religious leaders that should have been taking care of them. Luke chapter 15 reads: Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man...

and your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk you in it; when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left. Isaiah 30:21 WEBA shepherd herding sheep down a path does not have to interact that much, he just follows behind them watching. His presence is there, but he does not have to say anything. However if they come to a fork in the road, or a path leading off...

Brothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to yourself so that you also aren't tempted. Galatians 6:1 WEBBrothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to yourself so that you also aren't tempted. Galatians 6:1 WEBWe all make mistakes...

RHM Devotional: Heroes and Monsters from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. Today I want to talk about the potential of being a Hero, or a Monster, that exists inside each one of us. We get to choose. Once when Jesus was preaching from a boat, He told a parable about a man that sowed wheat in His field, but an enemy came along and sowed weeds behind him. We pick this up in Matthew 13:24 and following: He...

Don't lay in wait, wicked man, against the habitation of the righteous. Don't destroy his resting-place: For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises up again; But the wicked are overthrown by calamity. Proverbs 24:15 WEBYour journey ends when you will no longer get up. Many times in my life, I began to feel that I had let God down, made the wrong decision, and wrecked His plan for my life. Then...

RHM Bible Study, Acts Chapter Twenty-four from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. Today we are going to study Acts chapter 24 in depth. You can follow along in your own Bible if you like. I will be reading from the World English Bible because it is the only modern English translation that is copyright free, and I can read the entire Bible on video without...

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, 'So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I don't make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time!' When he saw that, he arose, and ran for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there....

For you bless the righteous, O LORD; you cover him with favor as with a shield. Psalm 5:12 ESVOnce while at church on a Sunday night, the pastor's wife said that she felt the Lord wanted me to get my G.E.D. as I had left school early to join the work force. I told her that I would look into it and Monday morning I went to the Adult Education Center. I went in and explained that I had been out of school...

RHM Devotional: Face Against the Glass from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. Today I want to talk about Jesus choosing Matthew the tax collector as one of His twelve Apostles, and why that would have been unthinkable at the time. Mark 2:13–17 ESV He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son...

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable. Isaiah 40:28 ESVTired and in a bad mood, we arrived home. We had worked at the church all day once again, and a new tax bill came while we were gone. We now owed five hundred dollars for additional taxes. Angrily I said, "If...

RHM Devotional: Climbing God's Mountain from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:1–2 ESV Today I want you to picture us all climbing a mountain:...

You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride. You have ravished my heart with one of your eyes, With one chain of your neck. How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine! The fragrance of your perfumes than all manner of spices! Song 4:9 WEBIt is refreshing to see people who are truly in love. When a person first falls in love, they can see nothing but...

Behold, Yahweh stood above it, and said, 'I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land whereon you lie, to you will I give it, and to your seed. Your seed will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with...

RHM Bible Study, Acts Chapter Twenty-three from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. Today we are going to study Acts chapter 23 in depth. You can follow along in your own Bible if you like. I will be reading from the World English Bible because it is the only modern English translation that is copyright free, and I can read the entire Bible on video without...

But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. Genesis 19:26 WEBWhen God told Abram to leave his country, he brought along his nephew Lot. In time, they both prospered so much that they had to separate from each other. Lot and his family moved to Sodom. It became an extremely wicked, prideful city, and when God had enough, He destroyed it.Because of Abraham, angels visited...

RHM Devotional: Wineskins from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. No one puts new wine into old wine skins, or else the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wine skins, and both are preserved. Luke 5:37-38 WEB  (Paralleled in: Matthew 9:17, Mark 2:22) The most radical change recorded in the Bible was the...

I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, 'Now is come the salvation, the power, and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ; for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night. Revelation 12:10 WEBIn a United States supreme court case in 1932, Sorrells vs United States, a prohibition officer repeatedly tried to get a factory worker to...

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says Yahweh, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope in your latter end. You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:11 WEBI used to work with my Dad building custom homes. He was a lifelong carpenter. When he...

RHM Devotional: Can You Hear Me Now from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end, while it is said, “Today if you will hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.” For who, when they heard, rebelled? Wasn’t it all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? ...

Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, and take the clothing and the horse, as you have said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king's gate: let nothing fail of all that you have spoken. Then took Haman the clothing and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and caused him to ride through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king...

Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. Psalms 37:4 ESVWhen the man tossed the cable on the desk, I started laughing. I could hardly believe it. I have always been drawn to technical things like a moth to a bug light and I like tinkering with them. I wanted to hook a computer up to my television and needed...

RHM News and Devotional: Time to Shine from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. Hurricane Michael blew past us this week. Here there was only a little rain, a little wind and things are returning to normal. We are still cut off from our town of Conway as the road is flooded out. My heart goes out to those in the Florida Panhandle who endured a category 4 hurricane coming onshore. May the Lord give...

RHM Bible Study, Acts 22 from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. Today we are going to study Acts chapter 22 in depth. You can follow along in your own Bible if you like. I will be reading from the World English Bible because it is the only modern English translation that is copyright free, and I can read the entire Bible on video without any legal drama or...

Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Luke 18:15 ESVAt church one night, a visiting speaker called my six-year-old son up front and told him that the Lord had heard his prayer about the dog,...

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. He came into all the region around the Jordan,...

for the righteous falls seven times and rises again Proverbs 24:16 ESVOnce again, I found that it was I standing in the need of prayer. I was the man who promised he would never do it again, and then went and did it again. I had slowly drifted away, one more time. I have found that it is easy to make God promises, but it is often difficult to keep them. While laying on the floor in tears, and asking...