So Nice To Be Home..

 

it is so nice to be home. I have said that and I have said that.. but as pretty as the pool was, this picture captures more of my personality, and the feeling of home. (Thanks Mom for the beautiful homecoming flowers! :)

Ok.. So, just an update on every day life. I promise, promise, promise there is an amazing upcoming thing for this blog, but I am still breaking down all of the stuff in my head to make it like I want it. I have a few things in mind, but I think that I need to begin at the very beginning.. the Gospel. Over the next few weeks, I am going to talk about each component of the Gospel, and go all the way through it.

I am a little intimidated by this, but I am going to do it! I think that I am going to aim for the first post sometime by weeks end, and include lots of different avenues to get it across. I just wished that I could get excerpts from Nicks sermons on here somehow… anyone know the best way?

Also, I am starting school AGAIN on Monday for 5 weeks, and then I have a week off, and then another semester for another 5 weeks. Then I get a couple weeks in August before I start back again! (Shewww)

I have still NOT passed all of my tests to complete the program, and I must do that by June 30- or else I cannot continue. I am very nervous about that, obviously. I am going to be getting tutored by AnnaMarie and Kathleen, and maybe Erin Carroll, too. Thanks ladies for your help!

I am cleaning out all of my school books, and getting ready to go through the closets for the FREE SALE at church!

OH, OH, OH… mark your calendars family & friends for May 31, 2009 for our spring worship service. It is going to be GREAT!!!!

ok, I think that is all for now! Glad to be home!

 

No words to defend our sin….

 

Remember that devotional I mentioned? Well here is another amazing excerpt from April 2. Dennis woke me up this morning to read this to me.

 

Jesus had never been slow to speak when He could bless someone, but in order to save Himself, He would not say a single word. “No one ever spoke the way this man does, the guards declared.” (John 7:46)- and no one was ever SILENT like HE was!

Was his exceptional silence the very sign of His perfect self-sacrifice? Did it show He would not utter one word to stop the slaughter of His sacred person, which He had dedicated as an offering for us? Had he so entirely surrendered Himself he would not intervene on His own behalf even to the slightest degree? Instead of intervening, was HE willing to be bound and slain as an unstruggling and uncomplaining victim?

WAS HIS SILENCE DESIGNED TO SHOW US THERE WAS NO DEFENSE FOR OUR SIN?

 

After all, what words could ever be said that could cover or excuse human guilt? Thus, He took the total weight for our sin upon Himself and stood speechless before His judge. isn't patient silence the best reply to an accusing world that continually denies its own sin? And doesn't calm endurance answer  some questions infinitely more conclusively than even the loftiest eloquence of worlds?

 

 

By His silence our Lord also provided a remarkable fulfillment of prophecy. A long defense of Himself would have been contrary to Isaiah’s foretelling- “He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, by His quiet submission  he conclusively proved Himself to be the true Lamb of God.

Oh To Grace, How Great a Debtor!!

 If it were not for Grace, then I would not care that this duck was created by God.. I would not have been given eyes to wonder upon this beautiful creature that walks aimlessly around Zaxby’s parking lot looking for food God has provided for the day…… I would not wonder how God knew that a green/turquoise head would be beautiful above orange feet. . . God knew that it would beautiful……

If It were not because of Grace I wouldn’t thank God for the rain that created this fog…..

and how the green grass is barely visible because the thickness of it……

And how he chose that it would make this white church steeple look so beautiful in a random town one hour away…… he created this scene and enjoys it, even if I would have been here at this exact moment in time to take pleasure in it myself…… God knew that it would be beautiful…………. God also poured so rich of grace upon me that the simple sight of this cross would stop me in my tracks and allow me a moment to think about what this means…… God knew that this cross would be beautiful……..  

God so rich and trustworthy poured enough Grace upon these servants to faithfully lead us Sunday after Sunday…. diligent in prayer, and leadership… God knew that this church body would be beautiful…..

  God poured rich grace upon Jeff to have eyes that see and a heart to believe… and then come forth in baptism to publicly profess his faith in Jesus Christ. What a glorious day!

God knew that this would be beautiful…….

So beautiful that it brought this strong pastor of ours to tears…… that is how beautiful……..

  

And God.. so rich in grace has set these people apart to serve, worship, praise, struggle, and of course, eat together in his name alone….

He has given us grace to befriend, help, mentor, guide, and lead each other to himself daily…………

…to laugh and talk together…….

  To share the gospel with others……… and to  parent effectively…………. 

God KNEW that would be beautiful……..

and it all is………….

 

My Idols or My God

I have let everything in my life get in the way between me and my relationship with God. I have allowed sin like selfishness and laziness get in the way of bible reading and prayer time. I have tried to keep going on old fumes that I had once built up in knowledge and previous emotion, AND today I have finally hit empty, and can longer move any longer in this condition. I am through with feeling unsaved, and not RELISHING in the undeserved grace that was granted to me for nothing that I did in the first place to earn it... and there is nothing that I can do that can pluck me from the Father's Hand. I have pulled away from my church that has served as a window to God's real and true character, and I have pulled away from the people that have invested their time praying for me and my husband the past two years, I have pulled out of every bible study, and have turned my back on my savior by allowing idols.. the computer, school work, sleep, and whatever else I could find to fill up my time. I have given Dennis the responsibility to fulfill my every need and happiness... and not God. Of course, Dennis has failed me in this because he is fallible, sinful man! I cannot find satisfaction and fulfillment in the things of this world. I see this now. I am ready to enjoy GOD and love him with 100% of my attention by asking forgiveness and repenting of this previous life in the past. I can no longer live like I have not been bought with the blood of Jesus Christ!
I

I am a Hell Deserving Sinner

In light of today's message: Our pastor said that if he posted his daily thoughts on the www.wsbaptist.org blog, we would very quickly find out that he is a hell deserving sinner! He then said that if we did that, we too, would soon be discovered as hell deserving sinners!

I am going to up front admit that I am a hell deserving sinner! The good part is: I have been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. The bad part: I've got to wait until death to meet my savior face to face!
My question is: What about you??

When death knocks, and you slip into the eternity, which eternity will you slip into? Will you too, see Christ, your LORD and Savior with the nail peirced hands, the scar on his left side, the crown of thorn markings on his forehead? Will you be able to rejoice and praise in that?
----OR--------
Will you be the corpses that Isaiah refers to in Isaiah 66:24?
"Then they will go forth and look on the corpses of the men Who have transgressed against Me. For their worm will not die And their fire will not be quenched And they will be an abhorence to all mankind."?
I do not care who you are reading this blog: I don't care if you are a friend, a family member, a school friend, etc. I don't care.
I need you to contemplate the very real places of Heaven and Hell. My friend, one of them is your reality.
THIS IS THE GOSPEL:
You see, not only is God holy, (perfect in every way), He is also just. And because we all have sinned and rebelled against Him, all of us are subject to God’s just condemnation, eternal (forever) punishment in hell.
If the Bible stopped here in its analysis of the human condition, we would be doomed to a hopeless future. However, this is not where it stops….


I Tim. 1:15 says
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

The good news is that Christ died for sinners like us and He rose physically from the dead to validate the saving power of His death and to open the gates for eternal life and joy. (I Cor. 15:20) this means God can acquit the sinner and still be just (Romans 3:25-26).

“For Christ died for the sins once and for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God.”

Without this sacrifice on the cross, we would have no hope. The people that believe this and turn their lives over to God become saved.

This is the gospel! Contemplate this: Count the cost! And plead to God for him to save your soul.

I love you, and I care for your eternity. If you have any questions, please call me. You know my number. Leave me a comment, if you don't.

And one more thing.... If you "recieved" Jesus as just your Savior, and not the LORD of your life, then you recieved a false Jesus!