Scripture Sunday - Psalm 68:19

"Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up: God is our salvation. Selah"

This verse contains a "Selah", which indicates a pause in the psalm, to meditate on what was said. I intend to

do just that. The KJV renders this verse with the wonderful phrase, "who daily loadeth us with benefits", which

could be a sermon in itself, but I will stick with the ESV for now...

  "Blessed be the Lord," Let us give Him honor and praise, fame and glory. Let His name be held in reverence,

and magnified by all people!

  "Who daily bears us up;" Because He daily, without fail, gives us mercy upon mercy, forgiving our sins and

failings, and keeps us from calamity, guiding our very steps by His Word and Spirit.

  "God is our salvation." In Him only have we our life and breath, and He is our strong foundation that can

never be shaken!

I will end with a familiar hymn...

"Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son & Holy Ghost!

Amen!

Scripture-Less Sunday

I would love to have some clever, pre-written, edifying post up here, but alas, my brain is pure mush. So don't,
I ask, judge me too harshly when I turn out nothing but a new website on my sidebar! (If you must know, I
completely wore myself out bike riding after supper, collapsed on my bed, and so have been in a foggy daze ever since.) As for the site, it happens to be The Daily Spurgeon. I have seen it before, but never thought
to put it on my list. It's a collection of excerpts from Spurgeon's sermons, in a daily devotional format. Well,
until next time, here's praying for Grace, Peace, and the Faith to serve our King!

Scripture Sunday - John 8:44, Plus a Treat

Well, we're back! As hoped, we did have a very good time enjoying fun & relaxation with family. There is a
slideshow going up on the family blog soon, so I won't post any pictures. ;) Anyway, here is this week's
installation of Scripture Sunday:

"You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

I believe it's safe to say that all of us have had, or will have, "epiphanies" relating to our Christian walk. Moments when God allows us to see something that we didn't see before. Well, this is one of mine. In 

temptations to sin, the battle is in the mind, and Satan will use every trick he's got in order to make the sin look

good. But then we remember that he is a liar!

  Does he whisper that you are too sinful for God? It is a lie - Jesus came "not to call the righteous, but sinners".

(Matt 9:13)

  Does he promise pleasure and fulfillment if you give in to the desires of your flesh? It is a lie - Sin's pleasures

are fleeting, and they bring only corruption and death, while "the pure in heart, they shall see God", who is our

ultimate fulfillment. (Heb 11:25; Jas 1:15; Matt 5:8; Col 1:16-18)

  Does he tell you that you need not seek God's will in all things, saying, "Surely, He will overlook such small,

innocent indulgences!"? Once again, this is a lie - Every facet of our lives is to be "a living sacrifice" to God,

and He will by no means overlook any disobedience. (Prov 3:6; Col 3:17; Eccl 12:14)

  The enemy is cunning, and he will not hesitate, if the opportunity is given, to try to deceive us. Yet we take heart, knowing that we have the truth, and the truth will set us free!

And now, the afore-mentioned treat, fresh out of editing. Thanks to Blane for handling all the technical stuff.

     

To The Beach!

Yes, once again I have no Scripture Sunday... *Sniffle* ...I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me.

Anyway, we are going to Isle of Palms tomorrow, along with two aunts and an uncle (on my mother's side).
It is sure to be a wondrous time, filled with game-playing, bike-riding, frisbee-throwing, and all sorts of
vacation-y stuff!

The Wretched Bros. recorded again today, and if this song makes it through editing, it'll be quite a treat.

That's all for now, I will have at least one SS ready when we get back on Friday, I promise.  B)

Grace & Peace!

A Wretched Mothers Day

Today, for "Scripture Sunday", I will be talking about the consequences of laziness--Ha ha, just kidding, I really
have nothing today, but I give you what I have, two wretched songs:



And this one I wrote for Mothers Day:

New Song (Belated Post)

I pretty much forgot to put up our latest recording, a great original by Blane Jr:



We plan to have more songs up by next week. (And no, I am not trying to bore a hole through the computer.
I am simply very focused.)

Scripture Sunday - 2 Peter 1:9

"For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind,

having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins."

I do want to focus specifically on this verse, but for the sake of clarity and proper context, we need to take a

look at the main thought which contains it:

"For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue,

and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control

with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with

brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours

and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful

in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities

is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed

from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm

your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall."
- 2 Peter 1:5-10

I think it's easy sometimes to get so wrapped up in our problems and failures that we effectively forget the freedom and forgiveness that we have through Christ. We may be able to outwardly affirm these truths, but at the same time be so fearful that we'll "go and sin some more" that we cannot step forward in faith. This is a lesson I've had to learn plenty of times, that I must constantly preach the gospel to myself. Otherwise, I'll begin to lose the proper perspective.

On a different note, a great resource that I got a lot from on this subject is in the Drive By Theology audio set put out by Todd Friel (From Wretched Radio) and Pastor R. W. Glenn (From Solid Food Media), both of whose sites I have links to on my blog sidebar. Anyway, what I'm referring to is "Session 36" in the said set, which is on progressive sanctification (the lifelong process that every christian goes through to put sin to death and become more conformed to Christ in character). This is a very excellent resource, each session being a very manageable 15 minutes long, but informative, and I highly recommend it.

Coming back to the main point, I will say this in closing. We Christians are marked people, if you haven't noticed, and our enemy will do everything he can to discourage us, make us unprofitable, or seduce us to go back to the bondage of sin. It is absolutely vital that we immerse ourselves in the gospel, reminding ourselves of the victory, forgiveness, and power we have through Jesus Christ.