Friday, October 27, 2006

JESUS WEPT!

I read this in a devotional this morning:
John 11:35 "Jesus wept!"—but His profoundest anguish was over resisted grace, abused privileges, scorned mercy. It was the Divine Craftsman mourning over His shattered handiwork—the Almighty Creator weeping over His ruined world—God, the God-man, "grieving" over the Temple of the soul, a humiliating wreck of what once was made "after His own image!"

Jesus wept out of sympathy with those who were in tears all around him, as well as from a deep sense of the misery sin had brought upon human nature.Do we grieve over our sins that way? I dare to say we don't grieve enough. It is an insult to the finishing works of Christ when we do not grieve over sin or continue to sin. When you think about He had no sin. We should look within ourselves and grieve over the sin we practice. It should make us sick. If your sin is not a grievance to you I would encourage you to start questioning your walk!
I think we should question what we do in all aspects of our life. Will this bring aultimate Glory to our Savior Jesus Christ and if you have doubts "Don't do it". Go to the scriptures and examine it. Freedom in Christ does not give you the OK to do what ever you want. I believe we should guard Ourselves. Don't forget we are His handiwork.

" How can I mix with the potsherds of the earth? Once, "I lay among the pots;" now, I am "like a dove, whose wings are covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold!" "Stranger—pilgrim—sojourner;"—"my citizenship is in heaven!" Why covet tinsel honors and glories? Why be solicitous about the smiles of that which knew not, (no, which frowned on) its Lord? "Paul calls it a mere notion, and nothing in substance."—(Thomas Brooks.)

Live above its corroding cares and anxieties; remembering the description Jesus gives of His own true people, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world!"

Cristina

Friday, October 20, 2006

CHRISTIAN LIBERTY

Christian Liberty is a subject that interests me. I know the bible speaks of it but my question is where is the line drawn? God tells us not to be of the world and yet the liberties christians practice sometimes seem worldly to me. I think of drinking, if a christian is say having only one beer but it is in a bar, what does the world think and does that not matter? I feel the world is watching us very closely and what we do, they relate that to Christ. I see christians attending a R-rated Movie, is that wrong? I see people smoking and what it does to their body or over eating, what does God say about it being the temple of the Holy Spirit. I am no legalist by any account but I wonder sometimes about these liberties.

I do this blog as a believer that has so much to learn. I have so much growing to do and I do apreciate the comments I get. I want to grow in Christ and if I say thing on my blog that are not biblical, I want to be told. I apreciate help from my brothers and sisters in Christ.

What sayth you on this subject?

Cristina

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

HIS LOVE FOR HIS OWN

I love to read poetry that tells the love of others.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Robert Browning
Emily Dickinson etc.

But these poets that speak of the love they feel for others can not stand up to the love God has for His bride. His love is a love like no other. It is pure, it is an everlasting Love. He loved us from the beginning andit is everlasting
.
It is a love that He laid down His life for own, His children,His sheep, His elect! Here is an example of His love for us. In His word is the most beautifulest and pure love you will ever read.

Song of Solomon
4:7
Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.
4:8
Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards.
4:9
Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.
4:10
How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices!
4:11
Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.
4:12
A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
4:13
Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard,
4:14
Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:
4:15
A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.
4:16
Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.


:1
I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.
5:2
I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.
5:3
I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?
5:4
My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him.
5:5
I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock.
5:6
I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.
5:7
The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.
5:8
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love.
5:9
What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us?
5:10
My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.
5:11
His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven.
5:12
His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set.
5:13
His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.
5:14
His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.
5:15
His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.
5:16
His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.


6:1
Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee.
6:2
My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies



Tuesday, October 17, 2006

ARE YOU REALLY SAVED?

A message by Paul Washer (HeartCry Missionary Society) that is a eye opener. It speaks of the many folks out there that believe they are christians and really are not..... All I can really say is WOW!!........ It is so powerful and so true of the church today....Please take the time to listen to it... It spoke to me concerning my walk and it also spoke to my husband...

This is a Shockingly Powerful & Biblical message preached to about 5,000 youth in a day when you thare appealed to through shallow and worldly means. At one point in this sermon the 5,000 Youth areclapping and yelling BUT THEN the preacher makes a comment that CHANGES THE WHOLE ATMOSPHERE TO WHERE YOU COULD HAVE HEARD A PIN DROP... As you can imagine, the preacher was never invited back.

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?sermonID=52906154239

Cristina

Sunday, October 15, 2006

HUMILITY by C.S. Spurgeon

I awoke this morning at 4:00am with a charley horse (pain in my legs) and could not get back to sleep. I came downstairs to our office and decided to search out a sermon to listen to. I first listened to A.W. Tozer on the subject of "God's Holiness" and really enjoyed it. Then, I listened to C.S. Spurgeons sermon on Humility and I felt it was so worth hearing for others. If you have time and have audio on your computer,I would encourage you to go to this site and listen to this sermon on "Humility". It is close to 50 minutes long but so worth hearing. May you be blessed as I was.

Go to this site and scroll down to Humility
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?currSection=sermonsspeaker&sermonID=10220512410

A SERMON DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING,MARCH 17TH, 1861.BY THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON,AT EXETER HALL, STRAND.

“Serving the Lord with all humility of mind.” — Acts 20:19.

IT is not often that a man may safely speak about his own humility. Humble men are mostly conscious of great pride, while those who are boastful of humility have nothing but false pretense, and really lack and want it. I question whether any of us are at all judges as to our pride or humility; for verily, pride so often assumes the shape of lowliness when it hath its own end to serve, and lowliness on the other hand is so perfectly compatible with a heavenly dignity of decision, that it is not easy at all times to discover which is the counterfeit and which is the precious and genuine coin. You will remember that in the case in our text, Paul speaks by inspiration. If it were not for this fact, I would not have believed even Paul himself when he spoke of his own humility. So distrustful do I feel of our judgment upon this point, that if he had not spoken under the infallible witness and guidance of the Holy Spirit, I should have said that the text was not true, and that when a man should say he served God with humbleness of mind, speaking merely from his own judgment, there was clear proof before you that he was a proud man. But Paul speaketh not to his own commendation, but with the sole motive of clearing his hands of the blood of all men.

Cristina

Friday, October 13, 2006

HE WILL NEVER FORSAKE US


HE will never, ever forsake us...I read this today by Octavius Winslow and it touched me. This is his discription of how our Lord will never, ever leave us or forsake us. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

"For he is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us." Ephes. 2:14 BEHIND this wall Jesus did once stand, and although thus partially obscured, yet to those who had faith to see Him, dwelling though they were in the twilight of the Gospel, He manifested Himself as the true Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior of His people. "Abraham rejoiced to see my day," says Jesus, "and he saw it, and was glad." But this wall no longer stands. The shadows are fled, the darkness is dispersed, and the true light now shines. Beware of those teachers who would rebuild this wall; and who by their superstitious practices, and legal representations of the Gospel, do in effect rebuild it. Remember that "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believes." It is behind "our wall" that Jesus stands—the wall which we, the new covenant saints, erect. Many are the separating influences between Christ and His people; many are the walls which we, alas! allow to intervene, behind which we cause Him to stand. What are the infidelity, I had almost said atheism, the carnality, the coldness, the many sins of our hearts, but so many obstructions to Christ's full and frequent manifestations of Himself to our souls? But were we to specify one obstruction in particular, we would mention unbelief as the great separating wall between Christ and His people. This was the wall which obscured from the view of Thomas his risen Lord. And while the little Church was jubilant in the new life and joy with which their living Savior inspired them, he alone lingered in doubt and sadness, amid the shadows of the tomb. "Except I thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe." Nothing more effectually separates us from, or rather obscures our view of, Christ than the sin of unbelief. Not fully crediting His word—not simply and implicitly relying upon His work—not trusting His faithfulness and love—not receiving Him wholly and following Him fully—only believing and receiving half that He says and commands—not fixing the eye upon Jesus as risen and alive, as ascended and enthroned, leaving all fullness, all power, all love. Oh this unbelief is a dead, towering wall between our Beloved and our souls! And yet does He stand behind it? Does it not compel Him to depart and leave us forever? Ah no! He is there! Oh wondrous grace, matchless love, infinite patience! Wearied with forbearing, and yet there! Doubted, distrusted, grieved, and yet standing there—His locks wet with the dew of the night—waiting to be gracious, longing to manifest Himself. Nothing has prevailed to compel Him to withdraw. When our coldness might have prevailed, when our fleshliness might have prevailed, when our neglect, ingratitude, and backslidings might have prevailed, never has He entirely and forever withdrawn. His post is to watch with a sleepless eye of love the purchase of His dying agonies, and to guard His "vineyard of red wine night and day, lest any hurt it." Who can adequately picture the solicitude, the tenderness, the jealousy, with which the Son of God keeps His especial treasure? And whatever would force Him to retire—whether it be the coldness that congeals, or the fierce flame that would consume—yet such is His deathless love for His people, "He withdraws not His eyes front the righteous" for one moment. There stands the "Friend that sticks closer than a brother," waiting to beam upon them a glance of His love-enkindled eye, and to manifest Himself to them as He does not unto the world, even from behind our wall.

Amen Octavius Winslow

Just as the mountains surround and protect Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds and protects His people, both now and forever. Psalm 125:2

Cristina