"In like a lamb, out like a lion," the quote goes. It describes an early spring that comes in deceptively warm and mild and leaves with thrashing storms. I wish this picture showed the sheets of rain coming down today.  The old timers here in the Sierra foothills recommend never planting a garden until after the forth week of April because of unexpected downpours and freezes. I know, I know, you folks back east are probably grinning at this Californian's definition of a downpour, but for most of April it has been gloriously sunny and just too tempting to get out there and plant my vegetable garden. I happily put in crookneck squash, canteloupe, watermelon, asparagus, artichokes and cukes. They are battered to the ground and covered with mud at this point. - But it seemed so right - it was sunny. I thought I was safe.

How like sin that is. It beckons, disguised as a sweet lamb, sunny days, and the false promise that things will always be like this. Then it turns on us, battering, soiling, even killing us. Before our horrified eyes it turns to the roaring lion, slinking around the earth to see who he might devour and we find ourselves in it's powerful jaws, unable to escape.

How thankful we are that the Savior, the TRUE Lamb, made a way for us. Papa wrote the following and it lifts my heart with thanksgiving and praise:

"The conquest of the gospel can break any chain, set free any captive, release any prisoner, dispel any darkness and save any soul.... The confusion, chaos, crime, and infidelity of this day are just the groanings and travailings of the struggle for men's souls. Christ has broken the shackles that hold us, the gates of death have been torn off their hinges that we many be free!"
Classic Christianity: A Year of Timeless Devotions, Vol @ Pg 268

 Just as I sorely wish I had escaped the consequences of not listening to those who know, and instead followed their planting directions for my poor garden, - - we can escape the consequences of doing it "MY WAY" in life (for they are grave,) by listening to the God who knows and following His directions given in His Word. While I can replant my garden, the future of our eternal souls depends on doing things "GOD'S WAY" through salvation in Jesus Christ. - And the joyful thing is, that His way is ALWAYS the best way!"

Dear Lord, I am so grateful for Your priceless gift of salvation. Please show me where I can plant it in a soul today. In Jesus' name, amen.

 Blessings, Patti 

Classic Christianity

Heartfelt thanks to all of you who prayed for us at the Christian Ministry Training Convention at the Pasadena Convention Center this last weekend. We had the most wonderful, dynamic, and BUSY time! This was our booth. We had an open binder of historic pictures of our grandparents as they served in evangelism, pastoring, and church planting from 1914 to 1971. We also had an open binder of letters of recommendations from individuals and groups of pastors from many denominations who united to call our "Papa" to their communities. Written in mostly in the 1920's and '30's, people were fascinated to read these remarkable letters and see pictures of the 3,000 person tent which was shipped by rail from town to town.

We were so thrilled to share samples of the handwritten sermons by our grandfather which we discovered, apparently forgotten for generations, in our mother's rafters. When the visitors to the booth saw how God continues to use Papa's words in the devotional books we published, they were struck by the importance and blessing of a strong spiritual heritage. 

We were invited to speak at the convention on "Family Time With God" which is near and dear to our hearts. We were so blessed to see the enthusiastic response to the Scriptural basis and hints gleaned from our own lives and ministries.. We couldn't stop praising the Lord  for what He accomplished through His grace and power. We serve such an awesome God!

To serve the Lord with a wonderful, Godly, and very multitalented sister as my dear sis
Cara, (shown above) was an absolute delight. I don't think we stopped talking for all three days! How could we stop when so many terrific things were happening? - Not the least of which was making lots of new friends. We tried to at a minimum, smile, speak, and give our card or a bookmark to every person there. That was quite a goal, but everyone was so friendly and joyful, that we met many wonderful people who talked with us at length. We will carry many of them in our hearts forever. There was the sweet little mom to whom Cara gave lots of home-schooling tips. There was the 17 year old ROTC chaplain who was so on fire for the Lord, he couldn't stop grinning. There were our neighbors from the Logos Booth, who stole our hearts with their friendly tips and continual encouragement. (Pray for Tom - he is in Columbia this week taking the sword of the Spirit (the Word) to pastors in that country.) And, there were the literally hundreds of Christians worshipping, praising together. All denominations, all together. It was beautiful, and it was a beautiful feeling knowing how many people were encouaged to be consistantly in the word. After all, that is the goal of Classic Christianity: a Year of Timeless Devotions. The blessings of Scripture and Biblical teaching is truly timeless.

Still in the afterglow, I urge you with all my heart to get into the Word and get the Word into you.   Blessings, Patti

Classic Christianity

Happy Resurrection Day!

Easter is a celebration! The victory we celebrate today is for all of  us, and it abides for all time and eternity. It is an all-inclusive victory. It includes the conquest of every foe that we are called upon to face, victory  over sin, victory over fear, victory over death, and victory over the grave.  

Yes, we have victory over sin. We are dead to sin in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. “As many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death…just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Even now  as we abide in Him and through Him and He lives in us, in Jesus Christ we have victory over every sin. 

We also have victory over every fear. The fact is  clear that with all classes of people, fear is an awful reality. People have fears for themselves and for others. They have fear of the future, and fears  from the past. People fear sickness, death, poverty and the unknown. Well, today
we shout the victory over fear! For Jesus, in His resurrected power says to  every one of us, “Do not be afraid!” Be not afraid of life, He says, for I am the way, the truth and the life. Trust me. Be not afraid of death, for “I was dead but behold I am alive forevermore.” The enemy death is destroyed. “O death,  where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy victory? But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  
 
Not only does Jesus bid us not to be afraid of  life or of death but He also bids us to be unafraid of eternity. In the  Christ-emptied tomb, the soul finds its needs supplied, its longings met, and its questions answered. The empty tomb is the gateway to the glory of the
Christian’s eternity, to the glory of undimmed vision and understanding, to the  glory of heavenly fellowship. When we understand the victory Christ has won at  Calvary and revealed in the emptied tomb, it will put a song of gratitude in our  heart that nothing can hush. When we grasp this marvelous truth, we will face the future with confidence and calm expectancy. Praise God, the victory is won through Christ Jesus!      
 
      
Oh Precious Jesus, I lift my face to the heavens and lift my heart to You. Praise Your Name for taking my place on Calvary, and for leading the way through death to eternity. The thought of Your great love is overwhelming. “Thank You” seems so small, when what I feel is so big. Amen.

​Classic Christianity

Just four small words, but they are words that both reveal the  depth of our need and the limitless hope we have received. John has here compressed the greatest fact in history into four plain little words, “Where they crucified Him...” John 19:18

 Where – the most spiritually privileged place in the world,  Jerusalem, the Holy City. Just outside the city walls, the Holiest person died the most unholy death in earth’s most holy place.

 They –   both Jew and Gentile had a hand in the dark crime of the cross, and the 
whole world stands guilty before God. Pilate, a Gentle ruler, gave the verdict and committed Jesus to the tree and Gentile soldiers carried out the verdict.  Yet here is a great mystery, that the devoutly religious leaders of a  professedly holy nation were the ones who rejected Jesus and insisted upon his  death.

 Crucified – between two thieves; this was the most shameful punishment existing, the extreme limit of the Roman law. The cross meant the  lowest form of death. To be crucified – too awful a sight for creation to see,  the Creator dying in nakedness, shame, and anguish. Thus nature provided a robe of darkness.

 Him – the most exalted Person ever, Jesus the Son of God. Savior, Friend, Maker, God…He was crucified to pay my penalty and yours, for our sin, there at Calvary. 

These four words, from John 19:18, compress the awful fact of the  crucifixion into one terse line; yet this is only the beginning of the story.  For today we think of the cross, of the sacrifice, of the anguish that Jesus  bore for us, yet soon it will be the dawning of Resurrection Sunday – the day of  overcoming, of hope, of unending grace extended to mankind.  
 
What kind of love is this, which suffers so much for us? Today marks the fortieth anniversary of my (Cara’s) spiritual birthday. It was a Good Friday, and I was very young, when this sacrifice on the cross first turned my  thoughts to Christ, first touched my heart in wonder at this amazing love. I have never stopped feeling that sense of awe at His willingness to lay aside the crown of heaven to take that crown of thorns. 

Those four little words were the door into relationship  with God, for me way back then. They are still just as powerful, still just as true. I hope they are a doorway  into deeper relationship with God for you, today, Good Friday,  2012.

(based on The Crucifixion of Christ, in Classic Christianity Vol 1)

"We have seen Jesus as an innocent King, a mocked King, a despised and rejected King. It isn't until the resurrection that the victory begins to emerge. What appears to piteous human thought as defeat is transformed in the spiritual world into a momentous triumph.

To believers everywhere, Christ is not only a received King, a triumphant King, but a reigning King. The seat of His Kingship is the heart of every true child of God."
(From Classic Christianity: A Year of Timeless Devotions Vol 1, Pg.189)

"The Lord Reigns." Psalm 96:10

The day of the crucifixion, Jesus was hung between two thieves, abandon by His frightened followers, save John, the beloved disciple, who stood with Mary at the foot of the cross. It all seemed like something gone terribly, horribly wrong. Imagine the heartbreak and confusion of those who loved Jesus.  Why was the Messiah, the One who came to save, not rescued by the Heavenly Father and armies of angels? Because, unbeknownst to them, there was a greater victory to be won. How often we see what seems to be the death of a dream, only to later be revealed in a greater way that could have only come from the hand of God.

A friend of mine called this morning with excited tears and praise. Her two grown sons had been fighting over the family business to the point of litigation. She agonized over the split in the family and the probable loss of the business. The feud was so bitter that none of her praying friends envisioned a resolution outside the courts. Everyone prayed for a fair division, thinking that would be the miracle. But, God had other plans. A man who worked for them became a Christian, and one day he asked to speak to both sons together. Although many had tried to intervene, God so filled this new Christian with His Spirit that annointed words pierced the hardened hearts of the sons. In the end, the sons forgave and agreed to let the past be the past. The family unity and the business was saved. The victory, the miracle, was far beyond what mere men could imagine. There was a resurrection. Jesus reigns!

Let us worship with fervent and grateful hearts.

Classic Christianity