Myke is doing ok today. A bit better than yesterday, but still a lot of pain. We want to thank angel & tony, annette, danny, and ken for the visits yesterday. A big thank you to the Blizzards for the fruit and snack basket, and to Kirby for the delicious satterfields bbq - complete with boiled peanuts!! We are so blessed! They are talking about the posibility of going home tomorrow evening, but we'll just wait and see. Myke had some fever this am, but it seems to have gone down for now. Please continue to pray for a speedy and complete recovery! I know the next few weeks will be tough for him.
sent by MICHAEL HARBUCK mobile email
Friday, August 8, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
A special thanks!!
I just wanted to say thank you for all the beautiful flowers i've gotten. I've got a big croton from the executive office at the credit union, and a big peace lilly from the collections dept. I also got a black eyed susan, complete with a face from the doctor's office that performed the surgery.
I.ve also gotten lots of ggodies and treats. Heidi brought me a big sackful of treats.
As the greatest prize i've had so far while I am here is from Rev & Mrs Christopher Cabiness last night. They came to visit about 9 and sang my favorite hymn, There is a fountain filled with blood. It was as if I was at the throne room of God listening to praises being offered to him. It was beautiful and awesome to say the least.
Again, thanks again for the treats, flowers, and visits, they mean the world to me!
sent by MICHAEL HARBUCK mobile email
I.ve also gotten lots of ggodies and treats. Heidi brought me a big sackful of treats.
As the greatest prize i've had so far while I am here is from Rev & Mrs Christopher Cabiness last night. They came to visit about 9 and sang my favorite hymn, There is a fountain filled with blood. It was as if I was at the throne room of God listening to praises being offered to him. It was beautiful and awesome to say the least.
Again, thanks again for the treats, flowers, and visits, they mean the world to me!
sent by MICHAEL HARBUCK mobile email
News from the hospital
Good morning
Myke is still in a lot of pain, but has just gotten up and taken his first steps. Maybe he'll be able to keep up with little michael by the time he gets home! They also took chest x-rays, so will hope to hear good news from those before too long. His blood pressure is kind of low, but they said that is kind of normal after blood loss.
As I write, we just received a beautiful TREE - actually a huge peace lilly from the collections dept at RFCU. It is beautiful and adds lots of cheer to his room! Thank you all!
God bless, and thank you for the prayers - keep it up!!!
Love, Heidi -- for the Harbucks
sent by MICHAEL HARBUCK mobile email
Myke is still in a lot of pain, but has just gotten up and taken his first steps. Maybe he'll be able to keep up with little michael by the time he gets home! They also took chest x-rays, so will hope to hear good news from those before too long. His blood pressure is kind of low, but they said that is kind of normal after blood loss.
As I write, we just received a beautiful TREE - actually a huge peace lilly from the collections dept at RFCU. It is beautiful and adds lots of cheer to his room! Thank you all!
God bless, and thank you for the prayers - keep it up!!!
Love, Heidi -- for the Harbucks
sent by MICHAEL HARBUCK mobile email
thank you for everything!!
Good morning to all you early birds who might be checking in!! We wanted to thank everyone for all the calls, notes of encouragement, flowers, visits, and prayers you sent our way yesterday!! We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful family of friends!! Thank you to Leisa, who kept me company and occupied during the long wait of Myke beign in surgery, and also for the lunch and coming back to check on us later!! Thank you to Tony, Mom & Dad, and David for the visits!! Thank you again to the Credit Union for the beautiful plant!!! And for the countless calls, emails, and most inportantly - prayers that were offered up on our behalf!! God is so good to us!! I will post again later this morning after I see him to let you know how his night was and how he's doing this morning. Thank you again - we love you all!!
Heidi
Heidi
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Thank you
To any credit union employees and officials whomight be out there checking our blog, we thank you so much for the beautiful plant you sent! It sure brightens up the room!
sent by MICHAEL HARBUCK mobile email
sent by MICHAEL HARBUCK mobile email
New room
Hey, we have changed to room 407. Sorry for the confusion! Its been one of those days! :)
sent by MICHAEL HARBUCK mobile email
sent by MICHAEL HARBUCK mobile email
update
Hi again
Just found out myke will be in roon 426. I am here and anxiously awaiting his arrival. Thanks again for all your prayers! Please keep it up!
The dr said he should have almost immediate relief from the disc issue as bad as it was. God is so good! Isaiah 40:32
sent by MICHAEL HARBUCK mobile email
Just found out myke will be in roon 426. I am here and anxiously awaiting his arrival. Thanks again for all your prayers! Please keep it up!
The dr said he should have almost immediate relief from the disc issue as bad as it was. God is so good! Isaiah 40:32
sent by MICHAEL HARBUCK mobile email
update
Myke is out of surgery. Verysuccessful and no complications. Praise the lord
sent by MICHAEL HARBUCK mobile email
sent by MICHAEL HARBUCK mobile email
update
Hey all
Myke just left to go downstairs for surgery. I am able to wait in his pre op room so that is nice. Thank you again for all your prayers for him! I'll update again when I hear something. God bless!!
sent by MICHAEL HARBUCK mobile email
Myke just left to go downstairs for surgery. I am able to wait in his pre op room so that is nice. Thank you again for all your prayers for him! I'll update again when I hear something. God bless!!
sent by MICHAEL HARBUCK mobile email
update
Arrived late this morning. They rerouted the 75 / 475 junction, and we took the wrong route. Took us off course about 20 minutes.
I am now awaiting a room. Surgey still on for 7:30 am..... I hope :-).
Myke
sent by MICHAEL HARBUCK mobile email
I am now awaiting a room. Surgey still on for 7:30 am..... I hope :-).
Myke
sent by MICHAEL HARBUCK mobile email
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Surgery Tomorrow
Dear Friends and family,
Thank you so much for all of your prayers, thoughts, concerns, and kind words. I have had many many phone calls today, lots of emails, and even more prayers. I can honestly say that although I'm going through a hard and difficult surgery in the morning, I am thoroughly blessed (ref. Eph 3:20). I know that this is just a brief trial and that the Lord will sustain me and get me through (ref. II Cor 4:17).
I really am a blessed man. I am fortunate to have insurance that is paying 100% of the costs for the back surgery I will undergo in the morning. On top of that, the employees at the Credit Union where I work have taken up a leave donation for me, and are donating their hard earned vacation time to me. I am so blessed.
I have a very loving church family who will be watching out for us in the days ahead, and will be doing many various things for us including child care and cooking dinners.
On top of all that, I have a loving, beautiful, wife who will be by my side every single step of the way. Christ will be on one side, and my bride will be on the other. What more could a man ask for?
We are to be at the hospital at 6:00am. Surgery will happen around 7:30am. We will keep you posted throughout the day on our progress.
God Bless,
Myke Harbuck
Thank you so much for all of your prayers, thoughts, concerns, and kind words. I have had many many phone calls today, lots of emails, and even more prayers. I can honestly say that although I'm going through a hard and difficult surgery in the morning, I am thoroughly blessed (ref. Eph 3:20). I know that this is just a brief trial and that the Lord will sustain me and get me through (ref. II Cor 4:17).
I really am a blessed man. I am fortunate to have insurance that is paying 100% of the costs for the back surgery I will undergo in the morning. On top of that, the employees at the Credit Union where I work have taken up a leave donation for me, and are donating their hard earned vacation time to me. I am so blessed.
I have a very loving church family who will be watching out for us in the days ahead, and will be doing many various things for us including child care and cooking dinners.
On top of all that, I have a loving, beautiful, wife who will be by my side every single step of the way. Christ will be on one side, and my bride will be on the other. What more could a man ask for?
We are to be at the hospital at 6:00am. Surgery will happen around 7:30am. We will keep you posted throughout the day on our progress.
God Bless,
Myke Harbuck
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Visit Theharbucks.com sometime!
Here's what you can see or do at www.theharbucks.com, our family's personal website:
- Meet my family, including my beautiful Proverb's 31 wife, and daughter -Hannah (seen right), and son - Michael Jr.
- Read my wife Heidi Joy's journal/blog entries.
- See pictures of the kids.
- See videos of the family.
- Hear sermons preached by Myke.
- Read lessons from Heidi on "12 Extraordinary Women".
- See Heidi's world famous recipes (lots of them - and growing)
- See a verse for the day - changes everyday, and a quote a day.
- Find fun Bible study tools, including word search and verse search.
- Search the Holman Bible Dictionary.
- Search Charles Spurgeon's sermons by topic.
- Search Bible Commentaries.
- And much more to be added - at www.theharbucks.com
God bless!
Myke Harbuck
The Fortune Family comes to town
Tonight the Fortune Family performed - no, MINISTERED - at our church. All I can say is, "Wow!". God used them as willing vessels to minister to our church and the community. But it wasn't just a corporate blessing....it was a personal blessing! Let me elaborate further.
I had been looking forward to seeing the Fortunes for several months - since we book them to come to OBC. As the days got closer, I got more excited about what God was going to do!! I had heard so many people talk about this magnificent family - about how the Lord worked through them to minister to so many! I myself had practically worn out a CD or two of theirs.
But during the last few weeks I have had some back problems. It had progressively gotten worse and worse, to the point that this afternoon I could barely walk. I found out a while back that I have two ruptured disks in my back. This evening I could feel that this was definitely true! I began to focus on "Myke Harbuck", and how bad I felt. I began to complain and feel sorry for myself. I even contemplated not going to hear the Fortunes tonight - but then I remembered, "Your the Pastor, dummy. You've gotta be there".
Through my pain, I began to think of David Ring when he preached at our church a while back. One of his favorite verses is "I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content" (Philippians 4:11). I thought, "You know, there are a whole lot of people who have it worse than me". The Lord spoke to me and assured me it would be alright, and I was comforted and encouraged to go and hear the Fortunes.
When I got there and met them, somehow or another, David Ring's name came up in the conversation. In that moment, the Lord confirmed to me what he previously said to me:
No matter what state we are in, financially, physically, or whatever, we must be content. We are content because God has already handled it. Christ has already paid the price. Christ has already done the suffering. These light and momentary afflictions that we face here on earth are just that - momentary. And on top of that, they work something greater in our lives - something we may not always see!
So the moral of the story is this -- no matter how bad your back hurts, get up and go see the Fortune Family :-)! Like me, you'll be glad you did!! I was so blessed by their ministry, their love for God, and their pure desire to serve!
You can hear the Fortunes at http://www.thefortunes.org/.
God bless!
Myke Harbuck
You can meet my family by clicking here: www.theharbucks.com
I had been looking forward to seeing the Fortunes for several months - since we book them to come to OBC. As the days got closer, I got more excited about what God was going to do!! I had heard so many people talk about this magnificent family - about how the Lord worked through them to minister to so many! I myself had practically worn out a CD or two of theirs.
But during the last few weeks I have had some back problems. It had progressively gotten worse and worse, to the point that this afternoon I could barely walk. I found out a while back that I have two ruptured disks in my back. This evening I could feel that this was definitely true! I began to focus on "Myke Harbuck", and how bad I felt. I began to complain and feel sorry for myself. I even contemplated not going to hear the Fortunes tonight - but then I remembered, "Your the Pastor, dummy. You've gotta be there".
Through my pain, I began to think of David Ring when he preached at our church a while back. One of his favorite verses is "I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content" (Philippians 4:11). I thought, "You know, there are a whole lot of people who have it worse than me". The Lord spoke to me and assured me it would be alright, and I was comforted and encouraged to go and hear the Fortunes.
When I got there and met them, somehow or another, David Ring's name came up in the conversation. In that moment, the Lord confirmed to me what he previously said to me:
"I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content (Philippians 4:11)"
No matter what state we are in, financially, physically, or whatever, we must be content. We are content because God has already handled it. Christ has already paid the price. Christ has already done the suffering. These light and momentary afflictions that we face here on earth are just that - momentary. And on top of that, they work something greater in our lives - something we may not always see!
So the moral of the story is this -- no matter how bad your back hurts, get up and go see the Fortune Family :-)! Like me, you'll be glad you did!! I was so blessed by their ministry, their love for God, and their pure desire to serve!
You can hear the Fortunes at http://www.thefortunes.org/.
God bless!
Myke Harbuck
You can meet my family by clicking here: www.theharbucks.com
I need revival, you need revival, all God's 'chillen' need revival!!
I was privileged to preach at Byromville Baptist Baptist Church this past week for a revival meeting. The Pastor there is a very close friend of mine whom I love dearly - Andy Blankenship. You can read some of his writings at www.riseupga.blogspot.com.
Anyway, below is an excerpt from a message I delivered on "When we pray for revival":
First, we pray for revival when there is a cloud of divine displeasure or a lack of spiritual blessings on our lives - either personally or corporately.
Restore us, O God of our salvation, And cause Your indignation toward us to cease. Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations? Psalm 85:4-5
When we have our spiritual antennae focused enough to know that God is displeased with us, or when we can sense that things just aren't quite like they should be, this is the point where we should cry out to God like the psalmist did and ask God to have mercy on us, and ask God to restore us! We should pray, "God, send forth Your goodness, Your kindness, Your mercy"!
We should quit thinking that we are doing everything right, and that we know how to do Christianity, and that we know how to do church. We need to take off the rose colored glasses and get out of the spiritual box and get in tuned to where we are going wrong! We need to pray, "God, we are under the stroke of your hand - please lighten your hand".
Next, we pray for revival when we just simply feel a need for personal or corporate revival!
Will You not Yourself revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You? Psalm 85:6
"Lord, we feel dead! Will you not revive me again! We will rejoice when you bring revival.
And last, but the least obvious ----
We learn TO REMEMBER WHAT GOD HAS ALREADY DONE when we pray for revival!
Psalm 85:1-3 says, O Lord, You showed favor to Your land; You restored the captivity of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of Your people; You covered all their sin. Selah. You withdrew all Your fury; You turned away from Your burning anger.
We should pray for revival not just when we realize a great need, but also when we remember what God has done for us already!
The son of Korah (the author of this psalm) was remembering a monumental event in the history of Israel - he was referring to the people of Israel (captivity of Jacob). He said that God restored them, or brought them back to their land - he brought them out of exile in Babylon.
We too should celebrate God's favor upon our land. Yes we need, we need, we need….but God has already given so much!
What captivity has God brought you out of?
He released us from our sins! Revelation 1:5 - 6 says, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
The word "washed" is also translated (or can be translated) LOOSED. God has loosed us from our sin - the GREATEST captivity of all! So before we pray for what we want God to do now in our lives, our family, our homes, our church, and our community, we have to stop first and do as the son of Korah did here and thank God for showing favor upon us, for restoring us, and for blessing us with freedom from our sins .
We can think of all the things God has done in past time, with others and ourselves, and say, "Hey - why not now - if God did it then, He can do it now". The things in the past should serve as encouragement to us that God can still act and that God will act!
Once we realize how God has blessed us and once we become truly thankful for what God has done, we open up the path for God to do even more in our lives! Are you ready for God to bring revival in your life? If so...stop and thank Him for what he has already done!!
Heavenly Father, I thank thee that thou hast delivered me from a life as a worthless sinner. Thank you that thou hast delivered me from the penalty of sin and an eternity without you. I praise you for saving me. I pray that you will bring personal revival to my life and to my family, and that when you do, we will glorify and praise Thy Holy Name. Amen
God bless!
Myke Harbuck
Meet my family, read my wife's journal entries, see pictures of the kids, find Bible study tools, and much more at www.theharbucks.com .
Anyway, below is an excerpt from a message I delivered on "When we pray for revival":
First, we pray for revival when there is a cloud of divine displeasure or a lack of spiritual blessings on our lives - either personally or corporately.
Restore us, O God of our salvation, And cause Your indignation toward us to cease. Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations? Psalm 85:4-5
When we have our spiritual antennae focused enough to know that God is displeased with us, or when we can sense that things just aren't quite like they should be, this is the point where we should cry out to God like the psalmist did and ask God to have mercy on us, and ask God to restore us! We should pray, "God, send forth Your goodness, Your kindness, Your mercy"!
We should quit thinking that we are doing everything right, and that we know how to do Christianity, and that we know how to do church. We need to take off the rose colored glasses and get out of the spiritual box and get in tuned to where we are going wrong! We need to pray, "God, we are under the stroke of your hand - please lighten your hand".
Next, we pray for revival when we just simply feel a need for personal or corporate revival!
Will You not Yourself revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You? Psalm 85:6
"Lord, we feel dead! Will you not revive me again! We will rejoice when you bring revival.
And last, but the least obvious ----
We learn TO REMEMBER WHAT GOD HAS ALREADY DONE when we pray for revival!
Psalm 85:1-3 says, O Lord, You showed favor to Your land; You restored the captivity of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of Your people; You covered all their sin. Selah. You withdrew all Your fury; You turned away from Your burning anger.
We should pray for revival not just when we realize a great need, but also when we remember what God has done for us already!
The son of Korah (the author of this psalm) was remembering a monumental event in the history of Israel - he was referring to the people of Israel (captivity of Jacob). He said that God restored them, or brought them back to their land - he brought them out of exile in Babylon.
We too should celebrate God's favor upon our land. Yes we need, we need, we need….but God has already given so much!
What captivity has God brought you out of?
He released us from our sins! Revelation 1:5 - 6 says, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
The word "washed" is also translated (or can be translated) LOOSED. God has loosed us from our sin - the GREATEST captivity of all! So before we pray for what we want God to do now in our lives, our family, our homes, our church, and our community, we have to stop first and do as the son of Korah did here and thank God for showing favor upon us, for restoring us, and for blessing us with freedom from our sins .
We can think of all the things God has done in past time, with others and ourselves, and say, "Hey - why not now - if God did it then, He can do it now". The things in the past should serve as encouragement to us that God can still act and that God will act!
Once we realize how God has blessed us and once we become truly thankful for what God has done, we open up the path for God to do even more in our lives! Are you ready for God to bring revival in your life? If so...stop and thank Him for what he has already done!!
Heavenly Father, I thank thee that thou hast delivered me from a life as a worthless sinner. Thank you that thou hast delivered me from the penalty of sin and an eternity without you. I praise you for saving me. I pray that you will bring personal revival to my life and to my family, and that when you do, we will glorify and praise Thy Holy Name. Amen
God bless!
Myke Harbuck
Meet my family, read my wife's journal entries, see pictures of the kids, find Bible study tools, and much more at www.theharbucks.com .
Finding refuge in His everlasting arms!
The eternal God is your refuge, And underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you, And will say, 'Destroy!' Deuteronomy 33:27.
How, how totally awesome is this! This God of the Universe cares so much about us that He is willing to be our refuge and our safe house! No matter how messed up things seem, there are everlasting arms of an everlasting God holding us up. And what ever it is that may be going on in your life, the Bible says He will destroy the enemy from before you. Now that is pretty good news! This righteous and holy God loves us, cares for us, and fights our battles for us! On top of that, He provides eternal salvation to all those who believe! Wow - the deal just keeps getting sweeter and sweeter!
Father I thank you for being there to put your everlasting arms around me and help me get through today. Lord, you know the problems I am having, but you also know the solution - YOU ARE! You are God alone, in the good times and bad, and you are on my side. You are there with those everlasting arms ready to help me up if I fall! I worship you, almighty God, for there is none like you!! You are the creator of the universe - THE GOD MOST HIGH. I give you reverence honor, glory, and all that I have. In the Name of the Nazarene! Amen!
Myke Harbuck
Meet my family, read my wife's journal entries, see pictures of the kids, and much more at http://www.theharbucks.com/
How, how totally awesome is this! This God of the Universe cares so much about us that He is willing to be our refuge and our safe house! No matter how messed up things seem, there are everlasting arms of an everlasting God holding us up. And what ever it is that may be going on in your life, the Bible says He will destroy the enemy from before you. Now that is pretty good news! This righteous and holy God loves us, cares for us, and fights our battles for us! On top of that, He provides eternal salvation to all those who believe! Wow - the deal just keeps getting sweeter and sweeter!
Father I thank you for being there to put your everlasting arms around me and help me get through today. Lord, you know the problems I am having, but you also know the solution - YOU ARE! You are God alone, in the good times and bad, and you are on my side. You are there with those everlasting arms ready to help me up if I fall! I worship you, almighty God, for there is none like you!! You are the creator of the universe - THE GOD MOST HIGH. I give you reverence honor, glory, and all that I have. In the Name of the Nazarene! Amen!
Myke Harbuck
Meet my family, read my wife's journal entries, see pictures of the kids, and much more at http://www.theharbucks.com/
Why don't people like church anymore?
I remember as an unsaved person how much I HATED church. I didn't want to talk about it - and I didn't want people even bringing it up. Yucky ---that's how I felt about church. I felt church was for a bunch of self-righteous losers who thought they were better than everyone else. And then......one day....
God entered my heart, and I became a new creation, and all that old stuff, INCLUDING how I felt about church, disappeared! Boom...It was gone. (2 Corinthians 5:17) The old me was put away, and the new me was born. I began to think wholesomely, and with reverence for the things of God. So here's my point:
I can't help but wonder how people who are supposed to be changed, new creatures can still think in the worldly way? How can church still be the enemy to them? Haven't they been transformed by the renewing of their minds? If so, WHY IS CHURCH THE ENEMY TO THEM? As a Pastor, my heart weeps for those who are "His children" who do not desire to be at His house giving reverence and honor to Him! Church is a place to grow in the presence of God, to learn about Him, to worship Him, to get encouraged, to encourage others, to love God, to be loved by God, to do so much! So why are people's hearts so ANTI-CHURCH? We'll leave the answer for another day.
But for today, I pray that people will transformed into children of God who love to be in His house, and that the prayer of the Psalmist will their prayer too:
One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple. Psalm 27:4
God bless!
Myke Harbuck
God entered my heart, and I became a new creation, and all that old stuff, INCLUDING how I felt about church, disappeared! Boom...It was gone. (2 Corinthians 5:17) The old me was put away, and the new me was born. I began to think wholesomely, and with reverence for the things of God. So here's my point:
I can't help but wonder how people who are supposed to be changed, new creatures can still think in the worldly way? How can church still be the enemy to them? Haven't they been transformed by the renewing of their minds? If so, WHY IS CHURCH THE ENEMY TO THEM? As a Pastor, my heart weeps for those who are "His children" who do not desire to be at His house giving reverence and honor to Him! Church is a place to grow in the presence of God, to learn about Him, to worship Him, to get encouraged, to encourage others, to love God, to be loved by God, to do so much! So why are people's hearts so ANTI-CHURCH? We'll leave the answer for another day.
But for today, I pray that people will transformed into children of God who love to be in His house, and that the prayer of the Psalmist will their prayer too:
One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple. Psalm 27:4
God bless!
Myke Harbuck
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Who is the "God of my salvation"?
Tomorrow I am preaching out of Psalm 85, about Revival. I am honored to be preaching at Byromville Baptist Church, the church of a great friend of mine - Andy Blankenship. Through my study on revival, I came across this verse and felt the Lord leading me to use it as my text for tomorrow night.
Restore us, O God of our salvation, And cause Your anger toward us to cease. Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations? Will You not revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You? (Psalm 85:4-6)
As I studied the text, something jumped out at me that is of the beaten path from what I am speaking on tomorrow night. Notice the first sentence....Restore us, O God of our salvation.
God is referred to as the "God of our salvation". Indeed He is. But think about this. There are those who teach that they have a part in the salvation process - in their own salvation. They teach (or are taught) that they can do something or must do something of themselves to be saved. They forget about anchor verses of the Bible such as Titus 3:5, which says, "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit". Verses like this make it clear that it is not by works, but by the grace and mercy of God that we are saved!! And then there's the famous Ephesians 2:8-9 that gets overlooked.
My point is this: When we get into the habit of thinking that we can earn our salvation or that we can maintain our salvation on our own merit, we become of the "god of our salvation", and not Jehovah God! If we had anything to do with our salvation, we'd have so say something like this:
But that's ridiculous. God is the God of our salvation!
So let's stop and thank Him for saving us according to His mercy, and His mercy ALONE! Amen!
In His Grip!!!
Myke Harbuck
You can view my family's person web page at:
www.theharbucks.com
Restore us, O God of our salvation, And cause Your anger toward us to cease. Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations? Will You not revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You? (Psalm 85:4-6)
As I studied the text, something jumped out at me that is of the beaten path from what I am speaking on tomorrow night. Notice the first sentence....Restore us, O God of our salvation.
God is referred to as the "God of our salvation". Indeed He is. But think about this. There are those who teach that they have a part in the salvation process - in their own salvation. They teach (or are taught) that they can do something or must do something of themselves to be saved. They forget about anchor verses of the Bible such as Titus 3:5, which says, "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit". Verses like this make it clear that it is not by works, but by the grace and mercy of God that we are saved!! And then there's the famous Ephesians 2:8-9 that gets overlooked.
My point is this: When we get into the habit of thinking that we can earn our salvation or that we can maintain our salvation on our own merit, we become of the "god of our salvation", and not Jehovah God! If we had anything to do with our salvation, we'd have so say something like this:
"I'm Myke Harbuck...the god of my own salvation".
But that's ridiculous. God is the God of our salvation!
So let's stop and thank Him for saving us according to His mercy, and His mercy ALONE! Amen!
In His Grip!!!
Myke Harbuck
You can view my family's person web page at:
www.theharbucks.com
Friday, April 18, 2008
The Mess We Make of Our Lives
In the picture here, you can see that Hannah has made a mess of her face. This was on her first birthday (June 2006). I remember it so clearly. She made such a mess. The icing was everywhere. It was on her hands, her face, her clothes - EVERYWHERE. But Hannah isn't the only one who has ever made a mess.
Sometimes we can make a real mess of our lives, ourselves. Before we were saved, we were REALLY A MESS, weren't we? Just like Hannah, we had a mess everywhere, and the mess was/is called sin! As non-believers, we were dead in our sin and unrighteousness (Ephesians 2:1,5). Aren't you thankful, as I am, that a way was provided for the mess to be cleaned up! You see, right after this picture, Hannah's mommy took a rag and wiped her hands and her face, and changed her clothes - and she was good as new. I rejoice that we have been made clean through the righteousness of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21)!
And even as Christians, we still make a mess of our lives, at times, when we fail to trust God, live by His standards, and walk with Him. We can mess up so quickly the things God builds in us, can't we? But isn't it reassuring that God is always there to forgive us - and to wipe the mess off of our face and hands - and clean us up - just like Hannah's mommy did here! (1 John 1:9)
Father in Heaven, thank you for cleansing us from our sin! Thank you for being faithful to forgive us of our sin! We are not worthy of your love and forgiveness, but with honor and reverence we thank you for it! We know we can NEVER earn your forgiveness, and that it comes by the unmerited grace and favor you so lovingly provide. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Thanking you for stopping by, I remain
Your Servant in Christ!!
Myke Harbuck
You can check out my family's personal website here:
http://theharbucks.com/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
