A Very Sweet Post...

I could not pass up highlighting this post by our friend Lisa. Thanks for your thoughts, example and evident love for us and many others in your life! You and Dave are very special people!

A Blast from the Past...

Another one of my Dad's creations from back in the day when he was the coach of the Chelsea Little League Orioles, when my brother Steve and I, along with a crew from the projects, only cared about baseball!
Wow, some 22 years ago. Time does fly.
Thanks Pops for so many incredible memories...

For Serious Consideration...

I read one thing, thought of another and certain of a third...

this is what I read:
"If you seek to comprehend God (in Majesty) and would pacify Him without Christ the Mediator, making your works a means between Him and yourself, it cannot but be that you fall into despair and lose God all together. For as God is in His own nature unmeasurable, incomprehensible and infinite, so He is to man's nature intolerable!" - Luther on Galatians

this is what I thought:
Suppose we were instantaneously lifted by an unknown force right out from where we are at this second...and speedily escorted toward the Sun, at warp speed approaching the dazzling brilliance of that sphere we can bearly look at...getting closer and closer by the second to the 6,000 degree surface and brought right into the core of that burning star - who knows how hot it is at the center - the result would be unthinkable. Makes me think of Heb 4:13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account...for our God is a consuming fire(Heb 12:29) .

This is what I am certain of: (certainty is the nature of "faith", after all)
What can protect us from the blazing Glory of God in His Majesty? What can actually bring us to see this glory...and to enjoy God's Majestic Glory, as the best thing in all of life?
Hebrews 12.18-24
You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned." The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear."
But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Thanks, praise, adoration and worship to Jesus Christ, who rescued us from the wrath to come!

New "Desiring God" Website

The New DesiringGod.org Is Coming Soon.
Watch for the redesigned website, providing more content, improved access to all of their content, and many other improvements, to be released this week...

Then God said to Abram...Full Stop!

Do people really even care about righteousness anymore? Not even a blip on the radar, I'd say. Well, really, some do...but most don't.

I was reading this morning in Romans 4, thinking about my friend Kunny's question to me about Romans 4.15: what does it mean when Paul says: "...where there is no law there is no transgression." There's so much to say about this....

As I thought about the 4th chapter in Romans and the broader theme in general, I was drawn away to Genesis 15, which Paul is simply referring to in Rom 4.
Check out these words from God - don't miss that - GOD, to Abram, the nomad! Notice the weight of the sovereign, free, unconitional grace promise God communicates to Abram. This is huge. Notice it says Abe "believed God"... What did God say (promise) Abe that he believed? God's full free forever promise of grace(in the form of giving he children he didn't deserve)...full stop! A promise! Take close note of the PERIOD. IT'S HUGE! If you don't find these words to contain something of the sense of "incredible", you need to have yourself checked! WOW, do these words carry weight or what? So does the flow of thought here in Romans. Paul refers back to the Promise God made to Abe saying:

For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring...Romans 4.13-16

You want to see the glory of God in Jesus Christ as proclaimed in the gospel? You want to be brought back to the Greatest Reality there is, barr none? You want to reflect the glory of God in your life, find a full, free and forever righteousness that radically changes everything in your life? You want to stand before the eyes of Him who "discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart"? And before Whom "no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account?" Want that without righteousness? Don't think so.
Read Genesis 15 and Romans 4 again, and may the Spirit of God make crystal clear the glory of Jesus Christ, The Righteous One, once again, to you...and me!

Salvation, righteousness or whatever you call it, depends completely on what God has said and done, through Jesus...not about what you / I do, in any way shape or form...
Faith sees PROMISE, and only PROMISE!
Soli Deo Gloria!

A Hidden Side of Jesus...

We all have our personal perceptions of Jesus that appeal to our biases. I came across this passage while reading through the Gopsel of Matthew. Here are comments about Jesus by His cousin, John the baptist:

Mat 3:11,12 "I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

What strikes me is that this is no picture of a little baby Jesus, wrapped in proverbial swaddling clothes, lying helplessly, all cutsy-wootsy, in a manger! No, He is Lord...and He will demonstrate it! This passage commands you and I, to wake up, sit up(rather, bow down), and listen!
Here's the list:
1. Jesus is mightier than John!
2. John, you and I are not worthy to carry His sandals!
3. Jesus will baptize you with the Holy Spirit...AND WITH FIRE!
4. His winnowing fork is in His hand! (Do you know what that means?)
5. He will clear His threshing floor! (no if's, and's or but's!)
6. He will gather His wheat into His barn! (SHOUT FOR JOY FOR HIS MERCY!)
7. He WILL burn the chaff with UNQUENCHABLE fire! (Beware if He's not your soul's Delight)

WOW, let's bow down today and give Him His due and shower Him with glad adoration for taking the wrath of God upon Himself and forgiving all our sin in order to bring us into THE thrill of a lifetime (and more) in the knowledge and enjoyment of God Himself!!!

Check out this "what 'ya think" quote------------------------------------>>>