teachwhatisgood

Scripture Memory

Published on August 27, 2013 by teachwhatisgoodLeave a comment

1 Timothy 4:7b-8
“…Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”

So, I guess I’ll leave my Wages Due topic for a while to teach on a topic dear to my heart – Scripture Memory.

Truly, God’s Word is powerful in a way no other word is. It truly is living and active and we should be storing it in our hearts that we would not sin against our Heavenly Father.

Over the years, I have used many different methods to memorize scripture with my children. My kids and I have primarily memorized whole chapters (or almost whole chapters), including Matthew 7, Psalm 139, Ephesians 6, Titus 2 and Colossians 3.

Additionally, our children have been involved in the AWANA ministry off and on since our oldest daughter, Emily, was a 3 year old little Cubbie. In fact, the first verses I memorized intentionally would have been with her. I can still remember A is for All – all have sinned and C is for Christ – Christ died for us, because of AWANA Cubbies.

But, as a woman, I have struggled to maintain a personal commitment to scripture memory on my own apart from my children. This is where Sweet Journey by Teri Maxwell really helped me to see my own need to memorize for myself.

Then, my sister told me about a great website and iPhone app called Scripture Typer which has really, really blessed me. I have entered there many new verses to learn as well as many old ones I have memorized before so I can keep them fresh in my mind. Without consistent review, I do forget that stored up word. Yet, it is still in there and either way I am still so thankful for the verses I studied even 10 years ago because God truly does bring them to my mind when I need them.

This brings me to today. My younger daughter Noelle has been memorizing character trait definitions along with accompanying Bible verses with her class at church. The 1 Timothy 4 verse at the top is what she is to recite at church this Sunday morning. As we have been reviewing it together, I see all the more the need for discipline in my everyday life, including scripture memory.

I am teaching Sunday School right now and leading the students in a study of Psalm 139 including its memorization. When Noelle was not yet 5 years old, she (along with her older brother and sister) had memorized it and recited it at church. Here’s a link to the video. I pray it would bless you. (By the way, Noelle still remembers much of it even though we have rarely reviewed it over the last 5 years). Be encouraged.

Psalm 139 recitation at church

What are you working on memorizing?
Have you found any helpful methods or programs you’d like to share?

Wages Due, Part Four

Published on August 26, 2013 by teachwhatisgoodLeave a comment

Psalm 103:8-13
8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

This morning join me in praising God that He does not deal with me according to my sins. That His love is steadfast. That His steadfast love is as great as the heavens are high above the earth.
And yet He is as full of justice as He is love. So He sent His own Son to remove my transgressions from me. That by His Son my transgressions have been removed from me as far as the east is from the west.
Thank you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
TWIG

Wages Due, Part Three

Published on August 24, 2013 by teachwhatisgoodLeave a comment

Let’s look one more time at Romans 4:3-5
“For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,”

Abraham BELIEVED God and it was counted to him as righteousness.

What did his belief entail? Action. His belief resulted in what Paul calls the “obedience of faith” (Romans 16:26).
His faith resulted in action. Our faith, too, must result in action.

You say you believe? You do well. Even the demons believe, and shudder.

When you believe in God, you will hear from Him, by His Word and by His Holy Spirit and He will show you what He desires from you. By faith in Him, you will indeed be led to follow His law, but that law-following will be driven by faith in the one true God.

To make sure we are all on the same page –
1. None of us can EARN our salvation by our deeds.
2. Everyone is SAVED by faith, not by works.
3. Our faith will result in WORKS motivated by FAITH.

Interestingly, I still haven’t even gotten to my big ‘aha’ in reading Romans 4:4-5. But, before I could get there, we had to go through these other foundational ideas.

Back on the idea of wages and earning, I was thinking about how many Christians live their lives as though they can EARN, MERIT, WORK for God’s favor. This is why it’s so important to understand that our salvation is by our faith, but every time I say that, I just cannot help to think of Romans 6:23. Here it is:

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23

Do you see it? Does it jump out at you like it did to me? Did you catch it?

What are our wages due? What do we deserve? What are we really earning? Death. Truly. The wages of our sin, past, present and future is DEATH. That is what I am due. That is what I deserve. That is what I have earned. Death.

But God has given me the GIFT of eternal life by the blood of Jesus, who paid my debt by His death on the cross. This is a gift. It is NOT what I am due. Remember, Romans 4:4-5 “Now to the one who WORKS, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.”

Do you see how offensive us trying to work to merit our salvation must be to God? Every day I choose to wake up and thank God for His GIFT, it humbles me. In my flesh, I deserve death, yet thanks be to God for His indescribable gift. His gift of salvation, by His gift of faith, in His Son whom He sent as a gift.

Thank you, Father, for giving me that which I did not deserve. Thank you for showing your love for me in that while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me, the ungodly.

TWIG

Yes, there might be more. I’ve been doing a whole word study on ‘wages.’ Stay tuned for that!

Wages Due, Part Two

Published on August 23, 2013 by teachwhatisgoodLeave a comment

Yesterday I looked at Romans 4:3-5. Let’s read that again.

3 “For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.
5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness”

Wow. So Abraham BELIEVED God and what did he earn from that? He earned righteousness. How did he earn that? By BELIEVING God.

Here is one place where, as I see it, the ‘Christian world’ is really stumbling today. We are all mixed up about what ‘works’ are. We hear ‘faith without works is dead’ (James 2:17) and think we need to do something to earn, to deserve, to merit our salvation

That is not it at all.

Once again, we have got to study the whole context of a passage. Read on after that James 2:17 to the following verses.

James 2:18-25
18 “But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?
22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works;
23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.
24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.”

I think the root issue is that there is a confusion in our minds between “works of the law” and “works of faith.”

If I told you that you had to be circumcised, keep the Ten Commandments, and not eat anything unclean and you obeyed me to the best of your human ability, you might think that DOING these things would earn you entrance into Heaven. No!

You could help every orphan, every little old lady, every blind beggar, every disabled veteran, every single time for the rest of your life, and you would never be good enough to deserve God’s favor. Never.

Do any of you think of offering your son as a sacrifice to God as a *good deed*? No?

How about circumcision? Do any of you think of circumcision as a good work? No?

Me neither. No. Abraham offered Isaac up to God by faith. Circumcision, as well, was given as a work driven by faith. It was ‘faith with shoe leather.’ It was an outward symbol of an inward conversion of the heart. An outward symbol of inward faith.

Abraham believed God and it was credited Him as righteousness. His deeds were not what saved him, but they were evidence of his faith. If we copy his DEEDS, but not his FAITH, we are still lost.

If you say you have faith, but are not living and walking by faith, I would question the genuineness of that faith. Remember, Abraham’s faith was completed by his deeds.

Do you believe in Him who justifies the UNgodly?

What impact is that faith having on your everyday life?

What is God calling you to do by faith?

How are you living as though you can earn salvation by your works?

Part three – tomorrow, God willing. Stay tuned.

TWIG

Wages due

Published on August 22, 2013 by teachwhatisgoodLeave a comment

Honestly, I cannot remember my first job.

For many of you, that’s no surprise because you know that I have a terrible memory for all things past, but for others of you, you cannot imagine someone having such a poor memory.

But, anyway, I did have many jobs as a young person. First off, I was raised with a variety of simple chores and I received an allowance.

I was a saver. (In fact, I still am a saver.) It brought me great joy to accumulate money in my savings account. When I finished high school, I had built up quite a pot from my many jobs, working as a secretary at my dad’s law office, working summers as a camp counselor, working my way up to a manager at Arby’s. Any and every which way, I loved to earn money.

Maybe you have never really thought about this as it relates to salvation, but when I read Romans 4:4 last week, the words literally jumped off the page and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since.

Read Romans 4:4 with me:
“Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.”

Isn’t this how many of us are living?

We are working, doing our good works, expecting to be rewarded with salvation because, well, we’ve earned it. We think we deserve salvation because we have done so many good things. Just as I was working hard to save up money, expecting that future reward, we are doing good deeds, expecting God to let us into His presence because of them.

Now read with me the verses on either side:
Romans 4:3-5
3 “For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.
5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,”

How do we earn righteousness? How do we earn the righteousness that God requires?

By faith.

How about you?
How do you struggle with living by faith?
Have you had some recent victories in your faith walk?

Stay tuned for Wages Due, part two. God willing, tomorrow.

TWIG

No Natural Children – Part Two

Published on August 20, 2013 by teachwhatisgoodLeave a comment

After finishing in Romans 8 yesterday, I turned the page to begin Romans 9 and was like, “Wow! No natural children, part TWO.”

Look with me at Romans 9:3-5.

Paul is expressing his compassion for his brothers in the flesh, the Jews. He writes, “They are Israelites and to them BELONG the adoption…” They were the CHOSEN children according to the flesh. And yet, God had chosen to bring in the Gentiles and God was not bringing in all of the Israelites. “What is going on here,” Paul is wondering.

Now move on to Romans 9:6-8

“6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,
7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.”

Do you see why I was like, “WOW. No children of the flesh!?”

But now is where it gets really tricky. Remember what I was writing about yesterday? That it is up to the parent to choose to adopt that child and that adoption is not based on their merit or worth.

Look at Romans 9:10-12

“10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac,
11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—
12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.””

God had a purpose. He always has a purpose. And His purposes are always good. He chooses, not because of our works, but because of His good purposes.

Which brings us to Romans 9:22-24:

“22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—
24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?”

I, for one, am thankful that He chooses to have mercy on any of us. Truly, we have all like sheep gone astray. Truly, none of us are without sin. Truly, all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

I sincerely pray that all four of my children, both my biological ones and my adopted one, will seek the Lord with their whole hearts and find Him. I pray that they will be among those standing with me before the throne in Heaven. But when it all comes down to it, it is my job to train them up in the way they should go and my job to teach them the ways of the Lord, but it is ultimately between God and them. And not me. I cannot bear children into the kingdom by my own strength.

Which brings me to the end of Romans 9. Look at verses 30-32.

“30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith;
31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law.
32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,”

It is not by our works or our worth that we are saved, but by our faith. It has always been by faith and it will always be by faith. Abraham believed and it was counted to him as righteousness. Unfortunately, just as the Jews were pursuing a righteousness based on the law, many, many of us who bear the name of Christ today are attempting to attain righteousness by our works.

Brothers and sisters, this has never worked and it will never work. You will never be good enough. You will never do enough good needs to merit the favor of God.

God willing, my post tomorrow will be titled Wages Due and we will explore this together in more depth.

I’d love to hear from you. How do you struggle with this idea of No Natural Children? How has this impacted your upbringing? How does it impact how you bring up your own children?

TWIG

No Natural Children

Published on August 19, 2013 by teachwhatisgoodLeave a comment

Romans 8:15 (ESV)
“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Ephesians 1:3-6
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”

“Receive” – lambano
To take, to receive what is offered, to receive what is given.

“Adoption as sons” – huiothesia
Outline of Biblical Usage:
1) adoption, adoption as sons
a) that relationship which God was pleased to establish between himself and the Israelites in preference to all other nations
b) the nature and condition of the true disciples in Christ, who by receiving the Spirit of God into their souls become sons of God
c) the blessed state looked for in the future life after the visible return of Christ from heaven
— a compound of huios (a son) + tithemi (to set, put, place, make)

My thoughts –
Have you considered that no one can choose adoption for themselves?

If my son Nick had WANTED us to adopt him, he could not adopt himself. He could not force us to adopt him. He could only to receive what was given, to take what was offered. He was adopted as a son because we chose him and caused him to be our son. He has only to RECEIVE what is given.

And he was not chosen because he deserved it or earned it. He was not somehow better than all the others. No. He was adopted because his parents chose him because we wanted to.

My three biological children grew in my womb, but in God’s kingdom there are no ‘natural children.’ Every single one of us must be adopted. Every single one. Whether Jew or Gentile, whether first generation Christian or fifteenth, we must each receive adoption. None of us can ride our parent’s coat tails into the kingdom.

Praise God that He saw my need. He saw me, a slave, and yet He set His favor on me, choosing me as His daughter. Thank you, Lord, that You showed Your love for me in that while I was yet a sinner, Christ died for me. Thank you, Father, for calling me out of the dark and putting Your name on me that I can now call myself daughter and so I am. Wow!

Let me not fall back into fear when I have received the spirit of adoption, that I can cry out Abba, Father, as your daughter.

Happy Birthday, Bill

Published on August 14, 2013 by teachwhatisgoodLeave a comment

Proverbs 31:11-12
“The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.”

1 Peter 3:5-6
“For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.”

We had a great time celebrating Bill’s birthday including an amazing 3-hour dinner at Melting Pot. Yum! Emily baked a delicious cake shaped like a giant coffee mug. How cool is that?

Happy Birthday, honey! You are a blessing from The Lord to me. I praise His name for giving me you to be my husband. You make me more than I would be without you.

First day of school 2013

Published on August 12, 2013 by teachwhatisgoodLeave a comment

Today we started “back to school.”

This, then, entails the ever important trip to Sam’s Donut shop for FIRST DAY DONUTS. In St Louis, it was Krispy Kreme, but here it’s Sam’s on Byhalia Rd in Collierville. Thanks, guys, for making our first day back to the grindstone a little more fun!

Thorn (?) in the flesh

Published on August 12, 2013 by teachwhatisgoodLeave a comment

I must say that the past three weeks have been filled with events to keep me on my knees. To keep me humble. To keep me from becoming conceited. To keep me weak. I pray that The Lord has looked at me and said “Have you considered my servant, Kim?” (Job 2:8) and that in all my response I have not sinned or charged God with wrong. (Job 2:22)

I’d say it probably began when our family returned (July 14) from a week long trip to Colorado, knowing we had only ten days to pack up and move our whole house of stuff accumulated over 18 years of marriage. Our closing still held looming uncertainty yet we continued to take steps daily by faith that The Lord would bring this about.

Incredibly, two days after returning our oldest son, Nick, developed a killer, killer headache which was only getting worse as time went by. We rushed him to the ER where he was diagnosed with meningitis.

After a spinal tap and 36 hours in the hospital, it was determined that it was viral, rather than bacterial, and he was discharged already starting to feel better.

I praised God for Nick’s quick improvement, and yet my strong, able bodied, #1 moving assistant was down. In God’s great goodness, our church family, His hands and feet here on earth, stepped up in a MIGHTY way to help us pack and move. We successfully closed on the sale and purchase of our houses and moved the weekend of July 25.

Just as I began to think we’d have a few weeks of smooth sailing, along came poison ivy to keep me humble and weak and on my knees. I ended up with a severe reaction resulting in extreme swelling on the right side of my face and another ER visit. (This time for me.)Yet, once again, God’s grace is sufficient!!!

The week I came home from Colorado, I began memorizing 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 and God has given me plenty of opportunities to put them to use. I remember reciting these verses while Nick bent over holding my hand as the doctor drew spinal fluid out of his arched, pained back.

“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”” 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

This story so far has been about the past few weeks, but what God is working on me now is in Romans 8:18-25.

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” Romans 8:18-25.

My hope stands firm in the coming return of Jesus. My hope is not found here. The whole earth is groaning in the pains of meningitis and poison ivy reactions, yet these sufferings are not even worthy comparing with the GLORY that is to be revealed to us.

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