Blessed My Heart

Sunday morning I was cutting Mark's hair before church. From the bathroom we could hear Andrew talking to Nathanael. "Na-Daniel, God made everything... he made water, moon, sky, animals.... for His glory" -- "Love God, obey God" -- "Baby Jesus born" -- "Big rain, boat, animals" -- "Daniel,  big lions, not hurt" -- "David fight Gi-leff"... I peeked in the living room to find this:

Sitting.reading his Bible

Standing on his stool preaching

Andrew was reading his "BIG Bible" to Nathanael. Oh how it blessed my heart! Mark and I pray daily for the salvation of our boys and for Andrew to be a wonderful spiritual leader for Nathanael. We pray that Jesus would be their Lord and Savior, their passion, that they would follow Him, and be unimpressed with all that the world has to offer.

Recently, it has been sweet to see Andrew's interest in God. When we listen to worship music-  he says, "singing to God mommy?". We then talk about how we can worship The Lord in songs. A few nights ago he heard something on TV that sounded like a song we listen to. He yelled with such excitement, "God on TV Mommy!". While I was cooking dinner this weekend he asked me, "Where God is Mommy?" I told him he is everywhere! Then he asked, "What's He doin'?". I thought... what is He NOT doing? Then I tried to make it simple: He's loving us, praying for us, helping us, making things grow, etc..

Of  course, he is 2 and doesn't understand it yet. He went to Passion City Church with us last night. When Louie Giglio,the preacher, walked out on stage he asked me, "That God?" HA! I said,"No but he is going to teach us about God". His response was, "Where God is Mommy?"

Please join us in praying that God would save our boys. That they would  Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior and understand the Gospel. I love this comparison of religion and the Gospel. (Taken from http://www.marshillchurch.org/about/the-gospel)
What is the Gospel? The word gospel simply means “good news.” The central message of the Bible is the gospel, or good news, about the person and work of Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15:1–4, Paul provides the most succinct summary of the gospel: the man Jesus is also God, or Christ, and died on a cross in our place, paying the penalty for our sins; three days later He rose to conquer sin and death and give the gift of salvation to all who believe in Him alone for eternal life.

The great reformer Martin Luther rightly said that, as sinners, we are prone to pursue a relationship with God in one of two ways. The first is religion/spirituality and the second is the gospel. The two are antithetical in every way.

• Religion says that if we obey God He will love us. The gospel says that it is because God has loved us through Jesus that we can obey.
• Religion says that the world is filled with good people and bad people. The gospel says that the world is filled with bad people who are either repentant or unrepentant.
• Religion says that you should trust in what you do as a good moral person. The gospel says that you should trust in the perfectly sinless life of Jesus because He alone is the only good and truly moral person who will ever live.
• The goal of religion is to get from God such things as health, wealth, insight, power, and control. The goal of the gospel is not the gifts God gives, but rather God as the gift given to us by grace.
• Religion is about what I have to do. The gospel is about what I get to do. Religion sees hardship in life as punishment from God. The gospel sees hardship in life as sanctifying affliction that reminds us of Jesus’ sufferings and is used by God in love to make us more like Jesus. Religion is about me. The gospel is about Jesus.
• Religion leads to an uncertainty about my standing before God because I never know if I have done enough to please God. The gospel leads to a certainty about my standing before God because of the finished work of Jesus on my behalf on the cross.
• Religion ends in either pride (because I think I am better than other people) or despair (because I continually fall short of God’s commands). The gospel ends in humble and confident joy because of the power of Jesus at work for me, in me, through me, and sometimes in spite of me.