Today's Promise From God

When you want to know the importance of righteous living ...

Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.

Hosea 10:12

Doctrine Week 1 Trinity : God Is DISCUSSION (Suze)

Hello all! So, I have actually listed to this series once before, but it was quite a few years ago when my husband first discovered Mars Hill Church online. But I am SO happy to be listening to it once again. It is so important to "go back to the roots" if you will, when you are a Christian. There are so many wonderful books and studies out there for us to use as resources, but the foundation of our faith should be from the Word of God, which we find in the end all, be all of books: The Bible. That is what I love about this series. For me it solidifies the foundation on which I try to build my life, and my daughter's life on. For my wonderful new-Christian Al, it is going to clarify to many things about the Christian faith and help her build her family's foundation with Jesus as the building blocks. (I love you Al, and am so happy for you!) With that said, I think Pastor Driscoll underscores this point by citing Titus 2:1 at the beginning of the sermon: "You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine." A pastor who keeps pointing his congregation back to the Bible with specific verses is one who truly wants the people to grow from the Word of God, not the word of man.

In order to know and follow God, we must realize and submit to the fact that HE IS THE ONLY GOD! 1 Timothy 2:5 "For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people..." He- God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit- is the only God there is. For me, us, as Christians that truth is so exciting and redeeming! We know the God of the universe and he chose us to worship Him here on earth. He chose us to believe in His son Jesus so that one day we will live with him forever in his kingdom. If that isn't exciting, I don't know what is!!

The Bible also speaks of another truth, one that is much more difficult to swallow: the truth of false gods, fallen angels, and demons. 1 John 4:3 "but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world." Wow... chills. It is scary to know that major world religions look to these antichrists as their gods. But the good news is God died for all of us, even followers of His enemies. They too can be forgiven and redeemed if they would repent and turn thier hearts to Jesus. What a merciful God we serve!

I have more to say on this topic, but I have to finish up a paper for Pharmacology :(. I am going to post this and hopefully come back to it soon. Thanks all.

Today's Promise From God

When it seems there is no one to comfort you ...

Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.

Psalm 23:4

Today's Promise From God

When you're looking for stability in the midst of change ...

The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.

Isaiah 40:8

Asingan, Pangasinan, Philippines

Sue and I have been thinking of ways to give to our communities and/or elsewhere. We've discussed many ideas and I think we may have something in the works finally. I've been talking with my mom about her recent trip to the Philippines as well as relating my experiences there. As a result I know there are two things we can do that would directly affect, in a positive way, people in my mother's province.

When we were talking on the phone she mentioned to me that the items Mom Vitale had given me (shoes, clothes) "went right away." Basically, when my mom brings items to the Philippines they are in large boxes. I remember one time being in the Philippines when she opened one. The box was outdoors of the house by the cool, concrete wall. There's a lot of dry dirt, very dusty, floating all around and I remember there being people of all ages, as young as 2 and as old as say 85-90. Everyone's talking and I could pick up a few words here and there but didn't understand anything. I was focusing on how this distribution was going to happen because there was no organization whatsoever. My mom opened the box and at a time when you would think chaos would ensue-well, nothing happened. Everyone around, my cousins, unfamiliar faces, aunties and uncles patiently waited for my mom to begin handing out things and everyone on their own made sure they were not greedy and that everything was equally dispersed. It was actually a very relaxed scenario. For some reason I wasn't assisting in the process but I imagine that I was set back observing everything. I didn't really appreciate what was happening because in my mind I always knew all our clothes we didn't wear anymore were sent here and I saw plenty of my childhood outfits, my dad's clothes, mom's clothes on relatives and complete strangers around me. Well, I have a deep grasp on the little they have there and how important my 10 year old t-shirt is to those in Asingan. Susan and I are in the works of attempting to collect, package and send at least one box this year stocked with clothes, shoes, toys.

Mom also mentioned to me that a relative of mine was having trouble with breastfeeding as well as basic infant care like burping after feeding. Now, it's not that she neglects her daughter, or forgot how to breastfeed. She simply was never taught basic infant care or given assistance in breastfeeding. There are no programs such as Planned Parenthood or just your general hospital providing information unless one was to go seeking the information which not everyone knows how to go about that either. What they need is information to be distributed to households with children or not. This information is pertinent for everyone because if one person directly will not end up having their own children then they can pass the information on to their siblings or other relatives. It's truly devastating for mothers and fathers alike to not have this information in basic care and it's extremely simple to purchase some extra printer ink and paper and make my own brochures to send and have distributed by relatives of mine in the area.

These are ideas in the works. I'll keep you posted on this venture Susan and I working on.

~Al

Today's Promise From God

When you want to experience God's blessings ...

How great is the goodness you have stored up for those who fear you. You lavish it on those who come to you for protection, blessing them before the watching world.

Psalm 31:19

The Hiding Place : Finished!

I just finished reading The Hiding Place. What a powerful story. Corrie ten Boom is certainly an inspiration and to think her sister Betsie was the one to often influence her. Makes me feel like I first need to focus on being more like Corrie, then Betsie and then on to Jesus on my road to leading a purpose driven life. Each and every page you expect someone to crack but through every horror they experienced including Betsie's death, they never once turned a cold shoulder to God and gave up on their faith. The only moment Corrie ever showed true fear is when she encountered her former captor when she was speaking in Germany. She found it very difficult to shake the hand of a man who was directly involved in what happened to her sister and she finally asked God to give her his forgiveness and she found more than just the strength to forgive in that act. The most moving part of the book for me was when Betsie and Corrie are in the camp working and Betsie is quite ill at this point. She is having trouble carrying loads of dirt on her shovel and carrying then as she is very weak. This is amusing for the guards and they laugh and make fun of her outwardly. Eventually, Betsie chimes right in and gives the old, "That's me all right" type of statement. I strive to be this faithful in God. That scene in my mind brought tears to my eyes. What a woman she must have been! I certainly recommend this book to all!!

~Al