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The Road Through Romans: Peace In Battle

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Today we are finishing up our discussion on Romans 1:7

“To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”

If you have missed any of our discussions through Romans you can find them on THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.

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Yesterday we spent our time talking about God’s blessing of grace. today we are going to talk about God’s peace. The Greek word used in verse 7 for “peace” is “Eirene” and it is defined as, “the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, it fears nothing from God and is content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is.”

Paul is not promising in Romans 1:7 that the Lord is going to remove the Romans (or us) from the battles or troubles of life when He blesses them with peace. Paul is declaring that there is a blessing of peace that can settle upon the Christian in the middle of life’s worst battles. This kind of peace can possess our hearts and minds and keep us soul-quiet even while the world rages around us.

I remember one particular point in my life when the battle got so overwhelming and powerful I really should have fallen apart. I kept expecting to. I kept telling myself, “Tomorrow I will probably have a nervous break down.” But the breakdown never came. It was not because I didn’t care about what was going on. In fact I spent whole weekends shut away from the world fasting and praying over the situation. The situation never changed. I did. God gave me His peace. He let me know He would walk with me. He let me know I was still blessed even though everything around me was a curse.

The key to walking in the blessing of peace is to keep your eyes on Jesus and off the world. Isaiah taught this in chapter 26 of his book when he stated, “You will keep in perfect peace
    all who trust in you,
    all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” Isa. 26:3

So on a scale of 1-10 how strong is your sense of peace? What do you have to take your eyes off of so they can refocus on Jesus to bring that number up even one point?

Share Your World 2015 Week 49

Posted on by under For Family & Fun, Uncategorized

Just a few weeks left until we launch into 2016. As Christmas creeps closer here we are sharing our worlds again. You can see how others answered the share your world questions for this week by going to CEE’S SITE.

Meanwhile here are the  sharing questions for the week from our hostess Cee.

share-your-world2What would be your ideal birthday present, and why?

A day of complete solitude  which is protected by the ones I love, would be an ideal birthday present. I love people and I love events but I am busy all the time and my calendar is full of events. Scheduling alone time is nigh unto impossible and even when it is scheduled many times it gets interrupted by life. To have a time of solitude completely insulated from the world and its goings on would be the best gift anyone could give.

What color would you like your bedroom to be?

I like my bedroom the calm green it currently is.

Would you prefer snowy winters, or not, and why?

I have lived all my life (but a brief span in college) in New England. Snowy winters are well known to me. I don’t mind some snow, but the eight- plus feet we got last year was a little much. 

Would you rather go a week without bathing, but be able to change your clothes, or a week without a change of clothes, but be able to bathe?

Oh I think I could go without changing my clothes… but a week without bathing?….. 😦 Oh that would be hard unless of course it was a snowy winter and the water was cold. Then I would go a week without bathing as long as I could change my clothes.

Still,  If I couldn’t do either I suppose even that I would get use to.

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 for the opportunity to narrate the dance performace of “The Chosen Lambs” this last weekend. This week we are starting into full blown Christmas season at the church so I am looking forward to that.

Here is a picture of the cast of “The Chosen Lambs”
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The Road Through Romans: The Power Of Grace

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles, Uncategorized

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Today as we walk through Romans we are talking once again about the power of Grace. If you have missed any of our discussions on the Book of Romans you can catch up on THE ROAD THROUHG ROMANS PAGE.

Yesterday we spoke about the Christian’s calling to a holy and separate life. The oft asked question is “how is holiness to be achieved by the ordinary person who cannot withdraw from the world into a monastery or some cave in the mountain heights?”

Let me start by saying that I don’t think God calls many people to the monastic life or the life of a hermit. Holiness or separation is not something you need to come out of the world physically to achieve. Holiness was meant to be achieved by every Christian not just full time clergy or cloistered brothers and sisters. As Christians we are to be in the world just not of it. The way we achieve that is through two gifts Paul continually blesses his audiences with: Grace and Peace.

He blesses the Roman Church with these in verse 7 of chapter 1 “Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Both grace and peace are gifts that come from God. We cannot earn them nor can we create them by our own power. Grace- charis is composed of two parts.

First, it is favor that comes to us even though we don’t deserve it. God likes you best and He likes me best too and there is nothing we can do about that. God always wants the best for us. God is always pulling for us and never comes to a point where He desires to dessert us. Even when He judges us or disciplines us it is in the hope that He will be able to get us back on the right track.

The second part of grace is the power to help us do those things we are too weak to do ourselves. God calls us to lives of supernatural achievement. He calls us to lives that can only be lived if He invades us with power to do things we cannot do ourselves. Don’t be surprised that the thing God requires of you is too hard for you to do. If it wasn’t bigger than you, too hard for you or in the realm of the impossible you wouldn’t need  grace.

We cannot live without God’s favor or His power. We need His grace and we need to apply it to our practical situations. So let me asked where do you need to pray God’s grace to help you today?

 

Pastor Wrinkles’ Sunday Quips & Quotes 12-5-15

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Q&Q

Hey there folks! Here is a new challenge for all my Sunday readers. Every Sunday I will post one quip or quote that struck me during the week. You can join along in the quipping and quoting. Here is what to do.

Publish a post of your own, using one quip or quote that grabbed you during the week. You can add a picture to it if you like or even photograph the quote from it’s source.

Link back to my post

You can include the Pastor Wrinkle’s Q& Q photo in your post if you think my mug worthy of your blog.

 

Quote of the Week:

“The strength of what we believe is measured by how much we are willing to suffer for those beliefs.” Barry Risto

The Road Through Romans: His Holy People Pt. 2

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles, Uncategorized

100_5431Today we continue our discussion through the Book of Romans. We are currently in verse seven, but if you have missed any of our previous discussions you can catch them on THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.

Today we are continuing to discuss Paul’s audience. Paul says his audience is, “all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:” Ro. 1:7

Because this book is included in the canon of Scripture it also means we are the audience of this book. It was written for the Roman church going through a particular set of circumstances, but the teaching which was directed to their specific circumstances can also be applied to our general Christian lives. Therefore “all in Rome” also applies to you and me. As the old saying goes, “When in Rome…”

Paul begins by reminding his audience that they are loved by God. He also states that as Christians we are called to live holy lives. The word “holy” means “separated”, “different”, “dedicated”. Our lives are to be separate or different from the world. Our lives are to be dedicated to obeying God.

I recently had an individual come to me feeling like they were “falling away from God.”

I asked the person if there was anything they were doing that was sin in God’s eyes. The person admitted there was. But when I asked this person if they were ready to repent or turn away from the sin the answer was a resounding “No!”

Well, holiness means never saying “no” to God even when your heart defies Him and wants to do what is contrary to God’s desires.  Holiness means following God’s plan for your life even when the whole world is calling you in another direction.

Of course holiness is a work in progress. No one lives completely holy. Sometimes our hearts deceive us and lead us down paths that are anything but holy. It is the pursuit of holiness, the practice of holiness and not sinless perfection that we are called to here.

Separation and dedication are mindsets that begin to create a condition of ever increasing righteousness. As with most things in Christianity the battle of the mind has to be won before the battle for behavior can ever be addressed but once the mind is brought into submission behavior begins to change.

Before you go today, tell me some things you do to practice your holiness or dedication to God.

 

Friday Fictioneers: The Garden At Life’s Edge

Posted on by under The Stories, Uncategorized

Here is another episode of Friday Fictioneers, the post where 100 authors share 100 words off of a photo prompt provided by blog-hostess Rochelle. Check out the diversity in the stories shared by clicking the link above and by following the blue frog to the stories.

Here is the weekly prompt and my story:

Photo by: Roger Bultot

The Garden At Life’s Edge

By J.E. Lillie

We used to climb the stairs to the roof every weekend. She would hand me the garden claw and I would bend to weeding her roof-top garden while she deadheaded the flowers. We were both younger then.

It’s been years since we made that climb together. She barely reaches the last step. I can hear her weeping as we step into what’s left of the ruined roofscape.

I place my hand on Nana’s quivering shoulder.

“We’ll fix it, Nana.” I say.

But she knows there is no fixing this garden at life’s edge.

The Road Through Romans: I Belong

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles, Uncategorized

100_5431We are moving through the book of Romans a verse at a time and today we come to verse 6 of chapter 1. If you have missed any of our previous discussion they can be found on THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.

Romans 1:6 reads,

And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

I don’t know what growing up for you was like. My experience was echoed in the movie Diary Of a Wimpy Kid. Only for me there never really was that moment where I exploded onto the hero’s stage. I was just a wimpy kid. I was the overweight guy, who got good grades, played flute in the band and got picked last in every gym class line up (not even kidding there).

One time in volley ball I got placed on the team and was told “if the ball comes to you just step out of the way. We don’t want you to foul up our game.”

I left the game and sat on the sidelines and that seemed to make everyone happy. I immersed myself in a book and went to that place all misfits go to when they are hurt, the imagination.

I share that to relay to you one of the reasons I am a Christian today. Like many others I know I found it hard to fit in to a world that valued certain attributes I didn’t have and downplayed other attributes I did have. When I came to Christ I found a place to belong. I found Someone who accepted me for who I was and what I could do and who actually valued it. More than that He told me that He was the One who made me this way and that I was CALLED TO BELONG TO HIM AND USE MY GIFTS FOR HIM.

Maybe I don’t fit in with the world. Maybe I don’t even fit in with most of the church. That is OK because I fit in with Jesus and He likes me just fine.  I have discovered that, I can serve the world in the church on the basis of His acceptance. I don’t need any body else’s.

How has belonging to Christ healed your self-perception?

The Road Through Romans: What Comes Through Faith

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100_5431Our discussion through Romans is going strong. Kim just joined in and has caught up. You can too by going to THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.

Today we are finishing up with verse 5 in chapter 1. It reads:

Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. Ro. 1:5

Belief in our society had become a passive thing.  We believe in lots of things, that is we give mental assent to lots of things. We believe in freedom of speech. We believe in the right to bear arms. We believe in the red, white and blue. We believe in apple pie, mom and we believe in Jesus!

But biblical faith or belief isn’t just mental assent to the reality of something. James says it this way, “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” James 2:18,19

Paul tells us that faith (real faith) creates an obedience, a willingness to support and fight for the things we have faith in. How much you actually believe in Jesus is displayed by how well you live for Him. Strong faith creates right living. Weak faith creates careless living.

What mindsets, in our culture, does the teaching about “obedience that comes from faith” confront?