I've been enjoying Isaiah.  There's a lot to learn.

Matt has klout, so we get a Gieco gecko.

"Accountability is fighting sin together."

"If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all." Isaiah 8:9

Things I'm Learning...

God-reliance and seeking Him.

Acceptable Sins of Christians: Bitterness

Acceptable Sins of Christians: Bitterness (http://www.northridgerochester.com/Sermons/Details/237)

Bitterness

• Hebrews 12:15: See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
• "Bitterness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die."
• Bitterness bears sinful fruit.
• The bitter person often ends up looking like the person they are bitter against.
• When you are keeping bitterness in your heart you are keeping yourself from the grace God wants to give us.
• Ephesians 4:22-24, 31-32
• Put off an old sinful habit, think differently about the issue/solution, and put on a new righteous habit
• Put off bitterness and put on kindness and compassion, forgiving each other like Christ forgave you.
• Our feelings always follow our actions
• Kindness ends up drawing repentance from the one who hurt you
• "Hurt people hurt people." - Don't be a hurt person who hurts people
• Forgiveness
• Is not: endorsement of behavior, exemption of consequences, restoration of trust
• You're only commanded to trust God.  Trust is earned from anyone else.
• Bitterness = unforgiveness
• Judicial Forgiveness
• We give to everyone
• An issue of my heart
• Entrusting it to God's justice
• Let it go to God and not hold it in our heart and life
• It's not our job to make them pay for what they've done
• Relational Forgiveness
• Given to anyone who asks for it
• An issue of relationship
• Is making promises to the offender
• I won't bring the matter up to you, others or myself
• The best way to overcome bitterness is to be others centered
• 1 John 1:9

The High Cost of Forgiveness

The High Cost of Forgiveness: http://www.northridgerochester.com/Sermons/Details/54

• What you promise when you forgive:
• You will not bring it up to the person
• You will not bring it up to others
• You will not bring it up to yourself
• Judicial vs Relational
• judicial - you give to everyone (Mark)
• relational - you only give when asked for (Luke)
•  You've forgiven them, but you keep thinking about/feel the hurt.  What to do?
• Remind yourself you've forgiven them
• Their debt is indeed cancelled because you've already decided that before and declared it.
• Get busy, so you don't just sit and dwell on it
• A good way is doing good for others
• Ask God for help
• "It is for that very sin Christ died."
• Live like you've forgiven them.  Declare and live out the gospel.
• Forgiveness is an event and a process (the declaration of forgiveness and living out the forgiveness)

"Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty." 2 Chronicles 14:11

"I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity."  1 Chronicles 29:17

"[God] cannot change for the better for He is already perfect; and being perfect, He cannot change for the worse." ~A. W. Pink

If you are encountering traps from evildoers and find yourself tempted to respond wickedly in their kind, you should read Psalm 141.  I think it's cool.

I made dinner the last 3 nights.  I must be in my second trimester!

Multivax

Matt and I recently read this interesting short story by Isaac Asimov: http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html

Commentaries like this about what the future could be like are interesting to me.  This one in particular makes me glad for God.  God is the ultimate answer/has all the answers and we need a God to save us.  However, we can't make a god though we try whether it's the golden calf or super computers.  I'm glad I know my future in Christ, and I don't have to worry about this stuff, but instead trust/follow a God who is completely in control and never has "insufficient data".

I love haircuts with Jill.  Great convo's, fun atmosphere and great results!

Psalm 112:1, 5, 7-8 NIV

"Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands... Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely, who conduct their affairs with justice... They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord. Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear; in the end they will look in triumph on their foes."

"You were to Israel a forgiving God, though you punished their misdeeds." Psalm 99:8

"Though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed." Psalm 92:7

"There once was an oyster whose story I tell,
Who found that sand had got under his shell;
Just one little grain, but it gave him much pain,
For oysters have feelings although they're so plain.
Now, did he berate the working of Fate,
Which had led him to such a deplorable state?
Did he curse out the government, call for an election?
No; as he lay on the shelf, he said to himself:
'If I cannot remove it, I'll try to improve it.'
So the years rolled by as the years always do,
And he came to his ultimate destiny- stew.
And this small grain of sand which had bothered him so,
Was a beautiful pearl, all richly aglow.
Now this tale has a moral- for it isn't grand
What an oyster can do with a morsel of sand?
What couldn't we do if we'd only begin
With all of the things that get under our skin?"
~James S. Hewett

"Give it to God." ~Elizabeth Elliot

Both taken from today's chapter in Coffee Break with God.

"Ernest Hemingway eventually retold one of Park's stories.  Park was lost and alone in the African desert and had resigned himself to die.  Then he saw it: a beautiful moss-flower.  The plant was only as big as one of his fingers, but he was overcome with admiration for its symmetry.

"Encountering this wonder in the middle of his crisis, he reflected, 'Can the Being who planted, watered, and brought to perfection, in this obscure part of the world, a thing which appears of so small importance, look with unconcern upon the situation and suffering of creatures formed after His own image?' he asked. 'Surely not.'"

~Coffee Break with God