A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

faith

Sunday Sermon: Keep Awake, Be Ready

By Leave a Comment

Hymns:

Hark the herald the angels sing
Hail to the Lord’s Anointed
O come O come Emmanual
The race that long in darkness pined
Rejoice, rejoice, believers
Be known to us in breaking bread
Joy to the world

Scripture: 

Matthew 24:36-44 (ESV) 

36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. 42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

During advent we are looking forward to Christ coming again.   Too often we only focus on the baby Jesus.
Or people focus on trying to figure out when Jesus will return.  Like the timing is important.

Even in Jesus’ day the disciples wanted to know when Jesus would return.

Jesus answers the when question.  No one on earth knows.  Only God the Father knows.

The angels don’t know, he (Jesus) doesn’t know, people don’t know, only God the Father knows that time.

When Christ was on earth he was limited in many ways by his humanity.   He was still God,  but he was very human.    He walked , talked, asked questions, needed to know things and get places.

While Noah built the ark,  he was continually calling people to know the Lord,  to turn to him and be saved.

2 Peter.   Scoffers  will be around to mock the Lord and his eventual return.

Jesus is clear    we don’t know when he is returning but we have an antidote for that….stay awake!!   Always be expecting.   You know it will happen so simply be alert and be ready.

Whatever we do, be prepared for the Lord to return.

We shouldn’t be surprised like those who live in the dark. Always ready, always prepared.

So how does live a life of readiness?
1. Live like any moment could be your last
2. Live in grounded obedience to God’s will
3. Live a life of faith.
4. Live a life of love

So stay awake.   Be alert.

Days of November: Lesson

By Leave a Comment

This post is part of my Days of November series.  You can find the rest of the days here. 

Lesson Learned

I’ve watched others you know
with Pneumonia.
Thinking they look tired.
So letting them rest.

But it’s not the same.
The understanding isn’t there.

Until.

One has it themselves.
Then one intimately understands
The shortness of breath
The lack of desire.
The inability to move and
Breathe well at the same time.

Lessons learned.
Lessons remembered.

God only gives us what we can bear.
And so far I bear.

A husband caring, doing the dishes. 🙂
A boy loving, bringing me tea and blankets.
A group of friends praying, holding me to the Lord.

This bearing I can do.
As I sit and rest.
And re-discover a truth.
When one sits and loudly breathes.
And the house is quiet.

One can lift up
A boy struggling with accident results.
A young lad struggling with cancer.
A mom missing a daughter off at school.
A church in the throes of closing.
A friend in need of the Lord.
A friend’s husband recovering from surgery.

These things that so often get a fleeting prayer.
That when one is sitting and feeling useless.
Longer prayers can be made.
And this lesson.

It is GOOD.

Hymn Study: Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers

By Leave a Comment

This hymn is new to me.  I’ve never sung it before and was delighted to make it’s acquaintance this morning.   I do wonder what the missing six verses were like. Anyways, it’s been translated from German and I think it’s a good hymn.   You’ll have to let me know what you think?

Lyrics: 

Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers
By: Laurentius Laurentii, 1660-1722
Rejoice, rejoice, believers, And let your lights appear;
The evening is advancing, And darker night is near.
The bridegroom is arising And soon is drawing nigh.
Up, pray and watch and wrestle; At midnight comes the cry.
The watchers on the mountain Proclaim the bridegroom near;
Go forth as He approaches With alleluias clear.
The marriage feast is waiting; The gates wide open stand.
Arise, O heirs of glory; The bridegroom is at hand.
The saints, who here in patience Their cross and sufferings bore,
Shall live and reign forever When sorrow is no more.
Around the throne of glory The Lamb they shall behold;
In triumph cast before Him Their diadems of gold.
Our hope and expectation, O Jesus, now appear;
Arise, O Sun so longed for, Over this benighted sphere.
With hearts and hands uplifted, We plead, O Lord, to see
The day of earth’s redemption That sets Your people free!

Written by Laurentius Laurentii, 1660-1722.   He was the son Herr Lorenz (Laurenti) who was a burgess of Husum in Schleswig, Germany.    He was educated in the field of music and went on to become the cantor and director of music at the cathedral church in Bremen.

Laurenti was one of the best hymn-writers of the
Pietistic school. His hymns are founded on the Gospels for Sundays and
Festivals, and they draw out the bearing on the Christian life of the
leading thoughts therein contained. They are of noble simplicity; are
Scriptural, fervent, and often of genuine poetical worth.(source)

 This
cento is from a hymn of ten stanzas by Laurentius Laurenti. It is his finest
hymn and emphasizes our Lord’s Second Advent. The hymn was published in the
author’s Evangelica Melodica, 1700, entitled “for the 27th Sunday
after Trinity.” (source)

I really liked this rendition

Five Minute Friday: Surrender

By Leave a Comment

Surrender.

When I hear this word I think of the book of Ezekiel that I am reading through.   I am currently a little less than half way through this Old Testament book. 

Ezekiel is surprising me.
God is angry, oh so angry at the start of Ezekiel.
He wants to punish the people, they are colluding with the enemy (so to speak).
He’s angry and wants the people to know one very important thing.

I AM THE LORD GOD and there is no one else like me.

 He punishes and corrects the people.
I am now at the point where God has told the people how he will gather them in.  He will gather then in so that they will no longer profane his name.

And he tells them I am the Lord God.   And THAT is what he wants them to know.

HE is the Lord God there is none other.

So when I read about people questioning God’s will it makes me sorrow.

We have God’s word in our hands, at least us Christians AUGHT to have God’s words in our hands.
We should be able to learn from our past and see how God ALWAYS carries his people through.
It’s not always easy that carrying through, but he does carry us through.

And to the end purpose… So that we will know that HE is the Lord God.
HE.. not me.
HE…not my neighbour, my prime minister/president, my country collective voting rights,

HE is the Lord God.
He has it all Covered.

And knowing that…. should we not surrender ourselves to that fact?
Should we not look at history (particularly biblical history) and see that truth.

He is Lord God.  He and NO other.

Surrender to the knowledge today…you’ll do better for doing that.

Surrender is the word prompt provided for us by Kate.

Listen, a #fmfparty post

By 8 Comments

Today’s five minute Friday word prompt is LISTEN.

I have to admit that I’m feeling stuck on this word today.
Stuck because I don’t want to violate family privacy.
Stuck because listening is a hard one.

But tonight I was having supper at my mom’s and she read a short devotional on the verse
“Be still and know that I am the Lord”.

Mom and hubby got to talking about that verse and in essence those words “be Still” actually mean SHUT UP.

Usually when a person is told to shut up (at least in my experience), they are being told to shut up because they simply aren’t listening.

Think about that a for a moment…

SHUT UP so you can listen.

The Lord God himself wants us listening.
Why?

SO THAT WE CAN KNOW THAT HE IS LORD.

That’s what the Lord wants…just for us to know who he is, and sometimes we are just so terminally busy and so busy yapping about minutia, and we need to be told to be still, to just shut up for a while.

Just be still.   Listen.    Hear the Lord and KNOW him, know him full well, and trust in him.
But first
Be still.

Five Minute Friday: Team

By 9 Comments

Join us this week over at Kate’s blog as we join together of the word prompt TEAM.

3, 2, 1 Go

Team.
It’s hard you know.
To be part of a team.

A team requires working with other people.
I hated team sports as a  child.
Trying to figure out where I fit in best.
Learning quickly that I would always be chosen last or next to last.

I could never figure them out well, and
It seems I am raising a lad with those same lack of skills.
Give us an individual sport and it works much better.
Competing against oneself.

But I have learned as I watched my lad,
that even individual sports have a team component.
The striving to be like others.
The working together to show you have learned a new skill.

I see that and then I look at my own life.
And I see the times when I am part of a team.
When I help at things like Co-op days.
When I have whole families over so my son can play with others.

It’s hard sometimes when you’d rather not.
When it’s easy just to be an introvert.
and not be part of a team,
But it’s a learning growing calling thing.

The Lord calls us to be more than we are.
He promises us his everlasting support.
He promises that he won’t ask us to do something,
that won’t end up being an okay thing for us to.

Consider this.
The Lord God calls us to be family.
To be a part of a working unit.
A body.   A team.

The strong with the weak.
Weak becoming strong as they
are supported and aided.
A body.  A Team.

That’s what we are part of…
even as we remain individuals set on
meeting a standard.
The Team helps.

__STOP_____

This post is part of the Five Minute Friday challenge.  Can I write, without fretting over editing and what not, just write for five minutes on a word provided?   It’s a great community and for the most part we support each other, which is a good thing is it not?   It’s what makes a community a community indeed.  🙂   Why not come join us?   The linky is usually open over the weekend…. so it’s not too late.  Come on, join in the fun won’t you?

Five Minute Friday: Rest

By 2 Comments

Hmm… rest.

We all need rest don’t we?

 Even if we aren’t busy we need rest… have you ever noticed that?   Sometimes we need rest from our “not busyness”… like when I’m on vacation and I realize I want to get home and get back into routine and back into being into this that and the other thing.  🙂

BUT when we are busy with all kinds of things… that is when rest more often feels craved right?

Or when we are busy fighting a battle with our minds or our souls or feel like there is just too much going on around us.. we just need to stop, and consider and change and refocus…

We NEED to rest.

We need to remember what’s important in the long run.

This morning my lad and I were working on a new art project, it called for some fine detail and we’ll be using new techniques and materials…. My lad was stressing out…and I sent him to walk up and down the stairs… to get rid of those stress endorphins and to just grab a moment to regroup.  He needed to rest his mind from the stress of trying to do perfectly something he was learning for the first time.   It’s hard for a perfectionist to do something right the first time giving it a try.   And one of the things I’m trying to teach him is… be a perfectionist…but give yourself the needed time to do it properly.   Don’t rush it… rushing it never  helps.  🙂   Take the time to rest and relax into the moment of trying something new.   Rest instead of stress.

Mind.. some people work best under pressure they really do…but not in our household.  Stress just makes us crazy in our heads and we forget about what’s most important.

Recognizing the giftings God has given to each of us.
Remembering the importance of family and relationships.
Remembering that just as God “always has our back” we do the same thing,  we help each other through times of stress.

Resting gets us away from the craziness and back to what’s most important.

What does resting do for you?

__________________
FMF is a community of writers.  Writing for five minutes on Fridays (sometimes a wee bit later) gathering a word prompt Hosted over at Kate’s.   This week the word was REST.    Come along, join us won’t you?