en-usFri, 18 May 2012 22:40:54 -0400Fri, 18 May 2012 22:40:54 -0400http://www.creeksidechurch.ca/bloginfo@creeksidechurch.ca (Creekside Church)info@rideforrefuge.com (Ride for Refuge)http://paulamcsmith.tumblr.com/post/14026145987The Bait and Switch of Contemporary Christianity: A challenging take on 'spending time with God'.

]]>http://paulamcsmith.tumblr.com/post/14026145987pmcleodsmith@creeksidechurch.ca (Paula McLeod-Smith)http://paulamcsmith.tumblr.com/post/8687575526
For reading & meditation - Job 5:1-18 - link here - http://www.biblestudytools.com/tniv/job/passage.aspx?q=job+5:1-18

"Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward." (v. 7)

How do we, as Christians, cope with the problem of unmerited suffering? The first thing we must do is to recognize that in a universe whose balance has been greatly upset by sin, undeserved suffering is bound to come. Face this, and you are halfway to turning the problem into a possibility.

In an Indian palace, many years ago, a child was born whose parents decided to keep all signs of decay and death from him. When he was taken into the garden, maids were sent before him to remove all the decaying flowers and fallen leaves, so that he would be protected from all signs of suffering and death. One day, however, he left his home and, while wandering through the streets, came across a corpse. His reaction was so strong that he set about establishing the teaching that, as life is fundamentally suffering, the only thing to do is to escape into Nirvana, the state of extinction of self. The young man was Guatama Buddha, whose beliefs are shared by millions of his followers, not only in India but around the world. His philosophy is a dramatic and tragic result of trying to protect oneself from the realities of life, one of which is suffering.

The Christian faith is the opposite of that: it exposes us to the very heart of suffering - the cross. Then it takes that suffering, and turns it into salvation. This is why Christians should not be afraid to face the worst that can happen - because with God it can be turned into the best.

Prayer: Father, I am so thankful for the cross - what is my suffering compared to that? And even if I have to bear similar suffering, I know that out of it will come to me what came to You - a resurrection. Blessed be Your Name forever. Amen.

For Further Study

Isa. 53; Luke 22:40; Heb. 2:9-10; 5:8; 8:1

1. Why was it necessary for Christ to suffer?

2. How can suffering become positive?

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- Every Day Light - Selwyn Hughes]]>http://paulamcsmith.tumblr.com/post/8687575526pmcleodsmith@creeksidechurch.ca (Paula McLeod-Smith)http://paulamcsmith.tumblr.com/post/6696850884
Its just a little book…much like a sketch or an artists rendering of his perspective…still unfinished and open for further etchings or erasings.

I appreciate the way he expands our perception of God’s love and the hell on earth we create when we choose not to live in “the way of love - Jesus”

He simply says that perhaps our understanding of God’s redemptive plan and power is too small…and if so perhaps our understanding of heaven and hell is slightly off kilter as well…certainly something worthy of more discussion…more study…more consideration…which his book has certainly stirred up.

I can see how it opens more issues than it answers…and since we humans like to put God in a neat and tidy little box I can certainly see why it might make us a little nervous…which it has…but I’m ok with it…I think God can handle it…and I love the fact that it’s rattled us enough that it has us thinking and studying and talking and reconsidering our view points. Even if we end up back where we started it served a healthy purpose by forcing some good healthy dialogue.

Go read it…give it some thought and lets talk.

Two thumbs up…just for putting it out there. Now bring on the rebuttal Francis Chan et al!

]]>http://paulamcsmith.tumblr.com/post/6696850884pmcleodsmith@creeksidechurch.ca (Paula McLeod-Smith)http://paulamcsmith.tumblr.com/post/6035156058
Read - Proverbs 2:12-22

"Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men '" (v.12)

We touched yesterday on the thought that in the book of Proverbs, particularly in the first nine chapters, wisdom and foolishness are seen as persons. Jesus was also using the device of personification when He said in Matthew 11:19, "But wisdom is proved right by her actions." Some have thought that the personification of wisdom in the Scriptures indicates that wisdom is to be seen as a personality, perhaps a member of the angelic hierarchy, who visits men and women and imparts to them divine wisdom, but this, in my opinion, is taking things too far. The writer is simply using a literary device to make a point. However, it is the opinion of most evangelical commentators that the device of personification as it relates to wisdom is to prepare the way for the apostle Paul's great statement in 1 Corinthians 1:24 that Christ is "the power of God and the wisdom of God." If this is so, then it suggests that the divine purpose underlying the personification of wisdom in Proverbs is not simply to acquaint us with an absorbing set of rules or helpful suggestions by which to run our lives, but to hint that true wisdom lies in a Person, that Person being none other than our Lord Jesus Christ. Christianity moves beyond the wisdom of Solomon, which, by the way, commends itself to non-Christians as well as Christians, and points to the fact that the highest wisdom comes from a relationship with the One who is the fount of all wisdom - Jesus. Knowing the principles of wisdom is one thing; knowing the Person in whom all wisdom resides is another.

Prayer:

O Father, how can I sufficiently thank You that by faith I am linked to the source of all wisdom - the Lord Jesus Christ? Let the wonder of this relationship - I am in Him and He is in me - sink deep into my soul today. Amen.

For further study:

1 Corinthians 1:18-25; Isaiah 11:1-5; Matthew 13:54

1. How does Paul describe Jesus?

2. What did people testify of Jesus?

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- Every Day Light by Selwyn Hughes]]>http://paulamcsmith.tumblr.com/post/6035156058pmcleodsmith@creeksidechurch.ca (Paula McLeod-Smith)http://paulamcsmith.tumblr.com/post/2482556984
“Grace is birthed from hopeless inequity. It is the offer of exactly what we do not deserve. Thus, it cannot be recognized or received until we’re aware of precisely how undeserving we really are. It is the knowledge of what we do not deserve that allows us to receive grace for what it is. Unmerited. Unearned. Undeserved. For that reason, grace can only be experienced by those who acknowledge they are undeserving.

From the beginning, the church has had an uneasy relationship with grace….Instead of defining itself in terms of what it stands for, the church often takes the less imaginative and easier path of defining itself in terms of what it is against.

The odd thing is that when you read the New Testament the only thing Jesus stood against relentlessly was graceless religious leaders. So we should not be surprised when we get to the end of the gospels and discover the people who crucified him were those who claimed to know God but knew little of grace…

…grace was personified by Jesus (full of grace and truth John 1:14) - not the balance between but the fullness of grace and truth….in Jesus there was no conflict between grace and truth…the grace personified by Jesus did not dumb down sin to make it more palatable. It does not have to. Grace acknowledges the full implication of sin and yet does not condemn.”

I am daily, hourly, moment by moment, in need of this grace…and equally in need of learning to apply it.

This book just went to the top of my “Must Read” list.

God bless you with a deeper and more profound experience of his grace in your life and in the lives of those you touch in 2011.

Love,

Paula

]]>http://paulamcsmith.tumblr.com/post/2482556984pmcleodsmith@creeksidechurch.ca (Paula McLeod-Smith)http://carmenbajo.wordpress.com/2010/12/14/christmas-party/]]>http://carmenbajo.wordpress.com/2010/12/14/christmas-party/info@creeksidechurch.ca (Carmen Bajo Blog)http://carmenbajo.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/school-year-20102011/]]>http://carmenbajo.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/school-year-20102011/info@creeksidechurch.ca (Carmen Bajo Blog)http://paulamcsmith.tumblr.com/post/1524713283
Romans 13:8-14
“… love is the fulfilment of the law.” (v.10)

Because the disease of self-interest is so difficult to recognize, it might be helpful to focus on examples of ordinary things done or said by decent people which are, nevertheless, indicative of the ease with which we slip into self-interest.
A man whose mother died just as he was due to go on holiday and was therefore obliged to stay at home until the funeral was over said to the minister who tried to comfort him: “I will miss my mother greatly … but I’ve lost nearly half my holiday.” In the weeks prior to my wife’s death, a man came up to me and said: “How is your wife?” Before I had time to reply, he launched into a fifteen-minute explanation of how his wife had been up all night with toothache.

During the terrifying days of World War II, a retired schoolmistress living in a rural area sent a letter to someone in London saying: “If only you knew what we are going through here. Every night we hear enemy planes going over loaded with bombs. Last week one of them dropped its bombs at random and our pantry window was cracked.” The person she was writing to had not known what it was to sleep in her own bed for three months - having had to spend every night in an air raid shelter.

These illustrations are representative of the kind of thing we hear or might say ourselves almost every day. And if we did not say it, then we might think it — and that is just as bad.

Prayer:

O God, deliver me, I pray, from this tendency that I have to become deeply engrossed with myself. Help me to grow in You, so that my first thought is not for myself but for others. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
For Further Study
Num. 11:1-5; Isa. 5:8; Matt. 27:3
1. Why did the children of Israel complain?
2. What motivated Judas?
]]>http://paulamcsmith.tumblr.com/post/1524713283pmcleodsmith@creeksidechurch.ca (Paula McLeod-Smith)http://carmenbajo.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/celebrating-the-pastors-50th-birthday/]]>http://carmenbajo.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/celebrating-the-pastors-50th-birthday/info@creeksidechurch.ca (Carmen Bajo Blog)http://carmenbajo.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/welcome-to-the-cb-blog/]]>http://carmenbajo.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/welcome-to-the-cb-blog/info@creeksidechurch.ca (Carmen Bajo Blog)