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>AMAZING Charles Spurgeon – Morning and Evening

In Uncategorized on December 14, 2010 by mstevensrev

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Morning

They go from strength to strength.

They go from strength to strength. There are various renderings of these words, but all of them contain the idea of progress.

Our own good translation of the authorized version is enough for us this morning. They go from strength to strength. That is, they grow stronger and stronger. Usually, if we are walking, we go from strength to weakness; we start fresh and in good order for our journey, but by-and-by the road is rough, and the sun is hot, we sit down by the wayside, and then again painfully pursue our weary way. But the Christian pilgrim having obtained fresh supplies of grace, is as vigorous after years of toilsome travel and struggle as when he first set out. He may not be quite so elate and buoyant, nor perhaps quite so hot and hasty in his zeal as he once was, but he is much stronger in all that constitutes real power, and travels, if more slowly, far more surely. Some gray-haired veterans have been as firm in their grasp of truth, and as zealous in diffusing it, as they were in their younger days; but, alas, it must be confessed it is often otherwise, for the love of many waxes cold and iniquity abounds, but this is their own sin and not the fault of the promise which still holds good: The youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. Fretful spirits sit down and trouble themselves about the future. Alas! say they, we go from affliction to affliction. Very true, O thou of little faith, but then thou goest from strength to strength also. Thou shalt never find a bundle of affliction which has not bound up in the midst of it sufficient grace. God will give the strength of ripe manhood with the burden allotted to full-grown shoulders. Sent from the Morning and Evening Devotional, by Charles Spurgeon. For devotionals like this one for your iPhone, visit us at 43rdElement.com

Michael Stevens

Welocalize

206.407.6067

Sent from my iPhone

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In home, L'Abri, mission, Theology on December 6, 2010 by mstevensrev

>In a previous post about Third Places, I talked about some of my growing views, hospitality and the building which we lived in. Over the past few months there has been a greater shift in my life then has every happened previously, and much to my surprise. Many things I thought were foundational are now not, and things that appear temporary are proving eternal significance. This time has been very challenging but also one I am very grateful for.

Just last week events with the tenants in our unit below entirely changed my understanding of the building we live in. Initially I sensed that it was putting to rest hopes and dreams I had, but now after some time I clearly see God was using a crazy drunken tenant (now evicted tenant) to expand our dreams. The dream for what our building can become is more clear and much larger than we had first imagined, but so is my dream for caring for my wife and family.

Immediately this means we are actively and aggressively pursuing buying a house. A safe beautiful space for my family to worship, heal, and rest up for the great journey ahead of us. The building will not only be filled with new renters once it has some work done it on. But it will be fill with artist who have a vision to live in community with one another; shared meals, shared garden, and shared vision. This will be a place of both healing and preparing artist to make a living with their passions and engage the world in a deep and meaningful way. I see a big part of what we are going to do similar to L’Abri. Karin and I realizing we need to get out of the way made this something so much more than we could ever imagine.

What needs to happen now:
Need to get work done so the bottom unit can be move in ready, we have some very interesting and cool plans for that.
Need prayer as we do not have the specifics of plan/map of what this will look like.
Need to talk with wise people who have pursued and been involved with similar communities.
Need to get the plan on paper and prayed over.
Need to settle our families’ living situation.

I’m sure there are a million more things that I could list here but this is an exciting time and I look forward to sharing what the specifics will look like and presenting the name publicly!

Spurgeon, http://thewebtheologian.blogspot.com/2010/11/spurgeons-thoughts-on-home-as-church.html

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