A GREAT deal on the laminator I love!

I just had to tell you about this super deal. I've had the Scotch Thermal Laminator for about 6 months and I love it!  It's on sale at Amazon for a great price!  The list price is $80.49, but it's on sale for only $16.99!!!  That's an amazing deal!

I personally think that everyone should own a laminator... especially teachers and homeschoolers.  It's kind of addicting making all your papers shiny, don't you think?  I use mine to laminate the  number cards for our calendar, the Bible verse posters for our learning board, flash cards, etc.  There are so many possibilities!

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Flee Idolatry - 11/21/10

Dear Friends,

From talking to you and through emails I've received, I know there are a few of you who do not belong to a local church, but you're longing to be fed and challenged by the Word.  Matt and I are so blessed to belong to a wonderful church that we love where the sermons each week are challenging and gospel centered.    I thought it would be helpful to post an audio link to our sermons along with the notes I (Catherine) took. 

To listen to the sermon, click here and look for:
Flee Idolatry
Series: 1 Corinthians
Speaker: Larry Lazarus
Sermon Date: 11/21/2010
Passage: 1 Cor 10:1~22

The following sermon is based on I Corinthians 10:1-22:

Are you committed to making war against everything that would keep you from pursuing Jesus Christ with all of your heart and might?

The Corinthians became very self-assured and cocky about their faith.  They were casually attending idol temples and mingling with things that dishonor Jesus and they didn't care at all about it.

Paul gives them:
1) A reminder from the past.
2) A command for the present.
3) Comfort for the future.

A history lesson -
Paul reminds the Corinthians of the Israelites.  They all tasted amazing grace but with most of them, God was not pleased.  This happened so that (v. 6) they would be examples for us so that we might not desire evil as they did.  Be careful about not becoming too self-assured by saying, "I'm fine spiritually."  "I don't need to tackle sin, pray, fellowship, etc."  Don't get comfortable with sin in your life and rely on past experiences like baptism, a prayer you prayed, or church membership to assure yourself of salvation.

If you want assurance of salvation, don't look to past experiences.  Ask yourself if you're running hard after Jesus now.  Are you trusting him now?

I John 5:13

There is a way to believe in vain.  If you don't care about Jesus or fighting sin, and you're relying on a prayer you prayed for salvation, you may find yourself disqualified from the race. 

The stakes are high.  This is a very serious race.  Don't take this lightly!  Flee from idolatry.  You can't have a foot in the world and a foot in the church.

Idol: that to which we look for all good and in which we find refuge in our time of need.  False saviors.

What are your idols?
*What captures your greatest zeal?
*Whose approval do you crave the most?
*What do you brag about?
*What do you feel like you need to have in order to be happy?
*What's your non-negotiable?
*What do you covet?
*What are you afraid of most?
*What do you complain about most?
*What's the one thing that if you were to lose it, you'd feel like your life was not worth living?
*What do you turn to for comfort?
*What angers/frustrates you the most?
*What causes you to questions His love for you?
*What do you sacrifice the most for?  (money, time, energy)

They may be good things but when you make them non-negotiables and put them before Christ, they can become instruments of your damnation.

Flee!
(v. 13) No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.  God is faithful.  He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.

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Being Fully Present

Over at the Art of Manliness there's a good post about how to "be present as a man" emotionally, mentally and physcially. Catherine well knows how often I can drift off and disconnect myself from any situation. Being present is more than just being around. Its being engaged. Its being proactive, ready to undertake whatever is necessary to accomplish that which is required.

As Brett exhorts - "My goal is to be as fully present in every moment of my life as possible. And I humbly submit that this goal is one that every man should strive for." This isn't much unlike Paul when in 1 Corinthians 9:24 - 27, exhorts us to do the same in light of the call of the Gospel.

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the
prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in
all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline
my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself
should be disqualified."

What I am doing that distracts? What do I need to cast off to run the race well? Is it my selfish desires? My plans for the day? My goals? May I continually be examining and keeping all things "under control" in faith and obedience to the race Christ has called me to.

Check out this sermon given by our pastor Anthony a couple sundays ago. Click on Knowing what the Price Is.

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An Extra Elf!

Since we have an extra elf this year... here's our new elf video! Enjoy!

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Living with One Foot Raised

Photo credit: Okinawa Soba

I get into slumps.  I lose sight of my calling.  I take it all for granted at times.  I get distracted.  I take my eyes off the Cross.

And then the verses hit this stone cold heart and I am revived.

My life...

It's a mist.  Here for a little while and soon to vanish.  I am transient.  My days are a handbreath.  A mere breath.  I'm a phantom.  I will leave it ALL behind. {Psalm 39:4-6, James 4:14}

Forgive me Lord.

Help me to...
Live like I believe this.
Seek You like I believe this.
Love like I believe this.
Serve like I believe this.
Sacrifice comfort and wealth like I believe this.

My days are numbered.  Help me to make the most of them for your glory.  Awaken me and help me do all things with one foot raised.

Friends - for a sermon on this very thing, click here, look for the following and click the download button:
Living With One Foot Raised
Series: 1 Corinthians
Speaker: Larry Lazarus
Sermon Date: 10/24/2010
Passage: 1 Cor. 7:25-31

This is the poem at the end of the sermon:

 Young man, young woman, go to school, study hard, prepare yourself for fifty or more years in a productive and exciting career. But do it with one foot raised!

Let all of us diligently labor at our place of business. Honor our employers by giving them a good day's labor for a day's wage. But always work with one foot raised!

By all means, get married. Enjoy the delight of romantic affections. Devote yourself to your spouse, yet do it with one foot raised!

Be quick to educate your children. Prepare them for life. Raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, but always with one foot raised!

Study Greek and Hebrew and Latin! But study with one foot raised!

Celebrate life with your friends over a good steak and your beverage of choice. But eat and drink with one foot raised!

Weep at the grave site of a child. Mourn at the loss of a friend. But may it always be with one foot raised!

Read a book. Write a book. But read and write with one foot raised!

Cheer for your favorite football team and celebrate wildly every victory. But do it with one foot raised!

Labor to enact legislation to improve life in your city, your state, your country, but always with one foot raised!

Plant a garden. Plant a church. Open a savings account. Purchase a thirty-year certificate of deposit. Invest in a stock. But do it all in anticipation and heightened expectancy of the life to come.  Do it all with one foot raised!

 

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One Thousand Gifts: 63

 # 63

I'm thankful for the Word.  I don't treasure it as I should, but oh how I would mourn the loss of it if it were gone.  How I would regret that more Scripture had not been committed to memory.

I don't forget to eat, do I?  To nourish my physical body with food?

Yet there are unfortunate days when the pages containing Bread and Life are left unturned and I choose to starve myself spiritually.

By the grace of God alone, today was not one of those days.  I soaked in the richness of the Word before the sun's rays melted the gray-blue morning mist and it was good.  I was fed and ready for this day.

And tomorrow?  I will need to pray for grace and strength again so that I won't choose to starve, but instead, to feast on the Bread of Life.

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.  {John 6:35}

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Tapestry of Faith

Hi Friends,

I just tapped out a quick little post about *me* on Tapestry of Faith.  Click over if you'd like to read it. :)

~Catherine :)

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