Stardust

Our Minister at St. John's, Dr. McClendon, preaches the best sermons. Earlier this year, he taught us about stardust. The following notes are from his sermon.

Wedgwood is made from Kaolin. The English company sent two agents to NC to find what they called “Cherokee Clay.” They came and dug up tons of it and sent to Charleston to be shipped to England. They missed the largest deposit in the world right here in Aiken/Edgefield.

Look at the back of your hand at the blood vessels. They look blue, but when you are cut, the blood is red because of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin comes from iron, and iron comes from super novas which occurred eons ago when stars died out and burst forth as iron particles throughout the universe. In this swirling mass we call earth, iron has come. When you look at the blood vessels on the back of your hand and see red in your blood, you're seeing stardust. When you look in the mirror you see stardust. Adam in Hebrew means clay. Psalm 139:14 “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;” Iron deficiency causes poor self esteem. Carl Segan says we are built of 'star stuff.” Physicist Chet Raymo, “We are indeed the detritus of stars, our atoms are the flour of celestial mills, our bodies he backings of solar fires.” So value yourself and everyone else. There's nothing you can do to make God love you less, there's nothing you can do to make God love you more. In Jesus we have been redeemed, forgiven, adopted.... everything we need – Jesus.

Ephesians 1:3-14

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal,t he promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

God Uses Ordinary People To Do Extraordinary Things

I've got to tell you about the bunny trail God lead me on today! This is truely a message from him to us. I just followed the trail.

I was reading some Christian fiction, Inn Dependence by Angelo Castillo.  One of the characters said, "God uses ordinary people to do amazing things. 2nd Corinthians 4:7 says God uses treasures found in earthen vessels so that the world will know the power is from Him and not from us. We're all flawed, and we all have problems." I thought that was lovely so I wrote it down to share on this blog. 

Then, as I often do, I searched for a graphic to put with it. My Google seach was 'God uses ordinary people.' That search gave me the graphic below which also mentions  1 Corinthians 1:26-29.

"Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him."

 On that same Google search was the following from Grace Fox www.gracefox.com. “Too often we fall into the mindset that says we need to be strong, brave, super-talented, or super-educated for God to use us, but Bible story after Bible story proves this is wrong. He used Noah—a landlubber—to build an ark; Moses—an 80-year-old who was still working for his father-in-law—to lead the Israelites out of captivity; Paul—a murderer—to become the greatest missionary of all times; Esther—a teenage exiled orphan—to save her entire nation from annhiliation; David—a teenage shepherd boy—to kill the giant who intimidated armies of adult men, and many other such characters to accomplish His purposes. He looks for people whose hearts are genuinely bent on pleasing Him, and then He gives them the opportunity to partner with Him and experience Him in new ways as He leads them beyond their personal comfort zone.”

Then all of it reminded me of my FAVORITE song, Nobody, by Casting Crowns. So God REALLY  does use ordinary people, like me to give you this message of thoughts and ideas from different people and connected to scripture to make a lovely message. Me? I didn't do anything except follow the bunny trails and type. I love bunnys by the way.

Eternal Security of Salvation

This message is from Millie, and I wanted to share it:)

From Charles Stanley this morning…he mentioned that he believes in eternal security of salvation and used this verse.  Ephesians 1:13-14 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession-to the praise of his glory.

My thoughts:

God, who cannot lie, has sealed us, guaranteeing our salvation.

We can lose our joy and blessing by not obeying, or turning away from God, but we cannot lose our salvation. Otherwise God is lying when He has promised in John 3:16 (and many other verses), that if we believe in Him, we will have eternal life.

If we, who have free will, and will at times be disobedient, can “lose our salvation”, doesn’t that mean that instead of salvation being a “free gift”, we are constantly still trying to earn our salvation by good works?

The question to me, if someone seems to have turned from God, would be if they ever really accepted Jesus as Savior. And that question and answer is up to God, who judges rightly, as He knows all things and us all and knows our hearts. We cannot make that judgement about anyone but ourselves.

I also wanted to share this Joni devotional today. In some ways, it illustrates the above thoughts. And also encourages us to continue praying for loved ones to come to know Jesus in a personal way, as Savior.

Blessings,

Millie

Fan the Flame

by Joni Eareckson Tada

“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:6-7

Nothing dampens the fires of enthusiasm more than discouragement. When you’re discouraged, the glow of excitement for the Lord dims, like embers of a dying fire. That’s the time to “fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you.”

For years Mrs. Hanover prayed for her husband’s salvation. Then one day he was killed in an automobile accident. She lost her husband—not only to this earth but for all eternity. Discouraged, she stopped living for the Lord.

Five years later she met Roger Sims, who told her an amazing story. Roger said he had been hitchhiking when Mr. Hanover picked him up. During the course of their ride, Roger witnessed to Mr. Hanover. Well, Mr. Hanover was so convicted that he pulled his car over on the side of the road and prayed. Roger explained that eventually Mr. Hanover dropped him off. Mrs. Hanover was wide-eyed. It was later on that very day that the fateful accident happened.

While Mrs. Hanover felt immense surprise and joy, she also cried tears of regret for having given up in discouragement. From that point on she fanned the dying embers of her faith until her confidence in God was restored.

We Christians often give over to discouragement with hardly a fight. We let doubts gain a toehold, and before you know it they have a foothold, then a handhold. Then we chuck it all.

Each of us faces disheartening circumstances. But no matter what happens, keep trusting, keep obeying. Discouragement is like a dark tunnel. The only thing that will brighten your path is to fan the flames of your faith until it’s a fire. Obedience then will light your way out the other side.

Our Father, give me perseverance in the face of disappointment. Enable me to keep on keeping on.

Notes From Bible Study

Books that Susan shared with us:
A Place of Healing by Joni Eareckson Tada

Imagine Heaven: Near-Death Experiences, God's Promises, and the Exhilarating Future That Awaits You by John Burke

Satan and the Corruption of Nature: Seven Arguments by Dr. Greg Boyd
https://reknew.org/2019/07/satan-and-the-corruption-of-nature-seven-arguments/

Dr. Tim McClendon shared this article on a hopeful future:
A Happy Death and a Hopeful Future

1 Peter 5:8-9

Be sober, be watchful: your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom withstand stedfast in your faith, knowing that the same sufferings are accomplished in your brethren who are in the world. American Standard Version

  

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.  New International Version

1 Corinthians 4:4

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them. American Standard Version

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. New International Version 

Notes From Ravi Zacharias' Message

Good News Network 91.7 Aiken 99.1 Barnwell

Ravi Zacharaias

West Acres Baptist Church, Evans Georgia 1-17-2020

• Ravi Zacharaias' ministry RZIM has a team of 98 global speakers in 15 countries
• There is so much toxicity and vitriol in the media today. The whole dvison in the land is because the politicans have left God out of the process.
• Iran show down plane, all the lives, the intellect lost. No one says anything about the lives lost due to abortion.
• Differences come down to one word GOD
• All of this is happening to us because we have forgotten God.
• Good and evil, there is an irreconcilable difference
• The Parable of the Madman, Friedrich Nietzsche (didn't understand this) http://www.historyguide.org/europe/madman.html
• Hitler, Muslini … we paid a price
• right/wrong, left/right, up/down there is no frame of reference
• God has been taken away from our eduction system
• Philosophy
• absolute point of reference
• everything is in flux
• society has broken down boundaries
• God didn't come to the wold to make bad people good, he came to make dead people LIVE
• Moral Reasoning and Meaning
• collapse of our culture
• worst is higher education
• If God doesn't exist, there is no moral imperitive, no point of reference
• In David Berlinski in his book, The Devil's Delusion:"Has quantum cosmology explained the emergence of the universe or why it is here? Not even close. Have our sciences explained why our universe seems to be fine-tuned to allow for the existence of life? Not even close. Are physicists and biologists willing to believe in anything so long as it is not religious thought? Close enough. Has rationalism and moral thought provided us with an understanding of what is good, what is right, and what is moral? Not close enough. Has secularism in the terrible 20th century been a force for good? Not even close, to being close. Is there a narrow and oppressive orthodoxy in the sciences? Close enough. Does anything in the sciences or their philosophy justify the claim that religious belief is irrational? Not even in the ball park. Is scientific atheism a frivolous exercise in intellectual contempt? Dead on."
• God LOVES you! DNA Soul
• naturalists say do whatever makes you happy

1. Sense of awe and wonder (childlikeness)
2. Truth (no meaning without truth)
3. Love (belongingness)
4. Seccurity

• without God there is no definition of love
• Pete Buttigieg says love between two people is fine. Zacharaias answers then why ot 4 or 5 people who love each other in a relationship. Society has taken away the boundaries
• purpose for our living is LOVE
• Zacharaias' daughter was having a particularly harried day and said she was losing her mind. Her 6 year old son, replied, Mommy, whatever you do, don't lose your heart, because I'm in there.
• Loving, Kindness, HOPE
• Jesus rose from the dead
• first testamony was in the mouth of women
• justice eternity
• gospel is awhold way of seeing things

Additonal quotes from David Berlinski in his book, The Devil's Delusion:

"No scientific theory touches on the mysteries that the religious tradition addresses. A man asking why his days are short and full of suffering is not disposed to turn to algebraic quantum field theory for the answer. The answers that prominent scientific figures have offered are remarkable in their shallowness."

"What Mao did not believe and what the SS did not believe and what the Gestapo did not believe and what the NKVD did not believe and what the commissars, functionaries, swaggering executioners, Nazi doctors, Communist Party theoreticians, intellectuals, Brown Shirts, Black Shirts, gauleiters, and a thousand party hacks did not believe was that God was watching what they were doing. And as far as we can tell, very few of those carrying out the horrors of the twentieth century worried overmuch that God was watching what they were doing either. That is, after all, the meaning of a secular society."

"Just who has imposed on the suffering human race poison gas, barbed wire, high explosives, experiments in eugenics, the formula for zyklon b, heavy artillery, pseudo-scientific justifications for mass murder, cluster bombs, attack submarines, napalm, intercontinental missiles , military space platforms and nuclear weapons? If memory serves it was not the Vatican."

"The advent of militant atheism marks a reaction—a lurid but natural reaction—to the violence of the Islamic world."

Winter Study

See SCHEDULE for details.

The Case for Faith: A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity is a non-fiction book by Lee Strobel, a former Atheist turned Christian who uses the book to examine a number of critical questions that he feels limit a person’s capacity to embrace Christianity specifically, and organized religion more generally. He calls these questions “heart barriers.” The book consists of a number of interviews and reflections from prominent philosophers and theologians, as well as everyday Christians, that seek to answer some of the questions Strobel poses.

Strobel begins his book with an anecdote about a pair of evangelists and close friends, Charles Templeton and Rev. Billy Graham. Graham, who is now quite old, has remained a Christian for his entire life, despite all his varied experiences. Templeton, on the other hand, became an agnostic after he saw a photograph of a mother in African holding the dead body of her baby during a horrific drought. After seeing this photo, Templeton began to question his faith and his doubts about God, finding few answers. He fell away from his religion because he found it impossible to believe in a loving God when women were losing their babies due to lack of access to drinking water.

Strobel uses this anecdote to set up his book as an examination of some of these challenging questions, which cause even the most devout believers to lose their faith and move away from the church. Once an atheist for many of the same reasons as Templeton, Strobel counters some of these questions through interviews with prominent thinkers in philosophy and religion. The questions that he focuses on include: How can a loving God exist in the midst of evil and suffering? How can miracles be true if science contradicts them? Why is God needed if evolution occurred? How could God be worthy of worship if he allows the killing of children and innocents? How could a loving God torture people in Hell? Other chapters include questions about how it is possible to support Christianity given its violent and offensive past, and how to cope with the often exclusionary principle that embracing Jesus is the only way to find God.

Through his interviews with priests, scholars, and theologians, Strobel lays out clear arguments for each of these questions. Evil and suffering exist, he argues, because having free will, man is able to counter the will of God by refusing to ask for help when it is needed, or actively working against the plans of God. Miracles are possible because, operating within the realm of nature, they are only facilitated by the hand of God. Hell is not God’s punishment, but rather a realm full of suffering into which people go only when they reject God – by embracing God, it is impossible to go to Hell; God does not send people to Hell through judgment. The violent history of Christianity, like suffering, comes from the free will of men; the fact that it existed does not speak to the actual principles of Christ. Strobel also makes it clear that it is natural to doubt one’s faith, and possible to ask God not only for help in one’s belief but also for help through phases of unbelief. As for the people who were killed in the Bible, Strobel argues that God only allowed them to die because if they were to live, they would have caused unspeakable violence against the Israelites.

Overall, Strobel’s message is both in favor of Christianity and one that embraces doubt and questioning. Strobel acquiesces that in order to become a strong Christian, one must consider arguments that promote Christian belief systems and shine a good light on the church, as well as those that cause tension. After weighing all the evidence, Strobel confirms that Christianity is an overwhelmingly positive force, despite the doubts that he has presented in his text. He ends the book with a heartwarming note about Graham visiting his friend Templeton on his deathbed, and praying for his dying friend.

Lee Strobel is a former investigative journalist and the author of several Christian books. He has received four ECPA Christian Book Awards for his work. Some of his titles include The Case for Christ and The Case for a Real Jesus. He has also written a spin-off The Case For… series which is geared toward young readers interested in critically analyzing Christian faith. Strobel worked as a teaching pastor for a number of years before moving into the production of his own television show, Faith Under Fire. He also worked as a journalist and has a degree from Yale Law School.

God Really Isn't Finished With Me Yet

I last wrote about witnessing. It's been on my mind for quite some time. Put there by the Holy Spirit no doubt! I recently had a chance to witness to a family member and it was an amazing experience. I prayed about it often and then again just before I opened my mouth to speak. I could FEEL the presence of the Holy Spirit with me. I had no idea what to say, I did not feel competent to share scripture that would not come out in a preachy way. When I opened my mouth, I felt compelled to simply share what God has done for me. I said that God has saved my marriage and rescued me from depression and gave me a more meaningful life of hope and peace. I think it made an impact on my family member. I hope I planted a seed that will lead to more growth. I left a copy of a book that I dearly love in hopes that it will be read and answer some questions. The Case For Faith by Lee Strobel answers some questions that this family member has, like: I don't understand all the suffering in our world. And, I'm not sure I believe that Jesus is the only way to go to heaven, what about all the good people who aren't Christians, what about the millions who have never heard of him? I attempted to answer his questions on the phone a few weeks ago, but I felt so inadequate to do so. God isn't finished with me yet, how can I help someone else? My minister gave me some resources to help and has been praying for me and my family. I don't know how to articulate it but God IS WORKING ON THIS. I can feel it, I know it in my very heart.

In my conversations with family I experienced a renewed sense of how much God has done, is doing, and will continue to do with me. What a marvelous blessing to have our creator love us so much that He sends the Holy Spirit to dwell in us and help us grow and feel his love!