Witty Wednesday

Hi everyone! Here is this week's Student Bloopers! I hope you get a good laugh!!


In midevil times most of the people were alliterate. The greatest writer of the time was Chaucer, who wrote many poems and verses and also wrote literature. Another tale tells of William Tell, who shot an arrow through an apple while standing on his son's head.



The Renaissance was an age in which more individuals felt the value of their human being, Martin Luther was nailed to the church door at Whittenberg for selling papal indulgences. He died a horrible death, being excommunicated by a bull. It was the painter Donatello's Interest in the female nude that made him the father of the Renaissance. It was an age of great inventions and discoveries. Gutenberg invented the Bible. Sir Walter Raleigh is a historical figure because he invented cigarettes. Another important invention was the circulation of blood. Sir Francis Drake circumcised the world with a 100-foot clipper.

Leaning on the second Bookend

In this book the authors give us two things that are essential to the christian life, they call them bookends. The first book end on which we are to lean all that is our life is: The righteousness of Christ. The second is: The power of the Holy Spirit.

This last chapter in the book deals with leaning our "books" on this second bookend, rather then relying on ourselves and our own abilities. We could just read this book, agree that our existence as followers of Jesus is reliant on the righteousness of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, and become relaxed about it so as to fall back into shifting our dependence on ourselves - our own abilities, self-righteousness, intelligence, strengths, and will power, and reading this book will have been a vain exercise.

On page 136 it says: ....... we're to see " the immeasurable greatness of His great might" (Eph.1:18-19). We're to see this with the eyes of our hearts in a way that it touches our emotions, motivations, and decision-making. It's seeing a seeing so deep, it shifts our dependence away from our own strength and onto the strength of the Spirit of God.

This chapter gives three focal points for shifting and keeping our dependence on the power of the Holy Spirit.


1. Our desperate weakness:

We must see that we are but dust, our frame is weak.

2. The reliable power of the Holy Spirit:

We are kept by the Spirit till the day of Christ.

1 Thess. 5:23- Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord.

2Cor. 3:18 - And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the image from one degree of glory ro another. For this comes from the Lord who is Spirit.

3. Rejection of self-reliance:

Self-reliance is dangerous. We must reject it!

The gospel is all about what Jesus has done on our behalf and nothing to do with us.

The gospel should humble us. Humility is what will kill self-reliance.

The quote in the book from John Stott really stood out to me as he described the best place to find humility as we battle the great evil of self-reliance:

Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross. All of us have an inflated view of ourselves... until we have visited a place called Calvary. It is there, at the foot of the cross that we shrink to our true size.

We will lean on the Power of the Holy Spirit if we keep the gospel before us.

Words from an old hymn race through my mind as I think through this chapter.

Near the cross! O Lamb of God, bring it's scenes before me; help me walk from day to day with it's shadow o'er me.
In the cross, in the cross be my glory ever, till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river.

I have enjoyed reading this book and I am thinking I need to read it again someday soon.

I'd love to hear any thoughts that this book provoked for some of you, and perhaps some things that stood out to you in this final chapter.

Thanks for tuning in! May the Lord cause His grace to shine on you and bring you nearer to Him.

For those just tuning in, if you would like to catch up, you can here.

Eternal Security

 

I've been reading through Ephesians during my daily reading time and I am enjoying it very much!

 

Chapter 1:4-8 and verses 11, 13 and 14, mean alot to me.  Verses 4-8 say: He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.  In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.  In Him we have redemptionthrough His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.  Then in verses 11, 13 and 14 it says: In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His Will...  (13) ...after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, (14) who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to thr redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.

 

When I read these words I realize that before God created anything, He had already chosen me to be His for His glory.  And because at this time I wasn't even born yet, it proves that a person can never earn his way to Heaven.  God had already chosen me!!!  I am so grateful that God chose me to be His child.  It is all of Him, and nothing of me.

 

Then in verses 11,13 and 14, God says that I have an inheritance and that I am sealed in Him by the Holy Spirit.  In Bible times, kings used to use hot wax and a metal piece imprinted with his special mark, a signet ring, to imprint documents making them official.  Only he could place his seal on something, unless he gave his signet ring to someone he had authorized to act in his place.  If the king's seal was affixed to anything, it was to be followed without question and even if someone could pry off the wax, there is still a trace of the color of the wax on the document showing that it had been sealed so there would never be a decree that wasn't obeyed.  I have a seal similar to that one.  It is the Holy Spirit---God Himself!!!  So, I can be completely sure that I won't be left behind or sent to the wrong place when I die. 

 

Isn't this great news!!  These thoughts cause me to thank and praise the Lord!!  I'm officially His for all eternity!! 

Waiting for God

A few weeks ago Mrs. Mary Mohler spoke about "waiting" at the Pendergraph's Women Fellowship in September. It was a wonderful and thought provoking speech which I really enjoyed. Since that time God has shown me two examples of the benefits of waiting: a negative example and a positive example.

For the first example, I will give a bit of background. I LOVE it when my husband opens my car door for me. However in the past, my husband generally did not open my car door except on special occasions. The "rule" is: when we go out on a date then my husband opens the car door for me. So needless to say, whenever my husband opens my car door it is something I treasure! Lately, Ryan has been trying to open my car door for me more often. We might be running errands or traveling, etc. and he will jump out of the car and say "I'll get your door", then proceed to run around the car and open the door for me. This is a fairly new occurrence and so we're still working out the kinks.

On one such day, we arrived at our destination and Ry jumped out and said "I'll get your door". But because I wasn't listening carefully to what he had said; I didn't hear him and so opened my own door and got out. I realized my mistake as soon as Ry came around the back of the car and told me that he had intended to get my door (but now I had already gotten out so his efforts were wasted). I was so disappointed! If I had listened carefully to what he had said and just waited for him I would have been so blessed by his gift of opening my door! As soon as it happened I told him what a poignant example that was to me of how often I don't listen carefully for God's leading or wait for Him to work out a situation and as such I plow through my days making a mess of things and missing the blessings that come from waiting for God to act!

The other example is a little sweeter... Yesterday was our 15th anniversary. Ryan had classes all day and I was out running errands. I was right next to a Starbucks and was tempted to stop and get a Double Chocolate Chip Frappaccino (my very favorite drink), but didn't because I had to get to work unpacking boxes at our apartment. I knew what I had to get done and so I figured that I could wait until a more opportune time to get myself a treat. When I got home, I started working on the boxes and stayed busy until Ryan got home from school. When he walked in he had in his hand a Starbucks Grande Double Chocolate Chip Frappaccino which he had picked up for me for our anniversary! The best thing about this is that Ryan strongly dislikes stopping at stores or shopping, so it was a really unexpected and a real sacrifice on his part. For my part, if I had not waited earlier and had gotten myself a DCC Frap, then it would have diminished the blessing of the gift that my husband got me later that evening, not just for me but also for my husband. He would have been disappointed and felt like his gift was not as special.

Both of these instances caused my mind to go back to waiting on God. God never lets you down in the end. He always calls us to wait because He is working out whatever is the best thing for us in our lives and often the lessons which will so bless us and cause us to be like Christ, are the ones that take the most time to develop in our hearts. Praise God for Mrs. Mohler's speech as well as the examples that God showed me in my life.

Why We Were Created

Genesis 1:26a, 27 "Then God said, "Let us make an in our image, in our likeness...So God created man in His own imagine, in the image of God He created him; male and female he created them."

As you read through Genesis one, you see the creation of the world, of day and night, light and darkness, land and water, birds and animals. Finally, on the sixth day you see something new. You see man created. This in of itself is not so radical; God has been creating for the past five days. But with man it is different. Man is created in the image of God.

What does this mean? It does not mean, as I remember thinking as a young child, that we look like God. Instead, it means that we have special 'abilities' that other living things, such as plants or animals, do not. These abilities include having thoughts and emotions and the ability to communicate and make decisions.

So why were we created differently than the animals. Why were we created in the image of God? For one reason: we are called to glorify God. This is not to say that plants and animals do not glorify God - they do. We, however, are created to glorify God in a unique way - by enjoying Him.

Think about this for a minute: we were created with the ability to know God, be entirely satisfied in our knowledge of Him, and spend eternity basking in the joy of our creator's presence. This is how we glorify God!

So today, when you are experiencing trials big or small and you find yourself getting frustrated or discontent, take a minute to pull back and remember your purpose. If you are having trouble finding this joy, stop and reflect on your salvation. Remind yourself of the gospel and thank God for choosing you to be a vessel of mercy rather than wrath.

Things in this world can seem so big, so important, so consuming. Do not let yourselves get caught up in the here and now. Concentrate on your Savior; remind yourself that your time here on earth is to be spent in preparing for an eternity of glorifying God through your enjoyment of Him. And then enjoy Him, for He truly is an awesome Savior, merciful God, and loving Father.