Lost

 I saw a really cool contrail in the sky and took a picture. It wasn't until I got home to edit the photo that I saw the cross. I think this was God talking to me. We need only to look to God to know what we are needing to do.

Today's Sunday school lesson was canceled because the teacher's mom is doing worse than last week. It looks like she is at the end and about to see her mansion He has prepared for her. Prayer requests were made for her and the family. Please pray for strength of the family and grace for her mom as she passes. Shawn Renshaw is also requesting prayers as she has been diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. She is facing chemo and a mastectomy (possibly double mastectomy) but she is hoping that it hasn't already metastasized into her nodes. Pray for healing, strength, but let us not forget that her family is going through this, too. She has three sons, the youngest is still in high school, and rightly so, these kids and her husband are scared and worried. Her husband is trying to be the strong one for the family, so he needs strength. There were other prayer requests, but I will just leave it to God as he knows what we need and we need only ask. So please just pray for those whose names were written on our board. I really believe that is all He needs.

I asked in Sunday school what can I do to help someone to get back to God. I have someone I am really close to that has forgotten their relationship with their Father. Their love of Christ has been replaced with anger, resentment, spite, and anxiety. I got back some really good advice. Do the possible and leave the impossible up to Him. Instead of letting our problems drive us from God, how about we let our problems drive us to God. Just keep praying. It might not happen immediately, but a mountain isn't made overnight.

John 3:1-7 was our focus for morning service and was really poignant for me and the title of the sermon was "Lost Church Member".

Background- Nicodemus was not just a church member, but was considered a preacher and expert of the Bible. He was by-the-book religious in everything except by Regeneration. He was a Pharisee who were considered to be hypocrites, but not Nicodemus.

Nicodemus realizes that all his good works and studies have been for naught. Jesus tells him that the only way into Heaven is to be born again. His incredulity of how to be born again was matched by Jesus' supreme knowledge of all things spiritual. Reformation is turning over a new leaf, a fresh start. Reformation is putting a new suit on a man. Reformation is putting a new man in the suit. Our sins come from the inside, as so is our rebirth. Our literally birth was on the outside, our rebirth is from the inside and is just as definite. It can never be repeated. Salvation is simple. Believe in Him & repent.

The evening service started off with a video of a very talented child, I would have to guess 5 years old, telling the story of Jonah in her own words. I can't say I have ever understood it better than when she told it. She was very animated and entertaining. I can see her having a future in ministry.

I think it would be easiest to break down what I got out of the sermon in bullets.

• We have to do the will of God from our heart or it is wasted. 
• My God gives second chances and I am grateful he does!!!
• We are under the wrath of God because of our sins but we are protected from wrath by His love with salvation.
• God likes deadlines (Noah, Jonah...)
• Have you reached your deadline God gave you?
• Even the livestock received benefit from the revival in Ninevah
• Guilt of sin is overwhelming. It can be a big reason for keeping people away from God. 
• Jonah 3:9 - repent & relent. Turn from your anger and not perish. 
• God does not change his mind. I really think that he planned it all along to save the citizens of Ninevah and needed to scare them into salvation. We all know how much fear can motivate. 
• God does not excuse sin, but forgives sin if asked. 

There is not any day of the week we enjoy more than Sundays, except possibly Wednesdays! My daughter and I were talking about how much we loved going to church and there were just too many days between Wednesday and Sunday. She came home and was singing hymns in the shower. 

Amazing Grace

I diverted slightly from my usual format because I wanted to devote an entire post on last night's sermon. Brother Terry extended our study on Jonah, specifically Jonah 2:1-10.

Jonah's Prayer

1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. 2 He said: "In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry. 3 You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. 4 I said, 'I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.' 5 The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. 6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God. 7 "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. 8 "Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. 9 But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD." 10 And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. 

In the first part of the chapter, you see that Jonah is praying to God in the worst possible place, but he is doing the right thing. He is using scripture when praying, stating what he did wrong, and he is asking forgiveness. Jonah was literally in the belly of the beast and because he told the Lord that he knew that He was the only way that he was going to be saved, salvation came. And when God saves you, he doesn't do it halfway. When he saved Jonah, he didn't command the fish to just spit him out, but onto dry land.

The song Amazing Grace really sums it up for me, 

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.
T'was Grace that taught...
my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear...
the hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares...
we have already come.
T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far...
and Grace will lead us home.
The Lord has promised good to me...
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be...
as long as life endures.
When we've been here ten thousand years...
bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise...
then when we've first begun.
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.

When Brother Terry asked us to take a moment and dig deep to think of what we all REAAAALLLLY wanted from God, the only thing I could think of right then was for God to give the additional motivation, strength, light, whatever they needed for the lost to find their way to Him. I can make it with what I have if it meant that my one prayer brought someone to the Lord. I want everyone to know how much my salvation means to me. I always thought that unless you were serious about your walk with God, then you were a hypocrite. I didn't want to be a hypocrite so I didn't bother going to church. I prayed occasionally, but usually when I was in a bind. I had been saved when I was 9, so all my teen years and adult life was a series of back-slides and sinking deeper. There isn't a sin that wasn't a friend of mine, it seemed. That is only a slight exaggeration, but sin is sin...regardless if I murdered a cat or coveted my neighbor's weed eater. My sins were my own, though and kept me from my Father. It was when really listened to the words of this song that I was brought to tears. I know He loved me so much he gave His only Son to die so I would not have to suffer for my sins. That fact is heart melting. But to know this love is unconditional, that I have only to ask for forgiveness and He forgives me no matter how wrongly I was living. I was in the belly of the beast, but because I prayed to my Lord to please deliver me from the evil I was drowning in, He saved a wretch like me. If He can love me, I promise He can love anyone!!!

Every day, I try to walk closer to the Lord. I will fail every day, but I will ask for forgiveness when I do. I will try the next day to do it better than the day before. I cannot be anything but a sinner, but each day I will try to make my Father proud and that is all anyone can do.

Good Parenting

Sunday school class was about Ruth and how she left her kids behind so they can take care of themselves and she can go home and glean what she can at home. Because she made such a sacrifice, the Lord provided for her by giving her Boaz to take care of her for the rest of her life. The morning sermon was about Peter preaching to the crowd at the temple after healing the cripple. He spoke of the Jesus of the Past, the Jesus of the Promise, and the Jesus of the Present. The evening sermon was about Jonah's 3D's-Distress, Decisions, and Deliverance.

Ruth was said to be one of those women that everyone loved to be around. That kind of person that has an inner glow, that has love to give. Her husband died, her daughter's husbands died. Instead of cursing God, she tells her girls that she was going to go home and try to take care of herself there and leave them where they were in hopes they would find a husband to care for them.

In those days, there wasn't a Wal-Mart for the girls to work as cashiers, and Ruth (presumed to be fairly old) couldn't be a door greeter. The men were the breadwinners and the women were the care givers. It wasn't until the social revolutions in recent history has this changed. Our generation was probably the first complete generation that was raised to believe that women are complete equals. I was raised this way. My father taught us four girls how to take care of ourselves to the point of how to change the oil in our cars, how to change a flat, how to do simple repairs on the home. Part of this was because he wanted to make sure we didn't have to rely on him to do it for us, but also so that we could stand on our own. Two of us daughters were also his tom-boys so we were also his little grease monkeys.

But as we discussed in class, I think that part of the digression of society is that we no longer have the male role as the dominant voice in the house. The female isn't the supporter and encourager, but is now quite often the bread-winner. It is very rare that both parents aren't working outside the home, but it isn't just the financial leadership that is lacking from the men, but the spiritual leadership as well. I know how much trouble I used to have with the idea of this with a man having any "control" over me and even suspecting he was going to tell me what to do. After years of an overly strict father and abusive ex-husband, the last thing I was going to tolerate was a man telling ME anything. The difference is simply that the man is leading a God loving and God fearing family with God's will and not his own.

Another point that brought me to a gut wrenching epiphany is that we do teach our children to be self-sufficient, specifically our daughters. We teach them they do not have to have a man to be happy. They do not have to have a man to change their oil! There is not a single thing a man can do that a woman can't do. Just because it can be done doesn't mean it should be. I can stand on my head but I probably shouldn't because I end up with a headache. I need to revamp how I teach my girl. She needs to know how to be supportive without being a doormat. She needs to know how to be an encourager without being saccharine. She needs to know how to be a good wife, mother, and daughter of the Lord. This is going to be added to my prayers.

Acts 3:11-18  

11 While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. 12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see. 17 "Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer.

Brother Terry is pretty funny. He asked us what we thought a Baptist preacher would do if he saw a bunch of people together...preach a sermon of course! It helps if there's a miracle present. We are in the presence of miracles every day. Our sins being washed away by the blood of the Lamb is a miracle. If something happened that can't be explained, it was God. 

I have one of those instances recently. As some of you may know, my son and I were estranged this summer. His father poisoned him against me for years, but this past summer was the culmination of years of accusations and anger. I had to let my son go. I told him that I would pray for him and good luck in life; he was going to need it. This wasn't God's will, this was the words of a hurt and wounded mother. I was doing what I thought was best for everyone by letting him go, and at that time it probably was the right thing. All I know is that it has gnawed at me for months that he didn't talk or even try. So I started praying for God to show me his will. I had glimpses of what I thought I should do. Every time I thought of something to do, a voice in my head said, "your son won't learn anything if you cave in now. Let him come to you." So I kept praying for God to show me his will. I waited. Then the voice was silenced; the Devil had to shut up. I came home from shopping last Friday and my computer was logged in as my son's user name. He hasn't been at my house in three months. He doesn't have a way to get into the house. There is no explanation other than God stopped being subtle and spoke clearly. My opportunity came later that day when he posted that his phone was no longer operational and Facebook was his only means of communication. "If you need me, message me on here and I'll try to get back to you." My comment was I had been praying for him. He didn't answer, so I sent him a message. This opened up the line of communication that we haven't had for the last three months. We haven't talked yet since, but I am still praying. God's grace has blessed me and I will pray without ceasing that it will touch his heart as well.

Revival...Squirrel Not Required

When I used to hear the words "revival in our church" it evoked images of ladies in their dresses and fancy hats, men in their hats and suspenders, fanning themselves under a tent in the sweltering heat trying not to sweat even though it was hotter than the smelting furnaces at Nucor in August all the while a string of preachers read from Revelations, because we all know fear is a powerful motivator. Immediately after this image I start to sing, "the day the squirrel went berserk in The First Self-Righteous Church," by Ray Stevens (The Mississippi Squirrel Revival.) If you haven't ever heard the song, it's pretty funny. We would listen to Ray (and Charlie Daniels, The Judds, Conway Twitty, and whomever else Dad had on tape cassette) on the endless ride up here from Florida every summer, so I became familiar with the song.

Tonight, however, those images were not even a flicker on my mind's eye. When Brother Terry said that he can feel the beginnings of a revival in Finch Baptist Church, I felt an electric buzz, a hum almost in my ears. I know how corny it sounds to someone else reading this. I've sat in your seat. I was that doubter. I was that person who said, "You have lost your mind. I don't know who you're fooling or impressing." I cried my eyes out tonight in church and I am not ashamed or abashed to say it. I love the Lord and I love the positive changes He has made in my life. He has changed my husband into the spiritual leader the home needed. Our family is a cohesive unit that is connected in a way that never was before. We have a greater love for each other that wasn't there two months ago. I can't wait to be in church and two months ago it was a coin toss if I would go Sunday morning. I am volunteering to cook as often as they will let me (and I can with work) and six months ago I was a wretched, horrible, angry, sinner. I'm still a sinner who is undeserving of His grace, but I was as far from His will as one could be. Because I was not obeying His will, I had to hire an attorney to fight my ex-husband and the State of Arkansas to make them do what was right and honest. I was paying for my deeds. I deserved it because I turned my back on God. I don't deserve to have the redemption I have received, but you best believe I am grateful and will shout it from the rooftops that GOD IS THE REASON I AM ALIVE!!! If it were not for his grace and forgiveness, I would not be where I am today, and that is my own personal revival. I pray that it is the start of something bigger.

Post Script:
I am going through a personal issue that I might go into later, but I don't have it in me right now to share. But if you would, please pray for me to have the strength to persevere and to find God's will for me in this issue. Thank you and God Bless.

Healing the Lame and There's No Where To Run

The morning service was on Acts 3:1-10

1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer--at three in the afternoon. 2 Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!" 5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. 6 Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." 7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. 9 When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Brother Terry reminded us (or for those of us who aren't versed) that Peter and John weren't best buddies prior to the Resurrection. However, there was a common ground they were now on, a common goal they were set, and this has brought them to these Beautiful gates. The description of these gates are said to be the best brass, brushed with gold, grand and broad gates aptly called Beautiful. The beggar was said to be crippled from birth so this man had never walked a day in his life. We've all seen these people who haven't had use of their legs to walk; they loose muscle and are very gangly. He was poor. There wasn't a welfare system like we have now. If you didn't work for yourself back then, you weren't going to be well cared for. His family (one assumes) would take him to the Beautiful gates to beg for his wages. I bet people were uncomfortable having to walk by this dirty, gangly, begging, persistent man every day, three times a day to go to temple. There were some that paid alms for pity, some because it's what's right, and there are others that would keep walking for it was distasteful to have to see something like that before going into the house of God. The beggar called to Peter and John expecting money and was told by Peter that he had no silver or gold. The gift the beggar was given was the miracle of God, healing his legs, and went into the temple to then be a witness to the congregation of the gift he was given. 

We are every day surrounded by the spiritually crippled. People that have never been shown the grace and beauty of His love. There are people that have been lost from the way, either forgotten the love or forsaken His love. If we are like those who walked past the beggar every day and simply toss some coins in a cup, are we really giving the gift we should be to these crippled souls? If we throw our nose up in the air in disgust at their types of sin with no regard to how to get them to the doors of the temple, have we shared the gift we were given as we should? We are Christians. We are to be witnesses by actions and words to those lost and crippled so they, too, can walk the aisles of the house of God and in turn witness to others. We need to figure out if it's being dignified or being terrified not to shout out in church. 

Our evening service was from the Old Testament and the book of Jonah Chapter 1.

1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." 3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD. 4 Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish." 7 Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?" 9 He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land." 10 This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.) 11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?" 12 "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you." 13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried to the LORD, "O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased." 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him. 17 But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.

As we have heard our whole lives, God has a plan for us. I think the part of faith that is hardest to deal with is discovering what his will is for us. However, there are those that are well aware of his will and run from it. Jonah was the best example of what happens to someone who runs from God's will. 

He was told to do three things, Get up, go to Nineveh, and preach. Two out of three ain't bad...it was the Nineveh people that was the issue. These were the meanest of the mean, vicious, deviant, and murderous people. They were feared by all, but God told Jonah to go there and tell them they would fall in 40 days. Because of fear and vengeance, he didn't want to go. He wanted the city to befall their fate but knew if he prophesied the falling, they would repent and thus be saved. Jonah felt that ignoring God would essentially kill two birds with one stone. He went down to the harbor and found a ship going to
Tarshish, a place he just so happened to want to go, and he just so happened to have the right amount of fare to make it there. It's amazing how it works out when you want to go against His will how everything can work out. It makes it look almost like that is what was supposed to happen. HOWEVER, this is not what God wanted him to do. He makes it onto the boat, and they make it out to sea. It says that God sent a great storm onto the sea...it popped into my head the scene from Forrest Gump where they're on the shrimp boat and he says that Lt. Dan said, "Where's your God now?" "And it was right then He showed up." The hurricane blew in and when the Lt. Dan had come to Jesus, the storm parted and left with the sea peaceful and the sky beautiful. These sailors were Pagans, so when the seas became rough, they prayed to their gods to no avail. It became more dire and they knew it, but Jonah was sound asleep. They drew him onto the deck and long story short, his guilt showed on his face. They knew it was his fault they were all about to die. He told him, I am a Christian and I worship the creator of the earth and sea. It was then he realized there was no where to run to escape God. And why do we want to? Jonah convinced them to throw him overboard (I'm sure this didn't take a whole lot of talking) where he was quickly swallowed by a big fish. We were always told this was a whale, but all the translations I saw today said fish. Again, flash to a movie...Finding Nemo, Dori and Marlin are swallowed by a whale and transported to the Sydney Bay where Marlin comes to the realization that he has to let go and have faith. 

To be honest, I ran from His will years ago. I was dropped into that turbulent water to save the others and swallowed by a whale. It took a whole lot longer than three days to come to Jesus, apparently Jonah was a lot faster learner than I am. The sailors of that ship to Tarshish didn't know that Jonah was a Christian much less a prophet by his actions. It took his words for them to know. We shouldn't be asleep in the helm of the ship while the lost are sailing our sinking ship. We, as Christians, should live our lives so there is no question of our faith. I know I will not always know His will for me, but I will pray for the strength to follow his plan for there's no where to run to, no where to hide.

 

Starve a Cold, Feed a Spirit

Summer colds are horrible!

With that said, I have been fighting with the worst cold/flu I have had in years. It hit me on Sunday morning about 2:00 am and I have managed to drag my carcass out of the house long enough to go to the doctor and appear at work on one day of three this week. As of this evening, I will have missed three sermons and Sunday school.

A month ago, I wouldn't have thought twice about it. Missed church? I will just go next Sunday. Now, I really wish I could be with my church family and feed my spirit. I never could understand how people were in church each time the doors were open. Now that I allowed myself to be open to it, I can see how immersion in the fellowship is not only fun but it's imperative to fuel the faith. We have to keep the fire of our faith burning bright, if not just for our own salvation, but to be a beacon for others to find Christ.

I look forward to Sunday so I can get a hearty service, and of course...go back for seconds!

Ventures in Spirit Living

19 for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.

 Brother Terry began the service with the analogy of the bread man. He has a truckful of wonderful products, but he wasn't the baker. While he delivers these tasty breads all over the town, it because of someone else this was possible. 

Activity versus Ministry

Activity regards what we do in the flesh while ministry is what we do for the Holy Spirit. It is our responsibility as Christians to deliver His word. 

7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

• Power-spiritual power to obey His will and serve the Lord

• Love- to do His will in the right spirit

• Self-dicipline- [sound mind-wise head] Spirit of power-spiritual power to obey his will and serve the Lord

 These three things should be part of our morning devotional. We need the power each day to follow His will. We need the love in our hearts to obey His will or else it is for nothing. We need the sound mind to know what his will is for us. 

If we were the powerful Christians we should be, WE would be the vocal majority instead of the silent majority. Brother Terry said that we should all be cannon Christians instead of pop-gun Christians. We don't pack a punch when we're out in the world. Too often we are worried about blending in with society that we don't show the strength in our faith. 

We have to be careful not to get a hard heart from being in the world. Those of us that work with the public, especially in public service, have to immerse ourselves in the Word to keep the love flowing. I have to be honest that this is my personal challenge to not be so jaded. I have a tendency to be sarcastic. I will work on this.