Outside The Camp

Do you remember summer campfires? How our bodies we warm on one side and cold on the other? How everything in the glow of the fire was visible and warm and how, just beyond the warm glow of the campfire, it was dark and filled with incredibly scary things.

Back in Biblical days, life inside the camp of Israel was pretty good. But anytime you got sent outside the camp by the priest, well, it was never a good thing.

"The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. 12And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. 13Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. 14For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come." - Hebrews 13:11-14

Jesus was crucified outside "the camp", outside of Jerusalem. That's why he had to walk there, carrying His cross. Sinful people were taken outside the camp to be banished, stoned or killed. Jesus, although sinless Himself, carried our sins (His cross) outside of the camp where He was killed. For us.

Jesus carried your sins and mine so that we might have eternal life. Contemplate that as you put away the Christmas decorations. Without Jesus we would have been sent outside the camp to die. Every last one of us.

There are billions of sinners in the world, both past and present. Jesus' death covered them all - a worthy sacrifice in the eyes of God. And how do we repay such a great gift? By continuing to sin? We should be on our knees, begging forgiveness, for ignoring what God did for us.

Let us start off the new year in prayer. Then let us obey God's commands. "Act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." - Micah 6:8

Post-Christmas Blues?

It is now a couple days after Christmas. Things have pretty much gotten back to normal. And that, I think, is part of our problem.

Think back to the time of Jesus' birth. The shepherds most likely went back to tending their sheep. The wise me went back home. So did the angels. Even Mary and Joseph went back to a slightly normal life - life with  baby. But Jesus was new. And it was His "newness" that gave hope to the entire world.

We all lead pretty normal lives, by the world's standards. We go to school or to work. We eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's easy to settle back into a pre-Christmas routine. But Jesus breaks the mold of traditional thinking and sameness and challenges us to think.

There are basically two different types of people in the world. hose who have encountered Jesus and those who have not. Have YOU been changed?

Here's an example of someone who was changed in a flash. Literally.

"As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?”

Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. [a]It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”

6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?”

Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” - Acts 9:3-6

Paul became changed. He was one man, then he met Jesus and he became changed. Have we had that life-changing encounter with Christ yet? Or are we still the same? Still following the pattern of "The World?" Make a change. Get off the bus.

Traditions of Love

Christmas is a time of traditions in our house. Remembrances ignite with each activity or meal. Aunt Mabel's sugar cookies, my wife's date pies, an old wooden cross atop the tree, even a simple fire in the fireplace brings back memories of  Christmastime on the farm at Grandma's house.

You probably have a favorite Christmas tradition in your family. What makes traditions so wonderful? Is it the comfort of family? Remembering good times when everything seemed right with the world? The key ingredient in ALL of our traditions, I think, is love.

Love is what makes Christmas . . . Christmas. We remember Jesus being born in a manger. That was an incredible act of love by God, The Father, to sacrifice His precious Son for everyone on earth. Merry Christmas world!

This year, the singing of Christmas songs at our church's Christmas Eve service seemed extra meaningful. The years "Covid Christmas" is worthy of forgetting. Many illnesses, the loss of family members, and the cancelation of so many things once held dear have made this a year well worth forgetting.

However, if there is a silver lining to 2020 it would have to be this. That despite all the struggles we've had, the one thing there is more of this year is hope. Hope for a brighter future.

And thanks! Giving thanks for the times that we did get to be with family and friends makes those times seem that much more special.

So may this new year bring a renewed hope you and your family. And maybe we can start a NEW tradition of hugging a little tighter this year. loving a little more intentionally, and rejoicing through it all.

"Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you." - 1 Corinthians 11:2

The Courage of the Midwives

Courage is defined as "the ability to do something that frightens one." When we think about people who exhibit courage we tend to think about soldiers, the police, or firefighters. But if we read Exodus 1 we can find two Hebrew midwives who qualify.

The Hebrew slaves we being persecuted in Egypt. It was shortly before Moses was to be born when the king of Egypt ordered the midwives to kill all the baby boys born to the Hebrew women.

"But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13and worked them ruthlessly. 14They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.

15The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16“When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” 17The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live." - Exodus 1:12-17

The midwives disobeyed the head of the ruling authority because they feared God more, even though they had to lie. That took real courage! And they were blessed for it.

I saw a similar story on the news recently where the governor of our fine state issued a mask mandate. Our local Sherriff then said he was not going to enforce the mandate because it violated a higher authority - the Constitution.

In another Covid-related case, many governors have shuttered churches trying to stop the spread of the virus. Some churches have defied their governors because they feel that God is a higher authority and that our government has illegally interfered. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed with the churches.

What decisions will you and I be forced to make? Will we blindly follow any government edict that comes down the line or will we discern what is right in God's eyes?

A time is coming when each of us will have to make hard choices about whether or not to obey our government's laws or to obey God laws. It will be interesting. And it WILL happen. It's already happening in other countries.

Canadian pastors cannot preach against the sin of homosexuality. It's a Canadian law. Will Canadian pastors continue to preach the truth, even if they face jail time for doing so?

The Apostles disobeyed many laws to spread the truth of The Gospel, undergoing all sorts of tribulation and punishment. Even death. Am I that courageous? Are you?

Each of us will have to make up our own minds when faced with decisions involving God's law.

"But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." - Joshua 24:15

The Innocence of a Child

I could look at this picture for the rest of my life and never get tired of it. It's a picture of my granddaughter. The photo was taken by my daughter at Roche-a-Cri State Park.

For me, my personal connection is enough reason to love this picture, but this picture also tells a wonderful story, which is for everyone.

Children are amazing little humans. So innocent at times. Brutally honest too. There is much to be learned from our kids.

Innocence. Once lost, it can be a very difficult thing to regain. Yet, the Bible tells us we are supposed to be innocent when we stand in front of Jesus one day. That's the way I read this verse from His very lips.

"Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." - Matthew 19:14

When we grow older we lose that innocence and replace it with responsibility and guilt. That's not a good thing. Oh, to have that precious innocence again, and to live a guilt-free life. It is possible, through Christ.

"Narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." - Matthew 7:14

Look at that picture again. My granddaughter doesn't have a care in the world. She is surrounded by prickly weeds and nasty bugs but she doesn't care. She is running toward her destination - full of confidence. What an example for us older humans!

May each of us have that same confidence when we come before Jesus one day. Not being summoned before Him in fear, but running towards Him with the innocence of a child.

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." - John 14:27

What Child Is This? - Vince Gill and Michael McDonald

The Babel Vaccine

Did you see where many of our politicians got their Covid-19 injections yesterday? They're so proud. President Trump will tell you that Operation Warp Speed was a success. President Elect Joe Biden says he will do whatever the scientists say in trying to fight the pandemic. We're so proud. So proud.

Do you remember the Tower of Babel? What an accomplishment by man! What did God do as a result? He scattered mankind across the face of the globe. Why? Because the people became too powerful, too prideful. united together for a single cause. They built their own "stairway to heaven" without God's help, guidance or blessing.

"The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them." - Genesis 11:6

Am I the only one who thinks we have done a bad thing here by trusting in science alone? Where was our national call to prayer? If I am reading my Bible right, I think this vaccine will turn out to be our eventual undoing. Open your Bibles to Jeremiah, the 17th chapter.

“Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord. 6 That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.

7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. 8 They will be like a tree planted by the water  that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.

It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” - Jeremiah 17:5-8

Did we have any worries about the Covid-19 pandemic? Just a few. We closed our schools, shut down businesses, travel, changed our workplace practices, held sporting events with no one there, and shamed people who were out walking the dog without a mask on.

I think we as a nation should have spent more time in prayer at the get-go. And I am the worst offender. However, not everyone in our country believes in God. And, from where I sit, that's a problem. Fewer and fewer people claim faith in Christ these days. Church attendance dwindles, if our churches are even open. We have turned our backs on God.

But in a crisis more people do tend to pray. Perhaps that's why this pandemic cis upon us. But have we prayed enough?

What we need is a revival in this country, and in this world. But will it come? I don't know. I think we Americans have become too comfortable and comfort is a tool used by Satan to create lukewarm Christians.

However, "all things are possible with God." - Matthew 19:26

Let us pray then for this nation. Let us pray for God to heal us, not trusting merely in man to do so. Many will see this vaccine as (sorry) "a shot in the arm" for humanity, FROM humanity. Instead, we need to be on our knees. I must be on my knees. Let us trust in The Lord first and foremost! Then watch what He can do.

Maybe God sent the man or woman who created the vaccine. I don't know. But where is our praise to God in this vaccine? I haven't seen any. And that's another problem.

Our Need of Revival - Leonard Ravenhill

The Powerful Delusion

This is not a political post, however it might seem like one at the outset. It's more of an observation about our society and how it 100% lines up with prophetic scripture.

Have you noticed the incredible lack of rioting in the streets since Biden was voted in by the electoral college? Is the press just not reporting it? Because the left was all about rioting the minute somebody said a word against them. Or for Trump.

It's almost like the ill-tempered spoiled child is finally getting its way and are remaining satisfied, until something else comes along that they want more than what they have in their greedy little hands at the moment.

And that really is the perfect analogy, isn't it? - the calm collected parents vs the little spoiled brats. Read this and see if it doesn't line up with today's political environment in this country and afround the world.

"The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness." - 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

I think the same can be said for us Christians from time to time. Our prayers are often comprised of things we want, a Christmas gift list for God so to speak, who we view as a Santa-type at times. We forget that sometimes "Santa" gifts us lumps of coal because we were naughty.

A spirit of delusion has been cast upon our country and the world. That's how Satan works, according to verse 9 above. Note that all this happens before the revealing of the lawless one - the Antichrist.

Something else happens before the lawless one is revealed. The Church gets taken away. Imagine a world filled with nothing but leftists. That will be what remains. Riots, no police, everyone for him or herself ,or whatever you identify as on that particular day.

The time to repent is now! The Lord is drawing near and the rapture will happen in the twinkling of an eye, like a flash of lightning across the sky. We will be gone. And you thought 2020 was a bad year? You ain't seen nothin' yet.

Don't You See?

Look at this picture. What do you see? Do you see a chameleon? Good. That's exactly what the artist wants you to see. However, this is an illusion. The picture is really of two naked women, painted to LOOK like a chameleon.

We live in a fallen world. The Bible tells us that we shouldn't look or act like "the world." We should stand out. We should be different, not made up to look like something we're not.

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." - Romans12:2

"You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own." - Leviticus 20:26

"The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so." - Romans 8:7

Don't you see? If we are truly Christians we won't look like or act like the world. We should stand out! We should be different than the world. If we look just like the world, aren't we just spitting in the face of God by calling ourselves Christians when we really are not?

God hates sin. He doesn't like unrepentant sinners much either. We can say we love Jesus but if we keep on sinning are our words really true? Don't we just look like the rest of the world?

So what does a Christian look like? They are the ones feeding the poor, they are the former drug users at the NA meeting helping someone kick the habit. They are not rioting in the streets. Christians are the ones who are loving others and demonstrating that  love through the living of their lives.

WE shouldn't be "acting" like a Christian. We should BE one! God knows whether we are acting or not. When God searches our hearts, let Him find us loving others, praying mindfully for the hurting and the lost. May we serve our God just like we worship - in spirit and in truth.

Legacy

How will people remember you after you're gone? Will that remembrance be good or bad? Happy or sad? The choice is up to you.

How do you want to be remembered? Someone shared this picture of a golf disc with me the other day. Someone is remembering their friend who died by writing their name on a "memorial disc" and asking people to play a hole with it. That's kind of cool. This guy's buddy is being remembered for his love of disc golf. Is that how I want to be remembered?

My answer to that question is a big, fat "No." But that will happen anyway. Why? Because I play disc golf a lot and I enjoy it. I share pictures of it on Facebook, I organize disc golf events on my community and honestly disc golf is a large part of my life right now. Is that right?

This "memorial disc" is making me think. How do others know who I am? Well, quite simply, it is by the things I say and do.

Yes, I like to play disc golf but I also love Jesus. Just reading that last sentence should tell you that my priorities are in danger of being compromised. I want to be remembered as someone who loved Jesus, first . . . who also played disc golf. And played it for God's glory.

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." - Colossians 3:23-24

Everything we do in life should be for The Lord in some way. The verse says "whatever you do." How do our lives comply with that teaching? Is your life reflecting Christ? Is mine?

This memorial disc reminded me that I need to make sure I am honoring God in everything I do. EVERYTHING. Playing disc golf is fine as long as I am playing it "for the Lord." How do I do that? Creating relationships in my community and then communicating my love for Christ through those relationships.

Jesus told us that we are to "love one another." I think I would like that to be my legacy. Not that I liked one thing or another, but that I loved the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength and that I loved others as I loved myself (Luke 10:27)

Let us live this day for the Lord. What will that look like in YOUR life?

Crushed

We had communion in our church this past weekend. It's always a solemn time used for reflection and coming humbly before the Lord in repentance. But this week something new happened.

Our pastor read the following passage from the Book of Isaiah and something occurred to me that I had never thought of before. First read the text.

"Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed." - Isaiah 53:4-5

This passage from Isaiah is a prophetic one, speaking of the crucifixion of Jesus. It says that He was "crushed" for our iniquities. How was He crushed. He was pierced, as the text says, but how exactly was Jesus crushed?

I was thinking about that as I put my piece of unleavened bread into my mouth and then, I crushed it with my teeth. I thought of another verse where Jesus said of the bread He had just broken with His disciples, "This (the bread) is my body." (Luke 22:19)

"As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." - 1 Corinthians 11:26

Every time we take communion we are reminded that WE are the ones who crushed Jesus. It was our sin that Jesus died for. Something to remember the next time you take communion.

Isaiah 53 - David Platt

I Want To Know

My wife and I went out to lunch yesterday. We have a quiet little out of the way diner we like to go to where the food is good and the service is excellent. They play 80's music and my wife and I try to name the bands. I always win, but yesterday was unique.

After a Michael Jackson song ended (she knew that one), another song came on yesterday and my wife asked me who it was. "Foreigner." I quickly replied. Smiling as I listened, the words of the chorus caught my attention. What a song for this time we are living in.

"I want to know what love is,

I want you to show me.

I want to feel what love is,

I know you can show me."

Does that sound like a prayer to you? It does t me. I sounds like a DESPERATE prayer, as if prayed by someone who has never known love at all. How incredibly sad. It also sounds like a prayer we all should be praying right now.

To know what love is is actually the easiest of all things to do. Just ask. The trick comes in asking that special someone. The one who is willing to show you.

Jesus.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." - John 15:9-13

Do you want to know what love is? Just love Jesus. Doing that one simple thing will bring forth more love than your heart can hold.

I Want To Know What Love Is - Foreigner

Unworthy Made Worthy

Movies can have a tremendous effect on our development as human beings. Movies can shape us into better people. But they can also twist us into mere shadows of the people we were meant to be. Who is the gatekeeper for such unbelievable power? We are.

What are some of your favorite movies? And WHY are they your favorites? Was it a particular character you liked? Or was it the message the film brought forth?

Do you remember the movie Jaws? People wouldn't go swimming for months after that film came out. They were all afraid to go into the water for fear of the sharks. And that was in Lake Michigan!

I watched a movie the other day called Paul, Apostle of Christ. It was a powerful depiction of the Apostle Paul who was imprisoned in Roman, sentenced to death by beheading, all because of His faith in Jesus, The Messiah.

Life was not easy for Christians in Rome during the reign of Nero. They were being fed to the lions for fun, burned alive in the streets on poles, hunted down and killed because of their faith.

At the end of the movie I felt incredibly humbled - almost wondering why I was chosen to be a Christian. What have I done to warrant sure a worthy title as "Christ-follower." Anything? "Where is my faith at?" I wondered, after watching these early believers risk their lives for each other.

I suppose I could make a list of things I have tried to do, and failed. Or I could make another list of things I would have liked to have done, but never did. What good is my faith? What good am I?

Ah, "but God." Two of the most wonderful words in the Bible. God, in his imminent grace, has chosen us. Our faith in Him is all that matters. The key words there being grace. "My grace is sufficient for you," God once told Paul. It should be sufficient for me too.

"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." - 2 Corinthians 12:9

That is why we rejoice! That God would even consider us worthy of being saved. But He DOES! It is for His glory that we live our lives, in whatever we do. We should praise Him every minute of every day for this blessing. For even in our unworthiness, we can be made worthy, though the Son, Jesus.

Read Between The Lines

Our pastor delivered a really good message on Sunday, therefore I am stealing it . . . I mean "sharing" it today. Stealing is a sin. ;)

He told us the story about "The Three Men" who appeared to Abraham under the terebinth tree.

The Old Testament is filled with stories like this one - containing multiple meanings, prophecies or just plain good old advice. Genesis 18 contains one of those stories where we must read between the lines.

Three men appeared to Abraham "in the heat of the day" and one of them was Jesus. Pay attention to what Abraham did and how he did it. Abraham's actions are a blueprint for a healthy relationship with God.

"The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. 2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

3 He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. 4 Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. 5 Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.”

“Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.”

6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.”

7 Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. 8 He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree." - Genesis 18:1-8

1. Abraham looked up at Him
2. Abraham hurried to greet Him
3. He bowed down to Him
4. He hurried to serve Him
5. He ran to prepare a meal for Him
6. He stood and waited to serve

Do we look up to God? Or is He just another "thing to do" on Sundays? Will we hurry to greet Him and bow down before Him when He returns? Are we rushing to serve Him by preparing meals for, and serving, the least of these? Are we standing by, ready to serve as His Spirit leads? We should be.

May today contain opportunities to serve our God by loving others in some way. May we run to those opportunities, whatever they are, and prepare them as a gift for our King. This is a time for action. The world is in desperate need, looking for a savior. Run to them and point them to Jesus.