Book Review: First We Have Coffee (5 stars of 5)

First We Have Coffee: And Then We Talk * * * * *    by Margaret T. Jensen 

The Face of Christian Love and Hospitality!

What a great book! If you are looking for biblically based book on how to show Christ's love to your family, friends and even strangers, look no further.

The author's mom is truly a model of what a Christian wife, mother and woman should be. In these days when Christians have been become like the world, cherishing their "privacy" and failing to reach out even to their next door neighbors with the love and hospitality of Christ, this book is a breadth of fresh air.

 Showing Christian love and hospitality is not about how much you have in your bank account or how big your house is, it is about how much room you have in your heart. This book was a real page turner, I could not put it down. I got it about 3pm and was done before bedtime at 10pm, in between making dinner and other chores.


 If you are seeking the Lord on how to reach out to those around you, even your family, this is the book. While this book will bless any one who reads it, I think it will inspire wives and moms the most.

Reading level: ages 12 and up

Book Review: Seasons (4 stars of 5)

Seasons: A Real Story of an Amish Girl  * * * * by Elizabeth Byler Younts

 

True Contentment!

A very moving story about the author's grandmother. The author takes us through the different seasons of her grandmother's life, through the pains, joys and trials she had to endure growing up in a poor Amish family and how her faith brought her though it all.

 As you read this book, you will laugh and cry. The book was an easy read and a page turner. While the book was sad and heart wrenching, the trials she went through taught her how to be selfless and thankful.

 In spite of their poverty, she never complained nor whined about what she never had. She found things to be thankful for.  On page 13 (in my kindle version) she writes:

  "....I loved my parents, sisters and brothers.
 We were all generally healthy.
I loved school and my teacher Mrs Massey.
 We had a house.
We had peaches to eat and give away."

As you read the book, you will feel the sweet personality of the young Amish girl coming through the pages. This book really challenged me to search my heart and reexamine the things I hold to too tightly. I really loved this book.
Reading level: ages 10 and up

Book Reviews

I recently started a book club with a couple of friends and as such decided to start blogging again. This time, I plan to review books that I have read personally as well as some from our book club selection.

Holiness

As a Chrisitan, one thing I know about God through the Scriptures is that He is a Holy God. God is Holy. He is so holy that sin cannot come near him. It was His holiness that made Him turn His face away from His Son when Jesus bore the sins of the world on the cross.

The apostle Peter tells us in 1Pet.1:15-16 "...but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy"

We know that God takes holiness seriously because Heb. 12:14 says "Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:" The writer of Hebrews tell us that without holiness, no one shall see God.

But what does it mean to be holy? Can anyone really be holy? In the coming days or maybe weeks, we will be exploring this topic on holiness. This is one area where the Lord has been dealing with me about for some time now - the pursuit of holiness. It is my prayer that at the end of this topic, we would not only understand what holiness means, but be fired up to live holy as God has called us to.

God Bless you

Elizabeth

Called To Ministry?

Called to ministry? Here are a few tips:

By the grace of God, I have been saved and walking with Him now for 18 years, I have learned a few things along the way:

1. Ministry is not a job or career, it is a calling from the Lord Almighty. It is an adventure. (Matt.8:18-22)

2.When the Lord calls a person to do His work, He will always prepare and equip him for the job.

3. The Christian walk is a life of Spiritual warfare, Ministry is no different. When the Lord calls us into ministry, He is calling us to work on His behalf to build up His people in the Word and rescue His elect out of the jaws of satan. Thus a person who is called into ministry is called into spiritual warfare. Because the devil wants to keep Christians ignorant of the Word so they will always be defeated and wants to take as many as he can get to hell with him. That is why as we look through scripture, God takes His time to prepare and equip those he has called.

4. Serving Christ is costly and will definitely cost us and Ministry is no different (Luke 14:27-29).

5. Just because the Lord has called us does not mean the journey will not be difficult (2 Corinthians 11:22-26, John 16:33) but He will sustain us. (1 Corinthians 10:13, Hebrews 13:5)

6. When we chose to follow Christ, we did not come to the master for what was on the master's table, but for the Master Himself. Ministry is no different. It may or may not bring financial rewards that is why ministry is not a career, but a calling. People can and do get blessed financially through their ministry, but financial reward should NEVER be the reason nor the goal for ministry. Neither Jesus nor any of the apostles got rich preaching the gospel. See what Paul said to Timothy ( a young minister) 1 Timothy 6:6-12.

By the grace of God, we have been blessed to have walked closely with some ministries and I tell you, allowing the desire for money and material wealth to be the end result of their work is always the beginning of ministers compromising the gospel. The love of money and material wealth is at the root of the erroneous teaching in some of the faith movement today.

However, I will tell you that there is no greater honor, no greater joy than to serve the Lord and to be called into His service.

May the Lord will give you wisdom in all things and show you what you should be doing and how to do it. But always remember Proverbs 3:5-6. Remember that when the Lord instructed the apostles to be witnesses to Him, he told them to start from their home town (Jerusalem) before witnessing anywhere else. Acts. 1:8. My prayer for myself and for you also, is that as we do what the Lord has called us to do, we will not loose focus, but will start from our very homes, then to the uttermost parts of the world, to the praise and glory of His Holy name. Amen.

Remember IThess. 5:24 "He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it."

God Bless you,


Elizabeth

Reason For Homeschool

Why did you choose to homeschool your kids? Think hard about the reason because this will affect everything you do as a homeschooler.

What is most important to you? The answer to this question will play a part in what you choose to teach and how you teach it.

As parents, one of the things we teach our children is how to recognize truth from error, being is homeschooler is no different. As a homeschooling parent, where do you get your truth from? The answer to this question will also influence what and how you teach.

As a Christian, what shapes your mind? What do you believe about the Bible? Does what you believe about the Bible come from what your Pastor or any other Christian leader has told or have to taken the time to go into the Word and study it for yourself?

When you or any of your kids are preparing for test, a test that will determine whether you get a certificate, diploma or a degree of some sorts will you be satisfied with 15 mins of study a day? How much study do you think it will be necessary to undertake so as to come out in flying colors? As a Christian, are you putting that much time into the study of your Bible?

Take time to ponder these questions. I will be elaborating more on them in the coming weeks.

God bless

Elizabeth

Depart From Me

In Matthew 7:20-28 Jesus said these words below:

20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them. 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

In his book "Family Driven Faith" Voddie Baucham jr. quotes a George Barna research which shows that less than 10% of self professed born again evangelicals have a biblical worldview. As if this is not bad enough, the same research also found out that only 51% of evangelical pastors have a biblical worldview. I read somewhere that the actual number of self proclaimed born again evangelicals with a Biblical world view is actually 7%!

Your worldview is the prism or the "glasses" through which you view life. When we say that a person has a Biblical worldview, we mean that the person uses the Bible as the yardstick against which everything is measured. This means that all of life's actions and decisions are based on the Bible, not what we think is right, not what society tells us is right, not what our culture say is right, but on what the Bible says. What this means is that my life is set apart for God and as such, every decision I make, every action I take, every counsel I give or receive, must line up with the Word of God - the Bible.

The term "Biblical Worldview" is the fancy modern day description of what the Bible calls Holiness. In 1 Peter 1:15-16, the Bible tells us " but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” The Bible calls us to a life of holiness. God is a Holy God and we cannot serve Him on our terms, but on His terms.
Also, in Hebrews 12:14, the Bible tells us "Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord".

In light of the scriptures we just read above, George Barna in his research found out that 93% of self proclaimed born again evangelicals and 49% of pastors do not have a Biblical worldview. This means, they are not living a life that is separated unto the Lord. They are living unto themselves. Can they call themselves followers of Christ if they living for themselves and not for God? Jesus Himself said “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him" (John 14:23).

What kind of opinion do you think the 93% of self proclaimed born again evangelicals who do not have Biblical worldview will have of the 7% who do? I am open to your comments.

My God have mercy on the Church.