Pastor's Blog

Mark Hankins at Valley Word Church

WOW! What a weekend. I am so charged up! If you were not able to be a church for the services with Mark Hankins, here are some of the points I wrote down.

God knows a sower by his habits, patterns, and attitudes toward giving.

If you addicted to giving to the Kingdom, God will support your habit.

Our voice has to be hooked up with the Word not our circumstances.

Get caught with so much faith, you are guilty of possession with the intent to distribute.

Some things it would take too long to save for, so you must sow for it.

Harvest just as much work as sowing. Here is the work of a harvester. 1. watch your month. 2. rejoice in harvest. 3. Meditate on the Word concerning tithing and giving. 4. Keep sowing.

I hope these points help you as much as they did me.

It Takes Faith

When talking about your faith, it is important to look at your love walk. Simply put, your love walk is your ability to operate your life by the standard of God's love. In the Bible God's love is described as the unselfish love. The Greek word is "agape". To live your life by the "agape" type of love means you are more concerned about others than yourself. On the other hand, this kind of love is not just about pleasing other people or letting others walk all over you. This kind of love is powerful when you, because of your love don't get offended at others, you don't lash out in anger, and you always walk in forgiveness. You see, God's love in us causes us to be free of the things that make our faith void of power. And, by the way, God's love has been deposited in our life when we are born again. So, we can love one another like God loves us.

Change your love walk and you will change your future!

Pastor

It Takes Faith

I've had people come up to me at church and say,"My faith is not working what am I doing wrong?"The answer is maybe nothing! When you are doing everything you know to do, don't forget one thing. "The Fight". The Bible tells us to fight the good fight of faith. You see, once you have started a "faith project" you have to stay in the fight. I know, you are asking "How do I stay in the fight?" First, keep up your confession. Keep what is coming out of your mouth in line with what the Bible says about your "faith project". Next, Keep your attitude positive. If you get negative, complain, and get discouraged, you loose. Next, make sure you are walking in love. Finally, don't give up and you will win.

For more teaching on this subject get the teaching series "It Takes Faith" available on CD. contact us for more info.

Next time I'll answer the question,"Why is love important to my success?"

Until then,   Pastor

It Takes Faith

Today I want to talk for a minute about meditating on the Word. The Bible tells us in Joshua to meditate on the Law day and night to observe to do all that is written therein. He said this is the way to make your way prosperous and to have good success. First the word meditate means to mutter, to say it over and over until it becomes a part of you. You see, as we say the Word over and over it becomes a part of us. This process works in every part of our lives. Have you ever worried yourself sick about something? Worry is nothing more than negative meditation. When we take the promises of God(the Word) and confess it over our lives it will produce a picture. That is what Joshua was saying when he said observe to do. We meditate on the Word until it produces a picture on the inside of us doing what the Word says. You keep meditating on the Word until the picture becomes so real, you just do it!

More to come next time

It takes Faith

Last time we looked at having a positive attitude. Today lets talk about keeping hope alive in your life. The word hope in the Greek is the word "elpis". It means an expectation. In looking into this word I have found that "elpis" means more than expectation. Hope is born out of the imagination and produces an expectation. Hope is first a picture. Hope is produced by meditating on something until you see yourself in it. Yes, thats right, You must meditate on the Word of God to build hope that  the Word will work for you. As you meditate on the Word, the picture will become clearer. Hope then gives faith something to stand on. (Heb. 11:1)

Until next time

It Takes Faith

I just finished a series on Faith. With all the things God has called us to do in 2008, it will require faith. I want to recap some thoughts from that series. To hear the whole series, from the website, go to the media room.

To really be in faith, there are five dynamics that must operate in your life. Here they are.

1. The Word of God must be first place

2. You must have a positive attitude

3. Hope has to be alive in you.

4. The Word of God must be spoken with authority.

5. You must fight the good fight of faith.

Throughout the series I talked about the Word. It is the power of God. As we look back at the rest of these dynamics we will talk more about the word.

Today, let me give you a thought about your attitude. The Bible says "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." If you have a negative attitude (stinking thinking it is called), you will always expect only bad things to happen. You must change your thinking by meditating in the Word day and night until you see yourself doing and being what the Word of God says. Look at Joshua 1:8 and you will see that the word, when meditated on will produce success. Let's start thinking God thoughts about ourselves by spending time in His Word.

Until next time.