Rachel Barkey

I stumbled upon a video I watched in 2009. I am sure I was encouraged then, but I am encouraged more now because by the grace of God I have grown and experienced the Truths this woman speaks of. The world can give its encouragement, but they fall short. It can give words of hope, but it still falls short. In the midst of suffering, the gospel may seem irrelevant because it talks about sin. But the gospel is actually very relevant. Please listen



http://deathisnotdying.com/eventvideo/

"When i try to make Him into a God who serves me, I sin."

She quotes Al Mohler: "When a human glorifies himself, he robs others of joy.[Self-aggrandizement and human megalomania cause hurt and harm to others, not blessing and joy.] But when God displays and exhibits His glory, He shares joy with His creatures and wholeness with all creation. Put most directly, without the knowledge of God's glory, we would be robbed of true joy."

"My current pet peeve, the one that makes me rant, is the lie of self-esteem; it is everywhere. What distresses me the most is how prevalent it is in the church today. The lie of self-esteem is this: If I believe I am good enough or that I am worthy enough, I will be happy. In the secular world it sounds like this: believe in yourself, you deserve it, you have the power within you to do or be whatever you want if you put your mind to it. Learn to love yourself. In the Christian world it sounds like this: just believe you are loved by God then you'll be happy. Accept yourself because God already accepted you. God loves you so you should love yourself. They all sound pretty good. Nothing wrong with it. But there is, "me me me", it's all about me..."

knock knock

we need a little laugh once in awhile right? this conversation makes me laugh every time i read it.

If you haven't seen Frozen, this is the reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpzvS0ATxB4

Finally Alive

I love the reminder of this passage, Ephesians 2:1-10. It sums up so clearly and perfectly the essence of the believer's life.

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 

We were utterly an enemy of God. It wasn't just part of us, that was our identity. We walked, lived, indulged in sin. We were dead.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 

Salvation is God's doing. It is His great love. It is a gift. It is grace.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. 

But that isn't the end of the story. This last verse encourages me so much when I wonder why we are still on earth. We are able to do good works because of the former verses... He created and saved us for this, for His glory