A Mysterious Letter • A County Donegal Mystery • Part 2

Joelle awoke the next morning eager to head to a car boot sale with Briona, the wife and mother of the family that she was staying with in Killult.
She had never gone before to a car boot sale - at least not by that name.
It was a beautiful day, and the two ladies enjoyed getting better acquainted on the scenic drive.
At the sale, Joelle discovered an old box of books which she purchased that day.
Joelle & Briona had a bite to eat before heading back to the cottage in Killult that day.

Joelle loved the vistas from the home's gardens.  There was a view of a bay of the Atlantic ocean in back of the property, and another location on site was lush with greenery.  It was where a Bible study was held each week.
She looked forward to that, and she was grateful that she was with a brother and sister in Christ at this home.
She explored the garden and enjoyed the calm serenity.
She had not forgotten all of her concerns about a future place to live, but she quietly prayed and did not let it destroy her present enjoyment.
She watched again as the sun set that evening, only this time she watched the gorgeous hues over the bay waters in back of the cottage.  She was so thankful to be here.

The next day it began to rain,  so after breakfast and reading her Bible, she looked over the books which she had purchased the previous day.
She spied a folded yellowed paper in one of the books.
Curiously, she opened the book and carefully pulled it out.
The year on the paper was 1852, and excitement tingled inside of her.
The writing was faded, and she held it up to the light to see if she could read it.

More next time, Lord-willing!

Reviving New England • Book Review • Part 2

God can use a few good men to set the world on fire for Him!

First of all, people need the right Gospel, and the church both individually and corporately needs to be purified.

I have been continuing to read Reviving New England  a little bit both yesterday and today, although dizziness issues have been plaguing me.
Chapter 3 has a clear presentation of the Gospel.
I didn't notice the virgin birth being mentioned, but other great truths of the Gospel were clearly emphasized.

Fighting sin, pursuing holiness,  true repentance, and sanctification were delved into quite a bit.
I really found the chapter helpful for me personally as a reinforced encouragement in my battle against sin.

 I even underlined a little bit in pencil.

One thing I underlined was this:

"Our warfare is that of aggression against the impulses of our hearts that rebel against God and hijack our efforts to live for Him ...."  - Nate Pickowicz

There were a couple of aspects that I would have liked to have had clarified personally:

1. I believe that while in general confession to God of individual sins is good, there can be a problem of rehashing individual thoughts.
In such cases, I believe that a more generalized confession may be a better option.

2. I would like clarification on the corporate confession of social injustice quote.   In this day and age, many people make general accusations of social injustice.  This is not always a fair accusation, and I believe it would be good to define what is truly social injustice.
I do see in my reading of Scripture that our light should expose darkness (so pointing out that things are sins against God as John the Baptist did I can see), but I also believe that our primary goal should be evangelistic with those outside the church.
I'm wondering what exactly we need to confess about those outside the church except maybe our own apathy and lack of evangelism?

Within the church I see this:
If someone is letting rich people (or it could be people of certain shade of skin) have preference in the church, then yes, that would be not only a social injustice...it would be disobedience to God.
Giving care to one group of individuals over another would be personal favoritism, which I find as clearly against Scripture.
On the other hand, I see some people (even Christians) undermining the whole justice system to fit their own sense of justice.
It can bring people to disrespect and endanger authority that God has placed over us.
Even Nero was to be submitted to in what didn't clearly direct disobedience to Christ.
I hope this won't be considered as an attack....just the sharing of my own thoughts and questions about what I've read.


That being said, Chapter 3 was still excellent.
 At this point, I am thinking a study guide might be helpful for people like me.
I would like to see all of the key words with their definitions that I could review easily, and I would like to see all the practical application in study guide form to fill out and review.

Is anybody else with me?

I've started reading Chapter 4 already, so there may possibly be more to come!

Thanks again Pastor Nate for sharing this book.

People can get the book on Amazon or by going HERE.