My desktop background :)

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you my laptop desktop background! *applause*

"A Little Bird I Am"

Here is a poem that is recorded in A.W. Pink’s “Sovereignty of God” which I thought was so encouraging and also convicting! Keep in mind as you read these joyful words, that the author of this poem was confined to a dark, dank dungeon deep underground for over ten years! And yet still she can sing these words of victory and unshaken confidence! What an example to all of us today. Enjoy Madame Guyon’s poem!

A little bird I am,

Shut from the fields of the air;

Yet in my cage I sit and sing

To Him who placed me there;

Well pleased a prisoner to be,

Because, my God, it pleases Thee.

Naught have I else to do;

I sing the whole day long;

And He whom most I love to please,

Doth listen to my song;

He caught and bound my wandering wing

But still He bends to hear me sing.

My cage confines me round;

Abroad I cannot fly;

But though my wing is closely bound,

My heart’s at liberty.

My prison walls cannot control

The flight, the freedom of the soul.

Ah; it is good to soar

These bolts and bars above.

To Him whose purpose I adore,

Whose Providence I love;

And in Thy mighty will to find

The joy, the freedom of the mind.

-“The Sovereignty of God”, by A.W. Pink, published by Banner of Truth Trust in 2009, pages 129-130.

Expositional Preaching

Hey everyone! One of the things I do a lot of here at the NCFIC is edit audio sermons which will then be posted on the NCFIC website. One of the amazing perks of this job is that I get to listen to so many AMAZING sermons! So here is a quote that really stood out to me today.

“Someone once said, ‘To disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed is the essence of a good preaching ministry’...[Dr. Martin] Lloyd Jones said this in “Preaching and Preachers”, ‘The most urgent need in the Christian Church today is true preaching and as it is the greatest and most urgent need in the Church today, it is obviously the greatest need of the world also’”

– Taken from “Learning from Great Expositors of the Past”, a sermon by Dr. Andy Davis, delivered at the Expository Preaching Conference.

May God raise up a generation of faithful pastors who will shepherd their congregations by preaching expositionally out of the Word of God.

Joel Stanton, NCFIC Intern

Adventure on Angel Island

We went to Angel Island last Wens. it was a great trip!
The weather was gorgeous, and the bay was beautiful.


Sarah And Danielle on the sea lion sculpture





















The wind had fun that day!








Sarah was smart and put her hair up!







The Visitors Center

Alcatraz Island as seen from the ferry













Covert Operatives!














The Sea lions for which Pier 39 is famous

Piano Recital

I had a piano Recital last Sat. it went really well. I played Fur Elise and Sonatina in C Major by F. Kuhlua. I love both pieces and enjoyed learning and playing them. This recital signified the end of spring lessons so it was nice to end on a good note. :) The picture quality is pretty bad, but the sound's not bad. When you consider that this video was taken on Benjamin's mp3 player video camera, you can't be too harsh about it.
Gab

Some Thoughts from C.H Spurgeon

“Do not think you need be a minister to dedicate yourself to Christ. Many a man has disgraced the pulpit, and many a man has sanctified an anvil; many a man has dishonored the cushion upon which he preached, and many a man has consecrated the plow with which he has turned the soil. We ought in all our business, as well as in our sacred acts, to do all for Christ.

Let me illustrate this. A merchant in America had devoted a large part of his money for the maintenance of the cause of Christ; and one said to him, ‘What a sacrifice you make every year.’ Said he ‘Not so. I have a clerk: suppose I give that clerk fifty pounds to pay a schoolmaster, and when he goes to the schoolmaster, he should say, ‘Here is your salary; what a sacrifice it is to me to give you that! ‘Why,’ the schoolmaster would say, ‘Sir, it is not yours, it is no sacrifice at all to you.’ So said this good man, “I gave up all when I came to God, I became his steward, and no longer head of the firm. I made God the head of the firm, and I became the steward. And now when I distribute of my wealth, I only distribute it as his almoner; and it is no sacrifice at all.” If we talk of sacrifices we make a mistake. Ought not that to be the spirit of our religion? It should be made a sacrifice at first, and then afterwards there should be a voluntary offering of all.

Never shall we see any great revival in the church, or any great triumphs of religion until the Christian world is more touched with the spirit of entire consecration to Christ. Would you extend your Master’s empire? Then be about your Father’s business.”

-C.H. Spurgeon, “Christ About His Father’s Business”

http://www.ncfic.org/articlemodule/view_article/id/63/src/@random49598ead4a15d/

Sam's Challenge Quiz!!!

All right, guys, let's see how much you know about me!
http://www.quizyourfriends.com/take-quiz.php?id=1106060116146440&a=1&