2010 - A Believer's self examination

"work out your own salvation with fear and trembling". Phil 2:12

So they told the King, but he would not come down to see him, but commanded the two shining ones, that conducted Christian and Hopeful to the city, to go out and take Ignorance, and bind him hand and foot, and have him away. Then they took him up, and carried him through the air to the door that I saw in the side of the hill, and put him in there. Then I saw that there was a way to hell, even from the gate of heaven, as well as from the City of Destruction. So I awoke, and behold it was a dream.  John Bunyan - The Pilgrim's Progress

Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.Matthew 7:17-23

Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) (Hebrews 3:8-11)

For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.(2 Peter 2:20-22)

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. (Hebrews 6:4-8)

Proverbs-Introduction

Proverbs the book
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; 
  To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; 
    To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. 

The book of proverbs is an interesting book to read. Each chapter comes up with several short sentences that are not connected (some chapters are exception to this)and those verses hold meaning and importance on their own.

Each verse has the same purpose: to teach us words of understanding, give us wisdom, teach us right judgement and equity.

I often find it difficult when I purpose to read proverbs in a month to meditate on a full chapter (throughout the day) because of the variety of issues contained in it. However I always find myself draw to verses that I " had not notice before", and  as a consequence the highlighted verses on my Bible are growing in number  .
For that reason I always think it is important to read it over again, and to check if I have learned already the lessons from the rebukes it gave me the last time I read it...

We live in a world that praises vices, corruption and depravity, so it is not hard to get used to low standards and think we are pretty okay when compared to this world. However, as usual the word of God, is calling us to repent and look to our Lord Jesus as the only acceptable standard.

The plan:
To have a proverbial month. We will choose a proverb every day (from the chapter corresponding the date of the month) and add insights by means of Bible Commentary  ( MHC, John Gill's, etc) and observations from our everyday lives. I also count on you if you have a favorite verse we may add it over here for our own edification.
It is very simple :
First, obviously you will have to read the book as we go along, only one chapter a day.
Secondly, you can comment on the proverb of the day or choose another one and give it a brief explanation of personal and/or  general learnings on the verse. I think we can all profit very much from this activity.

You could also write a post on a proverbs verse and leave a  link of your post in the comment section.(  To make it easier for us to find the right post, please link directly to the post, not your front page.) 


Feel free to do as the Lord prompt you to!


May the Lord bless this spiritual activity!!!

Don't forget it only starts next year !!! 

In Christ
The Roque Family

Trouble in the Amish Paradise

This is a very interesting documentary(produced by BBC) about conversions amongst the Amish, in America. For those that do not know, the Amish are known for simple living, plain dress, and a reluctance to adopt many conveniences of modern technology. They are not allowed even to use electric power!!! . Their society is regulated by strict rules that are "Theoretically"(or rather, loosely) based on the Bible. The documentary portrays the story of two families who began to read the Bible and had their lives transformed by GOD. It is worth watching...GOD bless

Consider Him - His Cross

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 

(Matthew 16:24)

Jesus keep me near the cross:

there a precious fountain,

free to all, a healing stream,

flows from calvary's mountain.

In the cross, in the cross,

be my glory ever,

till my raptured soul shall find

rest beyond the river.

Near the cross, a trembling soul, love and mercy found me;

there the bright and morning Star

shed its beams around me.

In the cross, in the cross,

be my glory ever,

till my raptured soul shall find

rest beyond the river.

Near the cross! O Lamb of God,

bring its scenes before me;

help walk from day to day

with its shadow o'er me.

In the cross, in the cross,

be my glory ever,

till my raptured soul shall find

rest beyond the river.

Near the cross I 'll watch and wait,

hoping trusting ever,

 till I reach the golden strand,

just beyond the river.

Frances Jane Van Alstyne, 1820-1915

Winter Shots and Ice Skating

Well, today was such a beautiful day that we could not resist taking a few more pictures of our great walk !

CAUTION!

Winter Shots and Entertainment

Here are some pictures of winter in Ennis.

And also some pictures of the way we entertain ourselves on those cold, wintry days... 

Consider Him- for without him...

We can do Nothing

I am the vine, ye the branches: He that abide in me and I in Him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.( John 15:5)

Conviction of Sin

Years ago, a preacher asked, "Tell me, when you preach, do you ever touch on sin?" 

I replied, "I'm sorry, but my experience is such that I can't speak about anything else." He said, 

"Well, I can't preach about sin, because every time I touch on the subject, I see the people getting uncomfortable and moving around on the benches."

For what purpose did Jesus come to this earth? What does the name Jesus mean? 

Christian Contentment

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. (1 Timothy 6:6-8)

The Christian life is a challenging life. Although there are many outward tribulations and trials in it, a lot of the time we face ourselves fighting the old man.

Give thanks

As another year comes to its end, we are once again reminded of God’s faithfulness in keeping us safe through  his providence, grace, mercy and abounding blessings. We realise we have much more to be thankful for than we can think of. This past weekend has been a reminder of how GOOD and gracious God is.

Hast Thou No Scar?

Hast Thou no scar?

No hidden scar on foot, or side or hand?

I hear thee sung as mighty in the land;

I hear them hail thy bright ascending star,

Hast thou no scar?

Host thou no wound?

yet I was wounded by the archers, spent,

Leaned ME against a tree to die; and rent,

By ravening beasts that compassed me, I swooned,

Hast thou no scar?

No wound no scar?

yet, as the Master shall the servant be,

and pierced are the feet that follow me;

but thine are whole: Can he have followed far

who has no wound no scar?

Amy Carmichael

Fellowship

This past weekend we were very blessed by the Lord to be able to visit our dear friends, the Murphys. We had some amazing time of fellowship but in addition to that we were also given the opportunity to minister to other people.
 Well, the main reason that this became a post entry is because we honestly learnt so much from them. It was a blessing to hear them telling us stories on how the Lord has done so many things over the years that they have been living in Ireland and other countries. We heard some interesting stories of Bible smugglers to Russia, Chinese Christianity and so on.
We thank the Lord for so much freedom of religion we have in this country, and even back in Brazil where you can freely exercise your faith, and also proclaim it:  there is no restrictions about open street evangelism, handing out tracts, literature and so on.
We  realised that we do very little to engage into conversations and even be friendly to people having as our primary objective the good of their souls and consequently the Glory of God.

Can We Be Good Without God?

by J. Budziszewski from Boundless.org/officehours

I've been asked to speak today on the question, "Can we be good without God?" To answer, I'm tempted to tell you my own story. Years ago when I rejected God, I also rejected the distinction between good and evil. Then again, I was an extreme case. Someone who asks "Can we be good without God?" isn't trying to be extreme; he's looking for a halfway house. So instead of telling you my story, I'll try to lay out the logic of the matter.

Now the question "Can we be good without God?" may be taken in two different ways. One way focuses on knowledge, the other on action; one takes the question as meaning "Can we 'know' what's good without 'knowing' God?", the other takes it as meaning "Can we 'do' what's good without 'following' God?" Let's consider both.

Can We Know What's Good?

Christian Despair?

I read somewhere this week, (must remember where) that there is a huge difference between being convicted by the Holy Spirit of our sinfulness and necessity of repentance; and being accused by the enemy of our souls.

I don't want to go into too much detail, but as we were talking about that this morning, I thought I would share our brief thoughts:

• When the Holy Spirit convicts one, from one's sin, there is this deep sense of repentance (I will turn away from it), but there is also this rest and peace which assures you that, on one's self, nothing can be changed. I think that's when we start developing humility (by realising how unworthy we are and that only God can change us).

• When the evil one accuses us, on the other hand, there is this HUGE sense of failure, that is followed by despair, and then sometimes as a consequence, our hearts are hardened by unbelief and a sense that it is impossible to continue in our great walk.

By telling you that you can not change, the enemy of our souls is:

1.Telling you that out of your power you could have done something but you didn't. So we often buy into the lie that if we could have done better somehow God would be pleased with us. See, the very reliance on your own "power" for sanctification or even witnessing is sinful pride (well, there isn't no-sinful pride anyway).

2.Telling you that the walk of faith is a walk of works, and that you base your salvation on your performance, not on your faith in God's grace and mercies.

So if your spiritual battle gets very strong and you think about despairing remember God's promises, because many times it is necessary to face giant Despair to realise how gracious our Master is!

May the Lord bless you today!

The Ark Encounter Project 2014

Did you know that Answers in Genesis US are planning to build a full-scale Noah's Ark???

We are entering the Ark!. Are you?

"In addition to the full-size Ark, the complex will include a walled city much like those found in ancient times, live animal shows, a children’s interactive play area, a replica of the Tower of Babel with exhibits, a 500-seat 5-D special effects theater, an aviary, and a first-century Middle Eastern village."

For more information on these exciting news:

News Release (sent nationwide Wednesday morning*) - Answers in Genesis

God bless you all!

The weather-Thunderstoms

-It 's too cold...

- Oh horrible rain!

(...)

 - Lovely day isn't it?

- Yeah, beauuutiful, too hot and dry though, I wish we would get some rain .

(...)