Scripture gives dignity to all types of workers, men and women, not elevating any honest profession above another.  David was a shepherd and a king. Luke was a doctor. Lydia was a retailer of purple fabric.  Daniel was a government worker. Paul was a tentmaker. Mary was a homemaker.  And finally the Lord was a carpenter.  In God’s economy, there is equal dignity in the labor of the President of General Motors and a secretary serving a church.  Psalms 31: 10-31.

In the story of the Woman at the well, John 4, Jesus goes through Samaria and rests at a well where He speaks to a women.  Samarians were the outcasts of Jewish society so just by going through that area Jesus went against the social norm.  However, He went further.  The woman came to the well alone indicating that she was an outcast among outcasts.  No self respecting Jewish man would find himself speaking to a Samaritan, much less a Samaritan outcast woman.  Yet Jesus broke through the racial and gender barriers because He is the image of His Father and He treats all men and women with dignity.

A woman who fears the Lord gains the wisdom of the Lord.  She brings honor to her home.

Her husband is known at the gates.

Meditate on these verses.

The Virtuous Wife,-

¹⁰ Who can find a virtuouswife?
For her worth is far above rubies.
¹¹ The heart of her husband safely trusts her;
So he will have no lack of gain.
¹² She does him good and not evil
All the days of her life.
¹³ She seeks wool and flax,
And willingly works with her hands.
¹⁴ She is like the merchant ships,
She brings her food from afar.
¹⁵ She also rises while it is yet night,
And provides food for her household,
And a portion for her maidservants.
¹⁶ She considers a field and buys it;
From her profits she plants a vineyard.
¹⁷ She girds herself with strength,
And strengthens her arms.
¹⁸ She perceives that her merchandise is good,
And her lamp does not go out by night.
¹⁹ She stretches out her hands to the distaff,
And her hand holds the spindle.
²⁰ She extends her hand to the poor,
Yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy.
²¹ She is not afraid of snow for her household,
For all her household is clothed with scarlet.
²² She makes tapestry for herself;
Her clothing is fine linen and purple.
²³ Her husband is known in the gates,
When he sits among the elders of the land.
²⁴ She makes linen garments and sells them,
And supplies sashes for the merchants.
²⁵ Strength and honor are her clothing;
She shall rejoice in time to come.
²⁶ She opens her mouth with wisdom,
And on her tongue is the law of kindness.
²⁷ She watches over the ways of her household,
And does not eat the bread of idleness.
²⁸ Her children rise up and call her blessed;
Her husband also, and he praises her:
²⁹ “Many daughters have done well,
But you excel them all.”
³⁰ Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing,
But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.
³¹ Give her of the fruit of her hands,
And let her own works praise her in the gates.

So Hell is real and is a bad place, but wouldn’t it be just as bad to go to Heaven where all they do is sit on clouds and play harps? The answer to that question is an emphatic NO! God created the world, all you see and can’t see in the universe, in seven days. Imagine then what it will be like to spend an eternity with Him. There would be new wonders everyday. Jesus put it this way,

John 14:2, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”

Jesus spent just seven days creating the universe, but He’s been in Heaven now 2,000 years creating mansions for us. Then just imagine how magnificent these mansions will be. We can’t. We can’t image that, but it’ll be mind blowing when we get there.

Just to get a tiny picture of Heaven, let’s look at what Ezekiel saw when he got a peek at God’s glory:

God’s Glory in Ezekiel 1:4-28:

⁴ Then I looked, and behold, a whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire. ⁵ Also from within it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man. ⁶ Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings. ⁷ Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the soles of calves’ feet. They sparkled like the color of burnished bronze. ⁸ The hands of a man were under their wings on their four sides; and each of the four had faces and wings. ⁹ Their wings touched one another. The creatures did not turn when they went, but each one went straight forward.

¹⁰ As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man; each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and each of the four had the face of an eagle. ¹¹ Thus were their faces. Their wings stretched upward; two wings of each one touched one another, and two covered their bodies. ¹² And each one went straight forward; they went wherever the spirit wanted to go, and they did not turn when they went.

¹³ As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches going back and forth among the living creatures. The fire was bright, and out of the fire went lightning. ¹⁴ And the living creatures ran back and forth, in appearance like a flash of lightning.

¹⁵ Now as I looked at the living creatures, behold, a wheel was on the earth beside each living creature with its four faces. ¹⁶ The appearance of the wheels and their workings was like the color of beryl, and all four had the same likeness. The appearance of their workings was, as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel. ¹⁷ When they moved, they went toward any one of four directions; they did not turn aside when they went. ¹⁸ As for their rims, they were so high they were awesome; and their rims were full of eyes, all around the four of them. ¹⁹ When the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. ²⁰ Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, because there the spirit went; and the wheels were lifted together with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. ²¹ When those went, these went; when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up together with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

²² The likeness of the firmament above the heads of the living creatures was like the color of an awesome crystal, stretched out over their heads. ²³ And under the firmament their wings spread out straight, one toward another. Each one had two which covered one side, and each one had two which covered the other side of the body. ²⁴ When they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of many waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a tumult like the noise of an army; and when they stood still, they let down their wings. ²⁵ A voice came from above the firmament that was over their heads; whenever they stood, they let down their wings.

²⁶ And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. ²⁷ Also from the appearance of His waist and upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around. ²⁸ Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.

Why is Hell Real?

Hell is real simply because God is real. God is Holy, Just and Righteous and He cannot allow sin, and thus sinners, into Heaven. God even goes farther thought and says that He must punish sin. Hell is a natural consequence of the univers. You see God knows that we can observe and learn about the natural world but that it would be difficult to for us to understand the spiritual univers. However, since the Earth will pass away and the spirit lives forever then there is actually more reality in the spirit world. This reality includes consequences just as the natural world includes consequences.

One of these consequences is Hell. Hell has been described as separation from God or an eternity without God. While this is true is doesn’t go far enought to describe Hell since it doesn’t go far enough to describe God. We were made in God’s image and we were made to worship, love and have a relationship with God. This is so much a part of our core nature that being without God is Hell. How is this so?

God is the God of all comfort. Hell is eternal torment.

God is the Living Water. Hell is a place where the thirst is never quenched and is describe as a lake of fire.

With God all of our tears (regrets) are wiped away. Hell is the place where the worm (our regrets) never sleeps.

Hell is so terrible that God did something just as terrible and wonderful so that you could spend eternity with Him. But in order to keep Heaven from turning into Hell He needed to completely cleanse us of our sin. Since God is infinite, then no finite work we could accomplish could save us. Only an infinite God could save us, so God sent His only son to pay the penalty for our sins. This is called the Gospel.

Isn’t Heaven Boring?

So Hell is real and is a bad place, but wouldn’t it be just as bad to go to Heaven where all they do is sit on clouds and play harps? The answer to that question is an emphatic NO! God create the world, all you see and can’t see in the universe, in seven days. Imagine then what it will be like to spend an eternity with Him. There would be new wonders everyday. Jesus put it this way,

John 14:2, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”

Jesus spent just seven days creating the univers, but He’ been gone now 2,000 years creating mansions for us (if we take Him literally). Then just imagine how magnicifant these mansions will be. We can’t. We can’t image that, but it’ll be mind blowing when we get there.

LIVING WAY MINISTRIES PRESENTS

   MINISTRY OF THE MONTH

SPRINGSTOLIFE

Springstolife’s mission is to sow the seed of the Gospel throughout Colorado Springs through various outreaches.  We tend to go where people gather for parades and events such as the Colorado Balloon classic, Festival of Lights parade, and the St. Patrick’s day parade, just to name a few.

Our group is under the spiritual headship of Rocky Mountain Calvary’s (RMC) missions department.  We are partially funded by the church and partially by private funds.

Our outreaches consist of handing out Gospel tracts, witnessing one-on-one and Open Air preaching the Gospel as the spirit leads and the situation warrants.  We regularly hold evangelism seminars at RMC and our next Conquer Your Fear and Share Your Faith seminar is this March 15, 6-8:30PM and March 16, 8AM-4PM.  This will be held at RMC and to register or for further information send an email to register@springstolife.com.

Read the rest of the article and full newletter here

10. The Church is “Relevant”:

You didn’t misread that, I didn’t say irrelevant, I said RELEVANT. We’ve taken a historic, 2,000 year old faith, dressed it in plaid and skinny jeans and tried to sell it as “cool” to our kids. It’s not cool. It’s not modern. What we’re packaging is a cheap knockoff of the world we’re called to evangelize.

As the quote says, “When the ship is in the ocean, everything’s fine. When the ocean gets into the ship, you’re in trouble.”

Read the rest of the top 10 reasons here:

http://marc5solas.wordpress.com/2013/02/08/top-10-reasons-our-kids-leave-church/

We will teach everyone to paint a message and everyone will get a change to preach one or two messages. This interactive way of proclaiming the Gospel can be another “tool” in different ways to evangelize. It is also unique in focusing on sharing the Gospel with kids. Please join us in this training session. It will be a great time of fellowship and learning. God bless!

http://springstolife.com/calendar/

http://ianaministry.com/?p=3199