Posts Tagged ‘Sunday rest and reflection’
Dear Friends,
Greetings! Our faith brings us to another day of rest in Jesus Christ! He conquered our walled city of self and the walls fell outward. His love entered and we were overcome! Our “Joshua” advanced on us with the presence of God, in the Holy Spirit. His army went ahead, trumpets blaring, banners flying and worshiping their way to victory, speaking to the walls with a mighty shout! Each member of the army was armed with that powerful sword of His word and followed the Presence! The old man was slain and the goods of the city devoted to God! We were among the spoil, more precious than silver or gold, iron or bronze!
Like Rahab, we had prostituted ourselves but were drawn by members of God’s army to plead for mercy. We trusted in the scarlet cord of Jesus’ blood to save us from destruction. We gathered our loved ones in a blood-marked room. We waited in faith and heard the shout. The earth rumbled, walls fell, but we were kept safe. We were brought out and joined to the people of God with great joy! What a joy it is to be conquered by God! What a celebration it is to march with the army of God and be armed with His Presence and holy Word!
Take time today to celebrate with God’s people (army) and arm yourself with a sharpened sword (Word)! He is worthy of our faith and worship!
In His Love, Pastor John
Dear Friends,
Greetings and blessings in the Name of Jesus Christ! He is our peace and the One who brings us blessings! He bore the curse of the broken law of God on our behalf and we now are in a place to receive blessing.
As Moses repeated the history of the last 40 years, he continually brought to their memory the need for these younger survivors to carefully listen to and obey God. Moses defines this obedience as loving God. (Deuteronomy 11:22) Love always brings blessing! When you love someone, you desire their best and do what you can to see that they have the best. God initiated this love relationship because He alone is love.
Moses set up the case for obedience and loving God as a choice between something good and something evil. To obey was the choice for blessing and to disobey was a choice for a curse. (Deuteronomy 11:26-28) If they chose to disobey, that would mean that they followed other gods and were unloving and unfaithful.
Man has an impossible task in perfect obedience in himself because of the sin nature. (Galatians 3:10-11) We are prone to disobey and go our own way. We end up following other gods and under the curse. The curse is God’s decreed reaping for disobedience. When we know His law, we are responsible to keep it. We fail in our own strength because of sin and rebellion. Who will deliver us from this terrible curse?
Thanks be to God, He has Himself! Jesus Christ was made a curse for us. All the curses written against us were nailed to His cross and taken out of the way! (Galatians 3:13-14) He redeemed us so that the blessings of Abraham might come on us! Instead of obedience to the law, we inherit the promise of the Holy Spirit received by faith! The Holy Spirit is our down-payment of the blessings to come! (Ephesians 1:13-14) Blessings that are beyond what eye can see and ear can hear are awaiting those who love God and know Him through Jesus Christ! What a day of rest we can enjoy today and in eternity! In His Love, Pastor John
Dear Friends,
Greetings on this day of reflection and rest in the ultimate refuge, Jesus Christ! I am so thankful today to have a refuge from the enemy of my soul! God alone is my refuge and strength! Take time today to worship with a body of believers and to study the precious Word of God.
As I reflect on the reading of the past week, I am again reminded of Moses’ death for his sins. Moses represents the Law of God. God’s law can only make us aware of sin and show us God’s holy standard of perfection. The law ultimately brings all of us to death if we do nothing else but read it. All of us are born under the rule of “Sin” or “Satan” as our leader. The law exposes that truth. We must change “leader” in order to be free from the penalty of death and eternal separation from God.
We need “Joshua” to take us to the promised land of our inheritance. God has provided His Son, Jesus Christ, as our “Joshua”. He is more than able to lead us into our full inheritance. He was lifted up like the snake on the pole to be our remedy for sin. Sin was put to death on that cross as Jesus took the penalty for us. All who will look to Him will live. We change our leader to Jesus Christ, and the great news is that He is alive! Death could not hold Him! He has the keys of death and hell! He is alive forever and we can live forever as we make Him Lord of our life!
Thank God today for the wonderful gift of salvation and for your new leader! Jesus is the Good Shepherd who will take you into the full inheritance of your heavenly Father!
In His Love, Pastor John
Dear Friends and Lovers of Jesus Christ,
“I love Jesus Christ!” I can say that without shame or fear today because of a secure relationship with God through Jesus! I know Him and trust His Holy Word! It is wonderful to have a love relationship based on truth and trust. This relationship that I have has been growing for many years and is stronger today than yesterday. It is because I am constantly seeking to know Him better and to understand His love for me as expressed in His Word and by the Holy Spirit. (1st John 4:13-16)
Because of my relationship with Christ, I can also love others. I am growing in my ability to be a loving husband and father as I learn and experience Christ’s love for me. I am learning to love in truth as well as in deed. (1st John 3:16-18) Christ demonstrated His love for us by dying for us! (Romans 5:8) (1st John 4:10)
In our reading this past week, God demonstrated His love for His people by counting each one of them and giving them work to do. God showed His love for His people by living in the center of their camp and manifesting His glory to them. He showed His love by giving them leaders like Moses and Aaron who would model obedience and pray for them. He loved the people by leading them and then by giving them rest. He loved them by placing His Name on them by the blessing of Aaron spoken over them! He loved them by feeding them manna each day and providing water from the Rock! What a caring God we come to know as we read His word!
I love you! Thanks for being my friend! Take time on this day celebrating love, to tell those you love how much you care for them. Be sure to tell God how thankful you are for His love, the source of all true love! In His Love, Pastor John
Dear Friends,
Greetings on this another day of rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ. He shed His blood on the cross for us that we might be freed from sin, guilt, and eternal death. His blood was the only sacrifice that could actually make atonement for our sins. Our church family celebrates the Covenant Meal of Holy Communion on the first Sunday of each month as a way to remember the powerful blood and its work for sinners.
“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.” (Leviticus 17:11)
God laid out some strict rules for blood sacrifices to cleanse Aaron and the priests who handled the sacred duties of meeting with God and interceding for God’s people. Aaron’s sons died before the Lord when they carelessly neglected to follow God’s instructions about how to approach Him. They offered strange fire before the Lord and died instantly! (Leviticus 10:1-2) There is some implication that they had been drinking alcohol and were impaired when they did this. (Leviticus 10:8-10) They neglected the blood sacrifice of a sin offering and paid a terrible penalty.
God chose blood because the life of a creature is in the blood. Blood is an amazing creation. Our blood carries food and oxygen to each cell of the body. It also picks up waste products and they are filtered out of the blood by the liver. Our blood carries clotting agents if we are wounded and antibodies in the blood attack disease organisms and protect the body from attack. Our blood contains everything our bodies need for life. When we lose a certain part of our blood, we die.
Christ’s blood is powerful because He alone was without sin. His blood was not tainted by original sin. His blood carried the power to cleanse us completely from the penalty of sin and the power of sin to enslave us. Take time today to think about the blood of Christ and its amazing power. Holy Communion reminds us of this special sacrifice. Have a great day of rest and reflection!
Cleansed by His Powerful Blood, Pastor John
Dear Friends,
Shalom! “Shalom” is a Hebrew greeting meaning “peace” to you in it’s greatest sense, peace in spirit, soul, and body. Sabbath rest is a means God uses to restore “shalom” to our souls and make us holy. We rest in His presence and the finished work of Christ, ceasing from our own labors and enjoying the peace that forgiveness can bring.
In our reading this week, Moses experienced God’s presence and saw a glimpse of His glory. After the incident with the golden calf, Moses and Joshua went to meet with God in the tent of meeting outside the camp. (Exodus 33:7) Moses asked God to teach him His ways so that he might know Him better and find favor to lead His people. “The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you and I will give you rest.” (Exodus 33:14) Moses knew that it was the presence of the Lord that marked him and God’s people as different. It is God’s Presence and peace that mark His people today as well!
God then declares that He will answer Moses’ prayer for knowledge of God. Moses asks to see God’s glory! (Exodus 33:18) He is told by God that he will indeed see a glimpse of His glory, but that no one can see God’s face and live. “Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but My face must not be seen.” (Exodus 33:21-23)
Moses is then told to return to the mountain and meet with God. There God came down in a cloud of glory and proclaimed His name. “And He passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished, He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6-7)
Moses’ response was to bow and worship! May God bless you with revelation of His glory this week!
In His Love, Pastor John
Dear Friends,
Greetings in the Wonderful Name of Jesus Christ! Welcome to another day of rest and reflection! How wonderful it is to be delivered from slavery to sin and enjoy new life in Jesus Christ!
I want to think about Moses for a few minutes today. Moses was a man highly favored of God. His godly parents feared God and were allowed to raise this child after he was miraculously taken out of the water of the Nile River by Pharaoh’s daughter. The name “Moses” means “drawn out of the water”! God often uses water as a medium of spiritual cleansing or new birth. We are first born through water–from our mother’s womb–born in sin and under God’s wrath.
This Moses, eighty years later, would lead all of God’s people through walls of water to deliverance from Pharaoh’s army. God used the water then to protect His people from destruction and to destroy the enemies of His people. He used that deliverance to purify them of the slavery mentality and take them to new life in the land of promise.
In Joshua’s day, God took the Nation of Israel back through the waters of the Jordan River at flood-stage by a miraculous parting. This was another “baptism” of those who came through the desert experience of 40 years. This new generation had to go through the waters to prepare them to worship and make war in the promised land!
One greater than Moses or Joshua, who came through the “baptized” nation of Israel, would go into the waters of the Jordan and be baptized by John the Baptist. As he came out of those waters, he would receive the Spirit and confirmation of His Father’s approval. He would become the means by which all peoples of the earth could escape judgment and receive new birth. Jesus commanded all who would repent, to believe and be baptized in water! This baptism helps us connect with people of faith from all generations! God takes us through the waters to new life in Him! Take time today to reflect on Moses, Jesus and water! In His Love, Pastor John
Dear Friends,
Greetings on another day of rest in Jesus Christ! What a blessing to know that He has delivered us from sin, slavery and death and given us righteousness, freedom, and life everlasting! All of this is due to His grace and the obedience of Jesus Christ to follow His Father’s plan to save lives! We are included in these plans by His grace and by the drawing of the Holy Spirit.
In our reading this past week we saw God’s people being invited to stay in Egypt. They were forced by a famine to seek out food there because God Himself had sent Joseph there with the express purpose of saving lives. God used the world system of Pharaoh’s Egypt to store up grain to feed a multitude during the famine. God controls the governments of the world and uses the leaders to fulfill His purposes!
Egypt is a type of the world without a true knowledge of God. It is a system of humanistic government, business and religious idolatry. It is a system based on power, wealth, and man’s inner need to worship. Without God, humanity values what can only satisfy the flesh. Idols come in as a means to satisfy the inner need to worship. Idols are a form of god crafted by man to try to fill this desire to worship. By making an idol, man can design a convenient god that allows him to do whatever he wants and at the same time controls others or even shuts them out. In the end, this system of Egypt is pure slavery, results in what God calls “sin”, and ends in death.
All men must be born again to escape the power of this system. God must deliver them and help them to choose to worship Him alone! People must be willing to escape this system and enter the freedom of knowing the one True God! God places His people in this system to show a way of escape to those who are trapped by the system! The blessing of God on our lives should be so evident that the lost ask us for help!
May your life be marked by willing submission to our loving King, Jesus Christ! May His provision make you smile with joy every day! May every trace of Egypt be removed from your soul!
In His Love, Pastor John
Dear Friends,
Greetings on this first day of rest of 2010! We are beginning a new year and a new decade. Time is ever marching on and it shows no partiality to anyone! Be sure to take time to rest and reflect on what you have read from God’s word and what you heard preached at church. If you are not taking time to gather with God’s people, think about your priorities today. You are missing out on a blessing and are also disobedient to the Lord! (Hebrews 10:25)
Our theme for this year is the promise of Jesus Christ that He will return soon! This is an event related to time and our understanding of time. What does ’soon’ mean to you? Does that mean in the next few minutes? Could it be yet today? Will it be in the first month of this new year? Will 2010 be the year that Jesus comes? The important thing is not exactly when He is coming, but being ready when He does come.
Do you have an assurance based on God’s word that you are ready for Christ’s coming? Do you know what is required to be ready? Are you using your talents and resources to serve the Lord? Do you have a dream from the Lord or a desire in your heart to accomplish something great for the Lord that you have not yet attempted or started? Are you holding on to some besetting sin that has a grip on your life and is holding you back from your purpose? Please know that I’m not asking these questions to make you feel guilty, but rather to stimulate your thinking.
If we knew for sure that Jesus would come back by the end of 2010, what things would you do to prepare? This is the kind of thinking that should help us to have the power to change and attempt great things for God. It should help us get rid of bad habits and sins that hinder. It should cause us to launch out in attempting to fulfill dreams and visions.
Take some time today and write down some dreams that you have, and needed preparations for the coming of Jesus Christ. Begin to think about this year as if it were the last year you had on earth before the rapture. Ask the Lord to lead you in changing attitudes and actions to reflect your new priority!
In His Love, Pastor John
Dear Friends,
Welcome to another day of rest! This cycle of working 6 and resting one day is really a gift from God for us! God knows that we really need rest! The rest we need is from trying to work for His approval! In Christ, we are completely approved and accepted in the beloved! Let’s enter this day fully resting in Christ!
In order to complete our reading this year, we must read for 5 more Sundays! In our devotion, I have picked out several key scriptures to meditate on today. May you find God speaking to you through His Word!
“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ.” 2nd Corinthians 10:4-5
“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.” 2nd Corinthians 11:13-15
“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. That’s why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2nd Corinthians 12:9-10
“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you–unless, of course, you fail the test? 2nd Corinthians 13:5
“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” 2nd Corinthians 13:14
Resting in His matchless love, Pastor John