But I didn't know.

Leviticus 5:18
And he shall bring to the priest a ram without blemish from the flock, with your valuation, as a trespass offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him regarding his ignorance in which he erred and did not know it, and it shall be forgiven him.

In every passage, every word, every bit of punctuation found in the Bible, there is Jesus. The Old Testament is filled with hidden references to the King. From the obvious Melchizedek to the subtleties of manna raining down from Heaven; from the image of a sacrificial lamb to the very garments worn by the high priest; Jesus is in it all. This because He is all of it! He’s concealed in the wisdom of God’s law and provision for His people.

In the New Testament we find Christ revealed. Every word spoken by Christ prior to His crucifixion, was a perfect representation of living into and fulfilling the law given to Moses by God the Father. He never violated a single statute. He never missed a single requirement. He lived and taught, perfectly, under the law. He did what no man had ever been able to do. He completely fulfilled the requirements of a just and holy God.

In Leviticus God made it clear that even if a person was to sin unintentionally or unaware of the law, he was guilty of violating the law. We hold true to this basic principle even today in our justice system here in America. Ignorance of the law is not a valid defense. But even in ignorance, God provided a way for His people. He left a provision wherein the priest was to make atonement for a man who committed an offense in ignorance; that man would then be forgiven. It was still the responsibility of the offender to bring a ram, but the priest would make the sacrifice. The priest would make atonement for the sinner. For every other sin the offender would kill the sacrifice, but for the sin committed in ignorance the priest would make the offering.

Travel with me if you would back to the New Testament, where Jesus is about to die. He’s been nailed to a cross and lifted up between two criminals. It is at this point that He says, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34 Even though He was suffering and ready to die, Jesus remembered the law and the words of His Father. He remembered that they, the religious leaders who brought Him to Pilate, were ignorant of their sin. They were still guilty, but it was the High Priest’s responsibility to make atonement for them. In ignorance they denied that Christ was the Messiah. In ignorance, because they thought they were killing a troublemaker, they brought the sacrificial Ram to the altar. As the High Priest, Jesus made a request to the Father for their forgiveness, on their behalf. Shortly thereafter Jesus, acting as High Priest, gave up His Spirit and died.

At that point in time the sins of all mankind, past, present and future, were punished in His body. The premeditated crimes, the acts of passion, and the ignorant violations were all nailed to the cross with Jesus. We can now rejoice in the gift forgiveness and eternal life found only through Jesus Christ!

What Truth are we speaking?

Ephesians 4:15
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

I’ve been putting some thought into this scripture lately and wondering: what does it mean to speak the truth in love? Churches, in general, interpret this scripture to mean that on an individual basis it’s okay to point out someone’s sins. It’s okay, as long as you’re lovingly telling them how screwed up they are!

This teaching isn’t even close to Biblical truth. Anytime we use scripture out of context we run the risk of inserting our humanness into it. In this letter to the Ephesians, written by Paul, he isn’t writing about how Jonny is a raging alcoholic, or Martha is cheating on Bill and someone needs to tell her. He was writing to the church in order to keep them on track from a doctrinal standpoint. He was warning them about false doctrines and deceitful plotting by the enemy who is constantly trying to infiltrate the church. This wasn’t an all-inclusive “okay” to call out a brother or sister in Christ because they are caught up in a sin or sinful scenario.

I look at it this way; no matter how “lovingly” you tell someone that they are doing something wrong, it cuts and stings them. I don’t care who you are or how you said it, it’s going to hurt and it’s going to leave a mark. Taking it upon ourselves to point out others’ flaws would be contrary to the teaching that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. (Romans 8:1)

This scripture wasn’t written for people to use in relationships as a “gotcha”. It was written to keep the church body on the right path; that is, speaking the Truth in love. This involves teaching the Gospel of Christ’s grace in a loving and caring manner; it’s not just with love towards the body, but with true love and adoration for the Creator, for God. Paul was instructing the church to teach Jesus with love for others and for God.

When Jesus spoke in Matthew 7, He said don’t judge. He said that you have no right to point out another person’s flaws when you are filled with flaws. The only One who has any right to judge or correct behavior is the Creator, the sinless Lamb, Jesus the Christ. As evidenced by His own teachings, Jesus didn’t come to condemn but to save. (John 3:17) As evidenced by His own actions, He wasn’t here to tell people their sins, but to administer grace. (John 8:11) So why would we assume that Paul has given us authority to condemn, so long as it’s lovingly? He hasn’t! He’s instructed the church to continue teaching the grace and forgiveness found through Jesus Christ. He’s instructed the church to stay true to the simplicity of Christ, and not get led astray by false doctrine, religious rules, or crafty speakers.

When a brother or sister is caught up in sin, we aren’t authorized to “lovingly” tell them to cut it out; we are simply authorized to tell them the Truth in love. We are to speak Jesus back into their lives with love. (Walk in the Spirit -that is Jesus- and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Galatians 5:16) Once Christ is back at the center of their lives, the sin will stop. It has to, because the Bible says it will! “...you SHALL not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” There’s no choice. Christ’s influence and His influence alone will lead you away from sin.

"Time to make the donuts."

Exodus 16:14
And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground.

The people slept; God provided. While they were safe and warm in their tents at night, sleeping and dreaming, God was working. He was preparing them breakfast. Like the guy in the old Dunkin’ Donuts commercial, God was preparing a tasty treat for the people, one that would be ready to eat as soon as they woke up.

It’s interesting that God would choose to rain down His manna, His bread, at night. Even more interesting is that He would have it fall on the ground outside of the Israelites’ tents. Why not just supernaturally fill up the containers where they sat inside the tent? It was important to God that, while there was no work done by the people to make the bread or receive the bread, they would have to physically come out to gather the bread. In the dark of night, while they were resting, God was working to provide nourishment for them. He would set the bread outside of their doors, ready for collection. All they had to do was step out of their tents and there it was.

Inside their tents was a closed off little world. They found safety and security in the arms of their loved ones at night. They could find solace during the day. Perhaps they would go inside the tent to hide from the perils of life. Who knows? However you look at it, God wanted them to step out of their comfort zone in order to receive His blessings: in this case, bread!

Today, we have our own little tents that we live in. Sure, we have our houses, but what about our hearts and our minds? We have drugs, alcohol, anger, body image, guilt, regret, sexual sin, and so much more. All of these things, while deadly to our lives and our families, seem to bring us comfort. We feel secure in our addictions. But God wants us to come out to receive His blessings. Open the doors and step out of what we think is comfortable into the light, where He has laid out His Bread of Life for us to gather up. We can gather as much as we need. Daily, just like the Israelites, He provides for us the exact amount that we’ll need. All we have to do is collect it. No kneading dough, no hot ovens, just pick it up and eat it. When we go to get our daily Bread, it will never be too much or too little, always the right amount. (Exodus 16:17-18 “The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.” )

Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life, was born at night. He came to earth while everyone else was sleeping. There was no work done by any one person in convincing God to come to earth. He chose to come while everyone was asleep (i.e., no work was being done) to illustrate that works are futile. In the dark of night, while the people were in their houses, Jesus was born. He was born in a stable, outside. For whatever reason, there was no room at the inn that night. The Bread of Life came down and was laid outside in a manger. When the world woke up the next morning they found that God had provided Bread from heaven that would give them eternal nourishment. His name is Jesus.

Grace Filled

Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

Are you religious? Are you worshiping God along with everyone else in your house? Are you giving to the poor and praying to God, always? Are you like the man, Cornelius, found in Acts 10? This was a Roman man living under Jewish Law. He was a man who saw and recognized the power and authority of God and chose to live according to His statutes and requirements. He submitted his family and his entire household to the requirements of the Law, and Acts 10 goes on to tell us that God heard him when he prayed.

This man, Cornelius was a Gentile, a Roman, who had made a choice to live according to the religious law of the Jewish people. He desired a right relationship with God, the Creator of all, and was willing to alter his lifestyle to fulfill any requirement that would bring him closer to Him. As a result of his desire to draw close to a holy God, Cornelius was visited by an Angel who told him to send out some men to get Peter.

Then there was Peter, the rock as Jesus called him. Peter, who had been a man who embraced the law as well, but who had the blessing of knowing the Man of Grace, the Lord Jesus Christ and understanding the New Covenant. Peter also got a supernatural gift. He was blessed with a dream in which God showed him all kinds of animals, birds, and reptiles. It was a dream in which God told Peter, through the Jewish Law, that it’s okay to preach to Gentiles as well as to Jewish people. God told Peter that nothing was unclean that He had made; not food, and certainly not people.

So Peter went to the house of Cornelius and told him and his family about Jesus. He gave them a gospel lesson, telling them about Christ and His miracles, His death, and His resurrection. The Bible tells us that while Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit came into the house and filled everyone there, Jew and Gentile alike. Everyone who heard the name of Jesus, and the gift of His Grace proclaimed, was filled with the Holy Spirit.

While there were blessings to be had by Cornelius and his household for practicing God’s law and living into a lifestyle of do good-get good, there was something even greater to be brought to them by understanding the gift of God’s grace. Cornelius was blessed that day with a new understanding that it’s not through the law that we receive God’s ultimate blessings, but through His grace.

Incidentally, Cornelius means strong willed, full of desire. Peter means rock. Some say that Peter’s name and his personality is a representation of the Law, the Ten Commandments. So here was a man, full of desire to fulfill the law, to be close to God, and there was God, wanting desperately to reveal His true gracious self to him. So He sent Peter, a representative of the Law, to fill the longing desire in Cornelius’ heart with the grace and forgiveness that can only be found in the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ.

Today I ask; are you fulfilling some law, some duty to God in order to gain His favor? Are you trying to draw near and impress Him with your works and your deeds? He loves you through that, but not because of that. Stop for a moment and realize that Jesus’ grace is all you need. His grace is greater in glory and blessings than works and deeds can ever be. And because we are clothed with His righteousness, His perfect fulfillment of the law, there is NOTHING we can do to achieve a greater blessing.

Lamb of God

Luke 2:7
7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

Because Caesar Augustus had ordered a census, everyone was going back to their home town. The houses were filled with families. The inns were filled with people from all around. By the time Joseph and his very pregnant Mary arrived there was no place left for them to stay. Since there were no rooms available at any of the inns, they stayed in a stable. A barn, that’s where the Son of God would have to be born.

I’ve been thinking this through, and these are the questions that I have. Was Jesus born in a stable because there was no room at the inn? Or, was there no room at the inn because Jesus had to be born in a stable?

I’ve heard the first question before and the answer given was true, to a degree. If I might explain. It’s been said that Jesus was born in a stable to show that He’d taken on the lowliest of positions. He wasn’t born into luxury, but He became the least of all men. He submitted Himself to poverty, to nothing, so that we could live our lives based on His example. His birth in a stable was to show us that we must be willing to step down, to be humble, to submit to authority, to surrender all of our luxuries, in order to gain the blessings and the richness that God has prepared for us.

Yes, Jesus did do all of those things, but not so that we would have to do the same in order to gain favor in the eyes of God the Father. In some cases, we may be required to submit to authority, to give up our luxuries, to humble ourselves, to surrender our riches, but not to gain favor or blessings. We are called to do those things because God has already given us all that we’ll need to get through tough times, not so that we’ll get a blessing through tough times.

Now, the second question. I think this question leads more towards the real reason Jesus was born in a stable and not in an inn. I’ve never heard this preached before, and maybe this idea is a stretch. Could it be that God, before there was time, planned to have Caesar call for a census not just for the sake of bringing Mary to Bethlehem to fulfill the words of the Prophets, but for something even greater? Could it be that God was hiding a small secret in the very birth story of His Son? A prophecy of sorts? I think yes. I believe that there was no room at the inn because Jesus had to be born in a stable. Where else would a Lamb be born?

John 1:29 refers to Jesus as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” It’s symbolism, I know. But if we believe that Jesus did fulfill all of the Law, all of the sacrificial requirements, then how hard would it be to think that, as a Lamb, He had to be born in a stable. How many lambs have been born in houses or hotels or inns? There is more to the story of Jesus being born lowly and poor in a barn in Bethlehem then just a cute Christmas play. There are things hidden in scripture that the Spirit longs to reveal to mankind about the King of Kings. The Lamb of God was born in a stable where lambs ought to be born. The Bread of Life was laid in a manger, where grain is put out for consumption.

If

Leviticus 1:1-2
1 The LORD called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting. He said, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When anyone among you brings an offering to the LORD, bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock.

The Law was given so that we could be reconciled through our offerings to God. It was strict and precise. It was daily and it was mandatory. It was demanding. But I realized something: even in the Law, Grace abounds.

God, in all of His infinite wisdom, even managed to work the Grace that would be fully manifested in and through Jesus Christ into the giving of His sacrificial law. I realized this the other morning while reading the first chapter of Leviticus. I’ve read Leviticus before, and usually thought, “Huh, that was.....um...interesting.” But, since discovering that the Old Testament is about Jesus concealed and the New Testament about Jesus revealed, the Bible has taken on new meaning.

I’ve always read in the past about the bull, the goat, the sheep, and the birds that were to be offered and thought about how much blood must have been around the temple. I’d wondered about the sheer number of animals that were sacrificed and the work that the people had to put into making those sacrifices on a daily basis. But I never thought about God’s provision in dictating what should be sacrificed.

There is one word that jumped out to me over and over again as I read through this first chapter in Leviticus. That word is “if”. “If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd....” Leviticus 1:3 “If the offering is a burnt offering from the flock.....” Leviticus 1:10 “If the offering to the LORD is a burnt offering of birds....” Leviticus 1:14 Why all the “if’s”? Then it hit me, God was making a provision, through Grace, for each individual regardless of economic status or community stature. While His Law is demanding, He showed Grace in making it demanding on a individual level so that every person would have an opportunity for atonement.

How much more glorious an opportunity do we have now to experience His grace through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ! God, in His perfect justice system, made it possible to reconcile the sinner to Him based on the blood of a bull, a goat, or a bird. How much more blessed we are today, that He decided to make Himself the sacrifice! He’s taken away all of the “if’s” that existed before and the work that went along with them and replaced them with Jesus’ free gift.

Do you hear what I hear?

Matthew 27:25
And all the people answered, Let His blood be on us and on our children!

It’s funny how sometimes the things we say have different meanings to the people to whom we are speaking than what we intended. We may inadvertently offend a person or a culture just by saying something that we think is completely harmless. We may ask for something and get exactly what we asked for, only not at all what we asked for. What?

Take this story from my wife, Maggie. When we moved to North Carolina from Vermont she had to get a job as a waitress at IHOP. On her first night, someone came in and ordered tea to drink. Being a northerner, Maggie went and poured the person a cup of hot tea and returned to the table. When she put it down, the customer exclaimed, “What is that? I ordered tea!” Maggie replied, “That is tea.” What she didn’t realize was that in North Carolina, unlike in Vermont, when someone orders tea, they want a tall glass of sweet, ICED tea. Because these two people were from two completely different areas of the United States, a simple “tea” had two different meanings.

The same holds true for what happened in Matthew 27. The Jewish leaders had brought Jesus before Pilate to be crucified. Pilate, however, after talking with Jesus was ready to release Him back to the crowd, finding no fault with Him. But the people wanted Him dead. Imagine Jesus and Pilate standing side by side, and these famous words come to rest on their ears, “Let His blood be on us and on our children!” Pilate, being from Rome, heard one thing. But Jesus, being from Heaven, heard something completely different. Pilate and Jesus both chose to give the people what they had requested.

Pilate, being of this world, answered as we have all been taught; He handed Jesus over to be crucified. He responded in a human way to what we have all assumed to be a human statement. Jesus, who came from Heaven, answered in a spiritual way. What the people shouted as a statement of rebellion against their Messiah, Jesus answered as a prayer request, because He is the Messiah. Instead of hearing what Pilate heard, Jesus, in my opinion, heard the crowd say, “God, let His blood be on us and our children!” It was a request for the ultimate atoning sacrifice, not a request for blame!

Just like the story of Joseph in the Old Testament, everything that they meant for harm, God used for good. The people cried out for the blood of Jesus to be upon them, that they be held liable for His death. God, in His infinite grace, chose to hear their speech and thoughts as a request for redemption. In hearing their cries through His grace, God allowed His only Son to be crucified, and fulfilled their every desire, whether they realized it or not.

The blood of Christ is now upon them and their children. It’s on us and our children. It’s washed clean the sins of the world, past, present, and future. The Sacrifice was once for all men for all time.(1 Peter 3:18) Now it’s just a matter of accepting the gift.

Meditation

Joshua 1:8
8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Well, there’s a promise to grab onto! Meditate in the Word day and night and it will make your way prosperous and you will have good success. What is meditation? Is this some ritual where we sit in silence and ponder what the Word of God says? To a degree, yes, but it is much more then that. The word “meditate” comes from the Hebrew word “hagah” which means to ponder, imagine, groan, roar, and speak.

Surely that shines a new light on how we are to meditate in the Word both day and night. It’s not simply a matter of reading it and sitting quietly pondering what mystery God has hidden deep in the text; we are to be saying it, declaring it, and consuming it throughout the course of our days.

Have you ever said something, and then said it again with a different emphasis on a different syllable? Have you ever phrased a sentence and then said it in a completely different way, accenting different words? My father-in-law used to say, “I held her but for a moment.” Then he would say, “I held her but for a moment.” There’s a difference, right? It’s all in how you say it. The inflection you use, the pauses you create, have the ability to change the entire meaning of what is being said. This holds true for God’s word. While reading it silently may yield a revelation, speaking the same verse out loud may change the meaning entirely.

Yesterday I heard a preacher quote Genesis 22:8 “And Abraham said, ‘My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering’: so they went both of them together.” I heard it exactly how it is written here with an implied “for” between the words “provide himself”. Then, I spoke the same verse out loud to myself. Something completely different came out of my mouth than what I just heard on the TV. I said, “And Abraham said, ‘My son, God will provide Himself, a Lamb, for a burnt offering’: so they went both of them together.”

Instead of hearing God providing for himself a lamb, I heard God will provide Himself to be the Lamb. Both times I heard the truth, but it was only when I spoke the Word out loud that the full Truth was revealed.

The WAY in a manger?

Luke 2:7
7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

It’s not all that hard to find Jesus Christ in the Christmas story. I took a stab at it, and lo and behold, there He was in second chapter of Luke. So I decided to find His crucifixion in the Christmas story. Somewhere in this beautiful account of the Savior of mankind being born an innocent baby has to be a pointer, an arrow that directs us toward His ultimate sacrifice.

I’ve often heard people ask the question, “If Jesus was God, did He know what was going to happen even when He was a baby?” The first problem with this question is “if”. Asking “if” implies that there is a possibility that He isn’t God. So I’ll address that first. Yes, Jesus is God. Now, on to the second half of the question. Since the answer to the “if” question was yes, then it stands that the answer to the second half would have to be yes as well. Since Jesus is God, then He knows what is going to happen to Him in the future.

Now that we’ve established Jesus is God and He knows His future, even as a baby, we come back to the first question, which has now become the third question: is there a hidden pointer to the crucifixion in the birth story of Jesus? Of course I believe the answer is yes. But what is the pointer? For that, a vocabulary lesson.

The New Testament was written in Greek. The Greek word for swaddling is sparganoo, from the root word sparganon, which means “to strap or wrap with strips....to confine movement”. The next word is manger, translated from the Greek word phatne, meaning a feeding trough or stall. What was the purpose of a manger? It was a place where food was laid out by the shepherd for the flock to come and eat.

Now I can tie this all together for you. Baby Jesus’ entire body was wrapped in strips of fabric, restricting His movement and keeping Him safe. Later in life, Jesus was whipped with strips of leather that wrapped around His entire body while His movement was restricted. Baby Jesus was laid down in a manger made of wood to rest. Jesus, the Christ, was laid on a cross made of wood to give us rest. Finally there is His placement in the manger. Obviously this was a busy time in Bethlehem, so surely we can assume there were a lot of animals in town as well. Somehow, however, Mary and Joseph managed to find a manger that was empty and they filled it with this baby. The ultimate importance of this story is Jesus being placed in a basket where food goes. Later, during the Last Supper, He refers to Himself as the Bread and tells His disciples to eat.

Jesus didn’t come just to be the food, but also to be the shepherd. His words, not mine! (paraphrased) Not only does He want us to eat freely, but He continually lays out more for us. Every day we go to Jesus the richness of His glory supplies us nourishment. Every time we wake up hungry, He is our supply and our supplier. Jesus, through His death and resurrection, became the freely offered food for us, His flock. He took our sins, our faults, and our curses with Him to the cross, and in exchange He gave us His grace, riches, and righteousness. He knew, even as a baby, that He would die to restore our relationship. He designed even His birth story to show the magnitude of His grace and the abundance of His sacrifice.

Breaking the Law

Exodus 32:19
19 When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.

Anger. It’s something with which I personally struggle. It may be something that you wrestle with as well. There are different types and degrees of anger. There is good anger and evil anger. I think the context of any given situation and the reason for the anger is what ultimately determines its validity.

In the case of Moses, this was a righteous anger. This was a holy agitation that welled up deep within him as he came down the mountain. Moses had just been face to face with God Almighty and had been given a strict set of rules for all of mankind to keep. He had spoken with the Creator. He witnessed Him (God) form tablets of stone and engrave with His finger the rules for righteousness, the Ten Commandments. The very first rule, the primary and most important rule, was to not make an idol or other god and worship it. More than that, God specifically told Moses, “I AM the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me!” Exodus 20:2-3 But what did he find as he came down the mountain? Not only had they made false gods, but they gave their gods the credit for the Exodus!

So what of it; where’s the parallel? Moses’ anger was, in essence, God’s anger. He was acting on behalf of the Creator. I’m sure we can all relate to taking up a fight or cause on the behalf of another. Well, the same was true for Moses. Moses burned with righteous anger towards the people of Israel. He was enraged and he threw the stone tablets down. He broke God’s perfect written word. After just playing mediator between God and Israel on the top of the mountain, he came down to find the entire nation acting like fools! Moses quickly gathered together a group of men who were for the Lord and they killed about 3000 people that day.

God in heaven is just and holy. He knows, as He did in the days of Moses, exactly what we are doing all the time. But we have a mediator, too. His name is Jesus. Long before coming to earth, He spoke to the Father on our behalf. Then He came, not to carry the law for condemnation, but to fulfill it. And just like Moses’ anger needed an outlet, so to did that of a just and holy God. So He, the Father, focused His anger on the law as well. This time instead of breaking rocks that had the word written in them, He broke His only Son who is the Word. Through God’s outpouring of wrath and anger on Jesus, through His breaking of the Law, we now have unmerited righteousness in the eyes of the Father.

Satisfaction

Mark 6:42
42 They all ate and were satisfied,

How fitting a scripture given the current holiday season. With the Thanksgiving feast only a day behind us, I’m sure we can relate to this verse. The turkey, stuffing, gravy, potatoes, cranberry, rolls, cakes, and pies, are probably still sloshing around in our stomachs and have surely left us feeling satisfied. Perhaps, as in my case, even over filled.

What is it about the Thanksgiving feast that causes us to eat so much? We usually aren’t like that, are we? I know that I don’t normally eat 3 pounds of meat at a single serving and chase it with ½ of a pie! There’s something about the overabundance of food on the table that triggers our desire to consume until we are stuffed. This isn’t an American tradition, or the product of a gluttonous society. It’s because we see all that there is and know that no matter how much we eat there will still be leftovers!! This is a physical manifestation of the natural desire that God has put in us all to gorge on His overabundance of grace.

As evidenced in the Bible, this insane need to eat our fill isn’t just an American tradition. When Jesus fed the 5000 (not including women and children) their reaction to His feast was consumption. He had been given 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, but they saw an endless buffet. He sat them down, blessed the food, and allowed them to take and eat until they were satisfied. When they were finished He had the disciples collect the leftovers and there were 12 baskets full.

Like the host of our Thanksgiving dinner, Jesus has prepared well in advance far more than we could ever consume. He’s invited us to His table and offered us the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation. More than that, He’s laid out an endless buffet of His blessings for us. His desire to give far outweighs our effort to digest. Jesus wants us to take from Him until we are full; full of His grace, His love, His Spirit, His kindness, His riches, His righteousness, and His glory. When we have eaten our fill and are ready to burst, there will still be more. Satisfaction, guaranteed. There will be grace leftovers! So relax, enjoy, indulge, and consume. Loosen your spiritual belt a couple of notches; gorge yourself on the supernatural buffet of God’s grace.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Bitter? Sweet!!

Exodus 15:25
So Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When Moses threw the tree into the water, the water became good to drink. There the Lord gave the people a rule and a law to live by, and there he tested their loyalty to him.

I honestly don’t know why God did the things He did for the Israelites. A reasonable person would think that God would get annoyed and walk away from this band of whining, complaining, ungrateful people, but He didn’t. I guess we have only one thing to consider in God’s dealings with the nation of Israel: grace!

It was grace that brought them to Egypt in the first place. It was the grace of God, through Joseph, that provided for Israel in a time of famine. It was the grace of God that kept the Hebrew men, women, and children from the ten plagues sent upon Pharaoh and his people. It was the grace of God that provided a cloud of leadership by day and fire to light the way at night. It was the grace of God that parted the Red Sea and swallowed up the army of Pharaoh as they pursued the Israelites. And it was the grace of God that continually tolerated the groaning and complaining as He led them through the wilderness.

So I suppose, then, that it was the grace of God that heard them in Marah, where the waters were bitter and undrinkable. It was God who placed a tree before Moses. It was God who laid it on Moses’ heart to toss the tree into the waters. It was God who caused the tree to make the waters not only potable, but sweet! It was God who, through His grace, continued to provide for the people.

It’s understood by most scholars that, in areas of prophesy, the term “waters” typically means people. (Revelation 13 is an example of this.) It’s also thought that the “Tree of Life” found in Genesis and again in Revelation is a representation of Jesus. (Genesis 3:22/Revelation 22:1) Jesus even refers to Himself as the “true vine” in John 15:1, implying that He is the Tree of Life. So in reading this verse, I began to ponder what it means on an eternal plane.

We, the waters, are bitter and undrinkable; our sin has made us this way. God cannot have fellowship with us knowing that we have sinned. He sees past our works and our deeds and is so holy that He can not tolerate our bitterness. So God, thirsty and desperate for a true relationship with us, cast into the waters a Tree. This Tree, Jesus, became a person. He walked among us, lived with us, and died for us. Because He was tossed into the bitter waters, they became sweet. Because of the innocent sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God, the Tree of Life, we have been made not only drinkable, but sweet to the taste of God the Father. As we read in Hebrews 10, we are given to Him, holy and acceptable, by the blood of Christ!

Passage

Exodus 14:29
29 But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

It’s amazing how God provided everything for Israel after she fled from Egypt. He not only got them sent out of the country, but He also caused the Egyptians to give all their silver, gold, clothes, and livestock to the Israelites as they went. It wasn’t long after they left, however, that Pharaoh decided to pursue them and kill them all.

God had a plan for this. He led them out to the Red Sea, where they were seemingly trapped between the raging waters and Pharaoh’s army. The people were mad. They directed their anger at Moses and Aaron for leading them out. They griped and complained that life would have been better in Egypt. They bellyached about the supposed fact that they would be killed in the wilderness. They completely forgot about God and all He had already done for them. But that didn’t stop God from remembering them, and providing a way to get out of their situation.

God instructed Moses to hold out his hands over the sea and then He caused the waters to separate. God provided dry land for the Israelites to cross. He held back the sea as a wall on either side so that they wouldn’t be overcome by the waters. He brought every last one of them to safety before commanding Moses to close the waters over the Egyptian army.

If we look just a bit deeper into this story, we can see the awesome picture it paints, not only of God’s desire to protect us, but of Jesus’ ultimate holiness. If the sea were our sin and Heaven on the other side, how would we get there? How could we cross without supernatural assistance? God, through His Son Jesus, parted our sins. He prepared a safe path for us to cross to the promised land. He’s continually holding back our sins, through His power, so that they don’t come crashing down upon us. He gave us divine redemption through Jesus Christ, who knew no sin. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Jesus walks above the sins of man, not through them. (“Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.” Matthew 14:25) Because He is, He is able to hold back our sins. It is only through the awesome power of Jesus’ outstretched hands on the cross that our sins are walled up to our left and to our right. It is only through His sacrifice that we are given security and firm ground on which to walk.

Flies

Exodus 8:23
23 ‘I will make a difference between My people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall be.’

With so many translations of the Bible circulating around the world today, is it any wonder why so many people don’t truly understand God’s grace and ultimate message? It’s hard to discern the Truth when the Message has been adapted and changed for culture, language, age, or gender. For example, I read from a New King James version of the Bible. Some people read from an Amplified Bible and others choose to read Eugene Peterson’s translation, The Message. No matter which text you choose, nothing compares to the original and nothing speaks like God’s language, love.

Take this verse above for an example. This is from the New King James version of the Bible. It’s a quote from God Himself talking to Moses about how He is going to keep His people separate and protected from this upcoming plague of flies. I suppose I could go on for a page or two about how flies eat dead flesh and that’s why God was going to keep them from His people. Because Jesus, the Christ, brings life eternal and all those who choose not to follow Him are choosing death, the flies are only going to bother the Egyptians. There is this hidden metaphor of God’s redemption and grace in there, if you’re looking for it. But, that’s not what I’m writing about. (That was a freebie.)

Anyway, I digress. The point that I was trying to make before was that this great translation of the original text leaves something out. The word “difference” in the verse was translated from a term which literally meant “set a ransom”. I don’t know why it was changed to difference; there’s really nothing spectacular about making a difference between two groups of people. You’re skinny, I’m fat. There, it’s a difference, but is it significant? When the term “set a ransom” is put in, the meaning changes. It’s not just a minor difference; it’s a purchase of redemption. God is telling Moses that He’s going to purchase His people. He’s going to pay a price for them. God isn’t going to just make them different, He’s going to sacrifice something of His to give them freedom. That “ransom” that has been omitted from every text but the original (at least all the ones that I can find) is Jesus Christ. “For even the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a RANSOM for many.” (Mark 10:45) Jesus is quoted as saying He is the Ransom. He is, He was, and He will be. That’s the nature of God.

I’ve wondered about all the division in the church: the different doctrines, theologies, and styles of worship. I’ve wondered what’s right and what’s wrong with today’s church. I’ve come to this conclusion: The church is struggling because we don’t know the Truth. We’ve watered down even the very words that God spoke into a more palatable version. We’ve made light, in almost every aspect, of what God’s purpose was in everything that He did and said. That purpose was to reveal to us His Son, Jesus, the Savior of man. The Ransom for sinners. Jesus Messiah, Lord of all!

Snake in the grass....

Exodus 4:4
4 Then the LORD said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand.

I’ve read this story a lot of times. Moses and God on the mountain together talking about the future of the Hebrews. Burning bushes, holy ground, and orders from God; it’s the stuff that movies are made of! Sometimes it just seems like another Bible story, but today, something different stuck out to me.

God told Moses to use his rod, the staff that he carried. He said that by laying it down and taking it up again the Hebrew people would recognize that the Lord, their God had sent Moses. In laying it down it would turn into a snake, and in picking it up it would become a staff again. How would that show the power of God, the true nature of the Creator and Redeemer that the Hebrews had been begging for?

God chose Moses to demonstrate the entire history of the world with a stick. He knew that the Hebrews would make the connection. He knew that someday I would make the connection.

In the beginning God created everything. Angels, stars, galaxies, earth, plants, animals, and people were all part of His design. Satan, an angel, rebelled and decided that He could be God. He was cast out of Heaven and roams on earth. He deceives and manipulates, enslaves and tortures all of mankind. He is cursed and he is a snake!

Everything that the Devil, Satan, does and can do was being poured out on the Hebrew nation while they were in bondage in Egypt. God, through the staff of Moses, was getting ready to show them that though it seemed He had laid down control, that wasn’t the case. He was getting ready to grab the Devil by the tail and make him useless once again. This was something that His chosen people would recognize. This is also something that we, as Christians, should recognize.

Jesus’ death on the cross rendered Satan, that serpent of old, a useless stick. In the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, we are free from the bondage of sin. The Devil has no power over us. We are royalty; made righteous in the healing blood of Christ. Recognize your authority. You are a solider in the army of God! If you recoil in fear because of the snake in the grass, remember Moses. He let go of the staff and it turned into a snake. He jumped back in fear and ran from it! But God said, GRAB IT!! Take hold of the serpent; MY power will render it a useless stick in your hands! The same is true for us. If we hold Satan by the tail, if we bind him with the Word, under the authority of Jesus Christ, we can render him useless!!!

Wake Up.

41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

What happened to the Disciples in the Garden that night? Were they laying back on their fluffy Serta sleepers with down filled pillows, covered with Ralph Lauren comforters? Certainly not! They were in a Garden outside the city. They were fearful and confused as to what was going to happen to this man, Jesus, who had been leading them for the past three years. Certainly they weren’t in any state of mind, or comfortable position to fall asleep. So what was Jesus worried about?

Jesus was worried about their spirituality. He wasn’t concerned that they’d fall asleep and get some physical rest. He was concerned that they’d close their mind’s eye to what His purpose was and miss the point! “Watch and pray”: there is so much to that. He told them to watch, but what? Watch Him! Pray! Pray against temptation. Jesus wanted them to see Him praying for His Father’s will to be done. He wanted them to see the struggle within His fleshly body and understand fully the burden He was about to carry. He wanted them to pray against the temptation that He knew would come. The temptation to take the easy road. The temptation to avoid hard times. The temptation to avoid the will of the Father when it hurts or gets tough.

One sentence was a rebuke to Peter, John, and James. The next sentence described what He was going through. Perhaps He wasn’t speaking of their spirit and flesh. Maybe he was talking about His own! Jesus, 100% man and 100% God, could very well have been telling them that His spirit was willing, but His flesh was weak.

His command was to watch and pray. Am I doing that today? Are you? Is anyone? Are we looking to Jesus for our example and then praying to the Father that we don’t fall into temptation? Are we watching the world around us, keeping our eyes open and our minds ready for the enemy’s imminent attack? Are we trying to be like Jesus? Are we looking to Jesus for leadership? Or are we spiritually asleep, living as the world, blind and completely unaware of the spiritual war around us!

I recently heard a pastor preach a sermon on “Keeping the Morning Watch”. How appropriate that he chose the word “watch” and not “prayer time”. Sometimes prayer time can become legalistic and ritual. We write lists and keep to them, praying for Billy, Jane, and our country, but we forget to keep our eyes open and hearts open to the Spirit of God and what He is doing. Keeping watch implies being a solider, being vigilant, searching and scanning for the enemy. That’s our job as Christians; to keep watch over the King’s property and to pray that we don’t fall into temptation.

I can’t say it any better than Jesus did; “Watch AND pray!”

Eat only what GOD has prepared.

Daniel 1:15
15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.

Israel was captured. The whole nation of God’s people was now subject to King Nebuchadnezzar. Everything that he said, they had to do. He was their new master. He even renamed them to show his power. King Nebuchadnezzar even had control over the food that they would eat. But there were four men of God who stood by their Lord and would not subject themselves to eating the diet of the king. We know them as Belteshazzar (Daniel), Shadrach (Hananiah), Meshach (Mishael), and Abednego (Azariah).

These four men were willing to risk punishment over eating the king’s diet. The food the king was providing wasn’t clean for the Israelites to eat. So they asked to have only vegetables. They requested to eat only the natural food that God had created. They wouldn’t eat the prepared, unclean foods, and they refused to drink the fermented wines. This frightened the guards because the men would be weakened and frail, and the king would know that his orders weren’t being upheld. But that’s not what happened. Instead, the four men gained weight. They gained muscle. They gained knowledge, wisdom, and the ability to interpret dreams. They ended up looking healthier and better nourished than all of the other men!!

So what of it? In today’s world there are lots of different doctrines (foods) being served by lots of different people. Man, in his own wisdom, can teach how to control your temper, your budget, and your career path. Man can teach out of his own knowledge how to have a better marriage or be a good parent. Only God, however, can do it for you! When you consume the doctrine of man, the how-to’s of society, the work is your responsibility. There are even churches that will proclaim these same teachings. But, when you consume the doctrine of Jesus Christ the work is completed. “IT IS FINISHED!” He’s the Bread of Life, the Manna from Heaven. He is the nourishment for the soul that will bring peace, joy, and happiness. He will bring it to you because His work is final and our works are futile.

Belteshazzar and his three friends only ate the vegetables that were raw and straight from God’s creation. They didn’t eat the food that had been prepared and handled by man. And as a result, without work or toil, they were stronger, smarter, and blessed more than all of the other men! We need to do the same. We need to eat the Word of God. We need to eat it unadulterated by man, by religion, and by society. We need to consume Jesus Christ, our passover lamb, and let Him do the work inside us. In the end, we will receive the strength, knowledge, and blessings through Him, to fill our lives with happiness!

It’s not at all about the words that you preach; it’s all about the Word that you teach, Jesus Christ!

Accountability

John 13:15
15 “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”

Today it struck me. What was the example that Jesus was setting for His disciples? Was it that the Master is to be the servant? Surely this is the truth, but it’s surface truth. What Jesus was doing was completely beneath Him as a Rabbi, and certainly as the Son of God, but He chose to do it anyway. He received some push-back from His disciples, but nonetheless He washed their feet.

I think it’s safe to say that any doctrine that preaches Jesus wanted us to learn a valuable lesson about service is accurate. I think that the lesson taught about no one being greater than the least is true as well. But I think that there is more to this than just the simple physical act of washing feet. Just before bending down to wash His disciples’ feet, Jesus spoke to the 12 about the need to be clean. He first spoke in physical terms: Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean...” John 13:10(a) This was typical of the Christ, talking in easy to understand terms so that everyone would understand and get a clear mental picture. He then, halfway through His thought, switches to the spiritual realm: “...and you are clean, though not every one of you.” John 13:10(b)

Of course we all know that He was referring to Judas who was going to go off and betray Him that evening, but why the connection between foot washing, total cleanliness, and spirituality? Why did He link these together?

I think that a lesson to be taken from Jesus is this: we are to hold one another accountable. Jesus reminded the disciples first that they were clean; they only needed their feet dusted off. This was true; they were walking on dusty roads. His message is hidden, though. We are all made clean by His blood that was spilled on the cross. Sometimes, though, we’re going to get our feet dirty. It’s not going to change our eternal destination or whether God loves us more or less. It’s just dust on our feet. Jesus was expressing to us that we have a responsibility to each other, as believers, to wash one another’s feet. We aren’t just to physically serve each other and our community, but we are called to hold each other accountable. When a brother or sister in Christ steps in the dirt, we have a responsibility, a command, from Christ to wash his or her feet.

Note that Jesus did not make His disciples feel dirty because their feet were dirty. In fact, He told them they were clean, they just need to be dusted off. We need to be Christ-like in our efforts to hold one another accountable. First we need to remind each other that we are CLEAN and righteous in Christ. Then we can point out that some feet need to be washed!

Hey Goat!

Leviticus 16:10
10 But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat.

“The Day of Atonement” That’s what this chapter of Leviticus has been labeled. What is atonement? It’s a payment for wrongdoings. It’s making amends. On this day, the high priest over Israel was to meet with God. He was to bring with him bulls, goats, rams, and incense for offerings. Some were for sins, some were to provide a cover, some were burnt offerings to the Lord. It was a day of sacrifice, of bloodshed and of payment.

There was an interesting part of this day, though. The high priest, who at the time was Aaron, was to bring two goats to the Lord. He was to cast lots for the goats. One was to be sacrificed as a sin offering for the people, and the other was to be set free. Something interesting is going to happen to the second goat before it is released. Prior to being set free in the wilderness, the goat is to be led in to the Most Holy Place, into the very presence of God. In that hidden, sacred area, behind the veil of the temple, the high priest is to lay his hands upon the goat. There, in the presence of God, he will confess out loud all of the sins of Israel. The wickedness and rebellion of the people will be placed upon the head of the goat. Afterward the goat will be led outside the city and set free. The scapegoat carries away the sins of the people from that year. He takes them away into the wilderness.

Interestingly enough, there’s a passage in the New Testament about Jesus that sounds remarkably like this goat. John the Baptist says in John 1:29 “Behold! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!” Huh! (Of course John says “Lamb” but I think you can make the connection.) On the Day of Atonement, Jesus was taken before the high priest. They laid hands on Him. They rebelled against, cursed, and mocked Him. They led Him before Pilate, who had Him crucified. Jesus was led outside the city, carrying on His back the burdens of our sins in the form of a cross. He died outside the city gates in the wilderness.

Jesus is the Lamb of God, as John stated. Jesus, the scapegoat, who carried away the sins of the world, not just for the year but once for all time!

Are you bribing?

Genesis 32:5
“I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.’”

Have you ever been so fearful of God that you didn’t want to go before Him? Have you ever sent your offerings, your pleas, your gifts, and your bribes out ahead of you to appease Him? Have you ever thought that all the wrong you’ve done in the past will surely catch up to you someday and the punishment will be harsh? Have you ever been taught that you need to show God your faith? If you have, you’re not alone.

Take Jacob’s story. Here’s a man who robbed his older brother of his birthright for a cup of stew. After manipulating him out of his inheritance, he tricked his father, Isaac, into giving him his brother’s blessing. Poor Esau; he was destined to be duped! After stealing his brother’s future, Jacob fled for fear of his life. One day, however, he’d have to meet his brother again. Jacob was terrified. What if he hates me? What if he wants to kill me? What if.....? Fear consumed his thoughts, to the point that he stopped even believing God for the promise He had given through Abraham and Isaac. (Read Genesis 32:22-32 for that story)

So what did he do? He acted out of guilt. He began to organize all of his wealth and possessions so he could attempt to appease Esau before they met. He sent his offerings out to Esau in waves. His hope was that the gifts would win him favor in the eyes of his brother. He thought that if he sent offerings of money, people, animals, and stuff to Esau, that his deceit would be forgiven. What he hadn’t realized was that Esau had already forgiven him.

Does this sound like us? Isn’t this just a picture of what we have done to God? We have cheated Him of what is rightfully His: worship. We have robbed Him of His blessing, that is, to care and provide for us through His means. Thankfully, our God has already forgiven us. Just like Esau, God forgave us before we came to Him. His Son, Jesus, on the cross became our forgiveness. We don’t have to send ahead all that we have in order to gain favor in the eyes of our Lord. We have gained His favor already. He loves us. He cherishes us.

In the end Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself!” Genesis 33:9 Then he followed that up with, “Let us take our journey; let us go and I will go before you.” Genesis 33:12

Look, God has enough. He made it all; He doesn’t need your bribes. Keep what you have; Jesus was more then enough to satisfy God! Just trust Him, hold on, and believe that He will go before you.

Do what now?

Genesis 22:8
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

Abraham was asked by God to bring his only son up the mountain and lay him on the altar for a sacrifice. Abraham had begged God for a son for years. He loved his son. He cherished him and expected that through him all of the world would be blessed. So when God said to bring Isaac to Me as a sacrifice, Abraham must have been devastated. He must have asked the questions in his mind, “Why Isaac? Why would you ask this of me? How can I do this? What will I tell my son?” Outwardly, however, he acted.

Some say it was Abraham’s great faith in God that enabled him to respond with a “Yes.” Some may say it was fear. They say that Abraham knew he had to obey God or else. I don’t claim to know why Abraham said okay to this “unreasonable” assignment; I just know he did.

The parallels in the story of Abraham and Isaac and God and Jesus are way too obvious. Abraham, the father of many nations, has one son. God, the creator of all nations, has one Son. Abraham is told that God will bless all nations through his son Isaac. God tells us that all nations will be blessed through His Son, Jesus. Isaac was innocent. Jesus was innocent. Isaac was forced to carry the wood for the fire and sacrifice up the mountain on his back. Jesus was forced to carry the wooden altar, His cross, up the mountain on His back. It’s just too clear of a connection, there has to be something more.

What’s missing from this story? Grace! Where is the grace that is a representation of Jesus? It’s not found in Isaac. It’s not found in Abraham. It’s not in the wood, the mountain, or the altar. The Grace of Jesus can only be found outside of the works of man. Abraham was faithful to the word of God. He was willing to do whatever God asked; however, God wasn’t looking only for obedience, but for the chance to provide His grace. Had God not provided a ram in the bushes, Abraham would have received God’s blessings for the works of his hands. This would be contrary to the entire message of Jesus’ mission and ultimate crucifixion.

The Bible says, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” Isaiah 64:6 It also says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

God had to put His grace into the story. Without God’s grace, Abraham would have sacrificed his son that day. If the ram hadn’t been there, Abraham would have worked his way into good standing with God and set the pattern for all of society in the future. Without God’s grace, we would live under a different set of rules. We would be constantly working and striving to prove our faithfulness and worth to God. We would be constantly straining to gain His blessings. We would be so focused on OUR works that we would forget to do His work! So God provided a Ram. He made acceptance so easy for us that we’d forget about working for it and focus on working for Him.

It seems that the ram is always the aside to this story. It’s always a footnote at the end. “Oh--and uh--God provided a ram in the bushes. See, God will provide for you too, if you’re faithful! If you do what God asks of you, He’ll provide for you.” NO! That’s not the point. The point of the story IS the Ram! The Ram is Jesus. Jesus is the entire reason for everything. Jesus is the sacrifice that is greater then all of our works and faithfulness. He is greater. Jesus is the Grace of God that was provided. He’s not the result of faithfulness, He’s the fulfillment of it!

Interpretation

Matthew 11:30
"30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

I guess it really depends on how you interpret this scripture before you really understand what it means. There are two schools of thought; one being that this is a physical statement, and one spiritual.

From the physical side, I don't think that anything about Jesus' yoke was easy, nor do I think that His burden was or is light! You see, Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth to sacrifice His life for the redemption of all mankind. How can we possibly think that Jesus was telling us, Christians, that life was going to be easy if we followed Him? He tells us the exact opposite! We often hear this verse in reference to hard times in our lives. "Surrender it to Jesus, His burden is light!" While it's true that we should put our faith and hope in the Savior, not everything is easy. Sometimes the will of the Father isn't for us to give back the trouble we have, but to learn, accept, and inspire others through it. Surely if Christ was speaking of our physical existence here on earth, we as Christians would be all living the good life. We'd be free from disease, financial troubles, and all of the other problems of the world.

Jesus wasn't saying "Come to Me and life will be easy."; He was saying, "Come to me and I will give you rest." Spiritual Rest. This is so much different from physical rest. Jesus was speaking of a spiritual comfort, the kind that only comes when you surrender to Him. By giving Jesus the burden of your sin, you (we) are able to take upon us the easy yoke and "burden" of His righteousness while He becomes our unrighteousness.

If we were to truly take His words in the physical context (as we so often choose to when speaking of this passage) how could we possibly believe His burden was light; that His yoke is easy? Being born knowing that your people would reject you isn't easy. Knowing all your life that you would be taken before the Romans and skinned alive before being nailed to a cross isn't easy. Hanging in total agony and accepting the full wrath of God the Father, being the Atonement for the entire human race IS NOT an easy burden! The only "rest" that Jesus got from His burden, from His yoke, was when He offered up His Spirit to the Father and finally had a place to lay His head. (Matthew 8:20)

So let's be spiritual about this. Surrendering your burden of SIN to Jesus and accepting His yoke of righteousness and redemption for the burden of being heir to all of the Kingdom of Heaven is in fact EASY! If, however, you choose to read this passage and wish to live it out in the physical interpretation, then accept the cross of Christ. Accept His burden of being a reject, even among your own family and friends. (Luke 9:23-24) Accept the harsh reality that the world HATES you, but the Father loves you. Be crucified, daily. When the problems of this physical existence come, welcome them with arms stretched wide and hands open.

The poor old slave.

Luke 18:18
A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

A certain man came to Jesus with a simple question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”. It’s a question I’m sure that we’ve all asked at some point in our lives, and hopefully have come to the realization that confessing Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior is the correct answer. That’s not the answer this man was looking for, however.

It seems that this passage is often misinterpreted and used as an excuse to get people to give up their money. Because Jesus told the man that he must sell everything and give it to the poor, we think that He was laying the foundation for capital campaigns and sacrificial giving sermon lessons, but that’s simply not the truth. Jesus knew far more about this man’s life than we’ll ever be able to understand, but He gave us clues in this story as to the heart of this man.

Being brought up under the Law, this man was a slave to religion. He was raised to believe that by rigidly following the Commandments he would be granted passage into eternity. So when he came to Jesus with his question, he was already under the assumption that he was good enough for God. Jesus used his arrogance to show the man that he had not followed all of the Commandments; he was guilty of breaking the Law.

Jesus then goes on to tell the man that he must keep the commandments, but He specifically leaves out the first few. Jesus lists them out for him: don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t dishonor your parents, don’t murder. (Matthew also adds love your neighbor as yourself.) The man quickly responds to Jesus by saying he’s kept all of those commandments since he was a boy. Then Jesus lays it on him. “Sell everything you have and give to the poor.....” (Luke 18:22) When the man heard this he went away sad.

Why did he go away sad? Jesus pointed out that he had not kept all of the commandments. He showed the man that he had made wealth his god, and broken the first commandment. He showed him that his possessions had become an image of his god and that he’d broken the second commandment. He had even shown him that he used the Lord’s name in vain, calling Him (Jesus) “Good teacher”, breaking the third commandment. Jesus had already confronted the man with that, but his eyes were not opened to the teaching. (Luke 18:19)

You see, the moral of this story is that no matter how good we are, or think that we are, we’re still not keepers of the law. Jesus is the only keeper of the law, because He is the fulfillment and author of the law. We are law breakers! This man went away sad, not because Jesus said that he needed to become poor, but because he looked at the face of grace and asked for the law!

Followers

Matthew 12:15
“But Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. Many followed Him, and He healed them all.”

Jesus had been doing many great and wonderful things while He traveled with His disciples. He had been casting out demons, giving the blind sight, the deaf hearing, and even making the lame walk, but all of this wasn’t enough to keep away the harsh criticism of the Pharisees. They had to question whether it was lawful for Jesus to heal on the Sabbath. Because the Sabbath is the Lord’s day and is reserved as a day of rest and meditation, it was unlawful for a Jew to do any labor on that day. Jesus, however, being the fulfillment of the law and the cornerstone of God’s righteousness, bucked this man-filtered interpretation and did His Father’s work, even on the Sabbath. This enraged the Pharisees and they began to plot and devise a way to kill Jesus.

Jesus left the area, knowing their evil plans, and knowing that His time had not yet come. There were people, however, who had not yet received healing from Him. These people obviously had a desire to be close to Christ, to listen to His teachings, and to receive His healing, so they followed Him when He left. How fortunate for them, because He healed them all!

Often times in our study of the Bible, when we read what Jesus did and said, we get caught up in the parables He used or the accounts of specific healings. We read how He made a blind man see, or a raised a girl from death. We marvel at His wisdom and how He used simple stories to tell us about our lives, but we miss the secret. Here in this verse, hidden in the center of a completely different issue, is the secret. HE HEALED THEM ALL. The people who chose to follow Jesus all received healing. The Bible doesn’t give a great account of what ailments they had. I’m sure some were sick and others were lame. Some may have been blind or deaf while others may have had addictions, hurts and hang-ups. The fact is that the Bible doesn’t specify; it simply says that all who followed Him were healed.

What a great and marvelous, simple, hidden treasure this verse is. It’s not deep and theological. There aren’t 100 different interpretations to what it could mean. It’s pretty simple, “He healed them all.” That doesn’t leave much to be interpreted. As people who have chosen to follow Christ, I would think that we fit in this category. It’s not important what we need healing from, it’s important to know that all who followed were healed. The Bible doesn’t even mention if they asked for healing; it doesn’t mention if they even knew they needed healing. It just says that they were all healed.

Sometimes we get lost in our lives. We get locked down in this world and we may forget that we have problems. We may not even know that we have problems. But Jesus, the Great Physician, He knows. He knows what ails you; you know that all who followed Him were healed.

Take a seat.

Matthew 15:19
“Ordering the people to sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.”

The 23rd Psalm is probably one of the best known writings in all of the Bible. Kids learn it when they are young and carry it with them all their lives. It’s a comforting passage, often times read at funerals. It was written by David as an expression of his feelings toward God. Being a shepherd himself, David used the analogy to describe how God acts in our lives. He wrote this passage so that even the commoners of the time would understand how incredibly loving and protective their God was.

How fitting, then, that Jesus, the Good Shepherd, was born in a stable. As He grew it became obvious that the leadership qualities He possessed were unlike any other. Everywhere He went, people followed. He provided for them with healing, teaching, wisdom, knowledge, and food. Like any good shepherd, He was even willing to lay down His life for their salvation.

Often times we read the accounts of Jesus’ miracles and miss some of the hidden fulfillment of prophesy. Sometimes we read prophesy without even knowing that it’s a prophesy. I grew up knowing the 23rd Psalm; I never read it as a prophesy until this week. I’ve read this passage before with the understanding that it’s about God and with the knowledge that Jesus is God, but I never saw it as a prophetic passage to be fulfilled by Christ on a hillside somewhere near the Sea of Galilee. I didn’t see it in that light until this week.

There’s Jesus on a hill with His disciples. They’ve come to tell Him that the people are hungry and they don’t have any food to give them. They’ve come to tell Him, “Send them home!” But Jesus’ response is simple. He ordered them all to sit down in the grass. Then He took the food, blessed it, and passed it out to the crowd. Everyone ate, and they took up the left overs at the end. I read that verse and thought, “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.” (Psalm 23:1-3) It would have been easy for Jesus to tell His disciples to have all the people form a line. It would have been convenient to dole out the fish and bread that way, but it wouldn’t have been shepherd-ly! Jesus, our Good Shepherd, wants us to sit, to know that He is in charge, and to receive the overabundance of grace that He has for us.

I bet you’re going to read the 23rd Psalm tonight!

"Give me your shoes...."

John 3:3
“Jesus said, `I tell you the truth. No person can see God's kingdom if he is not born again.' “

I thought of this verse this morning after attending a David Crowder Band worship event last night. My incredible wife, Maggie, took me there for an early birthday surprise. I am a huge David Crowder fan and the event was fantastic, but that’s not what this is about. During the service, Crowder stopped to read some signs that fans were holding up in the audience. One in particular caught his eye. It read, “Give me your shoes. It’s my B-day!”

Crowder, in all of his Crowder-ness, was wearing bright yellow sneakers. The kind that really stand out in a crowd. They were shoes that he said, “Give you sunshine from the ground up.” During this moment with the crowd, Crowder took off his shoes and gave them away, without thought or hesitation. In the process he told the story of how special they were to him. He told us all how he had purchased them in Hong Kong and has not been able to find a pair like them anywhere else on the face of the earth. What really struck me, however, was his willingness to surrender them without a fight, without a fee, without a trade.

As the night went on, and into this morning, I began to see a picture of Jesus in this Crowder moment. Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to be “born again” in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. He (Jesus) went on to explain that this meant surrendering your old life to a new life for Him. At that moment in time, God gives you a new birthday. It’s the day you are born into the bloodline of Jesus Christ through His sacrifice and atonement on the Cross. On that day, Jesus Christ took off His shoes and freely gave them to us. In return, He wore our shoes and went to the cross in our place. Christ surrendered His glory for our birthday.

There is no where else on the face of this earth that you can receive such a gift. The gift of eternal life and salvation can only be found at the foot of the cross. It’s a priceless gift. It was given to us without a fight, without a fee, and without a trade. It’s the gift of Grace from Jesus Christ so that we can have the everlasting opportunity to walk in His shoes. While Crowder said his shoes are like the sun shining up on you, wearing Christ’s shoes allows the Son to shine upon you!

Cleaning House

Leviticus 14:40
“40 then the priest shall order them to tear out the stones with the mark in them and throw them away at an unclean place outside the city.”

My mom always talks about how bad mold and mildew are. She’s told me over and over about how the Bible is very specific about what to do when you have mold or mildew in your house or on your furniture. “Get rid of it!” is typically what I hear. A true statement and a very healthy approach to cleanliness in the house, but there’s more.

Some translations of the Bible refer specifically to mold and some to mildew. Some call it a plague in the house and others, still, a mark. What none of the translations differ on, however, is that it is the priest who is to inspect and order out the contaminated parts of the house. They are to be removed and brought outside the city gates, to an unclean place. Why is the Bible so determined to have the priest do the inspection and supervise the removal?

The book of Leviticus is specific in how the mold (plague) is to be removed. The priest must come into the house and inspect what He sees. He must identify the plague and order it scraped and cleaned. His orders are that the contaminated parts be removed and taken outside the gates to an unclean location. After a week (according to Leviticus) the priest returns and re-evaluates the situation. If the plague is there or it has come back and spread, He orders the entire structure be torn down and disposed of. He then instructs that a new house be built, clean!

Our bodies are a temple (1 Corinthians 6:19), which is the HOUSE of God. If our bodies are a house or dwelling place, then they can’t be filled with mold and mildew! I actually prefer the term plague or mark. Leprosy is a plague and is commonly associated with sin. So couldn’t this mold in the house be sin in our hearts? Our High Priest, Jesus, is invited into our hearts when we accept Him as Lord and Savior. We invite Him in and show Him the sin that has crept in through our walls and has infested our lives. He orders it to be removed! Sometimes, though, we stray from Christ; we wander from His teachings, and the sin returns. We have to allow Christ, our High Priest, to come back in and re-evaluate our lives. He will order us to be made new! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

While the scraping and removal of the sin in our lives can be painful and even leave holes in our walls, Jesus has a redemptive plan to make us a new, CLEAN, house!

If I had wings.....

Malachi 4:2
2 “But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture.”

Doesn’t this scripture paint a wonderful picture? I’m sure we’ve all read this verse or heard this verse at some point in our lives and had a mental picture pop in our minds. Probably we’ve thought of a mother hen, or any bird for that matter, gathering her chicks under her wings and providing protection for them. I’m sure that we’ve seen birds protect their young by standing up with their wings flared out in a display of power, while their chicks hunker down behind the shield. This is how we like to picture God, like a protective mother hen. While this is a nice image to have of God, and does hold some validity, it’s not what this verse is about. Fear keeps us behind the wings, but this verse clearly states that we’ll go OUT with joy! We aren’t going to stay hidden and cloaked behind momma-hen’s wings.

The key to understanding this scripture is understanding the language. Wings, as referred to in this verse, is a translation of the Hebrew word Tzitzit (zeet-zeet). The Tzitzit is the fringe on the end of the Tallit (tal-leet). The Tallit is a rectangular garment with four corners traditionally worn by Jewish men who had reached the age of maturity (age 13). The Tallit was also used in worship. The men would place the garment over their heads in order to create their own private space to pray and seek God’s will. Jesus, a Jewish male, over 13, and a Rabbi, most likely wore a Tallit.

As Jesus traveled with His disciples, He healed many people. He stopped along the way to ask certain people if they wanted to be healed. He just walked up and healed some, whether they wanted it or not. Others, however, took healing from Him. (Mark 6:56 “and wherever he was going, to villages, or cities, or fields, in the market-places they were laying the infirm, and were calling upon him, that they may touch if it were but the fringe of his garment, and as many as were touching him were saved.” Luke 8:44 “having come near behind, touched the fringe of his garment, and presently the issue of her blood stood.”)

When Jesus healed, whether out of request or because someone just took healing from Him, the result was always mobility for the recipient. The lame could walk, the blind could move about freely, the woman could stand up straight, and the dead could come out of the ground! We aren’t supposed to hide behind Jesus’ wings; we’re supposed to grab hold of them, take what He’s always willing to give, and jump for joy at the salvation He offers!

MMMMMM Bacon....

Leviticus 11:3
3 You may eat any animal that has a split hoof completely divided and that chews the cud.

Recently I have started to eat a traditional Hebrew diet. I haven’t chosen this lifestyle for health reasons, but for Christian reasons. Jesus Christ came to fulfill the law, not abolish it (Matthew 5:17) but today it seems that we’ve decided that He did abolish it, or at least certain parts of it. It seems that we use the law to our benefit most of the time, and when it becomes an inconvenience, we decide that it doesn’t pertain to us anymore because of Jesus’ sacrifice. The Ten Commandments are still good and, of course, tithing is still good, but all of the laws about eating, those are just trivial. Why? We say things like, “It’s not a salvation issue, it’s a faith issue” in reference to tithing. We unapologetically get out there in our Sunday morning best and guilt the guiltless into forking over the cash, but we fly right by the other rules. It’s not a salvation issue if you tithe or not, and it’s not a salvation issue if you eat pork; it’s a love issue!

I’ve realized over the past 3 days since starting this diet that, more than ever, I think about God. In EVERYTHING that I do, shopping, cooking, eating, drinking, I find myself thinking about God’s rules for food and whether or not I’m following them. By following this simple diet, I am putting God’s thoughts first. It’s not hard and it’s not controlling. It’s simple. Perhaps God gave these rules and regulations to us so that we would put Him first. Being that He is the Creator of everything, I guess it’s safe to say He knew that we’d forget about Him and choose ourselves over Him. I guess that He gave His people (which we all are--not just the Jews) specific rules and guidelines so that they’d still remember Him. I guess that from my side, it’s a love issue. Do I love God more than bacon cheeseburgers? Am I willing to think about God and His plans for me, my heart, and my colon, before I eat this lobster bisque with a porter house steak, baked potato with sour cream and bacon bits, and green beans sauteed to perfection in butter? By thinking about the “rules” before putting food into my mouth, I’m forced to think about the Rule Maker. By putting His plans first, I’m worshipping Him.

The rules haven’t changed; our hearts have. By following the rules not out of fear of punishment but by a heartfelt desire to draw closer to God, I feel my heart refocusing on Him. And that’s way better than any bacon cheeseburger.

Sinner?

1 John 2:2
2 He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

It seems to me that a great mistake has been made in the teaching and preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, across this nation and around the world. There seems to be some misunderstanding that in order to become a Christian you must first confess your sins to God, then ask, beg, and plead for His forgiveness. This flat out isn’t the truth. The truth is that both the believer and the nonbeliever have already been forgiven for their sins. Whether they are willing to accept that forgiveness, or even acknowledge it, is a completely different story!

In John 8, the Pharisees brought a whore before Jesus and asked Him what they should do with her. The law at the time stated that she was to be stoned, and that’s what they wanted Jesus to tell them to do. Jesus, being God, had a response. He bent down and wrote with His finger in the ground. The Bible doesn’t say what He wrote, but I would hazard a guess that it was the Ten Commandments. When He completed His writing He stood up and said (and I’m paraphrasing here), “Whoever among you hasn’t broken a law, go ahead and throw some stones.” Jesus knew that they were all sinners, and that He was the only one worthy of casting a stone at her. When they were all gone, and it was just Jesus and the woman, He said, “I do not condemn you; go and sin no more!”

She was forgiven without asking for forgiveness. She was forgiven before she was brought before Jesus. Why? Because she is our example for life. Jesus Christ died on the Cross for all sins for all time. Before we were born, every sin in our life was already forgiven by the Father because of the death of His Son on the cross. The penalty for our sins was also put upon Him, spiritual death. Jesus bore it all on the cross. Today, all we have to do is accept His sacrifice, admit that He is God and that He was raised from the dead and we’ll be saved. (Romans 10:9)

Jesus told the woman to go and stop sinning. Did that mean that she never sinned again? Of course not, it meant that she was going to try and sin no more. We are the same today. After an encounter with God, we should realize that our sins were forgiven before we ever got to His feet, and we should leave with the plan to sin no more. Of course we’re going to sin again, but those sins were already forgiven too!

Don’t be fooled by Pharisaical rules and regulations and a “sinners prayer” that requires an open confession to God that you’re a sinner and formal request for His forgiveness. That’s already been taken care of by Jesus on the Cross. God knows you’re a sinner; He’s not an idiot. The woman in John 8 never asked for forgiveness. She never looked up into the heart-piercing eyes of Jesus and blurted out all of her wrongdoings to Him. She didn’t make a list, check it twice, then read it out loud and tell it to her neighbors. She simply looked at Him, got up, and walked away, free. If you have to confess and request forgiveness in order to get it from God, then it’s no longer completely by Grace you are saved. The request is a work that you have to do. Grace is what has been given, by God, to man, with no request. Forgiveness of sins is the Grace of God. To request forgiveness, to make an effort to gain it from God, robs Him of the blessing that comes solely through His Grace.

The only confession that you need to make is that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that no man can come to the Father except through Him.

Huh?

Genesis 6:9
9 This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.

Poor, old, crazy, mixed up, God fearing Noah. He lived in a time of sin and debauchery unlike any other. People were mating with demons. They were giving themselves up to any temptation or good feeling that came their way. They were worshipping trees, rocks, precious metals, each other, and what ever else they deemed worthy. Life was crazy!

Then, one day, God spoke to Noah and told him to build an ark. I can only imagine the conversation they had.
Noah-“A what?”
God-“AN ARK--A BIG BOAT...because I AM going to bring rain on the earth. Water from the heavens. All the animals will come to you and you will keep them in this monstrosity of a boat that I have told you to build.”
Noah-“You’re kidding, right? Do you know what the people are going to say about me?”
God-“YES-I AM GOD, REMEMBER?! Just build the boat. I AM going to give you plenty of time to get it done. Don’t worry. I AM going to keep you safe and protect you....”
That must have been interesting. What was the real purpose for Noah and his ark, though? God intended to destroy all of the world and start new with Noah’s family. He (God) found Noah to be righteous and blameless and was going to use him to restore the world. Out of a violent storm He would bring about peace and rest from the horrors that had been going on.

It’s interesting the way God put the Bible together. Here’s the story of Noah, a man viewed by God as righteous and blameless, directly following the genealogy of man from Adam to Noah. Why would God feel it important to put the genealogy right before the story of Noah? Here are my thoughts.

Each name has a meaning. There are 10 names mentioned from Adam to Noah. Here are those names and their meanings.
Adam-Man
Seth-Appointed-violent-disordered
Enosh-Frail and miserable
Kenan-create
Mahalalel-Praise of God
Jared-Brought down to earth
Enoch-Dedicated
Methuselah-with a mission-purpose
Lamech-poor-made low
Noah-peace-rest

When you put all of these name meanings together you get the following paragraph.

Man was appointed, but violent and disordered. He was frail and miserable. He created many problems through sin. But, the Praise of God was brought down to earth. HE was a dedicated Man with a mission and purpose. HE became poor and was made low in order to bring peace and rest.

HE is Jesus. Can you see Him?

Justification

Numbers 25:13
13 “He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites."

Here’s a surprise, Israel had once again turned its back on God. You would think that a nation who had witnessed, time and time again, the miracles of God would continue to follow Him. Oh, but they were a foolish, self-serving bunch. They were flighty and whiny. They were caught up in the wants and desires of their flesh and really weren’t concerned with the Law. So, God sent a plague on the people. The Bible doesn’t specify what kind of plague, but it does tell us that 24,000 people died!

Enter Phinehas, a priest, the son of Eleazar who was the son of Aaron. While the people of Israel were standing around the outside of the Lord’s Tent of Meeting, weeping, he stood up. He’d had enough, he’d seen enough. His anger burned for the Lord. He wasn’t going to put up with this behavior anymore, so he acted. Phinehas took a spear and and executed an Israelite man and the woman with whom he had sinned. This was an act of worship towards his God. He wasn’t going to stand by and have God mocked by man anymore. Phinehas loved the Lord and desired to please Him, so he acted on behalf of God for the sake of man.

This act was pleasing to the Lord. He honored Phinehas for what he had done. He made a covenant of peace with him and declared that all of his descendants would be priests. Not only did He honor Phinehas, but He removed His wrath from the rest of Israel. Although some had already died in the plague, God stopped the plague because of the actions of Phinehas. The nation was made righteous because of the actions of one man.

Jesus Christ, our High Priest and representative to the Lord, did the same for us. He saw the wrath of God and felt the burning fire of God’s anger while He hung on the cross. He stood up, when everyone else was following their lustful desires; for God for the sake of man. When Jesus took the cross, He wasn’t only acting on behalf of God, He was acting because He was God. He did what no other man was capable of doing for the sake of all other men. Because of the righteousness of Christ and His eternal sacrifice, we are all made righteous in the eyes of God. God’s everlasting covenant of peace is upon us and we are all made to be priests as His descendants! (1 Peter 2:9)

The Church

Proverbs 31:21-22
21She is not afraid of the snow for her household. For all her household are clothed with scarlet. 22 She makes coverings for herself; Her clothing is fine linen and purple.

Proverbs 31 is a beautiful example and tool for a Biblical wife. It speaks of her unfailing love for her husband, her support of the family, and her willingness to work. It speaks about her beauty, her love for her neighbors, and her ultimate goal of bringing honor to her husband. I think, however, that this passage wasn’t intended just for the woman in society. I think that Proverbs 31 was written for the church.

Revelation 19:7 says, “Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready.” This bride is the church. There are lots of passages in the Bible that speak of the church as the bride of Christ. Jesus taught using parables and spoke of wedding feasts and banquets. The books of Ephesians and 2 Corinthians make reference to the church as a bride. Could it be that Proverbs 31 is making reference to how the church should look and act? I’ve copied Proverbs 31:10-31 below and substituted THE CHURCH for SHE. Give it a read and ask yourself, does this sound like church?


10 An excellent CHURCH, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels.
11 The heart of her husband trusts in her, And he will have no lack of gain.
12 THE CHURCH does him good and not evil All the days of her life.
13 THE CHURCH looks for wool and flax And works with her hands in delight.
14 THE CHURCH is like merchant ships; She brings her food from afar.
15 THE CHURCH rises also while it is still night; And gives food to her household And portions to her maidens.
16 THE CHURCH considers a field and buys it; From her earnings she plants a vineyard.
17 THE CHURCH girds herself with strength And makes her arms strong.
18 THE CHURCH senses that her gain is good; Her lamp does not go out at night.
19 THE CHURCH stretches out her hands to the distaff, And her hands grasp the spindle.
20 THE CHURCH extends her hand to the poor, And she stretches out her hands to the needy.
21 THE CHURCH is not afraid of the snow for her household, For all her household are clothed with scarlet.
22 THE CHURCH makes coverings for herself; Her clothing is fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is known in the gates, When he sits among the elders of the land.
24 THE CHURCH makes linen garments and sells them, And supplies belts to the tradesmen.
25 Strength and dignity are her clothing, And THE CHURCH smiles at the future.
26 THE CHURCH opens her mouth in wisdom, And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
27 THE CHURCH looks well to the ways of her household, And does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children rise up and bless her; Her husband also, and he praises her, saying:
29 "Many daughters have done nobly, But you excel them all."
30 Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But THE CHURCH who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.
31 Give her the product of her hands, And let her works praise her in the gates.


Church, we have no fear for our household because we are covered and cleansed by the atoning Blood of Jesus Christ. We have made a choice to follow Him, and in doing so, have put on the royalty of Christ the King.

Say MY Name!

John 18:6
6 And when He said to them, I am, they went aback, and fell down on the earth.

Lately I’ve been considering our view of Jesus as a Christian community. I think that sometimes we forget that Jesus Christ is, was, and always will be God. He was so much more then just a mere man teaching, healing, and prophesying, He was God in human form. Jesus Christ (AKA-GOD) humbled Himself to a human body for the purpose of salvation, but make no mistake about it, this was no man!

It’s become all to easy in today’s society to lose touch with reality. We live in a virtual world where pictures are digitally enhanced for quality and reality is what you perceive it to be. But Jesus, He walked in the real world. There were no computers or cameras. Time Magazine wasn’t able to make Him the “man of the year” and then re-touch His photo so He fit our minds perception of Him. When He walked in the flesh, He was real to the people. Both man and God walking side by side with them. They witnessed His miracles first hand, they touched His perfect body, and they saw Him die. They ate and drank with Him, cried with Him, and saw Him get mad!

We, on the other hand, have a warped view of Jesus. We have a mental picture of some long-haired hippie wearing a toga and sandals with a well manicured beard talking in a soft, low voice with pretty blue eyes. He’s not super buff, but He’s not a metro-wuss. He always has a peaceful look about him, and is never portrayed as aggressive or angry. That’s not the real Jesus, though.

The truth is that Jesus, Son of God, and God in whole, was there in Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God.....” and He’s right there in Revelation 22:21 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ...” He’s not a man, a prophet, or a martyr. He’s the Savior of His creation; the Atoning Sacrifice. He is the Rock, Fortress, and Deliverer. (Psalm 18:2) He is I-AM. When the Pharisees and soldiers came under the cover of night to arrest Jesus they were completely unaware of His power and might. They thought He was a threat to their way of life, much like the people of today. They thought He was just a man and that they could easily take hold of Him and control Him. They were mistaken, much like society today. They asked who is Jesus of Nazareth. He answered, “I AM”. We think that He was answering as a person would, but He was just saying His name. He was correcting them. They thought they were looking for Jesus of Nazareth, but what they meant to say was, “Who is Almighty God, Creator of Heaven and Earth?” When Jesus spoke His name, “I AM” they fell to the ground. (EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW AT HIS NAME. Phillipians 2:10) In an act of grace and mercy, He held out His hands and surrendered to them.

Jesus Christ, Comforter-Healer-Salvation, is our best friend, but He’s also God Almighty, the Creator of Heaven and Earth. Let’s try to remember that when we approach Him with conversation.