Spurgeon and a Cup of Kava

This is a Charles Spurgeon devotional I came across this morning while enjoying the quiet before the weekend... 

Lead us not into temptation - Spurgeon

‘Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’ Matthew 6:13

Suggested Further Reading: Matthew 4:1–11

The text does not say, ‘Tempt us not;’ if it did, then there would be a difficulty; it does not say, ‘Lord, tempt us not,’ but it says, ‘Lead us not into temptation;’ and I think I shall very rapidly be able to show you that there is a vast difference between leading into temptation and actually tempting. God tempts no man. For God to tempt in the sense of enticing to sin would be inconsistent with his nature, and altogether contrary to his known character; but for God to lead us into those conflicts with evil which we call temptations, is not only possible, but usual. Full often the great Captain of salvation leads us by his providence to battle fields where we must face the full array of evil, and conquer through the blood of the Lamb; and this leading into temptation is by divine grace overruled for our good, since by being tempted we grow strong in grace and patience. Our God and Father may, for wise ends, which shall ultimately subserve his own glory and our profit, lead us into positions where Satan, the world and the flesh may tempt us; and the prayer is to be understood in that sense of a humble self-distrust which shrinks from the conflict. There is courage here, for the suppliant calmly looks the temptation in the face, and dreads only the evil which it may work in him, but there is also a holy fear, a sacred self-suspicion, a dread of contact with sin in any degree. The sentiment is not inconsistent with ‘all joy’ when the divers temptations do come; it is akin to the Saviour’s ‘If it be possible, let this cup pass from me,’ which did not for a moment prevent his drinking the cup even to its dregs.

For meditation: Temptations to sin are bound to come (Luke 17:1), but never from God (James 1:13). It was the Holy Spirit who led the Lord Jesus Christ into the wilderness to be tempted, Satan who did the tempting (Matthew 4:1) and God who provided the means of escape (Matthew 4:4,7,10; 1 Corinthians 10:13).

Sermon no. 509
17 May (1863)

10 Reasons why we don't want to leave them....

Please pray for us as we seek another place to live in Ukraine while ministering to those God puts in our path......we don't want to leave them behind and there are so many more who need to be loved.

We need to make serious decisions by Monday, June 3rd. 

....please forward this to friends who might consider praying for us.  If I've learned only one thing while being here, it is that God answers prayer.  
                          But prayers need to be prayed.  

1.  Vitaly calls me Mom.  He has never had a mom.

2.  When Oleg and I have rifts, he does cute things like bringing home this hedgehog to make it all better.
I adore him.....even when he's driving me nuts!

3.  These guys need good friends like Matt who reflects Christ.
AND
Matt needs a  friend like Oleg who has patience and loyalty.

4.  These guys also need good friends they can trust.

5.  They really want a man that can set a Godly example for them.
.

6.  Forgiveness 

7.  We love to play kickball together as a family....sometimes it seems like families never do things together.
The guys AND the neighborhood kids love family time.   It's as though we adopted the neighborhood.
All the kids we encounter seem to desire a hug or time to talk about serious issues.

8. We love them.

9.  They would never admit it, but they crave security of family life

10.  Because God calls all of us to love them.

Paska Blessings and Spring Pics

Our family photo Easter Sunday

Praise God from whom all blessing flow!

We have been busier than ever with wonderful blessings.   Along with warmer weather and clear blue skies, we have had an overflow of rejoicing to do.   Ukraine's Easter (Paska) took place on May 5th, and we spent a beautiful day with our church family.  The service was three hours long and an outdoor dinner followed.  
It was wonderful to experience Easter in Ukraine.  Weeks prior to the day,  the whole village was preparing for Paska.  The townspeople gathered at the park and around the village to work together to clean up.   All of the tree trunks and sidewalk borders were freshly painted white, leaves were raked, and trash was removed.  You could sense the excitement of the upcoming holiday of Christ's Resurrection.   Paska was not only celebrated on Sunday but also continued into Monday.   People spent both days walking around the village center to say to each other, "Christ is Risen!"  
      The Monday following Paska, a young friend who is a new believer in Christ, came to our home with his wife and new baby daughter to visit with us.   We spent the day together getting to know each other.  Mike and A. were both encouraged to have time to talk about things of the Lord.    As they got ready to leave for home, the four of us planned to come together soon to do a Bible study.  That day came sooner than expected, praise God.   The following Friday our young friends arrived, Bibles in hand, and to top things off,  all three of our dear friends were with us also.  This was the first time Oleg, Vova, and Vitaly have been to our home at the same time.   
      It was a fantastic weekend as we watched the Lord working in the lives of all who came to visit.   On Thursday, Oleg and Vova spent the day at the park with our family during another Ukrainian holiday.   On Friday our first official Bible study took place, and on Saturday, the Lord blessed two of the young men and Mike with a Biblical Conference in another city.  Vova had a great time cooking dinner (sheshleek) with Matthew on Friday evening for all of our Bible study guests. On Sunday, one of the young men publicly confessed his sins to the church Body.   Our dear friend V., and the young man who attended the Bible study both made known their desires to be baptized.  Preparations are being made for their baptisms for this summer.  
       By the time the weekend was over,  we were all a bit closer to God and definitely closer to each other.  
        If you are moved, please pray for these fine young men. Although not all of them love the Lord, it is obvious that they are open to hearing the Gospel and willingly attend church with our family.  Two of the four are truly, truly on fire for Jesus. 
                    Praise God from whom all blessings flow!  Great is Thy faithfulness!  

Easter morning

Enjoying one-on-one time making cupcakes

Ta-da!! Thank you Grandmom and Grandpop for the jelly beans.

Paska morning in the church kitchen.

Practicing.....

Children's Choir practicing before Sunday's service

everyone squeezed up front

Easter dinner after church

a walk into town

Friday night and Shashlik!

The cooks!

First Bible study!

Cooks in action! : )

Friday night dinner together - the shashlik was DELICIOUS!

Saturday morning at the Bible conference

A. and V. in front of the Bible college

Homeschool is still going on....art class in the park.

enjoying the nice weather......more art in the park

slipping this pic in to say, date nights are still important.....every Tuesday night.
Have you had your date night this week?

Vova preparing potatoes for planting.

All of us worked together to get the field planted with potatoes, corn and beans.  Vova and Oleg were happy to help.
 It does my heart good to know two young men willing to help their friends - it is a big field!

Favorite Pic!  Oldest and youngest!

Want An Apple?

WANT AN APPLE?
On a train ride back to our village we captured on video a typical 
'Oleg and Mike' experience......see link below !
(notice the lady behind them on the left....this went on for about 10 minutes- driving Mike and some of the other passengers crazy, but mostly, we all had a good laugh!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebwbnug3MMw

Ukraine in Bloom!

Say cheese! Spring is here! (Blue is in this pic)

It was beautiful to see all the fruit trees in blossom.

Everyone in the community worked together to make the town look nice for Easter.