Are We A Delight to Jesus?

I would like to preface this post with the fact that God has allowed and blessed us to be able to fellowship with other Christans that love God. We have met some wonderful Christian senior citizens at the nursing home. We have met sincere Christians in many congregations and appreciate those that we currently worship with.
Some of them also have been delivered from the same conditions that our family has experienced. It is our desire to lift up Jesus to them and none other and to grow together in the Lord.

I would also like to thank God for answering prayer for my boss's biopsy. The reports came back benign. Thank you all for praying.

Yesterday I read the poems about being a pastor's delight on the website jesussavesfromsin.com that is from the brothers and sisters who have "come out" in Springfield, OH. My thoughts exactly. I WANT TO BE A DELIGHT TO JESUS. Stephen and John the Baptist and Paul and others were a delight to Jesus. But there were many Pharisee leaders who were not delighted with them at all. Talking with outsiders, they recognize that being the pastors delight in some circles means letting everything else go, but make sure you're a hard worker for the church upkeep and don't question the pastor. While I love and appreciate and respect those who have not known any different than to do just that, I cannot be satisfied to do that anymore myself like I did in previous years. And I believe there are many people who do know better but they don't want to lose their position or face the persecution and so they go on deceiving themselves that everything is ok.

There are some today who are building on the same crumpled foundation believing they can do it better than the previous generation. It is the same leftover wood, hay and stubble they build on and not Christ Jesus. As the saying goes, If you do what you've always done you'll get what you've always got. Did Jesus not say we need a new lump, beware of the leaven? It will grow again just like bread that has been punched down rises again.

We certainly found that moving to a different congregation of the same fellowship was not the solution. Though it gave us peace and comfort for a while, the leaven popped out. And it began popping out all over other congregations without any connection to the problems we had encountered. A little variation to the same story, different characters, different location.

I have learned not to let the past over rule me. But if you look at the Bible, God and Jesus left a record of people's unrighteous deeds for all generations to read. Was God a gossip? Would anyone accuse God of being bitter because He recorded those things? No, God just wanted to warn all generations of the pitfalls and it is not wrong for us to continue to bring the unrighteous deeds of the fellowship when it is necessary. The SIN, yes I said SIN, is there and it is unpardonable (just as Sis Debbie's lesson brought out on the website) unless it is repented of. The sad thing is the longer they hang on to the sin the harder their hearts get and it never does get pardoned although they are still playing the "church game".

May eyes be annointed with the salve that Jesus spoke about in Revelation 3 to the Laodicean church. He said as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.

One of my favorite scriptures is "Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart." Be delighted with God and let Him be delighted with you.

A Day At Home

A day off from work is like a breath of fresh air. It has been a long time and it makes you feel sane again. Many aspects of the job are fulfilling but there is nothing like being able to come and go, work or relax as it pleases. Although there is much to accomplish today in getting ready for an informational gathering here tomorrow morning with Marv Jackson from Ecoquest, the blog was very inviting. But here goes, back to cleaning.

Milestones

In the Old Testament the Israelites laid stones in places to remind them of something God had done for them.

In Joshua 24:26,27 after God's people had made a covenant to serve the Lord, Joshua took a great stone and set it under an oak tree that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. He said "This stone shall be a witness unto us for it heard all the words of the Lord that He spoke to us and it shall be a witness to you in case you deny God".

A milestone is something significant and good that we want to remember or a goal that we have reached. Since my last post, I had a milestone, my birthday and on Sunday, Rick and I will have our 35th anniversay. There have been many, many, many significant things that God has done for us along the way. Listening to the stories of people in our community of how deeply troubled and in trouble those right around us are, we have much to be thankful for. How different our lives could have been without God.

"And all the praises should be given to my Saviour.
For He's the One who picked me up when I was down all the way.
And all the praises should be given to my Jesus.
For He's the one who made me what I am today."

Home again, Home again

As badly as I have wanted to go spend some time in Ohio, it has not been possible this summer. We have big new projects going on here at work. Gas is too high. Vacation is limited.

But, alas, Lori called us from OH Friday evening. She had purchased Eric's straight drive truck while she and Julie were visiting the family. Is there any way Dad and Mom could drive up for the weekend and Dad drive the truck back since she has not yet learned to drive it? We considered and called back and said sure. She has been such a help to us we just wanted to do it in spite of the fact we just ain't as young as we used to be.

But we got to see Eric and the kids and God blessed us with the strength and safety to make the trip.

I read a really neat devotional today from Proverbs 31 Ministries. It was talking about Lazurus being raised from the dead after Martha said he had already been dead for 3 days and "he stinks". The thought that struck me was that you may have some situations in your life that seem stinky, but don't give up hope because it can still be resurrected. I've been experiencing some of that from God lately. Resurrection from stinky situations. It may sound funny but God can do anything. He saved me thank the Lord.