Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Hi ladies, I’m Barb Bindewald and we are going to M & M.
This is the first class of the theme, “By Faith: Things are Not as They Seem.”
That’s one of my favorite phrases.
This is a special class. It is our first class by video.
And this is the big transition time where my husband and I are in Japan
and we’re going to do M&M from there. But I must tell you...
I’m not in Japan yet. I’m in my daughter’s apartment in Pittsburgh
and we fly out to Tokyo in two days.
But by the time you’re watching this we will be in Tokyo. Lord willing.
So, here we go!
I must tell you I miss being with you, face to face. I miss you terribly.
I love seeing your faces as we get together to M&M.
I miss the dialoguing back and forth but I am grateful for technology.
I don’t have my bulletin board with me right now because we’re in transition so I can’t look at the pictures of you even,
but I am imagining you there. You know I love to use my imagination.
So, hi, Brenda. And Karen. And Catherine. And Soni and a whole bunch of you! So. Let’s go.
We always start M&M the same way. By shutting the door.
This is what makes us different from bible studies or sharing groups.
M&M is all about shutting the door, coming apart so we won’t come apart as Vance Havner said.
It is a time to quiet ourselves. To be still.
We are Marthas who love serving the Lord but we must learn,
we must fight the fight, to quiet our hearts and be Marys
sitting at the feet of the Lord gazing at Him through His word.
So that is what M&M is all about.
So the way we start it is by reciting or reading the verses from a hymn that I discovered.
There’s a story about it. You can find that video.
But we recite or read the “Lord I Have Shut the Door” verses from this hymn
and I encourage you, each week, to pray these words.
Ok? So, would you pray with me?
Lord, I have shut the door; speak now the word
Which in the din and throng could not be heard.
Hushed now my inner heart; whisper Thy will
While I have come apart, while all is still.
Lord, I have shut the door; here do I bow.
Speak, for my soul attent, turns to thee now.
Rebuke Thou what is vain; counsel my soul;
Thy holy will reveal; my will control.
In this blest quietness, clamorings cease;
Here in Thy presence dwells infinite peace.
Yonder, the strife and cry, yonder the sin;
Lord, I have shut the door, Thou art within.
Lord, I have shut the door, strengthen my heart;
Yonder awaits the task – I share a part.
Only through grace bestowed may I be true;
Here, while alone with Thee, my strength renew.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
After we recite or read our verses from “Lord I Have Shut the Door", we sing our song.
Now this term I have chosen “All Must Be Well.”
The words were written in 1847. I love old hymns.
The—this theme of, “By Faith: Things are Not as They Seem" is one of the dearest topics of the Christian life to me.
We walk by faith, not by sight.
Faith looks through the seen reality to the unseen, deeper, higher reality that we know of through God’s word.
So in this term we’re going to try to work on our walks. We’re going to work on walking by faith.
So, as it says in this song, through the love of God our savior, all will be well.
Free and changeless is his favor, all is well.
And then further down in the third verse, it says Faith can sing through days of sorrow. All is well.
So I hope you will memorize this hymn and come to love it as much as I do.
All Must Be Well by Mary Bowley-Peters & Matthew S. Smith © 2007 Detuned Radio Music - use with permission
Through the love of God our Savior, all will be well
Free and changeless is His favor, all is well
Precious is the blood that healed us Perfect is the grace that sealed us
Strong the hand stretched forth to shield us
All must be well
Though we pass through tribulation, all will be well
Ours is such a full salvation, all is well
Happy still in God confiding
Fruitful if in Christ abiding
Steadfast through the Spirit’s guiding
All must be well
We expect a bright tomorrow; all will be well
Faith can sing through days of sorrow, all is well
On our Father’s love relying Jesus every need supplying
Yes in living and in dying All must be well
On our Father’s love relying Jesus every need supplying
Yes in living and in dying All must be well
So now it is recitation time. Now don’t be upset! Don’t run away.
So now it is recitation time. Now don’t be upset! Don’t run away. We recite our verses BUT remember, memorizing in M&M is optional.
We encourage it greatly. It will bless you if you memorize God’s word.
BUT, we memorize in order to meditate. To have those verses in our hearts.
So try it. Try it. I’ve given you some tips on how to memorize and meditate.
To memorize, we say read it repeat it write it recite it Review, review, review and then reward yourself. It’s Biblical!
So you can look up those helps but try it out. Handle, work on, chew on these verses.
M&M’s life verse is... Your words were found and I ate them
and Your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart
for I am called by Your name, O LORD, God of Host. Jeremiah 15:16
So we’re going to recite, to read, because this is our first time so no one has had time to memorize or even try to.
So we’re going to work on, first, our benediction verse. This is the verse we say at the end of every class
and the one for this chapter, this theme of M&M is Ephesians 2:8-10. So let’s read it.
For by grace you have been saved through faith.
And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
I know that’s long. It’s one of the longer ones but we have the most time to work on this first verse.
For by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not your own doing.
It is the gift of God. Not as a result of works so that no one may boast.
For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Now I would like to tell you a story. I know you love stories. I’d like to read you a story and see what you think of it.
How does every story start? Once upon a time there was a little girl who lived in a place called the fallen kingdom.
This kingdom was ruled by a terrible enchanter who was a master of deception and lies.
Everything about this kingdom was twisted. Upside down. Wrong.
But all its people thought it was normal and right side up.
So although the girl was actually a slave, lost in darkness, weighed down and weary, she didn’t realize it.
She thought that life in this fallen kingdom was the only life there was and things were the way they were supposed to be.
Occasionally she heard some people say in hushed tones, “There is a King.”
But she’d never seen him.
She said—they said there is another kingdom where there is light and freedom and joy and meaning.
But she’d never seen it. Sounds like some nice fairy tale, she thought. Not real.
Well time flew by and the little girl got older and wiser and more mature.
Or at least SHE thought so. But this was a land of deception.
One day she met people who said they personally knew the king.
They excitedly told the girl all about him.
What he did while he lived on earth. And how he died and what he was like and about his invisible kingdom.
As her new friends told her THE story, her heart was strangely moved.
She wanted to believe this “too good to be true” news. Could it really be true?
Oh, could this wonderful news really be true?
As she lay in her bed that night, she couldn’t forget what they had said about the King.
Her heart cried out inside her in hope against hope she silently cried. Are you really there?
The king heard her silent cry and answered, silently, to her heart.
Yes, I am here. Come to me. Believe and you will see.
The walls she had built up crumbled around her heart.
She had built them for protection against the evil, the wrong, all the sad things.
But those walls crumbled when she realized that there was a king.
She responded like a child. She whispered, Yes. I’m coming. I believe you.
That very moment she was rescued from the power of the evil enchanter and was made a daughter of the King and a citizen of His kingdom.
And she lived happily ever after. Really??
This is my story. God gave me the gift of faith.
It was in 1971 when I was a sophomore in college. He gave me the desire to know him.
He gave me faith, the gift of faith as our verse says.
Remember, we are saved by grace, through faith, and that is not our own doing. It is a gift of God.
He opened my eyes and I saw, I realized, dimly…not real clearly at all.
But I realized there was a king and there is a kingdom and God has a call on my life.
Jesus Christ is that King and He is building His kingdom and no one and nothing can stop it.
What is our favorite ending to our stories? “And they lived happily ever after.”
Why do we love that? Because it is the yearning of our hearts.
We know something is very wrong with us and with the world around us but we sense there is more.
That we were made for more. That death is not natural.
That we were made to live forever. And dare I say it out loud—happily ever after.
With purpose and meaning and loving relationships.
You and I were made for more and though things are terribly wrong and sad,
I want to tell you, based on the authority of God’s word, He is working.
He is restoring. He is alive and well and not even tired.
He is not wringing His hands. Everything He intends to do, He will accomplish.
Believe it. It’s true. Believe and you will see.
So this week. Chew on this verse. The Benediction verse.
And also begin M&M-ing, Meditating on, trying to memorize the next verse.
It’s nice and short but oh, is it deep.
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
One of my favorite things, as I told you, is the idea that things are not as they seem.
So, I look forward to next week M&M-ing with you.
So let’s say our new verse, our benediction verse one more time.
Ephesians 2: 8-10
For by grace you have been saved through faith.
And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Remember, faith is for this world. There will not be forever.
We will walk by faith until we live by sight.
Faith is temporary but it is the way we live now.
All Christians must live by faith, not by sight.
So come M&M with me on this journey of finding out what it looks like
to walk by faith and not by sight. To be certain of what you do not see.
Let’s pray. Father thank You for this time. Thank You for Your precious word.
It is alive and powerful and sharp.
We come to You, Lord, we expect, we believe that You will meet with us in Your word.
That You know how to speak to us, Your children.
So please do that Father, encourage each woman who is listening or who is watching.
Please, Lord, grant them faith. Grant them more faith.
Let them see You more and more clearly for who You really are and who we are in You.
Thank You for what You are going to do. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Thank you. I’ll see you next week!