Category Archives: Christianity

Thankful Thursday ~ The Body of Christ

 

Psalm 27: 4-5 ~ One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.

Today I am thankful for the churches that Dear and I have been a part of in our married life together…

(1974-1975) Grace Community Church, Panorama City, Ca. Although John MacArthur was teaching from the pulpit our most memorable teaching during our time here was in the College/Career class. We took a wonderful midweek college course that set us on a discipleship mindset in our Christian walk.

(1975-1984) Evangelical Free Church of Huntington Beach, Ca. Bob Thune was our pastor here. One of the milestone events that stands out was being discipled by the associate pastor Steve Hinrichs and the introduction of Fellowship Groups (Home-groups, cell groups, small groups) We were trained to lead a small group in a home and we’ve been part of some sort of small group ever since this time!

(1984-1988) Bible Fellowship Church in Ventura, Ca. Joe Albin was our pastor here. This is the church where we met our best friends for life Dave and Jody. Dave encouraged Dear to go back to school and become a Pharmacist. That set us on an interesting life changing path.

(1988-2006) Sunrise Christian Fellowship Church (Seattle, Edmonds),Wa. Bob Spiro was our pastor here. This is the church where we have spent the longest time so far. We value all the growth and learning we were afforded with this body of believers. We saw loving confrontation, forgiveness, reconciliation, friendship, hospitality, perseverance and healing, modeled in this body that has changed our lives forever.

(2006- ??) Evangelical Free Church Conejo Valley, Ca. Steve Larson is our pastor here. We are in a small group and have learned from the sermons. I have taken part in a weekly women’s Bible study. We are eager to see what God has in store for us as we continue to worship and grow with this new body of believers.

So on this Thankful Thursday I wanted to thank God for leading us and taking care of us in these wonderful church bodies!

Laurel is hosting Thankful Thursday this week so head on over to Laurel Wreath and read other Thankful posts.

Future Grace ~ John Piper ~ Quote

 I thought this was an interesting way to describe covetousness. I’m on page 275 now in this book and have about 125 more pages to go. It has been a real good read for me.  Blessings.

The Fight For Contentment, That Is, Faith in Future Grace (p. 222)

When you stop and think about it, that’s just what the definition of covetousness implies. I said that covetousness is desiring something so much that you lose your contentment in God. Or: it’s losing your contentment in God so that you start to seek contentment elsewhere. But this contentment in God is just what faith is.

Recall from Chapter sixteen how Jesus said in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes on Me shall never thirst.” In other words, what it means to believe in Jesus is to experience him as the satisfaction of my soul’s thirst and my heart’s hunger. Faith is the experience of contentment in Jesus. The fight of faith is the fight to keep your heart contented in Christ – to really believe, and keep on believing, that he will meet every need and satisfy every longing.

The Curate of Glaston ~ George MacDonald

 I can’t believe I’ve been blogging since March and I haven’t shared a MacDonald quote yet. I so enjoy reading his fiction. I hear that his fantasy is great but I have a problem understanding some of it and enjoying it. I was introduced to MacDonald by reading Sir Gibbie. That hooked me for good on his fiction. MacDonald has a lot to say about the church in his day and much of it isn’t complimentary. He also has a way of showing true Christianity at work in daily situations and this is what draws me to his books. If you haven’t read any of his books yet I recommend them to you!

The Curate of Glaston, by George MacDonald

“But perhaps even then you had more knowledge which, they say, only life can give.”

“I have it now in any case. But of that everyone has enough who lives his life. Those who gain no experience are those who shirk the King’s highway for fear of encountering the Deity seated by the roadside.”

From Lilith by MacDonald, a book I had trouble understanding. This quote, however, I understood and stand convicted by it…

“I sighed – and regarded with wonder my past self, which preferred the company of book or pen to that of man or woman, which, if the author of a tale I was enjoying appeared, would wish him away that I might return to his story. I had chosen the dead rather than the living, the thing thought rather than the thing thinking! “Any man,” I said now, “is more than the greatest of books!” I had not cared for my live brothers and sisters and now I was left without even the dead to comfort me!”

There Is A Redeemer

There Is A Redeemer ~ Words and Music by Melody Green

There is a Redeemer
Jesus, God’s own Son
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah
Holy One

Jesus my Redeemer
Name above all names
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah
O for sinners slain

(Chorus)
Thank You oh my Father
For giving us Your Son
And leaving Your Spirit
Til the work on earth is done

When I stand in glory
I will see His face
And there I’ll serve my King forever
In that holy place

Spring Reading Challenge Wrap Up

 

  • What was the best book you read this spring? Fiction: Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers , Non-Fiction: Seeing and Savoring Christ by John Piper
  • What book could you have done without? I didn’t have a long enough book list to have to have an answer to this one. They were all worth reading.
  • Did you try out a new author this spring? If so, which one, and will you be reading that author again? Yes, the new author I tried was Dorothy L. Sayers and I will definitely read her again.
  • If there were books you didn’t finish, tell us why. Did you run out of time? Realize those books weren’t worth it? I never got around to Harry Potter #6. I’ve read it before and wanted to read it before #7 came out…
  • Did you come across a book or two on other participants’ lists that you’re planning to add to your own to-be-read pile? Which ones?  Yes, Stepping Heavenward by Prentiss. I bought it and am reading it.
  • What did you learn — about anything — through this challenge? Maybe you learned something about yourself or your reading style, maybe you learned not to pick so many nonfiction books for a challenge, maybe you learned something from a book you read. Whatever it is, share! I learned that I can read a lot more than I have in the past. There is time to read. I’m a multi-book reader (more than one at a time). I’ve learned I’ll enjoy and digest non-fiction more if I only read a chapter at a time. I have a stack of 4-6 books on my nightstand and I try to read a little out of each in the evening instead of watching TV.
  • What was the best part of the Spring Reading Thing? Meeting other readers and seeing the hundreds of books I’ve never read.
  • Any other thoughts, impressions, or comments. I like to take reading a step further by recording any sections of the book that stand out to me.
  • I will definitely participate in a fall reading challenge!
  • I’ll be posting a review of  When People Are Big and God is Small soon. 🙂

Thanks so much to Katrina at Callapidder days for hosting this event so magnificently and unselfishly…

When People are Big and God is Small ~ Welch ~ Quote

The following quote comes from the book, When People Are Big and God Is Small (Overcoming Peer Pressure, Codependency, and the Fear of Man) by Edward T. Welch. The quote comes from chapter 6 – Know the Fear of the Lord –

To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One. (Isa. 40:25)

Some have called this “otherness,” this holiness, of God his transcendence. God is exalted above his people. He lives in a high and lofty place (Isa. 57:15). His judgement and mercy are above us, they are ultimately incomprehensible. As a result, we don’t use a reigning king or queen as our template for knowing God. To say that the Holy God reigns makes it impossible to use earthly kings as the model. The Holy God is unique, greater, and of a different kind than earthly kings. The Holy God is the original; the most glorious of earthly kings are only a dim reflection.

To make the holiness of God even more awesome, the transcendent God has come close to us. It would be one thing to know that God was gloriously transcendent and entirely separate from his creation. In such a situation we could become acccustomed to his lack of intervention in human affairs, and for practical purposes we could become our own gods. But our God is also the Immanent One who has revealed himself and become like us. He said, “I will be your God and you will be my people” (Lev. 26:12). He is near us. He will never leave us or forsake us (Heb. 13:5). He is so close he calls us “friends” (John 15:14). He is so close, the Scripture talks about Christ in you (Col. 1:27). Given his nature, this is virtually impossible for us to grasp. But, by God’s grace, we can grow in knowing his holiness, and this knowledge will both expel the people-idols from our lives and leave us less prone to being consumed with ourselves.

 http://www.wtsbooks.com/product-exec/product_id/2000/nm/When_People_Are_Big_and_God_is_Small_Overcoming_Peer_Pressure_Codependency_and_the_Fear_of_Man

Ruth Bell Graham ~ 1920-2007 ~ In Her Saviors Arms

Pictorial Parade / Getty

Ruth Graham, 87 wife of evangelist Billy Graham, died today, June 14, 2007 in Montreat, North Carolina.

Ruth Graham, Soulmate to Billy, Dies

By Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy

Billy Graham’s wife and partner passes away after a lifetime of evangelism and celebrity

http://www.time.com/time/nation

Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ ~ John Piper

I was really struck by this prayer by John Piper at the end of chapter 11 in this book.

A Prayer

Lord, thicken our skin. Not that we be less tender, but that we be less easily offended. Take away our bent to self-pity. Give us a passion for the truth that is stronger than our inborn passion for being praised. Forgive us, Father, for calling words unloving just because they were tough. Forgive us for attributing malicious motives to people when we don’t know their motives. Help us to learn from Jesus when to be tough and when to be tender. Guard us from justifying merely human anger with the hard sayings of Jesus. But don’t let us become so mushy that we can’t speak a firm word in season. We marvel at the words of our Lord Jesus. How unpredictable he was! No one ever spoke like he did. He is in a class by himself. We bow before him and shut our mouths. We are eager for him to speak – and to speak any way he pleases. We are the silent learners. He is the sinless teacher. We put our hands upon our mouths and take our place at his feet. Do with us as you please, Father. We are not your judge, nor the judge of how your Son speaks. Have mercy on us – tough or tender – and lead us to your everlasting joy. In the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus, amen.”

 Blessings on you this day…

Worship That Pleases God ~ Sermon Notes ~ Steve Larson

The Thames 107

I didn’t catch everything that was preached but here are some thoughts I thought would be good to share. These notes were taken from Sunday’s sermon preached by Steve Larson, Evangelical Free Church Conejo Valley.

Deuteronomy 12 -13 ~ Worship that Pleases God

Learning to worship God properly will change your life. Worship focuses our attention on God and changes our hearts and lives. Worship God with all your heart…

Thanksgiving: focuses on the past – reminds us  that all we have has come from the hand of God – when we are thankful the result is joy and contentment.

Praise: focuses on the present – reminds us of the greatness of our God – when we praise the result is trust and courage and peace.

Submission: Ultimate act of worship – bowing your will to the will of God – when we submit to God we are in a place where God can bless us – He gives us fullness of life.

Practical ways to get to the place where God can be #1 in your life ~

~ Thank God right now (when you wake up, when you lie down) Declare it – speak it out loud!

~ Praise God for who He is right now. Declare the praises – say them out loud. Declare a new attitude “I work to honor God”

What you talk about deepens what you believe…

~ Closing the door: create fences in your life that make it harder for you to sin in the area of idolatry. Make decisions that help you focus on God.

True worship puts God in His right position in our lives, before our spouses, children, family, friends, job …

Deuteronomy 12:1-3, Mt. 22:37-38 ~ tear down the altars and love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind…

Worship God as He desires to be worshipped, Deut. 12:5-32, John 4:23-24, Romans 12:1-2, Heb. 13:15,16, Isa. 58: 1-11

Our worship offerings to God…

Romans 12: 1: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.

Hebrews 13:15: “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that confess his name.”

Hebrews 13:16: “And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

I want to worship God in these ways and declare it out loud and be changed…

Blessings on you ~

After I posted this I woke up at 3:00 A.M. with this old Sunday School Song going through my mind that reinforces some of the sermon…do you remember this one?

Thank Him, thank Him, all ye little children, God is love, God is love (repeat)

Praise Him, praise Him, all ye little children, God is love, God is love (repeat)

Serve Him, serve Him, all ye little children, God is love, God is love (repeat)

Love Him, love Him, all ye little children , God is love, God is love…(repeat)

http://www.evfree.net/templates/System/details.asp?id=20569&PID=33526&Style=

On Things Above ~ C.S. Lewis ~ Longing for Heaven

Colossians 3:1-4 (NIV)

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Colossians 3:1-4 (ESV)

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

This quote by C.S. Lewis comes from Mere Christianity

Most of us find it very difficult to want “Heaven” at all – except in so far as “Heaven” means meeting again our friends who have died. One reason for this difficulty is that we have not been trained: our whole education tends to fix our minds on this world. Another reason is that when the real want for Heaven is present in us, we do not recognise it. Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise.”