Ministering to artists ministering through the arts.
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"Dave Weiss was at our church tonight and all I can say is wow! What a gifted artist and fine preacher! People really responded well to him and I hope to have him back again. Some of the finest preaching I have heard in a long time."
Jim Baker,
Pastor, Lorida Church of the Brethren, Lorida, FL
New from AMOKArts.com
Many Parts... One Body: A Creative Way to Teach the Importance of every member in the body of Christ. Available in three versions: Small, Medium and Large Group Sizes.
Running AMOK: Random Musings for the Creative Hands of the Body of Christ by Dave Weiss
I know it’s hard to see guilt and shame as a gift but they can be used as a way of turning a person around or keeping us from going down the wrong road in the first place. Join us as we take an unusual look at John 8:1-11 the story of the woman caught in adultery.
Now just to be clear, I think Max Lucado’s book is pretty wonderful over all. I even think he did some good things in this chapter. I just struggled with the juxtaposition of these two stories. I do get where he was going. He was trying to show someone who carried the pain of undeserved guilt and shame and the freedom we can find in Christ. The problem is there are many of us who live with guilt and shame that we hold some responsibility in. Grace is wonderful and available to us all, and it comes with repentance. I wanted to show a bit more of this dichotomy.
Kent Rice is a good friend of mine whom I am blessed to know. He’s the youth pastor at Hempfield Church of the Brethren in Lancaster County, PA. He’s also an actor,though he would probably balk at that characterization. For this message, he portrays an old Pennsylvania Dutchman named Henry Schaeffer. He uses this character to give a beautiful interpretation of Romans 8:38 and 39. Check it out.
How could you use your gift to tell abetter story?
This message explores the times when God is silent by looking at the two four hundred year periods of biblical history when the Bible is “silent” between Genesis and Exodus and between Malachi and Matthew to ask the question is God really silent or are we just not listening?
AMOKArts.com Worship Painting Jesus Christ Crucified "Father Forgive Them"
The Palm Sunday/Good Friday Message looking at Jesus as the hero of the greatest story ever told and exploring how we can live heroically. Follow Jesus into living a better story.
The AMOKArts.com Message of the Week this week looks at those times when we are tried and tired and gives biblical solutions on how to handle it well. Being tried and tired is not an excuse for bad behavior. It’s a reason to lean on Jesus and represent Him well.
I have a really simple message for you today, God loves you. I started looking at all the stuff that my congregation has been dealing with and all the struggles we face and felt like we needed a reminder. If you’re struggling today know this God loves you and He has not left you, come to Him through Jesus and hold on.
The text for the message is Romans 8.
God bless! The message will be preached later this morning at New Creation Fellowship. If you’re in the Reading PA area, join us.
How do you stay in God’s will when life is so unpredictable? There is a way. Join us as we explore Joshua’s solution to a complex world. Due to Youtube’s restrictions on length, I had to split this one in two.
A message that explores why we do what we do and what we should be doing. There is a plan and purpose for your life. In this series we will help you find it.
Bible Reading Guide
An important part of following God is knowing what He wants and a great way to know what He wants is to read His Word. Follow this plan and you will finish reading the Bible in a year.
1 Samuel 17; 2 Timothy 3
You can also download your own chart here.
In this message, our Easter message, we’ll look at the resurrection of Christ and what it means to you. Happy Easter from Dave Weiss, New Creation Fellowship and AMOKArts.
Jesus is Risen
Bible Reading Guide
An important part of following God is knowing what He wants and a great way to know what He wants is to read His Word. Follow this plan and you will finish reading the Bible in a year.
Joshua 13; Mark 9; Psalm 117
You can also download your own chart here.
What’s the first thing we know about God? I’ll give you a hint, it’s the first sentence in the Bible. Now I suppose one could argue that the words “in the beginning” reflect God’s eternal nature, but the next two words reflect the first thing we know of the actions of God… God created. It’s true God is creative.
What’s the first thing we know about Jesus? Well if you look at the Gospel of John where Jesus is referred to as “The Word” a reference to the Greek concept of an eternal wisdom which the called the logos, again we start off seeing His eternal and divine nature as we read In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God from the beginning. Jesus is eternal as well but what do we learn next? “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” Translation Jesus is the Creator of everything.
So if I have this right, God the Father, in whose image we are created, is creative and the Savior whose example we are called and created to follow, is creative and if Christ made it possible for us to become the Children of God, would it not stand to reason that we should be creative too? I believe the answer is yes. I believe creativity is a sort of divine spark given to us by our Father in heaven. Ephesians 2:10 a verse frequently referenced in this volume says, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” I believe God has gifted each of us with some sort of creativity and I believe it was given to show the world His glory.
There was a long period of time where the church was one of the chief patrons of the arts, yet today in many churches we see little evidence of the artists in our midst. I believe this needs to change. For too long, we in the church have been allowing culture to impact us, when we should be impacting culture for (and through) our gracious God and Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. My belief is that God is calling His church to rise up to be the parts of a powerful body, having a lasting impact and making a difference. For too long we have whined and complained about the negative impact of the culture around us rather than using the creative gifts and power God has placed in us to impact the culture positively.
We talk about a culture war. There is no culture war, there is an onslaught from the media and little response beyond letter writing campaigns and protests and a lot of negativity. There is complaining about what we don’t have and the resources we lack rather than reliance on the One who owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Our response has been to hole up, create a bunch of Christian stuff just for us as we hide under our bushel. There is nothing wrong with creating for the church and some are called to that very thing, but what of the world we are called to reach. I, for one, think it’s time to throw off the bushel and shine. I think it’s time to reclaim the arts, become patrons of the arts not just for ourselves but for our mission field. I think it’s time to ask God to channel our creativity in and out of the church, so that the church once again becomes the most creative place in any community.
I think it’s time to Run A.M.O.K. Whose with me?
A little extra from my friend Mr. Joe.
Bible Reading Guide
An important part of following God is knowing what He wants and a great way to know what He wants is to read His Word. Follow this plan and you will finish reading the Bible in a year.
Numbers 5-6; 1 Peter 2
You can also download your own chart here.
