Glimpse From The Lighthouse Issue #9

Dear Friends in Christ,
Hola mis amigos! How are you? I'm doing well! I hope you all are too. :) Thank you so much to those of you who sent me prayer requests and other things for the newsletter this week! I really appreciate it. :) And I'll take more for the next newsletter, any of you who have something you want in here. :) I'll look forward to hearing from you. Well, have a great week and God richly bless you!!!
Love,
~Heather~



Glimpse From The Lighthouse
No. 9 November 9, 2007

Theme Verse:
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,
We should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Looking for that blessed hope,
And the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Who gave Himself for us, that He might purify unto Himself
A peculiar people, zealous of good works
~Titus 2:11-14~


Study


I decided it was time to talk about our theme verse! I put it in here every time, but some of you may wonder what it's for and why it's our theme verse, or why we even have a theme verse. =) Well, I actually don't really know why I chose that one, I just like it, and I thought we should have a theme verse! Anyway, I did a little studying deeper into it this week.

Titus 2:11-12 says 'For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.' The first thing is talks about is 'the grace of God'. Now, I don't really have a clear understanding of grace myself. I never have! But Romans 3:24-25 says that we are 'justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus'. And in Titus 2 it says that God's grace brings salvation. So, we know that we are saved and redeemed by grace!

Next, it says God's grace has 'appeared to all men'. In my Bible it says it could be translated 'for the grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared', with the word order a little different! So; God's grace and salvation is available to ALL of us! To all men. It's a free gift, we just have to accept it. In Hebrews 5:9 it says that Jesus, '...being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him.' :) Eternal salvation! What a precious gift!

Now on to verse 12. (of Titus 2!) I really like this one! It says we should deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and live soberly, righteously, and godly, even though the world around us is evil. God wants us to be holy in this world. We are to be different, and be a shining light to those in darkness. Luke 1:75 says 'In holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life.'

We need to deny self, deny worldly pleasures, and live for God only! I like the verse that says 'I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me...' (I looked it up but I don't remember the reference, I think it was in Ephesians though. :)) There's a song called 'To Live Is Christ', I think some of you know it. It's very beautiful and very deep. =)

Well, I am going to write on the other 2 verses (Titus 2:13 and 14) next time! Until then, keep growing in Jesus!!!


Prayer Requests:
1. Please pray for Weimar institute; they are struggling.
2. Please pray for a young lady that Sarah is studying the Bible with, her name is Heather.
3. Please pray for Heather Ruiz, that her mission trip to the Dominican Republic will turn out well and that she can help the people and reach their hearts. :)

Story!
Submitted by Brenna Nakamura

'Shake it off and step Up!'

The parable is told of an old dog who fell into a farmer's well.
After assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the dog,
but decided that neither the dog nor the well were worth the trouble of saving.
Instead, he planned to bury the old dog in the well
and put him out of his misery.

At first when the farmer began, the old dog was hysterical.
But as the farmer continued shoveling and the dirt fell onto his back,
a though struck the dog. It dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt hit his back,
he should shake it off and step up!
This he did blow after blow. 'Shake it off and step up, shake it off and step up,
shake it off and step up!' He repeated to encourage himself.

No matter how painful the blows
or how distressing the situation seemed,
the old dog fought panic and just kept shaking it off and stepping up!
It was not long before the dog,
battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well!
What seemed as though it would bury him
actually benefited him, all because of the way he handled his adversity.

If we face our problems and respond to them positively,
refusing to give in to bitterness, self pity, or panic,
the adversities that come along to bury us
usually have within them the potential to bless us!
Forgiveness, faith, prayer, praise, and hope are some of the Biblical ways
to shake it off and step up out of the wells in which we find ourselves. :)

See Psalm 85:6, Philippians 4:4, and James 1:2-4.


WEELLL, have a GREAT week and GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!


(posted by "R")