Jan 3
2008

The Sword (the Word of God) rightly expounded and divided and The Swordsman (the Holy Spirit) rightly obeyed and honored, are both necessary for the preaching of God’s Word to bear the fruit heaven in ministry.
—great quote from Steve Camp’s blog

Steve Camp blogged on Jonathan Edwards’ "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" yesterday. Christians just don’t talk much about that anymore - an angry God that is. It certainly is not ALL God is. He is truly Love, perfect Love; and Good, perfect Goodness. But to be perfect love and goodness, He must also HATE sin. And He does. His Word tells us so. In fact, everything we can know for a fact about God is found in His Word. We have no other source for truly knowing Him as He is. We can’t make up our own little ideas of what we think God SHOULD be like. We take Him as He is, and as the Sovereign of the Universe.

You can head over there if you want to read or listen to Edward’s sermon.

If you don’t know who Jonathan Edwards is, you won’t find him on your local Christian radio station or your inspirational cable channel. He was a godly pastor whose preaching began the Great Awakening in the first half of the 18th century in America. Read more about him at Monergism.com.

Read part of the life of Jonathan Edwards. How feeble does my spark of Christianity appear beside such a sun! But even his was a borrowed light, and the same source is still open to enlighten me.
— Robert Murray M’Cheyne



0

Trackback  •  Posted in Outside Links, Quotable, Those Whose Shoulders We Stand Upon  


Dec 21
2007

It’s 4 days ‘fore Christmas and here at our house,
everyone’s bustling, thank God there’s no mouse.

No stockings, but garland is hanging so bright,
And outdoors the house is all trimmed with the lights.
Nativities cover each table and shelf,
No santa clause here, not one tiny elf.

The presents are piled so high on the bed,
The children are cranky, they must all need fed.
Then tackle those dozens of presents to wrap,
Then rock with the baby to give him a nap.

Mail grandmother’s gift that must travel so far.
Make gifts for the neighbors, something in a jar.
Let’s sew up some ponchos and not take a rest,
Then lounge pants for boys, and chaps and a vest.

Let’s have our friends over and exchange our toys.
That will bring smiles to both girls and boys.
And caroling we’ll go after dinner together,
We couldn’t have asked for much better weather.

Now haircuts to get and pictures to take,
the one in our card looks like a mistake.

Clean up the house, here you take the broom.
Sister is coming, clean out the guest room.
Please wash the sheets. Then vacuum the floor.
Can you get the phone, while I get the door?

The program is over, the children did great.
They each had a part and none came in late.
Joseph, who’s otherwise usually called Jed.
Played with the star, and poked Jesus in bed.

We’ll all go to church, communion to take,
Oh that reminds me, the bread I must bake.
We’ll take a nativity to sister’s grave.
And come home for cookies that our dear friends gave.

We’ll all go to grandpa’s, that is most of us.
Have dinner and presents, and relax - we must.
Then wake in the morning and open gifts here,
Mark actually has Christmas off for this year!

Then over to in-laws, more holiday cheer,
Then back home to crash before the New Year.

‘Though busy we are, it’s all for one cause,
To spread our God’s love, not play santa clause.

We love each one dearly, want to show everyone,
That God came to earth in the form of His Son.
To pay for our sins and bring to us new birth,
To make us like Him. We must honor His worth.

That babe in a manger, is King over all,
Read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and then Paul.
He’s risen victorious, conquered death and the grave,
He made you and me, and is worthy of praise.

May all of your focus in this busy time,
Be upon the Lord Jesus, our God that’s Divine.
May all celebrations, so busy yet fun,
Bring glory to God, and bless God every one.

© Lisa Hodgen 2007 All Rights Reserved

For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
Order Christian & Home Ed Resources here

Get future posts to this blog by email:

Your email:  
Subscribe Unsubscribe  



0

Trackback  •  Posted in Just my thoughts  


Dec 19
2007



0

Trackback  •  Posted in Outside Links  


Dec 14
2007

Many Christians have a "problem" with other Christians celebrating Hanukkah. "God never tells us to, so we don’t have to, (or shouldn’t,") is their reasoning. Many somehow see it as "legalistic", though I’m not sure how they ever get that out of it. I don’t know one true Christian who thinks they are saved or more loved by God because they celebrate Hanukkah or any other holiday or DO anything else for that matter. I do know some "pretenders" who think such because they go to church on Christmas.

Yet those that have a disdain for Hanukkah celebrate a holiday that not only was not given by God for us to celebrate, neither was it celebrated by anyone in the Bible (other than the time it happened.)

True, Hanukkah was not a God ordained Feast, but Jesus celebrated it, AND it is full of symbolism pointing to fulfillment in Him! See this post for why I LOVE Hanukkah!

I don’t think it is wrong to celebrate Jesus’ birth. MANY prophecies are fulfilled in it. And it is a MOST joyful thing to celebrate our God becoming Man that He might redeem us. BUT God did not direct us to celebrate His birth, (let alone make the biggest commercial day of the year out of it,) none of Jesus’ followers celebrated it (except at the time of His incarnation), and we know it wasn’t in the middle of December! If we’re going to celebrate it, at least we should do it at the right time of the year. It is simply Christ-Mass, a mixture of pagan winter solstice with Christ.

I actually heard a "Christian" radio announcer say that we need to find ways to keep Jesus the center of Christmas (good idea) and that her mom had found a way to do that all year. "Don’t take down the tree." WHAT????!!!!! You keep Jesus the center by focusing on a tree all year???!!! How about you focus on Jesus by getting away from all the man-centered trappings that have nothing to do with the incarnation of GOD?! But no we create post facto symbolism so we feel good about what we are doing.

How do I deal with Christmas? I see it as a time of outreach. It is a time when people who don’t have much to do with Jesus all the rest of the year show their "Christian" warm fuzzies. It is a time they are more open to talk about Jesus, which can open doors for us to share the Truth.

It is also a time when many Christians celebrate Jesus’ incarnation, truly worshipping Him (though with a bunch of worldly trappings usually). Although I think the whole idea is silly, I don’t fault them for wanting to celebrate Him. I think God has given us a better idea, but I’ll save that for another day/month. :-)

I don’t have a problem with giving gifts or decorations or festive parties and meals. I have a problem with thinking this is "celebrating Jesus," that we need a "tree" to celebrate Jesus’ birth, or lights, or gifts or whatever. Have a celebration! Go all out. Do it as to Him! But don’t try to say all these things are about or for Him or His "birth". Do I think Christ should be left out of Christmas? Absolutely not!! I think Christ-Mass should be left out of Christ! And that He should be the center of everything everyday!

Dd16 said today, "People always say, ‘It’s not about getting, it’s about giving.’ and ‘We give gifts because the wise men gave gifts to Jesus.’ That is so wrong. It IS about getting! It’s about God giving and us getting. It’s NOT about wise men giving gifts to Jesus. It’s about God giving Jesus!"

"Out of the mouths of babes" Matt. 21:16

Celebrate Christ! Keep Jesus the center and all-in-all of all your celebrations! Celebrate the fact that God GAVE! The rest can all be left off and it will still be "Christmas".



0

Trackback  •  Posted in In the World - Not of it, Just my thoughts  


Dec 12
2007

OK, I can’t believe this one. My dc came home from making cookies with grandma this week to tell me they (or she) heard on the news that in order to preserve our planet from global warning, we should only light one candle each night for Hanukkah instead of the number for the day.

WHAT???!!! Since when was lighting 9 (basically) birthday-sized candles a world threat???!!! I think somebody just took stupid pills.

Proverbs 15:14 "the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness."



0

Trackback  •  Posted in Just for Fun  


Dec 11
2007

This week we are celebrating the Feast of Dedication. It’s not a Feast God prescribed to Moses when He gave the Law, but it is a Feast that Jesus celebrated and that has good reasons to celebrate.

1) It’s a celebration of religious freedom to worship God as He has directed us to. A fitting celebration after Thanksgiving Day, remembering also the Pilgrims who came to America seeking religious freedom. And the task we have before us of preserving/restoring that freedom today. (Read the story of Judah Macabee and how Hanukkah came about. This happened during the time period between the Old and New Testaments.)

2) It is the Feast of Dedication, of the Temple, a type pointing to us dedicating the true Temple (ourselves) to God. Jesus’ teaching in John 10, the chapter that tells us about Jesus in the Temple for this Holy celebration, tells us that He is the True, Good Shepherd and His sheep hear His voice and won’t follow the voice of another/stranger. They are dedicated to Him. They’ve been cleansed of their defilement (as was the Temple of the original Feast), and set apart for God.

3) It is the Festival of Lights, remembering a "Great Miracle Happened Here", when God miraculously kept the lamp oil of the Temple burning 8 days, instead of one day, which was all the oil they had. This points us to Jesus’ teaching in John 8:12 (and chapter 1), that He is the Light. [Also He shines through us, the Light is not hidden (Luke 8).] And also to Matthew 25:1-12, where those that are His have His Light burning, watching for Him to come. Those that He "doesn’t know", may look like they have the Light for a while, but they are not His; He does not know them. Which points back to Matthew 7. Read all of these and study them out. It is awesome!

Well, that’s enough things for you to study out, and see why I LOVE Hanukkah!

I’ll do a follow up on this in a few days.



0

Trackback  •  Posted in Sola Scriptura  


Nov 1
2007

Need some help in Journaling your devotional Bible reading?

Me and My House would like to give you a Free Gift! It is a simple sheet from our Redeeming the Time Planner™ for Journaling your devotional Bible reading. It follows a simplified version of “R Road to Biblical Wisdom” for Freedom & Simplicity™ in studying. We think you’ll enjoy it!

It includes 3 different designs for you to choose from, and instructions for our Freedom & Simplicity™ method of using it.

Subscribe to our monthly email newsletter, Me and My House musings, (by clicking here,) and get your Free Gift from Me and My House. You can unsubscribe at anytime if you find that Me and My House musings is not for you.

If you already receive Me and My House musings watch your email box for our new newsletter for your link to receive this gift too.

Lisa @ Me and My House
http://frommeandmyhouse.com
Discipleship for Life!™

Get new posts from this blog in your email box:

Your email:  
Subscribe Unsubscribe  



0

Trackback  •  Posted in Berean Study  


Oct 12
2007

“Here’s one: According to estimates, never have so many Bibles been published and distributed, yet never has biblical literacy been so low. (Americans know the names of the four Beatles better than the four Gospels.)” from news article on sermonaudio.com



0

Trackback  •  Posted in In the World - Not of it, Sola Scriptura  


Oct 9
2007

I’m on a roll so why not?

Just a few more thoughts about "worship". While you’re listening to some of the contemporary pop "praise and worship" songs, notice who many of them are talking all about.

We may sing "It’s all about you, Jesus. It’s not about me." but from a lot of our contemporary "Christian" songs you’d never know it.

SDG,
Lisa @ Me and My House



0

Trackback  •  Posted in Worship  


Oct 8
2007

We all can and should pour our hearts out to God. Many times this is done is by "the Spirit itself [making] intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." (Romans 8:26)

We can and should praise and worship Him, out of our own individuality. No eloquence is required to speak to or praise our Father. He is pleased with our offerings that come from a humble heart in spirit and truth.

God is seeking true worshippers, ones that worship in both spirit and truth. Not cold heartless bare facts - and not just "free-spirit", any ol’ thing my heart feels. Worship requires spirit and truth. Our praise should overflow from our heart’s love, in knowing Him as He truly is - as His Word declares Him to be.

When we praise Him in the congregation, when we publicize His praise, proclaim it in the sanctuary or to the world, the greatest praise and the greatest worship come from the heart that is overflowing with His greatness - and that knows how to express it beautifully and truthfully.

Back to our quote:  "A good hymn is the best use to which poetry can be devoted," John Greenleaf Whittier.

It can be easy to get caught up in a new catchy tune and lyrics - but are they spirit (life) and truth? Read the words of the hymn I just posted before this. Compare that with some of the latest, contemporary pop praise & worship songs. Compare how long a "new" song is usually sung before it becomes old and boring - and you’re listening for the next "latest greatest". Catchy little ditties usually become meaningless cliches in short order. (Don’t read this that ALL new praise or worship songs are such. Just do some comparisons.)

It takes substance to hold our thoughts very long. A babe may thrive on milk for a while, but he grows quickly and needs bread - food to chew on, and in time is even able to handle the  richness of meat. Yet, no one can thrive on syrupy, kool-aid or soda pop.

It takes substance, beauty and truth to make worship music that endures throughout many ages. That connects the saints with our brothers that have gone before us and who are yet to come. That joins us together to worship our God in spirit and truth.

SDG,
Lisa @ Me and My House



0

Trackback  •  Posted in Worship  


« Older Entries

Newer Entries »