House of the Stone Breakers
Stained glass at St John the Baptist’s Anglican Church http://www.stjohnsashfield.org.au, Ashfield, New South Wales. Illustrates Jesus’ description of himself “I am the Good Shepherd” (from the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 11). This version of the image shows the detail of his face. The memorial window is also captioned: “To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of William Wright. Died 6th November, 1932. Aged 70 Yrs.” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
First day in the villages!!
We went to Ramnagar to see construction on church by Fairlland
Assembly of God. Church is coming up well, and plaque looks nice, but
in Oct. when we shared and gave for church, a villager gave double the
land and so instead of a small church, this is coming up much
bigger–seat 150-200. Pray they have enough to complete it. A joy
was the woman, Elishamma that came to Christ and we were there when
she held hands with her husband and he also accepted Christ.
Both are in church and growing stronger!
Cherlagoraram Village- We sit in front of simple home of people who
break stones for 4 rs each and the whole village is stone breakers.
The first believer in the village is Inkula, now 60 and has 6
children. They have all come to Christ and are now about 30 believers
of 1000 in village, but growing and good spirit!!
They spoke up quickly that 1 of 10 stones broken belong to God. All
children have come and “Naga Raju”, “snake King, now called Daniel, 25
was the last to come 2 years ago.
It was blessing to hear and see a large family sitting on the mat in
front of the house sharing how God has changed their life since coming
to know Him. The debts and misery are gone since they have learned to
tithe and give… Daily, the whole family sits and reads the Word of
God together. The younger ones whoa can read, read to all.
We look where they have been building a stone church the past 5 years,
but have no more money. Publicly we stood and committed among
themselves, one by one to give 24,000Rupees, then we matched it and a
nice church will be complete.
The joy is this pastor, Paul, who came 9 years ago was only 20, but
has led them and 3 other villages to Christ. These are the only
churches in the villages.
Paul, we helped with his first village church in RA Nagar in 2011.
Dr. Mast and I pulled up early AM in Feb 2011 and no one met us and
small concrete stone church. Today, we visit and the church regularly
has 80 members that totally overflow the church and is growing so so
much!!
6 took baptism today. One woman who was Laxmmama and is now “Saramma”
stepped in for baptism. She is about 26 and the power of God hit her
and she shook and cried as she went under. Then she shared how 1
month ago, she worshipped hannamun, the monkey. She got a tumor and
had no hope, but a brilliant light filled the room she was in and a
man stood there that she came to know was Jesus. She said “all I
could do was shout HALLALEUJAH and shake”. Jesus healed her last
month and now she follows in baptism.
She stood with her 2 small 2 year old boys, tears streaming down her
face and thanking the Lord for all He is doing in her life!! We named
her Sarramma.
Christ is revealing himself to many in this way. Miracles are
happening and so many are coming to Christ!
Another man, Ramalu, 28, rode motorcycle, wanted baptism. After he
took baptism, his name is now Phillip. He shared this one year since
accepting Christ, everything he does is prospering, even as Phillip
kept being blessed and prospering everywhere he went…
We had an easier day today. JUst 4 villages after the drive from
Hyderabad.!! Our team of Jeff Oaks, Melody, “superwoman” Mauldin and
myself!! We are blessed and so so thankful for your prayers!!
With so much thanks, prayers and joy to serve the Lord,
Kerry, Melody and Jeff
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Watchman Nee : Lights in the World
Source: upload.wikimedia.org via Linda on Pinterest
Without fear of challenge Jesus could say: “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). His claim does not surprise us in the least. What is surprising, however, is that he should then say to his disciples, and so by implication to us: “Ye are the light of the world” (Matt. 5:14). For he does not exhort us to be that light; he plainly says that we are the world’s light, whether we bring our illumination out into places where men can see it, or hide it away from them. The divine life planted in us, which itself is so utterly foreign to the world all around it, is a light source designed to illumine to mankind the world’s true character by emphasizing through contrast its inherent darkness. Accordingly Jesus goes on: “Even so let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” From this it is clear that to separate ourselves from the world today, and thus deprive it of its only light, in no way glorifies God. It merely thwarts his purpose in us and in mankind.
It is true that, as we saw earlier, the career of John the Baptist was rather different. He did in fact withdraw from the world to live austerely in desert places apart, subsisting, we are told, on locusts and wild honey. Men went out there to seek him, for even there he was a burning and a shining light. Yet we are reminded that “he was not that Light.” He came only to bear witness to it. His testimony was the last and greatest of an old prophetic order, but it was so because it pointed forward to Jesus. Jesus alone was “the true Light which lighteth every man, coming into the world”; and he certainly “was in the world,” not outside of it (John 1:9, 10). Christianity derives from him. God can use a John crying in the wilderness, but he never intended his Church to be a select company living by the principle of abstinence.
Earlier we saw how abstinence-”handle not, nor taste, nor touch”-was merely one more element in the world system, and as such was itself suspect (Col. 2:21). But we must go a stage further than this, and once again the apostle Paul comes to our help. In Romans 14:17 he shows how the Christian life is something removed al. together from controversy about what we do and what we don’t do. “The kingdom of God is not eating.and drinking”-not, that is to say, to be conceived in those terms at all-”but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost,” which are in a realm wholly different. The Christian lives, and is guided, not by rules specifying just how far he may mix with men, but by these inward qualities which are mediated to him by God’s Holy Spirit.
Righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost: It may be good for a moment to direct our attention to the second of these. For peace, we find, is a potent element in God’s answer to his Son’s prayer that he would keep us from the evil one (John 17:15).
In God himself there is a peace, a profound undisturbedness of spirit, which keeps him untroubled and undistressed in the face of unspeakable conflict and contradiction. “In the world ye have tribulation,” Jesus says, but “in me ye may have peace” (John 16:33). How easily we get troubled as soon as something goes wrong! But do we ever pause to consider what went wrong with the great purpose upon which God had set his heart? God, who is light, had an eternal plan. Causing light to shine out of darkness he designed this world to be the arena of that plan. Then Satan, as we know, stepped in to thwart God, so that men came to love darkness rather than light. Yet in spite of that setback, the implications of which we appreciate all too little, God preserves in himself a quite undisturbed peace. It is that peace of God which, Paul tells us, is to garrison our hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:7).
What does “garrison” really mean? It means that my foe has to fight through the armed guard at the gates before he can reach me. Before I can be touched, the garrison itself has first to be overcome. So I dare to be as peaceful as God, for the peace that is keeping God is keeping me. This is something that the world knows nothing about. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I untoyou” (John 14:27).
How utterly men failed to understand Jesus! Whatever he did was wrong in their eyes, for the light that was in them was darkness. They even dared to identify the Spirit that was in him with Beelzebub the prince of devils. Yet when they accused him of gluttony and drunkenness, what was his response? “Father, I thank thee!” (Matt. 11:19,25). He was unmoved, because in Spirit he abode in the peace of God.
Or recall that last night before his passion. Everything seemed to be going wrong: a friend going out into the night to betray him, another drawing a sword in anger, people going into hiding, or running away naked in their eagerness to escape. In the midst of it all Jesus said to those who had come to take him, “I am he,” so peacefully and so quietly that instead of him being nervous it was they who trembled and fell backwards. This was an experience that has been repeated in the martyrs of every age. They could be tortured or burned, but because they possessed his peace, the onlookers could only wonder at their dignity and composure. It is no surprise to us therefore that Paul describes this peace as beyond understanding.
How striking is the contrast Jesus draws between “in the world” where we are to have tribulation, and “in me” where we may have peace. If God has placed us in the one, to be thronged by its pressures and claims and needs, he has placed us also in the Other, to be held by him undisturbed amid it all. Jesus himself once asked, “Who touched me?” The believing touch of one in that Capernaum multitude registered with him. It matched his own heart of compassion, whereas the pressure of the rest crowding upon him had no such effect. All their impatient jostling did not touch him in the least, for there was little in common between them and him. “Not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” If our life is the life of men, we are swayed by the world. If it is the life of the Spirit it is unmoved by worldly pressures.
“Righteousness and peace and joy”: with such things is the kingdom of God concerned. Never let us be drawn away, therefore, into the old realm of “eating and drinking,” for it is neither the prescription of these things nor their prohibition that concerns us, but another world altogether. So we who are of the kingdom need not abstain. We overcome the world not by giving up the world’s things but by being otherworldly in a positive way: by possessing, that is, a love and a joy and a peace that the world cannot give andthat men sorely need.
Far from seeking to avoid the world we need to see how privileged we are to have been placed there by God. “As thou didst send me into the world, even so send I them into the world.” What a statement! The Church is Jesus’ successor, a divine settlement planted here right in the midst of Satan’s territory. It is something that Satan cannot abide, any more than he could abide Jesus himself, and yet it is something that he cannot by any means rid himself of. It is a colony of heaven, an alien intrusion on his territory, and one against which he is utterly powerless. “Children of God,” Paul calls us, “in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye are seen as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15). God has deliberately placed us in the cosmos to show it up for what it is. We are to expose to the divine light, for all men to see them, its God-defying rebelliousness on the one hand and its hollowness and emptiness on the other.
And our task does not stop there. We are to proclaim to men the good news that, if they will turn to it, that light of God in the face of Jesus Christ will set them free from the world’s vain emptiness into the fullness that is his. It is this twofold mission of the Church that accounts for Satan’s hatred. There is nothing that goads him so much as the Church’s presence in the world. Nothing would please him more than to see its telltale light removed. The Church is a thorn in the side of God’s adversary, a constant source of irritation and annoyance to him. We make a heap of trouble for Satan simply by being in the world. So why leave it?
“Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel” (Mark 16:15). This is the Christian’s privilege. It is also his duty. Those who try to opt out of the world only demonstrate that they are still in some degree in bondage to its ways of thinking. We who are “not of it” have no reason at all to try to leave it, for it is where we should be.
So there is no need for us to give up our secular employments. Far from it, for they are our mission field. In this matter there are no secular considerations, only spiritual ones. We do not live our lives in separate compartments, as Christians in the Church and as secular beings the rest of the time. There is not a thing in our profession or in our employment that God intends should be dissociated from our life as his children. Everything we do, be it in field or highway, in shop, factory, kitchen, hospital or school, has spiritual value in terms of the kingdom of Christ. Everything is to be claimed for him. Satan would much prefer to have no Christians in any of these places, for they are decidedly in his way there. He tries therefore to frighten us out of the world, and if he cannot do that, to get us involved in his world system, thinking in its terms, regulating our behavior by its standards. Either would be a triumph for him. But for us to be in the world, yet with all our hopes, all our interests and all our prospects out of the world, that is Satan’s defeat and God’s glory.
Of Jesus’ presence in the world it is written that “the darkness overcame it not” (John 1:5 margin). Nowhere in Scripture does it tell us of sin that we are to “overcome” it, but it distinctly says we are to overcome the world. In relation to sin God’s word speaks only of deliverance; it is in relation to the world that it speaks of victory.
We need deliverance from sin, because God never intended we should have any touch with it; but we do not need, nor should we seek, deliverance from the world, for it is in the purpose of God that we touch it. We are not delivered out of the world, but being born from above, we have victory over it. And we have that victory in the same sense, and with the same unfailing certainty, that light overcame darkness.
“This is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith. And who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4, 5). The key to victory is always our faith relationship with the victorious Son. “Be of good cheer,” he said. “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Only Jesus could make such a claim; and he could do so because he could earlier affirm: “The prince of the world … hath nothing in me” (John 14:30). It was the first time that anyone on earth had said such a thing. He said it, and he overcame. And through his overcoming the prince of the world was cast out and Jesus began to draw men to himself.
And because he said it, we now dare say it too. Because of my new birth, because “whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh the world,” I can be in the same world as my Lord was in, and in the same sense as he was I can be utterly apart from it, a lamp set on a lampstand, giving light to all who enter the house. “As he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). The Church glorifies God, not by getting out of the world but by radiating his light in it. Heaven is not the place to glorify God; it will be the place to praise him. The place to glorify him is here.
Many more wonderful sermons and writings, as well as audio and video at Sermonindex, it both a great resource and an amazing opportunity to read and hear the words of so many amazing pastors and even laypeople. God bless you!
Unlikely Men
Source: google.com via Craig on Pinterest
When we look at the many people that God used to spread His message, one thing that I have noticed is that so many of them were men that most people would not have expected Him to use. One of my personal favorites is the Apostle Paul. Paul’s beginnings were not for God as we would see it, but against Him. And yet he himself thought that what he was doing was serving God. That was his intent. From imprisoning Christians to actually killing them, this was the work that he pursued.
After watching the stoning of Stephen, his request from the High Priest was to have a letter giving him permission to round up even women and children.
Acts 9
King James Version (KJV)
9 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
2 And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
This is the time that the Lord steps in and shows Paul the error of his ways:
3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
Acts 9
King James Version (KJV)
4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
When Ananias was sent to Paul, he knew Paul’s history:
10 And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.
11 And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,
12 And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.
13 Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:
14 And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.
15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.
How many men like Paul, seem to us to be unlikely to spread the word of God, and yet are His “chosen vessel” to bear the Lord’s name? How often do we dismiss those very men because of what they did in the past? So many non Christians of our day, wail and gnash their teeth at the fact that so many who are spreading the word of God, are faulty men and women, people who have had a past that was less than worthy. They judge and say that these are incapable of spreading God’s word because they are nothing more than sinners who have spent their time going against the very word that they profess to now preach. And yet, these are, like Paul, men whom God Himself has chosen.
All of us are unworthy, it is only through the grace of God and the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ that we have been saved. It is only through Christ that we can enter into the kingdom of God, we are all unlikely on our own. When we accept Christ into our life, we change, we put off the old man and put on the new. God forgives and forgets our past. It is our present and our future that matter.
Ephesians 4
King James Version (KJV)
21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
27 Neither give place to the devil.
28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
Reality Blog Award
Wow, I am honored by being nominated for the Reality Blog Award by Cristi at Simple.Interesting which I must admit, is one of my favorite blogs. Always it is Simply Interesting and it makes my day to view the many pictures that Cristi post. He does not limit himself to pictures though, please do take time to visit his blog. Believe me you will not be disappointed. Simple.Interesting! According to Crist, “You can decide what you would like to do and please take in consideration that there are no rules so you can follow this pattern or you can create another.” He did include five questions and nominated 20 blogs though. I am going to answer the questions for now and do the nominating a little later. God bless you all and thank you again Cristi!!!!!!
- If you could change something what would you change? LOL I am a woman, I would change my weight of course!!! Although good health would be better probably!!!!
- If you could repeat an age, what age would it be? I don’t think that I would choose to repeat an age, I like what I am and I would always be afraid that I would be different!
- What one thing really scares you? Not getting to heaven is what really scares me. I love God and want to be able to meet Jesus someday. I look forward to the rewards of heaven!
- What one dream have you not completed yet and do you think you will be able to complete it. I know that this probably sounds silly, but I always wanted to learn Italian and work on it occasionally, but sometimes wonder if I will ever succeed. My problem is my memory!!!!
- If you could be someone else for the day, who would you be? The apostle Paul is someone that I would like to have a personal viewpoint of I think. He was an amazing man with so many accomplishments. Perhaps I should be more humble and choose someone else but I truly would love to know him more and I surely can’t imagine being Christ for one day, I know that would be beyond anything I could even imagine!
Position of Liberty: “Stand Fast”
Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglican Church http://www.stjohnsashfield.org.au, Ashfield, New South Wales. Illustrates Jesus' description of himself "I am the Good Shepherd" (from the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 11). This version of the image shows the detail of his face. The memorial window is also captioned: "To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of William Wright. Died 6th November, 1932. Aged 70 Yrs." (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Position of Liberty: “Stand Fast”
Galatians 5:1-12
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.
And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.
You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?
This persuasion does not come from Him who callls you.
A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is.
And I, brethren,if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased.
I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off!
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- Not Legalism but Christ (loopyloo305.com)
2 Thessalonians 3:6-18
But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us.
For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you;
nor did we eat anyone’s bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you,
not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us.
For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.
For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies.
Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread.
But as for you brethren, do not grow weary in doing good.
And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed.
Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all.
The salutation of Paul with my own hand, which is a sign in every epistle, so I write.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
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