Chatting With People to Bring Them To Jesus

    Today I graduated from the Groundwire Training Academy, a ministry where people can chat with someone who will care about them and listen to them and then are presented with the Gospel. I am excited to share Jesus with people and bring them to Jesus! 

 

Update House Pictures

Our travel trailer has undertaken some updates since the first set of pictures were posted, so I thought I would add to the collection. In fact, these are not even the most recent updates. Our ceiling has since been replaced due to it molding. Maybe I shall get some newer pictures taken soon.

Hungarian Pork Stew

 

My friend, Eva, shared this recipe with me. We had this stew often at church fellowships when we served in Hungary.  It is often served with Spätzle (egg noodles) or egg noodles.

Hungarian Pork Stew

Serves 4 people

Ingredients:

• 5 tablespoons bacon fat

• 3 medium onions finely chopped

• 2 minced cloves of garlic

• 2 tablespoons paprika powder

• 1 kg diced pork

• 1 tomato chopped (optional)

• 1 bell pepper chopped (optional)

• 1-2 cups of water (as much as needed)

• 1 teaspoon salt

• Black pepper

• Pasta of your choice

• Sour cream (optional)

Directions:

1. In a skillet, heat the bacon fat and fry the onion and garlic until softened. Sprinkle with the paprika powder. Add the pork and stir so it is well coated. Make sure the heat is not too high as the paprika can easily burn, resulting in a bitter taste.

2. Add the remaining ingredients, pouring water in last. Cover and cook for 30-40 minutes. 

3. Prepare pasta in salted water.

4. For a creamier dish, add sour cream to the stew just before serving.

Hospitality

 These were notes I took at a class while we attended BBTI from 2018-2019 taught by Mary Cobb. 

Hospitality

1. Define hospitality- generous, cordial (heartfelt), receiving guests; promising cordial welcome; offering a pleasant of sustaining environment

2. Give an example of hospitality that comes from another culture. In China, how much tea you give someone signals how long you have time to allow a guest to stay.

3. List two scriptures that speak of hospitality. 1 Timothy 3:2;8- not prerequisites for pastors or deacons, but also their wives; Titus 1:8- has to come from the heart; 

4. What are three requirements for hospitality found in Romans 12:1-13? (1) service vs. 1  (2) humility vs. 2-3  (3) love vs 9-10 (4) without grudging 1 Peter 4:9

5. What are some things that might keep us from showing hospitality? Pride, self-centered, timidity

6. List some elements of Abraham’s hospitality found in Genesis 18:1-8. greeted them, respectful, ask them to stay, make it sound like a privilege to have them, feed them, give them the best

7. Recall things said or done that have made you feel welcomed. In some cultures, people will bring you a gift. When they treat you like family, you will feel more welcome 

8. How could our American view of privacy hinder us in the area of hospitality? Perhaps we go to a culture that does not have any privacy.

9. “Hospitality is an attitude as much as an action.” Marlene Evans 

10. How can I become more hospitable? 

What does it mean to love God?

 What does it mean to love God? 

Mark 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

Deuteronomy 6:5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

These are the words of Jesus, but what do they mean to us today?  Through the Bible we have been given many commandments. Rules to follow to live the Christian life. This commandment was given by God and  is the foundation of all other commandments. As we explore this we will see how they are all connected. 

Intro: As we consider loving God and what this means it is important to say that to love God, is to know God and knowing God you will love him. Psalms 42:1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. God has placed inside of us the desire to seek him and to know him. Jeremiah 24:7 And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD:  This is the heart of God, that we seek him and know him. He wants to have fellowship with is because he loves us, and created us in his image. Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Also in, Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. But how can we know him? How can we seek him? These are the questions that Jesus answered in Mark 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. Once we know God and are called a child of God, John 1:12 We must believe on the Lord, But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Receiving God and knowing God come from believing in God, for it is the fool that believes there is no God, Psalm 14:1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. So once we know God and repent from our sins and accept God as our Savior, then can we begin to learn how to love God. Acts 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. 

1. With all thy Heart

1. We learn to love God through worship. 

1. Luke 4:8 Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve

2. Psalm 150 Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
   2 Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
   3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
   4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
   5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
   6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.

2.  We learn to love God through our focus

1. I John 2:15 15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 

2. Matthew 6:19-21 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

2. With all thy soul 

1. As we focus on loving God our soul begins to see people as God sees people. 

1. Matthew 9:36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

2. Matthew 7:13-14 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

3. John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

2. Our Soul will thirst after the Word of God

1. Honey- Psalms 119:103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

2. Mirror-  James 1:22-25 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

3. Sword- Hebrews 4:12- For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

3. With all thy mind

1. Pure thoughts- Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

2. Pure words- Philippians 4:8  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

3. Pure desires- 2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

4. Pure focus- Colossians 3:2-5 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

4. With all thy strength

1. Through our obedience - 

1. John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

2. 1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

2. Through our actions

1. Luke 7: 37-38  And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.

Jesus said these words, Matthew 7:16-20 King James Version (KJV)
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

As we grow in our love for God and grow in the Bible, the Word of God, we will begin to love him more. Things of the world, the traditions of the world, the thinking of the world and the actions of the world will go away and will be renewed in our thinking as we become Christ-like and love Him more. 

March 17

    Saint Patrick, also known as the Apostle of Ireland, is widely known for his missionary work in Ireland and is celebrated every year on March 17th, the day of his death. Patrick was born in the late 4th century in Roman Britain. As a teenager, he was captured by Irish pirates and taken to Ireland as a slave. During his six years in captivity, Patrick turned to Christianity and found solace in prayer. In his Confession, Patrick writes, "And there the Lord opened my mind to an awareness of my unbelief, in order that, even so late, I might remember my transgressions and turn with all my heart to the Lord my God".

    Patrick eventually escaped from Ireland and returned home to Britain, but he felt a calling from God to return to Ireland and preach the gospel to the Irish people. In his Confession, he writes, "I saw a man coming, as it were from Ireland. His name was Victoricus, and he carried many letters, and he gave me one of them. I read the heading: 'The Voice of the Irish.' As I began the letter, I imagined in that moment that I heard the voice of those very people who were near the wood of Foclut, which is beside the western sea—and they cried out, as with one voice: 'We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us'".

    Patrick returned to Ireland as a missionary, and his preaching and teaching had a profound impact on the people of Ireland. He baptized thousands of converts and established churches throughout the country. Patrick's message was simple: "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out" (Acts 3:19).

    Patrick's missionary work in Ireland was not without its challenges. He faced opposition from pagan rulers and druid priests, and he was even arrested and imprisoned at one point. However, Patrick persevered in his mission, relying on God's strength and guidance. As he writes in his Confession, "But I know that I did not achieve it through my own resources. It was the power of God who worked through me and the resistance of many who opposed me".

    Today, Saint Patrick is remembered as a courageous and faithful servant of God who brought the gospel to the people of Ireland. As we reflect on his life and ministry, we are reminded of the power of God to transform lives and change the course of history. As the apostle Paul writes, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13). May we, like Saint Patrick, be bold and faithful witnesses for Christ, trusting in His strength and guidance as we share the gospel with the world.

The Love of God

The love of God is woven all throughout the Bible. It is deeply explored and celebrated in its pages. When we read of the love of God, we can see that it is:

A Sacrificial Love

    In John 3:16, one of the most well-known verses in the Bible, we read: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Here, we see that God's love for humanity is so great that he was willing to sacrifice his only Son to save us from eternal damnation.

    This theme of sacrificial love is also seen in Romans 5:8: "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." In other words, God's love for us is not based on our merit or worthiness, but rather on his own character and nature. He loves us simply because He is a loving God.

An Everlasting Love

    In Jeremiah 31:3, we read: "The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." Here, we see that God's love for us is not temporary or fleeting, but rather it is a love that lasts for all eternity.

A Transforming Love

    In 1 John 4:8, we read: "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." This verse tells us that God's love has the power to change us from the inside out. When we experience God's love, we are transformed into new creatures, with new desires and a new outlook on life.

    In conclusion, the love of God is a powerful and transformative force that is celebrated throughout the pages of the Bible. It is a sacrificial love, an everlasting love, and a transforming love. As we meditate on the love of God, may we be filled with a deeper appreciation for the amazing grace that he has shown us through his Son, Jesus Christ.