Willa

I pay $40 per mow, using our mower, and our yard is not easy with hills. It varies between 25 and 50 for residential yards. It takes about an hour. I would pay the 50 twice a month and not complain. This water shortage is really bad and getting worse. Mowing occasionally keeps the weeds down, and they will take over if you don't. Blessings, Willa

If only we could get it into our heads and hearts that all born again Christians are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Each believer is a beautiful creation that should be treated with the same respect and awe that you feel in a building of profane wood and stone. As such, it is we that make up the body of Christ. We are living stones. Where 2 or 3 are gathered, He is in our midst. So if people in flip flops offend you, remember that God lives in them if they are saved; Jesus wore sandals as well. If they are not saved, pray for them. So many Catholics are estranged from grace, still trying to be good enough to go to heaven; praying to statues and to the dead, making sure they have all the necessary sacraments, going to confessions, saying rosaries and the right number of hail Marys and Our Fathers. What bondage! Those beautiful buildings are prisons of souls in need of a relationship with the Living God, not a relationship with a church. There is nothing holy about an empty beautiful building. God does not reside in a building. Just because it echoes and has great acoustics does not make it holy. So many churches have been turned into museums.

I second that, Omega. Still remember the little 5 year old girls who would bring a bottle of perfume to sunday school and share it with all their friends. I fled the building and left them to their own devises. Makes me deathly ill.

I try to obey the two great commandments (Mark 12:28-31): "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." (Deuteronomy 6:5) and "Love your neighbour as yourself." (Leviticus 19:18) These two are, in effect, a summary of the Ten Commandments. I agree with following the 2 great commandments. 1 Tim. 1:9-10 NKJV knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, Gal. 3:19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made;----24 Therefore the law was our tutor that brings us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 BUT AFTER FAITH HAS COME WE ARE NO LONGER UNDER A TUTOR. 5:18 BUT IF YOU ARE LED BY THE SPIRIT YOU ARE NOT UNDER THE LAW. Gal. 5:4 You have been estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by the law. Of course the people who point their fingers at others about tattoos and wearing "mens clothing" are not keeping the whole law. They point their fingers at others whom they find offensive. And some of them are even harder on themselves than on others. For some reason God has given me great loving compassion for them, because I once walked in their shoes. It is not a happy place to be. But you will find some of them more caring than you might first assume. Search for the good in them and you will find it. And don't forget to provide to them the grace and loving acceptance that you want them to provide to you. Meanwhile I also occupy their disapproval, having worn hair above collar length most of my life and who owns one dress reserved for funerals and being in wedding parties. But I enjoy blessed fellowship with God, being a joint heir with Christ, and having the Spirit in my heart crying Daddy! And nothing shall separate me from His love. For God doesn't look at the outward appearance, but looks at the heart. And He finds Christ in there. Praise His blessed Name!

I understood that fragments of both the Gospel of Mark and of the Didache were found among the dead sea scrolls. It was when, in 1970, that my Lutheran pastor read from Didache 2:2 that I was convinced that abortion is evil: "you shall not murder a child, whether it be born or unborn." Abortions were not practiced among the Jews but were practiced in the heathen cults with temple prostitutes and orgies. So it became necessary to spell it out. I especially like the part that says if a prophet tells you to give him money, do not listen to him! But if he tells you to give for the sake of others in need, don't judge him. There is some good wisdom in this little writing. It was kept with the early Bible scrolls for many years much like the apocrapha was kept with the Old Testament. It was never considered to be Scripture but was considered good to read. I am not so impressed with the instruction to say the Lord's Prayer three times a day and to repeat the written prayers with Communion. This seems to formulate some early rituals. Perhaps it is a remnant of Judaism. Nor does it seem that fasting for two days before baptism is necessary. But it certainly does not endorse infant baptism since instruction in the faith was to be given before baptism. Can you imagine starving an infant for 2 days before baptism? They definitely practiced believers baptism. It did say that they were to gather together to break bread on The Lord's Day, not the Sabbath or 7th day of the week, showing that they were Sunday worshippers. 14:1 And they baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. It did not mention in Jesus' Name or any other formula. It does help to know some of the practices of the first century church as a matter of history.

Are those nose hairs???? EEEEWWWWW!

I recently researched this verse for someone. The word for homosexual is refering to the people who consent to the sodomy. This was to differentiate from the people who perform the act, for which sodomite was used. Some translations use the word effeminate, meaning the person who consents to the act when combined with the word for sodomite. Some translate the word for sodomite as being homosexual. Most of us would consider both to be true, and one can't escape the message that these things deserve hellfire. But no one seems to take offense to fornicators, thieves, drunkards, revilers and extortioners not inheriting the Kingdom of God. The same is said of those who practice the lusts of the flesh in Galatians 5. Revelation speaks of those who love and practice a lie being included in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone bunch, as well as the cowardly. So why aren't all the liars joining forces with this guy, and all the fornicators, thieves, drunks, and murderers? Maybe they are and that is why the supreme courts are ruling against the display of the 10 commandments and the preaching of the Word. The poor dears are being convicted of their sin but are hardening their hearts, so they want to destroy the Jews, the Christians and our Bibles. Like Pharoah they will harden their hearts 7 times, then God will harden their hearts. Prov. 28:9 One who turns his ear away from hearing the law, Even his prayer is an abomination.

Smoke from the fires in Alaska and British Columbia are filling our skies in Eastern WA as the wind is now from the Northwest. This came from our local news and weather.

Underwater Volcano Likely Spewing Lava off Oregon Coast .. Scientists monitor undersea volcanic eruption off Oregon Underwater volcano erupts off the coast of Oregon

They have discovered an underwater volcano off the shore near Newport OR near the continental shelf. It normally wells up cold waters from the deep and produces plankton and foods attracting birds from all over. Now that is probably not the case. There is monitoring of it going on. I wish I could better remember the news article.

Another brief book from another perspective can be found online: The Great Doctrines of the Bible, by Rev. William Evens. He was professor of Bible at Moody Bible Institute in the 1860s, and it is written from the standpoint of the Bible, not dogmatic theology (from preface). He cites drawing on Torry, Strong, Patton, Knapp, Denny and Wood. PDF file. It is a good reference. I have church on Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings so I was hoping to follow this elsewhere than in chat. Willa

Count me in, too, please.

Col. 2:9 declares that In Him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form. Amplified: For in Him the whole fullness of Deity continues to dwell in bodily form---giving complete expression to the divine nature. Wuest Expanded Translation: Be ever on your guard lest there be someone who leads you astray through his philosophy, even futile deceit, which is according to the tradition of men, according to the rudimentary teaching of the world, and not according to Christ, because in Him there is continuously and permanently at home all the fullness of absolute deity in bodily fashion. God does not change. He can never stop being God. The Word created the worlds and spoke them into existence. He was the I AM, YHWH, GOD who spoke to Moses in the burning bush. He became flesh and dwelt among us and was named Jesus. Jesus claimed to be I AM in John 8. He was crucified, buried and resurrected, seen by man, ascended and glorified. I AM is a state of being verb. He always was God and always will be God. He was, He is, and He is to be. He preexisted with Father God together with the Spirit. They are one eternal God. God can never stop being God. He can change His appearance and His station. He was once equal to His Father, but when He became man He give up that equality as well as His good Name, and chose to limit Himself to the restriction of humanity while obeying His Father perfectly. He took the appearance of a man and the form of a servant, but nowhere does it say that He ceased to be God. Jesus, while in the flesh, claimed to be I AM, God Jehovah, (in John 8), which is why they tried to stone Him to death. He also stated æUnless you believe that I AM you shall die in your sins." Translators added the word He which was not in the Greek. The ancient creeds expressed this, each more precisely as heresies arose. The Athanasian creed: Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly to the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the right faith is that we believe and confess that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man; God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before all worlds; and man of the substance of His mother, born in the world; Perfect God and perfect man subsisting. Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood; who, although He is God and man, is not two but one Christ;--- This ancient creed was not just a Roman Catholic creed but a universal catholic creed that was assented to by the protestants as well. It is still held by many protestant denominations. This topic may belong in apologetics. It may also be helpful to review George's soapbox debate on the Trinity. This subject has come up a lot lately and there seems to be a lot of confusion. Confusion is not from God, but from the enemy.

The statement of faith of this forum states that God came in the flesh. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, . John 1:14. And His name shall be called Immanuel, translated God with us. Matt. How can He be begotten of the the Holy God and not be divine? Were He a mere man He would not have to be born of God or of a Virgin. But He was conceived of the Holy Spirit. Col 1:19 NKJV For it pleased the Father that in Him (Christ) all the fullness should dwell, 2:9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the GODHEAD BODILY; It is the universal belief of Christianity that Jesus was fully God and fully man in human flesh. I would be very interested if you can name denominations that teach otherwise. The only ones I am aware of are Jehovah's witnesses and Word of Faith. Is this also the belief of the Church of God (COG) that Jesus was only a man while on earth?? Please name any others you can think of.

`Acts 2:11 NKJV " Cretans and Arabs--we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God" Romans 8:26 NKJV Likewise the Spirit also helps us in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us--- Eph 6:18 NKJV Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, Jude 20 NKJV But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit 1 Cor 14:2 NKJV For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God,---but in the spirit he speaks mysteries 4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself-- (builds up, feeds) 5 --unless indeed he interprets that the church may receive edification 16 Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say "Amen" at your giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you say? 17 For you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified. The key is 1 Cor. 14:2 He who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. All tongues are directed toward God. Your tongue may have been a prayer for a word of knowledge or wisdom, or for a powerful exhortation from God. So the next thing you spoke in English was the answer to that prayer. But in the Bible tongues are always a praise, a prayer a petition, a thanksgiving, an intercession for others, a glorification of God. They are all directed toward God. Smith Wigglesworth is not the Holy Bible and he should not have tried to make a doctrine or teaching on how he understood his experience. We only base doctrine on Bible. No where in Scripture will you find that the interpretation of a tongue is a prophecy or any other type of gift that is directed toward man. The interpretation of the prayer is so that others can agree with your prayer or praise and be built up through realizing how great our God is and how caring He is for ourselves and others we pray for. Pentecostals and Charismatics often neglect to search the scriptures to see if these things are so. Goose bumps or the burning in the bosom do not validate the things we read or hear and may even lead us astray. Only the Bible can be used to validate any teaching. This is especially true with the "revelations" and "visions" some people claim to have, which we find to be contrary to Scripture or to go beyond Scripture. This is why prophecy and revelations are to be judged by Scripture and not by goosebumps or the "burning in the bosom" as the Mormons claim. Blessings, brother, Willa

17``For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18``No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father." John 10:17-18 NASB OP "He never operated as God on earth. He was PURELY and COMPLETELY human like you and I. " Alleluia! God is completely in control, and He even turns satan's plans to good to fulfill His own master plan. Jesus did and said all that He heard and saw our Father God do. He came to reveal the Father to us. While on earth He was fully man. But He was and is fully God as well, which you also stated. He lay aside being equal with God---He did not consider it something to cling to or grasp. But He made Himself of no reputation. He came in the likeness and appearance of a man, but He was still God. He gave up His glory and His Name and came as a bond-slave Who was crucified among thieves for claiming to be God--"before Abraham was, I AM", and Messiah, the King of the Jews. Phil. 2:6-9 He had the authority and power within Himself to come back to life, just as he had the authority to give up His life of His own accord. You and I do not have that power of our own accord. That authority was granted Him by the Father. He was more than a man on this earth. He had laid aside his own reputation, will, knowledge and privileges so as to defer to His Father [which is also an example for us to follow]. He could not give up being Who He is, Immanuel (translated God with us), the Word made flesh, Jesus Savior. No mere man could satisfy the Father's demands for a perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world. He lived a sinless life, laying aside His own will to obey His Father perfectly (which no man can do) so that He can intercede for us as having been tempted in all ways as we are, yet without sin. When our Passover Lamb of God was inspected, no fault or guile was found in Him. Behold! the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the World! He felt our infirmities of physical thirst, hunger, fatigue and pain. He was totally and completely man, yet He was God in human flesh Who took the sins of the world upon Himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sin. Today He has a Name above all names. He was exalted by the Father. Jn 17:5 NKJV And now, O Father, glorify me with Yourself with the glory I had with You BEFORE THE WORLD WAS. Let us always remember how big, powerful, holy and perfect our God is, and how much He loves us. Thank you for the excellent exhortation! Our God reigns!

Always have I advocated that Christian women dress to not call attention to themselves at all. That means if my ear rings elicit compliments I stop wearing them to church so that people can focus on God. But I do my best not to impose my standards for myself on others. The world will always act like the world. I need more compassion on those who are not yet saved, and on those Christians whose appearance is still being conformed to the likeness of Christ. I have a long way to go, as well.

Sir, you will never be saved by what you do. You can only be saved by what Christ has done for you. You may make your call and election sure by 2 Peter 2-11 and prevent your own stumbling. So I do hope that you are not telling others that dressing modestly will save them. When we read the Bible it is for the purpose of looking into the mirror at our selves, and not to point the finger at others. If you are a pastor or Bible study leader, it would be better to study through a whole book and not to try to single out the problems you see in the way women dress. That is the job of the Holy Spirit. But it might be a good topic for discussion in an informal Bible study.

I have read portions of them. Luther considered them good to read but not good for basing Doctrine. So just consider them prose and poetry, or even like a religious novel, but not the inspired word of God.

I might be wrong, but as i know... there was no 'Bible' until later when the old testament was trimmed down and the letters and gospels (new testament) were added. Not sure you understand the question fully, but i really appreciate your opinion. Thanks. The Old Testament was never trimmed down in the Masoretic Text. It consisted of the Law, the Prophets, the "writings, in scroll form. The law, the first 4 books, was memorized by most Jewish boys to my understanding. The Greek translation, a couple of hundred years later, added to the writings. The book of Mark was also available since early times, the 40s AD, and a portion was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Peter refers to the writings of Paul. Most of these epistles were widely circulated and the Greek people made copies for themselves of the Gospels and the letters.

I also found it boring and superficial. Furthermore, I don't trust their privacy/security. So it was closed within a month. But a lot of information can only be found on Facebook so you may want to keep it in a new account. A lot of things I google refer me to a Facebook page.

Praise God for the pastor's stand and wisdom, SueZQ. We don't have gay couples in our church that I know of. We do have some people who are or have been gay, have repented, and are living a straight lifestyle.

I know some beautiful, born again Christians who are Catholic. Many of them had received Christ as their own Savior and Lord in a protestant church but had returned to the Catholic church because of husbands remaining there. All of them loved and read the Bible as the true source of their faith. So believing that the Catholic church is the true church because of their traditions is really a sad state. I can only pray that the Holy Spirit open your eyes to the truth in God's Word.

While we have many exhorters her on Worthy, one that comes to mind is Kwik. I don't remember reading one of her posts in which I did not go away blest and encouraged. She exudes the love of the Lord. Not all of us are so gifted, but we all can use our gifts in the Spirit of brotherly love, working to find common ground with those with whom we disagree, or explaining our case with gentleness in hopes that all may come to a knowledge of the truth, including ourselves. We have one hope, one faith and one baptism, one God and Father of us all. We have one Spirit, Whom we should not grieve or quench.

The normal response to our really trusting Jesus for dying in our place is to surrender our lives to Him to do with as He wills. We stop resisting Him. We start depending on Him for the little things like remembering where we put our glasses or to help us to love people who really bug us. This is what it is to live by faith every day. It is no longer about us and what we do but about Him and what He has done. When we depend on Christ every day we find ourselves doing His will more-- and less our own will. Phil. 2:13 For it is God Who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. NKJV. So I don't look for what I can do for God. There is nothing I can do of my own. I can only ask Him to live in me to do His works through me.