Melissa’s Cozy Teacup

I received an email from the church secretary today regarding the fall home groups. Ack! Fall! Meetings and start dates begin next month. NEXT MONTH! and in September.

Here is my challenge to you, join one of my Yahoo! groups. Either the Three Plus One Club


alt=”Click here to join threeplusoneclub”>
Click to join threeplusoneclub

or Christian ladies Tea Society.


alt=”Click here to join christianladiesteasociety”>
Click to join christianladiesteasociety

Why? Because people are lonely. People are seeking. Be a mentor. Reach out and make friends and change people’s lives for the better. More ideas and recipes to come on both group sites.

I love the unique ways that God comes up with to show me things.

This week, especially today, He is talking to me about water. I turned on our oscillating sprinkler in the back yard, trying to get that big brown patch, my peonies, and my rhubarb plant to perk up. Word must have spread through out the song bird community as soon, my yard and trees were filled with their colorful antics as they tried to get the best spot for a free shower. Some, swooped through the falling water drops in great acrobatic maneuvers, others perched on branches or hopped around in the grass. After being splashed with the water, they would shake and flutter to spread the water out over their bodies. It is clear, they were enjoying this rare treat.

Living things need water. Not just water, but clean water, free from contaminates.

Recently, in one of the on-line tea site/yahoo! groups I visit, a lady from England who had just moved to a mountain community in America, was writing about how she was told not to drink the water from the tap. She felt that if she filtered it or boiled it she would be ok to drink it. I wrote to her cautioning her against drinking her tap water. Here in Colorado, there have been several towns with water issues this year. In some cases the water was safe to drink after boiling, while in other instances, you could not even bathe in it without getting sick.

The contaminates in the water of these mountain towns ranged from dead rodents to microscopic, but still deadly, bacteria. Yes, you could filter out the rodents, boil the water and drink it, but why would you want to? Wouldn’t you rather have pure clean water free of contaminates?

People not only need good, clean physical water, but good clean spiritual water.

<< 1 Corinthians 10:23 >>

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International Standard Version (©2008)
Everything is permissible, but not everything is helpful. Everything is permissible, but not everything builds up.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify.

GOD’S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Someone may say, “I’m allowed to do anything,” but not everything is helpful. I’m allowed to do anything, but not everything encourages growth.

Why am I bringing this up? Well, I had a disturbing conversation this morning with a loved one. No, it wasn’t Tech Hubby, we’re good. I was trying to explain to this person a review I had read on a book she had lent to me that she had read and thoroughly enjoyed. I had wanted to have a discussion with her about it, but it was clear to me she felt I was attacking her and her reading choices. One thing she said to me that shocked me was, ‘Everyone has their opinion and is entitled to it.’ Why did this surprise me so? Well, this book we were discussing(trying to discuss) contains biblical untruths and heresy. The person I was talking to enjoyed the book for other reasons without taking into account the inaccuracies. Why would this matter? you might ask. Well, what if someone else is reading this book and is unstable in their relationship with God or is a new Christian or it’s given to someone who isn’t a Christian in a well meaning but misguided attempt to lead them to salvation?

Sentences like this:’

‘On page 110 (of The Shack) Jesus says that He is perhaps not the way, truth, and life, but the BEST way to relate to the Father and Holy Spirit. Papa God, the African-American female, says she has many followers of many religions in different lands. This is not Orthodox Christianity…’

Quote taken from Jan Markell over at The Omega Letter.

A wrong opinion (those who feel sex with children is ok, is an opinion, a wrong opinion but do you see where I’m going? ) can be very damaging. The gospel, isn’t about an opinion, it’s about irrefutable truths. The gospel isn’t about shopping around for a belief and you take some from here and some from over there and you patch together a universal and spiritual truth that fits you. The gospel is about changing yourself to be a reflection of Jesus. What would you think of a mirror that gave you its opinion of how you look or how you should look but never gave you an honest picture of yourself? What if an honest reflect was what it would take to save your life? Would you want your mirror to be subjective then, when your live was on the line? How about when eternity is on the line? How much weight would someone’s opinion hold if you did some serious thinking about where you were going to spend eternity and their opinion took you down a path of destruction? Would you be so eager to hear their opinion then? I wouldn’t.

<< Matthew 23:24 >>

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International Standard Version (©2008)
You blind guides! You filter out a gnat, yet swallow a camel!

There has been a great deal of camel swallowing going on in churches lately. There has been more discussion of worship music than sin. What the lady in the fifth row is wearing than, what really matters. Perhaps this is why people are getting so riled up when challenged on such things as which is better, worshiping the creation, flowers, or worshiping the creator, God. Btw, the answer is, God should be worshiped, not the flowers. Even the rocks know this and cry out when we get distracted.

Jesus is THE ONLY WAY, the ONLY TRUTH and the ONLY LIFE.

<< John 14:6 >>

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

So, if you are reading anything else and thinking it might be fun or a little bit true (that’s like being a little bit pregnant, you either are or you are not and something is either true or it is not), it is boiled down, contaminated and not fit for consumption by your spirit. Some things should be read to see what the enemy is using now to distract people, but it should never be accepted as a partial truth because something in it made you feel good.

Opinions are like belly buttons, everyone has one, but only God has the Truth.