AN INVITATION TO THE BIGGEST PARTY

Did you know that God is going to throw the biggest party in the history of the Universe? Revelation 7:9 says, “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” All the people who are in heaven will come together for a great big feast after their victory over the devil. Now that will be a party! And did you know you are invited? The God of the Universe wants you to come. You may be like me and have already RSVP’d for the party or you may not have accepted your invitation, yet. All you have to do is tell God you are sorry for putting yourself on the throne, and that you want Him on the throne of your life. Tell Him you want Him to be your God and invite Him into your heart. Thank Him for sending Jesus to die on the cross for your sins. Ask for forgiveness for the sins you’ve committed, and tell Him you accept His forgiveness. Then ask God to help you turn away completely from your sins and grow closer to God each and every day. We are SO glad you are coming to the party. It will be the best party we’ve ever attended! We will be dancing on streets made of gold, and laughing our heads off, and seeing with our own eyes, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is the real party we have always longed for. I can’t wait to see you there! Until then, let’s celebrate in our hearts, day after day, hour after hour the glory and the splendor of our God, and Savior Jesus Christ! Psalm 16:9-11 concludes it all by saying, “Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your holy one see decay. You have made known to me the path of life; You fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.”

 VICTORY

Did you know that in the end Jesus, and all who follow Him, win? That is worth celebrating in itself!! But, also, while we are still here on this earth we CAN live victorious lives! Genesis 4:7 says, “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it. “ How can we master sin? By continuing to focus on our Savior. Jesus will fight our battles for us if we give them to Him. 2 Chronicles 20:17 states,”You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.” Now read this verse again, but fill in your name where it says O Judah and Jerusalem. Does that cut straight to the heart?

In 2 Samuel 18:28 Ahimaaz called out to the king. “’All is well!’ He bowed down before the king with his face to the ground and said,’ Praise be to the Lord your God! He has delivered up the men who lifted their hands against my lord the king!” When we lift up our hands and surrender all to God, He will deliver us and God will bring victory in our lives!

Okay, here is the command once again. Pray and Read your Bible! Did that annoy you? Well, Psalm 119:133 gives you the key to victory over sin. And, do you know that the Bible is full of keys for living and wisdom for all things. It is way more helpful than any self-help book, way more powerful than any superhero because it is written by the REAL SUPERHERO. Hebrews 4:12 tells us “ For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges that thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Basically, this verse is saying that the Word of God is where it’s at. Within the Word of God is where the Truth is. It is where the party’s at! In the Book of Nehemiah, it shows how the Israelites finally realized the power of joy in the Book of the Law. They found their unique strength neither in government nor in worship rituals, but in reverence for God’s written Word. Nehemiah 8:12 says,” Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been known to them.” Friends, until we really understand God’s Word and what God is telling us through it, we won’t know the joy that only God can bring. Pray for God to give you an understanding of His Word, and then dive in and explore all the exciting words from our Holy Creator. He is talking to you!!

Okay, so is victory over sin realistic? DEFINITELY! Romans 6:14 says, “ Sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.” I am not saying that we will be perfect, above sin, and never fall again. I am saying that we will be spared from more or most of our sin if we live this way. It does say in 1 John 3:5-6, “But you know that He appeared so that He might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin. No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him.” That is victorious living!! We will never be exactly like Jesus, because we can’t be perfect like He is, but we can sure try to be close to what He is like.

How about our thoughts? If Jesus can keep our foot from being snared, what about our minds? Our thinking, in my opinion, is the hardest thing to change because our thoughts are always there, always moving. We are constantly thinking something. (There have been moments in my life when I have doubted that about myself). But, if we don’t fill our minds with Truth, with Scripture, and praise and prayer to our Father in Heaven, then our thoughts can easily get carried away sinfully. When we are not thinking about God, or in prayer, it is easy for satan to intervene in our thought life – to fill us with lies, untruth, hideous things, bitterness, fearful visions, even dreams, sexual thoughts and fantasies, and anything that can take us away from thinking about our Savior. But God wants us, once again, to focus on Him, continuously. This takes true self – discipline. And let me tell you guys, that if this attention deficit girl can do it, then I know that you, too, can have victorious thinking resulting in victorious living!

Jude 24-25 states, “To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy – to the only God our Savior be the glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.” And the greatest part is not only can we have victory on earth, but Jesus will have victory over all in the end! Revelation 20 :7-10 says that “When the thousand years are over, satan will be released from prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth – Gog and Magog – to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city He loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown.” And Revelation 19:6-8 rejoices. “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him the glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready!” We are the bride, so let us make ourselves ready!

Wow! It's already time to host the Christian Carnival again. Where has the time gone. Time seems to be moving by faster and faster every day. Amanda and I now have a 3 month old baby boy at home - our 6th (2 boys, 4 girls). David is our oldest. He's eleven, but it seems like just yesterday that he was learning to walk, to talk, to dribble a basketball. This week we found out that he made the 6th grade basketball team at school. Is this the little boy at play?

I don't remember growing older
When did they?
When did she get to be a beauty?
When did he get to be so tall?
Wasn't it yesterday
When they were small?
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset

Whoops! Sorry. Anyway, here are the Carnival submission this week. Enjoy.

(5 points to the first person that can name the Broadway play from which that song originated.)

Rodney Olsen presents Russell Crowe considers spirituality posted at The Journey.

William Meisheid presents Memory, Hold the Door for Me? posted at Beyond The Rim....

Hopeful Spirit presents Thankful Thursday: One Small Step for Humankind posted at On the Horizon.

Diane R. presents A Guide to Emergent-Speak posted at Crossroads: Where Faith and Inquiry Meet.

Weekend Fisher presents Religious Ambition as Idolatry posted at Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength, saying, "When does self-improvement become self-serving?  When does religious ambition become more ambitious than religious?  And is God at the center of any of it?  Weekend Fisher ponders in Religious Ambition as Idolatry."

Tom presents The Peace of Christ and the Soteriology of the State posted at Theology for the Masses.

Richard H. Anderson presents The Words of Amos posted at dokeo kago grapho soi kratistos Theophilos.

Adam Faughn presents Growing in Knowledge posted at The Faughn Family of Four.

e-Mom presents The Jewish Feast of Hanukkah: A Festival of Victory and Light posted at C h r y s a l i s, saying, "An exploration of this Jewish winter holiday for Christians. Includes the two miracles, Jesus as the Tree of Life, Hanukkah and eschatology, plus rules for dreidel spinning."

Cory Tucholski presents An Atheist Reads the Bible posted at Josiah Concept Ministries.

Amanda Ottaway presents My Choice for Faith posted at Mandi Kaye.

Everyday Liturgy Writer ***author specified in remarks*** presents The Medium and The Message posted at Everyday Liturgy, saying, "***Kara is the author*** Kara comments on the way technology changes the Church's message: to pretend or argue that making changes to our medium does not change our message is at least naive and in its worst case dangerous to our Churches and our theology. We need to consider what changes are being made to our message when we change the medium."

Henry Neufeld presents The God-Talk Club - Tornadoes! posted at Jevlir Caravansary, saying, "This week I take a risk and submit from my fiction and fun blog rather than my Bible study blog (Participatory Bible Study Blog) where I host. This is a short story in the form of a dialogue amongst people discussing a theological issue."

Jody Neufeld presents Delight in the Lord posted at Jody Along the Path, saying, "What does it mean to truly delight in God?"

Jeremy Pierce presents Dating Deuteronomy 32:26-27 posted at Parableman, saying, "Reflections on the date of Deuteronomy from Deut 32:26-27"

Mark Olson presents Adam, Noah, Justification, and the East posted at Pseudo-Polymath, saying, "In the guise of a book review, I attempt to highlight some of the key differences between Eastern and Western views of Justification."

ChrisB presents What’s wrong with naturalism? posted at Homeward Bound.

Annette presents He is perfect posted at Fish and Cans.

Barb presents And the rains came posted at Tidbits and Treasures.

Please let me know of any errors or omissions.

- In Christ and for His glory