Learning God's Lessons: Our Sunday in Lancaster

Monday, November 7, 2011

Our Sunday in Lancaster

William attended College Days at Lancaster Baptist Church last week, and his good friend, Dillon, flew in from Indiana to attend too. They had a great time and loved being at the college. William played tons of basketball, so he was as happy as a clam! We drove back to Lancaster from Yucca Valley on Saturday and decided to spend the night Saturday night and stay for church on Sunday. It was the first church service we have ever attended at Lancaster Baptist Church. The church has two services, so we decided to go to the 11 a.m. service. The music was outstanding and prepared the way for some great preaching from Pastor Paul Chappell. The sermon was on "Stewarding Our Thoughts," and the Bible reference was Philippians 4:4-8. There was a particular quote that I thought was outstanding:

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." -- C.S. Lewis

As our family is heading through what could be some turbulent transitional times, God's Word comes alive to me, and I NEED the comfort and encouragement of scripture throughout each day. Passages of scripture that I have read hundreds of times all of a sudden become full of meaning, and it seems that God wrote those words just for me...and He did! God uses stress and pain to make His Word shout to us.

This quote is from Pastor Chappell:

"Satan wishes to destroy our faith through suffering; God desires to refine it."--Paul Chappell

I love the Sermon on the Mount. Blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed are they that mourn; blessed are the meek--doesn't sound like the "fun" group, but God sure does love those who suffer and stay humble. God wants to use our sufferings to make us like gold! I like gold!

Well, after the morning service, we went to McDonalds. Our whole family shoved in tightly together around a table while we enjoyed eating and talking. Throughout the years, someone in our family will occasionally say, "Let's pray!" and we will all just stop whatever we are doing and we come together in prayer. This time it was my husband who called us to prayer. The whole world faded away for a few minutes as we each praised God and petitioned Him. That was a precious, precious moment.

We took James and Jessica back to the college, collected some dirty laundry, and headed home.

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The Most Important Thing You Can Know!

Do you know where you will spend eternity one day? If not, here's how you can know:

1. Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." The Bible says we are all sinners. Sin is hereditary--we were all born sinners because Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden.
2. Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." A wage is a payment. We must pay for our sins and they way we pay is by death. Everyone is born once, and everyone must die once. But the story doesn't end there--Jesus, God's only Son died on the cross for our sin and paid the penalty for us. All we have to do accept the gift of salvation. We can't work for it, go to church for it, or be good for it. Faith in Christ alone is what will save us.
3. Romans 10:9 says, "But if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." If you know that you are a sinner and that Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and resurrected--and if you know that He did that for YOU, all you have to do is ask Him to come into your heart and save you.
4. If you would like to accept Christ, just ask him now--it's the difference between Heaven and Hell.