Grace Conference

Greetings to you, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have redemption through His blood. 

We had a very very enjoyable weekend. Our family attended a Grace Conference and we were very glad to see our friends, who we haven't seen in a year! We had a very sweet time catching up with our brothers and sisters in Christ as well as attending a number of services that were taught by many different men, including Pastor Richard Jordan.

On Saturday evening, the girls sang "I Pledge Allegiance To The Lamb" and I played the piano for them. You can click here to listen to the song.  

Here's a picture I took of a lake. The other picture, below, has the saying of the week on it.

I just wanted to mention a couple Bible verses I thought was neat. Last Monday morning (Jan. 12) in my Bible reading, I came across 2 particular verses that stuck out to me. The first one is Psalms 4:3, which says "But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the Lord will hear when I call unto him." That's neat that God sets aside the godly for himself. When I read that verse, I thought of Titus 2:14- "Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." It reminds me that we as Christians are supposed to be peculiar, not part of the world. Remember: we are in this world, but not of this world. 

The second verse is Psalms 5:4- "For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee."  That's a cool verse. God doesn't take part or pleasure in sin and wickedness and evil isin't in Him because He's holy and just, pure and perfect. It's so amazing that Jesus, who can't sin and can't look at sin, died to take all the sins of the whole world upon himself, and His father, God, had to turn His back on His only Son because Jesus had all the sins of everybody on Him. Wow.  O to be like Him, I would be! That is a constant prayer of mine. I think this song "O To Be Like Thee" is fitting for these verses. It can also be the daily prayer of each one of us as we strive to be more like our Saviour. 

Saying of the week: 

The "super-sized" Bible verse of the week: Romans 8:18-27
"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same, in hope. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God."

Song of the week: For the next 4 weeks, the song of the week will be 1 stanza from O To Be Like Thee and maybe ya'll can make it your prayer for that week.

                            "O to be like Thee! blessed Redeemer, 
                            This is my constant longing and prayer; 
                             Gladly I'll forfeit all of earth's treasures, 
                                Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear. 

                                            O to be like Thee!
                                            O to be like Thee,
                                Blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
                         Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
                            Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

Have a good and godly week!! 
Washed in the blood of the Lamb,
Ashley