One Tree Hill

Back in 2003, my wife started watching a show called One Tree Hill. It was about some high school kids, their families, their relationships, and the ensuing drama.

A few weeks ago I wrote a story about one of its actors - Bethany Joy Lenz. You can read it here.

Anyway, this week I had another "encounter" with One Tree Hill. A friend of mine was telling me about her current favorite song - Send Us Out by Sixteen Cities (link below).

So, I listened to the song. It's a worship song. (It made me happy, knowing my friend's favorite song was a worship song).

I then did some research on the band. They're on Wikipedia. Here's an excerpt from their bio.

The 2nd single from Sixteen Cities' debut album, "Pray You Through", was featured on a Season 8 episode of One Tree Hill.

Okay, what's going on here . . .

When things like this happen, I usually stop. Is God trying to tell me something? Why One Tree Hill? Why is that popping up all of a sudden?

One . . .

"For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." - 1 Timothy 2:5

Tree . . .

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us - for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree." - Galatians 3:13

Hill . . .

"So they took Jesus, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified Him." - John 19:16-18

[Golgotha is the Aramaic name and Calvary is the Latin name of the hill outside Jerusalem where Jesus was executed.]

One Tree Hill = Jesus, The Cross, and Jerusalem.

Interesting. So, what do I take away from this mess?

My friend's "favorite song" is an encouragement for all of us to share the Gospel - the "Good News" of Jesus, The Messiah.

How do we do that?

"Hey, do you remember that show called One Tree Hill? Let me tell you a story . . ."

He is coming soon! What's YOUR story?

Send Us Out - Sixteen Cities

Bonus story!!

Where did the band Sixteen Cities get their name? The band used to be called Issachar. Does that sound familiar? Issachar was one of Israel's 12 sons. When the Israelites arrived in the Promised Land, Joshua divided up the land by lot . . .

"The fourth lot came out for Issachar, for the people of Issachar, according to their clans. Their territory included Jezreel, Chesulloth, Shunem, Hapharaim, Shion, Anaharath, Rabbith, Kishion, Ebez, Remeth, En-gannim, En-haddah, Beth-pazzez. The boundary also touches Tabor, Shahazumah, and Beth-shemesh, and its boundary ends at the Jordan - sixteen cities with their villages. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the people of Issachar, according to their clans - the cities with their villages." - Joshua 19:17-23

The Heart of Worship

"A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” - John 4:23-24

I'll probably get in trouble for this, but here goes. I think that the church we know of today is not the same as the church back in the book of Acts, when it was just getting started.

Today, we sit in church on a Sunday morning and listen to someone tell us things we should already know. We're encouraged to be more like Christ. We encouraged to spread the Gospel. We sing songs. That's all good, but is what we call "worship" today the same as it was back then?

If we do a search in a Bible app for the word 'worship,' and start reading the examples that it returns (274 in the NIV), you will find that many examples are one-on-one worship. And what does that kind of worship look like? Let's look at the early church.

"All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." - Acts 2:44-47

The word 'worship' is totally missing, but everything they were doing WAS worship.

When a person was actually worshipping someone, the worshiper dropped down on his or her knees, face to the ground, and worshipped the one they were bowing down to. In church we just sit in our chairs and listen to stories. While good, is that really worship? What IS worship?

If we are commanded to 'worship in spirit and in truth,' doesn't God prefer the one-on-one, more personal worship compared to our corporate worship? He has said as much.

“The multitude of your sacrifices - what are they to me?” says the Lord. 

“I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. 

When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? 

Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations, I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. 

Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. 

When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood! 

Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow." - Isaiah 1:-11-17

God is not looking for sacrifices. God does not NEED anything. What He DOES want is for our deeds to reflect His will. We are to worship God by doing His will. And then we must simply praise Him, for everything. That is the true heart of worship IMO.

I don't do a good enough job in my worshipping. How do I improve? I need to spend more time praying on my old, sore knees. I need to spend more time helping my brother and sister in need. Simply put, pray and serve more, share the love of Christ more. LOVE more. May the love of Christ define our worship, not merely the singing of songs.

The Heart of Worship - Sonicflood

Transformers

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will." - Romans 12:2

What is Paul trying to tell us here? I get the "do not conform" part. The world is crazy enough right now as it is. If we conform to the world, wouldn't we just be adding to the craziness? Yah.

Paul wants us to renew our minds. What's that all about? Maybe this verse will help.

"The Spirit of the LORD will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person." - 1 Samuel 10:6

That was Samuel talking to King Saul. But it also reflects what happens to those of us who have believed and received God's Holy Spirit. We DO become changed. Transformed.

And once we are transformed, then we can know what God's will is. We can 'test and approve' what it is.

I have had people say to me, "I'm praying about it. I just want to find out what God's will is for me in my life."

Uh, God's will for us is plastered everywhere in the Bible. That's why God wants us to read it and apply it.

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." - Deuteronomy 6:5-9

God laid down the law to Moses in the Old Testament and Jesus offered up even more things to consider in the New Testament.

If we have truly been transformed we will know what God's "good, pleasing, and perfect will is." And that's a great place to be.

Here's a question to consider. How many of the Apostles went to seminary school? Zero. Yes, they were taught by Jesus, but they had no degrees or formal teaching. They simply had a working knowledge of God's Word and they applied it, boldly.

"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus." - Acts 4:13

Is there evidence in our lives that we have been transformed? Have our minds been renewed by knowing His Word? That is more valuable than a thousand degrees.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of The One and Only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." - John 1:1,14

R.T. Kendall is an 89-year old theologian. He offers these words of advice to believers contemplating obtaining a religious education.

"I would not recommend seminary. Know your Bible, and pray a lot. That's it." - R.T. Kendall

Know Jesus. Know His Word. It's really that simple.

Read the Bible - R.T. Kendall

The Dream of The King

"There is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God." - Romans 13:1

Well, it's Wednesday morning - the day after the 2024 election - and God has made some moves. Nancy Pelosi won again. Six terms? Yikes. AOC won. Clearly, the "war" is not over. But battles have been won.

Wisconsin senator Tammy Baldwin is in a tight battle with newcomer Eric Hovde. But the Senate has already flipped to red. Mr. Schumer will no longer be "leading" the Senate.

Abortion won last night. Seven states made it legal. That's sad news for all of the babies in their mother's wombs right now, that will never get a chance to vote on their own future.

But the big news appears to be Trump's win over Harris. When I checked at midnight, Newsmax said he had reached 270 electoral votes - the minimum number needed to win. This morning he's at 286. Pennsylvania, where he was shot in an assassination attempt, put him over the top. Interesting.

So what now? Time to get to work. It will be REALLY interesting to see what happens at our southern border, with our economy, and with the funding of the Ukraine and Israeli wars.

One thing I noticed though that is really worthy of note. God was acknowledged by Trump and the Republican party and, as a result, was blessed with many victories last night. That's something we all need to remember as we live out our own lives.

Trump said this at 2:26 AM. "God spared my life for a reason." Trump regularly plays God Bless The USA at his rallies.

Trump is brash and snarky to be sure. But God has put him on the thrown of this country. It will be interesting to see what happens next.

These past four years have been hard for many Americans to watch. But it would be SO nice to see God make America great again.

Finally, there's this from the prophet Daniel:

“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are His. He changes times and seasons; He deposes kings and raises up others. 

He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with Him. 

I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors: You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king." - Daniel 2:20-23

The Ancient of Days

We have an election here in the United States tomorrow. We will be electing "the leader of the free world," or so they say. Honestly, we haven't been doing a lot of "leading" lately.

We sang a song in church yesterday that I thought was perfect for our pre-election blues. Here's the first verse:

Though the nations rage, kingdoms rise and fall

There is still one King reigning over all

So I will not fear for this truth remains:

That my God is, the Ancient of Days

"Though the nations rage." Aren't we living that right now? And kingdoms definitely rise and fall. It has been sad to see our country failing these last few years.

But there is one thing we need to remember. God rules over ALL. Whoever wins tomorrow. God is still king.

If things don't go the way we'd like in our election tomorrow, we need to remember that they are going God's way. And we need to be fine with that.

"Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God." - Romans 13:1

The Ancient of Days is God, The Father. Let us respect and honor His judgements and decrees. No matter who wins.

Ancient of Days - CityAlight

Coming Soon

The Bible is a big book. SO big that there are 66 other books inside it. It was written over a period of 2,000 years. Yet, it is a perfectly cohesive story about one man - The God Man - Jesus.

The Book of Job is considered to be the oldest book in the Bible. Yet even Job eludes to Jesus when he said this:

"If only there were someone to mediate between us, someone to bring us together, someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more." - Job 6:33-34

There is, my friend. His name is Jesus.

Jesus Himself said that He was around since the beginning. He didn't just suddenly appear at His earthly birth. He was there at the creation of the universe. He'll be there at the end.

“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 

“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. 

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you a this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” - Revelation 22:12:16 

Jesus closes out His Words written in the Bible with this in verse 20: 

"Yes, I am coming soon!" - Revelation 22:20

While it has been 2,000 years since Jesus told those words to John, remember what the psalmist said . . .

"A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night." - Psalm 90:4