Mannaword

This shows the iris’ a couple of days ago as a 2-3″ snow fall decided we needed more of the pretty white stuff in Central NY. It was beautiful and the iris’ are fine even though it is a bit cold outside.

We are all really ready for spring, sunshine (although we have had sun today Yeah!), and the feeling of warmth from the sun. It is on its way. The sun is now higher in the sky and coming at us a bit more to the east instead of being almost to our south. So as the robins peck away at the yard, we know the warmth is coming and we take heart.

I am teaching tonight at my local church’s mid-week service (Church of the Resurrection, East Syracuse, NY and so today has been in study both for that and for the conference beginning tomorrow evening (Psalm 19’s). Have a good evening and I do hope to blog the conference. Stay tuned and bless you.

Spring is showing herself in my front flower garden! These miniature iris’s are blooming and so beautiful. They are exceedingly tiny; only a couple of inches across. What a beautiful wonder they are.
I have updated the Psalm 19 Ministries web site and on it you will find my weekly prayer letter (click on Prayer). If you have not signed up to receive that letter weekly in your inbox, you can do so right on the site. It is my plan to put it on the web each week. However, last week that did not happen. So the best way to know what is happening in my life and in the ministry is to receive the prayer letter by email.
This coming week-end is our Winter Conference and Lauren (Rev. Lauren) and I are the teachers. The Lord is giving us such good words to share, I pray you are among those coming. Check out the details on our web site. I am going to try to blog through it and let you have a sense of the flavor of the time. Our Lord always graces us with such wonderful presence and fellowship that it is hard to describe, but I will try to give it a go.
Tonia Thornton is leading our worship for each session and those who know her know we are in for an awesome time of worship. So stay tuned (Friday – Sunday) by just checking here during those days.
I love the promise of Spring.

Beloved ones in our Lord Jesus, I am thinking of the folk in Berea when Paul visited them on his missionary journey and they examined the Scriptures to see if what he was teaching was really true. That is why some schools are named “Berean.” It is a good thing to examine.

One of the sad things I observe in our churches today is the high level of Biblical illiteracy. It is so high that Pastor’s and Bible teachers cannot be certain their audiences have a way to examine what is spoken. We seem to be moved if the music is just so (dependent upon what I like) and the Pastor pays enough attention to me, then I receive what he says. He (she) knows the word so I will just listen. We have so separated ourselves as individuals from the reading and study of the Word of God, that or “normal” church folk have no idea how to find anything within the Book.

I do believe in being evangelistic, so there is always a place for the beginning basics, however, somehow we in our churches must bridge the gap and incite through our teaching a hunger and a thirst to know the Book and its pages. How can we examine, if we have no measure by which to examine?

A number of years ago I was teaching in one of my ministries’ most popular retreats. There was a sweet Christian lady on the front row with a big Bible stuffed with all kinds of paper. It had a cover and showed much wear and tear. I announced a beginning Scripture (in was in Genesis) and our sweet, precious Christian lady could not find it. By the way, she was in her 40’s, and had been in a prominent full-gospel church for many years. I was so struck by this that I re-arranged my entire teaching, realizing she was not alone in my audience.

How very sad, sad, sad. As we (as Pastors and teachers) sit with our Bibles with our Jesus, may we seek to learn how to flow in Spirit in our teachings in such a way that they are “salty” and make folk thirsty. Only the Spirit can make that difference. Lord help us know it is more than data that you need to get into folk – it is Spirit and truth.

This has been the scene in our yard for several days. More “lake effect” snow today has only added to the Winter Wonderland atmosphere. However, praise our Lord it is warmer today – almost 30 degrees. Weather is weather and I am just grateful to be able to enjoy it – regardless of what “it” is.

Our Friday Fellowship last evening was well attended so that added to the sweetness. Our worship and the teaching all were experiences in the Holy Spirit’s sweet kindness as we choose to love the Lord Jesus Christ together and listen to His life-giving word. We have an awesome Lord and I am so grateful. I hope you have taken a look at the new web site for Psalm 19 Ministries. I do not have all the pages up as yet, but they will be coming. I pray it blesses you as well as informs you of what all is happening in Psalm 19. It is cold outside, but inside it is warm and enfolding.

Come! Come! Come! We will have an awesome time in the presence of the Lord – He is always faithful! We would love to see you. Iris is teaching and Lauren will lead the worship ensemble. It may be very cold out, but will be warm inside. So come and enjoy the sweetness of fellowship in Him.

It is a beautiful sunny day in Central New York! The snow is still deep as it has snowed most days this week – just hasn’t snowed today. It is good to have sunshine. It is even better to have Son-shine inside – that’s the best kind. He is always our Light!
Blessings!

“Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.” Ephesians 5:21-22 KJV This passage is deeply misunderstood. First of all, in the Greek, the word “submit” does not appear in the second statement. It is something like, “…wives also to their husbands.” It is not a separate sentence, nor command. It is a continuation of a thought the apostle Paul was expressing.

A group of people cannot work or live in a harmonious way unless there is submission to some sort of leadership. But the admonition here is for ALL to live in an attitude of submission to one another. When this occurs, there is joy in the doing – whatever it is.

We have already covered that submission is a heart matter. Unless the heart is saying “yes” then the action is not submission – obedience, maybe, but not submission. So as we lean into the Lord, everyone’s heart is trained to be submitted to everyone. This creates an attitude of trust and willingness.

The person in leadership that does not submit to anyone is a very dangerous person, no matter what the title may be in front of the name. Submission in walking in Jesus is voluntary – but not optional. That is a strange understanding to have. It is the training of the Holy Spirit in the heart – male or female. Submission applies to ALL!

Our Friday Fellowship was a precious time in our Lord’s presence. It was well attended with some new folk as well. The Lord gave us delightful, anointed worship and then my lesson was on “In His Image.” We studied some of the ways we can begin to express our life in Christ that reflect this New Covenant and this “imaging” that the Father in Christ has done and is doing in us. We worked with learning to think and speak the accomplished work instead of what is yet to be done; to count on the identity we have in Christ instead of the identity of flesh; to expect the promises to be true and to live in the light of that fact; on and on. It was well received and we all need to learn to think, speak and live truth from the Word instead of the various forms of “religious” thinking, speaking and feeling that are everywhere. (For instance – the confession of being a sinner, when those born again in the Scriptures are never called sinners, but “holy ones,” or the old KJV – “saints.”) These are just little ways of thinking and speaking that lead us to live much less than the reality of the truth that has been paid for. The payment of the blood of Jesus was awesome – we want to learn to live in its truth. The CD or DVD is available through the office, and it will be on our web site as soon as I get the processed tape. That takes a bit of time.

Just a short reminder that tonight at 7 is our first Friday Fellowship of the new year. Hope you are planning to be with us at the Bible Learning Center. Oh yes, it is still snowing, but ever so lightly and should not get in our way at all tonight. Lauren will lead the worship ensemble and I will be preaching. See you then.

Oh yes, if you normally listen on the web, it will be there, but not for a couple of weeks as my volunteer who does the technical re-formating of the recording so it can go on the web, is out of town for a week. So sorry. But hang in there, it will be coming.

All events are available by CD and DVD also for a small price. Contact the office if you would like one of these. 315-396-0129