Pastor Fred Jantz listed 25 ways in which God provides for us, then said he could have listed at least 25 more. It was good stuff, though, and worth a deeper look. So I thought I'd post his list for your further study. Take some time to look over these verses and then thank God for his provision!
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No condemnation (Romans 8:1)
Salvation (Romans 10:9, 10)
Forgiveness (1 John 1:9, Psalm 51)
Life (Romans 6:23)
Meaningful life (2 Peter 3:18)
Power for living (2 Peter 1:3)
Liberty – Freedom (Galatians 5)
Strength to obey (Philippians 4:13)
Way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13)
Guidance (Psalm 23:3)
Renewal (Isaiah 40:37)
Wisdom (James 1)
His Word (Psalm 119)
Adoption (John 1)
His Spirit (John 14:15)
His presence (Psalm 46)
A hiding place (Psalm 32:7)
Heaven (John 14)
Faith (Hebrews 11)
Hope (Psalm 39:7)
Love (1 Corinthians 13)
Joy for the journey (Nehemiah 8:10)
Tame fears (Isaiah 43:1, 2)
Hears us when we pray (Matthew 6)
Sufficient grace (2 Corinthians 12)
Monday, August 16, 2010
Monday, August 09, 2010
Definition of God's Jealousy
I thought I'd post Pastor Gene's definition of God's jealousy for you. I appreciated his excellent treatment of this difficult concept, and it's worth looking at this compact definition a few times:
"God’s jealousy refers to his deep, passionate, fiercely protective commitment to his own glory, which is the highest good that exists, AND his exclusive claim to our obedience and commitment to him, which is the highest good for us."
I like this definition. It communicates that God really wants what is best for us. And he knows without a doubt that's what's best for us is to be completely devoted to him. Not just a little bit of ourselves, a few hours here or there, and not just a little bit of him, like some jimmy-rigged conception of God we've pieced together from our favorite bits of God, but all of himself, in his magnificent glory and incomprehensible power.
Some weighty things to ponder, and some radical obedience and commitment called for in response!
"God’s jealousy refers to his deep, passionate, fiercely protective commitment to his own glory, which is the highest good that exists, AND his exclusive claim to our obedience and commitment to him, which is the highest good for us."
I like this definition. It communicates that God really wants what is best for us. And he knows without a doubt that's what's best for us is to be completely devoted to him. Not just a little bit of ourselves, a few hours here or there, and not just a little bit of him, like some jimmy-rigged conception of God we've pieced together from our favorite bits of God, but all of himself, in his magnificent glory and incomprehensible power.
Some weighty things to ponder, and some radical obedience and commitment called for in response!
Update from a home-grown TBC missionary
I thought I'd post an email update a number of us received from Liz Stevahn, who is from our church and is serving as a missionary at Rancho Agua Viva, the camp we have a relationship with in Mexico. You can read more by checking out her blog at http://lizenagua.wordpress.com/
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There was a great group here from Canada (Winnipeg Manotoba to be exact) and they were so fun to be around. They were a group of 15 and they did all sorts of ministry in Ensenada. Every morning we would drive 45 minutes outside the city and do a VBS at a brand new church site at a church called Iglesia Betel (Bethel Church). The Pastor there had only been the pastor for about 6 months, so he was so glad to have a program for kids at his church. In the afternoons half the group would go to another church called El Gran Rey (The Great King) and play soccer and the other half would come back to Agua Viva and do construction for the remainder of the day. We teamed up with the youth from El Gran Rey and on Wednesday we played soccer against some other teams from Ensenada. A lot of the youth we played against were not Christians and we had the opportunity to share the Gospel with them.
There were some really great moments that happened this week that I know I will never forget. One of them was on the day we played soccer against the Ensenada teams and the Canadians gave them all Canadian flags. That was a hilarious moment to see the Mexican kids waving Canadian flags. (You can go to Agua Viva Ministries on Facebook and see the pictures!!)
In this group there was a 17 year old student who was severely autistic and OCD. He interacted as much as he could or felt comfortable doing. He was a really neat kid to get to know, but he was usually stand-offish and standing by himself in the back. On Thursday night we went to the church service at El Gran Rey and we sang this song that talked about when we think about Jesus we just can't stop singing, jumping, or praising His name. I looked over and saw this student in the middle of the group jumping up and down praising Jesus with all he had. Amazing!
There was also a male leader in the group who found out on Tuesday that his wife had a miscarriage and that they lost their 3rd baby this year. He was having a really rough time all week and was just really confused as to why this would be happening to him. At the church service I saw him singing with all his might this song that goes "Victoria la Victoria mia es" which means Victory, the Victory is mine. It talks about how we have the victory of Jesus living inside of us.
These were just a few of the moments that I got to experience this week that made me just stop and stand in awe of what Jesus can do.
In His Service,
Liz
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There was a great group here from Canada (Winnipeg Manotoba to be exact) and they were so fun to be around. They were a group of 15 and they did all sorts of ministry in Ensenada. Every morning we would drive 45 minutes outside the city and do a VBS at a brand new church site at a church called Iglesia Betel (Bethel Church). The Pastor there had only been the pastor for about 6 months, so he was so glad to have a program for kids at his church. In the afternoons half the group would go to another church called El Gran Rey (The Great King) and play soccer and the other half would come back to Agua Viva and do construction for the remainder of the day. We teamed up with the youth from El Gran Rey and on Wednesday we played soccer against some other teams from Ensenada. A lot of the youth we played against were not Christians and we had the opportunity to share the Gospel with them.
There were some really great moments that happened this week that I know I will never forget. One of them was on the day we played soccer against the Ensenada teams and the Canadians gave them all Canadian flags. That was a hilarious moment to see the Mexican kids waving Canadian flags. (You can go to Agua Viva Ministries on Facebook and see the pictures!!)
In this group there was a 17 year old student who was severely autistic and OCD. He interacted as much as he could or felt comfortable doing. He was a really neat kid to get to know, but he was usually stand-offish and standing by himself in the back. On Thursday night we went to the church service at El Gran Rey and we sang this song that talked about when we think about Jesus we just can't stop singing, jumping, or praising His name. I looked over and saw this student in the middle of the group jumping up and down praising Jesus with all he had. Amazing!
There was also a male leader in the group who found out on Tuesday that his wife had a miscarriage and that they lost their 3rd baby this year. He was having a really rough time all week and was just really confused as to why this would be happening to him. At the church service I saw him singing with all his might this song that goes "Victoria la Victoria mia es" which means Victory, the Victory is mine. It talks about how we have the victory of Jesus living inside of us.
These were just a few of the moments that I got to experience this week that made me just stop and stand in awe of what Jesus can do.
In His Service,
Liz
Monday, August 02, 2010
Romania team updates
For those of you not following Pastor Joe on Facebook, here is a digest of some recent activities of our Romania missions team:
From Saturday, July 31: what a great day serving together as a team...we painted at a "post orphanage" facility...they help orphans after they leave the orphanage at 18 to learn to live on their own and start to work...tomorrow will be more relaxing in preparation for camp...pray for energy for the team...we knew these first days would be hard and they were tiring for sure...thanks for the prayers...
From Sunday, Jugust 1: today at church was good...i think we are all ready for camp to begin tomorrow...no more facebooking til Saturday...this is the time to really pray...there are going to be many pre-Christians in the camp, pray for their salvation...pray that the Christ followers would make a commitment to grow even more in their faith...thanks...
From Saturday, July 31: what a great day serving together as a team...we painted at a "post orphanage" facility...they help orphans after they leave the orphanage at 18 to learn to live on their own and start to work...tomorrow will be more relaxing in preparation for camp...pray for energy for the team...we knew these first days would be hard and they were tiring for sure...thanks for the prayers...
From Sunday, Jugust 1: today at church was good...i think we are all ready for camp to begin tomorrow...no more facebooking til Saturday...this is the time to really pray...there are going to be many pre-Christians in the camp, pray for their salvation...pray that the Christ followers would make a commitment to grow even more in their faith...thanks...
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Balancing life online and offline
In this age of technology saturation it's easy to go overboard with our media consumption and internet use. Today in the sermon I quoted an article originally posted on the Breaking Free blog. The article mentions some habits to develop if we are to have a healthy balance of online and offline in our lives. Here is a link to that entry:
http://www.covenanteyes.com/blog/2010/07/01/family-unplugged-how-technology-disconnects-us-from-deep-relationships/
http://www.covenanteyes.com/blog/2010/07/01/family-unplugged-how-technology-disconnects-us-from-deep-relationships/
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