God Finished His Work

Courtesy http://www.justforloveblog.com   

God Finished His Work

The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. (Psalm 138:8)

He who has begun will carry on the work which is being wrought within my soul. The Lord is concerned about everything that concerns me. All that is now good, but not perfect, the Lord will watch over, preserve, and carry out to completion. This is a great comfort. I could not perfect the work of grace myself. Of that I am quite sure, for I fail every day and have only held on so long as I have because the Lord has helped me. If the Lord were to leave me, all my past experience would go for nothing, and I should perish from the way. But the Lord will continue to bless me. He will perfect my faith, my love, my character, my lifework. He will do this because He has begun a work in me. He gave me the concern I feel, and, in a measure, He has fulfilled my gracious aspirations, He never leaves a work unfinished; this would not be for His glory, nor would it be like Him. He knows how to accomplish His gracious design, and though my own evil nature and the world and the devil all conspire to hinder Him, I do not doubt His promise. He will perfect that which concerneth me, and I will praise Him forever. Lord, let Thy gracious work make some advance this day!

-Charles H. Spurgeon

~Courtesy of http://www.spurgeon.org (Thank you Phil Johnson!)

1 - In The Beginning

Year: 1977. I must have been about 6 or 7 years old. My parents didn't go to church anymore as they did years ago as teenagers. Church was something we didn't talk about much at home. My sister, Bonita, who is three years older than me, somehow developed an interest in God and in church. She began to visit the Church of Christ, which was, I believe, a modalist fundamental church that was located only about a block away from our home. Sis seemed to be having fun when she went, but more than that, I saw a strong desire in her eyes. Perhaps it was more of a curiosity to find out more about God. She began to talk a lot about him. She relayed to me bits of important spiritual information that I just could not comprehend with my young mind, which was mostly occupied by Darth Vader, The Muppets and my new bicycle. I remember her inviting me church and me tagging along with her. I was very shy when I was little, and was scared to death to be around people I didn't know, but my need to find out what the big deal was proved even stronger that my timidity. I remember going to the kids' meetings and taking part in projects like hobby craft - pasting noodles to a paper plate, spelling out "Jesus loves you" or something. We continued to attend now and again and I remember as a highlight receive some kind of patch for completed some project in the children's class. I was really excited, and couldn't wait to get home and tell my parents. When I got home, my dad was still at work, of course. My mom stood in the kitchen cooking something up. She listened to me and just said, "That's nice, mijo". I could feel that something bothered her about us kids going to church...

Who can understand me?

Perché Dio ha tanto amato il mondo, che ha dato il suo unigenito Figlio, affinché chiunque crede in lui non perisca, ma abbia vita eterna. -Giovanni 3:16


(NR2006)


No matter what language you speak, God knows it. He can understand all languages in the world. Have you ever felt that he cannot understand what you are asking him? Don't fear, he understands everything. Even you, and your feelings, your grief, your joy, your needs, your desires...everything.

It's a Beautiful Day in America

Here in Arizona, today at least, it's beautiful. The sun is out. It's not to cold. There's a slight cool breeze. And, no. The picture here is not Arizona, but rather Chimney Rock in North Carolina. I was there a little over a year ago. God's creation is awesome. Just awesome.

....and the war in Iraq is finally over! 9 long years. Thanks to all of our troops for their ongoing hard work to protect our country and our freedom.

Struggling With Repentance?

We all struggle with repentance. Some more that others. Some a lot less. However, it is something that we all have been through as Christians. If you never have been through this struggle, I congratulate you for being perfect.

So I sat down in front of my Linux net-book today to write a little bit about struggling with repentance. I decided to research a little before putting forth my own beliefs. I stumbled upon a site called "GraceConverstaion.com". Jay Guin wrote an article which is geared more toward what the church's obligation is in dealing with an unrepentant member, and is full of helpful information. Here's the link below. Please take a look and think about it. It's a very important subject. Thanks!

Discipline: The member who is struggling to repent

If You Died Tonight...

If you died tonight, would you go to heaven? Why? Because you're a good person? OK, let's run through some of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20).

• Have you ever told a lie? (Ex. 20:16)
• Have you ever stolen. No? Come on...you already told me you're a liar! (Ex. 20:15)
• Have you ever dishonored your parents? ...by not listening, or talking back...? (Ex. 20:12)
• Have you ever looked at someone with lust? Jesus said that this is adultery in the heart. (Ex. 20:14 & Mt. 5:28)
• Have you ever been angry at someone for no good reason? God considers this murder in the heart. (Ex. 20:13 & Mt. 5:21,22)

We’ve only gone through five of the ten commandments. So if God judged you by his standards, would you make it? So how do we get to heaven? By doing good, like everyone thinks? Nope. If that were true, none of us would EVER make it. (Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.) This is why we need a savior. God came to Earth and became a man, lived a sinless life (just like a spotless lamb for the sacrifice in the Old Testament) and took the punishment that WE deserved and died. 1 John 4:10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent us His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.


Then he arose from the dead, which was God saying he approved of the sacrifice. Imagine Jesus taking all of your sins, every single one and putting them on his back right before the Roman soldiers started whipping at it with a cat of nine tails, with pieces of glass, etc. until his intestines started to protrude. This is why Jesus is love. Not because if we follow him, we'll be able to make the next car payment, but because he loved us so much he died for us. Romans 5:8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

If we do not repent and put our faith in Jesus Christ, we won't make it. It's the plain truth. We are sinful and headed for hell. That's the bad news. Jesus paid the price for us, and it's there if we ask him to accept us, and live for him. That's the good news, or "gospel" as the Bible calls it. If we repent and put our trust in Jesus (like we trust a parachute to save our life when we jump out of a plane), God will give us a new heart with new desires, granting us the gift of repentance (Acts 5:31).

Think about what I said about how to get to heaven. I don't know if you're saved. You and God only know. So, if you don't think you are, pray about it.

I'm only telling you this cause I care for you and I want to make sure I see you in heaven. I'm not pointing fingers. Believe me, I'm a much bigger sinner than the likes of ya. Remember that we only get to heaven because of what HE did. If we depend on our own good works, we're headed for the oven. Ephesians 2:8,9 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift - not from works, so that no one can boast.



You may not believe in God, the Bible, or what I have stated above, but I beg you to at least think about this today. Chew on it. Consider it. Don't let the day go buy until you have at least thought about your salvation.

Does God has a wonderful plan for my life?

I know there's a God, because a week ago I got out of work and went to the parking lot. It had already stopped raining, but I had heard that part of the road out was still flooded. As I put on my motorcycle gear (helmet and jacket) I saw the only other motorcyclist around, who was parked immediately next to me. He hopped on his bike and rode off -no helmet, no jacket, just a scraggly ol' tee-shirt. Hmmm...
I said my usual, "God please protect me on the way home" prayer before buzzing away. The road was wet, but not too badly. I knew that a flooded area would be waiting for me down the road in front of the neighboring Federal prison. As I rode down the street at 40-45 MPH, I turned my brights on in order to look for any puddles. Sure enough, there it was ahead of me. I slowed down to third gear, maybe second, I'm not sure, and took it slow and steadily through the puddle of water.
Then..BAM! I felt the hit from behind. Everything went black as I flew off the motorcycle and down the street. I don't know what it looked like when I flew off and tumbled on the pavement, but all I know is that it hurt and that it lasted forever, it seemed. After about 4 seconds, I'm guessing, I realized what was going on. When I finally stopped in the road, I was on hands and knees facing the opposite direction I was originally heading. I remember seeing vehicle lights and thinking, "Oh, no! I'm gonna get run over."
I realized the vehicle was stopped. A fellow co-worker ran over, "Are you OK? Do you need an ambulance?" "Yes, I do." I didn't feel any pain at that time, but I had been in an accident before and knew what it meant to be in shock. I lay down on the edge of the road in a couple of inches of water. I didn't care. I knew I shouldn't move. That other driver had run into me from behind. I learned this morning that the other driver saw me slowing down in front of him, hit his breaks and skidded in the water. Bang! There I go... I was loaded onto the gurney and placed into the ambulance. Good thing that the ambulance station was right across the street my workplace. They arrived very quickly.
Upon arriving in the Trauma Unit (The guy in Trauma 5, that was me), I received kudos from medical staff for wearing "your full gear". My helmet had lost its visor and was scratched up. My motorcycle jacket was torn up on one side and my brand new work pants were torn up. My leather belt was badly scuffed up from sliding on my behind.
Upon arriving in the Trauma Unit (The guy in Trauma 5, that was me), I received kudos from medical staff for wearing "your full gear". My helmet had lost its visor and was scratched up.
The outcome:
No broken bones. No internal injuties ...but I do have lots of pulled and strained muscles in my back, in addition to a scraped up left knee and bruises and scuffs on both elbows...oh, and a chipped front tooth.
So that's why I know there's a God. I could have been dead. Easily.
Later, a friend from work called me to see how I was doing. He said my motorcycle looked all bashed in from behind, but the truck was worse. It's font grill was smashed in and the radiator was punctured. He said it looked like it had hit a tree!
So, does God have a wonderful plan for our life? Yes. Yes he does. From this I have learned that life is short, and that I need to get in gear and do something for his Kingdom. Although we are are not saved by good works, the Bible says that we are created to do them and commanded to do them, and some day, we'll be judge for them.