We Love God!

God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)

If you want to raise a Pharisee, just follow these simple steps (sarcasm!). 1. Make the Christian home all about rule-keeping (do’s and don’t’s), but never explain to them why we should follow God’s Word. 2. Add your own rules to God’s Word and make them more important than God’s Word. 3. Strictly enforce the rules on your children, but give yourself a pass. 4. Show your children nothing about grace, forgiveness, mercy and love. 5. Preach at them until they are blue in the face (bore them with the Bible) and never listen to what they have to say about God’s Word. 6. Make Jesus a burden rather than a blessing – make God’s Word a bondage rather than a liberation. 7. Give them no opportunity to think spiritually for themselves. 8. Fail to guide them in a spiritual worldview – teaching them how to process life with the Bible. 9. Praise their externals regardless of their motives. 10. Teach them to obey only because they have to and not because they should also want to as God’s commands come from a loving and trustworthy Father. 11. Make your disciple punishment rather than correction. 12. Demand self-reformation, rather than pointing them to Christ-transformation by grace. 13. Teach them to obey you as God rather than to obey God by obeying you. 14. Use Scripture and church as punishment. 15. Never pray for them. 16. Correct them more than you encourage them. 17. Beat your kids into external conformity, often to simply make yourself look good and do nothing to shepherd their hearts.

Randy Smith

Sanctification is a gift just as justification is (a double grace, or duplex gratia, as Calvin called it). Both are the gift of God, ours by virtue of union with Christ. Both are found in Christ alone. Both are necessary for salvation – justification being the root and sanctification being the fruit. As is often said: faith alone justifies, but the faith that justifies is never alone. So we must never separate justification and sanctification. The former can’t help but produce the latter, and the latter must flow from the former. And yet we should not be afraid to talk about justification in a different way than we talk about sanctification. One calls us to rest; the other to fight. One reckons us righteous; the other makes us righteous. One allows for no increase or degrees; the other expects progress and growth. One is a declaration of God about us, the other a work of God in us.

Kevin DeYoung

We Love God!

God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)

Roquefort Brandy Spread

January 24, 2023

CATEGORY	CUISINE	TAG	YIELD
Dairy		Appetizers, Spreads	2	1/2 cups

INGREDIENTS

1	lb	Roquefort Cheese
1/2	lb	Cream cheese
3	tb	Butter
1/4	ts	Dry mustard
	pn	Cayenne pepper
1/4	c	Cognac

INSTRUCTIONS

Put all the ingredients in an electric blender or food processor and let
soften to room temperature.  Puree or beat until you have a homogenous
mixture.  Transfer to a bowl, cover tightly, and refrigerate. Makes 2-1/2
cups.
This spread can be used as a stuffing for vegetables, can be served with
raw vegetables, or can be spread on melba toast. Source: Just For Starters
by Gloria Edwinn.
From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini

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