Have you noticed how some people are quick to bubble up with laughter and gratefulness? Trusting God’s promise, we can experience the streadfast love of our Lord. He saves us from a cynical spiral that would ultimately destroy us. Today, let’s choose Thanksgiving in honor of the faithful wisdom found in His word, the Bible. – Teresa #walkthisway #Thanksgiving

Psalm 119: 41-48 (ESV

41 

Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord,

your salvation according to your promise;

42 

then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me,

for I trust in your word.

43 

And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth,

for my hope is in your rules.

44 

I will keep your law continually,

forever and ever,

45 

and I shall walk in a wide place,

for I have sought your precepts.

46 

I will also speak of your testimonies before kings

and shall not be put to shame,

47 

for I find my delight in your commandments,

which I love.

48 

I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love,

and I will meditate on your statutes.

James 3:14-17 (ESV)

Just as the sheep and the goats are herded together and on the Day of Judgment separated out, our lives are either “in Christ” or not. The Bible says that by your fruit you will be known. If you wonder whether your faith is mere interest or received as a gift from God, check your actions. Those “in Christ” will push outside their comfort zone devoted to their precious Lord. – Teresa #UnionGospelMission

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good[b] is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Hebrews 12: 18-29 (ESV)

When our son, Hans, recorded his first album, we celebrated at the Buckhorn restaurant in Winters, CA. It was Christmas time and we found out that our granddaughter was born (just as we were being served our steaks). So many blessings all at once… we were overwhelmed with true joy! This passage reminds me of that picture. Not only did Christ offer to be the mediator of a New Covenant between God and mankind, He became the sacrifice sprinkling His precious blood that atoned for our sin sickness. His selfless act proves God’s love for us that cannot be shaken- joy upon joys!!- Teresa

Hebrews 12: 18-29 (ESV)

18 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20 For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly[a] of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.

Footnotes:

a Hebrews 12:23 Or church

Hebrews 10: 3- 17 (ESV)

Hiking along the Yosemite Creek, I was not as agile as my son or husband at boulder hopping. Their bodies displayed strength and agility, shining for the glory of God. Christ was given a human body to bear the weight of our sin. Although it was the Father’s will to sanctify mankind, His will was not accomplished until Jesus Christ the LORD, our Savior and God’s Son, submitted in love to bear the sin of the world. – Teresa #perfectedforalltime

Hebrews 10: 3- 17 (ESV)

3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

5 Consequently, when Christ[a] came into the world, he said,

“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
    but a body have you prepared for me;

6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings

    you have taken no pleasure.

7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,

    as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ[b] had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,
16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them
    after those days, declares the Lord:

I will put my laws on their hearts,

    and write them on their minds,”

17 then he adds,

“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

When we trust in our “sanctified” actions as a hope for salvation, we are in essence putting another nail into Christ’s cross. In our sinfulness, we have only one hope as an anchor for our soul. Christ Jesus the Lord has been appointed High Priest to atone for the sin of the world. – Teresa #Heisable #madeallthingsnew Hebrews 6: 18-20 (NLT)Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. 19 This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. 20 Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.

 On our last hike, my husband and I ate lunch at this spot. I was fascinated by the sticky sap of this evergreen, which glistened in the sunlight like strands of rare gems. Looking closer, I noticed it was also on the ground where we just sat! In this passage, Ezekiel gained insight as to why God’s judgment would be so severe on His people. The glory of God was protecting the nation but the people were giving allegiance to vile practices. Their pleasure for a season usurped ultimate devotion to the Creator. – Teresa #stickysituations #idolatrycatchestheeye #idolatrysnarestheheart

Ezekiel 8 (ESV)

1 In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, with the elders of Judah sitting before me, the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there. 2 Then I looked, and behold, a form that had the appearance of a man.[k] Below what appeared to be his waist was fire, and above his waist was something like the appearance of brightness, like gleaming metal.[l] 3 He put out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head, and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north, where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy. 4 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the valley.5 Then he said to me, “Son of man, lift up your eyes now toward the north.” So I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and behold, north of the altar gate, in the entrance, was this image of jealousy. 6 And he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see still greater abominations.”

7 And he brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, there was a hole in the wall. 8 Then he said to me, “Son of man, dig in the wall.” So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance. 9 And he said to me, “Go in, and see the vile abominations that they are committing here.” 10 So I went in and saw. And there, engraved on the wall all around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. 11 And before them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and the smoke of the cloud of incense went up. 12 Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’” 13 He said also to me, “You will see still greater abominations that they commit.”

14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. 15 Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? You will see still greater abominations than these.”

16 And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord. And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east. 17 Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations that they commit here, that they should fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to anger? Behold, they put the branch to their[m] nose. 18 Therefore I will act in wrath. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”