Pizza Ranch Serves

This morning we’re looking at Mark 4:1-21, which is about the parable of the soils. Most often this parable is seen as a salvation passage. In other words, Christians are the result of seeds falling on good soil. BUT, we’re going to look at it from a different perspective today. We’re going to look at it as a daily experience for each of us who claim Christ in our life.

Have you identified your power word for the year? Maybe after reading this question the thought in your mind is "what is a power word"?

Shout out to the Gillette team as they had a great start to their impact in their community!

Did you know that God created you on purpose and for a purpose?

As we are well into our 2nd month of 2022, I wanted to ask you a question. . .where are you at with identifying your purpose?

This week on pizzaranchserves.com there have been posts on gratitude, and they have really hit me. Ephesians 5:20 talks about having gratitude to God in everything. It’s a key verse in the Book of Ephesians so, it’s not just a good idea. The Lord is instructing us to do this, to make gratitude an intentional habit. Gratitude is an act of obedience.

Growing up I must have seen this prayer 1,000 times. My mom clipped this prayer out of a church newsletter several decades ago. She had it hung up on the side of the refrigerator, where it still hangs today. While this is only a short 8 sentence prayer, it is such a great reminder that even in the chaos and busyness of life, we so are so blessed!

At Pizza Ranch we follow 6 “Key Business Drivers” which are methods by which we strive for and measure success. One of these key business drivers is “community engagement”. Pizza Ranch is blessed to be a part of so many towns across 14 different states. We encourage our restaurants and team members to be involved with communities they serve.

It is easy to give thanks and praise God in the good times, but what about is the hard times? The verse we looked at yesterday, 1 Thessalonians 5:18, calls us to “give thanks in all circumstances.” Let’s look at how some of our heroes of the faith praised and thanked God even in difficult times.

Today we find ourselves on the last day of the first month of 2022. Did the first month go exactly as you envisioned? Were you able to maintain all those New Year’s resolutions? One goal I set for myself going into 2022 was to live a life full of gratitude. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 instructs us to, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Sometimes God has to put us in the most lowly, vulnerable positions before we are ready to hear and see what he has prepared for us. Last year I experienced that as I battled through a series of struggles with Depression. At one point my negative thoughts overwhelmed me and I imagined that the world would be better off without me in it. Thankfully, I was honest with my husband and he took me to the local Emergency Room where I received compassionate care that placed me with the professionals who would best help me through my lowest point. It was during a hospitalization that I spent hours and hours in God's Word and began to feel Him once again.

As a kid growing up, and admittedly even as an adult, I always thought/assumed that evil first entered the world when Adam and Eve…