Knit and Crochet Bible Study

Tag: salvation

  • Felted in Jesus

    Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. Hebrews 10:36

    (download a copy of the lesson FELTED here)

    Project Suggestion: knit or crochet a square with wool and felt it, then cut out a shape to use as a reminder you are felted.

    Wool felts with water and agitation which causes the scales on the wool to swell, rub against each other and bind together. This process creates a denser, shrunken fabric. Felting is the name of the process that give us the finished product.

    Have you ever noticed in Bible stories that a person is often put in situations that can be described as felted, often rubbing against someone or something? In the end, they become stronger in the Lord.

    Think about King David. Before he slew Goliath, before he became king he was a shepherd boy. How did David know he could take down Goliath? By the many years he spent protecting the sheep from wolves, bears, and other torments. He had been in danger, in agitating situations, many times and had learned how to handle himself. (see 1 Samuel 17:12-30)

    What about Shadrach, Meshach and Abendnego? Imagine the agitation they felt standing in a fiery furnace. (see Daniel 3)

    Ruth went through the loss of her husband, leaving her family and hometown. She cared for her mother-in-law and moved to a country where she was an unwanted foreigner. She went on to be a part of the lineage of Jesus Christ. (Read the biblical book of Ruth for the full story)

    Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers. He gained the confidence of the Pharoah and was promoted to being second in command. He was imprisoned when Pharoah’s wife falsely accused him of rape and still, years later, he was back in a position of authority again. Talk about being agitated.

    What other Bible persons can you name? How about persons in your life you have witnessed experience this felting in their life? Do you remember Martin and Gracia Burnham? They were missionaries from Kansas who serves as missionaries in the Phillippines. They were captured and held hostage for over a year by a militant group of Muslims in 2001. Martin was killed during their rescue. (You can read the story in Gracia’s book In the Presence of My Enemies. You can also read more about this on her website GraciaBurnham.org .) They endured because they were felted with the Lord.

    How have you been felted? Have people around you created the hot water and agitation in your life? God doesn’t give you the people you want, He gives you the people you NEED – To help you, to hurt you, to leave you, to love you and to make you into the person you were meant to be.

    Can these discouraging periods of our times remove us from God? Read Romans 8:35-39.

    Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written: For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

    Once a piece is felted it cannot be torn. It can be cut and shaped as desired. Once you are felted with God, nothing can rip you away from Him.

    Are you felted into Jesus?

  • BROKEN AND SEPARATED

    Is there a relationship in your life that has been severed? You used to be so close but something came between you and now you no longer speak? A boundary was broken whether in word or deed, that could not be repaired. It could be a family member, a loved one, a friend.

    I am sure there was great pain when the break came in your relationship no matter what the reason. You regretted the cause and cried over the loss of someone you care about so dearly. And along with that person, there is also a separation with those near that person.

    God experienced such a break.

    He had gently, carefully and with His hands formed man and woman. He created a beautiful place to share with them. Yet they crossed the one boundary set before them. In Genesis 2:16-17 God tells Adam,

    “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

    We learn in the next chapter that one day they did eat of that tree. And because of this they were banned from the garden, but more importantly, they had caused a great rift between them and God. The relationship they had before was now destroyed.

    God wants that relationship back. But it can’t be like before. Once the barrier was built a way needed to be made to break it down.

    Have you tried to devise ways to break the barriers built by rejections in your life? If you did break them, did it come at a price? Even if you moved forward in the relationship without mentioning the “situation” you still always feel the pulling of that weight. You cannot “unbreak” a vase once it is shattered. So it goes with relationships as well.

    “You iniquities have separated you from your God” Isaiah 59:2

    There was only one way to repair the relationship between God and man: a sacrifice. He made the first sacrifice when He found Adam and Eve hiding in fear because they were naked. He made them clothes of animal skin. He sacrificed an animal so they could be dressed.

    God prepared, from the beginning, the sacrifice that would be required to restore that relationship: Jesus Christ.

    He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. Isaiah 59:16

    How would we know when this salvation came? The Old Testament is filled with hundreds of descriptions of this Savior. Many prophecies are detailed by God so there would be no question of His coming.

    Professor Peter Stoner served as Chairman of the Department of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena City College until 1953 and Chairman of the Science Division of Westmont College from 1953 to 1957. He is best known for his teaching in evidences of Bible prophecies. He calculated the probability of one man fulfilling only a handful of the prophecies made in the Old Testament was 10 to the 17th power. The probability of fulfilling only 48 of these prophecies are 10 to the 157th power.

    Jesus fulfilled every single prophecy. Why such explicit detail in the foretelling of this Savior? So the true salvation would be clearly visible to all who look for Him.

    God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. Acts 17:27

    We are separated from God by our sin, but we have a way back to him. That way is Jesus Christ.

    Just like your relationship with your family, your best friend, your spouse, your bible study group, a relationship must be nurtured. You must spend time, talk with each other, open up, love and trust. You must participate for a relationship to be complete. So goes your relationship with Christ.

    What does a relationship with Christ look like?

    How do you know if you have that relationship?

    What do you do to maintain that relationship?

    What will you do to draw closer to him?

  • Through My Headset – Precious Memories

    Today I am listening to music.  I was busy pulling out piles I created in an effort to declutter and I came across a cassette album I cherish – Precious Moments by Steve and Annie Chapman.

    I received this one day many years ago when in a very difficult time in my life.  I played this over and over. I cried every time.

    In all my declutter piles today would you believe I have NO CASSETTE PLAYER!!  I can’t believe it either.

    So…….. remembering how much I was blessed by the songs of Steve and Annie Chapman, I went to amazon and ordered the MP3 album.  It is now playing on a loop.  It touches my heart as much today as it did all those years ago.

    If you would like to be blessed by it, here is a link to album. Keep the kleenex near by. You may have to wipe away a few tears to see your stitches 🙂

  • God Loves You…and so do I

    It’s Valentine’s Day 2014.  I have never been a big fan of Valentine’s Day. I don’t like the idea that on this day you have to have someone in your life who loves you and you have to give/receive elaborate gifts of love.

    If you are single and not dating, it is a day on the calendar where your status stands out

    If you have a ‘significant other’ you are watched and hounded “what did he/she get you” and “what did you get for him/her” ?

    There are so many ways to show someone you love them.  I believe quality time and kind words are a wonderful expression of love. 

    Many times I prefer that over a material gift. Try telling someone in answer to the ‘what did he give you’ question that ‘he sat with me holding my hand watching a movie’. It just doesn’t fit what the holiday has become and movies have taught us.

    One way I express love is with homemade items: baked, sewn, knit, crocheted. Recently there was a photo going around facebook with a picture of crocheted items and the words

    “All I got from her was a crocheted hat and scarf. Jeez.”

    Fact: That gift of love cost your friend a minimum of $12 to make (each skein of yarn being approximately $5-$6, nowadays), and about the same number of hours to create. And, while she worked on that gift for you, she thought about you. <3

    If I make something for you, it is because I care about you and I want to give to you a part of me.

    God gave us a special gift: His Son, Jesus Christ.  Many have declared that John 3:16 is God’s valentine to us.

    GodsValentine

    God tells us every day He loves us. He doesn’t need a special day on the calendar. He doesn’t need a celebration. He is reaching out to you with His love. Have you accepted it?

    Even though I have not crocheted something for each of you, I wish each you a Happy Valentine’s Day.

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  • The Axhead Floats

    God continues stitching away on His work in progress that is me. Each day he tinks a bit (knit back to remove one stitch at a time) and other days he frogs big chunks of work (rip-it, rip-it, rip-it).

    I want to share with you a lesson I wrote up and used in one of Knit and Crochet Bible Studies. This one is not in either of the published

    You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you posses eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me. John 5:39

    It is recommended that you read through an entire pattern before you begin your first stitch. In my class as we discuss how to read a pattern I ask the student to read the pattern out loud one row of instruction at a time and then to translate what that instruction means. This shows me she understands the direction given and helps her to visualize what to expect from her pattern.

    This same principle works very well with Scripture. During a recent Bible Study there was a discussion about listening to audio versions of the Bible. Many of the ladies commented they absorb the message more when they hear the word than when they read it to themselves. Reading out loud even proves more comprehension that reading silently.

    Whether it is a pattern or scripture, “hearing” and then “restating in your own words” is an effective learning tool. Let’s apply that strategy to a passage in 2 Kings 6:1-7.

    The company of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for you. Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to live.”

    And he said, “Go.”

    Then one of them said, “Won’t you please come with your servants?”

    “I will”, Elisha replied. And he went with them.

    They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. “Oh, my lord,” he cried out, ‘it was borrowed.”

    The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there and made the iron float. “Lift it out,” he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.

    When you read a pattern for a complex article, perhaps a cardigan, or one with an elaborate design in it, you wrinkle your nose at parts of it and wonder ‘what is that and why is it in here’. That is what I thought when I read this passage. Then I read it out loud and restated it in my own words. I am going to restate this ‘pattern’ to you.

    The part of the prophet cutting trees to build a place to sleep is played by you. You are knitting a blanket. You are working hard to provide for yourself. In Genesis 3 we learn of the curse given to man through the fall of Adam and Eve. Genesis 3:19 reads: By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food.

    You are working hard with borrowed knitting needles when you are startled. You drop one of the needles fall into the sewer. This now creates a debt you cannot pay. You don’t have the financial ability to purchase one yourself, that is why you borrowed in the first place. And now you not only cannot complete your task of the blanket which was to provide you with funds, you owe the person your borrowed from the cost of the needles which you cannot afford!

    In your sinful nature you fall short of the glory of God. Satan lays claim to you because you cannot pay the debt required by God. Along comes Jesus Christ with the cross (Elisha and the stick in the story). Jesus goes to the cross for you and as the axhead floats to the top (you dive into His Word).

    Now let’s look very closely at verse 7 of our story. “Lift it out,“ he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it. God has provided a way to reach him, Jesus Christ. You reach out and accept His gift of Salvation and your debt is paid. Your soul (the axhead) is not lost. It has been retrieved! Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:25 Jesus went to the cross, he took the beating, the humiliation, the crucifixion. He hurt so bad he sweat blood according to Luke 22:44.

    Your debt is paid! The axhead is within your reach. But you must “reach out and take it”. I have notebooks and magazines and digital files full of many patterns. Owning the patterns does not provide a finished project. I must actively follow the pattern with the necessary tools and work to make the item.

    If you do not reach out and accept the Salvation of God offered through Jesus Christ, you have turned away from God. Salvation sits there, like the pattern for the most beautiful shawl you have ever imagined.

    Let’s retell the story now using our new actors. You live your life trying to be good. You are a good person, you are kind. You attend church regularly, serve at the local food pantry. You knit or crochet hats, gloves, mittens and blankets for the homeless shelter. You give financially to your home church and several missionaries as well.

    One day you approach the gates of heaven but you cannot get in, the gate is locked and you do not have the key. No amount of good works, and best intentions will get you into heaven. I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6 Jesus comes alongside you and says he has the key. He holds the it out toward you.

    Do you turn and walk away? Or do you reach out and take the key that will allow you access to God’s glory?

  • UNFINISHED Life–Week 3and4

    It’s been a busy, busy couple of weeks. First, I didn’t get week 3 posted. My husband and I celebrated our anniversary by shopping for a new set of silverware, new bath towels and a kitchen hutch. (we are much more practical than romantic)

    My husband has warned me this is not another horizontal surface in need of clutter. However, he didn’t say I couldn’t stash/hide yarn in the cupboard!

    Then, I got a set of cubby shelves by ClosetMaid for my craft room. That is coming along nicely.

    I am a couple of days behind on my daily Bible reading plan. I use an Android app called You Versionâ. (there is also an iPad version)  It is really cool. I can close my eyes and have the days reading read to me. Sometimes, I get more out of the passage when I hear it. It is a great feature of this app. And no, it is not a computer voice that reads it.

    My local church posts the notes for each weeks sermon to You Version. I can download the notes and edit them on my tablet during the service using a free app called Evernote. I also use Evernote to save some of my patterns. It syncs between my computer and tablet.

    I purchased a slipper kit on clearance at Hobby Lobby and made them for myself .

    The sole and foot is premade in this kit. I knitted the cuff. I later resewed the foot to the sole because their stitching came out. These are so comfy and cosy to wear.

    I thought I had made video of all the stitches used in the Colors of Salvation afghan, but I can’t find them. So either I lost them in the many past crashes of my system or I didn’t get the done. So I am working on that right now.

    Until next week,

  • Colors of Salvation: the ORANGE panel

    In our Colors of Salvation story we are making a project that will allow us to use panels of various colors to tell the Salvation story.

    Today we begin with the color orange. Orange in this story represents the fire of hell. Romans 3:23 tells us All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

    Born as sinners, we are condemned to life in hell. Not the physical death, but the spiritual second death life eternally separated from God.  It is  described in Revelation 21:8 But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is a second death.  Sin is not measured by how big a sin it is. Sin is sin. A lie is a sin as murder is.  Sin, no matter how big or how small, separates us from God. Romans 6:23 says For the wages of sin is death.

    The stitch pattern for this part of the story are fairly easy to do. Just as it is fairly easy to sin.

    The stitch pattern in crochet is called The Alternate Stitch.  The pattern is accomplished by making a single crochet and a double crochet stitch in the same stitch. Skip a stitch and do another single and double crochet in the next stitch.

    Click here to  view a video demonstration of this stitch pattern.

    The stitch pattern in knit is called Vertical Weave

    The vertical stitch is made in a 2 row pattern.  In the first row (right side) “ K2 *slip 1 as if to purl, k1, yo, psso, K2. Repeat from * across

    Row 2 (wrong side) Purl across.

    Click here to view a video demonstration of this stitch pattern.

    You may download a PDF version of the project at: http://www.knittingbiblestudy.com/patterns/ColorsOfSalvation_patternKC.pdf

    Join us on facebook to discuss your progress.

    Next month we will work on the GOLD color

  • FREE is One of My Favorite Words

    I am sucker for the word FREE.  I hate to admit it, but I have been enticed into many purchases because of the word FREE.

    Buy one, get one FREE.  I didn’t need the first one, but now I can get two!!  My biggest temptation comes when the offer includes a teddy bear.  I have so many teddy bears that many are still packed from our last move 3 years ago. I have no place for them. But they are teddy bears and many were offered as free with purchase or by signing up, or whatever FREE idea was popular at the time.

    My yarn and pattern stash is the same way. I have 2 rooms full of yarn and notebooks filled with patterns. More than I will ever use, but gee, lots of them were free!

    My favorite FREE offer comes from God. The gift of salvation. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.  (John 1:12 NIV)

    God’s FREE gift is offered to all. But not all will accept the gift. They will respond I don’t need that, I can do this on my own. I can get to heaven just being good.  None of this is true. Nothing you can do on your own is good enough. We are all sinners. God is God. He is perfect. He cannot abide sin and the sinful nature. So He has offered a way, a gift, to allow us to spend eternity with Him. That gift is Jesus Christ, His only Son, whom He sent as a sacrifice for my sin and for yours. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV)

    But God will not force you to accept Him. You must invite Him in. Will you?

  • But, God…..

    Two words keep coming  to my mind lately during my prayer time that I pray back “But, God”.  

    Things are distracting me from studying, But, God intervenes and opens a time.

    Health issues have taken its toll on me.  But, God sees to it His Word is proclaimed. 

    Little details draw my attention from the big picture. But, God steps up and says ‘lift up your eyes, look away from the difficulty and look at me.” 

    No matter what is happening ‘but, God” will have His way.  Many times in scripture a story is told of difficulties.  These are often followed by 2 little words; But, God.

    I pray that no matter what steps in your way as you struggle with whatever is facing you today, look away from it, lift your eyes and say “but, God” has it under control. 

  • Sharing God Through Knitting and Crochet

     Show the way for others, and you will find honor in the kingdom. Matthew 5:19 MSG

     

    As another year of Bible Study begins at my local church I look at myself and feel so unworthy of  speaking of God’s Word.  I fear I will fail Him.

    This led me to look over the second Knit and Crochet Bible Study Book.  It is a look at the Proverbs 31 woman.

    The class at my church, and I believe many others that host a Knit and Crochet Bible Study, is multi-generational. 

    Becoming the Proverbs 31 woman is a journey, a road traveled with twists and turns and even a few detours. It is not a journey you need to take alone.  Working alongside women of all ages helps us to grow emotionally and spiritually. Titus 2:1 tell us Your job is to speak out on the things that make for sound doctrine.   It is my prayer these studies lead you to that sound doctrine.

    Then verses 3-5 says Guide older women into lives of reverence so they end up as neither gossips nor drunks, but models of goodness.  By looking at them the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children, virtuous and pure, keep a good house, be good wives.

    But the older woman can also learn from the younger. Sitting side by side, many find their lives are woven together through their crafting,  through God’s love, through life experiences. With one simple shared gift, knit and crochet, they open a dialog with each other; one that may not have opened in other circumstances.

    The Proverbs 31 woman is not born the perfect woman you read about. She grows into that woman through work, friendships, prayer, experience, and learning from others.

    Perhaps in your local group you see a woman you look upon as The Proverbs 31 Woman. You admire her emotional strength, her family love, her ability to knit or crochet without even looking at her work.  Talk to her. Learn about her life and how she came to this place in her life; the struggles she endured; the losses she has experienced; how she learned to look to God in all things.  She is not now the woman she used to be.  But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me and not without results.. yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace. 1Corinthians 15:10 NLT

    Why are we doing all this? Read Titus chapter 2 verses 12 and 13 in the Message. We’re being shown how to turn our backs on a godless, indulgent life, and how to take on a God-filled, God-honoring life. This new life is starting right now, and is whetting our appetites for the glorious day when our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, appears.

    You are a beautiful woman, beauty that radiates from inside.  What matters is not your outer appearance-the styling of your hair, the jewelry you wear, the cut of your clothes-but your inner disposition. Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in.  I Peter 3:3-4 MSG   

    With the passage of time you have grown from youthful vanity to honorable womanhood.   Use this time together in the presence of other women to learn how to be obedient to the Lord.

    Though I fear failing Him, I continue on, demonstrating God’s love as He allows. He is still working on me to become the woman He desires me to be. I am an older woman to some, who watch me from afar as a witness to demonstrate God’s command. I am also a younger woman to others as I watch them and learn how to walk pleasing to God.

    You knit me together in my mother’s womb Psalm 139.13 says. God has not put down his knitting needles yet. There are panels to complete, seaming to be done, a decorative crocheted edging to be added. He is still stitching you and me into a tapestry of life of which we are not even aware.

    So, I will continue to knit, to crochet and demonstrate God’s glorious love with those around me.  I thank the Lord every day for accepting me as His child and allowing me to speak of His greatness.

     Show the way for others, and you will find honor in the kingdom. Matthew 5:19 MSG