Monthly Archives: October 2015

Cee’s Funn Foto Challenge: Made By Man

Posted on by under Photography

This week Cee has encouraged us to HAVE FUN DISPLAYING FOTOS OF MANMADE THINGS.

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Just click on the underlined link  above to see what other photographers have brought to Cee’s place for display.

Here is my sampling…

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This sign found in “Museum square” in Amsterdam was one of several signs built by Metaalplan for the  city’s Amsterdam China Week festivities. The other signs came down after the celebration but the city opted to keep this sign up on the Square and it has become a photographic hotspot.

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This fountain in the Back bay of Boston is one of several recently built as part of Boston’s new “Greenway”. Excuse the finger please!

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This building is in my hometown of Winchendon MA and was built by Ephraim Murdock & Co in the early 1900’s as the high school for our town. It is where both of my parents and most of my aunts and uncles graduated from. Today it is the Murdock Senior Center and is affectionately called “Old Murdock”.

The sky behind it of course was made by Jesus, the son of man and so I guess it also qualifies as manmade 😉

Saulish Worship Pt. 3

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

Sunset Prayer

Over the last few days we have been holding a discussion on holiness here at Lillie-Put. If you have missed any part of that discussion you can find it

HERE

OR HERE

Now let’s continue with today’s discussion.

We brought up the idea yesterday that there will be a group of people who are ejected from Heaven on judgment day because they are not known by God and because they broke God’s laws and refused to do His will…

Some of you are probably saying, “Pastor J that smacks of legalism. It sounds like you are saying that we are saved by our works and if we don’t do works we can’t get into Heaven.”

I am not saying that at all. In fact the people who Jesus is talking about in Matthew 7 have lots of good works. In fact it is those very works they fall back on when Jesus tells them to depart. Look at it,

Matthew 7:21-23New Living Translation (NLT)

21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

The Bible is very clear, your good works in or out of church will not save you. It is the grace of God which comes into your lives through faith which saves you.

Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. …But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!… God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. Eph. 2:1,4,5,8,9

Salvation, eternal life, forgiveness come to us only because of grace. That said, I am convinced that many people even in the church will miss salvation, eternal life, and forgiveness by inches because they have bought into a faulty definition of grace.

You see we have come to define grace as forgiveness of sins, and it is that. When we ask for God’s grace we get forgiven of all the wrong we have ever done. The Bible tells us that God actually overlooks our transgressions, but Grace doesn’t just forgive us. It’s more than just  super soap to wash away super sins. Grace is a power that once we receive it begins to change us. It actually turns us from one thing into another.

Paul says it this way in 2 Cor. 5:17

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

I went to see a worship team in Manchester NH the other night called Rend Collective. In his opening remarks the lead guitarist of the band said, “If our Christianity doesn’t change us. If it doesn’t make us better. If it doesn’t make us love the world like Jesus did then maybe we didn’t really get Christianity the first time around.”

What do you think is there any such thing as Christianity without change?

Share Your World 2015 Week 40

Posted on by under For Family & Fun

It is time to share our world again!!!

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I love this time of the week when I get to sit down and think through and answer Cee’s five questions. I also love reading the responses that come to Cee from around the globe.

When you have finished reading my answers take a trip through the underlined link to see what people have told Cee about their worlds.

Here are this week’s questions…

If you have been to a foreign country name those you have been too?

I have been to Mexico, England, Ireland and the Netherlands. Each trip was different and special in its own way. Mexico and England were missions trips. My daughter and I road-tripped the perimeter of Ireland. I have been to the Netherlands twice to visit my sister.

Is the glass half empty or half full? What type of glass is it and what is in the glass?

I really loved so many of the answers that Cee’s contributors gave to this question. For myself I will answer my cup is full enough! I love what God has given me in life. Should He choose to take me from this earth today I have lived a full life. I can depart in peace even though there are certain things I have not done yet; but I think He will give me a bit more time and a bit more fullness.

My cup is a simple plastic cup, nothing fancy but made to endure.

It is flowing with milk and honey!

If you could have an endless supply of any food, what would you get?

Italian food!

List:  List at least five places worth shopping.

There are more than five places to shop? Who knew?

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am so grateful I was able to go to a night of worship hosted by Rend Collective last Friday. This week I am looking forward to worshipping at the Lifeskills program  In Ashburnham MA, finishing the prologue to my book for my publisher and preaching on Sunday morning at Cornerstone Church.

Saulish Worship Pt. 2

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

Sunset Prayer

Yesterday we began a new discussion series on the topic of holiness. If you missed this beginning you can find it

HERE

Scriptures like the passage from Matthew we shared yesterday are called “hard words”.

In I Timothy 2: 7 Paul the Apostle says,

And I have been chosen as a preacher and apostle to teach the Gentiles this message about faith and truth.

As preachers of the gospel, pastors are called to deal with the entirety of Scripture. We are told to preach the “sweet words” of faith and the “hard words” of truth. We are to encourage men and women with the mercy of God and at the same time warn our generation that while God is merciful, He is also the judge of all the Earth sworn to bring justice. We are called to preach the healing words and the words of Scripture that assault our senses. We are to remind men and women that the same God who will say, “Well done good and faithful servant enter into the joy of the Lord” to some, will say “Depart from me I never knew you.” To others.

Our generation is one which by nature and according to prophecy wants its ears tickled.

“Bring me a good word preacher man.” is on the lips of so many.

Our generation is the generation of unlimited do overs and no consequences.

I have actually had it said to me “You’re a pastor. You are supposed to love and support me in whatever I do like God does. You are not supposed to try to change me.”

To which I reply, “I cannot change you but God MUST CHANGE YOU if ever you are to see Heaven.”

I have struggled with this message because the words  from Matthew 7 are hard words. Words of judgment. Words that remind us not everyone will be entering Heaven. Harder still because these verses indicate that not even everyone who calls themselves a Christian will enter into Heaven.

The people in our story from Matthew Chapter 7 are not Buddhists; They are not Muslim; They are not Hindu. They call Jesus Lord. These people would call themselves Christians. They believe in Jesus. More than that these people are not just pew warmers. They are active in their churches. They are active in ministry AND they are active in supernatural ministry…And yet they do not make it to Heaven. Why?

Well Jesus gives us two reasons in these verses.

First reason…Jesus says, “I never knew you.” Ma 7:23:

It is possible to believe in Jesus as God; It is possible To believe in the historical Jesus; It is even possible to believe in His resurrection and not have a relationship with Jesus.

It is possible to work for the church; It is even possible to perform miracles in the name of Jesus and still not have a relationship with Jesus.

Paul, the Apostle said it was possible to do all the works of ministry and still miss Heaven. He said it this way in speaking of himself.

I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified. 1 Cor. 9:27

And that leads us to the second reason these people are rejected

Jesus says they are rejected because… they broke God’s laws and because they did not do the will of the Father in Heaven. Ma7: 21,23, 26

Do you think there is a difference between breaking God’s laws and not doing the will of the Father in Heaven?

Saulish Worship Pt. 1

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

I had the wonderful opportunity to preach once again at Cornerstone Church in Winchendon MA yesterday. We are walking through a study on the need for holiness and the title of my sermon was Saulish Worship.

Carried on the backs of angels

Carried on the backs of angels

Here is the opening to that sermon:

Today we continue our study along with John Bevere through the Book Good Or God. My thoughts spring (loosely) from chapters 4 and 5 of that book and we will be dealing with a passage of Scripture in the book of Matthew chapter 7: 21-27

True Disciples

21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

Building on a Solid Foundation

24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. 26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”.’

As we begin what about these verses stands out to you?