Grow Up in Your Salvation

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. — 1 Peter 2:2-3 

Like newborn babies, God creates us to crave spiritual milk.

When we are fed spiritually, we are able to grow.

And to mature in our salvation.

We have tasted that the Lord is good..

And we are blessed.

Crave Pure Spiritual Milk

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. — 1 Peter 2:2-3 

We have tasted that the Lord is good.

We have seen the majesty of His glory.

And He commands us to crave pure spiritual milk.

To crave His Word and to cherish it.

So that by it we can grow up in our salvation.

And walk in His ways.

And follow Him all the days of our life.

Crave Pure Spiritual Milk

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. — 1 Peter 2:2-3

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Just a newborn craves milk, God calls us to crave pure spiritual food.

Milk that will nourish our souls.

So that by it we  may grow up in our salvation.

Now that we have tasted that the Lord is good.

Like Living Stones

You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. — 1 Peter 2:5

Today I met my friend Lainie for lunch.

She treated me to Greek food at cafe Athena. Yum.

Then we walked around her neighborhood, admiring the new construction.

And the tangerines on her tree.

She has a green thumb.

Here are some of the air plants she grew.

We are being build into a spiritual house.

To be a royal priesthood, offering sacrifices to God.

Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. — Colossians 3:16 NLT 

Today is Memorial Day.

When we remember our fallen military men and women who have sacrificed their lives, for us.

We raise our thankful hearts to God.

Thanking Him for this country we live in.

For the freedoms we have because others died.

For blessing us more than we could ever imagine.

Singing with Thankfulness

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. — Colossians 3:16

Yesterday we made modge podge flower pots.

Our Bible study theme was "bloom where you are planted."

And Josie took this picture of the finished pots.

They really turned out beautiful.

And each one is unique.

Just as God's creation shows His beauty and glory.

We praise Him with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

Singing with thankfulness in our hearts to God.

Singing to God

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. — Colossians 3:16

The message of Christ is eternal life.

We love singing psalms and songs from the Spirit.

God has given us the voice to sing his praise. 

Through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit.

Singing to God with gratitude in our hearts.

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly.

With all wisdom as we teach and admonish one another.

The sunflower is a great example of God's love shining on us.

The Lord Is Good

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.  — 1 Peter 2:2-3

Once we start to follow Jesus as our Savior, we hopefully don't stop there.

Instead, we crave spiritual food and God's Word.

Like a newborn baby, we are only ready for spiritual milk.

When we get a small taste of His goodness, we want more.

We start to crave it.

We want to grow closer to Him so that He can help us grow.

And even though we're still sinners and we fall away, God helps us grow up in our salvation.

Yesterday we had a memorial service for my friend Sheri's mom.

She was an elder in our church and others, and she worked to help people grow in their knowledge of God.

Our hearts go out to Sheri and her family in the unexpected loss of her mom, Elizabeth.

 

Deceptive Philosophy

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. — Colossians 2:8

It's hard not to be caught up in human philosophy and the latest trend.

But God warns us not to let hollow and deceptive philosophy take us captive.

Anything that depends on human tradition rather than on God should take a back seat to God's plan for me.

The spiritual forces of this world are in a battle for control over my mind and heart. 

But the ultimate winner of that battle will be Jesus. 

Help me, Lord, to be discerning and to follow you rather than deceptive philosophies.

 

Praise to God

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. — Ephesians 1:3   
 

Praise be to God and to Jesus.

The morning began with sun shining before 8:00, and the birds are singing away.

We are hoping to have a couple of friends over this evening for appetizers outside on the patio.

This will be our first time to entertain anyone since the coronavirus hit our nation.

And we are still hesitant about gathering in groups.

Our church is hoping to hold a small service on Sunday to record the service for the following week.

This will be our first time together.

For the past few months we've been recording everything separately and our tech team leader, Adam, has been doing video edits to splice each portion together.

What a huge amount of work!

So we will be doing a very carefully social distanced service recording and it will play on July 19.

The plan is to do the same on the 19th to play on July 26.

Praise be to God our Father.

He has blessed us the heavenly realms.

He has given us every spiritual blessing in Jesus Christ.