Welcome

If you have stumbled here by accident let me first insist that there really are no accidents in life. If however, you came on your own free will then please by all means open your hearts and your minds to the "New Wine" that God has prepared for you!

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Star proof


The grand designer left His signature on everything we see around us! Some nights when there is no moon light you can see the edge view of our own Milky Way galaxy. What incredible order there is to our universe and the more you study the conclusion you come to is “not if” but “who and where” is the Creator. Jehovah-God warned us that as we approach the end of this age we should look up for our redemption draws near.  Jesus told us as He was lifted into the air that He would one day return to us in much the same way. It’s hard not to come to the same conclusion that David did when he wrote in psalm 19 “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork”

One does not to have to look to the outskirts of our universe to see God’s design; there are several places in the bible that actually give  literary proof of the existence of God. One such proof is the fact that in Daniel chapter 9 the angel Michael declares the exact date when the Messiah would come. Several scholars over the centuries have used original Hebrew lunar calendar coupled with the “trigger date” conveniently recorded in the book of Nehemiah chapter 2 “And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king.”

Careful study of the books of Nehemiah chapter 2 and Daniel chapter 9 produce a wonderful prophecy of the exact day when Jesus would ride into Jerusalem to present Himself as Messiah, and our Passover Lamb. It’s really a mystery to me how, the religious leaders of that day knowing the scriptures as well as they did, missed this date?

Another literary proof from the Old Testament is found in the oldest book in the bible, Job. The story line in the book of Job was written about a period of time when a man was still the priest of his own family. Towards the end of the book of Job in chapter 38:4 God asks Job “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” and goes on to ask in verse 31 “Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loose the belt of Orion?” How did the writer of Job know that the Pleiades were a cluster of stars? Or that they are gravitationally bound with one another because of their close proximity in our galaxy?  In fact two of the eight stars that make of the Pleiades are actually a binary star system revolving around one another. Since the telescope would not be invented for another 3500 years how did the writer of Job know so much about astrophysics? 

God goes on to ask Job “Can you bring out the “Mazzaroth” in its season? Or can you guide the Great Bear with its cubs?” The Mazzaroth pre dates the Babylonian Zodiac and is thought to be a system for re-telling the story of God’s plan of salvation. There is a theory that God wrote His plan for salvation in the stars using the constellations on the ecliptic. There are many who would disagree but I believe, like king David did, that the heavens declare the glory of God!

You can’t pass by a blooming rose without seeing design as a  bee  is busy gathering nectar. Just the fact that our bodies heal themselves, when not overwhelmed with environmental baggage, is a clear system design that points to a designer. Think about it, everything in this world goes from an ordered state to disorder. Not wanting to sound to scientific but our built in healing system defies this basic Thermodynamic principle.

In the end our earthly tents, our bodies, will end up going back to the star dust from which we came. Keep in mind that God blew His breath into that dust creating life. Our Creator is a loving God who promised us and provided us with eternal life through a perfectly designed system of redemption. However, we must come to Him on His terms which means having faith in His Son’s death on a cross (substitution), spilt blood (remission) and a glorious resurrection (re-birth).

God gave us all a beautiful word picture to visualize this. At the time when Jesus hung dying nailed to that old rugged cross there were two thieves crucified one on either side of Him. One thief repented, asked for forgiveness and was told that he would be with Him this day in paradise. The other thief mocked Him and demanded a sign from the dying Messiah. There are only two choices…which one will you choose?

 

 

Friday, May 24, 2013

Sign posts; we are nearing the end...

This life is so very short. It really is but a vapor. We were not created for this present world system but rather God intended that we have a relationship with Him, walk with Him and choose to love Him out of our own free will. If you haven't noticed the world is sick, people are getting sick all around us and dying. It must be our environment, dirty air, dirty water and food that is pumped full of preservatives to extend shelf life of the item for maximum profit. Yes, our world is ruled by the spirits of greed, lust and selfishness. Thank God He gave us His Son and that we have another, better life waiting for us when He returns. Are you ready for the return of the King?  Read John chapter 3 and choose to be born again.

Another observation I had was that the solar industry and especially electric cars are starting to take off. Literally, electric cars are starting to out perform main stream gas powered vehicles. Have you noticed that every car manufacturer not only has a hybrid but now also boasts of a totally all electric car. The times they are changing but not for the power hungry corporate money managers who are migrating from their powerful global petroleum industry to the new immerging solar market. Folks, our world has been built on greed and the backs of the middle class blue collar worker since the curse.

But this system is not what God had planned back in Eden where the lion laid down with the Lamb. Where in the cool of the day Adam walked with God. In an environment where fruits and vegetables grew with absolutely no additional water, fertilizer or sweat of Adam's brow. The garden was Godly perfection, that is, until God made man. Adam maybe named all the animals but that led him to discover that he was alone without a helper to complete him. God had already created mates for all the other animals. Then in the next moment, in the twinkling of an eye,  God blessed the earth with the very first woman and man has not rested since.

Its interesting that the good news God has for us didn't begin at the birth of Jesus Christ. He carefully designed salvation even before He created a single atom. In fact He even built salvation into the name of the Messiah Jeshua ha messiah!  Jeshua means God is salvation. And you can even  find tucked away in chapter 3 of Genesis a promise that God's seed would crush the head of Satan, Lucifer  or the "shinning one".

So as we pass by the sign posts and see the glorious day approaching let us encourage one another with words of praise to God. Reach your hand out and help someone up of the ground, dust them off and smile saying "God loves you". Love, love, love, all we need is love, The world is not going to get better, no it will only get worse. The divide will widen as some people grow closer to God while others run away from God following the lusts of their own desires. But we can continue to shine our light to reflect His glory to all who are around us. Its been God's plan all along to save those faithful souls who would choose to love the Creator from a point of their own free will.

 

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Born again


One of my most cherished stories about Jesus is where He forcefully throws out all Jerusalem merchants from the temple complex. The cleansing of the temple is an important milestone because it shows us just how important our relationship is to God. God has always desired to be  the center of our lives. The Tabernacle, of the wilderness wanderings, was to be erected at the exact center of camp. Each individual tent was to be set up with its opening facing towards the Tabernacle. God wanted His glory to be the first thing that the Israelites saw as they exited their tents. He wanted them to remember He is their source, strength, their guiding light, and their Shekinah Glory.
God first set up animal sacrifice to be a way for people to be cleansed, to cover or atone for their sin. The blood of the sacrificed animal was a reminder, to the worshipper, of what is required when we disobey God. It didn’t take too long for religious leaders to take advantage of this mandatory command of God.  A very lucrative, sacrificial business grew in and around the temple complex. Many religious leaders profited as people brought their sacrifices to the temple to be examined by the priests.
All sacrifices were required to be free of spot or blemish. People stood in line for hours waiting for the priests to examine their animal only to have them be rejected. Once the animal was rejected the family had no choice but to purchase a “spot-blemish free” temple sacrifice from the religious merchants who had set up shop. To make matters worse, the merchants would only accept “temple currency” as payment which forced people to pay a high interest rate to exchange their particular monies for the official temple coin.
I spent the time to develop this thought about cleansing the temple so that the next section of scripture would sink into and begin cleansing your heart. In John chapter 3 Nicodemus, a religious leader of the Pharisee sect, came to Jesus under the cover of night. He knew Jesus was special, a teacher who had come from God and wanted to ask Jesus some questions without being seen by any of his peers. Jesus in His infinite wisdom cuts to the central point. Jesus answered him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." 
Nicodemus, like most people were struggling with Jesus. On one hand everything He said made sense but on the other hand He made Himself out to be the Son of God and even to the point of claiming to be God Himself. Jesus does not let Nicodemus off the hook and leads him to the ultimate question that all of us ask our Creator one day “What must a man do to be saved?”
Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born again. 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
This is one of the most important sections of scripture in the bible. Here we have Jesus teaching Nicodemus that anyone who wants to live forever with God must be born again. Spiritual re-birth is a journey that begins with a single step of saying to God “I believe!” coming to Him in faith just the way you are. It’s always been our faith that saves us. Not endless rituals and acts of self-denial where the new convert continues to fail as he tries to live a life that is “good enough” to please God. Jesus just told us what we need to do to be saved “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Will you take your first step now?

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Bronze serpent

Life can be many things; it could be a wonderful trip with loved ones exploring the Hawaiian Islands or a grinding work week full of unwanted overtime. Life experiences can produce the most excellent feelings of joy and heavenly bliss but the exact opposite is true too as life can shadow us with darker, harsher shades of life’s realities. As a believer in God I can’t explain to you for sure why bad things happen in this world. Some theologians would say it’s because of original sin and part of the curse laid at the feet of Adam and Eve. Whatever the source of our misery here on earth I can tell you first hand it can shake you to your core...that is if you allow it to.

As Moses continues to lead the nation Of Israel closer to their entrance into the Promised Land he watches helplessly as both his sister Miriam and his brother Aaron die out in the wilderness of Zin. Moses, not sure of the road ahead, sends out messengers to the king of Edom. In Numbers 20:14 it says “Thus says your brother Israel: ‘You know all the hardship that has befallen us, how are fathers went down to Egypt, and we dwelt in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians afflicted us and our fathers.’” Moses is appealing to the descendants of Israel’s brother Esau; remember Jacob and Esau were Isaac’s sons and God had changed Jacob’s name to Israel. Now Moses was appealing to the descendants of Esau for safe passage through their land. It is really hard, sad even to read how Moses’ faith falters as he gets to the end of his life and becomes so unsure of God’s ability to provide for them.
Once again Moses and the children of Israel are disobedient to God’s command to take possession of the land and actually go out of their way to travel around the land of Edom just to avoid confrontation. They become very discouraged and they speak out against God and Moses; Numbers 21:5 “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.”
Now by this time if you are Moses you can be pretty certain that either the ground is going to open up to swallow them, fire is going to come down from heaven to consume them or another great deluge will overtake them. This time however, God sent fiery serpents to slither around the camp biting some and fatally wounding others. I’m glad we are New Testament believers, how about you?
In Numbers 21:8 God says “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.’ So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.”
This just by itself makes for one incredible analogy  but what makes it even more important to us is that  Jesus Himself refers to this verse to expand our understanding of God’s provision not only for the nation of Israel but for you and me. In John 3:14 Jesus says to the world “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
The bronze serpent was a symbol of “sin judged” and a picture of how 1450 years later God’s One and Only Son would be falsely accused, judged for our sin, nailed to a pole and allowed to suffer and die to pay for the sin of the entire world. Many of us are like the nation of Israel wondering around in our desert grumbling and complaining about the manna that God has freely given to us. He just wants us to believe in His provisions, the death and resurrection of His Son, and invites us to enter into a relationship with Him (our Promised Land).
It was only the people who believed and looked to God’s provision of the bronze serpent on the pole that were healed and saved from the bite of the fiery serpent. Today we look to Jesus Christ, who hung on a wooden pole for the world to look upon. Hated by the religious leaders, mocked, beaten by the Roman soldiers the Son of God became the spotless Lamb that redeems us from the curse of original sin.  It was not iron Roman nails that held Him to the pole but His unfathomable love for His own creation. 

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Red Carpet Riot

 
Its not very often that God puts together a group of talented musicians like this! The last time was in Liverpool England in the early 1960's.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Mom

Moms are great and whether yours has a giant anchor on her forearm or walks like Mother Teresa there is no replacement for your mom. Mine is no longer here on the earth with me but I can still remember her pleasant voice, fragrant perfume and her warm, wonderful smile. It’s funny how even just the slightest stimulus can trigger a memory of mom. For me it’s the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, as air currents carry their inviting smell from cooling rack to the screen door welcoming me home again. It’s also the smell of laundry, freshly pressed, folded and neatly laid on my bed. A dresser drawer full of clean socks paired up and folded in upon themselves waiting for two young feet to climb in. Moms are really quite amazing and indispensable.
 
By chance if your memories of mom are not happy ones, or maybe she faltered and stumbled like most of us do from time to time, I like to say that our God has His arms wide open for you to fall into. He will never leave you or forsake you. Moms first bring us into the world under great pain and duress. As we grow they never abandoned us for another, forgot our birthday or failed to mail us a card even as we get older and move away. It was almost like our moms could see into the future. When something unforeseen would happen there she would be waiting with a dry shirt, shoes and pants and of course a smile. She always traveled with a very large bag which was completely stocked up prepared for anything that life could throw at her. She was a rare mix between Mary Poppins and Chuck Norris. She guarded her young with the tenacity of a pit bull.
 
Grocery store flowers slammed in a vase are not a great enough sentiment for the woman who lived to pull us out of harm’s way. Mom would always go to bat for us in a pinch even if it meant a trip to the principals’ office; she always had our backs and never gave up! She was an incredibly driven soul who kept the house clean even when she should have been in bed from a bad case of the flu. She always clipped coupons before shopping for the groceries and cooked mash potatoes, gravy and fried chicken every Friday night.
 
There’s no medal of honor that is priceless enough to be pinned on the chests of our mothers. Her shoulder became our head rest as she paced back and forth night after night when we were sick. Mom barely slept, it was as if she was a watchman always alert and on guard waiting for our enemies. Just the slightest squeak, muffled cry or even a peep from our cribs would bring her up bounding up out of a dead night sleep. She always kept an extra binky in her purse.
 
A cheap, drug store bought, card hastily filled out would bring tears to her eyes. When we were not within her reach, our mother’s faithful prayers would continually rise up to God’s throne room. She made sure her faithful petitions for our well being and safety found their way into the Lord’s presence. In fact not a night would go by when we were not reminded by our mothers to say our prayers before we went to bed. When our first day of school came it was mom who encouraged us to take a step of faith and get into the huge, bright yellow school bus. And when it turned out to be the worst day of our lives it was mom who had fresh cookies and milk waiting for us when we came home.
 
All the gold in the world would not come close to the worth of our moms. It’s a mystery of the universe how God made moms so sweet, kind and caring and so very full of love. I know for certain there is a special place in heaven for moms, a place where they will be rewarded for all the good they did in their lives and just maybe when their children arrive to be with her, then the family will once again be reunited to sing her praise.
 
There really are no presents precious enough for our moms. Not enough gold or silver anywhere in the universe but you know she would be happy just to get a hug from us, to see us smile as we left the house or even just to get a phone call when we moved far away. We were her treasure, the one she so lovingly poured her life into and raised us to adulthood.