Inspiration
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes; first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
Romans 1:16 (NIV)
Reading and Learning
It is not enough to see Jesus' death and resurrections as a symbol, a parable, a myth, a purely subjective idea that can be "true for me," even if not true for others. The Christian message is the good news about what God has done. But if the gospel is a myth, then God has not done anything. "If religion be made independent of history, there is on such thing as a gospel," wrote the great Christian scholar J. Grensham Machen. "For 'gospel' means 'good news,' tidings, information about something that has happened. A gospel independent of hist mooory is a contradiction in terms."
Jesus' resurrection is much more than a historical fact, of course, but is nothing less than one. And the facts clearly support the gospel's claims. Critics used to argue that the New Testament was not written until hundreds of years after Jesus lived, by which time a jungle of myth and legend had grown up and distorted the original events. But we now know that the New Testament books were originally written a few decades after Christ's resurrection - far too short a period for legends to develop. Even many liberal scholars have come to agree that the New Testament was composed soon after the recorded events occurred, at a time when many people who knew Jesus were still alive and could dispute any false claims. "In my opinion," writes William F. Albright,"Every book of the New Testament was written by a baptized Jew between the forties and eighties of the first century."
pg. 276
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We're moving right along in our workbooks.
Outdoor Fun
Playtime outside this morning - A big beetle, petting the cat, and pictures Michael took of wildflowers.
My niece and nephew were here for awhile this afternoon. They loved the puppies and the puppies loved them!
In the Kitchen
I've been blessed with more ground turkey and chicken so this evening I browned thirteen pounds of meat to pressure can tomorrow. For lunch we had roasted root vegetables (potatoes, carrots, and turnips), butter beans, meatloaf and bread.
Other Fun
Boys, Boxes, and Books
A little reading and drawing
On My Mind
They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony;
Revelation 12:11
My pastor spoke about this verse in a recent sermon and it has been on my mind a lot since then.
The gospel is the good news. As Christians we know this. But we forget to say it. The blood of the Lamb has already done it's work, and we live in that power, but we forget that our words bearing witness to what that work is doing in our lives also carry great power. The Bible speaks often of the power of the spoken word. It is what God used in the beginning to create the very world we live in (Genesis 1). The book of John refers to Jesus as the Word - In the beginning was the Word, the word was with God and the word was God (John 1:1-3.) On the cross, Jesus not only fulfilled the work He came to do by His actions of suffering and dying for us, but He spoke it as well - It is finished! (John 19:30)
Proverbs 18:21 says the "The tongue has the power of life and death."
So, as I become more aware of this truth, I am able to understand the importance of speaking, of using words to overcome evil. Silence is not always golden
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So then, of what should I speak? I like the definition of testimony (for this context) given in this online document -
"A . . . testimony is simply the Good News presented in terms of your own experience.
- It is the experiential, practical, and lived side of the proclamation of the Gospel.
- It is sharing where your life and God's action have intersected."
So, where have my life and God's action intersected recently? In so many places! One of the most important places is simply the peace and hope He has filled heart with. It's a solid understanding that He is God and I am not - He is in charge and He hasn't forgotten me, even with everything that is going on in the world. He sees me and knows me and loves me. And He cares enough to show me in practical ways that I can understand. Over the last couple months He has begun to bring healing to a relationship that looked impossible to heal, and He has given me the wisdom and strength to make decisions that once would have been unlikely for me to make, and He has provided financially and materially in completely unexpected ways. In a world and a time when it seems like there is no good news, God is daily showing me His Good News in ways that I cannot ignore or explain, but that give me the assurance that no matter what happens He will never leave me or forsake me (Deuteronomy 31:6)
Today's Quote
Words are containers for power. They carry either creative or destructive power. At the beginning of time, when God spoke, He created good things, and we should follow His example.
~ Joyce Meyer
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