"Let us beware of loving the world more than Christ.
Entreat people to repent and come to Christ;
but bid them at the same time to count the cost."
~J.C. Ryle~
Jul 23, 2013
Jul 21, 2013
Don't Forfeit Your Peace
"It would not be possible to exaggerate the importance hymns and spiritual songs have played in my spiritual growth. One of the latter, familiar to most of you, has this line: "O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer" (Joseph Scriven). Prayerlessness is one of many ways by which we can easily forfeit the peace God wants us to have. I've been thinking of some other ways. Here's a sampling:
1. Resent God's ways.
2. Worry as much as possible.
3. Pray only about thing you can't manage by yourself.
4. Refuse to accept what God gives.
5. Look for peace elsewhere than in Him.
6. Try to rule your own life.
7. Doubt God's word.
8. Carry all your cares.
If you'd rather not forfeit your peace, here are eight ways to find it (antidotes to the above eight):
1. "Great peace have they which love Thy law: and nothing shall offend them" (Psalm 119:165 KJV)
"Circumstances are the expression of God's will," wrote Bishop Handley Moule.
2. "Don't worry about anything whatever" (Philippians 4:6, PHILLIPS).
3. "In everything make your requests known to God in prayer and petition with thanksgiving. Then the peace of God ... will guard your hearts" (Philippians 4:6,7 NEB).
4. "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me ... and you will find rest (Matthew 11:29, NIV).
5. "Peace is My parting gift to you, My own peace, such as the world cannot give" (John 14:27, NEB).
6. "Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart" (Colossians 3:15, NIV).
7. "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing" (Romans 15:13, KJV).
8. "Cast all your cares on Him for you are His charge" (I Peter 5:7, NEB).
"Grant, O Lord my God, that I may never fall away in success or in failure; that I may not be prideful in prosperity not dejected in adversity. Let me rejoice only in what unites us and sorrow only in what separates us. May I strive to please no one or feat to displease anyone except Yourself. May I seek always the things that are eternal and never those that are only temporal. May I shun any joy that is without You and never seek any that is beside You. O Lord, may I delight in any work I do for Your and tire of any rest that is apart from You. My God, let me direct my heart towards You, and in my failings, always repent with a purpose of amendment." St. Thomas Aquinas
by Elisabeth Elliot
Jul 18, 2013
Amazing Grace Ladies Breakfast
And the Ladies of Grace are invited to do just that!
Amazing Grace Ladies Breakfast
Saturday, July 20 @ 9:00 a.m.
Our breakfast this month will be held at the home of Lynn Bolton
If you need directions, please contact Marianne Ashby
We're asking each lady to please bring a cut-up fruit, which will be added
with other fruits at Lynn's home.
with other fruits at Lynn's home.
Thus far we have strawberries, kiwi, blueberries, melon, pineapple,
and mandarin oranges.
You are all invited, and we hope to see you this Saturday.
No Matter...
"No matter how dark and dramatic the events of life may appear,
GOD is still working out His purposes."
Jul 11, 2013
Established Through Suffering
Established Through Suffering
1 Peter 5:10
And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
"You
have seen the arch of heaven as it spans the plain: Glorious are its colors, and
rare its hues. It is beautiful, but, sadly, it passes away, and the rainbow is
no more. The fair colors give way to the fleecy clouds, and the sky is no longer
brilliant with the tints of heaven. It is not established. How can it
be? A glorious show made up of transitory sunbeams and passing raindrops-how can
it remain?
The
graces of the Christian character must not resemble the rainbow in its
transitory beauty but, on the contrary, must be established, settled, abiding.
Seek, O believer, that every good thing you have may
be an abiding thing. May your character not be a writing upon the sand, but an
inscription upon the rock! May your faith be no "baseless fabric of a vision,"
but may it be built of material able to endure that awful fire that shall
consume the wood, hay, and stubble of the hypocrite. May you be rooted and
grounded in love. May your convictions be deep, your love real, your desires
sincere. May your whole life be so settled and established that all the blasts
of hell and all the storms of earth will never be able to remove you.
But
notice how this blessing of being established in the faith is gained. The
apostle's words point us to suffering as the means employed-"After
you have suffered a little while." It is of no use to hope that we shall be
well rooted if no rough winds pass over us. Those old gnarlings on the root of
the oak tree and those strange twistings of the branches all tell of the many
storms that have swept over it, and they are also indicators of the depth into
which the roots have forced their way. So the Christian is made strong and
firmly rooted by all the trials and storms of life. Do not shrink then from the
tempestuous winds of trial, but take comfort, believing that by their rough
discipline God is fulfilling this benediction to you."
by Alistair Begg
Jul 3, 2013
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