From Anne Baxter's blog, a great parable

What You Think God Thinks About You When He Thinks About You

Luke 15:1-31
I did church via TV yesterday morning, listening to Andy Stanley from Northpoint Community Church in Georgia. He took my favorite parable (The Prodigal Son) and presented it from a viewpoint I hadn't seen before. I'm not sure I can do it justice here, so I'm including the link so you can listen to it yourself. Let me just say my eyes were opened yet again.
Pastor Stanley reminded us that when Jesus told this parable, His audience included Pharisees, scribes, publicans (tax collectors), and sinners. First He told the story of the the lost sheep and the lost coin, and you might say he was warming up his audience. His listeners could understand going after a lost sheep and looking for a lost coin. Then he began this story of the boy who wanted his inheritance early and then spent it on wine, women, and other stuff the boy shouldn't even get close to. Understandably, he ran through the money and soon was in dire straights. He wound up working for (and put yourself into the Jewish mindset here) the lowest of the low, a pig farmer. Can't you just see even the tax collectors cringing?
Then the boy comes to his senses, realizing his fathers servants are better fed and clothed than he is, and decides he will go home and ask his father's forgiveness--and then ask for a job. He rehearses his speech all the way home.
To his surprise, his father runs to meet him--probably had been watching for him--and puts a robe around his shoulders, sandals on his feet, a ring for his finger, and orders that calf killed they had been saving for a special occasion. The boy tried to give his father the speech he'd memorized, but his father was so overjoyed to see him again he probably didn't even hear it.
Here's where Jesus' audience probably started murmuring among themselves. This boy didn't deserve to be welcomed back. They were all in agreement with the boy's angry brother. But this is what God thinks of you when He thinks of you--He doesn't look at the sin that covers you. He doesn't look at how good you've been or how much you give or your well you do your job. He just sees you as His beloved son or daughter. It's not what you DO, but that you are WITH Him.
It's not the DOING that's important to Him, it's the BEING WITH Him that He notices.
Now, there's a lot I left out of Pastor Stanley's sermon. I hope you'll go to the link and listen for yourself. It's one of the best sermons I've ever heard.
Posted by Anne Baxter at 3:04 PM

Testing my mobile blogger!

Building... and counting the cost

Luke 14:28
"For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish..."
For all of my avid blogger friends out there, I wish to commend your faithfulness to the task! I found out how much time it takes each day to blog regularly, and I took a little hiatus until I could get it right!
One of the last parables I'd like to live in is the one mentioned above! But, it has made me examine my blog and pray through the business of life and decide where I wanted to go with it.

Mathew 13:22 paraphrased...
"And the one on whom the seed was sown among the thorns... the worries of the world... choke the Word..."

When time gets away from us, and we don't accomplish what we set out to do, I'm thankful that our Heavenly Father allows us to regroup and start over... if not for this we would be condemned on an hourly basis!

"... for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago..."
Heb 1:1,2

May the peace of God rule in you hearts today!

Sowing over the weekend

I posted my thoughts about the Parable of the Sower on Saturday... on Sunday, at Fore Runner Christian Fellowship, much of the worship sang; bring Your rain, don't shut up the Heavens, bring Your rain! Part of the message talked about our hearts needing to be fertile to accept God's guidance. God is so coincidental!
On Monday, my daughter Tabitha, living in Trinidad with her husband Paul, told me this; they were on a children's ministry outreach over the weekend that centered around... you guessed it! The Parable of the Sower!
The Spirit of God moves, ever since Creation. He broods over the earth, watching over us. Feeding the helpless Sparrow, adorning the amber waves of grain. Longing to fellowship with us. He doesn't "need" us... He desires us! He doesn't force our love, He designs it! He doesn't do our bidding, He descends to us.
For He "is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though it's waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with it's swelling. There is a river whose streams shall make glad the City of God...
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge." Psalm 46 1-4, 7

The Parable of the Sower

As I sit and watch the rain coming down on a cool rainy April day, I imagine the work being done by each rain drop. Not only is the rain watering the soil, but it is patting it down, pounding it into a fertile membrane that will soon bring forth new life.

"Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is certain as the dawn. And He will come unto us, like the rain. Like the spring rain watering the earth." Hosea 6:3

My soul is a plantation that God is overseeing ever since I trusted in Him! My heart is an open field, waiting to be harrowed, and then broken by the disc. I long for the fertilization of the soil of my heart! Plow deep furrows, oh Lord! Plant your Word deep in the soil of my heart! Bring me New Life, oh God!
For without these steps, my heart lies fallow, lifeless, and infertile. Incapable of sustaining Life! Incapable of rendering any good thing to my Lord, my wife, my children, my world.

In "The Parable of the Sower" in Matthew 6:3-9, Jesus shows me the many changing conditions of the soil in my heart. I may be fertile one day, receiving His care and cultivation, and the next day or hour really, I may be hard as clay! Even if I'm hearing the Word, the compacted fallow ground will not receive it and will not yield a harvest!

Lord help me to accept Your rain... help me accept Your Reign!

Valentine's Day wish for His Beloved!

Psalm 127:2 He gives to His beloved, even in his sleep...
This is not a Parable, but on Valentine's day, I wish to bring this blessing straight from the Throne of God!
He will be with us always, and His love for us is everlasting!
Have a great day!
Oh... and tell someone you love them with the Love of God!

Why talk about Parables!

Take the parable of the Vine Dresser. The master expects several things here. I could enter this parable on any given day by being; the vine dresser as an employee, the master over my employees, or a common worker where my boss is the vine dresser!
In either of these cases, our Lord has described what our attitudes, responses and actions need to be in this day of our lives, in which ever circumstance we are in!

what do you think?

The first day of this blog!

My intention is to ask for your comments as often as you wish, that pertain to your personal walk with Jesus. Each of us differ in a million ways, but the One abiding commonality is that we all serve the One true glorious Savior Jesus the Messiah!

I am of the opinion, that Jesus' parables were not just one time sermons, or views for the moment. I believe they were the Operation Manual for daily living!

Many days of the month I have found myself living in one Parable or the other. I further believe that we may live in them each day! So, take some time and study the parables of Matthew, Mark and Luke, and get to know them. I'll bet that you will see like I have. that our Lord has mapped out our responses to life's challenges, and has shown us the way. Don't be discouraged when we see clearly in hind sight! We can learn from these scriptures how to recognize some problems before they are entrenched in our lives!

Please comment as often as you wish, day or night and I will respond in fellowship as soon as I can! I'll be checking frequently, and anticipating learning from your experiences as well!

Also, feel free to email any confidential correspondence, and prayer requests. You may post what you would like others to be involved with!

I'm looking forward to our lives together!

thanks