Oh, My Sweet Little Brennan

I just gotta share...she's so sweet!

A few weeks ago during prayer time she prayed, "Jesus, thank you for Mommy and Daddy and Caedmon and Petey (the dog). Ummmm...and Jesus....thank you for You!"

Don't you LOVE that?! When is the last time you or I thanked God for Himself in our prayers?

Too sweet! No wonder Jesus talked about the faith of a child!

Two nights ago as I tucked her into bed, I was playing the "Ooh! I see some "sugar" on you, with my name on it!" So, I just started kissing her little cheeks and nose and forehead and neck, and she was giggling like crazy. She kept saying, "Mommy..you missed one..right here. You missed another one..right here."

Then, I said, "Oh, there's one! On the other side of your neck...I gotta get that one!"

"No Mommy. That one is for Jesus. I'm saving it for Him!" :)

Oooh! I could eat her up!

Then tonight as we were driving home from AWANA, she was telling me all about her class. She suddendly remembered, "Mommy! I got to hold the Sparky flag!"

She went on..."Mommy! God answered my prayer! The teacher was looking to see who he was going to pick to hold the flag, and I wanted him to pick me SOOOO bad, so I prayed. I was praying and praying and asking God, "Please! Let him pick me!"

So I asked, "Baby, did you raise your hand?"

"No Mommy. I just prayed. And God answered my prayer Mommy! The teacher peeked his head up and looked at my name tag and said, "Brennan!".

Those of you who know him will appreciate this...by contrast, Caedmon said, "Mom, I was waving my hand as high and as hard as I could. I wanted to hold the Bible flag. Mommy, they didn't even pick me! I waved and waved, but I didn't get chosen."

Oh, how I could relate to him! I was always the kid almost screaming, "Pick ME! Pick ME!" and yet I wanted to be the one who sat silently and looked so cute that they HAD to pick me. Never happened..those who know me well will understand. :)

Goodnight all!

Save the Date! Ladies Precept Retreat!

Save the Date!
Keep the weekend of June 27th – 29th open for a time of refreshment at a Ladies Precept Bible Study Retreat, to be held at the beautiful Living Water Retreat Center outside of Cottonwood.

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Who is God? Who is Jesus? What is the Kingdom of Heaven?
How do I learn to trust God in the midst of adversity?
What does it mean to be a true winner?
Find the answers to these questions and more as you learn to

“Discover Truth for Yourself”!


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Along with the corporate study, there will be several Breakout Sessions over the weekend, such as: Discover 4 Yourself - Precept for Kids, Truth for Teens, Leading a 40 Minute Study and more!

So mark your calendars and feel free to invite your friends and family, (your teenage daughters too). If you think you might be interested in attending, please e-mail us at AZPreceptRetreat@gmail.com.

Watch for more announcements as the summer draws near!

Questions? Feel free to contact us at
AZPreceptRetreat@gmail.com

It's Precept Retreat Time!

It's gotten to that time...we're getting our ducks in a row, and so far they've been quite obedient little boogers.



We worked tonight to take all of my big vision ideas and put them into intelligible form. I don't know where I'd be without Admin "D". She's so amazing! Thank you, D.



Several of us are holding a Precept Women's Retreat this summer up on Oak Creek ...I'm told it's beautiful there!



Many Precept leaders are coming together to put this retreat on, and we are SO excited about sharing the inductive study with as many new women as God brings to us!



We'll be having break-out classes covering:

* The New Precept Lightning Studies

* How to lead a 40 Minute Study for a small group, or for discipling one on one

* How to teach children 3-8 how to study God's Word in a fun and life-changing way using the inductive study method...you'll be amazed to realize how much they learn!

* How to use Precept studies as outreach opportunities...

* Precept classes for teen girls, led by teen girls!

* Discover 4 Yourself Studies geared to children 7 and up who are reading

* A special class: "You feel called to be a Precept leader? We're here to help you get started!"



There will also be ample time to relax and retreat. :)



MMMMMM.....I'm taking a big bag of marshmallows and chocolate bars...anyone wanna meet me by the fire with the guitar? :)



I'm so excited about the amazing team of women God is putting together for this event...my deepest heart cry was that other Precept leaders would want to come along side us, and help light this state up for His Glory!



If you're a Precept leader, or a person who is interested in learning how to study the Bible inductively through Precept Ministries, we'd love to have you join us.



As a leader, if you'd like to actually join the servant team, and consider leading a break-out workshop, we'd love to talk with you! The date is June 27th-June 29th.



Please e-mail us at the address posted on this site: whatilearnedfromthewordtoday@cox.net , and be sure to include your phone number, and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.



Upward for the King, All for His Glory...

Jesica

Will You Be a Beggar for a Lost World?

2 Corinthians 5:13-21
For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you.
For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.
Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Mmmmm....much to ponder in this passage, isn't there?

Are you "beside yourself" for God? Are you amazed by Him...astonished by Him, astounded, thrown into wonderment by Him? (Greek definitions.)

Have you ever known a believer who was? What did their life look like?

I'll venture a guess...if they were truly "thrown into wonderment" by Jesus, I doubt they were still walking around in the stinky putrid flesh, living for themself and seeking to justify sin in their life.

When someone is beside themself for God, aren't they about His business? I love that Paul says that it was for those he was ministering to that he was of sound mind. Don't you love that?!

It's as if he's saying, "Listen. I am CRAZY in love with my Lord Jesus Christ, and My Father, so much so that I'm overwhelmed by them...but for your sake, I'm going to keep my head on, so that I can share them with you!"

(No, that's not from the Greek...just from my heart.) :)

Do you ever think about your job as a Christian as being one wherein you're "begging people on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God" ?

I wish I had done this with my friend Paul.

Paul was like a brother to me. I loved him so much. We were friends when I was at my most lost, professing to be a Christian, but living a life of total depravity before God.

I was lost, and so was Paul. He was a determined Athiest.

I'm guessing that he saw people like me, who claimed to be Christians, but weren't truly saved...and watched our lives of depravity, and though..."Hey, seems to me we're no different..why would I want their Jesus?"

Can't say that I blame him, if he was using my life as the standard...I had no standard other than my living by fleshly desires. If it felt good, I did it.

If only he had allowed God's glory to be his standard.

Some time later, I was radically saved by God.
(Every believer in Jesus Christ has been RADICALLY saved by God, by the way! How can the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, along with God imputing the righteousness of Christ to mere man, be considered anything less than RADICAL?!)

For the first few months of my new life, the Holy Spirit was tugging at my heart to call Paul and tell him what was different in my life..WHO was different in my life...or better said..tell him that I had a WHOLE NEW LIFE!

But, I was a new bride, and thought calling an old guy friend would dishonor my husband..so I didn't. I didn't even think to ask Shane if he'd be on the line with me, and the two of us call Paul. I didn't even think to stop and pray for clarity!

Here, I KNEW that my friend was lost..on his way to hell, needed what I had been given...but I didn't act.

Shortly thereafter, I was told by our dear mutual friend that Paul had driven to California to see his brother, and after he left he drove onto an Indian reservation somewhere between California and Missouri, and blew his brains out.

A man who lived on the reservation found his truck a week later, and then found him.

My friend, whom I loved like a brother, yet wasn't willing to beg of him.

Heartbreaking.

Unfortunately, Paul is one of four lost friends of mine who have committed suicide.

I can't help but wonder how their eternal destinies might be different if those in their lives who were true followers of Christ, had chosen to BEG OF THEM on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God.

Maybe some did, and they chose not to repent and accept that reconciliation through Christ. Maybe they didn't believe God. Maybe they didn't see their need for a Savior. Maybe they refused to humble themselves before the Lord.

Or...

Maybe no one begged them. Maybe no one ministered reconciliation to them. Maybe Christ's ambassadors took the day off, like I did with Paul.

I gotta tell you, God has used that experience to frame my life. I don't ever again want to fail to tell my lost friends about God's love for them, through Jesus Christ...about His plan of reconciliation that has already been completed for them.

I don't ever again want to fail to beg them on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God.
I want my life to beg. I want my words to beg. I want my marriage to beg.
I want my childrens' lives to beg.

I even want my funeral to beg!

Yes, I want always to be a beggar for Christ to a lost and dying world.

If the love of Christ controls us, and if agape love always seeks the others' best...then don't we HAVE to share the awesome truth of Christ crucified and risen again?

Don't you want the best for your lost friends? If the love of Christ controls us, this won't even be a question we have to reason through.

Who in your life needs to meet an ambassador for Christ today?

Who needs you to minister the word of reconciliation to them?

Who needs you to beg them today?

Go in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. He will give you the words.

In Him,
Jes

I'm in love with ITCHY-BOD Shane!

My poor baby! We think he has shingles. Uugh!

So I coined the name Itchy-Bod Shane for him.....I figure, we gotta find a way to have a little fun with this! (Think Ichabod Crane!)

Heck, beyond my better judgement, I'm even using University of Tennessee colors for my font today...if that's not love, coming from a TEXAN, I don't know what is!

If you would please pray for my pitiful patient, we would sure appreciate it. He hurts, and I can't get near him...we just keep running around him yelling, "Unclean! Unclean!" :) :) :) :)

As you can imagine, he's getting quite the hoot outta that! ;(

Not too spiritual tonight, is it?!

We're fried around here...sorry 'bout that.

Have a great day..hope you got a giggle out of our misery. ;)

XOXO,

Jes

This is IT! This is IT! This is what I've been trying to say!

This article by Pastor John Piper and his wife is so fantastic!

It's all about why they believe in family worship.

This is so my heart! I hope you'll be encouraged by it..I know I was!

Enjoy!

https://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Articles/ByDate/1995/1560_The_Family_Together_in_Gods_Presence/