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Before we were born on earth, we all lived with Heavenly Father as His spirit children. He presented a plan to help His children learn and grow. Through His plan, we can become more like Him and be worthy to enjoy eternal life. This plan is possible because God’s Son Jesus Christ came to earth to suffer for our sins, a sacrifice called the Atonement. God sent us to earth, where we could have a physical body (see Genesis 1:26–27). We needed bodies to help us experience life on earth. God knew that we would not feel happy all the time. We exp...
“This is the day the Lord has made …” (Psalm 118:24) For some of us, this season of COVID has felt a bit like the movie Groundhog Day. Have you seen it? In the movie, Bill Murray plays a cynical TV weatherman who finds himself reliving the same day, over and over again, when he goes on location to Punxsutawney to report about their annual Groundhog Day. His predicament just about drives him crazy until he sees a different way of looking at it. Is that what the psalmist meant when he wrote, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice...
Reasons many oppose Jesus' one, true Faith: • Free will....whoever does not gather with Me scatters" (Luke 11:14-[23]). Without remaining with Jesus in His sacraments, whereby we obey His commandments, "we can do nothing" fruitful in His eyes (John 15:1-[5]-27). • Unbelief. Why would Jesus establish one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, where He would always be with us in His sacraments, if He didn't intend that we join Him there, see Matthew 28:16-[20]? Our participation is commanded by Je...
“5 Let your gentleness show in your treatment of all people. The Lord is near. 6 Don’t be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks. 7 Then the peace of God that exceeds all understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:5-7, CEB) Over the years I have noticed how entangled anxiety and defensiveness are. Some of the most highly defensive people I have encountered are also the m...
As we approach the Fourth of July, I cannot help but think of where we as a country have received the blessings that we have. Actually, not from where, but from Whom. The “whys and wherefores” are an ongoing debate for some but one thing that is irrefutable is the singular prominence of faith and dependence upon God and His Word with which the majority of the Founding Fathers based virtually everything they did, not only in their personal lives but also inveterately within their framing of this new nation. As but one quote of many, John Adams w...
Mid-June is smack dab in the middle between two patriotic holidays: Memorial Day and Independence Day. Both of these commemorate past times and heroes of our country, as well as the ongoing freedoms enjoyed and ongoing sacrifices made for those freedoms. Recently, Israel has been in the news over a serious, violent conflict with their neighbors in the Gaza Strip as well as violent rioting and conflict on their own streets between Jews and Palestinians. Considering the situation in the Middle East, and our life here in the United States, I have...
If you wanted to go on a trip to Seattle today, would you be able to drop everything and make it there and back okay? Before going, you would have to check to make sure you have fuel, money, a decent car, and food and water along the way. This is called counting the cost. To count the cost is to see if you can finish something before you start it. This journey of following Christ is no different. Before committing to Christ and picking up your cross are you able to complete it through to the...
1 Peter 4:1-2, “Therefore, since Messiah suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so that he no longer lives the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men but according to the desire/will of Elohim.” You would not have any chance for redemption if Yeshua had ignored Torah the way that most ignore Torah/The Will of Elohim. The Messiah and the few will be set apart to do the will of the Father. Whereas the many will be locked up in great religious darknes...
The thought of a revival has been heavy on my heart for a long time. I have read a lot about different revivals that have taken place here in the USA, like "The Great Awakening" in the 1730s and 1740s, that swept through the New England and Middle Colonies. Ministers called for "a new birth," a return to the strong faith of earlier days. One such minister was Jonathan Edwards of Massachusetts, who gave powerful sermons for people to return to the Bible. George Whitefield, a minister from...
In the 1985 movie version of "Anne of Green Gables," as an orphan, young Anne is mistakenly placed with Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert. Marilla is a kind, but stern lady, but also has a deep faith in the Lord. Young Anne has no Christian upbringing, which is of great concern to Marilla. So the first night Anne is taught to pray. She gives it a try: "I'll do my best. Dear gracious heavenly Father, I thank you for everything. As for the things I especially want, they're so numerous it would take a...
I grew up in the 50's and one of my favorite TV programs was the Lone Ranger. One of the benefits of cable TV is that I can watch the Lone Ranger again. As a boy I would straddle my stick horse, six-shooter strapped to my side and cowboy hat slighted tilted. I watched the TV screen intensely as the Masked Man and his faithful companion Tonto righted wrongs and brought justice to the land. At the end of every program, the Lone Ranger and Tonto, having done justice (Micah 6:8), would bid farewell...
As we seek to follow Jesus Christ and walk the path of discipleship, line upon line, the day will come that we will experience that unimaginable gift of receiving a fullness of joy. As we nurture and prepare our children, we allow for their agency, we love them with all our heart, we teach them God's commandments and His gift of repentance, and we never, ever, give up on them. After all, isn't this the Lord's way with each of us? Young men and young women, as you grow older, making fun of...
In his book “Ordinary Church”, Joseph S. Beach has a section titled “The Ordinary Pastor of an Ordinary Church.” When you have gone through the process of “Church shopping,” one of the first things you probably considered was the Pastor. The first point regarding Pastors that Mr. Beach makes has to do with what Pastors are. They, first and foremost, are human beings, folks trying to make their way through life just like you. Secondly, your Pastor is also a fellow “regular” Christian (no super Christian), someone trying to follow Christ j...
Because a spirit cannot die without a body, the Word of God humbly and obediently took on flesh from the Blessed Virgin Mary as Jesus, Son of God, to be the perfect sacrifice meriting our redemption from the slavery of sin. Amazingly, the Word of God who is the summation of the entire revelation of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20) offers us sacrificial, merciful love because of our sins so by cooperating, we can spend eternity with Him. In the Old Testament, God commanded the Israelites...
This is Holy Week for Christ-followers. The time when we intentionally contemplate the events and attitudes which lead up to the crucifixion. It is a challenging week, focusing on all the moments where Jesus offers life and freedom, and those in power--the political and religious elite--try to find ways to silence him, kill him. At first glance, the crucifixion seems to show how those in power always win--they seemingly succeed in silencing the voices longing for healing, for wholeness, for rest...
Prompted by a friend to explain his beliefs, Thomas Jefferson cut out of his Bible, among many other things, all of Christ’s miracles, and in re-making his own version of the Scriptures, retained Jesus’ crucifixion while ending the text with His burial, yet not the resurrection. Christ does not ask us to believe only what is comfortable for us and to discard anything that isn’t. Were that an option, most all people would likely create an ever widening doorway of verses to be taken out. Our sinful flesh seeks its own comfort, and the light...
Lilies and Sparrows... That most likely means nothing to you right now, but it will soon. I've been using the phrase "lilies and sparrows" for years now to encourage myself and my wife. Whenever hardship comes up, I say this to myself. To explain why, I encourage you to read Jesus' words in Matthew 6:25-31 and 10:29-31. Are we not worth more than the lilies and sparrows Jesus mentions in Matthew? Absolutely we are! We have been made in the image of God! Even the language used in the creation...
One provided way to life’s journey and prize that can begin right now is the life without regret/sin. “Everyone doing sin also does lawlessness and sin is lawlessness” 1 John 3:4. That is a life of regret. Getting cleansed of self-life and letting that cleansing continue until you are free to do His will equals a life of no regrets. This information is more valuable than life itself. Self-will is so much that hinders us from set-apartness. Yeshua’s life of power is “not my will but thy will be done,” His meat was to do the Father’s wi...
Do you desire more faith? We can have it by developing a loving relationship with our Lord. It is a personal connection with someone of good character that causes us to have faith. Well, our heavenly Father has perfect character and He already loves us. Does it not make sense to exercise the "measure of faith" that we already have and let it grow? Faith, like a muscle, grows when it is exercised. As faith grows, the more of God's love we receive. This is expressed in one sentence in Galatians...
Many, many moons ago winter always had some time to hunt the big cats. There were always some guys who would show up at the old place on the Summit to give chase. My dear wife, who in 53 years never shirked her responsibilities, was up at 4:30. Known as "the queen of hospitality" she was gett'n ready to feed the crew pancakes and eggs. And for a perfect morning she had some soothing Christian music on the stereo. One of the Mennonite men came down the stairs say'n "even pleasant music to get up...
Having spent 40 years attending church, I was offended when a Christian friend announced she was a "Born Again Christian." I brought her to tears arguing that "Born Again Christians" were simply snobs that thought they were better than other Christians. This dear friend is one of the primary reasons I am a "Born Again Christian" today. When Nicodemus questioned Jesus as to how someone who had already been born from the womb could do so again, Jesus explained the first was a physical birth, the...
I find great encouragement from the Lord's Prayer to give shape to my own prayers. Rather than just a rote prayer, Jesus gave us the Lord's Prayer as an outline to teach us how we should pray. When we pray through the Lord's Prayer, phrase by phrase, we understand how God is leading us to pray. The opening phrase, "Our Father in heaven" is a powerful reminder and truth of the personal access we have to God through our prayers. During the Apollo space missions to the moon, there were long, uncomf...
"If my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land," 2 Chronicles 7:14. Repentance is a nasty business. An election has brought us a new president and a new administration. The last four years have been quite unsettling. Some of it the result of the former president's behavior and some of it the behavior of his opposition. The Wall Street Journal, while...
God makes and keeps His covenants. The scriptures record, preserve and reveal God's covenantal nature. God covenanted with our ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He promised them property, posterity and prosperity (see Genesis 12, 15, and 17). He acted through mighty acts of wonder to save our ancestors from Egyptian bondage. At Mount Sinai He invited our ancestors, and by extension all of us, to covenant to be loyal to Him (see Exodus 20 and the Book of Deuteronomy). God's recorded...
If you’re like me, you are familiar with the words of the first and maybe second verse of many Christmas carols, but perhaps not-so-much with some of the later verses. One such example for me is the carol “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.” The song is based on a poem written by Edmund Sears in 1849. The first verse is similar to many carols and at least for me is the most familiar: “It came upon the midnight clear, that glorious song of old, From angels bending near the earth to touch their harps of gold: “Peace on the earth, goodwill to men fr...
