Worship into the Week- The New Jerusalem

                                         

                          Worship into the Week-

                                    The New Jerusalem

                                    Rev. 21:9-14, 21-27

This section of Revelation illustrated the detail 

of the bride of Christ

 as she will live in the new heaven and earth.

Louis Brighton says in his book Revelation,

"The saints of God in their state of righteousness and holiness and perfection after the resurrection can now look directly

 in the face of God. 

No longer does God have to hide his glory from their view.

 No longer does he have to shield his people 

from the brilliance of his 

overpowering holiness and awesomeness. 

For God can now directly and personally 

live in the midst of his saints with his glory.

With sin and every evil having passed away, 

there is no longer a need for a tabernacle or temple

 to mediate and temper God's presence. 

For God the Father himself together

 with the Lord Christ is now the temple." p. 618.

Supplies:

 Visual Church Year Printable

vcy-graphics-only-may-2022

Worship into the Week Printable

worship-into-the-week-may-2022

Magazine Cutouts

Colored Pencils

Distress ink 

Worship into the Week- All Things New

 

Worship into the Week- 

Revelation 21:1-7 

The New Heaven and the New Earth

We have a new inheritance.

It will be amazing- this eternity gift. 

                                 Sermon notes from worship 

with helpful coloring by grandson Isaiah.

We will dwell with God.

He will tabernacle with us.

He is making everything new.

These are trustworthy and true words-

the Alpha and the Omega says so!!!

Supplies needed:

Visual Church Year Printable

vcy-graphics-only-may-2022

Worship into the Week Printable

worship-may-2022

Colored Pencils

Magazine Cutouts

Distress Inki

 

Jack is Six!

Mr. Jack is siz!

What fun to celebrate this guy and a birthday.

Great birthday hat.

So fun to have brother buddies to have at the party.

This Kindergartener is growing up

 and a whole lot of fun.

Some fun birthday gifts- a Lego City.

Some rollerblades and gear

 to stay safe and protected.

Brother Charlie is ready to go with

 his new "early birthday" matching gear too.

A group hug is the best way 

to celebrate a family of brothers.

Some oldest cousin time is pretty special.

This car load looks like trouble.

When did Hadley get her license?

A visit with Grandpa and Grandma Meier

just made an awesome celebration.

Can't get any cooler than this!!

 A visit to the Matthaei Gardens 

in Ann Arbor with buddy brothers

was a very special treat.

Have a very blessed new birth year Jack!

Worship into the Week- The Lamb on the Throne

 

Worship into the Week-Revelations 7:9-17

 A Great Multitude from Every Nation

This section of Scripture speaks

 to the Church Triumphant.

"The church triumphant, at rest and peace and awaiting

 the final act of God's judgment 

and the resurrection of the End, 

will never again experience tribulation and 

persecution on earth."

Concordia Commentary- Revelation- Louis Brighton, p. 193

The Shepherd is the victorious Lamb

 and has come to gather His people.

The greatest work since creation 

is the redemptive work on behalf of God's people

 by the action of Christ our Savior.

The picture of eternal glory in verse 14 

is comforting to Christians.

Even our current hard things and experiences

 will test our faith and patience.

No one escapes the hard times,

every Christian will have challenges

 that rock their world.

But, God will protect His people 

in their mission on earth.

He brings faith and hope reminders 

of the glory of eternal life.

Our great Shepherd sits on the heavenly throne.

Supplies:

Visual Church Year Printable

vcy-graphics-only-may-2022

Worship into the Week Printable

worship-into-the-week-may-2022

Magazine cut outs 

Distress Ink

Colored pencils

The Little Things

 

The little things.

 God uses the little things.

As I move through a busy week and transition time,

 I am reminded of God's faithfulness.

He doesn't need big projects or accomplishments

 to extend His will into the world.  

He works through a smile, a hug, a kind word,

 a simple act of kindness, and a heart-felt prayer.

The very tiny petals of the Miss Kim lilac

 are a great reminder of how tiny things

 gathered together create a whole image of goodness.

Our world wants to applaud Big projects, Big goals and 

BIG success.

Won't you join me to make a difference with little things?

Follow #vfm_littlethings on Instagram.

Tag your reports of little things on FB and Instagram.

Join a movement of little things.

 I give thanks that our very BIG GOD uses little things.

Lord, help my heart and soul to be centered on 

the Little Things.

Worship into the Week- The Lamb Reigns

 

Worship into the Week-

Revelations 5:1-4

The Scroll and the Lamb

"Jesus Christ is introduced in the vision of God's

 heavenly glory as the victorious Lamb. 

He is presented to the heavenly host as the one 

who can receive the scroll form God and look into it. 

His receiving the scroll from God 

is also a demonstration 

and a vindication that his death 

and resurrection were a victory for God and his people."

Concordia Commentary- Revelation- Louis Brighton p. 134

"This vision of God's heavenly glory and the enthronement 

of Jesus Christ and of the celebration begun and now ongoing

 not only introduces the prophetic message of Revelation, 

it also dominates and controls it and shows

 how it is all going to end.

Jesus Christ is the Lord of the message."

Concordia Commentary- Revelation- Louis Brighton p. 146

"After his coronation (Rev. 4-5) , he himself (6:1-7:17)

 introduces the message to John.

(The message for 8:1 to 22:5 is from Jesus through angels.)

And Jesus controls if for the purpose

 of strengthening the saints, 

of aiding his church to carry out her mission on earth,

and of judging the the powers 

and persons of wickedness and evil.

Everything seen and heard

 in the prophetic message is to be interpreted in view

 of this inaugural vision of Christ's coronation, 

for then and only then will the individual components

 of the message yield their proper interpretation."

Concordia Commentary- Revelation- Louis Brighton p. 146-147

Choosing to go to the expert on the book of Revelation,

as I sit with my take aways.

Holy, Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty.

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain.

To the Lamb- be blessing and honor 

and glory and might forever and ever.

Supplies:

Visual Church Year Printable

vcy-graphics-only-may-2022s

Worship into the Week Printable

worship-into-the-week-may-2022

Enduring Word Bible

Colored Pencils

Recycled bill envelope

Watercolors

Distress ink

Mothering with Grace

Young mommas work hard these days.

Moms of littles work very hard.

(Dads work very hard too)

But, on this Mother's day weekend,

 I will talk a bit about the job of mothering.

When I try to remember the days of littles,

 I am pretty sure I block many things out.

Interrupted sleep slips away.

Endless crying jags are silent.

Whining and pouting aren't easily recalled.

 

What rises to the surface are hugs, laughter,

 playing games, brushing hair,

meals around the table, family vacations,

worship services and learning about transitions together.

We moved through every stage together

 and they were grace-filled days. 

Oh, so many mistakes were made,

 as we made decisions the best we could 

with the information we had at the time.

That is my prayer for you dear little mommas.

Grace-filled mothering.

Dear daughters-

may you cover all of your days with-

 grace for yourselves, 

grace for your littles, 

and grace for the dads 

you parent with in your home.

Oh, how thankful I am-

 that we live in a "grace state" because of Jesus.

Jesus is the gift-giver and because of HIM,

we move and live and have our being,

and "mother in grace."

Enduring Word Bible- By Faith

 

                

                              By Faith- Hebrews 11

Faith and Sight 

 Recounting the Stories for those Discouraged

Our physical eyesight is what gives us 

the evidence of the material world. 

Faith is the "sense" that gives us the evidence

of the unseen, spiritual world.

We rest our days in the mix of both of these realities.

Assurance and Hope

A big ticket commodity 

in an ever-changing world.

Conviction

Our marching orders for 

moving forward in our days.

Supplies:

Enduring Word Bible

Washi tape

Colored pencils

Scripture Doodles- April 2022

 

Scripture Doodles- April 2022

Finishing up my 15 month devotional reading

 in the book by Renovare -

Reservoir-Spiritual Formation

Devotional.

A wonderful resource to go over 

and review the take-aways.

Four colored pencils, a calendar 

and the distilled words to meditate on each day.

Word of the month-IMMERSE.

Supplies:

4 colored pencils

Concordia Publishing House calendar

Fine-point non-bleeding Sharpie pen

Devotional book- Reservoir

Worship into the Week- It's About Time

 

Worship into the Week-

Revelation 1:4-18- Greeting to the Seven Churches

and Vision of the Son of Man

The God of time- all time- 

before time and into infinity.

How do I even begin to understand 

the concept of what he wants the whole world to know- 

when I live my life as if I have all the time in the world?

The Revelation of Jesus to John and the Seven churches

 has taken on new meaning since our return 

from our Footsteps of Paul tour this past March.

We visited Ephesus, Smyrna, Sardis.

(blog posts to come)

The ancient Greek word translated Revelation

 is apokalupsia- apocalypse.

The word simple means- a revealing, an unveiling. 

The book of Revelation is the 

Revelation of Jesus Christ in the context

 that it ALL belongs to Him.

Jesus is the one doing the revealing. 

Jesus is also the one being revealed.

 The whole book pivots on Jesus as the center.

I have always loved this phrase- 

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, 

who is and who was and who is to come, 

the Almighty."

Whenever I am fretting about time-

 and I often think it's about time- 

this sentence allows me to take a deep breath.

Somehow when I rest in this 

framework of time- all is well.

Supplies:

Visual Faith Ministry Printable

vcy-graphics-only-april-2022

Worship into the Week Printable

worship-into-the-week-april-2022

Magazine cutouts

Watercolors

Distress ink

Washi tape

Spring in St. Louis

Lovely phlox drapes a hillside on the campus

 of Concordia Seminary in St Louis, Missouri.

                      Delicate blossoms punctuate corners of brown mulch.

It is apparent that there has been a culture

 of plant care and grooming on campus.

Daffodils herald spring as they wave in the breeze.

Fragile pink dogwood blossoms

dance on waving gray branches.

Ruffled petals of tree peonies bend low

 to the ground with the heavy blooms.

Clumps of slender green 

are dotted with white highlights.

Wild hyacinths.

Solomon's seal has such a 

pretty variegated leaf.

We are finishing up a decade of visits 

to this Seminary campus for Call Services

 for pastors and vicarage assignments. 

I doubt that I will be back here again.

Pat Maier and myself were blessed to visit with two 

of our Visual Faith Ministry Family Life coaches while here.  

Meghan Flanick and Rachel Hinz blessed us with a visit

 by graciously meeting us on campus.

St. Louis you have been fun to visit 

It was great to catch up with them 

and hear what God is doing in their lives.

May the Lord bless you in your faithful journeys!

Enduring Word Bible- The Stoning of Stephan

 

The Stoning of Stephan

Acts 7:54-60

This section of Scripture follows the speech 

of Stephan to the high priest. Stephan had been chosen

 to serve as a deacon. He was full of grace and power

 and was doing great signs among the people. 

This did not go unnoticed and it riled up the leadership.

Stephen closes his speech to the council by saying,

"You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised 

in heart and ears you always resist the Holy Spirit.

 As Your fathers did so do you.

Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?

And they killed those who announced beforehand

 the coming of the Righteous One, 

whom you have now betrayed and murdered,

you who received the law as delivered by angels

 and did not keep it."

They saw that his face was like that

 of an angel as he spoke to them.

They raged against him.

Stephen gazed into heaven, full of the Holy Spirit,

 and saw the the glory of God,

 and the son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him.

Saul was a bystander to this event as they

 laid down their garments at his feet.

Stephan cries out, " Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit."

Lord, do not hold this sin against them."

Stephen dies as the first martyr for the Lord.

We don't usually "get stoned" for our witness, 

or endure bodily harm.

Yet, we still find it challenging to speak up

 in the name of Jesus or we view events as bystanders.

Lord, give us the brave hearts to speak 

with wisdom when it is timely, 

and may we listen and heed Holy Spirit nudges

 for the right time.

Supplies:

Enduring Word Bible

Colored pencils

Fine-point non bleeding Sharpie

Griffin is Eight!

 

Our oldest big guy- Griffin- recently turned eight!

Eight is great and he loves rocks, fossils and minerals.

 Mr. Griff is a Reptile Lover.

He has some cousin and sibling helpers here.

He is a silly and funny guy 

and we may have to call him Lizard man.

Looks like an inventive birthday crown!

He is nearly loved by mom and dad

and all of his family.

He had a bowling party 

with some friends from second grade.

A signed bowling pin 

from all the party goers was a hit.

The troops all gathered to sing 

birthday blessings and eat cake too.

(Lainey we know you are hiding-

 though we can't see you!)

Have a great year and many, many blessings 

and adventures-Griffin- in your new birth year.