Blessings on Sunday

Hi,

I hope you are all well on this sunny Monday morning. I had such a great day yesterday. Chuck had to work, so I went to church alone. A friend was without her husband too and so we sat together.
Because we haven't talked for awhile, we decided to 'do lunch'. While we were chatting, a friend of hers came and Patty introduced us. She had a book by Warren Wiersbe on James and I noticed it. When I asked about it she told me a ladies study was just starting that morning and she'd introduce me to the leader, Gloria, which she did after church.
So, I went to the study and met quite few ladies, whose names I won't remember; perhaps in time I will :). Gloria is a good leader and I enjoyed the study. Lots of ladies contributed and I'll enjoy getting to know Gloria more too; she's a teacher after my own heart.
Then, Patty and I had lunch and had such a great time chatting. She has diabetes and a heart condition, so her health isn't very good. She also is having a biopsy in July, so she knows where I'm at with my new information. She also understands my great hesitancy to have radiation and/or chemo.
Then, we saw a mutual friend (our son's friend Harold) at lunch and had a nice chat with him. After I got home, I had a couple of phone calls and chatted with old friends from far away and that was so good. These two ladies were part of our life when Chuck and I were first saved. They were part of the new church we all helped to start.
So, my cup overflowed yesterday, into today. Bob and Connie are stopping by in a little while for a visit and they're always great to see. I received quite a few emails from friends and that was such an encouragement; I can't wait for Chuck to see them too.
Thanks for all your prayers for Chuck and me. God has provided such peace and the knowledge that no matter what we face, He's right there with us: His rod and His staff to comfort. He's guiding our decision making and we know He's holding us in His hands.

Trusting in our very great God,
Sandy
Tomorrow I'll have to have blood drawn and an ekg, so life goes on.

Angels?

Good Morning,
I trust you are all well and that the Lord is blessing you abundantly. He's brought Chuck home for the weekend, already. No loads to deliver, but he can get some much needed rest and and the car fixed and that's good.
Today we'll look at verses 8-12 of 1 Cor. 11. It gives an order, man then woman. Then in vs. 10 it mentions angels. If we just read this without understanding why angels were thrown in, it would be very confusing. So, let me share what I've learned.
Keep in mind that with a man and woman, God made a partnership and they are spiritually one in the Lord (Gal. 3:28). Also, 'man' is brought forth from women when they are born, physically. So, why did Paul mention angels? He was arguing the facts of Creation. The angels know their place and show respect when they worship God, for they cover their faces (Is. 6:2). Also, in some way the angels share in public worship of the church and learn from the church (Eph. 3:10; 1 Peter 1:12). To me that brings heaven down and us up to heaven, by their very presence.
So, what does this mean to us? It means that the order that God created includes angels, is specific to His plan and that we need to follow His direction in how we, as women conduct ourselves in the assembly of saints. Angels, by their obedience to God's order, guide us to know that we too are to follow God's plan, fully and obediently. God's authority should be our guide in the order of our obedience.

Obeying with the angels,
Sandy

Rabbit in Traffic

Hello Everyone,
Isn't the Lord gracious to give us another day to serve Him? My day so far has consisted of giving Tucker a bath at the doggy (car) wash. My time with the Lord was super precious also. I've done some other things, but nothing worth mentioning. Chuck's coming home for the night!!! His delivery is here in Springfield. I'm a happy camper:)))).
Last week when I was going to pick up Chuck, on the road at an intersection was a little rabbit, caught in the middle of moving traffic. I could see that it was young and obviously confused as to what to do. It kept turning around and looking, but didn't have the confidence to move. After I had passed, a man got out of his car and shooed the rabbit out of the way.
When I saw this I said: Lord, there's a word picture here, help me to know it. And, of course He did. It ties in to my blog from yesterday. God sees the bigger picture and helps us to get out of the way of trouble, when we let Him.
Just like the little rabbit, our vision is narrow sighted and short. We need His guiding hand to help us through life's many obstacles. What in your life is causing you to not see any of the bigger picture? What is hindering you seeing His hand at work in your life?
Some things that could be hindrances are: pride, confusion, lack of a close walk with Him so as not understand when He shows you what He's doing, pain, self, family.....the list goes on. You can fill in the blank.
So, what do we do when we can't see the bigger picture, for whatever reason? We trust Him to carry us through, guide us to go His direction and then rest in His loving arms and watch Him work. There's just such peace in that.
So, do you want peace, His peace? Then purpose in your heart to trust Him even though you only see short, not long, small not big. He's big enough for all your problems.

Trusting Him,
Sandy

I'm Back

Hey,
My wrist is finally better so 'let the blogging begin'. I fell a week ago and scraped my left knee, both hands and sprained my right wrist and strained the left. I tried to catch my balance when I stepped on a broken piece of sidewalk.
Now, would you like to know what I was doing to be so Klutzy? I was trying to stuff a plastic bag of dog doo doo into my sweatshirt pocket. I need to remind you all that my middle name is klutz.
The word picture I get from this is that when I'm concentrating on the little picture, the bigger picture can trip me up.
We are finite humans and we only can see right now, today and what has happened in the past. Even then our remembrance of the past isn't always 20/20. We have a tendency to focus on the here and now and try to figure out the future.
We want life to play out according to our plans and we sometimes try to manipulate things to make our plans happen. But, we often forget that the Lord is Sovereign and that because He sees the bigger picture and He knows how He wants our lives to play out, that He can tweak the happenings in our daily lives.
God doesn't force us to go a certain direction, but He does help us to want to go along with what He wants for us. We might not even understand that at the time, but hindsight is sometimes 20/20.
So, where does this lead us? Because He's Sovereign, we need to trust Him to help us make the right decisions, go the right direction and live a life that honors Him.
When the bigger picture is overwhelming, trust. When you can't see where He is leading, trust. When you have decisions to make, trust.

He is trustworthy,
Sandy

sprained wrist

hi,

i sprained my right wrist so it will be a few days before i blog again, sorry.

sandy

Headship

Hey,
Another hot, sunny day with rain in the forecast. But, the weekend is upon us and we get to celebrate Father's Day! Lynn and family can't join us, but Josh's will. We also have Ethan and Nolan overnight Friday and that's a real blessing.
Do you remember in Genesis that God said that women are to be "helper's" to men? Keep that in mind as we study.
Paul was talking to the local assembly, not the world at large. You all know the scripture that puts the man as head of the house; I covered that yesterday. We are to both honor His headship by respecting the symbols: hair and head covering. Jewish men always wore a little cap when they prayed, so Paul was introducing something that they weren't familiar with.
For a woman to appear in public with short hair or a shaved head(back then) indicated that she was a prostitute. Paul told them, in vs. 6 if won't cover their heads, cut hair. In Jewish law, a woman proved guilty of adultery had her hair cut off (Num. 5:11-31). Either shaved or cut off hair was a disgrace for women. Paul tied the local custom and Biblical truth together by pointing out the headship order.
Keep in mind that Paul is radically challenging and teaching these folks. They were so bound by traditions that they couldn't see what God wanted for them now.
Tomorrow we'll cover vs. 8-10 about angels and women. Should be interesting....

Short hair uncovered,
Sandy

I Corintians 11:2-16

Good Morning All,
I hope you are all doing well. I talked with Lynn a little while ago and she had been to see her cardiologist and he said her heart was fine. She did however, have a brief episode with her heart last night, but by breathing deeply and calming herself was able to stop the rapid beats. I told her the twins are going to take a lot out of her. Thanks for you ongoing prayers for her. Tiffani and I are going see them on Wed. next week.
As I'm getting into this study of women in ministry, it's opening more info than I thought it would. Of course I have to look at other commentaries and there's just so much info. I'm going to try and condense it as best as I can.
1 Corinthians 11:2-16. If you've read it, good; if not, please do so. I'm finding it clear as mud in some areas, ergo the commentaries and more info to wade through.
It seems that at this time in the history of the church that in the public meetings women were asserting themselves in a disorderly way. Paul was trying to teach from God's Word that they needed to have spiritual grace along with the spiritual gifts.
But, we have to back up to the use of the word 'head'. Paul is speaking about authority, not quality or essence. See the order of: Son submits to the Father, not the Father to the Son and so on. Father, Son, Man, Woman, in order of authority. The Greek word "kephale" means head/authority. Some want to have it mean: source. The problem with this is that Christ was not the source of God the Father. The order has to be correct. Also, because God is eternal, He has no source.
So, Paul was trying to solve the problems created by the women by patiently teaching spiritual principles that supported the teachings he had already given the church.
Tomorrow we'll look at how the Christian life brought freedom and hope to women, children and slaves. This is about the Galatians 3:28 passage.

Searching the Word,
Sandy

Galatians 3:38

Hi Everyone,
As I look outside my window, I see a sea of green. Corn is growing prodigiously with all the rain and heat. Pretty soon I'll only be able to see corn stalks and maybe the tops of the trees in the distance.
I want to thank you all for your prayers for discipleship; keep praying please. Sandy and I met yesterday and it went very well. She's a really nice person and I know you'd all like her immediately. The Lord is blessing us both.
When I looked at what I want to share today about women in ministry, I read some weird teachings. Not from our pastor, but information that he's gathered.
One thing was a man named Tertullian (AD 145-200) who said of women, "Thou are the devil's door". How would you like someone to say that to you? Pastor Gilley also mentions that all sects (cults) are either started by women or as co-founders or helpers. They evidently use Galatians 3:28 as their basis. I think they stretch that verse like a rubber band being used as a slingshot.
Pastor Gilley says that there are 3 modern views among Evangelical Christians:
1. Equalitarian (or egalitarian): It means men and women are equal in essence and function.
They too use Gal. 3:28 as their scriptural support.
2. Restricted: women are restricted from virtually all leadership in the church. They are to be silent. If any role exists it would be only with other women and children.
3. Male Leadership: women have freedom to minster in most roles except elder or teacher of men. They are equal in essence but have a different function.
Okay, so where does that lead us, as women in the church? What position do you see the Bible teaching? What scripture do you know that teaches you what to do, as a women doing ministry in the church?
Today is the ground work for the next blog or few blogs because we're going to look at
1 Corinthian 11:2-16.
I've given you the views that are held by people of our generation. The names of some of the men associated with these views was lengthy and some I knew. But, I don't hold with man's view, I hold with God's view and we're going to look at what He says in the coming blogs.
So, read 1 Cor. 11:2-16 to better understand what I'll be sharing.

Thinking on these things,
Sandy

Ministry limitations

Hey,
Hope you are well and haven't been drown out by all the rain. We're literally floating here. At least it's cooler today.
Our church is in the process of deciding whether to start a Biblical counseling program. They brought in a man from St. Louis (family goes to our church) who teaches at Brooks Bible college. His specialty is Biblical counseling. He also wants to have the position of leadership for this. (From what I can detect, he's right on spiritually and knows what he believes). :)
I was interested in what that entailed and whether I wanted to take the course. The program he presented was two part and last night he finished. I came to the conclusion that Biblical counseling is from the same tree as discipleship, but a different branch.
Basically, people who have problems come to them and they help with that problem(s). They are putting fires out I think. I asked if the material was a systematic discipleship and he gave me the above information without the "putting fires out" stuff (that's my take on it).
We need to find out if the church has a discipleship program in place; nothing was mentioned last night. Our pastor almost died in the last month from an infection in his blood, so things are not 'normal' yet. So, when we can, Chuck and I want to invite the pastor and his wife so we can find out more about the ministries here. I've checked the web site, but it doesn't give enough info for me.
As I wrap up the first portion of women's roles in ministry, our pastor concludes his teaching with 'limitations'. Here's what he's listed, condensed by me because of lack of space.
1. Jesus chose men as apostles. 2. No record in Acts of women preaching to men. 3. Not allowed to be elders or have authority over men. 4. When the need arose 7 men, not women, were chosen to distribute food. 5. Men went two by two as missionary teams. 6. The N.T. was written by men (I'd say the O.T. too).
So, that's the summary of this portion of teaching. I'm going to read over and hopefully condense the next section because it's wordy without much scripture. I have to admit that I'm bored by what I'm reading; hopefully the next section will give me new information. If not, I'll teach on something else :))).
I know you ladies are busy, but would love to hear from you.

Praying for you all,
Sandy

Long time now blog!

Hey,

We've been experiencing modem problems, ergo no blog. Our brilliant son finally fixed what the cable tech's couldn't; it pays to have a computer wiz in the family.
Are you all tired of the rain? We had five years of drought, now all it does it rain. The field behind us has standing water and it's raining now. It reminds me of a song I used to sing as a kid: rain, rain, go away, come again another day. I probably learned this from my mom or grandmother.
Not much is happening here and I guess that's ok. I wasn't able to meet with Sandy (discipleship lady) again; she called Monday morning and told me she had a sinus infection. Every week there's an excuse; some legitimate. She says she wants to get together, but after being here for three months, we've only met one time. So, I'm asking for prayer. She badly needs discipleship as her life is a train wreck. Thanks!
Today we're going to look at a woman who was possibly deaconess. Romans 16:1-2 talks about Phoebe, a servant (also translated deacon) from the church in Cenchrea. Paul asks the church in Rome to receive her, basically with the privilege of an apostle/disciple.
My foot note tells me that she probably carried a letter from Paul to the Roman church. This whole chapter lists many women saying that they worked hard for the Lord. I agree with my foot note that they were doing ministry; possibly in roles of leadership, teaching and evangelism. Women back then needed to be taught, the same as men.
In light of Titus chapter 2, we can discern that Paul meant for women to teach women. I'm sure these ladies also were taught by men and then shared with women what they had learned.
Vs. 7 talks about Junias; she and her husband were apostles in the church, serving as a messenger/missionary.
It's important for women to be in leadership positions in the church to get a well balance representative of the body of Christ. If you feel the Lord calling you into a leadership role, or any type of ministry, do it. Keep trying until you find what brings a smile to your face and gladness in your heart.
When I first was asked to teach a Sunday school class for 4th and 5th grade kids, I tried to say no. But, I found out that I really enjoyed it, after I got started. I also learned so much about the Bible. God was training me, as I shared and trained the kids. I was scared to death to step out, but I'm glad I did because teaching others what the Lord has taught me brings a smile to my face and gladness/joy in my heart.

Sharing the joy,
Sandy

Women prophesied

Good Morning All,
I trust you had a good weekend. Because Chuck preached at the prison yesterday and it was for both services, I decided to stay home. I didn't want to, but my energy level just isn't there. I see my doctor tomorrow, so hopefully he can help with some suggestions or whatever needs to be done. Anyway, I miss all of you in Hillsboro, a lot. I'm glad Chuck could see many and he had a great time with the guys at Graham. He had one guy say that Chuck was his favorite preacher; I know what he means!
We were spared from the worst of the storms on Saturday. The sirens went off a lot, but we didn't get anything too bad here at the house except for some rain and very little hail and wind of course. Can't live in the flatlands and not get wind.
Today I'm looking at Acts 21:8-9 for women who prophesied. "Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven. He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied." Philip was one of seven deacons; an original in the work there. Philip was also an evangelist and had been an associate of Stephen, whom Paul (Saul then) had helped to stone.
You can imagine the fellowship between the two. Hopefully Paul's reputation as a servant of God helped to smooth any hard feelings away.
Anyway, Philip had four unmarried daughters who prophesied. As far as I can tell, this is the only mention of these women. My foot note says: Prophesying was done extensively in the early church. It was a spiritual gift, a supernatural empowering to build up God's family. Those with this gift either proclaimed to God's people new truth from God or challenged them with existing scriptural truths. Both men and women possessed this gift. (1 Cor. 11: 4-5).
These folks didn't have the complete Bible as we do. They may have had the letters from which the N.T. was written, but not the complete work, so the Lord used this means of teaching the people and telling them what He wanted them to do. If you read verses 10-11, you'll see how the Lord used Agabus to tell Paul something.
Does the Lord use men and women to prophesy today? Possibly; probably, but I don't think to the extent that we saw during the early days of the Christian church. He doesn't need to; we have the Word to guide and teach us.
But the lesson here is: God uses women in ministry and in very important ministry. We are not second class citizens in God's eyes. God will and can use you; are you ready?

Willing and ready,
Sandy