I am praying for John Lose today

I saw this short video on Philadelphia's NBC affiliate.

It is about 5 guys (one of them, John Lose, who was baptized last month at Ogletown) and their effort of rowing 1500 miles to raise money for Autism Awareness. I should say their SERIOUS, UNBELIEVABLE EFFORT to raise money for Autism. God bless you, John, you are in our prayers.

Here is the site for Rock the Boat.
More Rock the Boat stuff.

Three things on my mind, and maybe more later

1. How is the Proverbs challenge going? Are you caught up? Today's reading is Proverbs 9.
   
   
2. I read this quote in preparation for Sunday's message: "We tend to have permanently casual relationships that never grow into real intimacy. There are things we know about each other, but they fool us into thinking that we know the human beings who live within the borders of those details." (Paul Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands)
   
   
3. I also was helped this morning by another book called How to Read the Bible Book by Book by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart. I am pretty sure you can pick up How to Read and Instruments at our resource table on Sunday morning.
   

Practice what you preach

I read this passage this morning and was reminded by the thought that I had better practice this week what I preached on Sunday.

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But encourage one another EVERY DAY, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. (Hebrews 3:12-14)

So, will that happen this week in our Ogletown family? May God grace us with His power to do so, and may He start with me!

Proverbs 5-7

For the next few days of the Proverbs challenge.

Proverbs Five
Proverbs Six
Proverbs Seven

I have heard good things from people reading. Keep up the good work!

Home @ theHappyHills

Hey, you ought to check out my wife's new blog.

It's less on the theology/ministry stuff and more on the interior decorating side of things. I readily admit, that is not my area of expertise.

She has some pictures of some pretty awesome projects she has done around the house! The blog is a reminder that she is the better half of the Hills!

Proverbs 4

Are you keeping up with the Proverbs challenge? Today, is chapter four!

I am encouraged to have talked with a bunch of you who are doing it! I am praying God makes fruit abound from it.

Proverbs 3

Day 3 in the Proverbs Challenge

Proverbs 3
My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine. My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights. Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed. The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens; by his knowledge the deeps broke open, and the clouds drop down the dew. My son, do not lose sight of these— keep sound wisdom and discretion, and they will be life for your soul and adornment for your neck. Then you will walk on your way securely, and your foot will not stumble. If you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught. Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it”—when you have it with you. Do not plan evil against your neighbor, who dwells trustingly beside you. Do not contend with a man for no reason, when he has done you no harm. Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways, for the devious person is an abomination to the Lord, but the upright are in his confidence. The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the dwelling of the righteous. Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor. The wise will inherit honor, but fools get disgrace. (ESV)

On the road to Sunday...

Anyone who has ever prepared a talk probably can relate to how I feel on most Tuesday afternoons.

After digging in God's Word, I feel like there is more there than I could possibly share with people in a limited amount of time. I have felt that way reading through 1 John today. I am getting prepared for the LOVE section of our study of In and Out: Love-Know-Speak-Do.

Here is a little gem I picked up from a Bible study guide on 1 John 2:28-3:2 from the GoodBook Company.

In the New Testament Christians are often told:

• to be what we are: we are children of God so we should show the family likeness;
• to become what we will be: we will be like God in the new creation, so we should be like Him now.

A little bit deep, but really encouraging.

Proverbs 2

Another day, another chapter in Proverbs.

Proverbs 2
My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints. Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you, delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech, who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil, men whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways. So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words, who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God; for her house sinks down to death, and her paths to the departed; none who go to her come back, nor do they regain the paths of life. So you will walk in the way of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous. For the upright will inhabit the land, and those with integrity will remain in it, but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be rooted out of it. (ESV)

Proverbs Challenge - Proverbs 1

As promised, I am posting the text of Proverbs 1 (I used the ESV translation).

In case you missed yesterday's message, I am challenging our church to read through the book of Proverbs during the month of June. It is a part of the In and Out series we are going through on Sunday mornings.

One more thing...please feel free to share your thoughts with the rest of the blog readers by posting a comment below. I think we could all benefit from the insights each day that the Spirit gives us into God's Word.

Proverbs 1
The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth— Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck. My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason; like Sheol let us swallow them alive, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; we shall find all precious goods, we shall fill our houses with plunder; throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse”— my son, do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths, for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird, but these men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives. Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors. Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you. Because I have called and you refused to listen, have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you, when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices. For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them; but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.” (ESV)