Draw Near to God

Hebrews 10:19-22

We have the right to draw near to God...the Creator of the universe! How can we do this without getting burned up by His holiness? The Holy of Holies was a place that only the high Priest would enter one time each year and sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice on the Ark of the Covenant...and we can "enter" anytime we want! "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean..."

What makes this possible? Those of us in Christ "have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the NEW and LIVING way that Jesus Christ has opened for us." Christ was the Priest AND the sacrifice for us. The eternal debt was payed by an eternal sacrifice.

Heb. 7:25 "Draw near to God through him (Jesus)... he always lives to make intercession." Let's draw near to God through prayer (Eph. 6:18). Don't just stand in the courtyard and look in, let's walk through the Holy Place and step past the torn and open curtain and into the Holy of Holies.

"The Resurrection of Jesus Christ"

Christ Church - Sermon Notes from Pastor Dr. Bob Smart

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." I Corinthians 15:58

The first word "therefor" is referring to the previous verses about the second coming of Christ.

"corruptible shall have put on incorruption"vs.54. Think about it...the mortal will be clothed with the immortal, all because Christ took the sting of death for us and gave us the victory!

1) Stand firm. Keep your hands on the plow, don't look back...we stand firm because Christ stood firm.

2) Give yourself away... completely, freely, with abandon to the Lord. Don't just give your advise or a certain amount of time, give all of yourself all the time.

3) Know for certain. Because you know that your labor, in Jesus name, is not in vain. Be confident in Christ, doubt is evident by your "dead ends".

If people were computers

You never know when the Lord will return, it will be a glorious day! But what will you be doing when He comes? Will you be serving Him? Or will you be concerned with the things of this world?

I was eating lunch with my sister Lydia and was thinking about this. And so I said to Lydia "you know that God loves you, right?" Lydia said "yes!" And I said "He loves you so much that He died for your sins; He took your sins like they were His and paid for them." Lydia looked at me and said "If people were computers, then it is like Jesus downloaded our sins to His computer." I laughed, "yes, you are absolutely right!"

It's late...

and I should be in bed...

"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world--the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." 1 John 2:15-17

"...All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us..."

-gandalf-

So ...

The new year has come and gone, even the Luner new year. God is still the same even today. He is faithful.

The day after Christmas, Grammy, Ben and I took a road trip to the east coast to visit friends and family. We were borrowing my Uncle Todd's PT Cruiser in trade for my Grammy's purple Toyota, which is very hard to get into because the handles on the two driver side doors broke off--this was an interesting surprise to my Uncle I think. Ha ha! Sorry ... any way, we got stuck on the east coast because the PT broke down and needed a new transmision. We were already cutting it close so that I could come home in time for the next semester of College. Ben and I ended up taking a flight back home so that I could sign up for the classes I needed. It was good timing actually, Grammy ended up staying longer than she thought to help her Aunt move. And Ben and I got to stay almost a week at the Bouldens house, which is a good place to be stranded.

I am only taking 2 classes this semester instead of the 5 I was taking last semester. English and Chinese are interesting classes to be taking at the same time. The 2 to 3 times the hours of class time that you are supposed to expect for homework seemed a little much to me last semester, but with my English class I am finding that it is just about right.

I am in the second stage of a possible job nearby at a retirement home. So we will see how that goes. God knows what is best and I am excited to see what He has in store for me.

It's hard for me not to share some of the things Lydia says. If I don't write them down I might forget them, and It would be a shame to forget them!
Lydia is learning how to read, and Lydia started saying the letters on an ornament on our tree. "N...O...E...L..." Still not sure what she was trying to read, Hannah came up and said "Noel!" And Lydia said "yes there is!"

Merry CHRISTmas!

Did you know that you have a shaking machine on the back of your neck? Everyone does you know. When you are cold and you shake it is because of the shaking machine on the back of your neck. At least that is what Lydia tells me... You also have a tickle machine in your mind and it gets turned on with no buttons. Anyway, just some wisdom from a 5 year old.

I think I know more of what I will be doing this next semester. I talked with Dad last night and we went over some things. I don't have the money that I had last semester, and I don't want to go into debt at all. So I think I will be taking Math or English, and then Chinese 102. So not full time this semester. I will be trying to get a job in the area so that I can pay for more classes later on though.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lyonsjia/CelebratingChristmas2008#

This college student...

Finals are finished! I am really happy about this right now, as you can probably tell. :-)
God helped me to get through Economics, Math, Humanities, Business and Chinese courses. I am just trusting God right now. I never thought I would be going to college, but that is where He has me right now, and I am excited and a little anxious to know why. But I don't HAVE to know why, maybe I never will, but I trust He has a plan and I am just to follow where He leads.....Which brings me to wondering where He is leading me to next. So far I am planning on getting a part time job and taking classes at the community college near by. No doors have closed, and my parents are all for it, so that is where I am headed. But I know that God works in ways we could
not have imagined and "man makes his plans, but God will direct them".

Teaching my niece Maggie the Chinese Yo yo

We voted!

waste not, want not

Labor Day! What a wonderful time to eat things you don't normally do... like hot dogs, hamburgers, coleslaw, and..... Ginger Ale! Our Ginger Ale decided to make a fountain when it was opened. And Ben, I guess, does not like to waste....

"We're going camping now...."

Alright. Everyone sit down now. So.... What was Large group about?

"yes, Penny, thank you for raising your hand."

"Eggs?"

"Yes, there were eggs in the story."

"Andy, what did the eggs, that got smashed all over Trevor, mean?"

"Ru..ru..les"

"Rules, yes, or commandments."

"Can you keep all the rules that God gave us? Remember, if you break one command then God says you have broken them all!"

"No teacher! That is impossible!"

"You are right. No one can. What does the Bible say will happen if you break even one? Steven?"

"You die. But teacher this is not true. It is just a story"

"Actually, this IS true. It is what I believe, and it is what all the other American teachers in this camp believe. " "But I will tell you more of what I believe... Sure no one can be perfect, we all know that. And God knew that too. So He sent His Son, and came down as a man. He lived the perfect life for us, and then He died for us taking OUR punishment on Himself."

"Yes, Steven?"

"But this is Taiwan, and we believe other thing, you are from America and you believe other thing."

"Actually Steven, I have some Taiwanese friends that are Christians"
"I am not trying to force you to believe this, It is your decision and it is your responsibility. But I don't want you to die. So I have to say something. OK? If you have any questions please feel free to ask."

"OK."

This is very very close to what our class was like. The only other thing was that my TA Sally translated it as much as she could word for word. And she usually does not translate everything. So if there was a doubt in the students mind of what I was saying in English, Sally translated it in Chinese. I did not get any questions later from the students. But they seemed to respond to me in a different and better way after that. That day I went on to teach one of our country lessons and about a famous song 'Amazing Grace', and the story of John Newton and how he came to write that song. Usually our lessons are not so serious. But my 13 students and TA (Teacher's Assistant), paid very close attention.

I know I have not posted in awhile. And maybe some of you know why, and some of you do not know why. I am working on my testimony of what happened to me about a month ago. And hope to post it soon.