Family Camp Thursday

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This is the Theology Matters video shown Thursday night.

Theology Matters - Dug Down Deep - Joshua Harris from Waterbrook & Multnomah .

Thursday morning notes are HERE

Thursday evening notes are HERE

Family Camp Wednesday

MORNING SESSION:

Before we look at the lampstand, let's go to Exodus 25

• Chapters 25 - 31:  Directions on how to worship God

• Chapters 32 - 34:  Disobeying God's plan.  Setting up their own form of worship.

• Chapters 35 - 40:  Obeying God's plan

The Menorah/The Lampstand purpose of the lampstand is clearly given in the Bible - to provide light for the priest.

Here are some New Testament verses on the light.

• John 8:12 - Jesus is the light.

• Ephesians 5:8 - Followers of Christ are children of light.

• Psalm 110:105 - The Word of God is a light.

Wednesday morning notes are HERE

Wednesday evening notes are HERE

Family Camp Tuesday

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Read Scripture: Ephesians from The Bible Project on Vimeo.

The FIRST TABERNACLE "EXPERIENCE" was the cleansing of sin by the blood.

The SECOND TABERNACLE "EXPERIENCE" was at the bronze laver.

The application for believers is that 

we are forgiven by the work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary

we are washed or cleansed through the Holy Spirit and His Word 

A summary of Ephesians 1

Praise be to God who chose and predestined us to be redeemed through Christ, to the praise of his glorious grace (1:3 - 10).

Both you and I have been chosen in Christ and sealed with the Holy Spirit to the praise of His glory (1:11-14).

I thank God and pray for you, that you may know Christ better as well as his power for you (1:15-23).

If you look at Paul's prayer of thanksgiving in 1:15-16

changes to prayer of supplication in 1:17-19

and reminder of who Jesus is in 1:20-23

Tuesday evening notes are available HERE.

Family Camp Monday

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Some of the points and quotes from tonight's message were taken from the 2nd lesson of Capitol Hill Baptist's New Testament overview Core Seminar Class.  This specific lesson along with other lessons can be downloaded by following the links at www.capitolhillbaptist.org/resources/core-seminars/

Here is a basic outline of Hebrews.

• The first part of Hebrews reminds us who Jesus is. 
• The second part (8:1 - 10:18) focuses on what Jesus did.
• he final section is about what we have because of Jesus (10:19 - 13:18)

https://thebibleproject.com/explore/hebrews/

Read Scripture: Hebrews from The Bible Project on Vimeo.

Dangers in our struggle to persevere

In Messages of the New Testament, Mark Dever gives seven dangers that the writer of Hebrews lays out throughout the book to warn these struggling Christians. 

 1.  Ignoring what God has done in Christ

“We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” (2:1) God’s Word must be studied carefully, particularly what it has to say about Christ and what He has done.

 2.  Not Believing God

“See to it brothers that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.” (3:12) A heart that believes God is a heart that doesn’t just know the Scriptures, but seeks to understand the implications of what God has said and apply it to our lives.

3.  Ceasing to Grow

“though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again…Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity.” (5:12, 6:1) The writer of Hebrews doesn’t know multiple classes of Christians, those who are growing and those that are not. While there may be different levels of Christian maturity, Scripture understands all Christians to be growing Christians. A Christian that does not bear fruit must consider whether they are actually a Christian at all.

4.  Not persevering in holiness

“If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.” (10:26-27) Repetitious and unrepentant sin in the life of a professing believer is a very serious matter. Sin is scary indeed. Dever says, “If we remain unholy, we show that Christ’s sacrifice has been ineffective in our lives; and if Christ’s sacrifice has been ineffective in our lives, what hope do we have?”

5.  Losing Faith

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (11:1) The author of Hebrews knew that losing faith was a danger, so he provides this section in chapter 11 to exemplify what Christian faith looks like. It is characterized by a hope that is rooted in certainty. Hope is the result of faith in a reality we have not yet seen, but know exists.

6.  Rejecting Discipline

“Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (12:10-11) The Christian must be one that learns to listen to God’s correction and obey that correction. Without accepting God’s discipline, we will not produce the harvest of righteousness He has prepared for us.

7.  Refusing This Warning

“See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?” (12:25) Refusing to listen to the warning God has given us though this book will mean there is no escape from His judgment.

 Will you heed the message of Hebrews, will you believe in Christ, will you trust in the work He has accomplished to atone for the sins of all those who repent and trust in Him?

Monday Night's sermon notes can be found HERE

camp patmos 2018

Exodus 25:40 contains one of the BIG IDEAS I plan to keep coming back to throughout all of the chapels.
The verse reads "And see to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain."
The BIG IDEA is that we need to worship and live for God according to God's way not our own.

The overview of the lesson schedule is 

• Monday:  Hebrews:  The bridge between Old Testament and New Testament.
• Thursday through Thursday:  The Tabernacle in the AM and Ephesians in the PM.
• Friday:  Psalm 105, which is the Psalm that was read when the ark of the covenant was returned to the tabernacle in 1 Chronicles 16.

There will be a chapel post each night at 9:00 pm.

Below are some of the resources that will be referred to throughout the week.

Chapel Resources from this year and previous years.  Some of the links no longer work.

www.drodgersjr.com/search/label/Camp.  This will have the links that go with each day's lessons.  You can scroll through the posts related to each day's chapel.

Visual Theology

www.challies.com/visual-theology/visual-theology-the-tabernacle/ 

www.challies.com/visual-theology/visual-theology-the-tabernacle-2/

The Bible Project

thebibleproject.com/explore/exodus-19-40/

The Trellis and the Vine

www.vinegrowers.com  Click on the Library link

Biblia Verse of the Day

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The Fighter Verses - The Fighter Verses for the week of Family Camp were Psalm 18:30-31.

https://fighterverses.com/set-3-core-esv/week-26/ 

http://theversesproject.com/verses/88/Psalms-18.30-31.  

Book links

• Bible Reading with Your Kids 
• The Gospel According to God
• The Gospel Prime
• One to One Bible Reading - Be sure to check out the link for the free reading resources on this page
• The Trellis and the Vine

Rodgers' Family Update June 25

Last week, Krista and I decided to back out of the offer we had made on the house in Grand Rapids.

It was a very difficult decision but in looking at our budget, considering some things we hadn't fully considered, and seeking the counsel of several Godly people, we believe it was just too tight for us.

We are continuing to trust the LORD and would really appreciate your continued prayers.

In God's sovereignty, the Fighter Verses for the last two week's, James 4:13 - 17, served as a great reminder of truth that we need to remember all the time and especially right now.

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.  17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

HERE is a good devotional on how to pray these verses for your life and the lives of others.

The day we decided to back out of the offer the New Morning Mercies devotional opened with the following statement.

No, you don't know what you'll face today but your sovereign Savior does, and his mercies are new and form fitted for what you will face.

Two of the individuals I had sought counsel from came back after the decision was made and said they believed we made the right decision.

As I have said in this post, in other posts and in conversation with others, we would appreciate your prayers as we seek to make wise, God-honoring choices.

An additional prayer request would be to pray for me as I finish preparations for preaching next week at Camp Patmos' family camp.  

Prayer for Strength - Ephesians 3:14-21

This week's Praying with Paul passage is Ephesians 3:14 - 21.  
I have to say that this passage of scripture has been an amazing encouragement to me this past week that was filled with some ups and downs.
We visited the Wood family in Toledo whose 8-year-old daughter, Ryleigh, has brain cancer.  At the end of this post is what Krista and Jadyn read to Ryleigh.
We had the opportunity to visit with friends and family from the Toledo area.
We also decided we needed to back out of our offer on the house in Grand Rapids.

It was an emotional weekend but I am thankful for not only reminders of God's power to change lives and know God's love found in this passage but also for the God who provides and loves more than I could ever imagine.

Here is a little bit of Sunday's lesson on a Prayer of Strength from Ephesians 3:14-21.

Verses 14 - 15:  For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,

God is more than worthy of worship.

This passage is filled with worship and dependence on God.

Verses 16 - 17a:  that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith

Paul prays for the strength to change.  This powerful strength comes from God, the Father, who provides from His great riches.  This powerful strength comes through God the Holy Spirit.  This powerful strength transforms us into the image of God the Son so that others will see Jesus in us. 

This is a prayer that "Christ may genuinely take up residence within us, transforming us into a house that pervasively reflects his own character."  (187)   

Philippians 4:19 repeats this idea.  "And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

Verses 17b - 19:  that you being rooted and grounded in love, may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Paul prays for the strength to comprehend the amazing love of God.  This is not a prayer to love God more but rather a pray that we might better understand God's love for us. (191) 

Paul "cannot think of their salvation without reminding himself that it utterly depends on God's sovereign love."  (190) 

The idea of fullness is found throughout Ephesians.  There is the fullness of God in 3:19, the fullness of Christ in 4:13, and the fullness of the Holy Spirit in 5:18 

Verses 20 - 21
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and over.  Amen.

God's power working in and through believers is so much more than we could ever understand . 

My prayer is that I, and those I am praying for, will 
-passionately worship the one who is over all creation and is able to do "far more abundantly than all that we ask or think"
-have the strength to continue to be changed into the image of Christ
-have the strength to understand how great the love of God is
with the ultimate goal of glorifying Him!

In God's sovereignty, while at the hospital, Krista and Jadyn opened Ryleigh's copy of the book Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing to where the bookmark was. The devotional they read her was entitled "Superpower Strength", which was a great reminder that the power to live life for God does not come from us it comes from Him.

Ryleigh wanted to hear another one so Krista turned the page and read the one entitled "Happy Birthday."  On one hand, it was a difficult one to read.  On the other hand, after reading the first devotional, it was a great, hope-filled reminder of a difficult truth. Here's what it says: 

The Queen of England has two birthdays.

On her official birthday she has to do Queen Things.  But on her actual birthday she gets to do whatever she fancies (like eat icre cream in her slippers all day if she wants). Wouldn't you like two birthdays?  Actually, when you belong to Jesus, you have THREE birthdays!There's your birthday when you were born into the world as a baby. Then there's your birthday when you say yes to Jesus and you are born all over again into God's whole new life. And then there's the birthday after you die - when Jesus takes you the hand and leads you through death - and you wake up with him into Perfect Life that won't ever end. 1 Peter 1:23 "For you have been born again, not of imperishable seed, but of imperishable, thorugh the living and enduring word of God. "

As I said, the devotional right before this one was about the superpower strength of God- that is the reason why we can confidently read the Happy Birthday devotional.  

  

Overcome the hurdles

Why is this chapter on Paul's prayer in Philippians 1:9-11 entitled "Overcoming the Hurdles"?

In the chapter before this one, Carson shares several excuses for not praying.  If you don't have the book you can read this chapter atwww.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/excuses.html

• I am too busy
• I feel too dry spiritually to pray
• I feel no need to pray.
• I am too bitter to pray
• I am too ashamed to pray.
• I am content with mediocrity

In this Philippian's prayer along with many other prayers, Paul is praying for holy discontentment.  Paul is thankful for what God is in doing them and he is also praying they would have a growing desire for more and more of God.
In this short prayer, Paul prays for growing love, holy living, and living for God's glory.

Here is a side by side comparison from the commentary Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon by R. R. Melick. of Paul's prayers in Philippians 1:9-11 and Colossians 1:9-11.  He notes that "the fact that they are parallel emphasizes the basic themes found in his requests."  Paul wants the churches to grow in Christ.

Three of Paul's requests in this passage include love, pure and blameless living and glorifying God.

love:  great, growing, purposeful love.

• Self-sacrificial love not 
• Growing because
• This love is abounding.
• This love is abounding more and more.
• This love is abounding [still] more and more.  Compare ESV (And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment) and NKJV ( And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment) of Philippians 1.  Some translations do not include the word "still."  It does appear in the original language - Greek.

Pure and blameless

• This video along with some helpful tips on reading difficult passages can be found at www.desiringgod.org/labs/i-dont-feel-blameless-am-i.  Here are the tips and there is an explanation of each tip.
• Identify what is clear from the passage. 
• Find the main point. 
• Look for clues within the book and surrounding context.
• Cross-reference. 
• Ask specific questions of the text. 
• Use a trusted commentary. 

To the glory and praise of God

• Holiness will make you happy video

Here are some of my study notes to help show the connections throughout the passage.

Trust an Unknown Future to a Known God

This year has been a long, challenging one and through it, all God has shown himself faithful over and over again.
Through caring West Cannon Baptist Church members who have blessed us in so many different ways

  financial gifts

  scholarship money for the kids to attend Northpointe Christian

  a car

  hospitality

  housing our family of 5 for two months

  especially ongoing prayers.

A couple of the biggest challenges for me personally have been 

not having a place to call our own.  The house we have been renting is awesome but there is something about knowing the place you are living could be sold any day. 

learning people's names.  Moving from a church that we had been connected with for years and knowing almost everyone to a church where we knew no one, not a single person, is a real challenge.  I have been so thankful for those who have greeted me and shared their names with me, even if I may have already met them.

growing in my understanding of a new ministry.  It is true that all church ministry needs to be God-glorifying, Jesus-centered, Holy Spirit-empowered, Bible-based and at the same time each ministry is done different ways in different places.  From learning about church procedures to gaining an understanding of why things are done the way they are done is a challenge.

Last week I spoke at Northpointe Christian's elementary chapel and I referred to the following Corrie Ten Boom quote:

Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.

What a great reminder!!!
God proves himself faithful to His people for His glory and our good.  
Even when it is a long time and not exactly how we planned it in our minds. 
These thoughts about life's challenges and God's goodness come from two very different yet similar situations.

We found a house!  Praise the Lord!!  
After 13 offers, we had an inspection today and the next step is the appraisal and finance stuff.  We have posted our house hunting journey/strategy several times now.  
This home is great and has many of the things we are looking for. 
One thing that is not ideal is its proximity to the church.  It is not far away but it is not as close as we were originally looking.  To find a place in our price range, we had to expand our search area.  
Understanding we cannot always have things the way we want is an obvious but difficult life lesson. 
As I have been thinking about our housing situation I am reminding of a story in The Gospel Comes With a House Key.  Rosaria Butterfield writes "Truth be told, Hank was not the neighbor we had prayerfully asked for when Eddie sold the house and moved her family to Wisconsin.  But we trust that Hank was the neighbor God has planned for us."
Wherever you are God has you there for a purpose.  As it relates to where you are living, one of those purposes is to glorify Him and helping others do the same. 

While this is going on in our lives, we have also been praying for a family from Emmanuel Baptist Church/Emmanuel Christian School.  Marc and Tabitha's 8-year-old daughter, Ryleigh, has brain cancer.  We are not there but it has been remarkable to watch, through social media, their journey through this valley.  I know it has not been easy for them but it is amazing to see how they have glorified God amid life.  They have shared about God's goodness no matter what happens.  Ryleigh has amazed the doctors, nurses, and others and I know Marc, Tabitha, and their family have been a great testimony.  
I also believe that on such a DEEPER, HARDER level they have been wrestling with the understanding that we cannot always have things the way we want is an obvious but difficult lesson.  

Challenging Prayer

 Sunday morning's Praying with Paul lesson is from Colossians 1:9 - 14.

⁹ And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰ so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;¹¹ being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. ¹³ He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Once again we read about ceaseless prayer.  This ceaseless prayer is in response to Epaphras' report of the Colossian's love in the Spirit for the saints and their faith in Jesus Christ.  Paul's prayer is that they would be controlled ("filled") by a deep, thorough, personal understanding of God and His will.  Paul was not praying that they would have a glimpse of God's future plan.  He was praying they would understand "the guidance of the Holy Spirit according to the proper interpretation of the Scriptures."

Spiritual knowledge leads to a life ("walk") lived in a way that pleases God in all respects.  This cannot be done in our own strength.  It can only be done in Christ.  Galatians 2:20 says "I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me.  And the life  I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."  This God-given filling also results in fruitfulness, ongoing growth in knowledge, continuous strength from God himself, and joyous endurance of trials.

Paul's prayer for the Colossians ends with giving thanks to God who has empowered ("qualified")  them through Jesus Christ to share in eternal life and the promises of God ("inheritance").  What a great privilege it is to be rescued from sin and moved into a right relationship with God ("transferred to the kingdom") through God's son, who frees us ("redemption") which results in our sins being forgiven. 

John MacArthur's commentary on Colossians closes this section of scripture with the following quote.

So Christ's death on our behalf paid the price to redeem us.  On that basis, God forgave our sins, granted us an inheritance, delivered us from the power of darkness and made us subjects of Christ's kingdom.  Those wonderful truths should cause us to give thanks to God continually as did Paul in this prayer. 

Peace and Vengeance

A quote from this week's Fighter Verse Devotional:

"This week's Fighter Verses are a reminder that the beauty of the church must extend beyond the walls of her weekly meetings.  Believers are to work hard at engaging with and commending the gospel to our culture."

This week's Fighter Verses:

"Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord'" (Romans 12:17-19).

Some things I want to share about these Fighter Verses:

I often try to think of ways to teach and talk about Biblical truths to children and those who haven't grown up in the church knowing church language.  Here is an attempt to explain each of these verses.  

Verse 17:  Don't do evil.  Do what is right, honest, beautiful, respectable in the sight of all. 

But hold on, this verse seems to say that we need to consider what others think.  Should we be concerned with what others think or what God thinks? 

This week's Fighter Verses Devotional states that we should care about what others think of Christ.  We should live in a way that helps others see God for who He really is.   

Verse 18: As much as possible. Live in peace with everyone. 

Verse 19:  Allow God to do what God is going to do.  Remember He is God and you are not. 

A Passion for People

Can someone learn how to pray?  While it may seem like an obvious "yes" answer, there are some who live like they cannot learn to pray better prayers.  
They have limited themselves to shallow "God is good. God is great.  Let us thank him for this food" and "Now I lay me down to sleep" prayers.  
Luke 11:1-2 may be familiar verses to some, it provides an interesting challenge.  The Jewish followers of Jesus probably know some basic things about prayer and yet know this is something they can learn from Jesus.  They ask "Lord, teach us to pray."  They have observed the prayers and life of Jesus, John and the disciples of John.

Jesus' response to their question was not "Come on guys, you know this."  He said, "When you pray say..."  Jesus wanted to see the disciples grow spiritually.

Paul is the same as it relates to wanting to see God's people grow in their walk with God.
This week's prayer is 1st Thessalonians 3:9 - 13  In Praying With Paul, D.A. Carson provides some interesting content by beginning the chapter study with chapter two verse seventeen.  Paul's intense longing and great desire drive him to pray for God's people.  His prayers show that he is seeking the good of others.  Carson writes:

The issue is service, the service of real people. The question is How can I be most useful?, not, How can I feel most useful?, not, How can I feel most useful? The goal is, How can I best glorify God by serving his people?, not, How can I feel most comfortable and appreciated while engaging in some acceptable form of Christian ministry? The assumption is How shall the Christian service to which God calls me be enhanced by my daily death, by my principled commitment to take up my principled commitment to take up my cross daily and die?, not, How shall the form of service I am considering enhance my career [and name]?

Paul's desire to be with the church is a desire to be with them to help them grow.  Paul's prayers for people come from his passion for people. (85)  "If we are to improve our praying, we must strengthen our loving." (85)  It is not a narcissistic "I need you to feel good about myself" prayer.

The prayer in 1 Thessalonians 3:9 - 13 is filled with practical things to remember in your own prayers.

1. What we need is a prayer life that thanks God for the people of God, and then tells the people of God what we thank God for. (88)
2. Paul doesn't just pray that the people would be strengthened.  He prays that he would be used by God to strengthen the church.
3. Paul prays that the Thessalonians would love one another and others just as he did.
4. Paul prays that God might strengthen them so that they could live the life God wants them to live.  

The common thread between these points is that genuine, deep prayers are the words spoken by a person living in dependence upon God

Here are two videos to remind us that God is for God and we need to be for God.
As a pastor/preacher, what would you do if you were invited to preach at a church that holds a different view of the purpose of the church?  Here is what Matt Chandler did.

The full sermon Tim Challies references in #3 of the Great Sermon series.  It would be helpful to watch the video above 

Still Looking for a House

business cards at a house we saw

We have been looking for a house for nine months now and the house we are currently renting just sold.  Over this time, we have been blessed by the Billins, Wilterinks, and Shelners.  We have also been stretched in many different ways.  This week we put our 12^th offer on a house.  I don’t even know how many houses we have seen.  We are very thankful for our realtor Taylor and all of his work during this search.  After hearing our most recent offer was not accepted we found out some details about the accepted offer.  There were 24 offers total.  The accepted offer was considerably over the list price, 20% + down, willing to pay over the appraisal, 45 + days until possession and a quick closing.  This is just a snapshot of what the market is right now. 

I know there have been people wondering why it has taken so much time for us to find a house.  Here are a couple “philosophical” reasons why I believe it has been so challenging.

The current market in Grand Rapids:

I explained our current house offer.

Here is a February article about the Grand Rapids market and it has only become more of a seller’s market since then http://fox17online.com/2018/02/15/grand-rapids-continues-to-be-a-sellers-real-estate-market/

The proximity to the church:

We believe it is important for us to live in or near the community we are serving.  This would help with hosting people from the church to our house and inviting people from our neighborhood to church.

Krista’s work:

We have determined that Krista’s priorities are first the children and then the church.  Krista has been working part-time as a para-professional at Northpointe Christian School. Her pay is used to help with the cost of the kids’ schooling. 

Schooling for the children:

We understand as parents it is our responsibility to disciple our children and schooling is a resource to help us with that task.  Recently, we have been extremely blessed by the Northpointe Christian School family.  We would love to have them continue there if that is God's plan. Where the house is related to the NPC schools plays a role in our decision.

Financially wise:

We don't want to make a decision now because we want a home that we will regret later.

This past Sunday's lesson was praying Paul's prayer in 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12 for others.

When praying for people, pray that

their faith would grow,

their love would increase,

they would persevere in their trials,

they would glorify God

they would become more and more Christlike.

While would VERY MUCH APPRECIATE your prayers for a house, 

we would really appreciate you praying these things for us.

Tomorrow is May 18th and Day 18 is one of my favorite entry in the Gospel Primer.  I have shared it before and I am sharing it again, as a reminder to me.

More than anything else could ever do, the gospel enables me to embrace my tribulations and thereby position myself to gain full benefit from them. For the gospel is the one great permanent circumstance in which I live and move; and every hardship in my life is allowed by God only because it serves His gospel purposes in me. When I view my circumstances in this light, I realize that the gospel is not just one piece of good news that fits into my life somewhere among all the bad. I realize instead that the gospel makes genuinely good news out of every other aspect of my life, including my severest trials.  The good news about my trials is that God is forcing them to bow to His gospel purposes and do good unto me by improving my character and making me more conformed to the image of Christ.

Preaching the gospel to myself each day provides a lens through which I can view my trials in this way and see the true cause for rejoicing that exists in them. I can then embrace trials as friends and allow them to do God’s good work in me.