I moved.

Hi everyone,

Moving to Janis Cox – Author and Illustrator

I hope you are planning to subscribe to my new blog at JanisCox. I will not be posting any longer on this blog.

I managed to move some of my subscribers over to my new one with the help of WordPress. I will lose some of you.  And I don’t like losing anyone.

So try to put your email address into the new blog and you will continue to hear from me. You can also use RSS feed to follow, or Twitter - Under the Cover of Prayer, or Facebook or LinkedIn.

This will be my last post from here.

Thanks,

Jan

Remember I moved!

Hi there,

This is a reminder that I have moved to www.janiscox.com. I will be posting the same as I have on A Better Way but in a new blog (self-hosted). Not as easy but it is supposed to have many more features.

So please be patient with me as I try to get all things in order. I hope the new subscriber button works. So far – I haven’t seen any familiar faces. So I might not have it working right yet.

And I don’t think I have figured out how to get Facebook to share it yet. YIKES. So many new things. And I wrote about change.

But please drop over to see me.

Jan

I AM MOVING

Moving to Janis Cox – Author and Illustrator

Yesterday I wrote about Change – and today I finally took the plunge and moved my blog to Janis Cox – Author and Illustrator.

From now on I will be blogging from there. So please, please subscribers, would you do me a favour and put your name on the new subscriber list on my new site. Or I will lose you.

If you have forgotten how you did that – here are the instructions:

1. Go to my new blog: Janis Cox

2. Under the header you will see – SEARCH; then under that you will see SUBSCRIBE BY EMAIL. That is where you put your email address. And click EMAIL SUBSCRIPTION. That’s it. That’s all.

From now on my posts will be posted from my new site. I hope to bring over other features from this blog because I still believe that JESUS is the BETTER WAY.

CHANGE – Five-Minute Fridays

Once again linking to Lisa-Jo and Five-Minute Fridays.

I get 5 minutes on the word – CHANGE. And no picture today – that’s a change. No time.

Go

My husband hates change. He likes the “same old, same old”. I love change. Can you see the problem?

But we have been married for 41 years – why? Compromise - or one of us “wins”.

As long as one of us doesn’t “win” continually, we rest in peace. We like to talk things out – sometimes it gets a little rowdy; sometimes one of us sees the other’s point of view quickly; sometimes we just drop it for another time.

Right now I am in a change mood. I would like to move around my living room because I am tired of the way it looks. It needs a change. And practically it would help with the rest of the house because I want to switch rooms around.

I mentioned it – oh my goodness – the frown; the look; the “oh no” not again. But really I haven’t moved things around much – really, I haven’t.

So I let it drop – for a few days. Then I will approach the subject again. Little drops – one at a time.

I agree with him that change just for change sake is not fruitful. But I have a plan in mind and I can envision what it will look like.

My daughter just changed her rooms around so she could make the dining room a play room close to the kitchen to watch her little one. It looks great – and so practical.

Maybe that is where I got the notion. So I will give it a few days.

Oh my time is UP.

What do you think of change? Are you able to embrace it when it happens? Do you hold back? Or can you march to a new tune? Our minister talked about this on Sunday on Two Interpretations of Matthew 9: 14-17. Does our vision of church need a change?

Related articles

• COULD I JOIN THE GOD TEAM? – Five-Minute Fridays (jancoxabetterway.wordpress.com)
• REAL – Five-Minute Fridays
• CHANGE ~ Five Minute Friday (simplystriving.wordpress.com)
• SO FAR SO GOOD – SO WHAT? 

TWO INTERPRETATIONS OF MATTHEW 9:14-17 – Sermon

by Harry Morgan

Two Interpretations for the Parables

Sunday’s sermon, based on Matthew 9:14-17, talks about fasting, and tells two parables.

Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”

Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse.  Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (Matthew 9:14-17 NIV)

Harry first talked about the Pharisees, reviewing last week’s lesson that Jesus requires mercy not sacrifice.

He talked to us about the Pharisees’ tradition of fasting where they made a big show of this practice. He even had a picture of Pharisees with long faces showing how much pain they were in. He asked, “Would you want to join these guys?”

Instead, Jesus said to enjoy Him and feast with Him while He was on earth. There would be a time for mourning and fasting when He was gone.

Then Jesus tells us two parables:

1. Putting new unshrunk cloth on old material
2. Pouring new wine into old wine skins

Harry said there are two theological interpretations on these parables:

 Out with the Old and in with the New:

We resist change and innovation. We don’t like renovations. Some people like the “same old, same old” [my words].

From Charisma Magazine there are three painful steps to make this renovation:

1. Fear of Change: If we don’t change we will be in bondage. “Don’t park when God is calling you forward.”

1. Defy Traditions: To move forward we need to be willing to defy traditions. “God is with the courageous few who are willing to blaze a new path into unreached territory.”

1. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal new strategies: “If the work of transforming the church is not totally led by the Holy Ghost, then our changes will be shallow and our impact will be pitiful.”

And the second interpretation is:

Mature the new gently so it can appreciate and renew the old:

Harry spoke of seeing value of the old traditions, hymns. We need to respect the past.

Then he left us to figure it out for ourselves. But he said he sees value in both interpretations. Today we had a contemporary service in which we also sang an old hymn. Harry showed us there is power of the Spirit in the past as well as in the present.

He left us with these words:

“We are Christ’s witnesses to reach the world around us. Let us be graceful in our approach.”

After reading the article from Charisma Magazine I like the J.L. Grady’s conclusion:

“I believe the Lord wants to unleash a gushing river of new wine into the church today, but He is directing us to prepare our wineskins. What is old must be renewed by the Spirit, what is outdated must be remodeled, and what is ineffective must be replaced. God wants to do a new thing. Don’t resist it.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

COULD I JOIN THE GOD TEAM? – Five-Minute Fridays

Linking to Lisa-Jo for Five-Minute Fridays (FMF) where we write for only 5 minutes then STOP. If you want to join – just come along.

Could I Join the God Team? – FMF

Becoming the Real Me by Joining

Twenty-five years ago something happened to shake my trust in people. That incident made me build a wall around my family, my emotions and my body. For fifteen years I held back; I became a controller over everything and everybody; my body ached.

Ten years ago something changed – I found people who cared about the real me. I found a church were I could be exactly who I am. I found Christ. I joined a loving, caring community where I learned about God and His love for me.

My world expanded. I relaxed. My body healed. My mind healed. And my soul grew.

My friends accepted me – that is crucial. So I started to join the world again – a little wiser and more discerning – but I joined.

I stretched – and became an open, loving person. God showed me Himself and each day I learn more and more about His mercy and His grace as I study and be with others who believe in Him.

I joined God – that was a big decision. That changed my life. I let Jesus become the leader and I joined the team. Hallelujah!

I lurked on the Five-Minute Fridays for a few days only before I said, “Why not?” Such wonderful connections have been made.

God is building a new Kingdom – He is using Internet tools connect us together and make new disciples.

Have you joined the God Team?

Are you free to join in with other people? Ask God to help you break through that barrier. Tell me your story.

STOP

 

5-Minute Friday – Join

Related articles

• CONNECT – Five-Minute Fridays (jancoxabetterway.wordpress.com)
• STRETCH – Five-Minute Fridays (jancoxabetterway.wordpress.com)
• I so want to take the risk! (Five Minute Friday) (newequus.wordpress.com)

3 WAYS HOW TO GO AND LEARN MERCY – Sermon

3 Ways how to Go and Learn Mercy

by Harry Morgan

What is mercy? Whose baby is this?

Harry started his sermon reminding us of the story of the argument over a baby – who was the rightful mother; how Solomon knew that the real mother would show mercy and not let her child die.

“The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved out of love for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!” (1 Kings 3:26 NIV).

Mercy is:

“compassionate or kindly forbearance towards an enemy or someone under one’s power”

In other words, mercy is “cutting you some slack”.

Jesus says:

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:12-13 NIV).

Then the message hit home with these words:

Do you say? “I am glad I am not like that Pharisee.”

Do you compare yourself to others? Do we compete? Jobs? Money? Homes? Do we like to feel better than others? Am I smarter? better behaved? have a higher education? understand Scripture better?

Oh I have – I do. Instead Harry said we need to all be in the same boat because we are all equal in God’s eyes.

Do we do the same at church? Are we mediators for God? Are we helping others into the mercy of God? Or do we say what is she doing in “my pew”? Or why is that baby crying? Or what is that long-haired kid doing in my church?

So Harry gave us 3 ways to Go and Learn mercy:

1. Review the Mercy of God:

• we are fallen, needy and sinful
• we have arrogance, selfishness and pride
• God is love
• Christ died for all of us so we could be totally forgiven
• God hates the “sin” but loves the “sinner”

2. To Understand that we are not here to Control other People’s Lives:

• there is a long history of this control in the church
• we tend to put glory into our flesh (our power, our wisdom)
• instead we need to worship the Spirit of God
• we need to meditate on the mercy of our God

3. Pray that we might Discern the Difference between Mercy and Sacrifice:

• this will help us not burn out
• it will get us back to Jesus, the well of life – our Saviour
• don’t get caught up in “busyness” – instead draw from the well of God and use mercy
• pray you can “pay it forward”