What to do with the Holidays?

What are we, as Christians, to do with the holidays?  Are we to avoid them, follow Old Testament holidays, go full bore into all the holidays and all of the trappings that go with it or can we make them our own.

Family Devotions - The True Spirit of Christmas

We talked about the true spirit of Christmas this morning.  We started out by reading her a little book we had telling about who Santa Claus really was, his name was Nicholas and lived in Myra in Greece.  She enjoyed the story and then we found a short video on You Tube with the history of St. Nicholas that we found interesting.

    

Here is the link to the video: http://youtu.be/59L_lt4U59A

We then talked about the important thing in Nicholas' life was that he loved God and he gave up his possessions, gave sacrificially to help the poor and did it in secret.  He wanted his giving to glorify God and not himself.

We sang the hymn, "I Surrender All" and then read this scripture:

Philippians 2: 2 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. ³ Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; ⁴ do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. ⁵ Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. ⁸ Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹ For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

This scripture pretty much sums up what Christmas is all about.

Note:  We feel a need to clarify some things as we have had some feed back on this post.  We do not believe that Jesus Christ was born on December 25th.  The exact date of his birth is not important, just that he came as He did to save us from our sins. The  date, December 25th, was a pagan holiday that was adopted by the Roman Catholic church.  

We do not believe that Nicholas of Myra was a Saint that is to be prayed to and above other people.  He was a man just like you and I.  He was a Christian when Rome persecuted the Christians.  He was in prison when Constantine lifted the persecution against Christianity.  Constantine did not make Christianity a state religion, he just established tolerance to Christianity. Emperor Theodosius 1 made Christianity the state religion of Rome.  We do not promote the myth of Santa Claus coming and bringing gifts at Christmas to our daughter.  She knows that it is a fairy tale made up by men. The only thing we tell her is that the fairy tale came from some truth, that he was a man and only emulate the example of giving to the poor.  

Giving Thanks

Our past tradition on Thanksgiving morning was to watch the Macy's Day parade on T.V. while we prepared the food.  This spring we cut off our TV service to save some money.  So we spent some time just listening to songs that were about thanks and how awesome God is.  We stumbled upon an album that was so great!  It is called "Together for the Gospel Live".  It is hymns sung my a men's choir.  We loved it and we listened to several of their tracks.  If you get a chance, go to You Tube and check them out.  Here a selection of songs we listened to.

  

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/AfTa1iQOf04?list=PLDB9F36BA1C21E65B


This was one for the kids

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/AFI5egZfDqk?list=PLQ3lUvSd4jim3tMBB7Zfzy2xjXsrQuaRB

Here is the link; http://youtu.be/81hlG0HufZM

We pray that all the ones in the followship have a blessed day reflecting on the goodness of the Lord and his truth.  We are very thankful for all our dear friends and family and pray for each one.

Family Devotions - The Book of Ruth

Rich read the Book of Ruth this morning.  It is such an encouraging book about sacrificial love and devotion.  Great, great story of God protection and provision as we choose to follow Him.  This is a good Thanksgiving story as it is set during the harvest time and afterwards.  We listened to this song and watched this video that retold the story in a dramatic presentation.  Mary loved it.  To have an animation or dramatization of the story is really good for kids.

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/o48GTsB31s0

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/hlRgT7T279s

We always close in prayer, thanking Him for all the people in the followship and remembering all those who are going through trial and the testing of their faith.

Revival in the Millennial Generation

Millennials, who are they?  Well Millennials is a term used for the generation of kids in America born around 1980 up to the mid 90's and have come to adulthood near the turn of the century.  They got their name from a noticeable event that happened in their lives in history.  My generation, the Baby Boomers, were those people born after WW2 when the troops came home, the economy boomed and everybody started having kids. 

What impact do the Millennials have in my life? They are a generation of kids that my heart breaks for.  The first time they came to my attention, several years ago, when I saw a slide show in the church we used to attend, that they were growing up and leaving the churches in America in large numbers.  They were saying that only 4% of them were professing Christianity.  This statistic saddened my heart and I began to read about the Millenial generation in national polls and observing them through facebook and all around me.  Millennials are the children of divorce.  In 1970 the no fault divorce laws came to all the states in the US and the divorce rate zoomed to 50%.  The laws before this time required a much longer waiting time for divorces to be finalized and some criteria to happen before they were granted.  These laws were put into place to stop rash behavior and reckless divorce.  If the Millenial kids themselves were not troubled with divorce in their family, they were friends with or in relationships with people who were.  This huge influx of kids from divorce made a big impact on our society and our country.  Much darker than what  a lot of people realized when these kids were little.  

Now that they are adults they are resonating the things that happened to them when they were young. 

Love and Ministry

“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you."  John 14:23-26

The above scripture tells us how Jesus defines our love for him.  In the light of that I share these thoughts.  Love is the key to ministry for us as believers whether we are married or single.  First it is our love for the Lord, keeping his teachings, and second it is our love for one another.  This provides a powerful conduit for the Holy Spirit to operate.  Christian marriages contain marvelous potential in expressing the ministry and  power of the Holy Spirit.  That is why Satan is on the rampage against Christian marriages, because he realizes the power that is present within them.  He comes and attacks the two strategic areas in a relationship that are necessary for the flow of the Holy Spirit.  He attacks and tries to destroy their love for the Lord and he comes and tries to rob or destroy their love for one another.  He tries to destroy the very first and primary reason for marriage and that is love.  For if he destroys the root, which is love, he will also destroy the growth and fruit of the root which is ministry and service to the Lord.  For the single person their love for others is attacked in order to diminish their ministry.

Family Devotions - Give to Caesar What is Caesar's

This morning Rich read from Matthew 22:1-22 22 
Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, ² “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. ³ And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. ⁴ Again he sent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.”’ ⁵ But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business, ⁶ and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. ⁷ But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. ⁸ Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. ⁹ Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.’ ¹⁰ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests.

¹¹ “But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, ¹² and he *said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. ¹³ Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Tribute to Caesar

¹⁵ Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap Him in what He said. ¹⁶ And they *sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any. ¹⁷ Tell us then, what do You think? Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?” ¹⁸ But Jesus perceived their ^[k]malice, and said, “Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites? ¹⁹ Show Me the coin used for the poll-tax.” And they brought Him a denarius. ²⁰ And He *said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” ²¹ They *said to Him, “Caesar’s.” Then He *said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.” ²² And hearing this, they were amazed, and leaving Him, they went away.

Our discussion focused in on verses 15 - 22.  Rich talked to Mary about money and had her take a look at our money and whose name and image was on a dollar bill.  She read it and then we told her how they didn't have paper money back them but they had coins that they would put pictures on.  She had quite a few questions about paper money and Rich was so patient to answer them.  He told her that we don't need to trust in money but we trust in God to take care of us.  I love the part where Jesus said for them to give to God what was God's.  I thought of whose image we have, it is the Lord for we are made in his image.  We are to give our lives and heart to God!  

We sang "There is Joy In the Lord"  based on Psalm 95:1 

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/LsfC2V2s_rg

We closed in prayer for the followship and for all the hearts who are hungry for the truth of Jesus' words that will be coming to follow Him with us.

Family Devotions - Mary Anointing Jesus

This morning for family devotions Rich read the story of Mary anointing Jesus in Mark 14:3-9 and John 12:1-8.  We talked about Mary's great love for Jesus.  We played this video:

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/MDEzzzIPJVM 

We had a small vial of frankincense and myrrh scented oil and we put on our wrists so our daughter, Mary, could get an idea of what the perfume might of smelled like that was put on Jesus.  It was a wonderful experience for her as she smelled the perfume and listened to the story and the song on this video.  We closed in prayer remembering all our family who do not know Him, for all those who are coming to the knowledge of the truth and for our dear friend, Todd and also for Brenda as they are joining in on the followship with us.  Thank you Lord for all that you are doing and working in our lives.

My Yoke is Easy and My Burden is Light

I recently read this devotional from Streams in the Desert and I was blessed and encouraged by it because there is a lot truth here.  We must be broken to be used and for the Kingdom of God to advance.  On thinking about this devotional my mind went to Matthew 11:28 -30 and I have added my thoughts at the end of this post.

Broken Things

"By reason of breakings they purify themselves" (Job 41:25).

God uses most for His glory those people and things which are most perfectly broken. The sacrifices He accepts are broken and contrite hearts. It was the breaking down of Jacob's natural strength at Peniel that got him where God could clothe him with spiritual power. It was breaking the surface of the rock at Horeb, by the stroke of Moses' rod that let out the cool waters to thirsty people.

Family Devotions

We have started having our family devotions on Monday mornings as Rich's new schedule gives him Sunday and Monday off.  We have been reading and talking about the call of the Apostles lately so Rich read about the call of John and his brother James.  Mary ran and got her children's Bible and for the first time wanted to read out of it.  So, she read the story of Jesus going to the Sea of Galilee  and calling the disciples to come follow him.  She was so happy to be able to read and contribute.  We then listened to a video on You Tube of the reading of I John set with music and pictures.  All our hearts were encouraged by hearing the Word.  Mary said her heart was moved as she listened to it.  It is so wonderful to see her young heart deeply touched by our devotional times.  We closed with me singing a couple of scripture songs out of I John, Ephesians and Proverbs that I had learned when I was a young teenager.  Mary did a little dance and Rich enjoyed me singing.  We closed in prayer for our friends in the followship and all those who will be coming as the Lord calls them.  We are so blessed by our time as a family.  It is simple and not fancy, just being family and following the Spirit's lead.  I can see how Mary has grown so much in these last few months of doing this together.  We are so thankful for the Lord's blessing and leading in our lives.

Truths of the Kingdom of God Discovered While Making Sourdough Bread

Almost two years ago my husband had a yen to make sourdough bread.  He had a book that was given to him awhile before we met called Alaska Sourdough by Ruth Allman.  He had tried once to make an Alaskan Sourdough starter and it didn't work.  I think it might of been because when we were first married and had no kids, we both worked, so we turned the heat down when we were gone during the day.  Sourdough starter needs to be warm to work right.

 So, like I said he got a hankerin' to try it again.  He did and it was a success and we have been making sourdough bread with the starter every week now since then and really love it.  On our journey with sourdough we did some reading about it on the Internet.  We found out that sourdough not only tastes really good, it is really good for you!

Family Devotions - The Lord is my Help

We did our family devotions today as this is Rich's day off and we woke up late yesterday and were going over to his folks house for dinner.  So the beauty of family devotions is that you are not limited to just one day of the week.  As it says in Colossians 2:16 "Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day."

 

Rich opened up with the hymn Holy, Holy, Holy and here is the video we sang along with:

 

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/q9SIHGTys74

 

 

 

 

Rich read the story in Genesis 24.  If you have been following our weekly devotions you will remember that last week that Mary found Genesis 24:22 while she was looking through the Bible and shared it with us.  So, now we are doing a study on a bride for Isaac this week.  A wonderful story of hearing the Lord and following his call.  After we read out of the Bible we found this cute video of the same story.

 

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/xrwZrMzX09o

 



 

 

We then prayed.  We were thanking the Lord for all He is doing and working in our lives.  We are so very thankful for more people finding our blog and being encouraged by it.  Just this week we have gotten emails telling us so.  So we prayed for all those that are coming as we are casting the net of truth and thanking the Lord for bringing the people.  We prayed for continued growth and help for the new people and for the ones now in the followship.

 

We closed with this song.  Mary loved this one and we just loved the images of Jesus with the little children.

 

Here is the link:  http://youtu.be/QbfXPgcmzcc

God bless you richly this week!

What is a Followship

A Followship is a network of Followers,  Followers of Jesus Christ,  people who are humbly, selflessly, lovingly, and thankfully following Jesus' commandments,  seeking to become disciples of Christ by subjecting themselves to His disciplines,  Jesus Christ Himself defining their reality in every aspect of life.

A Followship is not an organization,  it is a family of followers, following their Father the Lord Jesus hand in hand, and shoulder to shoulder, being bound together with the love of the truth of the Gospel, and the obedience of His commandments.

People who are seeking to fulfill the Lords commandments, order, and desires, making Him first in their lives above all else, and seeking to be set apart from the desires, and trappings of this world, and always (as strangers, and sojourners in this life) seeking to simplify, purify, and strengthen their walk with the Lord.

This Family focuses on following, not just fellowing,  Jesus said "whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother".   A persons true family are the ones who keep the Lord's word,  and help others to do so.   We desire to foster an atmosphere of discipleship through humble obedience, and strict adherence to the Lord's directives, no matter how difficult it may seem, and in this sense a followship is not generational, or sociogenic, but seeks to be a family of true believers, not a social club made up of religious friends, and  relatives.

A Followship does not practice hierarchy,  it does not have to, because the disciples are led by the Spirit of Christ Himself through obedience to the Word,  and as the Lord Himself said "call no man father, leader, or teacher",  in the Spirit there is only one Father, Leader, and Teacher, and that is Jesus Christ Himself, who was, and is, and always will be God Himself.  We believe in the gifts of the Spirit of Christ, and that He gives the gifts as He wills, He can give to anyone any gift He pleases at any time, so we believe that all Followers (at any time the Spirit of Christ chooses) can be apostles, teachers, healers, prophets, and leaders, and that these gifts are for all of us that believe, and obey.  We believe that these gifts are not "owned" by any believer, and that the Lord Himself is the only one who "owns" anything,  and Him being the owner of all things, gives good gifts to those who obey Him.

The Followship has no Temple, it is the Temple, each follower being a spiritual stone that makes up the Temple worldwide, whoever they are, and wherever they are, they are the Temple of God in Christ.  May the Lord Jesus bless, and guide all the Followers, Amen.

Family Devotions - The Call of the First Disciples

Rich opened up with the story of the calling of the first disciples in Luke chapter 5.

After the scripture reading we played this video: http://youtu.be/EGWqshxU7Lg

Then we played this video for Mary: http://youtu.be/UswoAr7lu_0

Then we sang "Just as I am"  and "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus"

http://youtu.be/CxA0TFe3-Uo

http://youtu.be/s2TwhEL2EPc

While we were singing Mary was looking through the Bible and found a verse and shared it with us.  It was Genesis 24: 35.  The context was the story of Abraham's servant going back to their homeland to seek a wife for Isaac.  Another great story of following the Lord and wanting Him above all else. Rebekah left all that she knew and her family to go to be Isaac's wife.  This will be our verses we will study next week.  Mary was so excited to find something on her own and share it with us and it fit into Dad's theme.  Such a great example that at the earliest ages we can experience God's leading and guiding in our lives and we can all share the truths of His Word and it can all be in context and order.

American Polytheism

When we explore the religious practices of the ancient Greco-Roman world we see that they did not practice different religions, but they practiced many different versions of the same religion. Basically honoring various gods with temples, rites, and various rituals, and tributes, which is referred to as polytheism.  They had many gods and many temples.  Each god had unique attributes and had control over certain aspects of life, and the world.  Each one would be sought at different times depending on the circumstances of the individual seeking help from the gods, or wanting to honor, or worship a god for a specific perceived blessing that was received.

It has been recorded in the history books that Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in the fourth century AD.  This is a misrepresentation of what actually took place and what the Emperor was endeavoring to accomplish.  He did not convert to Christianity.  What he actually did was he converted Christianity, and adopted the Christian God to the religion of the Empire.

He did not remove all the other gods from the Roman religious repertoire, he merely added another god to the list of very important gods in the Roman religious experience. We see many pagan aspects of this fact when we examine the main religion that eventually emerged from Constantine's corruption of the truth.  The Roman Catholic Church developed as a result of many pagan practices mixed into the corrupt "Christian" framework that Constantine fabricated. It was some years after Constantine that the pure pagan polytheistic practices were removed comletely, and the Roman Catholic Church became the dominant religious influence in Europe.

Family Devotions - King Josiah

Last week Rich read the story of King Josiah from 2 Chronicles 34 through verse 21 where the book of the Law was found.  This week he picked up in 2 Chronicles 34 verse 22 and read to the end of chapter 35.  This records all the reforms that King Josiah did after the book of the Law, that was recorded by Moses, was found hidden in the temple.  What a powerful account of a life dedicated to God and making changes to practices that had been done for many, many years long before his birth.  He completely cleansed Judah of false worship.  It just made us both weep as we listened to the account of Josiah's life.  It says in 2 Kings 23:25 "Before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him."  We then reviewed the 2 videos that we posted in last week's Family Devotions - Create in Me a Clean heart.  Mary enjoyed them a lot, especially the first one.  It ended with this thought, "Why is this story important? Because true knowledge is learning what God says and knowing what God says can make you wiser than you can imagine."  We do identify with this story and statement for that is what we have been endeavoring to do this last year since we have left the church/religious system of our culture.  We want to know what God says about worship and about how we are to be as a body of believers.  Not according to traditions of men but according to God's word and example set before us in the scriptures.  We explained this to Mary and she understands why we have left the church system and why we worship at home together as believers.  We then sang these two hymns, All Creatures of Our God and King and Crown Him with Many Crowns:

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/0d3gO6qDLNA

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/YuMh_ept-Js

We closed in prayer thanking God for who He is and that we know Him.  We also for all the believers who are seeking Him for the truth of His word and our brother, Todd, in Bakersfield who we have the privilege of fellowshipping with.

Family Devotions - Create in Me a Clean Heart

We read the story of King Josiah this morning out of 2 Chronicles 34.  We found two You Tube Videos that were good.  One for smaller kids and one for kids and adults.  So here they are:

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/3csjqtYoxcs

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/dJyQHcmrK40

We also sang the B-I-B-L-E children's song and then Create in Me a Clean Heart

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/BGPmMcDeRpM



We closed in prayer asking God to purify our hearts this week and help us to always be close to Him and love His words and put them into practice.

Family Devotions - Coin in the Fishes Mouth

Rich picked our Bible story this morning.  He read Matthew 17:24 - 27

²⁴ When they came to Capernaum, those who collected the two-drachma tax came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the two-drachma tax?” ²⁵ He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs or poll-tax, from their sons or from strangers?” ²⁶ When Peter said, “From strangers,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are exempt. ²⁷ However, so that we do not offend them, go to the sea and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for you and Me.”

We talked about trusting Jesus in providing for our needs.  Not extravagant things, but our basic needs.  We told Mary a story from my childhood.  When I was very young my parents were going through a hard financial time.  They made up a list of thing to get at store.  When they got there they divided the list and each took part of the items to get.  They got their stuff and went back home.  When they got home they realized that neither one of them got milk or cottage cheese and they had spent all their money.  This was the days before credit cards, so once your money was gone, it was gone.  They were upset at not getting the items and were arguing about who was supposed to get it.  Right in the heat of their discussion, they heard a knock on the door.  They got real quiet and went to the door.  There was standing a brother in the Lord and he said that he had just been to the store and thought that we could use some milk and cottage cheese and was bringing it over to them.  They accepted with a big smile and were rejoicing that God knew their hearts and situation and had provided for them!  Mary's face lit up and loved hearing a story of God's provision in my life before I could even remember.

We found a sweet song that Mary did a little dance and motions too.

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/-LJRndQuFnQ

We also sang this song "I will make you fishers of men".

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/KL7uV5jF8Rk

This is our hearts prayer is that we will be fishers of men as we follow Jesus and his words.  We closed in prayer for all our dear brothers and sisters in the Lord and thanking Him for all that he has done in our hearts and lives.

Family Devotions - Because He Lives

Family devotions can be so encouraging especially if it was like this last week for us.  The landlords put in new carpet in our living room and hallway.  The carpet was old and we were OK with that especially with a dog and little kid.  But they got a really good deal and wanted to do several of their rentals.  So we packed up all our stuff and they moved the furniture out and back in and we did the rest.  So this week was pretty busy and tiring but we made it through and now we have new carpet!  For some reason I woke up early and felt sad and discouraged and shed a few tears, so this mornings devotions was a blessing.  Rich started singing "On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand"  after breakfast and Mary and I joined in.



Here is the link: http://youtu.be/rkMapZB8qMk

We pulled up another of our favorites, "Because He Lives" on the internet. 

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/4M-zwE33zHA
We sang and Mary did a little dance to it. 

That is what I love about our family times, is that they are all spontaneous and interactive.  After, Because He Lives, we sang one of our most favorite modern Hymns, Christ Alone, and then finished with a Psalm 23.

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/AjR_A2pGPrY

After we sang, Mary read this poem:                                                          

 " Jesus, My Friend"

"When my heart is heavy and the tears are falling,

I look up to Jesus and know he understands.

And my heart fills to running over

when I think how he understands.

I can see him on his heavenly throne,

longing to come and comfort me

like he could have when he was here on earth.

But Lo! he said that 'I will not leave thee, nor forsake thee'.

So I say, in faith, believing: ' Jesus, I know you understand,

and I give myself to thee.'

All other friends may turn their backs on me,

but Jesus will always love me, no matter what may come.

I now consecrate this body and life to this wonderful friend.

Take it and use it like it was your own body.

All I desire is to be yours, dear blessed Jesus.

May this always be my prayer."

It was written by her grandma, my mom, many years ago.  Again this brought tears to my eyes and comforted my heart so much.  Rich picked out a Bible story to read, The Tower of Babel, and we talked about how God caused the people to separate and go out all over the world.  Mary told us her spin on the languages being changed.  She said that they all used to speak English with an accent and then God changed their languages so they spoke Chinese, German, Russian and English and they didn't speak English with an accent any more.  lol  She always cracks us up with her perspective on things.  We ended our time with prayer remembering our friend, Todd, and other dear friends who are not with us in body but in spirit that they would be blessed this week. 



Family Devotions

We have been doing family devotions on Sunday morning and each time we come away so blessed.  Our daughter picked the Bible story for us to read.  As you can see it was about the fall of Jerusalem and the prophet Jeremiah.

After the story we talked about why the Israelites went into captivity and the hope of their return after they had repented and the rebuilding of the city.  That reminded me of a song I used to sing when I was young.  It was a scripture song from Psalm 30: 11-12.  I sang it and then Rich did a search on the internet and he found this amazing website that has music to almost every section of scripture in the Bible.  It had that song with the words and the music.  So we sang it and printed the music and I played it on the piano.  We were able to thank the Lord for all He has done for us this week and pray for all those who are part of God's wonderful work in our lives.  Here is the song we sang this morning and a link to the website.  At the very end of our time our little dog, Mac, came up to Rich and wanted to sing a little bit too!  So we got him on video.  All I can say to that is, "Praise Him all creatures here below!"

Here is the link to the song: https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/1334

Letter to the Churches

Dear brothers, and sisters.

For a long time I have felt that something was going to happen, like we are on the brink of some great event, I don't know if you have had that feeling too, but I am beginning to understand what I have been sensing.

In our American culture there is great apostasy, apathy, deception, and distraction. Our culture struggles heavily with greed, materialism, and the most destructive ... immorality, and sensuality. These cultural poisons have found their way into the American church, and have been tolerated for so long now that the destructive heresies that they propagate are seen as normal, and are even perceived as  being innocuous.

Culture series: "Good is Evil and Evil is Good" What women are facing in this culture

We as humans, in our own hearts, and minds, are able, and willing to justify anything that we deem necessary to our perceived happiness or survival. We lie to ourselves, and others, and even to God. We, with a great deal of time and effort, fabricate dreams and visions that are tailored to justify and benefit our own selfish and ambitious purposes. The level of depravity in these areas goes way beyond our scope of control and understanding. So that left to our own ways, we are always doomed to failure in our perception of true equity and the reality of our true identity.

Ground Zero

When 9-11 happened it became an event  that was permanently ingrained in many peoples memories.  The desire for all people to remember this event led to a slogan being made, "Never Forget".   I was captivated by this image above as many people were when this cross shaped iron beam was found standing in the rubble.  To me it meant when the walls came down and disaster hit, there was Jesus standing.  He is and always will be at ground zero.

The Milk of the Word

"For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.  2 Corinthians 2:17

For six thousand years now mankind has been creating all sorts of religions, and gods, and objects of worship.  Worshiping the sun, moon, and stars, things on the earth, and things that they have made with their hands.  Men, from the beginning, have turned away from the truth, and they have fabricated many religious "systems", and ways of worshiping their gods. Like at the Tower of Babel, they built a high tower to reach to the heavens, so that they could touch the heavens, become great, and make a name for themselves.  This was the beginning of the great false religious system of the world.  It was halted and postponed by God, when He confused their language and separated them, dispersed them, and they became the nations, migrating to every continent.

Religion, in the great empires of the world, has always been used to appease and control the masses, giving the people what they need to satisfy their hunger for spirituality, the hunger which we all have, because we were created by God.  Only the fool does not recognize this. This recognition by the peoples of the world, that there is a God,  creates a need for religion to satisfy the obvious need for spirituality.  Therefore the whole world has become full of religions, all false, except for one.