Posted in A Day the Lord Made

My Heart is on overflow right now. Complacency is observable these days within the Body of Christ. As I noted this in others, I was even more aware of it in my own life. I'm hungry for God's Word. Take a good look around you, we find ourselves living in fast moving and changing times. We face upcoming elections in America, gas and other consumer goods continue to soar in price. Our pace is also so swift we can barely find the time to dig into the Bible! Now more than ever MUST make that time! The darkness that surrounds us will begin to get a foothold in our lives if we neglect to study the Bible for ourselves. In Luke 12:48 we read a parable about a faithful servant and this is also where we find the heavily quoted phrase, “

For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.”

For the most part, Bibles are plentiful in the USA. Most families have several different versions within the home. There is no excuse for not making time for the most important study of our lives. The more we study scriptures the more of His Word we will crave. This is a lifesaving cycle that we need to ground DEEPLY in our life pattern! We must renew our minds DAILY. As we live our lives and meet with various encounters and people who don't know the love of the Savior, the scriptures will remain in our hearts. The Holy Spirit will bring to our remembrance verses of scripture that we ingest during our study time. He will keep the light of truth shining brightly before us all day long when we do this.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Psalm 119:105 KJV

Not only will we present a more solid witness, we will be better equipped to defend the faith. Like it or not, we are in a battle!

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places, Ephesians 6:12.

We have a fierce enemy who hates us with a passion. He is the devil. Satan is a deceiver and a liar. He will scheme and plot against the Christian. This wrestle with the devil and his demons will be experienced throughout our whole lives. At times the battle will be very intense. As every Christian will encounter this combat, every Christian MUST under gird his or her life with the truth of God's Word, the Bible. Satan comes to us as an angel of light pretending to be something THAT HE IS NOT in order to deceive us. Don't forget, the STAKES are HIGH! Our relationship with him must be ENMITY. The American Heritage dictionary defines enmity as follows; deep-seated, often mutual hatred. If we become too complacent the enemy can very easily begin to muddle our thoughts. Complacency is a feeling of contentment or self-satisfaction, especially when coupled with an unawareness of danger, trouble, or controversy. In these times it is essential for us to Guard our Hearts!

Guard your heart more than anything else, because the source of your life flows from it. Proverbs 4:23.

When we reach the end of our earthy lives and yes, we all will someday, nothing will matter more than this, NOTHING. Where is your heart focus? Keep it on Jesus.

Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, Hebrews 9:27

We can all too easily lose track and become satisfied with ourselves and our lives. We forget to judge ourselves and our own hearts and motives. We have to keep running that race, even though we may get tired at times. If we are yoked with Jesus Christ, He promises to give us rest and strength to endure to the end of the race. Get back into your Bible and be refreshed and renewed. In my sidebars you will find some tools to get you up and running if you need some help digging into the Word. I'm also in the habit of listening to the Bible in a year on my Ipod device. Listening to the Word in this format may appeal to you for starters. Rick Meyers has created software to assist Bible students, it called E-Sword and it is 100% free! Here's a short description from his website; e-Sword is a fast and effective way to study the Bible. e-Sword is feature rich and user friendly with more capabilities than you would expect in a free software package. The fact that e-Sword is free is just one of the blessings and does not speak of the quality of the software.






It's hard to see when the lights are dim. Keep the oil in your lamp and keep it burning BRIGHTLY!


Stay Close to the Heart of the Savior,

 
© 2008 Who Said Learning Can't Be Fun
{Cathy Nagle}  All Rights Reserved

Posted in A Day the Lord Made

Posted in A Day the Lord Made

I've decided to make each Tuesday the time when I will post on issues of compromise in the church.  I'm entitling this weekly series "Combating Compromise". Many of the prayerful responses that were contributed had shown me that it would be beneficial to post an entry on this topic once a week.  I will be letting those of you who responded know about this post and that each Tues. it will be open for discussion here on my blog. Gottsegnet also had a good suggestion about submitting the topic as a carnival and I will be in prayer about it.

In this Tuesday's entry on compromise, I want to talk about an area where I believe there is MUCH neglect *and* MUCH focus  and is responsible for some of the compromise in the church. What am I talking about? Let me ask you a couple of questions........

1. Within most churches on Sunday morning, how do we normally begin the service before the Pastor delivers the sermon?  How do we usually close the service?
2. What do most of the young people engage in on sometimes a daily if not hourly basis?

Do you know the answer?  It's MUSIC and SONG
Again, this is not an area where *most* Christian homeschoolers have a problem but it is a growing trend among the body of Christ for both youth and adults no matter if your child is in ps or private and it IS beginning to affect homeschooled students as well.
We are all susceptible to this kind of deception, music is everywhere and has the power to influence us for good or for evil.  The Lord in His word tells us:



Most parents don't understand the depths and the lengths that the devil will go through in an attempt to cause us to fall and 2nd guess the Gospel.  Some of us view music as a harmless means of entertainment aside from worship in song during church.  Oh really, is it JUST that? Guess again. Some may argue that it's all of the heavy metal that's bad, that is the type of music that the devil uses.  Oh really?  What do the innocent sounding pop songs cause us to think about?  Self? Lust? Greed? Are these good?

How much does it take, listening to the wrong thing? When does it begin to cause compromise? Will your children stand firm when approached with a few harmless songs to give a listen to? I have a few tools that I will share with you next time, tools that we are using to combat another ill tide that brings a wave of compromise.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord!
In His Love, Cathy

Posted in A Day the Lord Made

What are some ways that we can combat compromise and set a godly example for our children?  Obviously I am not alone in my disappointment by what I have been seeing.
In part 3 I would like to list several ways that we can protect our family and possibly turn some of the ugly tide around.  What is the purpose for gathering with other believers anyway?   Is it not for encouragement, edification, instruction, worship in song, Bible study and reproof to name a few?  As we deal with our own sinful natures, the last thing that we want to concern ourselves with when we meet as the body of Christ is resisting *more* sin.  There should be no question but the answer cannot be found in compromising.

What is compromise? An amicable agreement between parties in controversy, to settle their differences by mutual concession.  A concession to something that is harmful or depreciative.

2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

I am surprised over the well thought out and prayerful responses to part 1 and part 2 and I want to thank all of you for your contributions to this topic. Something is not right,  when we read in one of the responses that while teaching a class for adults in their church, this husband and wife had been asked to find a more "seeker friendly" topic.  What was the introductory question asked of this class?  If you don't believe the 1st five words in the Bible, how can you believe the rest? I believe that would have the Lord's seal of approval don't you? But sadly not by those in position who oversee the classes.

In another comment, it is brought to our attention that the church lacks the ability to think logically and critically.  Again, this is another area where we find homeschoolers instructing their children and leading the way! Why *do* we acquaint our children with logic? We understand the need for the tools to properly defend the Word of God. A good example of an introductory course for children would be a book called "The Fallacy Detective" Thirty-Six Lessons on How to Recognize Bad Reasoning by Nathaniel Bluedorn and Hans Bluedorn

What is a fallacy? A fallacy is an error in logic – a place where someone has made a mistake in his thinking.
I used this book to instruct the children in our local co-op.  This is an example of a way that we can help our children learn to divide truth from error.

Another commented that we lack a foundational knowledge of scripture. Right again! This is why it *is* foundational for us as Christian parents and homeschoolers to continually talk of and learn the Word of the Lord with our children on a daily basis.  How does what we see around us compare to what the Lord says in the Bible?  How can we change a wrong behavior in our lives? Go to the Word!  Pray to the Father through the Son!  He is with us, He will lead us into all truth if we will only yield to Him and become teachable! This another example in combating compromise.
The last way to combat compromise, surly there are more ways, but in order to sum up this entry, is by what we have done right here on our blogs.  I did not think that many would take the time to even read these long posts on compromise let alone respond to them in such prayerful ways as you've done. I see that we have touched and helped one another in this issue. We must continue to pray and seek out those who desire truth.  When we are faced with the temptation to sin (and I cringe as I say this), when we are gathered in a place of worship, remember that HE is with us!  When we are mocked for choosing what is right before the eyes of the Lord, He is with us and He will provide shelter from the tempter!

Ways to Combat Compromise in the Church

•  Pray and seek  Jesus Himself (first) and He will instruct us and lead us to each other and to those who will encourage us to be strong.
• Set an example for our children by studying the Bible with them and learn the basics of the foundation that the Bible is built upon and hold fast to what you've already received.
  
• Practice ourselves, instruct our children and those who the Lord places in our path to divide truth from error via critical thinking skills and logic courses.
• Resist the devil and he will flee from you!!!!

Please feel free to add to this list! May the Lord bless and keep us in His constant care!
In His Love,
Cathy

Posted in A Day the Lord Made

I've not finished pondering and questioning why the church has been compromising.  We are to love one another and it is sad to see our brothers and sisters fall prey to the works of the devil.  It is a heavy responsibility indeed for a Pastor to shepherd those who continually desire the lusts of the flesh.  We need to be proper ministers in our own homes, studying God's Word and I applaud my fellow brothers and sisters who have taken on the full responsibility for educating their children.  Dr. John MacArthur, host of the syndicated radio program Grace to You, has recently said that we lack the discernment necessary to refute errors and He is right!  This is another reason why we see such compromise.  Here is a segment from the Grace to You website:   I have to refer to AIG again when I say that the Lord has raised up a mighty ministry. I could never effectively defend the Gospel "from the beginning in Genesis" until I had been taught the truth" and shown directly from God's Word why it is dangerous for a Christian to follow evolutionary thought.  Here is another segment from Grace to you;
And here again, we not only compromise our worldviews and actions, but we directly compromise the Word in an effort to get along and not to offend, if you will.  We are called to please God and in doing so we will be properly equipped to serve our brothers and sisters.  And here is one last quote from Dr. MacArthur;
We need to hold fast, hold fast....when we receive truth we need to hold onto it with our very lives!  I don't think that there is too much more that I can add to that.  May you be blessed as you go about your day and continue to hold fast to the Word of the Lord!

Love, Cathy

Posted in A Day the Lord Made

What is the reason for some of the compromise that we see in the body of Christ?  Could it be that we don't fully understand God's Word?  Are we too busy following the latest trends and fashions of our present culture?  How about the music of our day and age?  I can think of quite a number of reasons.  Are we really listening to the voice of the Lord?  Do we tune Him out when hearing His instruction becomes an inconvenience?  One of my all time favorite ministries Answers in Genesis has lifted the shroud and exposed one of the terrible mistakes that the church has been making lately and that is not taking ALL of the Bible seriously.  Some Christians think that it doesn't matter what we believe about the accounts written in Genesis but I have to say that it makes the rest of the Gospel crystal clear concerning origins, where sin came from, geology, astronomy etc.
Ken Ham

To me, it was vital that the pastors defend the Book of Genesis to the students. After all, if the first book in the Bible can’t be trusted in their eyes, why should any other? As one lady put it to me 20 years later, ‘When my church told me that I had to accept evolution, and that Genesis couldn’t be believed as written, I asked, “When does God start telling the truth then?”’  I had enough interaction with the students to know that this was how their thinking went as well. If in their religious education classes they were being told to believe the New Testament—but they knew from science that the first book in the Bible wasn’t true—why should they trust any of it?

Gary Bates
"Can you see what has happened? The world has ‘salted’ the church instead of the other way around, in spite of the increase of Christian resources. How can the church change the world for Christ when the world sees the church as irrelevant to the real world? Especially when the church is viewed as not even believing what it’s supposed to believe? Ask yourself, ‘How many church or para-church organizations do you know of that take an uncompromising stand like AiG’s?’" {Why doesn’t the church taste good any more?}

These men are right on.  If we are so preoccupied in trying to look like the world in order to win them over for Christ when will we ever have time to truly witness?  We are told to get "Christianized tatoo's" to show the world our faith, again, who is influencing who here?  Whatever happened to the fruit of the Spirit?  A tree is known by it's fruit not it's tatoo and there we go again looking at the exterior and not at the heart.  A believer whose heart is focused on Jesus will lead a life that reflects Christ and good fruit.

Posted in A Day the Lord Made

It has been one hot summer this year in the eastern portion of the US.  We haven't bothered to switch on the AC because the past several summers had been a mixture of rain and lower than normal temps so we welcomed this long awaited summer with open arms! 

Along with the souring temps also comes the chances for thunderstorms.  Our average T-storms in the east don't produce too many lightning strikes but with the rise in temps this year we are on the look-out for sudden cold fronts to produce whopper storms!  We had one such storm last night. I could see it was going to be an "intensly electrified" storm evidenced by the multiple lights in the sky miles away.  I called home to tell Annette because I was planning to stay with my mother until the storm passed.

The storm moved in quickly and it was a dangerous one to say the least.  We were surrounded by lightning!!!  My usual response was to keep an eye on everything and to pray that it would pass quickly but this time was very different,  each huge bolt that would stretch from sky to ground caused me to praise our Awesome God.  No fireworks display could come close to this mighty hand in the sky.  The decibles from the rumbling thunder shook the floors but I had no fear.  All I had was an awareness of an Awesome Lord who made everything, who knows the number of hairs on my head, who can move mountains (even the earth if he wants to!)  My God is the Rock of Ages of whom or what shall I be afraid?  The lightning was in-escapable and un-ignorable.  A Holy God uses whatever means He has to get our feeble attention, from the tiniest firefly to the flaming arrows in the sky.  We are without excuse.

Many Good Swimming Days to Everyone!
Cathy

Posted in A Day the Lord Made