Philippians 3:4-9

Hello Everyone!

We had our annual Thanksgiving Dinner

at our home last Sunday night with our church family.

Now, we are looking forward to having TD with Andrea C., my daughter's family

in Indiana on Wednesday. We will be missing Amy D., my other daughter and her

family who are now living in India...that's right...India, not Indiana...what a

difference a "NA" makes!

It felt so good to have our church family here.

We missed Carmen, who was flying back from Savannah, GA due to the passing of

her grandmother.

Carmen, you are in our thoughts and prayers.

I love to have people in my home...family...friends...neighbors...

Sometimes...OK...most of the time...the "getting ready" for a "gathering"

in our home is tiring....but WHAT A GOOD TIRED!!!

I told Andrea B., one of our church members...that it felt like warm oil

being poured over me ~ the feeling of working hard for an event and then

seeing everyone there and enjoying themselves...WOW...can't buy that

feeling with any amount of money!!

Anywho... (shout out to Dawn H. in Plainfield, IN who always says that)

one of the items I served was Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon Chips.

This recipe has fond memories for me.

When Bob was the Children's Pastor at a church in Avon, Indiana,

I was involved in a Moms group, called Moms Connection.

One of the Moms (Traci P.) brought this to our monthly meeting-pitch-in.

W>O>W>!! We all started making it and we couldn't get enough of it.

Here it is:

Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips

Makes 10 Servings

2 Kiwis, peeled and diced
2 Apples, peeled, cored and diced
8 Ounces of raspberries
1 Pound of strawberries
3 Tablespoons fruit preserves, any flavor
2 Tablespoons white sugar
1 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 Cups cinnamon sugar
10-10" Flour or whole wheat tortillas
Butter flavored cooking spray, margarine or butter (your choice)

1. In a large bowl, thoroughly mix kiwis, apples, raspberries, strawberries, white sugar, brown sugar and fruit preserves. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes.


2. Preheat over to 350º


3. Coat one side of each tortilla with margarine or butter or butter flavored cooking spray. (your choice) Start by buttering or spraying one tortilla, then stacking the next one on top and buttering or spraying the top of that one. When finished with the whole stack, cut it into wedges from the top of the stack to the bottom. Lay them out on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mixture. Spray with the cooking spray. Sprinkle with the cinnamon/sugar mixture again and spray again. The "spraying" helps to hold the cinnamon/sugar mixture onto the chip.
   


4. Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool approximately 15 minutes. Serve with the chilled fruit salsa mixture.

Note from Debbie: This original recipe was designed to look like the colors in regular Mexican salsa. You can sure use any fruit you have on hand to acquire the same taste. Also, 2 Cups of Cinnamon/Sugar would be 2 Cups of white sugar and I used approximately 4 teaspoons of cinnamon, although it is determined on how much you like cinnamon!


Here is our Scripture passage for this week:

(Verse 4) "though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:

(Verse 5) circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee;

(Verse 6) as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.

(Verse 7) But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.

(Verse 8) What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ

(Verse 9) and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ–the righteousness that comes from God and is built by faith."

In these wonderful verses is one of the great personal testimonies in the New

Testament. It is also one of the most significant statements on the matter

of salvation

found in the New Testament.

It takes us into the very heart of the sinner's attitude in conversion.

As you read this you may see the phrase "profit and loss". A lot of people are

thinking about their profit and losses in these financially slow times.

Paul was using accounting terminology in verses 7 & 8.

He is talking about a business transaction that involved a profit column

and a loss column. There were certain things which he felt were in the profit

column which he switched over to the loss column when he met Christ.

Paul is saying that he is willing to give up trusting what was once valuable to him

as a means of salvation to trust Christ instead!

It is an exchange.

It is what salvation is.

It is self-denial.

It is not walking in the flesh. (see my last post for that definition)

In other words, consider all that you have attained as useless, worthless

and follow Christ.

I will give up everything I have depended on to earn my favor with God for Christ.

I will give it all up.

Any man-made effort to gain salvation is as rubbish.

Paul says that he was the worst of sinners. (I Timothy 1:15 New International

Version)

• Not because he lived a lewd and immoral life

• He lived an extremely moral life

He saw the deepest vilest rubbish of life as RELIGION ~ not immorality!!

It is one thing to act immoral ~ which is very wrong...very wrong...

But it is something else to believe that God is so low that you can earn

acceptance with Him!

Paul says in verse 4 that he has no confidence in this fleshly way of living.

True Christians do not trust in anything they do to earn salvation.

• Their JOY

• Their Glory

• Their Boasting
  

is all in Christ Jesus!!

Paul is not belittling Judaism because he is jealous of something he does not

have.

Paul is not belittling Judaism because he is envious of what someone else has.

Paul is not putting Jewishness down because he could not have it, so he

is going to cut everyone down who is a Jew.

NOT AT ALL ~ he is saying that I have been there...

I have stood on that same ground...

I have impeccable Jewish religious credentials...

And I can tell you to put not confidence in the flesh...

It is garbage.

It is waste.

it is useless.

It is profitless.

It is a big fat zero.

It makes Jesus' death on the cross, unnecessary and useless!!

What is your "bottom line" in your profit and loss statement??

What is in your profit section?

Are you depending on your church attendance?

Are you depending on how much you work in the church?

Are you depending on how good of a person you are?

Are your depending on your baptism?

Are you depending on the sacraments you take?

Are you depending on lighting candles?

Are you depending on praying through beads?

Are you depending on praying certain prayer formulas?

The only thing that we can depend on is that if we were the only person on earth...

Jesus Christ would have come and died just for us....

We can only depend on His sacrifice for our sins...once and for all.

Amen.

Until next Friday,

Debbie Gerstenberger
Reference: John MacArthur commentary on http://www.preceptaustin.org/
(See the sidebar under links and click on "Online Commentary".)