Elizabeth's Recital from Donna Hebert on Vimeo.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Jeff Hebert Open Air in Las Vegas
Found this wonderfully made vide of Jeff at GNN's Re-Ignite back in 2007. Thanks to Paul Kaiser from The Reformed Evangelist who made this video possible. Jeff and Paul were on the same team in Vegas and they had a wonderful time together. Enjoy the video!
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Mr.Obama visits Portland Maine
One of our ministry's team members informed me that Obama was coming to Maine, we didn't have the details till the day before but we prepared by purchasing Obama Bills. On April Fools Day Obama came, we were amazed at the crowds! Over 2000 people were lined up waiting to see him and well over 400 protesters were there as well.
Within 30 minutes we handed out the 800 + tracts we had and did some open air and witnessed to folks.
I was amazed at the diversity of the protesters. There was one man who stood with his huge signs with scripture and one saying Jesus is Lord, he stood quietly and I could tell he was praying. No anger on him, no malice, just a real concern for Obama's soul. We ended up standing with him and one of my twins held her Bible up high when Obama came through in his limo.
I realized more than ever that this was not a political issue but a spiritual issue. Obama does not know the Lord and therefore he walks according to the patterns of this world as well as his followers. More than ever we need to be praying for thr Gospel to go forth in power and that souls would be saved..only then will we see real change in America and all over the world. So let's go and preach the Gospel!
Here's pictures of this event.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=682399964803%3A1134408847&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee
Within 30 minutes we handed out the 800 + tracts we had and did some open air and witnessed to folks.
I was amazed at the diversity of the protesters. There was one man who stood with his huge signs with scripture and one saying Jesus is Lord, he stood quietly and I could tell he was praying. No anger on him, no malice, just a real concern for Obama's soul. We ended up standing with him and one of my twins held her Bible up high when Obama came through in his limo.
I realized more than ever that this was not a political issue but a spiritual issue. Obama does not know the Lord and therefore he walks according to the patterns of this world as well as his followers. More than ever we need to be praying for thr Gospel to go forth in power and that souls would be saved..only then will we see real change in America and all over the world. So let's go and preach the Gospel!
Here's pictures of this event.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=682399964803%3A1134408847&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee
Friday, March 19, 2010
St.Patricks Day tracting
On Wednesday the 3 girls and I and our friend Daniel headed to downtown Portland and passed out 498 tracts.
Here's a short video of Kiara passing out some tracts. Please pray for the seeds that were sown and for hearts to turn to seek the living God! May He use those tracts to cause someone to turn from sin and turn to Him! To God be the glory!
Here's a short video of Kiara passing out some tracts. Please pray for the seeds that were sown and for hearts to turn to seek the living God! May He use those tracts to cause someone to turn from sin and turn to Him! To God be the glory!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Jonathan's basketball team video and receiving trophy
Jonathan enjoyed his year playing for the Ossippe Valley Christian Schools boys Varsity basketball team. He had some really good games and they almost took the championship. They were 2nd. Jonathan is #7 in all the videos. He is 1 of 4 homeschoolers. The rest are students of OVCS.
At the awards ceremony Coach Gardiner had some nice words for Jonathan as well as award him the Best Defensive Player Trophy.
At the awards ceremony Coach Gardiner had some nice words for Jonathan as well as award him the Best Defensive Player Trophy.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
A Critique of Modern Youth Ministry
Are youth groups and age segregated ministries truly from a biblical standard or are they another result of man's wisdom? Read this booklet and leave us your comments.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
What does it cost you to follow Christ? Everything. Steve Lawson preaches on Luke 14 on the Cost of Discipleship. The sad reality is that many people are just part of a crowd, many are in the crowd of those who listen to Piper, Washer, Conway, MacArthur, yet they themselves have not truly submitted to the Lordship of Christ. Search yourself out this very day... have you come to saving faith? Or do you just wish you had the reality of Christ that you see others have? Don't be part of the wrong crowd.
www.illbehonest.com
www.resolved.org
Steve Lawson is a pastor of:
www.cfbcmobile.org
Saturday, January 16, 2010
John Piper answers prisoners questions
"This prison is the largest maximum-security prison in America. It is one of the most famous prisons in the whole world. It has only murderers, rapists, armed robbers and habitual felons. The average sentence is 88 years, with 3,200 people in one place serving life sentences. Ninety percent of the inmates will die here. This is a place of hopelessness, so if Angola can change, the rest of the countrys prisons cant say, We cant do this." http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/2108_as_nice_as_they_let_me_as_mean_as_they_make_me/
Saturday, September 19, 2009
The Heart of Family Reformation
Author: Jim Elliff
Our family begins the day with the hymn we are currently memorizing. When Laura was five, she sang for all of us the second verse of "I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord" by the Yale president of the late 1700s, Timothy Dwight. With a determined look, she sang out,
My boys collapsed on the floor with laughter. The word is "graven!"
The kids were telling me just this evening how special our morning worship is. They value it, not only because it is sometimes humorous, but because it is the glue that holds us together, the stimulus for some our best discussions, and the real strength of our lives—its the heart, in fact, of our family reformation.
The Puritans, long misunderstood, had an exceptional view of the family. We can learn from them even though we might not accept all they had to say. They often talked of the home as the "little church," and the father as the pastor of his little flock. Lewis Bayly said, "What the preacher is in the pulpit, the same the Christian householder is in his house." Family worship is the natural outcome of such a view.
The practice of family worship (with or without children at home) is as forgotten to the church today as the dust in our attic, but this simple and effective method of restoring family spirituality is the most potent tool we have available to us—and every one of us can do it!
WHY IS FAMILY WORSHIP CRITICAL?
First, family worship is critical because the placing of the Word of God in the hearts of our family members is indispensable to their conversion.
Paul reminded Timothy that, “From childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim. 3: 15).
Peter said that we are "born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible through the Word of God which lives and abides forever" (1 Pet. 1:23). This incorruptible seed of saving life (corresponding to the natural biological seed) is inseminated in the dead soul via the Word of God alone.
The Puritans believed this with a passion. This was the rationale for their long sermons, the catechizing of children, the morning messages in those cold church buildings prior to the work day, the daily meditating on the Word in private, and especially the practice of family worship. For the Puritan, family worship took place two times a day, as the "morning and evening sacrifice." It was through this means that his children and wife, and any other guests or helpers in the home, would receive life!
Richard Baxter, one of the most famous of the Puritans, saw his village of Kidderminster, England transformed through this method. He stated:
I do verily believe that if parents did their duty as they ought, the Word publicly preached would not be the ordinary means of regeneration in the church, but only without the church, among practical heathens and infidels.
Second, it is critical because the Word alone enables your family to withstand the prevailing currents of an evil culture.
In the 2 Timothy 3 passage we find a torrent of base culture descending on young Timothy. "…In the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers… disobedient to parents…without self control… headstrong…lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God"(vss.1-4).
How will you be able to rescue your family from the effects of such a culture? Only through the Word of God, according to Paul. The Word makes Timothy as the "man of God," "thoroughly equipped for every good work" necessary to strengthen the church. His tool box is complete and "profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (vs. 16) so that the people under his charge can withstand the flood of culture described in the previous verses.
In the same way, the pastor-father of the home (or the mother in homes without a father, which was Timothy’s situation) is made adequate to help his or her family. Paul tells Timothy, therefore, to "preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season" (4:2).
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth… (4: 3-4).
When culture rushes down on your family and the professing church is trying to imitate the world itself, how will your family keep from being swept away in its path? Only through the Word of God! Family worship, on a daily basis, is your hope that they will stand like steel piers against the prevailing tide.
When speaking in Basel, Switzerland years ago I saw a ferry which crossed the swift Rhone river. It had no engine, but operated by means of its resistance to the current, guided from one side to the other along a taut steel line. Unless we attach those tender hearts of our family members to the steel line of truth, there will be little hope of their withstanding the forces pressing against them.
In India there was a custom of throwing babies into the Ganges river as a sacrifice to the gods. If we are unwilling to do any more than merely take our children to church, we might as well be throwing them into the river of the culture. This is an explanation why many children of Christian parents are so often no different than the world’s. They have been given to the gods by their parents—thrown in with hands of neglect.
WHAT ARE THE BASICS?
There are three aspects of family worship which I find important: singing, the reading of the Word, and prayer, or as one friend puts it Song, Scripture, and Supplication.
Singing. Not every home is musical, but every attempt should be made to incorporate singing into the daily worship experience. We have been concerned that a whole generation of children are growing up without Christian hymnody. Therefore, we teach our children the best hymns of the faith. In fact, I give my children three dollars for every hymn they learn!
We prefer the hymns written by the theologians and pastors of earlier days (Watts, Wesley, Newton, Doddridge, etc.) since the theology is better. The "gospel hall songs" written by the crusade musicians of the 19th century are often trite and less God-exalting, even though we are sometimes romantically attached to them.
I got the idea of paying money for learning hymns from Charles Spurgeon, the 19th century pastor of the London’s Metropolitan Tabernacle.
My grandfather was very fond of Dr. Watt’s hymns, and my grandmother, wishing to get me to learn them, promised me a penny for each one that I should say to her perfectly. I found it an easy and pleasant method of earning money, and learned them so fast that grandmother said she must reduce the price to a halfpenny each, and afterwards to a farthing, if she did not mean to be quite ruined by her extravagance. There is no telling how low the amount per hymn might have sunk, but grandfather said that he was getting overrun with rats, and offered me a shilling a dozen for all I could kill. I found, at the time, that the occupation of rat-catching paid me better than learning hymns, but I know which employment has been the more permanently profitable to me. No matter on what topic I am preaching, I can even now, in the middle of any sermon, quote some verse of a hymn in harmony with the subject. The hymns have remained with me, while those old rats for years have passed away, and the shillings I earned by killing them have been spent long ago.
Reading the Word. Though there are uses for devotional books of various types, they are best as a supplement and not a substitute for the Bible. My preference is to stick with reading the Bible as our main diet during family worship. Occasionally you may wish to add a chapter day by day of a Christian biography, while still giving the Bible the center stage. Use other helps at bedtime, or as a supplement, if helpful, but drink the "pure milk of the Word" during family worship. We read a chapter each day and always complete the book we begin.
You will find the Bible engaging enough on its own, and often a launching place for discussion about many things. For instance, what better place can you find to learn about sexuality than from Scripture? Don’t be afraid of the less than perfect characters you will meet in the Bible. They are included for our instruction. Use the examples, good and bad, to talk about those forgotten virtues of integrity, honesty, faithfulness, etc. Bring out the nature of sin and the beauties of the gospel, heaven and hell.
When the children are young, or the family is new to the faith, go over and over the story portions of the Bible. Begin with Mark, and then read the other gospels, Genesis, Exodus, the two Samuels, Kings and Chronicles, Ruth, Esther, Acts, etc. This will give them the history of the Bible as a great redemption drama. Later they can handle the teaching portions better.
Though the morning is by far the best time for family worship, you may not find it workable. You may wish to take the mealtime most attended by all your family. Have the Bible set beside the father’s place as part of the table setting. Then, after the meal, but before any dishes are moved off the table, worship together. Do it faithfully, even when someone must be absent.
Family prayers. Our children are used to seeing prayers answered. Why? Because we pray very specifically. When we see the answer come in, we make something of it.
I prefer to talk with the family about some of our needs and then assign each of us something to pray about. I usually accompany this with an encouragement that God has been answering our prayers and that we all should pray silently while another is wording our request. There is nothing more beautiful than the sincere request of children.
Keeping this time fresh will be your hardest task. Sometimes you may wish to put requests into a basket and let each person draw one out. Seek ways to make this time better. When the children are young, however, family worship should not be long and tedious for them. They will learn best by degrees.
JUDGMENT DAY
Puritan Richard Mather (1596-1669), grandfather of Increase, and great grandfather of Cotton Mather, once imagined children on judgment day, speaking to their parents. His words will serve as a final sober warning that we must be more diligent to care for the souls of our children:
All this that we here suffer is through you. You should have taught us the things of God, and did not. You should have restrained us from sin and corrected us, and you did not. You were the means of our original corruption and guiltiness, and yet you never showed any competent care that we might be delivered from it. Woe unto us that we had such carnal and careless parents; and woe unto you that had no more compassion and pity to prevent the everlasting misery of your own children.
Copyright © 2000 Jim Elliff
Christian Communicators Worldwide, Inc.
Permission granted for not-for-sale reproduction in unedited form
including author's name, title, complete content, copyright and weblink.
Other uses require written permission.
www.CCWtoday.org
Our family begins the day with the hymn we are currently memorizing. When Laura was five, she sang for all of us the second verse of "I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord" by the Yale president of the late 1700s, Timothy Dwight. With a determined look, she sang out,
I love Thy church, O God.
Her walls before Thee stand.
Dear as the apple of Thine eye,
And gravy on Thy hand.
My boys collapsed on the floor with laughter. The word is "graven!"
The kids were telling me just this evening how special our morning worship is. They value it, not only because it is sometimes humorous, but because it is the glue that holds us together, the stimulus for some our best discussions, and the real strength of our lives—its the heart, in fact, of our family reformation.
The Puritans, long misunderstood, had an exceptional view of the family. We can learn from them even though we might not accept all they had to say. They often talked of the home as the "little church," and the father as the pastor of his little flock. Lewis Bayly said, "What the preacher is in the pulpit, the same the Christian householder is in his house." Family worship is the natural outcome of such a view.
The practice of family worship (with or without children at home) is as forgotten to the church today as the dust in our attic, but this simple and effective method of restoring family spirituality is the most potent tool we have available to us—and every one of us can do it!
WHY IS FAMILY WORSHIP CRITICAL?
First, family worship is critical because the placing of the Word of God in the hearts of our family members is indispensable to their conversion.
Paul reminded Timothy that, “From childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim. 3: 15).
Peter said that we are "born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible through the Word of God which lives and abides forever" (1 Pet. 1:23). This incorruptible seed of saving life (corresponding to the natural biological seed) is inseminated in the dead soul via the Word of God alone.
The Puritans believed this with a passion. This was the rationale for their long sermons, the catechizing of children, the morning messages in those cold church buildings prior to the work day, the daily meditating on the Word in private, and especially the practice of family worship. For the Puritan, family worship took place two times a day, as the "morning and evening sacrifice." It was through this means that his children and wife, and any other guests or helpers in the home, would receive life!
Richard Baxter, one of the most famous of the Puritans, saw his village of Kidderminster, England transformed through this method. He stated:
I do verily believe that if parents did their duty as they ought, the Word publicly preached would not be the ordinary means of regeneration in the church, but only without the church, among practical heathens and infidels.
Second, it is critical because the Word alone enables your family to withstand the prevailing currents of an evil culture.
In the 2 Timothy 3 passage we find a torrent of base culture descending on young Timothy. "…In the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers… disobedient to parents…without self control… headstrong…lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God"(vss.1-4).
How will you be able to rescue your family from the effects of such a culture? Only through the Word of God, according to Paul. The Word makes Timothy as the "man of God," "thoroughly equipped for every good work" necessary to strengthen the church. His tool box is complete and "profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (vs. 16) so that the people under his charge can withstand the flood of culture described in the previous verses.
In the same way, the pastor-father of the home (or the mother in homes without a father, which was Timothy’s situation) is made adequate to help his or her family. Paul tells Timothy, therefore, to "preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season" (4:2).
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth… (4: 3-4).
When culture rushes down on your family and the professing church is trying to imitate the world itself, how will your family keep from being swept away in its path? Only through the Word of God! Family worship, on a daily basis, is your hope that they will stand like steel piers against the prevailing tide.
When speaking in Basel, Switzerland years ago I saw a ferry which crossed the swift Rhone river. It had no engine, but operated by means of its resistance to the current, guided from one side to the other along a taut steel line. Unless we attach those tender hearts of our family members to the steel line of truth, there will be little hope of their withstanding the forces pressing against them.
In India there was a custom of throwing babies into the Ganges river as a sacrifice to the gods. If we are unwilling to do any more than merely take our children to church, we might as well be throwing them into the river of the culture. This is an explanation why many children of Christian parents are so often no different than the world’s. They have been given to the gods by their parents—thrown in with hands of neglect.
WHAT ARE THE BASICS?
There are three aspects of family worship which I find important: singing, the reading of the Word, and prayer, or as one friend puts it Song, Scripture, and Supplication.
Singing. Not every home is musical, but every attempt should be made to incorporate singing into the daily worship experience. We have been concerned that a whole generation of children are growing up without Christian hymnody. Therefore, we teach our children the best hymns of the faith. In fact, I give my children three dollars for every hymn they learn!
We prefer the hymns written by the theologians and pastors of earlier days (Watts, Wesley, Newton, Doddridge, etc.) since the theology is better. The "gospel hall songs" written by the crusade musicians of the 19th century are often trite and less God-exalting, even though we are sometimes romantically attached to them.
I got the idea of paying money for learning hymns from Charles Spurgeon, the 19th century pastor of the London’s Metropolitan Tabernacle.
My grandfather was very fond of Dr. Watt’s hymns, and my grandmother, wishing to get me to learn them, promised me a penny for each one that I should say to her perfectly. I found it an easy and pleasant method of earning money, and learned them so fast that grandmother said she must reduce the price to a halfpenny each, and afterwards to a farthing, if she did not mean to be quite ruined by her extravagance. There is no telling how low the amount per hymn might have sunk, but grandfather said that he was getting overrun with rats, and offered me a shilling a dozen for all I could kill. I found, at the time, that the occupation of rat-catching paid me better than learning hymns, but I know which employment has been the more permanently profitable to me. No matter on what topic I am preaching, I can even now, in the middle of any sermon, quote some verse of a hymn in harmony with the subject. The hymns have remained with me, while those old rats for years have passed away, and the shillings I earned by killing them have been spent long ago.
Reading the Word. Though there are uses for devotional books of various types, they are best as a supplement and not a substitute for the Bible. My preference is to stick with reading the Bible as our main diet during family worship. Occasionally you may wish to add a chapter day by day of a Christian biography, while still giving the Bible the center stage. Use other helps at bedtime, or as a supplement, if helpful, but drink the "pure milk of the Word" during family worship. We read a chapter each day and always complete the book we begin.
You will find the Bible engaging enough on its own, and often a launching place for discussion about many things. For instance, what better place can you find to learn about sexuality than from Scripture? Don’t be afraid of the less than perfect characters you will meet in the Bible. They are included for our instruction. Use the examples, good and bad, to talk about those forgotten virtues of integrity, honesty, faithfulness, etc. Bring out the nature of sin and the beauties of the gospel, heaven and hell.
When the children are young, or the family is new to the faith, go over and over the story portions of the Bible. Begin with Mark, and then read the other gospels, Genesis, Exodus, the two Samuels, Kings and Chronicles, Ruth, Esther, Acts, etc. This will give them the history of the Bible as a great redemption drama. Later they can handle the teaching portions better.
Though the morning is by far the best time for family worship, you may not find it workable. You may wish to take the mealtime most attended by all your family. Have the Bible set beside the father’s place as part of the table setting. Then, after the meal, but before any dishes are moved off the table, worship together. Do it faithfully, even when someone must be absent.
Family prayers. Our children are used to seeing prayers answered. Why? Because we pray very specifically. When we see the answer come in, we make something of it.
I prefer to talk with the family about some of our needs and then assign each of us something to pray about. I usually accompany this with an encouragement that God has been answering our prayers and that we all should pray silently while another is wording our request. There is nothing more beautiful than the sincere request of children.
Keeping this time fresh will be your hardest task. Sometimes you may wish to put requests into a basket and let each person draw one out. Seek ways to make this time better. When the children are young, however, family worship should not be long and tedious for them. They will learn best by degrees.
JUDGMENT DAY
Puritan Richard Mather (1596-1669), grandfather of Increase, and great grandfather of Cotton Mather, once imagined children on judgment day, speaking to their parents. His words will serve as a final sober warning that we must be more diligent to care for the souls of our children:
All this that we here suffer is through you. You should have taught us the things of God, and did not. You should have restrained us from sin and corrected us, and you did not. You were the means of our original corruption and guiltiness, and yet you never showed any competent care that we might be delivered from it. Woe unto us that we had such carnal and careless parents; and woe unto you that had no more compassion and pity to prevent the everlasting misery of your own children.
Copyright © 2000 Jim Elliff
Christian Communicators Worldwide, Inc.
Permission granted for not-for-sale reproduction in unedited form
including author's name, title, complete content, copyright and weblink.
Other uses require written permission.
www.CCWtoday.org
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Our precious Kiara
Please pray for our daughter Kiara. She had a seizure today at the eye doctors appt, never has had a seizure before, the ER doctor had an ECG done which revealed an abnormal, enlarged middle part in her heart which is what they believe caused her to pass out and seizure. Now we have to see a cardiologist and pediatric neurologist. She's fine right now. Will keep posting as we find out what's going on.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
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Sola Scriptura: The Scripture Alone is the Standard
Soli Deo Gloria: For the Glory of God Alone
Solo Christo: By Christ's Work Alone are We Saved
Sola Gratia: Salvation by Grace Alone
Sola Fide: Justification by Faith Alone
"There are many who preach Christ, but not so many who live Christ. My great aim will be to live Christ" -Robert Chapman
Soli Deo Gloria: For the Glory of God Alone
Solo Christo: By Christ's Work Alone are We Saved
Sola Gratia: Salvation by Grace Alone
Sola Fide: Justification by Faith Alone
"There are many who preach Christ, but not so many who live Christ. My great aim will be to live Christ" -Robert Chapman