It Will Cost You Everything

You need to weigh in on the cost factor and count the costs of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. 

It will cost you popularity. It will cost you promotion. Perhaps at times it will cost you an easy life. You will have to discipline yourself. You will have to buffed your body. You will have to say "NO" to temptation. You will have to say "NO" to this world. You will have to break with a crowd. You will have to be willing to stand alone for Christ. You will have to be willing to walk to the beat of a different drummer and to step out of the crowd, even if no one follows after Jesus Christ. You would be willing to stand if you were the only person in the world for Jesus Christ. That's the cost factor. 

You will have to be willing to suffer persecution for Christ and let me tell you, it will come. It might even cost you your life.

He is not coming to play games. He is not coming to bedazzle. 

He is coming to dominate. He is coming to slaughter. 

He is the King of kings and He is the Lord of lords and at the end of this age, He will bolt out of Heaven on a white steed and His garments are dripped in blood; the blood of His own enemies and He is coming back to conquer and to damn. 

You need to make terms of peace with this coming King or you will be subjected in damnation forever and Jesus Christ has made terms of peace. 

You need to settle out of court with Him. You do not want to go into that final day of conflict with Christ. 

For He will be ruthless in the execution of His justice, but He offers you mercy today. For He will agree to terms of surrender. He will agree to terms of peace, but they are His terms of peace, not ours and His terms of peace are very simply this: You must hate your own father and mother and brother and sister and even your own life more than Me or you cannot be My disciple. And you must take up a cross and follow Me or you cannot be My disciple. And if you do not, you will meet Me in the final judgement and it will glorify God in your destruction.

He is pressing you for a decision. He will not be put off. You cannot hit the mute button any longer in your heart. You must answer Him. 

Verse 33, "so then", conclusion, "none of you can be My disciple"

"So then, non of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions." -Luke 14:33

He is saying none of you can be a true Christian. None of you can be in My Kingdom. None of you can be in right relationship with Me or the Father. None of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.

What is our Lord saying? He is not backing off. 

He is increasing the commitment that He is calling for with every line of this section. Well, He is not saying that you have to buy your way into the Kingdom of Heaven for none of us have enough gold and none of us have enough silver to ever remove the stain of sin that has defiled our inner soul. 

What is He saying? Who does give up ALL of his possessions. 

Well, this must be taken in context with other texts of Scripture and let me just cut to the bottom line of the bottom line. You must transfer the ownership of all that you are and all that you have to all that He is. That's what He is saying. 

Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." And He is calling out to you today "Come unto Me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden and I will take you in and receive you unto Myself, take My yoke upon you and learn of Me for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest for your souls. For My burden is easy and My yoke is light." 

It is. 

You will have the weight of sin lifted off of you and you will now have the yoke of Christ upon you and He gets into that yoke with you and He pulls with you, but it will require the total commitment of your life to Him. 

Oh, how we ought to search our hearts here today. Have I come to this place of total commitment in my life? Have I yielded my life to the sovereign lordship of Him who dies upon the cross for me? I want you to know that the gates of Paradise have been swung open to you. The narrow gate is open and if you will take a step of faith and come through this narrow gate, and commit your life to Him - despite the strength of His words. He also says, "him who comes unto Me I will in no wise cast out."

He is calling to you today to come, to come to Him; to take a step of faith and to come to Him, but if you come to Him, don't play games. You must surrender to Christ. 

Excerpt taken from "It Will Cost You Everything" 

Sermon by Steven Lawson

Source: Sermon Jam Transcripts

Here is the Full Sermon ~

Moments to Remember ~ 5 Minutes to Breathe

 

Moments to Remember was developed as a simple way to look back on our week as homeschoolers and find photos that encompass the memories we want to remember. The week may have been tough, there may have been more bumps than smiles, but in the end, these are the moments that keep us going; the ones we need to remember. 

(created by Homeschool Creations)

This was Terrible Tuesday. Well, maybe not so terrible, but it was chaotic a bit. So at one point when the table looked like this and the room was quiet for 5 minutes, I sat back and breathed a prayer of thanks.

I never knew that 5 minutes of calmness could be so special!

The Homeschool Mother's Journal ~ February 2016

October is the last month I posted a Homeschool Mother's Journal? 

Seriously? 

This is not acceptable. This is not going to fly. I will speak about the happenings of February here, trying to keep it at a reader-friendly length and then continue with these HMJ posts, at least on a monthly basis. Wowzers! 

In My Life This Month

After months and months (and months and months) of waring within myself, trying to wrap my brain around the Gospel - salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone! I think I am beginning, only beginning, to see a bit of growth and a sliver of understanding of the Good News of Jesus Christ. 

Continuing to stay in the Word, listening to doctrinally sound sermons and praying (doing all of these even when I don't want to) helps. Back in June I talked about how continuing to put myself in the way of Truth, by the means as previously mentioned, will lead me to knowing the Lord more, loving Him more and then obeying Him more. I am becoming a testament to that, but none of it on my own. It's only because of Jesus and His righteousness. He's the One who gives me (all of us) grace to overcome and run towards Him.

In Our Homeschool This Month

We are marching forward. It may be at a snail's pace, but progress it is.

History - Our topics for February have been Pioneers and the Ohio River; Ohio becomes a state; the Louisiana Purchase, War of 1812; The Star-Spangled Banner; Louisiana becomes a state; Robert Fulton and Indiana & Mississippi become states. Now that sounds like a lot, but MFW curriculum is based on the Charlotte Mason method of teaching children and the kids are not overwhelmed by too much information, plus there are a lot of hands-on activities. 

Science -  We have discovered all kinds of information about Living Things, Animals and Plants. 

Bible - We are walking through different names of Jesus this school year. These past 4 weeks have been about Jesus being the Lamb of God and the Vine. Adelle is doing Bible on Switched on Schoolhouse too. I don't think we can learn too much of God's Word.  :-)

Math - We are memorizing addition facts and having so much fun using our Math-U-See unit bars. 

Language Arts - Jonathan doesn't see the need for practicing penmanship, but he likes how short our phonics lessons are over at Easy Peasy. Adelle has moved to Switched on Schoolhouse for LA also.

Read Alouds - We finished up Laura Ingalls Wilder's Farmer Boy and are now in the middle of On the Banks of Plum Creek. 

Thinking Ahead

I pretty much know what my Sugar Bear is going to use for next year's curriculum. I'm a little stuck on what to go with for my Little Man.  

A Photo, Quote or Video to Share

How's about an article to share? Todd Friel of Wretched Radio mentioned an article titled, Clothed in Righteousness by Joni Eareckson Tada. It is sooooo sooooo sooooo good! You must read it. And if you don't know much about Mrs. Tada. Look her up. She has quite the testimony and the Lord uses her physical weaknesses to draw her to Himself. If that's what it takes, that's what it takes. He uses everything necessary to conform His children to the image of His Son, Jesus and most of the time His tools are the difficulties of this weary, broken and depraved life. I pray He conforms me too.

We're Listening to

Did you see my The Scariest Song post? Yeah. We are listening to Sovereign Grace Music for kids. These songs are so Gospel and Bible saturated. You can tell they are specifically for children, but they're not annoying. I get fed the Truth and the Gospel through these songs also!

My kids pick up on songs so quickly. Music is just part of who they are. They come by it so naturally. Being the sponges they are, I felt it necessary to throw out the junk music we had (yes, not all "christian" music is good). We can't just deprive them of everything. They're still going to listen to something, so I bought the Awesome God album, with the intentions to purchase another album every couple of weeks, as we have the means to do so. 

We have to grow them in Truth and music is one way to feed them.  :-)

New Songs I'm Working On

Speaking of what we're listening to....  I'd like to share a couple of fantastic songs I've discovered in these past few weeks. I came across both of these on Sovereign Grace Music. 

The first one is I Asked the Lord that I Might Grow. The words were written by John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace. Mr. Newton has asked the Lord that he might grow in faith and grace and to seek the Lord more earnestly. God didn't answer his prayer in the way that was to be expected. 

Here's the very last lines of this one:

These inward trials I employ 

From self and pride to set thee free

And break they schemes of earthly joy

That thou mayst find thy all in Me

Isn't that just wonderful?!? I boo-hooed the very first time I heard that song and read those lyrics. My prideful mind and heart needs to learn that God is sovereign and I must comply. Period. 

The other song is a hymn written by Isaac Watts called Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed. I learned that this hymn had a chorus written and added to it and we know it today as At the Cross. This arrangement by SGM is absolutely beautiful and the chorus that was added this time seems to fit more appropriately, both lyrically and musically. I was going to try to wait until closer to Resurrection Sunday to sing it in service, but I don't think I'll be able to. 

Chorus:

My God why would You shed Your blood

So pure and undefiled

To make a sinful one like me

Your chosen, precious child?

Other Things I'm Working on

Well, I started to purge after being inspired by the KonMari method, but I hit a wall. I must continue!

My Wishlist

I was looking for something that would help me teach the kids the Book of Proverbs. I saw that Mildred A. Martin has a written a lot of books for children on this topic. I borrowed Missionary Stories with the Millers, skimmed through to get an idea of Ms. Martin's writing style and liked it. So, my wish list is a follows: Missionary Stories with the Millers; Wisdom and the Millers; Prudence and the Millers; Growing with the Millers and other such books by Mildred A. Martin. 

This was a last minute idea to share. I don't know why I wanted to make this wish list known.

Scripture of the Month

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.  ~Galatians 5:16-17

Wordless Wednesday: Invasion of Killer Laundry!

YIKES!

The Scariest Song

Kids are sponges. They are soaking up everything around them, everything they see and hear. It's true! Adelle amazes me in that she can hear a song once or twice, or see a movie once or twice and then she can sing and quote them. 

I have found the best theologically rich children's album ever. The Ology: Ancient Truths Ever New. It's by Sovereign Grace Kids, which is produced by Sovereign Grace Music.

I came across Sovereign Grace Music about a month or so ago. All of the songs I've heard by them so far are Biblically sound. They just put out a kids album back in October 2015. The titles on this album are: (Click on the links to hear a sample of each song)

The God of Wow

Just the Way God Wanted Us to Be

The Scariest Song

God Always Keeps His Promises

Totally God, Totally Man

Our Help

God's Great Family

One Step at a Time

Brick After Brick

You're Coming Back

All About Jesus

All these songs are absolutely great!, but my favorite one is The Scariest Song. Here are the lyrics:

1.  What's the scariest of woes?

     Some say snakes and some say spiders

     What strikes terror to your toes?

     Some say floods and some say fires

     Some say dentist drills or creepy clowns

     Climbing up or falling down

     But I'll tell you what the scariest around

Chorus

     Sin -- it's the scariest

     Sin hurts everyone

     Sin -- how it hides in us

     It's all the wrong we've done

     It separates us from our God

     Behind these prison walls

     Oh, sin is the scariest of all

2.  What's the scariest to you?

     Some say living, some say dying

     What's the worst thing you can do?

     Some say failing when they're trying

     Some say getting germs or getting shots

     Getting lost or getting caught

     But I'll tell you what's

     The worst thing we have got

Bridge

     Since Adam and since Eve

     Sin's spread like a disease

     We know that on our own we cannot beat it

     But though it seeks to kill

     Our God is stronger still

     And only by His grace can we defeat it

I hope you enjoy this song and this album as much we are! 

Happy Birthday, Little Man!

Today is Little Man's birthday. I cannot believe he is already 7 years old. Over and over again, I must ask.... WHERE DOES THE TIME GO? 

Both of my children's birth dates have special meanings. Sugar Bear's birth time is even significant, but right now I'd like to talk about Jonathan's noteworthy birth date.....

First, I need to recount (backwards) to get my dates correct:

     *Papa and I were married end of July in 1997.

     *He asked me to marry him end of July in 1996.

     *I was asked to be his girl February of 1995.

     *We started talking Dec. 31, 1994.

Ok. I'm ready now.

As you can see, Mr. Right and I began our friendship on New Year's eve at our youth group lock-in. We talked the entire night. We started to develop our relationship after that, getting to know each other better.  February 15, 1995, he asked me to be "his girl".  

*SMILE*  Cute, right?

Little Man was born February 15, 2009, just past midnight, almost 1:00am. I was in labor all Valentine's Day and hoping for a Valentine baby, but he was born on the day that Papa and I began our relationship.

That's pretty special.  :-D   I like it.

5 Random Things ~ February 3, 2016

It's that time again! I only have a few random things to briefly talk about today. We have been a little busy the last few weeks so it's been difficult to sit down and blog. 

I know I don't have a lot of profound things to say, but I do enjoy sharing about what we're doing and what's been happening in all the areas of this adventure we call life, hoping and praying you can take some kind of encouragement away from these posts. 

Now.... on to some randomness!

1. KC Chiefs

Ah yes. We were in mourning the night the KC Chiefs lost in the first division round of the NFL playoffs. We hung our flag at half staff and kept it there the entire next day. 

2. Chic-fil-A

We got to tour the kitchen @ Chic-fil-A last month. That was quite interesting, though I wish I was allowed to take more than one picture back there. C-f-A uses fresh ingredients and they use only name brand products as they believe they would be taking short cuts and losing flavor if they used "off" brands. 

3. Science

We learned about how living things are made up of cells in science last week. We got the microscope out....  and Mama couldn't figure out how to use the thing, even after we put batteries in it. So we waited until Papa got home. They started exploring at all kinds of things: computer paper, toilet paper, water droplets, Dr. Pepper droplets, etc.... My hunny bunny even tried to get samples from the kids so they could check out their own cell structure. That was the highlight of the week!

4. Celebrate!

We hit our 100th day of school last week! I made (or tried to make) funnel cakes from a funnel cake mix someone gave to me a while back. I thought our 100th day was a perfect time to use it.  (I just won't tell you what time of day we ate the cakes. LOL)

5. Cleaning up

Let the purging begin! 

We have too much stuff. I have been watching videos on youtube about how to begin this process. I found what is called the KonMari method. This method makes sense, however I don't agree with everything this person says, but it is a beginning point and a guide to help me tackle the mess. Decluttering, purging and reorganizing can be a bit overwhelming. KonMari is a great place to start. 

And there you have it. Another random post giving you all kinds of useless information. I will sleep better tonight knowing that you'll sleep better tonight with your head full of my life's details. 

LOL

Keep laughing at random things!