Building God’s Church

These are my sermon notes from today, which I might add was an awesome sermon. Pastor Q has given me his permission to publish my sermon notes to my blog.

Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
Colossians 3:12-15

Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
Romans 14:1

For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.
Romans 14:9

You thought that being a Christian was just about you and God, but it isn’t, is it?
Colossians 3: 12 -15 tells us that we are:

• Chosen – by God
• Holy – put apart for God’s use

…and that these attributes are that of becoming a Christian:~

• Dearly beloved
• Compassion
• Kindness
• Humility
• Gentleness
• Patience
• Bear with each other
• Forgive
• Love
• Perfect unity
• Peace
• Thankful

How are you going? Do the attributes listed sound like you? Give yourself a score out of ten. It is your responsibility to protect the unity and the harmony within God’s family. Accept him whose faith is weak, and don’t focus on trivial matters. We are not to judge other people. Remember that the way in which you judge others is the way that you, yourself will be judged. Let’s aim for harmony ~ we need to build one another up ~ the church is renowned for shooting the wounded.

Try to build up especially the people that you don’t like or who rankle you. We are not perfect, but God chose and loves each one of us in spite of our imperfections. We share one Lord, one body, one purpose, one Father, one spirit, one hope, one faith, one baptism and one love.

Think about the person that you dislike the most. No, don’t look at them. You could end up living in a mansion next to them in your heavenly home. We should learn to like the differences. God wants unity, not uniformity. He wants us to work together for His good. Christ Jesus lay down His life for the church, so we are to love our brothers and sisters to that point.

There are meant to be differences. When we focus on those differences, the church will be divided. We need to love each other. Do you think that the devil wants harmony and unity in the church? Every time he puts a negative thought into your mind about someone, pray for that person. The devil tries to get us to focus on the differences, instead of the things that unite us.

We don’t love each other as Christ loves us, but we are called to. The church is not perfect, but we are going to work to make God’s church better. We are called to love the church. They are still your family even when they don’t act like it.

People go sour on the church because:

• the music’s too LOUD
• someone upset them
• petty upsets within the church

They become hypocritical about the church, but that’s not the way that it’s meant to be. Going to church and expecting to be fed each week is fine, but you’re meant to grow when being fed, and you’re meant to share. People leave the church because they feel neglected. Perhaps the pastor isn’t spending twenty minutes quality time with them after the service, but can you imagine the logistics of the pastor doing that with all of the people in the congregation! It makes the mind boggle, doesn’t it?

People also leave the church because of pettiness ~ they think, “They have women preaching in that church” – that’s not in the Bible, but what they’re doing amounts to legalism. Because we are human, we will inevitably hurt someone at some time. People who leave the church and go from one church to another will still have their problems follow them from church to church. If you have problems or disagreements, you need to work on resolving that situation. Christ lay done His life for the church, and when He comes back, it will be a perfect church. He will look them in the eye and say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”

It is God’s grace and God’s love that needs to flow through you! When God joins you to a church, it is only God who should unjoin you.

God bless you!

Housework ~ Did I Say Housework?

Housework ~ did I say housework? Now, I truly did hear sighs and groans from some of you! Washing your mouth out with chocolate sounds like a wonderful excuse to indulge one’s chocolate addiction without feeling guilty, now doesn’t it?

These last few weeks have been incredibly difficult for us, but not just because of the pain aspect – it is more the frustration of knowing what needs to be done, but not being able to do it. Housework  (there’s that word again!), especially mopping and vacuuming make Thursdays a very long day, with my husband struggling through the vacuuming and my son mopping all of the floors and verandahs – then having to do his school work, as well. He is currently studying toward his year 12 certificate, so school work is not a walk in the park, either.

People from our church have asked whether they could help with the housework, but the sheer distance makes that unfeasible, as it is about 80 kilometres from church to our home! I really wouldn’t expect anybody to travel that sort of distance to do our mopping and vacuuming. However, we have taken them up on their offer to help with meals when my husband goes into hospital, for they will be very full days! In the meantime, we have been struggling along, and knowing that God would work things out.

When I visited the physio, he asked if we would benefit from home help, as I had spoken to him about the difficulties that we were facing on a week to week basis, and he said that he would approach the appropriate authorities in the local health service. We had our interview this morning, and they have said that we definitely qualify for a cleaner to come in to vacuum and mop the floors in the main living areas. With homeschooling, the main living areas include pretty much all of our home, except for my son’s sunroom and the guest bedroom. Praise God, for He truly does work all things out for our good!

While I am here, I would really like to thank everybody who have taken the time out of their busy lives to pray for us ~ your prayers are very much appreciated, and God will truly bless you for honouring Him.

…my friends!

Curiouser and Curiouser

Image from here

Curiouser and curiouser – today I went to the physio, and he told me that I have not one disc bulge, but four – ahem, I had thought that this was going to be easy to remedy the disc bulge, but four of them are going to be a trifle more difficult. The posterior (bulging backward) disc bulges that I have are L2, L3 and L5, while the anterior (bulging forward) disc bulge is L4.

At the moment, the physio has given me one exercise – lying face down with three pillows under my tummy. Treatment consists of ultrasound once a week, with hot wheat packs in between to ease the inflammation. On my visit today he said that we will continue on the road that we are on until the muscle pain settles, and then we are going to have to go the opposite way to try and heal the posterior disc bulges.

It seems that when I fell down the cellar steps, I really did a ‘good’ job of hurting my back. Little things, such as putting the nebuliser into the boot of the car bring on intense pain;  it’s not until you I do something, and it causes intense pain that I realise how much damage I have done.

One thing that I do know, and that is that God allows certain illnesses to happen for His glory.

And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. John 9: 1-3

I need to have a voice of thanksgiving, but this is not easy unless I draw on God’s strength, and then, and only then will He give order and meaning to my life. I need to draw on God’s strength, and know that His grace is sufficient for me. We are told to glory in our infirmities, and that God will use the weaker vessel for His glory – that’s me!

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. 2 Corinthians 12: 9, 10

Lord, I am willing to be used for Your purpose – take me, use me, mould me, shape me to achieve your purposes here on earth! I need to remember that God works all things together for our good, and I need to give Him my thanks, no matter what happens, even if I don’t understand the “why” right now. Trusting God means that I am not drawing on my own understanding, for it is not for me to understand – God is our omniscient (all-knowing) Creator God, and I lay my life in His hands.

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. Proverbs 3:5

“Tea” Talk

Hooray – it’s Thursday, I’m already here, and today:

I’m having:~

A glass of icy cold goats’ milk in one of our Egyptian stem glasses, and this is accompanied by a couple of Ferrero chocolates – a Ferrero Rocher and a Ferrero Rondnoir - YUM!

My Glass is:~

One that my husband had before we were married, and it is a  24ct gold plated stem glass – these glasses are so delicate and very beautiful.

I’m Feeling:~

Ecstatic that my blog is working once again, and I would like to say a hearty thank you to Susan for explaining to me step by step how to back up my blog and how to schedule it to send the back up files by email each week. It’s not until you can’t access your blog that you realise how much time you actually spend on it, writing those heart-wrenching posts and think how you’d feel if it was gone, all gone! Think about backing up your blog.

On My Mind:~

The LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. 1 Samuel 16: 7

How does God see my heart?
Do I live up to His expectations?
Is all that is in my heart God-honouring, or are there areas that I’d rather He didn’t see?
Am I giving Him all of me?

In answer to my rhetorical questions, there are many areas of my life where I could improve. I don’t think that I do live up to God’s expectations, but I do strive to have a personal relationship with Jesus living in my heart. All that is in my heart – that is a big ask, for anyone, for we are told that if we even think something wrong, that we have sinned.

Today has been a very difficult day, as Thursdays in our home are house cleaning day, and with my back being sore, it has made things much harder. Hopefully, when we get help with the housework, things will become easier to deal with. I am trying to rely totally on God, trusting in His promises that He will never leave us nor forsake us, and that He is my helper, and I am also trying to glory in my our tribulations, knowing that the trying of our faith worketh patience.

Every tomorrow has two handles.  We can take hold of it by the handle of anxiety, or by the handle of faith.

What about you? How do you think that God sees you?

Thank you for stopping by to say hello and to share Tea Time with me. Ruth hosts Tea Talk each week – care to join us, pop on over to Celebrate Friendship and join in the fun.

Praise for this Week

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also:
knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
And hope maketh not ashamed;
because the love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost
which is given unto us. Romans 5: 3-5

Praise You, Almighty Father:~

• That my blog page is up and functioning once again. I don’t remember praying for patience recently, but it has been well and truly tested during the last few days. Praise God that Stephen was able to fix it, and a big thank you, also to PSD2CSS for migrating the files across properly. I also praise God that there are good friends, such as Susan, who are willing to offer their help in fixing the problems.

• For friends, who make this world a much better place to live in, friends who build us up and encourage us to look inward at ourselves, to see what God sees.

• For my husband’s relatively pain-free knee – he has been able to cut many loads of firewood recently, so that we don’t go cold this winter.

• For our children – in particular, my son, who rode three kilometres to bring my husband home with the car, and the nebuliser during a severe asthma attack. I praise Him also for my daughter’s help in cutting and collecting firewood, for she shifts all of the loose sticks so that my husband doesn’t trip over.

• For our home, which is safe, warm and comfortable and is a refuge in the times of trial.

Psalm 62:8 tells us that we need to trust in God at all times,

that we need to pour out our heart before Him,

and that God is a refuge for us.

• For warm, autumn weather, enabling us to prepare for the cold winter ahead of us.

• For farm-fresh goats’ milk, which enables each one of us to have a regular intake of calcium ( I wonder why it’s not called goatcium, when it’s goats’ milk???), and enables us to make delicious home-made goats’ milk ice-cream.

• That we have homeschooling freedoms within Australia that many countries don’t. For instance, did you know that homeschooling is illegal in Germany and Brazil, and that Sweden seeks to introduce a law stating that the only way that you can homeschool there is under “exceptional circumstances“? Please continue praying for Dominic Johannson and the swift reuniting with his parents, Annie and Christer.

The HSLDA are currently looking for families to host persecuted homeschoolers, and while we have the room, we don’t have a vehicle capable of transporting extra people, and living out here, they would need a reliable vehicle. Does anyone want to take on this important role in helping the persecuted homeschoolers? If you do, please contact the HSLDA here.