Tuesday Thoughts

One of the blogs that I find myself reading daily is Girl Talk. As I read today's entry I appreciated their simple explanation on Doctrine of Grace. Praise God that it is not by anything I have done that I am a Christian, it's all because of His mercy that He chose me.

My Jesus I love Thee; I know Thou art mine.
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign.
My gracious Redeemer, My Savior art Thou.
If ever I loved Thee, My Jesus, 'tis now.

I love Thee, because Thou hast first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree.
I love Thee gor wearing the thorns
On Thy brow, if ever I loved Thee,
My Jesus, 'tis now.

I'll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
"If ever I loved Thee, My Jesus 'tis now."

In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I'll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright.
I'll sing with the glittering crown on my brow,
"If ever I loved Thee, My Jesus, 'tis now."

Happy Birthday Angela

To my sweet, wonderful daughter on her 13th birthday. God gave me a precious gift the day he knitted you in my womb. You have brought much love and joy into my life as I have watched you grow into the young lady you are today. Your smile and laughter light up my days and make them bright. I am proud of each accomplishment you have achieved so far and know that you will continue to make me proud. I pray that you will follow after Christ with all your heart and mind. I love you, Happy Birthday !

God's Will or My Will?

Pastor Jonathan has been teaching from 1 Peter on Wednesday nights. He has been leading us in an inductive Bible study (a couple of verses at the time). There are three basic parts to inductive Bible study: Observation: what does the scripture say? Interpretation: what does the scripture mean? Application: how does this apply to me? Last night's teaching was from 1 Peter 2:6-8 which reads: For it stands in Scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone," and "A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. As we observed, interpreted and applied these verses, I was amazed at the fact that people were bothered by these words, "as they were destined to do.".

So, I began to ask myself "Why is it that the words destined foreknowledge, predestined, or called bother people and make them uneasy?" Are they questioning GodÂ’s sovereignty over their salvation? These are things that I have been thinking of today and searching to the Word regarding and the Scripture I have found relating to these questions.

1. Dipredestinedestine my adoption and inheritance according to my will or His will?
"Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will." (Ephesians 1:4-5)

"In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will." (Ephesians 1:11)

2. Did God choose me because I would believe, or so that I would believe?
"Because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth." (2 Thessalonians 2:13)

Whose choice made the ultimate difference, the apostles' choice or God's choice?
"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit." (John 15:16)

3. Whose will made Paul an apostle, Paul's will or God's will?
"Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God." (1 Corinthians 1:1)

4. Did God call me according to my purpose (will) or His purpose?
"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His son" (Romans 8:28-29)

"Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began." (2 Timothy 1:9)

5. Who opened your heart, you or God?
"And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures." (Luke 24:45)

"The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul." (Acts 16:14)

6. How many of the lost does God call/draw, all or only some?
"Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." (Matthew 11:27)

"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him." (John 6:44)

"Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified." (Romans 8:30)

7. How many of those whom God calls/draws respond, some or all?
"And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed." (Acts 13:48)

"Whom He called, these He also justified." (Romans 8:30)

"But concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." (Romans 11:28-29)

8. Who did my repentance come from me or from God?
"Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins" (Acts 5:31)

"Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life." (Acts 11:18)

9. Who did your faith come from, you or God?
"...those who had believed through grace" (Acts 18:27)

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast" (Eph. 2:8)

"For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer..." (Phil. 1:29)

"God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth" (2 Thes. 2:13)

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights" (Jas. 1:17)

"looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith..." (Heb. 12:2)
"to those who have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God" (2 Pet. 1:1)

10. Who made the difference in my decision for Christ, the evangelist or God?
"I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase." (1 Cor. 3:6-7)

11. Who made the difference in your decision for Christ, you or God?
"that no flesh should glory in his presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus...that as is written, 'He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.'" (1 Cor. 1:29-31)

"For who makes you differ? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? (1 Cor. 4:7)

"But by the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor. 15:10)

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." (Eph. 2:8-9)

I cannot make the difference in my decision for Christ. If I could then I'd have reason to boast. (Galatians 6:14) I can take credit for my sin, but God gets the credit for my salvation. Praise God that He's chosen to save me! He could have just left my wretched soul to perish in hell. He didn't have to design a plan of salvation. He doesn't owe salvation to anyone, He freely chose to redeem me for Himself, to the praise of His glorious grace.

More Pictures from Night of Joy Trip

Debbie & David at Red Lobster Angela & Cheyenne at Red Lobster
Debbie & David at Night of Joy

Night of Joy Pictures - September 9

Hawk Nelson

ACL Team
Angela is goofy over Goofy
Angela dance with Mickey

Night of Joy Pictures - September 8

Todd Agnew Live
David Crowder Overcrowded
Let's Go to Disney
Angela & Cheyenne "It's a Small World"

 

Night of Joy

The kids and I went to the Magic Kingdom this weekend, along with our friends Jessica, Phyllis and Debbie, for Disney's Night of Joy. Disney put together a 16-act lineup of top contemporary Christian music artists for its 24th annual Night of Joy, with marquee names MercyMe, Casting Crowns, Kirk Franklin and tobyMac heading the list. These were also joined by BarlowGirl, Rebecca St. James, Jeremy Camp, Todd Agnew, David Crowder Band, Smokie Norful, ZOEgirl, Building 429, Matthew West, Hawk Nelson, Tonex and Vicky Beeching.


As soon as school was out on Friday, we headed to Orlando. We checked into the Radisson Resort Orlando - Celebration. Once we put our suitcases in the room got back in the van for the 18 minute drive to Disney. Both nights were sold out, but the crowd wasn't as bad as we had anticipated. David headed straight to Fantasy Land to watch Todd Agnew perform. Angela, Jessica, Cheyenne, Phyllis and myself opted to eat first before doing anything. After our stomachs were satisfied the girls ditched us in search of rides. Phyllis and I strolled around for a bit and then decided to watch Rebecca St. James. The sound technicians had her sound up so loud we couldn't understand a word she was singing so we went to ride some of the milder rides.

David continued to go from one concert to another until he finally met up with Phyllis and I to watch Casting Crowns and then he was off again to watch David Crowder Band perform. The girls continued to ride the rides until Mercy Me performed at 11:10 p.m. As you can see in one of the pictures all the concert areas were jammed packed with people and you were lucky if you got close enough to see the stage.

Finally at 11:45 I ushered everyone out the gate and to the hotel. Sleep came quite easy that night.

On Saturday morning the kids enjoyed the pool on Saturday morning before going to Red Lobster for an early dinner. Angela hurt her bad knee coming down the slide that morning, so we ended up pushing her around Disney in a wheelchair Saturday night. She probably could have walked without much problem, but since we forgot to take her knee brace we decided it would be wise to use the wheelchair. It made for faster access to rides as well and got the attention of her favorite Disney character.