A Fountain - Filled With Blood

There Is A Fountain Filled With Blood

--William Cowper

There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins;

And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

Lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains;

And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day;

And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.

Washed all my sins away, washed all my sins away;

And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood shall never lose its power

Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.

Be saved, to sin no more, be saved, to sin no more;

Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.

E'er since, by faith, I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply,

Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.

And shall be till I die, and shall be till I die;

Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.

Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I'll sing Thy power to save,

When this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave.

Lies silent in the grave, lies silent in the grave;

When this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave.

Lord, I believe Thou hast prepared, unworthy though I be,

For me a blood bought free reward, a golden harp for me!

'Tis strung and tuned for endless years, and formed by power divine,

To sound in God the Father's ears no other name but Thine.

The Law ... Righteousness

Reading in Exodus ....

Whew .... the law was an amazing 

set of regulations to guide every

aspect of the growing Hebrew nation.


There were 613 of them.

Some think Christians today are bound

to obey these Old Testaments laws as a

standard for their righteousness.

How thankful I am  that today I am 

righteous before God, 

not because of ANY of my own

righteousness BUT because the sacrificial death of the LORD Jesus on the cross

has made me righteous before my God. "For he hath made him to be sin for us,

who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

A much better plan!  I am counted righteous in Christ ! !

Keeping track of ALL those laws 

would be far too difficult. 

 At least for me!!

Never ... Never ... Never

Given through Moses to the children of Israel:

Deuteronomy 31:6

"Be strong and courageous. 

Do not fear or be in dread of them,

for it is the LORD your God 

who goes with you.

He will not leave you or forsake you."

Given to Joshua:

Deuteronomy 31:8

".... He will be with you; 

He will not leave you or forsake you. 

 Do not fear or be dismayed."

Joshua 1:5

"I will not leave you or forsake you."

To Jacob:

Genesis 28:15

"Behold, I am with you and will keep you

wherever you go ... for I will not leave you until 

I have done what I have promised you."

David passes on the promise to Solomon:

1 Chronicles 28:20

" ... He will not leave you or forsake you,

 until all the work for the service of the house is finished"

To faithful Israelites:

Isaiah 41:17

"I the God of Israel will not forsake them."

To believers in the LORD Jesus Christ:

Hebrews 13:5-6

"I will never leave you nor forsake you."

This last verse actually has 5 negatives in the Greek language.

It could be read something like this:

I will never, never leave the,

and never, never, never forsake thee."

Now if that's not an exceeding 

GREAT and PRECIOUS

promise .... I don't know what is !! 

The BEST Is Yet To Come ...

Read the last chapters in Revelation today.

It excites my heart to think of all

that is in store for believers!

The new heaven and the new earth

will be AMAZING!

There will be no more tears. 

God Himself will wipe them all away.

There will be nothing left

to make us sad.  There will be no more death

and all the things that caused us 

sadness in the past 

will have passed away.  (Rev 21:2-4)

Once again ... the LORD says,

"It is done". (Rev 21:6)

Our final home will be 

beautiful and immense. (Rev 21:9-21)

BUT THE BEST ... 

is yet to come ....

We will dwell in the light of His glory

He will be our lamp and we shall

gaze on His face and 

rejoice in His radiance ... FOREVER !!!

 (Rev 21:22-27)

Holy ... Holy ... Holy ...

Reading now in one

of my favorite books

in the Bible.  

Revelation 1:3 says,

"Blessed is the one 

who reads aloud 

                                       the words of this prophecy..."

I love these verses ...

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne 

and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, 

numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 

 saying with a loud voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb

 who was slain,

to receive power and 

wealth and wisdom and might

and honor and glory and blessing!”

 And I heard every creature

 in heaven and on earth

 and under the earth 

and in the sea, 

and all that is in them, saying,

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb

be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” 

and the elders fell down and worshiped.

These words stir up thoughts 

of what it will be like

to finally be at His feet,

 worshiping Him.

They stir up thoughts 

of what it will be like

to finally see Him ... high and lifted up.

Which brings to mind the lovely song,

"I Can Only Imagine" by Mercy Me.

I can only imagine 

What it will be like 

When I walk 

By your side 

I can only imagine 

What my eyes will see 

When your face 

Is before me 

I can only imagine 

[Chorus:]

Surrounded by Your glory,

 what will my heart feel 

Will I dance for you Jesus

 or in awe of you be still 

Will I stand in your presence 

or to my knees will I fall 

Will I sing hallelujah,

 will I be able to speak at all 

I can only imagine 

I can only imagine 

When that day comes 

And I find myself 

Standing in the Son 

I can only imagine 

When all I will do 

Is forever 

Forever worship You 

I can only imagine

[Chorus]

I can only imagine [x2]

I can only imagine

When all I will do 

Is forever, forever worship you!

Love my life here ... but can't wait to be forever
with the One who loved me and gave Himself for me!!!

New Birth

We are SO EXCITED

about the soon coming

birth of the babies

of Julia and Matt and

 JoAnna and Andrew.

Myron thought the

girls and he should have a

"belly shot" together!!

So here it its!  

Julia and Matt's baby

is 'scheduled' to be

born on 

Monday, September 17th.

That is a good day

for a birth ... 

And we can hardly wait to hold

their little blessing in our arms!

JoAnna and Andrew's little one

will come along in October.

BUT .... for today .....

we had the thrilling experience

of witnessing two

"new births"!!

Our friends, Mustafa and Brenna, 

have come to understand what the

LORD Jesus Christ has done for them .... 

and have trusted Him as their Savior

 and thanked Him, for His unspeakable gift!

No matter how much you see it ...

just like the birth of a new baby ...

the thrill and joy of seeing 'salvation' come 

NEVER gets old.

Adorn .... or .... Defame ....

Enjoyed reading the book of Titus this morning.

So much instruction.  So many challenges.

So much conviction.

Verse 10 in chapter 2 tells us that as women 

we are to

"adorn" the doctrine of

 God our Savior.

Adorn means to lend beauty to, to enhance, to decorate.

Verse 5 in that same chapter says we are to 

'be' and 'do' certain things

that the Word of God may not be "reviled" or "dishonored".

To not make HIM or His Word look so good.

Revile or dishonor would mean to blaspheme or defame.

Paul's point here being that it is not only the evil

 that we may say or do 

but also the good things that we fail to say and do 

that can dishonor God and His Word before the church and the world.

I think it is true that unbelievers tend to judge the 'realness'

of our faith more by our life and our living than by our theology.

The world judges the Gospel by the character of

the people who believe it and claim to be

 transformed by it.  

That's me !!  How am I doing ???

"Show me your redeemed life

and I might be inclined to believe in your Redeemer."

--Heinrich Heine

God's Amazing Creation

I spotted this bug 

on our door frame.

Its body looked so much like a leaf.

It's legs looked like little sticks.

I pushed it off the door

unto my ivy plant.

It is so well camouflaged

that I NEVER would have seen this

rather large bug on my plant.

Do you see it over there??

Hiding ...

just waiting for Jeshanah

to come home so it can jump 

out at her!!

Here's another amazing look.

The body look incredibly


like a leaf and the legs look


just like sticks.


God's creation


is


A M A Z I N G !!


I marvel at it all the time.


What a wise and awesome 


Creator God we have!

Wimpy Theology Makes Wimpy Women

OR ...

Why ladies should know their theology .....


       "Theology - the study of God and of God's relation
                         to the world; the study of religious faith,
                         practice and experience."

Several years ago I attended a True Women Conference where John Piper gave a message 
about what a true, godly woman was.


He started off with the phrase, 

"Wimpy theology makes wimpy women."

That phrase got everyone's attention. It has been on my mind since the conference.  Nobody wants to be a wimp!  

 John Piper, from the 2008 True Woman Conference

Wimpy theology m akes wimpy women. That’s my assumption that I bring to this evening. Wimpy theology simply does not give a woman a God that is big enough, strong enough, wise enough, and good enough to handle the realities of life in away that magnifies the infinite worth of Jesus Christ.

Wimpy theology is plagued by woman-centeredness and man-centeredness. Wimpy theology doesn’t have the granite foundation of God’s sovereignty or the solid steel structure of a great God-centered purpose for all things."

If we, as ladies, want to weather the storms of

temptation and discouragement;

 the storms of suffering and trials;

we need to know our theology. 


We need to know our God. 

If we have a messed up idea about who God is 

we won't be able to understand why He would allow temptations,

suffering, discouragement and trials in our lives.

We must be able

to stand ... unshakably ... on the Word of God.

We must be firmly and totally convinced 

of the character of God.  

His Sovereignty ~ 

that He is in control of all things.

That there is NEVER a moment 

when I 'inform' Him of anything.

That I was in His mind before the world's were made.

That MY NAME was written in the Lambs Book of Life

before the foundation of the world.

That He chose to set His love upon me ... 

and drew me unto Himself 

without any help from me. 

That His love for me is amazing and deep.

That I exist to bring HIM honor and glory.

The more you know and study your God,

the more you will love Him and be 

--- oh so grateful --- 

for all He has done for you.

Be sure of what you believe and why you believe it.

As one sister put it, 

"put the milk away, pull out a 

knife and fork and dive 

into the meat of our Creator God".

Be amazed over and over and over again 

of the wonder of 

His great love for you ... 

it will change your life, 

He promises!

" ... That I might know Him ..."

Philippians 3:10

God Breathed ~ Every Word !

When I was a kid ......

I  had some wonderful, old ladies

as my Sunday School teachers.

Miss Pierson, Mrs Westlund, 
Miss Otteson, Mrs Dahlgren.

They have gone on to be 
with our LORD.

But they taught me something 
 w r o n g

all those years ago in 
Sunday School.

They taught me that the 
"words in red" 
in the Bible, were the most important words.

The words in red are important ... but equally important
are all of the rest of the words of the Bible.


I know the thoughts of these dear old ladies.
They were thinking that the words the LORD Jesus himself spoke,
deserved higher importance ... but that is not what
we read in the Scriptures.


In the first few verses of Galatians, Paul goes to great lengths to prove his Apostleship, 
his authority to the readers.  He needed to prove to them
that the things he was telling them were true and from God ...
not just his words.


Paul as well as Peter and John wrote New Testament
 Epistles with authority ... authority from God Himself.


The apostles were speaking TO the church
not on behalf of the church.
Their words were divinely inspired ...
and were to be read, listened to and obeyed.


We must always remember 
that the churches got their doctrine 
from the apostles, 
who got it directly from the LORD.


All of Scripture is 'God breathed' 
whether it was through the Prophets, the Apostles or the LORD Himself.


So, no more 'red letter edition' for me ! !


Every word, every jot, every tittle
is from the heart of my God ... 

True FREEDOM through Jesus Christ

Happening near the end 

of the book of Acts .... 

are the things written in 

Galatians.  

I am amazed at how soon

 the pure doctrine 

of the apostles was 

confused and distorted.  

The apostle Paul states the problem,

"I am amazed that you 

are so quickly deserting 

Him who called you 

by the grace of Christ, 

for a different gospel; 

which is really not 

another; only there are 

some who are disturbing you, 

and want to distort the gospel of Christ".

Galatians 1:6-7

Wow!  The heart of the gospel, 

which was so precious to Paul,

was being undermined 

by false teaching and

false teachers!

Judaizers ... those who were 

falsely teaching that to be

a Christian ~ Gentiles 

must become like Jews 

and that Christians must 

obey the Mosaic laws, 

regulations and ceremonies in 

order to be/become a Christian.

These men were going into

the infant churches that

were established by Paul and teaching a FALSE gospel.

So, the theme of Galatians is

TRUE FREEDOM THROUGH JESUS CHRIST  ~  ALONE

Even today some would say there are things we must DO

to be saved or to 'keep' being saved.

This distorts (changes) the Gospel.

Yes, a life saved by grace IS a changed life.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit 

we are day by day changed ... 

becoming more like Him,

but our salvation rests securely in Him

and Him alone.  

By Grace Alone

Not by law, not by works of righteousness, 

not by reform

not by legalistic bondage 

but by Jesus Christ. 

What peace, what joy, what AMAZING GRACE!

The Lydian Lady ... Liberated

... from Acts chapter 16 

Paul's missionary travels took him, 

Silas, Timothy and Luke

to Europe where we see the first convert

to Christianity at Philippi.

She may have been known as

'the Lydian Lady'. 

Her home city of Thyatira was located

in the Roman province of Lydia.

This city was known for its manufacture of purple dye and dyed goods.

Lydia was a seller of purple fabrics.

Purple garments were worn by

royalty and the wealthy which made

Lydia's business a very profitable one.

In our language .... Lydia was likely one wealthy lady!

Lydia was with a group of women who had assembled to read the 

Old Testament law and to pray.  

She was a worshiper of God ...

she had turned from her pagan ways ... 

her heart was 'prepared'

to find the true God.

Lydia listened to Paul proclaim the Gospel and 

the LORD opened her heart and she believed.

Her life was forever changed.

She was baptized as an outward sign of her

identification with Jesus Christ.

Soon others would come to know the Savior and a 

church would be born.

Here is a picture of my

favorite Lydia!

I pray that she will follow in the steps

of the "Lydian Lady" ... 

... that God would open her heart

and draw her unto Himself.