M&M Week 10!

Hello M&M Group!

Things are still hectic over here, although we close on our house on 11/17 and my baby girl turns ONE the same day!! Everything is really busy but exciting right now. I'm thinking that things will calm down sometime around January 2012. :) Barb's words were so refreshing to me as she reminded us that God is BIGGER than a "quiet life". Man, have I needed that reminder lately. Thanks to you ladies for your encouragement this week. I am so blessed to be a part of this group. I love M&Ming with you! Here is the link to this week's lesson, click here (or right click and save-as...)

Here is Barb's summary for this week:

"This week we worked on Isaiah 51:3. We meditated on God as the great Restorer and Comforter. What a promise to His children, that He will comfort us, look with compassion on our ruins and wastelands, and then even make them like gardens where there will be joy and gladness, thanksgiving and the sound of singing. Trust Him to do this for you. Are you fighting Him like an angry 2-year old who refuses to be comforted, or have you released your anger and unforgiveness, dropped your stiff arms, and let Him hold you and comfort you?

Then we also meditated on the upcoming verse, Isaiah 61:10. I brought my 38-year old bridal portrait for show & tell as a visual of what I imagine when I hear the wonderful, freeing, strengthening promise that "He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness." Sister, if you are in Christ, you are dressed like this ALL THE TIME. This is for singles, married, divorced, and widows who are in Christ! Invite the Spirit to apply this truth to change your outlook on life.

We meet next week, then we don't meet the week of Thanksgiving (but don't stop M&M-ing!) and will have our last class the last week of November. DON'T FORGET THE RECITAL on Sunday evening, December 4, at Lexington Presbyterian Church. Come recite or read your verses TO THE LORD. Do it as a gift to Him: give Him the first Christmas present of His season! It will also be sure to be a blessing to all who hear, because it is GOD'S word we recite.

Love you and are grateful to you all for wanting to memorize and meditate on His Word. Press on...we're almost through with this theme!

Barb

Bridal picture

New quote:

“It is so true, as the Book says, that all things work together for our good, even our sins and vices. He takes our sins on himself, and while he drives them out of us with a whip of scorpions, he will yet make them work his good ends. He defeats our sins, make them prisoners, forces them into the service of good, and chains them like galley slaves to the rowing benches of the gospel ship. He makes them work toward salvation for us.”

from The Curate’s Awakening by George MacDonald

Start chewing on next week's verse!!

ISAIAH 61:10

I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me

in a robe of righteousness...

M&M Week 9!

Good evening, everyone!

I'm late in the day delivering your M&M "morsel" so please forgive me for that. I hope you all have had a wonderful week! If you are in the online group or if you missed this week's lesson, it is posted for you to enjoy online: Click Here (or right click and "save as")

Here's Barb's summary for this week- hope you enjoy it!

"Hi Friends,

This week's memory verse from the end of Romans 8 was a long but rich passage, wasn't it? I challenged you to fill in the blank with what you need most to trust God for:

I am convinced that _________ will not separate me from the love of Christ.

(LIFE? DEATH? OLD AGE? CANCER? FEAR? MY WASTELANDS, RUINS? MY HABITS?)

I also challenged you from our memory verse for this coming week to describe the ruins, wastelands, or deserts in your life; put them into words ("Take words with you and return to the Lord," Hosea 14:2) and give them to God, asking Him to restore you and make those very places into gardens.

We chewed on a rich, soul-satisfying truth this week: NOTHING can separate us from the love of Christ. My prayer for you and me is that we would walk in the light of the Lord: His forgiveness, His love, our adoption, our freedom. May His truth fill and guard our minds and hearts in Christ.

Here is a link (CLICK ME!) to a lovely moment for me last summer in Japan (2010). Some ladies from an English Bible Study Class memorized Isaiah 53:4-6 and we recited it at a luncheon they had for us before we went returned to the States.

Press on sisters! We're almost finished!

Love,

Barb"

Go ahead and start chewing on next week's verse!

ISAIAH 51:3

The Lord will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.

M&M Week 8!

I hope you've had a wonderful week. It's been beautiful, hasn't it? Please read Barb's summary of this week's lesson below- It has been uploaded to the LPC website for your listening enjoyment. Right click this link and save the lesson to listen to at your convenience!

"Hi M&M Sisters! Before I share the summary of this week's lesson, I'd like to share an email I received from someone who is participating in M&M online since she's unable to come to the classes:

Hi Barb,
It is almost four o'clock in the morning and I have been listening to
lesson #7. All is quiet and listening to you is a breath of fresh air for
me. I really love the poem from the "dead man" book. [Valley of
Vision] Thanks for doing M&M on-line. So very much to
think about and meditate on.

Bless you and love to you,

What an encouragement this was to me! We never know all that God is doing. What an inspiration you ladies are to me, those of you who are doing M&M on your own! Please share with us how it's going for you - maybe on facebook or the blog or in an email to me. It encourages us all. May God bless you richly as you meditate on and memorize His Word.

This week we looked at the amazing doctrine of ADOPTION. One of our participants, Carol, beamed as she shared that she was adopted as a baby, and received the full rights and privileges of being a child of that family. Then 17 years later, she said, she was wonderfully adopted a 2nd time, by God. She quoted our memory verse with great joy and shared how special this verse is to her.We then looked in our beautiful pink gift box provided by Mary and read the cards inside which listed 24 aspects of being a daughter rather than an orphan. This material is from the Sonship Course published by World Harvest. Check that list out here (Click me!)

I encourage you to go through this prayerfully and ask God to show you where you are still thinking as an orphan rather than His adopted daughter.I then shared one of my favorite stories from Tales of the Kingdom series, "The Orphan Exodus". Oh, how sweet it is when we hear our King calling our name! Sisters, I don't want to stand outside in the cold: shivering, fearful, fending for myself, when the door to the King's palace has been opened wide for me. From where I stand I can see the beauty and the warmth inside; I have heard Him call my name...Why do I so often choose to live as an orphan, standing alone outside? "I will arise and go to Jesus, He will embrace me in His arms"!

Here's our new quote card:

YOU ARE ADOPTED! No matter how deeply you may have been wounded or
damaged by the lack of love from others in your past, you are now deeply
loved. You have been adopted as a child of God and given all the rights
and privileges that were previously granted only to the Father’s one natural
Son, Jesus (1Jn. 3:1-2). You don’t need to live or feel like a spiritual
orphan anymore. God does not see you as merely a pardoned criminal, but as
His very own son or daughter! You now have immediate access into the
Father’s presence, the promise of His provision for your every need, and the
privilege of His discipline for your good.

Read and believe the good news that is for you if you have received Christ as your Savior.

Pressing on with you,

Barb"

Here's next week's verse. Love and peace to you!
Leslie

ROMANS 8:35,37-39

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us…For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Items of Business :)

I wanted to mention a few items of business if you don't mind:

1) Something goofy apparently happened last week with my upload of the lesson. Apparently it was only playing 5 minutes. I am sorry about that! Here is the corrected link to last week's lesson: Week Six. Here is the link to this week's lesson, just for your convenience :) Week Seven

2) The Tuesday Evening class at Jamestown has been cancelled. We had a very slim crowd on Tuesday nights, so it is no longer on the schedule. Just wanted to make sure everyone knew that so no one inadvertently shows up to Jamestown on Tuesday nights. We are still going strong on Tuesday morning's at Jamestown, and Wednesday morning and evening at LPC.

3) Recital night is Sunday, December 4th, 6:00pm at LPC! Please put this special evening on your calendars. I participated in the Spring recital this year and let me just tell you that it was such blessing to stand up front with other ladies just reciting the word of God together. Please don't be intimidated by this recital! We all say the verses together (no one is singled out!) and many of us had our cards and read them proudly. God's word is beautiful, and just saying it out loud together is a special thing. I think it is also encouraging to those who watch/listen as they see how God's word is soaking into our ladies' hearts. Please please consider joining us that night.

In Him,

Leslie

Week 7 - There is NO condemnation!

Hello my M&M Friends!

I hope you have had an absolutely wonderful week. I apologize that I messed up last week's recording, but I fixed it and it is available if you click here. I also uploaded this week's lesson - (click here for Week 7).

This week we hugged the Japan mission team "goodbye" as they went on their short term trip... Our dear Dave Bindewald is in that group, of course, along with my daddy Jim McFarland. Please be praying for that whole team- that they would be covered in God's grace throughout their trip and that they would share Christ's love with the Japanese people. If you want to keep up with their journey, check out Dave's blog- http://sushieaters.blogspot.com

Here is this week's message from Barb!

~~~~~~~~

Hi Sisters! This week we chewed on Romans 8:1,2: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

I hope you listen to the recording and hear the story of the red convertible "salvation" car and the story of the birds tied to strings who are set free. I gave out two new quote cards:

YOU ARE FREE!
No matter how defeated you may now feel in your battle with sin, you are no longer in bondage to it. Although sin’s influence will always be with you, its dominion over your life has now been broken through the cross. Although you were once a slave to sin, the Good News is that you are now free from that old master (Rom.6:5-18).
You are now called by God to claim that freedom from sin’s domineering power over your life. No matter what your current struggle, true hope exists for lasting change."

There was also one by Dr. Steve Childers which helps explain how the gospel is also our power for fighting sin:

"Therefore, the gospel message should be seen as not only a message of good news for lost people to be saved from sin’s penalty, but also as a message of good news for Christian people to be saved from sin’s domineering power.
The goal of the gospel is not merely to forgive us, but to change us into true worshippers of God and authentic lovers of people. We often reduce the gospel to “God’s plan of salvation” for lost people to be saved from sin’s penalty, not realizing that it is also “God’s plan of salvation” for Christians to be saved from sin’s power. The same gospel message that saves sinners also sanctifies saints."

I loved the quote by John Bunyan which I also shared:

“Run, John, run.” The law commands,
But gives neither feet nor hands.
Better news the Gospel brings;
It bids me fly and gives me wings.

So, ladies, let's take God at His Word and ask the Lord to teach us how to use the wings He's given us.

I love M&M-ing with you,

Barb

~~~~~~~~

Don't forget to meditate (and memorize) this week's verse! :) I hope you can join us for our recital on December 4th!

#7 ADOPTED!

GALATIANS 4:4-7

But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father". So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir."

We are Covered in Forgiveness (Week 6)

I hope you all have had a wonderful week. Things have been crazy for us as we have been getting our house packed up for the big move, and also we welcomed my new, beautiful baby niece into the world this morning! "Baby Girl McFarland" is 8lbs 3oz of pure beauty. Anyhow, here's the summary from Barb! Listen to this week's lesson by clicking here.

"Another week of M&M is over. We're about halfway now! Don't grow weary in doing good...keep pressing on!

We opened up our new gift this week and gazed at the jewel of FORGIVENESS. So huge; so life-changing. I emailed all of you the "Jewels of Forgiveness" as well as the new quote cards- "You are Forgiven!" and "We are not Permitted".

I also read the following quote by Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones:

“HAVE YOU EVER REALIZED THAT MOST OF YOUR UNHAPPINESS IS DUE TO THE FACT THAT YOU LISTEN TO YOURSELF MORE THAN YOU TALK TO YOURSELF?” (from Spiritual Depression It's Causes and It's Cure)

C.J. Mahaney, of Sovereign Grace Ministry, said concerning this quote: YOU CAN TRANSITION FROM AN UNHAPPY SOUL TO A HAPPY SOUL, FROM A TROUBLED SOUL TO A HOPEFUL SOUL, BY TALKING TRUTH TO YOURSELF, BY PREACHING THE GOSPEL TO YOURSELF. SINGING IS A MEANS OF TALKING TO YOURSELF; SINGING IS A MEANS OF BIBLICAL SELF-COUNSELING... A CESSATION OF LISTENING TO THEMSELVES AND A CELEBRATION OF TALKING TO THEMSELVES AND PREACHING THE GOSPEL TO THEMSELVES SO THAT AT THE END OF THE SERVICE THEY LEAVE EDIFIED RATHER THAN UNHAPPY...NOW CEASE LISTENING TO YOURSELVES! CEASE LISTENING TO SIN, CEASE LISTENING TO CONDEMNATION, CEASE LISTENING TO LEGALISM. CEASE LISTENING AND INSTEAD SING, SING THE GOSPEL, SING GOSPEL-CENTERED DOCTRINE TO YOURSELVES AND TO GOD AND AS YOU SING TO THE SAVIOR YOU ARE GOING TO BE TRANSFORMED IN YOUR SOUL.

I also shared the lyrics to a song our son Dave wrote when he was in college, called "He Gets the Chair".

May you and I walk in, even run in this great gift freely given to us at great cost. "For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son He loves, in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." Col.1:13,14 We have been set free from our sins so that "we may serve the Living God!" (Hebrews 9:14)

Lots of love,

Barb"

Our verse for this week is...

#6 NO CONDEMNATION, FREEDOM!

ROMANS 8:1,2

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

Peace! The War is Over! (Week 5)

Barb has been so gracious to agree to do all of the writing of our summaries during the next couple of weeks while our family is busy packing boxes for our move. Her summaries will be better than anything I could have written anyway. Here's what she has to say this week! (Click Here to download the lesson, or right click that link and "save target as...")


Summary of this week’s M&M, October 4 and 5

The last three weeks we have been meditating on and memorizing verses which told us about God’s saving plan, His call, and His laying all our sins upon His Son who died in our place. All three cards had titles in red, symbolizing the blood of Christ which was shed to purchase our pardon. Our #3 card, HE DID IT! is a beautiful passage which describes the finished work of Christ on the cross, written hundreds of years before it happened!

This week we started a new section of verses, with blue titles, symbolizing the inheritance we receive when we become followers of Christ. Our first verse card in this group is our #4 card:

#4 THE WAR IS OVER!!!

ROMANS 4:25, 5:1,2

He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.

We looked at some headlines of newspapers from 1945 announcing the end of World War II. When Christ was raised to life for our justification, perhaps there was a loud, victorious shout in heaven, unheard by any on earth:

THE WAR IS OVER! HE HAS DONE IT! GOD HAS NOT COUNTED MEN’S SINS AGAINST THEM, BUT AGAINST HIS SON INSTEAD! NOW PEOPLE CAN BE RECONCILED TO THEIR CREATOR!

Enjoy Colossians 1, Ephesians 2, and Romans 3 and 5 to further meditate on this great truth that we have peace with God; we are reconciled; God’s favor is upon you and it is irrevocable! You and God are no longer enemies. Rejoice and live under His favor with thanksgiving.