Teresa is up working with zucchinis for relish, love the smell as it processes – the spices couple with the vinegar sending that aroma into the air, and tomatoes for salsa.

After picking tomatoes and peppers from the garden, she came back in and said that we have ‘Dee Dee’ dear.

Poor Deed will never live this story down.  When she was about 3 or so years she and Ken were in the cab of our pickup waiting for Carla and I to load it up with dirt for Carla’s garden.  We had picked some peppers – beautiful, nice and plump – to give to the Pastor’s wife.  While waiting for us Deed decided to try to eat a pepper, she bit into one, didn’t like the taste, so bit into another and another and all of them – leaving teeth marks in each one.

The deer bite into the green tomatoes and don’t eat them, leaving teeth marks in each one they try.  They are enjoying the alfalfa that is left though – and unlike Deed, they haven’t tried any of the peppers!  

Colossians 2:8   Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

Proverbs 19:20-21 Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.

²¹ There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.

According to the World – and especially here in America:

Don’t like what you hear from the pulpit at this church?  Change churches.

Don’t like what you hear of this religion?  Find another that suits you better.

Don’t believe in a God?  No problem, substitute it with the religion of evolution where everything just happened and there was no creator to make it happen.

You feel you can’t be good enough in this world to get to heaven no matter how hard you try?  Join a religion that promises re-incarnation until you are good enough.

Don’t want to even think about God?  No problem, fill your life with sports, television, movies and the internet social medias.

You have this hollow thing inside you, but don’t want to look to God for the answer?  Fill it with alcohol and other drugs.

Don’t like the God of the Bible?  That’s okay, define him the way you want him to be and start your own religion.

and the list goes on and on.  Anything to keep from putting God in His rightful place, heaven forbid we have to obey the Creator of the World!

Want to live a life that IS pleasing to God?  Study His Word.

The Word of God tells me a number of things: 

Through the writers of the Old Testament and the New Testament, as they were given inspiration by the Holy Spirit of God, God has warned us that we must take great care not to be fooled by those that preach a false doctrine.  Not to be fooled by those who propose ideas that do not line up with His Word.

I would imagine that somewhere there is a count of the number of times God warns us of false teaching, while I do not know what the number is, I imagine it numbers in the hundreds.

It tells me who God is; and reiterates many times over that God IS GOD! 

It tells me how He created the world and all that is within it and why.  It tells me about the history of the Jewish nation.  It tells me the how He wants me to live for Him.

It tells me God cares for us, not only does He promise to be with us as we live for Him, He tells us what to avoid that keeps us from being His obedient servant. 

It gives me promises of the results of living for Him and examples of how I can do that.  It gives me examples of those who served Him and, while they may have stumbled at times, how He loved them and embraced them with that love.  How He lifted them back up, forgave them and used them in His service.

It gives me encouragement for those times that I realize I am less than I should be in my service for Him.  That He will forgive me and continue to work with me.

It gives me examples of men and women – and even countries – that would not turn to Him and what happened to them.  It tells me and gives me examples of how He feels about sin.

In the Old Testament He promises to deliver all people of this earth from the burden of sin, to the Jews first and then to the rest of us.

In the Old Testament He tells me about His Son and how much He loved HIM and how much He loves us.  He tells me how I can be with Him forever in eternity.  He confirms the fulfillment of this promise in the New Testament.

It tells me how His Son, Jesus Christ, was sacrificed for our sins; how He accepted that sacrifice; that Christ was risen from the dead and now sits with Him in heaven as an advocate for us.

His Word tells me that there is but one way to have eternal life with Him and that is by accepting the sacrifice of His Son as being done for us, as individual sinners, and applying it to our sins.

His Word guides me through my daily life and lifts me when I am down.  His Word tells me that I have His Holy Spirit to comfort, teach and guide me; and that His Son is in my heart when I invite Him into it.

His Word tells me that I can hide within His arms and that He will always be with me, forever.  He will never forsake me.

His Word warns me of the fact that satan is out there and would like nothing better than to trip me up, to destroy my testimony and to place a wedge between God and me.  But He also tells me that He is a forgiving God and will allow me to ask forgiveness for my transgressions when I do fail Him – and He will forgive me.

His Word provides me wisdom and promise; it provides me comfort and joy; it provides a light for me to follow and live for Him. 

His Word provides me a base from which to judge all information that comes to me and to help me determine what is truth and what are the lies that have been devised by satan to lead us astray.

His Word tells me that it is true and the history within the Word and the studies, even of those that are often opposed to it, has been shown to be correct and are verified in the historical context.

His Word gives me testimony of those that lived, walked and watched Christ, as they experienced the miracles He performed, the truths He proclaimed; the life He led.

His Word demonstrates self-truth by the confirmation of those that also walked with Christ and agreed with the writers; as well as the written testimony in His Word of the experiences of those that served God after Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection.

While man will strive to destroy the Word; they will teach and act as if they know as much as God.  While they will try and discredit it’s truths, and while they may appear to be making inroads against His Word, the Word of God will prevail.  They think they have all the answers, but they do not; God is God and His Word is true. 

Proverbs 30:4-5  Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell?

⁵ Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.

While there will always be those that try to distort and even destroy the Word of God – it will continue to stand, forever.

Isaiah 40:7-8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.

⁸ The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

The Word of God tells me that as I read His Word and listen to Him, my faith in Him will grow.

Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

His Word tells me that the confirmation of His promises, the answer to all who come to Him is embodied in His Son, Jesus Christ.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The Word of God is, indeed, worth studying.

Later, Art :-)

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again