So Great a Cloud of Witnesses

 Faith. Hebrews 11 and 12.

After writing about the faith of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, the writer of Hebrews exhorts us:

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart."

 Have a blessed Lord's Day, friends.

InSPIREd Sunday - Thinking About Prayer

 

 First United Methodist Church
Red Wing, MN

Some Thoughts on Prayer, C.S. Lewis:

"Prayers are not always - in the crude, factual sense of the word - 'granted.' This is not because prayer is a weaker kind of causality, but because it is a stronger kind. When it 'works' at all, it works unlimited by space and time. That is why God has retained a discretionary power of granting or refusing it; except on that condition prayer would destroy us. It is not unreasonable for a headmaster to say, 'Such and such things you may do according to the fixed rules of this school. But such and such other things are too dangerous to be left to general rules. If you want to do them you must come and make a request and talk over the whole matter with me in my study. And then - we'll see." - C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock.

Looking back over my life, I am so grateful for the times that God said, 'No' in answer to particular prayers.

'We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.'  Romans 8:28

That would be ALL things, including God's answer, 'No.'

 In Him is LIFE.

Linked to InSPIREd Sunday

and Roses of Inspiration

Have a blessed Lord's Day!

InSPIREd Sunday, A Thanksgiving Prayer

 Our Lady of Lourdes

Dobie, WI

 Almighty God, Father of all mercies,

we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks

for all your goodness and loving-kindness

to us and to all whom you have made.

We bless you for our creation, preservation,

and all the blessings of this life;

but above all for your immeasurable love

in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ;

For the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.

And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies,

that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise,

not only with our lips, but in our lives,

by giving up our selves to your service,

And by walking before you

in holiness and righteousness all our days;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit,

be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen

- adots.org

Have a blessed Lord's Day, friends!

Linked to

InSPIREd Sunday
and
Roses of Inspiration

St. Mary's, Marathon City, WI

St. Mary's, Marathon City, WI

'Jesus had not done what Messiahs were supposed to do.  He had neither won a decisive victory over Israel’s political enemies, nor restored the Temple (except in the most ambiguous symbolic fashion).  Nor had he brought God’s justice and peace to the world; the wolf was not yet lying down with the lamb.  But the early gospel traditions are already shaped by the belief that Jesus was Israel’s Messiah; Paul regularly calls him Christos, and if that term had become for him merely a proper name (which I dispute) that only goes to show how firmly Jesus’ messianic identity was already established by Paul’s day.  For Revelation, Jesus is the Lion of the tribe of Judah.   

'The historian is bound to face the question: once Jesus had been crucified, why would anyone say that he was Israel’s Messiah? Nobody said that about Judas the Galilean after his revolt ended in failure in AD 6.  Nobody said it of Simon bar-Giora after his death at the end of Titus’s triumph in AD 70.  Nobody said it about bar-Kochbar after his defeat and death in 135.  On the contrary. Where messianic movements tried to carry on after the death of their would-be Messiah, their most important task was to find another Messiah.  The fact that the early Christians did not do that, but continued, against all precedent, to regard Jesus himself as Messiah, despite outstanding alternative candidates such as the righteous, devout and well-respected James, Jesus’ own brother, is evidence that demands an explanation.  

' As with their beliefs about resurrection, they redefined Messiahship itself, and with it their whole view of the problem that Israel and the world faced and the solution that they believed God had provided.  They remained at one level a classic Jewish messianic movement, owing fierce allegiance to their Messiah and claiming Israel and the whole world in his name.  But the mode of that claim, and the underlying allegiance itself, were drastically redefined.

' The rise of early Christianity, and the shape that it took in two central and vital respects, thus presses upon the historian the question for an explanation.  The early Christians retained the Jewish belief in resurrection, but both modified it and made it more sharp and precise.  They retained the Jewish belief in a coming Messiah, but redrew it quite drastically around Jesus himself.  Why?

  'The answer the early Christians themselves give for these changes, of course, is that Jesus of Nazareth was bodily raised from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion.  It is Jesus’ own resurrection that has given force and new shape to the Christian hope.  It was, they insist, Jesus’ own resurrection which constituted him as Messiah, and, if Messiah, then Lord of the world.'

- from Jesus' Resurrection and Christian Origins. N.T. Wright


Have a blessed Lord's Day.

This post is linked to

Inspired Sunday

and

Roses of Inspiration

InSPIREd Sunday - Our Savior's Lutheran

Our Savior's Lutheran

Mikana, WI

What Jesus Taught About Dealing With Enemies

"You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy;  But I tell you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, to show that you are the children of your Father Who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and makes the rain fall upon the upright and the wrongdoers [alike].

For if you love those who love you, what reward can you have? Do not even the tax collectors do that?  And if you greet only your brethren, what more than others are you doing? Do not even the Gentiles (the heathen) do that?

You, therefore, must be perfect [growing into complete maturity of godliness in mind and character, having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity], as your heavenly Father is perfect."  - Matthew 5:43-48, Amplified Bible 

 Calling the faithful to worship

"But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together.  One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”  - Matthew 22:34-40, NASB


Have a blessed Lord's Day, friends!

This post is linked to

InSPIREd Sunday

New Hope Lutheran Church - InSPIREd Sunday

 New Hope Lutheran Church

Between Ridgeland and Sand Creek, WI

 Photos from October 17, 2014

***

My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus' blood and righteousness.

I dare not trust the sweetest frame,

But wholly lean on Jesus' name.

On Christ the solid rock I stand,

All other ground is sinking sand.

All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness seems to hide His face

I rest on His unchanging grace,

Dressed in His righteousness alone,

Faultless to stand before the throne.

On Christ the solid rock I stand,

All other ground is sinking sand.

All other ground is sinking sand.

***

(That's how I remembered it.) 

***

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." - Jeremiah 29:11

Have a blessed Lord's Day! 

LINKING TO

INSPIRED SUNDAY

Church Marquees

This, I'm sad to report, is the marquee next to the church in the little town where I live. I cropped the photo to protect the guilty. Don't ask me why.

I won't even get into the ever-lingering question in my mind, 'WHY do churches feel a need to put stupid sayings on a sign in front of the building?'  Do they not want anyone at all to take God seriously?

Okay, I didn't say anything on Mothers' Day when the [same] church's marquee read, 'God couldn't be everywhere at once, so He gave us mothers.'  I did a double take and couldn't believe what I was reading - from a supposedly Gospel-teaching church. I happen to know the pastor went to seminary so he certainly should know better.

I resisted the urge to get out of the car and march into the church to voice a complaint. But I had to drive past the thing for days before it was changed to something less offensive and heretical.

But when this one (above) came on the scene a couple weeks ago, I figured the guy would surely be teaching to an empty church within a couple days. I still see cars there, though, so I'm not sure if the congregation didn't see the sign or what. Am I the only one who saw the marquee??

So maybe you're thinking, 'Chill, lady, what's the big problem? People do need to pray more.' That is certainly true. But one of the biggest problems in the church today, as I see it, is a LACK of theology. Does the pastor remember what 'theology' means?  It's the study of God, for Pete's sake.  

How can a preacher make his congregation understand that they're sinners in need of a Savior unless he first teaches them WHO GOD IS and who they are in relation to God. (Read the book of Job Chapters 38 and on if you've any question.) And if he's not doing that, then everybody might just as well skip the church service and go have a picnic in the park.

We don't need sermons that make us feel good about ourselves. We have lots of happy, self-satisfied people who will never see Jesus as their Savior, but will certainly meet Him as Judge. Pastors must teach their congregations that we have a holy God who doesn't take sin lightly, for the price of our salvation was the death of His only and sinless Son. Jesus, our risen Savior, is the only Rescue from a certain judgment to come.

I think that in the middle of the night I'll sneak away to the church marquee and switch letters so that it reads, 'We need more theology and MORE THEOLOGY.' I suppose I'll have to bring my own letters.

The Comfortable Church

I recently read a great article at Christianity Today online. Mark Galli posted it on June 10.  Because the article is copyrighted, I can't post it here. But I can give you a link to it. So, I encourage you to click on the link to the article, The Lord Who Acts Like It  and read it in its entirety. It begins, Where did we get the idea that the church should be a place that makes people feel comfortable?

I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on it.

Kids' Ancient Egyptian Headdress and Collar

My friend and I are the craft ladies for VBS at our church this year. The curriculum is from Answers in Genesis, always full of good stuff! Click on their 'Media' tab and go to their 'Video on Demand.' There you will find great video clips you can use with your family, friends, and Sunday School class.

The theme for this week's VBS has been 'craftsmen of ancient Egypt.' Today's craftsman is the goldsmith. We took a little diversion from the assigned craft.  Instead of going with the suggestion in the teacher's manual, we decided to have the kids make Egyptian collars and Headdresses, complete with gold band and gold snakey snake!

First stop was Goodwill, to look for cheap but striped flat sheets. After running them through the washer and dryer, we cut them into squares 29" x 29" (This was guess work.)

Then, I just happened to have a gold picnic table cloth (shiny on one side, flannel on the other) that I had once purchased at Target or Walmart for no more than $5. I cut it into 2" x 25" strips.

Next, 'snakes' for the headdresses were made by tearing about 11 inch sheets of heavy aluminum foil, then rolling each diagonally and squeezing out a little snake head, then twisting the body and making it pointy at the end. After that, the snakes were moved to the floor of the garage where I spray painted them with gold automotive paint. I made certain that the gold would dry completely and not come off on little (or big) hands!

Snakes were wrapped around the gold headband in front and secured by squeezing the foil, or with two staples. After all, the staples will never touch the child's head, for the striped fabric will go on first.

I happened to have some heavy brushed cotton, navy blue, in my stash (Don't we all have a stash of fabric??!) and also another geometric print. Anything would probably work for this, as long as you cut geometric shapes for the kids to use.  I cut a pattern out of cardboard. The collar is about 15 inches across.

Use some contrasting color of like fabric to cut triangles. With a little leftover fabric from the gold tablecloth, I cut tiny squares that the kids could use to decorate their collars. Using Tacky Glue, the kids decorated their collars.

Cut a slit in the corner of each side of the collar and have the kids string either leather or cotton through each slit so they can tie the collars on.

The headdress fabric is placed on the head, the gold band and snake wrapped around the head, then stapled. (NOT to the kid's head). ;-) Cut excess gold fabric from the head band.

There! That's it!  Don't they look cute!!  :-) We had 30 kids who participated, but it's not easy to get 30 ancient Egyptians to assemble for a photo.

This post is linked to We Did It Wednesday

Sunday is Coming

Our pastor sent us a video clip that I wanted to share with you. I think it goes so well with the book I'm reading by John MacArthur - Truth War. 

Thought provoking, isn't it.

Sunday's Coming