Leaderboard

So glad to see this idea in "print". Indeed, we were made for pleasure! Why the very first command God gave to Adam and Eve was to be fruitful and multiply. It is perversion to take God out of the mix. But pleasure, indeed, was what we were made for! God's good pleasure and our good pleasure.

For those of you who have never seen a photo of my wife: NOTE: As of this month, we have been married for 31 years!

Indeed it does... That is the glimmer of God's presence despite the horrible things that may happen. The hands and feet of Jesus to bring aid and help where it is needed. God isn't in the whirlwind, the fire, the earthquake... but in the still small voice of hope, comfort, encouragement, the helping hand, the selfless risking of ones own life to rescue and help those in peril. Such are the times that can reveal the true character of people... and sadly as we can also see it reveals bad characters too...

The antidote to fault finding......http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/whitby-boy-s-lemonade-stand-raises-more-than-1-000-for-fort-mcmurray-evacuees-1.2892623

This one (posted on YouTube in 2012) is powerful. Riveting. Scriptural. I'll be watching it again soon, actually.

Glad to hear there's some rain and cooler weather heading their way.

what do the last few posts have to do with the Ft McMurray fire?

That's kind of a shallow, crass judgment. It sounds like you're saying any non Christian who helps others is doing so out of selfishness. I totally disagree. I know some pretty selfless non-Christians. I'll bet some of the volunteer firefighters are non-Christian. God's love can motivate people even if they don't know (or believe) it is God that is moving them.

Mother with two pups, with others in the background:

I was made for pleasure We were not made for disappointments or lies. We were not made for pain or tears of sadness. We were not created to worry or to be anxious for anything. We were not created to be abandoned or neglected. We were not meant for extreme adulation or ripped to shreds by media masses. We are not built to take betrayal or any emotional, sexual, or physical abuse. We were not built for accusations or insults.We were not designed for Violence or Violation. We we made to be loved. Protected and secured. Understood and understanding. Every Single Being with deep affections and connection. Trusted and safe and we esteeming higher by each other. ...................... God created the Garden of Eden. The well thought understanding of the original language basically suggests... the Garden of Pleasure! Every night going to sleep under the very loud bright explicit milky way. Pleasure! The eyes open up every morning looking at blue sky? Pleasure. The music of birds and fragrance of the flowers all the day long. Umm pleasure? Every where you turn there is delight and fancy and curiosity.. o yes ...... PLEASURE! God insured all of creation will get pleasure thru art or science or passion or challenge. I am going by my understanding of what God is like. What looks like GOD if study 1 Cor 13 and Calvary He is the Servant and the Selfless. It was never about GOD getting praises or kudos for anything. It was all about GOD/LOVE THEIR SELVES (the GOD Family) always multiplying always giving always sharing always creating HE did not create us to love HIM ..... but to be Loved by HIM. HE gives us HIMSELF and in that we love and delight in HIM P L E A S U R E!

When I was a student at the seminary Dwight had just taken over. His sermons were very entertaining and dynamic but not much information. He use to say a lot "Look to Jesus, look to Jesus, look to Jesus" but no showing of Jesus, you left rarely knowing more about the Bible then when you came in. (there were a couple of exceptions: a sermon on 5 kernels of corn, and another sermon pointed out that the 2 disciples on the road to Emmaus was a husband and wife.) but otherwise they were entertaining but empty milquetoast. I'd feel hungry after his sermons. I could not help but contrast his sermons in comparison to what I heard from some of my professors and authors that I read (such as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heshel who did not need to say "Look to Jesus" but who takes and shows you Jesus and you can not help but to see Jesus in his messages.) He kept making me think of a sermon I heard from a Methodist minister Wayne Plumstead in his sermon about sermons. He told a story about when he was in seminary he went to preach in a church. When he got to the pulpit he saw that there was a little 3x5 index card taped to the inside where only the speaker could read it. It said "Sir show us Jesus" and Plumstead remembered thinking "Too late, I already wrote the sermon." and how there after he tried to show people Jesus in his sermons. In the years since Dwight Nelson's sermons have changed and have become much more Biblical, a much more showing Jesus and giving us some meat to think on which has been replacing the entertaining milquetoast that he started out doing. So yes he had definitely been growing.

Well thank you! God has to be the Center! amen

nothing like kickback days of the music of the 70's

For those lost in Nostalgia Ville: http://www.iheart.com/live/classic-american-top-40-6545/ Replays of Casey Kasem's Top 40's all the time!

The worst in times, brings out the best in people.

Green Coch, I'm really sorry that you and others you worked with in fighting fires felt that it was "only a job." That's not how my relatives view their work. I never met a firefighter before who seemed to have your opinion of his work. Kinda sad...

I think that's doing a major disservice to firefighters, as well as to the people who've already lost their homes. Sunday morning quarterbacking is easy to do, but helps no one, and, in this case, is sorta like twisting the knife in a wound that's already open and sore. Firefighters are some of the bravest individuals to be had. It's not just a "job," just a "duty," and just a "chore." They work their hearts out. The winds that have whipped over Alberta lately have hampered the firefighting immensely. It's not as if anything can be done about the winds...

The Syrian refugees have been amazing. We are grateful for the contribution they are making to Canada.

For ADRA info and donations. The need is real and critical. http://www.adra.ca/YMMFire

Sabbath School Starter - May 2-7 * - Teaching a great Sabbath School lesson - * * - Teaching Plan - * Kingdom Shift Right after Matthew wraps up Jesus’ answer to John the Baptist – “Yes I am the Messiah, have a look at all I’ve said and done so far.” – he presents two short sections that make it abundantly clear that Jesus had every reason to shift the focus of His Kingdom from Isreal to the World. In Matthew 11:20-24 – Matthew reveals Kingdom Lost In Matthew 11:25-30 – Matthew reveals Kingdom Gained It a huge shift. From the Kingdom of failed expectations to the Kingdom of God. It is a Kingdom Shift illustrated in the story of Jesus entering the world that parallels the story of what happens in our lives when Jesus enters. The people expected the Messiah to punish the oppressor, eradicate the corrupt. But instead, Jesus empowers the oppressed and encourages the humble. Kingdom Lost Matthew reveals Jesus’ Kingdom Shift by first focusing on the ever present reality of God’s Judgment. The Kingdom of God is a careful juxtaposition of God’s Law and God’s Love. One Bible Commentary says, “God’s judgment is at the center of Jesus’ proclaimation of the Kingdom of God and keeps it from becoming a message of harmless love.” Matthew tells story after story – packed tightly – of Jesus doing miracles in town after town and being received with apathy. Instead of falling over backward when the King of the Universe returned His created people to healthy body and mind (back into the ‘image of God’ in which they were created) the people of Karazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum shrugged their shoulders and said, “Yeah, that’s what healers do. Heal people. Blah blah blah.” In Matthew 11:23 Jesus compares them to Satan falling from Heaven when he drops some references to Isaiah 14:13-15 by saying, “Will you be exalted to Heaven? No, you will be brought down to the place of the dead!” (NLT) This short section – Matthew 11:20-24 – demonstrates why God’s Kingdom was take away from Isreal and given to those passing by the banquet feast. Jesus shows that how we receive Him, His presence in our lives and the changes He brings to the world will result in our connection or disconnection from Him – judgment comes to those who ignore the Kingdom of God as it moves across the surface of the deep bringing order from chaos. Jesus’ Kingdom is recreating the world by healing the broken, blessing the poor, empowering the powerless. Behold, He is making all things new! Kingdom Gained And this newness is built on the humble. In Matthew 11:25-30 we join Jesus for prayer. There are only a precious few of these moments in the Gospels. When Jesus prays, we should be listening with a desperateness to understand. In this section we see Jesus shifting his focus from those who deserve judgment to those who giddily go about the Kingdom’s business. Jesus starts His prayer by thanking His Father for hiding his Kingdom from the “wise” and revealing the Kingdom of God to the “childlike”. To demonstrate the foundation of the Kingdom of God that Jesus brought about, Jesus spins a reversal of Daniel 2:20-23 where Daniel thanks God for giving wisdom to the wise. The word Jesus uses for childlike is just as easily translated “simpleminded, uneducated or stupid.” Jesus is praising His Father that the Kingdom has been taken from those who believe themselves wise enough to grasp God’s ways and given to those who hug it tight like a teddy bear and squeeze for all they are world. As Jesus was walking around in the first century there was a movement of ‘holy men’ called Essences who believed God came to people through understanding. By being wise you could grasp God. Jesus used one of their favourite verses as background for this prayer and then flipped it completely upside down saying it pleases God to give His Truth to the ones in kindergarten rather than those in the combined lesson pontificating knowledgeably on the wise things of God. Once Jesus finished is tiny prayer, he moves onto a statement about His authority in the world. One commentator called Matthew 11:27 a revealing of “The entire mystery of Christ” while another said it was “the most precious pearl” of Matthew’s Gospel. Why? Because within it we see into the workings of the Trinity. Only God knows Jesus. Only Jesus knows God. Jesus reveals God to those who He chooses. He has authority to do this because His Father has given him authority over everything. It’s at once cryptic, creative and contemplative. Finally in Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus presents a Rabbi’s call. In Jewish circles – particularly the circles of the religious – a leader’s “yoke” always referred to his way of approaching the Law of God. When a Rabbi invited others to “settle in next to me under my yoke” he was saying, “Come join me, think like me, act like me and become like me.” In the previous verses (Matthew 11:20-28) which we have just explored, Jesus revealed his yoke. His interpretation of God’s Law calls down judgment on those who expect the Kingdom but do not embrace it when it arrives, it empowers the simpleminded with the wisdom of the Kingdom and it is built on Jesus’ deep connection to His Father and His teaching to those who are under his yoke – to whom he reveals God. A Rabbi only called followers after a long training period. Once he knew these were the best of the best he would say to a select one or two – follow me and I will teach you my yoke. Jesus throws this completely on its head. Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 (NLT) Wow. I hope you see it. Jesus has opened the Kingdom of God to the highways and byways. The spiritually rich and famous have made their excuses and are not attending the Father’s Kingdom Party for His Son. The servants of God (like Matthew in writing this Gospel) are calling out to those struggling to take the next step – spiritually and physically – and promising them rest in Jesus. He will take the burden of feeling ‘less-than’ off your shoulders and give you rest. He will teach you gently and humbly. You will find rest for your very soul. Jesus’ yoke is a perfect fit and the study load is light. Because He bears it all. You know all you need to know when you know Him. The rest – and you will want the rest – is just icing on the cake. Come one, come all. Bring your brokenness, your unworthiness, your simpleness – and celebrate life under the yoke of one who has been broken, felt unworthy and lived the simple life. View the full article