A Net in Time

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Am I A Soldier Of the Cross?

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This song popped out at me as I was leafing through another older hymnal that I was looking at.  (see what tidying does for a body!).   Oh.. it’s been fun this afternoon browsing and listening to songs of worship.  Isaac Watts asks a good question in this hymn though: Am I a soldier of the cross?

am I a soldier of the cross?

Isaac Watts, born in 1647, is the author of Am I A Soldier of the Cross.  He was born in England, son of a nonconformist father and became a nonconformist pastor.   Being a nonconformist meant he didn’t belong to the Church of England.  

He not only wrote hymns (for which is best known today) but also educational books covering geography, astronomy, philosophy and grammar.   A inspiring pastor he preached at Mark Lane Independent.  Poor health led him to live with the Abney’s in Herdfordshire for the remainder of his life. 

Lyrics

Am I a soldier of the cross,
A follower of the Lamb,
And shall I fear to own His cause,
Or blush to speak His name?

Must I be carried to the skies
On flowery beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize,
And sailed through bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face?
Must I not stem the flood?
Is this vile world a friend to grace,
To help me on to God?

Sure I must fight if I would reign;
Increase my courage, Lord.
I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain,
Supported by Thy Word.

Thy saints in all this glorious war
Shall conquer, though they die;
They see the triumph from afar,
By faith’s discerning eye.

When that illustrious day shall rise,
And all Thy armies shine
In robes of victory through the skies,
The glory shall be Thine.

 

Other Isaac Watts Songs

The Sinai Covenant

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Well, the last time we chatted about Harman’s book Learning about the Old Testament we discussed The Exodus.   Today we will look at the covenant at Sinai.

The Sinai Covenant

Mount Sinai is located in the Sinai peninsula.  The mount is traditionally seen in being smack in the triangle between the dead and red sea. 

Explanation of Sinai Covenant

Anyways, the Sinai covenant is the first time that God went from having individual covenants with people to having one with the whole nation.   God made this covenant in a manner they were familiar with (Hittite covenant style). 

God also called Israel his son (Ex.4:22-23),not only his son but his FIRST-born son. That position has authority and expectations with it. As such God expected Israel as a nation to act in a manner befitting that relationship.  They were to be holy, a treasured possession, a people who worshipped and served him. In 1 Peter 2:9 we find those expectation repeated for the Christian church.  They are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God that (they) might declare the praises of him who called (them) out of darkness into his marvellous light.  

The Importance

THIS is the importance of the Sinai covenant.  Learning who God’s people are.  HIS sons!  First-born none-the-less!

But issues

God has set up this covenant and now it time to set the terms.   He meets with Israel’s representative and gives out the ten commandments.    We aren’t told how they were written down, just that they were on stone tablets. As a people chosen it was expected they would live in a particular way.   The Decalogue would help them know how to live. 

The people sinned.  Moses intervened.  The tablets were broken to show that the covenant had been broken and it was remade. 

Beyond the 10 Commandments God issued other commands to help the people retain their differences from the nations around them.  How they dressed, ate, and worshipped needed to show their uniqueness. 

He also showed his uniqueness by dwelling among them in the “tent of meeting”.   God lived in a tent just as they did…foreshadowing how Christ would dwell among people…becoming man himself.    

He taught all the important elements of worship

  • Sacrifice is a part of worship
  • meeting together in a place of his choosing
  • The need for a humble and contrite heart
  • and the symbolism of the goat, sheep and bull blood.  It didn’t remove sin, it was just a sign of God’s action and encouragement to look forward to the completion that would come.
The Sinai Covenant

My Reflection

You know I haven’t really thought about how the covenants of the Old Testament showed us things in the New.  Like I have understood the concept up until this point but never truly stopped to THINK on it.  

Like God dwelling with his people.  The tent of meeting being a foreshadowing of Christ.   I just never connected those ideas. It’s a powerful one if you really stop to think on it. 

I also have to ponder on.. how do I show my uniqueness to the world around me?  How do other people see my faith?  Or don’t they?  I don’t always know.  I’m often tired, and I like to do things my own way, and I don’t know if that shows Christ’s love.  Doubt is something I live with.

Sometimes I think it might be easier to live like the old-order Mennonites.  Having my unique dress and standoffishness from the world show my faith, but I don’t truly think that’s the answer. Is my relationship with the Lord readily apparent?  

I love that verse in Peter eh?   When I die.. I want a GOOD sermon preached on that text.  It’s the verse that reminds me of who I am in Christ.  Chosen, wanted, desired, with a PURPOSE…to glorify God.  I just … I don’t know.   Struggle with the execution I suppose.  Or at least thinking I execute at all in the showing of God’s glory.  

Confident, I Stand

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Miss Kate provides us with a one word prompt challenge every Thursday night at 10 p.m.  I find these really fun to do.  This week the word is confident.  I hope you will come join us. 

Confident, confidence, 

 late 16th century: from French confident(e ), from Italian confidente, from Latin confident- ‘having full trust’, from the verb confidere, from con- (expressing intensive force) + fidere ‘trust’.

In the course of one week, confident/confidence means different things.

Confident

Confidence in Skillset

Confident I type, assuring a gal that yes, when breeding a rabbit only two fall-offs are necessary and NO, you don’t need to introduce the buck to the doe four hours later.  One breeding time is sufficient to have, 31 days later, a healthy litter of kits.  This assumes that the doe is fertile, not overweight, and doesn’t have a scare during her pregnancy, and of course, that the buck is fertile.   I have been breeding rabbits for more than 15 years and have mentored many people into the craft that is bunny raising.   Confidence is not a skill I lack in this regard.

Confident

Confidence in Choices

Confidently, trusting my lad, on a snow day, after a recent long chat, I give him carte blanche in choosing his learning activities for the day.  True to my trust, my lad happily comes to me with a plan for the afternoon.   Taking apart a clock radio, sewing on shoulder flashes on his uniform, and building a stand for his crossbow.  Good learning in all that, so on a day when our student has the day off school, I have a mild headache, the lad is still learning well. 

Confident

Confident, I Stand

Not quite as confident, and actually falling into a pit of despair was the start of my week.  I’m still shaky from that day… but Tuesday when I still coming out of that pit, a timely reminder was given.

Faith comes from hearing the word, faith comes from knowing the truth and believing it in.  Faith is not based on emotion.  So when my emotions are completely out of whack, feeling lost and alone in the world, my faith is not in question.   What I mean is that, though I may not feel like I have faith at the moment, doesn’t mean that my faith is non-existent.  It just means my emotions are all crazy and that Satan is doing an excellent job of hitting me where it hurts the most.   But faith is not based in emotions.  God promises that those who seek him find him.  He doesn’t say, the emotionally always stable who seeks him find him.  He doesn’t say “they find him and then he leaves them when things are hard.”  The bible is clear.  If you seek for God you WILL find him.  That is a fact.  Real, true knowledge.  The truth of that statement hit me like a ton of bricks a year or so ago. And that truth remains with me still.  

My confidence (emotionally) is starting to come back, but until it does completely, the truth of who God is remains.   His steadfastness, his surety, his known providence and care remain the rocks that I stand upon when things are hard.   Upon him… I am confident. 

Sins Are Not Covered Up

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Have you ever noticed how God’s inspired word doesn’t hide the sin of his people?  The fact is that our sins are not covered up.  Even though it’s our natural tendency to make ourselves look better than what we are, none of the biblical authors covered over the sins of the people of God.   They didn’t. Do you ever wonder why that was?

Sins are not covered up,
Photo by Thư Anh on Unsplash

Why is this?

Ian Hamilton says this “through the manifest weaknesses and sins of believers, God impresses on us the true character of the life of faith.” (p.116, the Faith Shaped life).  

Isn’t that an interesting statement?

Our weaknesses show the character of faith lived out.   Our faith is lived out in weak, sin-filled bodies.  It doesn’t matter who we are as believers, we will fail as we live out our faith.   None of us can live a life of perfection.

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Our failures, a means of doubt

The very fact that we fail is often used by the devil as a means of questioning our faith.  The fact that we love God and want to serve him faithfully, and yet fail in our duties, in our desires.  Surely that shows our lack of faith and commitment!!!!  (at least this is how we often think).

And yet, if we look to examples of people of faith in the bible, we will see that they failed as well.  God didn’t hold that against them.  Punishment happened as a consequence of sin but God didn’t say “you aren’t good enough to be called one of my own”.   Not even once.

God continually offered grace to his people.  

Means of Encouragement

In offering up grace to his people, and letting us see examples of men and women of faith who have failed in living out their faith well.  These examples are an encouragement to us.  An encouragement that God doesn’t give up on his people. 

God is ever so kind to us. Letting us see how he helps his people, picking them up, forgiving them and getting them back on track.  This is why there is no white-washing in scripture.  We need to see this.

Review: Teach Sunday School

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For the past few weeks my son has been testing out a new bible knowledge program.  He likes it!  🙂   That’s always a win you know?   When you discover a program that works for how you think.   Books of the Bible At-a-Glance from Teach Sunday School gives us an overview of each book of the bible.   Simply laid out, clear and crisp one page glances at each bible book.   Wonderful!

books of the bible at a glance

Who is Teach Sunday School?

Teach Sunday School is a company who wants to help parents and teachers have the tools they need to help themselves and their charges understand God’s word better.   Bible-at-a-glance is designed to help individuals better understand the theme, purpose and main verses of each bible book.  Teach Sunday School has a variety of other programs to help you understand the bible better.   Their purpose?   To help you teach the bible with joy! 

 There are things like:

– Print and go lesson plans which are complete curriculums for ages 4-12,
– Bible printables (like mazes, word search, crossword puzzles, and journal prompts for ages 5-18)
– Bible Games (like Jeopardy, Tic-Tac-Toe, Bingo, and Treasure Hunts)
– Seasonal items for Back-t0-school, holidays, and even Summer
– Bible Crafts for ages 4-18
– Christian Skits and Plays for pageants, plays, and puppet shows
– Christian Parenting material for teaching kids morals, defending their faith and so much more.

What do you get with Bible-at-a-glance?

books of the bible at a glance

As you can see, with these bible summary sheets, you have a clear bible book name followed by information that is laid out the same for every book of the bible.

Where you can find it, who wrote it and approximately when.  You will then learn the famous stories and pivotal bible verses, complete with main ideas. 

How did we use it?

I have to admit, it took us a little while to decide how to use Books of the Bible at a glance.  This is the schedule my son and I came up with.

schedule bible at a glance

After I print each page off, we place it in a binder for ease of use and reference back.  Having all the information on one sheet makes it very easy to use.   Coming as a PDF means I can print off as many copies as I want if I were using for a Sunday School or adult learning class. Everything is right at my finger tips!

books of the bible at a glance

Before starting his copywork on Monday he would take the time to learn the bible book name and where it was located.

books of the bible at a glance

The first day he copied out the main verses, taking the time to read them over a few times and think about what they meant so that on Tuesday he was able to work on memorization.  Some weeks were easy (like Genesis took him no time at all) but Leviticus he struggled with.

books of the bible at a glance

Below you’ll find his copywork for Exodus.   He’s been practicing his cursive using these bible lessons. 

books of the bible at a glance

On Wednesday’s we had a deal… if there were more than four stories all he needed to do was look up half of the stories and then tell me about the stories he found.   Narration is a good skill to maintain you know, and doing it from bible lessons like these, all the better eh?  🙂

books of the bible at a glance

Thursday was pretty straight forward, learn the major points, be able to explain them.  Expand upon them if you can.  

books of the bible at a glance

Fridays were a review day where he pulled all the information together, being able to tell me everything he had learned. 

My Thoughts:

Well laid out, I like it.  I like how the information is succinct, easily seen, each page has the same layout, making it easy to teach or work through.  My son could do it independently with just checking in once or twice with me.

Son’s thoughts:

I like how it is set up, I know what to expect. I like that it has bible verses for me to memorize and that I can learn all the basic facts about a book of the bible and I can do them over again if I forget something. 

My Pastor Hubby’s thoughts:

They didn’t do a bad job.  It’s definitely not laid out from a reformed viewpoint, but overall information presented is pretty decent.

Area of struggle

I disliked this being part of the Leviticus study.  Setting people up to not want to read one of books of the bible doesn’t seem right in my eyes.  My son commented:  “Why would learning laws make people not want to read a bible book?”

books of the bible at a glance

books of the bible at a glance

 

Teach Sunday School
Books of the Bible At-a-Glance
Faith based, Bible, Summary Cards, Books of the Bible, Christian, Bible Lessons
Current price $9, normally $19!

 

I urge you to check out this very helpful resource.  It’s an excellent way to help you and your students learn God’s word better in a seamless, easy manner. 

 

 

75 members of the crew had a chance to look at Bible at a Glance,

bible at a glance

Social Media Links: 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SundaySchoolLessons/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/biblefun/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teachsundayschool/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/SundaySchoolSample

Learning to Yearn

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A homeschool friend of mine wrote this book Learning to Yearn, she’s written another book “Calling all moms“.    ANYWAYS, I promised her a review back in April and then we bought the house and life got busy, I saw it sitting there and said “OH RIGHT!”  🙂   So that leads me to today eh?

Learning to yearn, review image

Anyways, Laurie is a lady of a quiet faith, she longs to know the Lord better and wishes that for her readers as well.  She’s had some trials in her life and has learned that the best way through them is the seek the Lord throughout.  She raised seven children, losing one to cancer, she grew up in a non-believing home. 

What do you get?

122 pages, divided into nine chapters.  Each chapter is prefaced with a bible verse, and none of the chapters is particularly long, making it easy to read through. Each chapter is followed by a blank page if you want to take notes as you read. 

Learning to Yearn, contents

Using real life examples, Laurie does an excellent job of connecting the spiritual with the everyday.  Helping us to better see the Lord in the things around us.   I could really see Laurie’s humbleness throughout her words.  She doesn’t offer these words out of a sense of “I’ve been there done that”, but more from a “this is what I’ve learned as I continue to struggle with it myself” point of view.  It’s refreshing to read a book that comes from a “me too” perspective you know?   One that shows important lessons to learn about walking in faith, but shows while walking side by side eh? 

One of the lines I liked was this one “It’s an act of faith to let our tight grip go.  It is also an act of faith to go through life with hands open surrendering to His plan, instead of tense, white-knuckle gripping.  Daily we need to ask for help give our concerns, fears, and hardships into His capable hands”. 

My thoughts:

Good book, go out and get yourself a copy eh?  Learn more about how to yearn for the Lord and how that will, over time, transform your life. 

learning to yearn, book cover

 

Learning to Yearn: Amidst the Storms of Life
Laurie Kenyon
Kenyonspage Publications
122 pages, softcover
Christian living, christianity

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Every Job a Parable

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Pastor Van Sloten asks us this important question “Do you know how much your work matters to God?”  In the book Every Job a Parable, he works to show us how every job can showcase who God is. He shows us how every type of job matters to God and helps us to fulfillment in our careers regardless of what they are.  

every job a parable

Who is the Author and What is his purpose?

John Van Sloten pastors a church in Calgary, Alberta, who has also written The Day Metallica Came to Church.  He teaches preaching at Ambrose Seminary.  John tells that through the pages of this book “you’ll encounter God’s revelation through various vocational parables, as shared with me by the people I interviewed. You’ll learn how a firefighter’s passion is like God’s, how the nature of automotive restoration uniquely reflects the renewing mind of God, how the cultural product of the culinary arts reveals something of the hospitable heart of God, and how a geophysicist’s search for subterranean truth informs humanity’s collective search for God’s truth.”

In Every Job A Parable, Pastor Van Sloten uses one through five jobs as examples in his illustrations, showing us how Janitorial jobs show us God at work keeping creation clean, how Wal-Mart greeters showcase the hospitality we are to show to each other, and how doctors help us see how God brings all that he has into saving us.    We are shown jobs from across the spectrum: medical personnel, lawyers, flyer delivery people, hairstylists, parents, and more.   Every job that a person can do showcased the image of God in some way.  

Pastor Van Sloten does not spend the same amount of time with each position that he discusses, some are mentioned only in passing, others more in-depth.  There doesn’t seem to be any rhythm to those he spends more time with, again, his time crosses spectrums of “job importance”. Interwoven throughout the stories of people and their jobs he intersperses scripture passages. 

every job a parable

What do you get?

Four sections, divided up as follows.

What does it mean to Image God?

  • all work matters
  • imaging God with your whole being
  • learning into God’s signature moves

What is a Parable, and how is work a parable?

  • noticing God’s unnoticed presence
  • the iconic nature of vocational parables

What Does God reveal to about himself through our work?

  • God made all things
  • Sin distorts all things
  • God is saving all things
  • God will make all things new

How can we more effectively and consistently image God Through our work?

  • Stepping into the Story that is your job
  • employing the gift of gratitude
  • slowing down, opening your eyes and seeing
  • becoming a vocational mystic
  • trusting that God will use your work

Each chapter opens with a couple of quotes and ends with a series of discussion questions, along with distinctive section headers.

every job a parable

My thoughts:

I found this to be an interesting book to read, I didn’t always make the same connections in positions as the pastor did, but I found it fascinating how he pointed out what he did for each position and how it showed us God all the more.  This read is great to help people look deeper into their own jobs.  To find the God-given responsibilities and gifts from each. God finds a way to be showcased regardless of what job we hold. We should take pride in the fact that we are part of that, finding ways to be the people he has called us to be in the jobs given to us. Pastor Van Sloten’s goal is to help us see how we can better use our jobs to show God to the world around us.  Whether it’s in providing good service, helping people make connections, encouraging people to be the best they can be, how can you use the job that you are in to help people see Christ?  How can you live out Christ to the world?

every job a parable

Every Job a Parable: What Walmart greeters, nurses & astronauts tell us about God
John Van Sloten
NavPress
220 pages, softcover,
Christian living, Christianity,
Reviewed for Nuts about Books.

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