It is Saturday afternoon and we just finished officiating Erica Hotstedler and Jarred Rickner's wedding. Now they are Mr & Mrs Jarred Rickner. It was a wonderful ceremony and it never fails that each time I have a wedding it reminds me of our own. I can remember the day like it was yesterday! I was sharing with someone just a few moments ago that the Two greatest days of my life were first when I was saved and second when Karen Rickner took Holy Vow in matrimony with me. I couldn't believe I was blessed to have Karen as my wife. And  than I still can't believe I have Jesus in my life as my Lord! Tell your mate that you love them! Do it today! Do it tommorrow! And the next day! Tomorrow I will preach from Matthew 1-18- 25. Why not give it  read and meditate on it so in the morning you will be ready to glean like never before. See you tomorrow all you Liberty folk! 

 Today is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I am looking forward to tomorrow and being with the family. It is a lot of work but well worth it. I think we have 27 people planing to be at our home tomorrow for the meal. We will have them all over the place and I am sure it will get a little noisy at times. I may need to take a walk on my back 7 acres if it gets to intense but praise the Lord for folks who want to be with us.  I am praying that I will make everyone feel welcomed and loved. I plan to speak with each one and pray for them as i speak with them. Tomorrow wherever you will be why not plan to do the same? Many of you may get together with some who are difficult people and for some you may be with some lost folk. Make sure you are a Jesus as you go throughout the day. Make sure to be thankful and help others to be thankful for you and your Lord as he works Himself out of you and into the environment around you. Make sure you eat well and go for a walk to work off some of the blessing.  Try to sneak a nap in sometime, watch some parades and football. Catch up with those relatives you haven't seen for awhile. Make sure to look at all the advertisements in the paper and later on in the evening and make a Turkey Sandwich get a glass of milk and get alone for a few minutes and just spend some down time with Jesus. Hope you have a great day! 

I will take tomorrow off from blogging but hope to see you in a day or so! 

 How are all you Bloggers? I was just looking at the counter for our blog sight and it looks as if our readership is still increasing. We have folks in different parts of America and in other nations  who check in to see what is going on with this preacher and Liberty Baptist Sweetser. Thanks for praying yesterday for Michele Wilson's mothers funeral. The Lord used me to clearly and tenderly share the Good News of Jesus with many hurting hearts. I closed the service with an invitation to pray and ask Jesus into their hearts. Please pray that the message will not escape many of those hearers. It is a sunny day in Northeast Indiana today. A little cold but beautiful! I love this time of the year! Thanksgiving week! For me today there is " SUNSHINE IN MY SOUL TODAY" I am beaming with Thanksgiving for Jesus, for Karen, for my Children, for  Our Congregation at Liberty, for Friends, for The Hope of Heaven. "In My Heart There Rings A Melody of Love". Jesus sure makes a difference in our lives! He dwells with us and if we allow HIM to control our lives He will OVERFLOW in our lives.  "Oh What Joy Floods My Soul" ! "Hallelujah What A Savior"! " I Have The Joy Joy Joy Joy Down In My Heart"! "He Keeps Me Singing " "Praise Him Praise Him Ever In Joyful Song" ! "Lord I Lift Your Name On High"! " Worthy  You Are Worthy"! You know when you get to counting your blessings it is just natural to break out in song! Pause a while today, maybe right now and sing to the Lord. Just start thinking about Him and all the blessings in your life and start singing! "Count Your Blessings Name Them One By One, And It Will Surprise You What The Lord Has Done"! "Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty Early In The Morning My Song Shall Rise To Thee". 

Well I just had a" Hallelujah Fit" and i think it was OK with the Lord!

Have a great day and Hope to see all you Liberty People at service tonight as we have moved our regular midweek service to Tuesday eve this week because of Thanksgiving!

 Good Monday morning! Had great services again at Liberty yesterday. Had 3 receive Christ as Savior in our adult services. Haven't heard yet about the other services as far as decisions. The Lord moved in our morning services and the altar was used. In our second morning service the altar was full with Christians presenting themselves again as LIVING SACRAFICES. We spoke from Romans 12: 1-2 and the Lord moved on us in a special way! We had over 750 in morning attendance. Yesterdays "Praise Dinner" was at 4:30 p.m. and the place was packed. We set up overflow areas for our fellowship area and all 320 seats wer used and the bleachers. I love it when Liberty's family come together and eat and fellowship. Then in our 6 p.m. service what a "PRAISE SERVICE"! The instumentalist, the ensembles, the Choir, the congregation all lifted praise to our ALMIGHTY GOD! It was wonderful. The Aditorium was full and the spirit was electrifying as the saints at Liberty came with hearts of THANKSGIVING and PRAISE to GOD! At the end of the service we announced our total Thanksgiving offering for the day was $43,153.66 , PTL! This morning I am humbled and thankful that the Lord chooses to continue to bless this church with his presence, power and blessing. 

Today we will minister to the family of Michele Wilson as we officiate her mothers funeral. Please pray for the family. I have had so many funerals this year. I thank the Lord for the oppurtunity to minister to hurting families and of course the privilege of preaching the gospel at each one. I covet your prayers today. I am looking forward to Thursday as we get together with family and celebrate Thanksgiving. I will pray for each of you as you assemble together with your loved ones that it will be a wonderful time of Love and unity. Have a great day!

 Had good services last evening. It was very cold and and one of the first nights where it was dark before service began. We had a good attendance but had many folks not make it. Perhaps it will take a little while for some to get used to the cold weather or perhaps had some sickness. But once we were in church it was sweet to be here and lot's of good things took place. I love to assemble with the saints, and I know the Lord is well pleased when we do so. Last evening we gave a wonderful report about our Whites Ministry. Whites is a resedential home for troubled teens . We have 4-5 people who have services each Tuesday evening in 6-7 cottages . Judy Frank has headed this up for 8 years and many troubled teens have heard the gospel and given their lives to the Lord thru this outreach. This past Tuesday one of our young men went with the team to share his testimony, and sing and of course give the gospel. Scott Adams is 21 years of age and has been attending Liberty now for around 7-8 months. For many of you you know Scott is disabled. His legs are twisted and he must walk with the aid of crutches. It takes him some time to get where he is going but he gets there. He is faithful to church and he loves the Lord. I have been working with Scott now for some time as have many others in our church. He has placed himself under our ministry with the particular purpose to learn and be prepired for future ministry. Well this past Tuesday when Scott and the team ministered they saw 32 {yes} 32 young people give their lives to the Lord. PTL!!! The team arrived at the campus at 4p.m. and left at around 9.p.m. They were unable to get in all the cottages because of time. Praise the Lord for the fruit of last Tuesday eve but I also am thankful for the faithful work over the last 8 years that paved the way for the oppurtunity that availed itself this past week. I don't think that the oppurtunity would have presented itself if there had not been 8 years of faithful work by faithful servants of the Lord taht had gained the favor of the leaders of Whites Residential. FAITHFULNESS ALWAYS PAYS!!! 

Last evening on of our families { Bill & Marcia} lost their home to fire. First I want to encourage our church family to do all they can to help this family in need. Bill & Marcia are safe and no physical injury took place but their home looks to be a total loss with lots personal items lost. But the most important thing is all are safe ! Family will rally, Brother & Sisters in the Lord will step up and make a difference, Community will help in many ways . Life will be difficult for awhile but life will continue for these precious people. Again let me encourage each to do all they can to help in this situation. Please pray for all involved.

As we ponder this Fire let us ponder another Fire which many are headed to and in that fire there will be eternal loss. Loss of all including Physical torment , Emotional torment, and Spiritual torment. The Bible calls it the Lake of Fire. A place reserved for all those who reject Christ. As I heard this terrible news last night it reminded me of that terrible place where noone will come to those persons aid. No life afterward, no rebuilding, no releif. May we rally today also to those who are headed for that eternal fire and do all we can to help them escape through Jesus Christ! 

 This morning here in the Northeast part of Indiana we woke up to a much colder day one which had very icy & snowy roads. Didnt have a lot of snow just a dusting but it helped to hide the danger below of the ice. It took me about 5 minutes more to get to my office. Now 5 minutes is not long but it made my trip about twice the time to get here. Now the point is in order for me to get to my destination safe and to keep all others in my path safe "I HAD TO SLOW DOWN". I had to be more cautious and careful. For those of you who know me well you understand I can move fast and usually am multitasked. I like to move as fast as possible and get as much done as possible in as short of time as we can. BUT there are times to slow down and move slower. This morning was one for me. I still got to the office, am now working and moving on to all the things ahead. The FIVE MINUTES didn't hurt a bit. What helped me this morning was my first stop sign that I almost slid thruogh. It was a warning and woke me up to the present danger. May each of pray daily that the Holy Spirit will prompt us when danger is present and when He does let us heed to His promptings. He may say slow down and talk with your child , it only takes 5 minutes or so. Matbe He will say slow down and take five with your mate, maybe take five with that co-worker who is hurting and needs to hear the Gospel. Take five to pray, to leave a tract for some one who is in danger. Slow down and watch out for your Adversary who is Roaming about and Seeking whom he may Devour. Wactch for the hidden danger it only takes a little longer to get to your intended destination but it may insure you get there safe and that others end up at their destinations also. Take Five when you need to. 

 Well it is Monday morning and I am back amoung the living. Last Tuesday i went home got in bed because I wasn't feeling good and didn' get up much untill Saturday morning. On Saturday I was able to go to Mens Prayer which is one of my favorite times of the wek and was very weak but able to pray with the men. Then went to my office and did some work and needed to go home early agian to rest and hopefully be able to preach on Sunday. I prayed about asking our other Pastors to preach for me as I was week but the Lord seem to impress upon me to do that. On Sunday morning I fel better but was weak. As we prayed for spiritual power as normal we also added mch prayer for the Lord to give us Physical power. HE DID! W were able to Preach both services in the morning and teach our SS class, then in the evening we taught Discovery class and then preached in the evening service. I am so thankful for the ability to do this. I helps me to understand again clearly that without the Lord giving us the streghth of life we would not be able to do a thing. I am also reminded of those who are sick and not getting better but continually getting worse in their illness and yet they continue to be as faithful as possible. 

Yesterday we spoke in the morning on Four Ways to be Thankful. Last eve we spoke on How to Appreciate People. I hope each of us this week will take a lot more effort to show our appreciation for people in our lives. Appreciate people for their Loyalty, their Differences, and their Efforts. We have so much to be Thankful for and  in. Have a great day, talk with you tomorrow! 

 Sorry all you blog readers. I have been ill since this past Tuseday and have been in bed till this morning {Saturday}. I am doing somewhat better and have come to the office for awhile. Wanted to let everyone know that the Rapture didn't take place just that I was down for a few days. Thanks for your prayers !  Lord willing we should be back to blogging on Monday. 

 Yesterday we blogged concerning all four of our children and how the Lord had brought to each of them wonderful mates and mates to be. We spoke about how through the years that Karen and I had prayed for them to find the perfect mate of God's choice. And that we believed that had come into a reality. Today I wanted to add that not only did we pray for them to find the right mate but we prayed and worked diligently to train them to be good mates for that that special person God would bring to them. We are still working on that and will do so the rest of our lives as we stay involved in their lives and continue to help them be the persons God intends them to become. But also I was thinking how thankful we are for the parents of the mates that the Lord has brought to our children. We are sure they prayed also and for all the hard work of parenting and being used of the Lord in developing these fine young adults. Thanks to each of you today. All my readers with children in your homes let me encourage you to be a blessing to your children's future mate and their good parent's by being used of the Lord in helping to bring that child to the Lord and leading them to a dedicated Christian life. I pray for each parent today. We understand the freewill of man how that each child must choose for themselves the life they will live, but may each of you do your part in this. For Karen & I we are so thankful for the parents of our children' mate and mates to be. 

Remember today is VETERANS DAY 2008!  If you run into a vet let them know how much you appreciate them. Give a call to one it will make their day! 

A little over three years ago our youngest child Rachael moved from home to begin her college life at Purdue University. Karen and myself  were very prayerful as she had chosen a state school and we had some reservations but knowing Rachel and her steadfast Christian character felt OK with her decision. She immediately got involved in a great Baptist college ministry and her experience has been a great one at Purdue. Beginning her second year of school it wasn't long until we received a call from Rachael saying " Mom & Dad I met someone I want you to meet". In a few weeks we met a delightful young man by the name of Chris Bruns. Over the last several years we have watched both Rachel and Chris grow in love with each other as they have continued to grow in love with the Lord. Yesterday we had the wonderful privilege of announcing their engagement to be married to our Liberty Family. Our second born child Abby will soon be married to a fine Christian young man Jay Koontz. How proud we are of these two also. Of course we have seen how our son and Megan have continued to love each other and the Lord over the last several years of marriage . And for the wonderful years of our daughter Beth and Ryan Frank's marriage which has revealed their love one for another and of course their love for God. Now here is the point today!! I have been so moved to remember how powerful prayer is in the life of a family. When Karen & I were married we dedicated ourselves to prayer for our children and who they would marry. We have prayed fervently for 34 years that our children would only marry in the Lord's perfect will.We prayed ove and over for their mates to be, whoever they were and wherever they were. We prayed for their devlopement and their salvation.  And today we are rejoicing in what seems to be a fulfillment of answered prayer. Now we understand how marriage  is so delicate. How that at times bad things can happen so we will continue to pray for the safe keeping of our children's marriages. But for today we REJOICE as we see the hand of our Lord on each of these children and the mates it seems that God has led them too. AMEN & AMEN! 

 It is Friday morning and we had another great midweek service last evening. Last weekends time change brought about a darker service time beginning and it will take a little while to adapt to this. Just about the time we do so it will begin to be brighter out when evening services begin. For me it is a little easier to go to church when the sun is still up and the weather is nicer but my plan is to be just as faithful during the late fall and winter months as the spring and summertime. "In Season & out of Season" let us do right  and help to keep His church victorious. This week I have made a lot of invitations to veterans for this Sunday eves special night of honoring each and every veteran. May I encourage you to use this special service to encourage visitors to to be with us, just invite and let the person know how much you would be honored to have them with us at Liberty. I promise you it will be a very special night. We still have some invite cards left at the church so if you want to stop by and pick some up come to the Welcome Center then go and invite those you have on your heart. Hey Liberty folk this Sunday make sure to tell Bob Curless thanks for his help keeping the leaves up on our church property. I just looked out my office window and there he is 80 some years old working hard. He is a WW2 vet and here he still is serving in a task for others. Also let Ralph Winters know how much you appreciate him for helping to keep the leaves up. I am looking forward to preaching on Psalm 122 this Sunday morning. In this psalm there are 9 verses and I will speak on 10 things that bring gladness because we go to church. Maybe you could read this Psalm and try to figure out what these 10 things are. Also in our SS class we will begin to teach the book of Ephesians this Sunday. If you don't have a class let me invite you. Ephesians is such a great book. Well hope you have a great weekend and Lord willing we will see each of you Sunday. For all of you none Liberty readers hope you have great services and remember to tell your Pastors how much you appreciate them. 

 It is evident that the American majority wanted change. Our registered voters went to the polls on Tuesday and sent a signal that they wanted change in many areas. The popular vote was only about 4 million voters separating the presidential candidates. That shows somewhat how divided our nation still is. I think change is great but I am still praying that the changes will only be helpful for our nation and that the LORD would be for these changes Himself. The popular vote was only about 4 million difference for the presidential candidates revealing that the division is still quite large. One positive thing was to see the states of Florida, California and Arizona vote in favor of marriage only being for male and female. Especially in California where so much effort and money was spent by the Hollywood crowd to get gay marriages to remain legal. This was a great victory , but we must remember that the enemy will be back. The vote there was only a few points different. The hope of America is to win souls and to disciple them and to win this nation back by changing the hearts and minds of the people.

I was reading this morning in 1st Timothy 2: 1-8. Three things we see we can do today as American Christian citizens. First is to PRAY WITHOUT CEASING! Pray for our leaders. I prayed for all our newly elected officials already let me encourage you to do the same every day. Secondly is to LIVE RIGHTEOUSLY! Live victoriously as a Christian. Our saltiness will make a difference. Thirdly is to Win Souls Fervently! As we win souls we make a difference in our nation. Seriously church, we have not done well there the last several years in our nation. We may have larger numbers in our services but are they really being saved? We need to get back to witnessing and winning souls. Then baptize them and lead them into a life of discipleship. The hope of our nation is evangelism and Discipleship. I can't believe the number changes in America in the last 20 years. Church member we need to wake up and see how our apathetic ways have hurt us personally and nationally. Let's not take our time and effort complaining about the way things are, may each of us decide to get bold and win souls and put our energy, efforts, monies to work in disciplling new believers. If the whole body of Christ, each and every true church would get at that we could see  THE CHNGE WE REALLY NEED TO SEE! 

 Today is election day in America. It always brings pride to my heart how we can have free elections and do it in such a peaceable way. The transition of power in many countries brings riots and killing. This election certainly will test our society like never before but we as a people no matter the outcome must unite and take on the great problems like we always have. As many of you know our church is one of the voting places for our community. As I arrived to the office this morning I could hardly believe what I was seeing, it was a parking lot that was filled. This was at 7 a.m. and the line was 1hour long. Our area is small in population and lines like that are not normal. All the folks I spoke with have never seen this before. Tonight watching the returns should be interesting to say the least. I am happy for the voter turnout I just hope that the reason is a correct one . American say they want change and I agree. But I believe the change must start with each of one of Americas citizens. Tonight we will see the true America. The presidential candidates so different in their values. We will see the value system of our nation tonight  as we see how the American populace votes. I hope we see that America still has a Moral Majority but I think we may see that the Moral Majority has become the Moral Minority. No matter we still know our God is in control and the way to move a nation is on our knees. As a FEW of us met last night in prayer I was encouraged as the Lord came into that small assembly and reminded us of HIS great power. Power that can move on the hearts of men even like Nebuchadezer, and our God can work things out for His good even when it seems the enemy has defeated the Lords cause. Isn't GOD GREAT! Have a good day! 

 It is Monday and we had great services yesterday. Tremendous attendances in both morning and evening. It was a blessing to have Pastor Ryan and Pastor Mike preach yesterday. The Lord really used them as they spoke from their hearts the Word of God. Tomorrow is election day in our country and I encourage those who can to vote. We are planning a special prayer service tonight at Liberty Baptist to lift up our nation during this important time in our history. It begins at 6;30 p.m. and ends at 8 p.m. You can come and pray the whole time or you can come at any time and stay for a portion of the time . Prayer is going up all over our country at this time and it is so important to let Heaven know we need help and are crying out for DIVINE INTERVENTION!!! Our problems are so complex that only the All Knowing , All Mighty can solve them. God wants to send Revival to His people and prayer is the avenue of pleading for God's Hand to move. 

Karen & I want to Thank each of you who during the month of October {Pastors Appreciation month} showed your appreciation for our ministry. It is a joy to serve the Lord and His children. The many cards, kind comments, and acts of love have made a difference for us. 

Enjoy the weather and rejoice for another day of living for His Glory!!!!!