September 6th, 2010
We experienced a very exciting and moving day this past Sunday afternoon. Our fellowship held a baptism at the home of one of the families in our church. The water was cool but hearts were warmed by the love of the Lord and appreciation for the support of everyone present to witness this important day.
In all, eleven people confirmed a public confession of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ by being baptized. Many shared their stories of how the Spirit of God brought them to the point of trust and faith in the saving work of Christ and the truth of the gospel. The theme of the power of God’s amazing grace came through again and again.
Those being baptized ranged in age from a youth of eight up to a “young-at-heart” seventy year old veteran. Especially touching was the baptism of both a mother and her adult daughter. They both came to saving faith in the Lord recently, and the daughter in a very dramatic way upon waking from a coma from which she was not expected to recover!
God is on the move in Anderson Valley, and we are all so thankful and joyous to be His children.ПРАВОСЛАВНАТА ИКОНАПравославни икониikoniИкониПодаръциикониикониикони на светцииконописikoni
August 17th, 2008
A couple years back I experienced a weeklong bout of severe and debilitating vertigo, caused by a virus that attacked my peripheral nervous system. I awoke one morning to a world that was spinning so fast that all I could do was screw my eyes shut and half-crawl, half stagger to the bathroom where I clung to the fixtures in wave after wave of nausea. I’m a fairly strong, can-do guy and this experience left me weeping and helpless. It was such a terrifying and intimidating ordeal that it left me with a deep and abiding sense of compassion for anyone suffering from the condition.
Do you sometimes experience “spiritual vertigo”? What I mean is, are you sometimes knocked out of a sense of balance (shockingly so) in your walk with God in faith? Do you find that your response to a situation, or the inner workings of your thinking and feelings toward God and His ways is just out of kilter with what you know it ought to be? This instability, or disconcerting onset of vertigo, sometimes stems from the lack of a sense of assurance of our salvation. We think we need to perform to a certain standard to merit or deserve God’s approval and in so doing we fail that standard and lose our sense of assurance, and the spinning times of doubt, indifference and anguish begin. We fight all the harder to regain our balance, which often seems to make the problem worse.
Here’s some reading you might find encouraging, and a way out of the vertigo trap. It’s a gathering of short articles written by some careful Biblical thinkers around the world, and it’s called the Imperium Testamentum collection on Eternal Security (Vol 1). You can find the whole collection here. Also, scroll down on that page and find the article, #71, An Anchor for the Soul Hebrews 6:13-20, written by Eric L Peterman , or you can link directly to the article here. Do let me know what you think and may the Lord help you to regain your stability, in His grace.
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