Psalm 12

¹ Help, LORD, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men.

Why did the faithful die out?
Let's pray and be the faithful that have NOT vanished among men!

² Everyone lies to his neighbor;
their flattering lips speak with deception.

Don't be the people that lies to his neighbor and speaks with deception.

³ May the LORD cut off all flattering lips
and every boastful tongue

The Lord is powerful! Watch out!

⁴ that says, "We will triumph with our tongues;
we own our lips —who is our master?"

God will destroy the evil of the world.

⁵ "Because of the oppression of the weak
and the groaning of the needy,
I will now arise," says the LORD.
"I will protect them from those who malign them."

And God will protect the faithful!

⁶ And the words of the LORD are flawless,
like silver refined in a furnace of clay,
purified seven times.

God ALWAYS speaks the truth and NEVER lies!

⁷ O LORD, you will keep us safe
and protect us from such people forever.

God will protect us.

⁸ The wicked freely strut about
when what is vile is honored among men.

The wicked will fall.

-Stephen-

The Reformation

Do you know how the Reformation started?

The Reformation was started when the pope became so greedy for money that they started selling little scrolls of paper called ''indulgences'' which say that you can get relatives out of a place called "Purgatory" which is not real.
So people started buying them, but one man named Martin Luther knew that they were wrong. So by writing, he told the pope to stop selling them.
One of these writings was the ''95 Theses'' , even though he knew he was a monk of the catholic church under the power of the pope and he could get punished for it.
Then the pope became angry when he read it and told him to come to a meeting called the ''Diet of Worms'' that they might be able to get him to recant his writings. Martin Luther went, didn't recant, left the meeting, then some of his friends hid him and he was safe. While he was hiding he translated the New Testament into German, so that all of his friends could read the Bible for themselves.

We watched a very good movie about Martin Luther called "Luther". I learned alot of things about him. He was an excellent reformer!




Last weekend we went to a "Reformation Day Faire" at Providence Church in Peoria, IL. Me and my family dressed up as reformers. I was dressed up to be John Calvin, who was another great reformer! I had alot of fun!

This man did some good music on his bagpipe!

Me making a sword for the "boffer wars" which was so much fun!

My brother Ravi having fun!

My sister dressed up as Queen Anne Boleyn.

Pastor James McDonald preaching on John Calvin.

They had dancing. . .

. . .That my sister Janai was in.

The boys in the boffer wars.

More boys. . .

. . .And Ravi in line waiting for his turn to fight!

-Stephen

Wisdom, Faith, and Hope

(This is a picture of Pastor Mark Driscoll)

WISDOM

I like this sermon called "Wisdom" by Pastor Mark Driscoll. I liked how he used the sloth and the ant as demonstrations of being a sluggard and not having any wisdom and being a good worker (like the ant) and having wisdom. So you should always have a good reputation to show your wisdom.

No matter what you're doing, you have to use wisdom.

FAITH

I also like faith! Because you always have to use faith just as much as wisdom. Your faith keeps you strong with your relationship with God. You must use faith as a good thing and not waste it. And you must not give up your faith that God will guide you all your life! Just like how he guided Moses, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob!

HOPE

And last, you must use hope as much as wisdom and faith. You must always use hope to help you and not to destroy you or the life of others. You must not give up the hope that God gives you. You must use hope each and every day and every moment you live.

-Stephen

Women and Children First

Men should put women and children first and protect them. I like what Mark Driscoll has to say about this.

-Stephen-

Fight The Good Fight

The "good fight" is the fight for God. The way to fight for God is to fight against the devil and to stand up for God's Word. When I say "fight" I don't mean really "fighting" against other people with your hands but I mean fighting the devil with Bible verses and prayer!

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might."

- Ephesians 6: 10

-Stephen-

Fight For God

You're in a spiritual battle every minute that you're awake. You are on one of two sides- the Kingdom of God(through salvation) or the Kingdom of Satan (through physical birth). Are you on God's side or on Satan's side? Well, if you're on a mission for God- you're on God's side!

Joshua 24:15
"Then choose for yourselves right now whom you will serve."(NIRV)

-Stephen-

Show Jesus!

I know that a lot of people know about God but don't follow Him. So that's why Christians have to be a good example to them. You can help too! Some ways to help would be to care for others, serve others, and pray for others!

"Serve wholeheartedly as if you were serving the Lord not man. Because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does whether he is slave or free."

-Ephesians 6:7

Always be a good example even when you don't feel like it! Because if you are a good example, someone might get saved!!

-Stephen-