RELIGION

**"I believe that friends are quiet angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly."**

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**Four things come not back: the spoken word, the sped arrow, time past, the neglected opportunity. **


 * Christmas Thoughts **

The Lamb Who Brings Peace Vonnie Roosendaal

 It was 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, September 29, 1999. My mother had just driven from her retirement home apartment about two miles across the small town of Lynden to the Health Care Center. Dad was recuperating there from a broken hip but his dementia, at age 86, was becoming worse.

 Mother’s afternoon visit with my dad usually started about 2:30, but that Wednesday something urged her to see him a little earlier. Dad was sitting in his wheelchair, his hand on his stomach, looking distressed when she came. His eyes were closed but he responded to Mother’s question about where he had pain. The nurses were urgent, when notified, in bringing him to bed and calling my sisters. In 20 minutes, as Mother held Dad’s hand, he fell asleep, at peace, in the arms of Jesus, the Lamb of God.

 In Jerusalem, on lamb selection day almost 2000 years earlier, a 33-year old man was making his way with his disciples from Bethany, the city for lepers and skin-diseased people. They were going to the temple to celebrate the deliverance God had given to the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.

 Now it was time to choose a lamb by the pool of Bethesda near the sheep gate, the north temple gate. But when Jesus and his disciples came to the Jerusalem city limits after passing through Bethphage, Jesus asked his disciples to get a donkey for him to ride. As he rode, people wildly waved their palm branches and shouted for victorious vengeance on their Roman rulers. They were misunderstanding!

 This King was not a Zealot with a knife ready for a coup d’etat so he could ascend an earthly throne. He was the perfect lamb, unblemished, selected by God his Father, born in Bethlehem from where sacrificial lambs came, willing to be sacrificed for the Romans, for the Zealots, for the Pharisees, for the disciples, for his family, for your family, for you, and for me.

 His cry for Jerusalem was for the sorrow he felt at their desire for power in weapons and human strength. They didn’t recognize the power that he would give in his sacrificial humility and peace. Their desire for power would result in their destruction by Roman power. Do we desire power over others or do we recognize that joy and peace come only in loving others?

 On that lamb selection day, Jesus didn’t enter the temple by the southern gate to worship, he didn’t enter by the eastern gate as King, but he entered by the northern gate as THE lamb who takes away the sins of the world - my dad’s, yours, mine! Jesus’ power was in being the Passover Lamb of Peace.

 Because Jesus was willing to walk through the Sheep Gate as the lamb of sacrifice, my dad was able to peacefully enter the “gates of heaven” cleansed by the blood of the Lamb of whom Dad often sang, ”... for He purchased my redemption and forgave me all my sin!”

 The Lamb of God brings peace. How do you experience peace? Is it in your own physical or mental strength? Or is it in the sacrifice that the Lamb of God made for you?

 This Christmas season, take time to remember God's perfect Lamb.

St Ambrose—“Not only for every idle word, but for every idle silence, must man render an account.” ||
 * Lincoln –“It is a sin to be silent when it is your duty to protest.

Grow in Grace and Knowledge of Our LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ--- each of us is on a journey as we are all spiritual beings. St. Augustine appropriately penned, //There is a God-shaped hole within each of us, and our spirits are restless until they find rest in Him!" You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You//. The journey is barren, redemptive, justifed, or sanctified. Some have knowledge, some grace but both are required for a successful journey. We are saved by a grace we do not deserve and the gorwth of kowledge affords more blessing of grace and peace. That kowledge equips us for "very grat and precious promises, particiaption in divine nature, and escaping the corruption," of a fallen world--2 Peter 1:1-4.

The Silence of Adam To put it simply, we must be more concerned with knowing Christ that with finding ourselves. Godly character and spiritual wisdom should flush the landscape above degrees and skill. They should be more valued than achievement or expertise. "The greatest need in our society is simply: godly men and women who possess and display a quality of life that reflects the character of God, and provokes curiosity in others about how they too can know God well” (Crabb, 1995, p. 168). Disillusionment with the church, discouragement with our lives, and disappointment in others are all the product of the core disease of Western culture: we demand satisfaction of a life that is working well. Suffering is something to relieve. Problems are things to be fixed. "Distressing emotions must be replaced with pleasant ones” (p. 170). We have produced a generation of therapists, an army of counselors trained to do battle with problems they poorly understand because more time has been spent in classroom seats than on knees before the creator of the universe. The interest in mentors has been wasted. The wise men and women who can get to the spiritual core of matters and have the power to draw on supernatural resources has been overlooked. If men become the men God wants them to be, the world will change. When they recover their voice, release their power, and recapture the joy in following God’s call for authenticitythe very nature of the Christian community will change (Crabb, 1995). “Men strong in the Lord take initiative, even when unsure of what to do. Their calling to reflect God in their manner of relating compels them more than their hope for power or their fear of impotence” (Crabb, p. 48). There is a sense of calmness about the ‘man of the Lord.’ During times of trouble and trial they exhibit something good. There is purposefulness about them, so that there is something to contribute. “The center of transcendent theology is God, his character and purpose. The center of recipe theology is man, his needs and well-being” (p. 53). As image bearers of God, we are called to tell his story through our lives, not tell our story with his resources. When our energies are available to please God as matters of prayer, we are not relegated to making something happen ourselves. Man has been created to remember, from the Hebrew //zakar//, which means the remembering one. What is man supposed to remember? The profound significance goes beyond anniversaries, birthdays, and vignettes to tell the stories of how He has worked in our lives. We are created to remember the words and works of God. This telling of stories provides our charges with hope to carry on in the midst of darkness. The purpose is to teach our children and their children reverence of the Almighty (Deuteronomy 4:9-10). “It is a difficult thing to enter into a battle and realize there’s no way out” (p. 82). This journey begins with facing our failures, not successes. The solution to any problem begins with the right and honest assessment of the same. Most often, for men, the problem is one of silence and it began in the garden. If we look carefully at scripture, Genesis 3:1-7, we will honestly understand that Adam was there and he was silent during Eve’s temptation. Adam’s nobleness is belied by his silence if he were there the whole time. Why did he refuse to speak God’s truth? Why do men refuse to speak? Was there disobedience in his failure to speak? Does this shed a different light on the way women have been historically treated?If men were designed to speak and Adam said nothing, physically present but silent, then what are the implications to the world? God spoke creation out of chaos; Adam’s silence brought chaos back to creation. God uses language to form relationships; Adam silence destroyed the relationship. God rested after his work; Adam labored harder as a result of his silence. Adam as the image bearer did not reflect God in the face of temptation. He was absent, silent and forgetful of God’s command. “The path to authentic manhood is entered through the narrow gate of single-minded passion to abandon oneself completely to God” (p. (102). That path is in the darkness God leads us to speak into. He doesn’t tell us specifically what to do, we face the loneliness and the terror of trust. He tells us to love him, to be men and do what we think is best. “Every moment of my life, I stand in the balance between creation and destruction. Silence destroys. Speaking creates. Even though I am a silent man, I want to be a man who speaks, who is present, who—like his God—makes something from nothing” (Crabb, p. 99). As men we ask, do we have what it takes. Am I willing to move into this relationship, renouncing all efforts to control the outcome? We often enter the darkness based on experience and success: light a fire or recipe theology. God desire we move into the darkness with the confidence that he is with us. The spirit is usually caught in the whispers of encouragement, “You can do it” rather than directions. When good movement stops, bad movement begins. Bad movement is aimed at relieving our unhappiness. Good movement never just happens or develops naturally. There is systemic inertia, spiritually and physically present. “Good movement always begins in repentance over bad movement. And repentance comes after (1) and acknowledgment of wrong, leading to brokenness, and 92) a depth of confession that only humility can create” (p. 121). “Manly men release others from their control and encourage them with their influence. They touch their wives, children, and friends in sensitive ways and free them to struggle with their loneliness and selfishness and pain. Manly men nudge their family and friends to the same crossroads where they, as men, have found that trust or unbelief must be chosen” (p. 119). The call to authentic manhood will never be popular. “It is a call to loneliness, to giving without appreciation, to suffering as the necessary means of wisdom. It is a call to accept—without complaint or fear—that the most important parts of life are confusing, a call to turn off the artificial light supplied by experts and move into the darkness of God’s light. It is a call to weariness so profound that the exhortation to continue well-doing seems cruel” (p. 171). The men who respond require a clear glimpse of Christ to keep them going. The price involves a willingness to face lifelong battles against lust, relational friction, heartbreak, and battles against discouragement. During the long season where there is no clear evidence to visibly demonstrate the truth is a second requirement. A third price involves the willingness to be reduced to a level of humility at which no movement toward others occurs, whereby prayer from others is all that canhappen. What is the payoff in this life? Provision of meaning that can be found nowhere else. Seasons of contentment and moments of joy that bring us higher than any fallen persons will ever imagine. “At times we can neither predict or control, the spirit of God pull back the curtain and fills our eyes with a vision of Christ that enables us to say with Paul (2 Corinthians 4:17) ‘Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all’” (Crabb, p. 171).

Crabb, L ( 1995). __The silence of adam: becoming men of courage in a world of chaos.__ Zondervan Publishing House. Grand Rapids MI. include component="comments" page="RELIGION" limit="10"

Conformity leads to compromise. Compromise leads to mediocrity. Mediocrity leads to sin and a wasted life. Finally, a wasted life leads to a lost legacy. // Rainey // Compromise and loss of standards pay awful dividends.


 * The water pots –Are they Cracked? **

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect for which it was made. But, the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After 2 years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you. I have been able to deliver only half my load becausethis crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts."

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I planted flower seeds on your side of the path. Every day as we walk back, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house.

Moral: Each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are, and look for the good in them. Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape. ** Remember to appreciate all the different people in your life! **

Blessings and Love to all my crackpot friends.

C.S. Lewis “God whispers to us in our pleasure, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts to us in our pain.”

** some thoughts from Francis Schaeffer**

<span style="color: #0505a3; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"> ** A look and our Intelligent Designer, with a bit of Help From hugh Ross at**

[|www.Reasons.org]

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Martin Niemoller “in Germany they came first for the Communists, and we didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.”

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;"> **What can I do?** Once you’ve been in touch with heavenly reality, earth never looks quite the same again.John 4:21,24 God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. The only way to make a positive change that is permanent is to have a new heart that beats to the rhythm of God’s Holy Spirit. The words written on your heart are expressed in an old poem: You are writing a Gospel, a chapter a day, by the things that you do and the words that you say. Men read what you write, whether faithful of true: just what is the Gospel according to you?

The Lord is a warrior (Exodus 15:3) He’s too smart to be caught by surprise and too strong to be beaten. John Wesley wrote: "Give me one hundred men who fear nothing but God, who hate nothing but sin, and who know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and I will shake the world.” The world needs to be shaken. Christ the man, Christ the Savior, is Christ the revolutionary. Are you part of his revolution or are you in need of being revolutionized? Are you a mission field or a missionary? (www.familylife.com/fltoday 3/7/00).

// Are You Compelled? And seeing the multitudes, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36). // // I struggle as much as anyone with turning a conversation to spiritual things. However, I can't escape a few truths that lead me to step out by faith: // // First, I am compelled by the realization that without Christ all men are lost and without hope. Sure, humans do good things, but that doesn't change the fact that we all sin naturally. I've never taught a single one of our six children how to steal a cookie, yet they all have done it. It's part of their natures. And it's because of sin all men are lost. // // Second, I'm compelled to share Christ with others because of the reality of hell. Thinking about hell is not in vogue today. But Christ spoke of hell as a real place of eternal judgment and torment. // // Third, I want to share the good news because it is the very reason for which Christ came to the planet Earth. Jesus Christ didn't go to the cross just so we could have happy homes. He came "to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). // // Look around you. The army of God needs fresh troops who are willing to get into a foxhole. The hour couldn't be more urgent. And your family is an important part of the solution. // // "So what do I do?" you ask. Below are a few ideas. Don't let this list overwhelm you. The important thing is to start...somewhere...with something. // // Read Witnessing Without Fear by Bill Bright, founder and president of Campus Crusade for Christ. It will show you how to share your faith with confidence in any type of witnessing situation. // // Have an evangelistic dinner party at your home for a few couples you know. // // Host a "Good News Club" for neighborhood children. // // Pick up several copies of "The Four Spiritual Laws" at your local Christian bookstore, and use them to explain the gospel. // // Show your children how to share their faith. Invite a neighborhood child to go to church with you. // // Now is the time for boldness. Step out and ask people about their relationships with God. // // Discuss: Take a few minutes and identify people you know who need Christ. Make a list. // // Pray: That God will give you an opportunity to share the gospel with them.--- // // Listen online to FamilyLife's radio program, FamilyLife Today, when you // // visit [] April 18 // <span style="color: #0505a3; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">include component="comments" page="RELIGION" limit="10"

CLICK ON THE LINK TO READ // Omegadigm //// TM // The Ultimate Paradigm ** A knife of the keenest steel requires the whetstone, ** an e-book by Edward E. Russell, Ed. D. ©Copyright 2002, Dr. Edward E. Russell. All Rights Reserved. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint of this material is prohibited
 * ** "We are on the threshold of leaving behind the old way of teaching---the way based on right/wrong, competition, shame, fear, punishment, rescuing, and judgment, demand of compliance, and obedience to outside authority. We are entering a new age---a time of awakening founded on trust, inner knowing, allowing, choice, personal power, responsibility, love, and unity." **
 * -Chick Moorman (author/educator), **
 * "Spirit Whisperers: Teachers Who Nourish A Child's Spirit" ** ||
 * and the wisest man needs advice - Zoroaster ** ||

Links [] The Orchard Evangelical Free Church [][] Colin Smith -- Unlocking the Bible— [] David Jeremiah-Turning Point [] , Moody Bible Institute [] or [] Hugh Ross Reasons to Believe-- [] Focus on the Family [] Insight for living [] Dr. James MacDonald -- Walk In the Word [] Chuck Colson--Breakpoint [] John MacArthur—Grace to You [] Tony Evans-The Urban Alternative [] The Rutherford Institute [] American Family Association [] American Center for Law and Justice [] James Ford Jr. [|www.wisdomfromtheword.org/]



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