Pizza Ranch Serves

By the end of this week, nearly all of the schools in our county will be once again filled with the laughter and voices of children as classes resume for the new school year. This also means that college students have also started making their way to campuses all around the country.

What do we learn about our own standing with God from the 25 verse book of Philemon?

Am I praising God enough? Why could I or should I praise Him more?

Click to read about how Pizza Ranch Wentzville partnered with HOPE Food Pantry to feed the hungry.

Wherever you go, God is with you.

As summer nears it's end, get out into nature and appreciate God's creation!

As you grow in your faith and the years continue to pass, the amount of times that you have heard some of the most famous Bible stories and verses continues to multiply. Among that list may be, the creation story, the parable of the Good Samaritan, Cain and Abel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Jesus walking on water… the list goes on. Among some of the most famous stories lies the Parable of the Talents. Many of you already understand the meaning and the premise of this story, but I have always enjoyed sermons, messages, or conversations that explain or elaborated on it in a way that completely opens it up in a new way to me.

At the beginning of the summer, I joined a few young adults in starting a worship/bible study group. We meet every Wednesday night in a small apartment. From the time it began with four people until now where our group is over 30 people, we have been worshipping, praying and reading scripture over one another. Over the last few weeks, one of our new favorite worship songs is "You are my Champion" by Bethel Worship featuring Dante Brown.

The Pizza Ranch in Muscatine, IA just finished their first community service project. Instead of helping to host a Community Impact event, these team members went above and beyond. A crew of kids and adults went out in search of ways to serve in their community. What they found was a local group online where people shared their needs and were connected with volunteers.

In life, we face many different types of trials and suffering, it can be very difficult to hold on to the promises that God has for us. Whatever it may be, whether you have faced serious situations in your personal/family life, or you are getting persecuted for standing up for your faith, remember that it’s during times like these where we can feel and experience a little of what Jesus went through. Jesus asked God if there was any way He could take the burden away from Him (Luke 22:39-44), but instead God sent His Angel to comfort Jesus, and by doing so, Jesus was able to persevere until God’s plan for His life was complete. (Thank the Lord for that!)

Every morning is not only a blessing, but it’s a blessing that holds an opportunity. In the morning, one of the first things we often do is look at our phone. We put our alarm on snooze, we may even roll over and mutter our displeasure. Unfortunately, we have the tendency to go about our whole morning without focusing on the most important part of the day, the mere fact that we were blessed with another opportunity to give thanks to God, and live out our faith.

Don't you just love a comeback story? I oftentimes think of the NFL's comeback players of the year. Typically the winning athlete endures some sort of physical or emotional adversity, and amidst the suffering- they embrace the challenge to overcome. These stories are inspiring and heartwarming. Today's scripture was James 1:2-12- Trials and Temptations. A few verses that stick out to me: