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One of the super heros of the Old Testament is Moses. He was born at the wrong time. Where the king of the land was in the mood to kill all boy babies. He wanted to stop the population growth. The Jewish women were too prolific in child bearing.  You know the story. The little basket boat is made and sent up the river. How did Josabed feel as her grip let that basket go? I imagine that her heart sank. How was God in all of this? How was he protecting? How was he guiding?  We have the advantage of knowing the rest of the story. The tiny boat slipped into the reeds neat the princess bath place. Amazing how that happened. The basket was opened and guess what, the baby was crying. What timing.  Crying baby, unmarried princess. Touched soul. So what happened? Sister Merriam is watching the scene unfold. She puts two and two together and realizes that the princess will need a wet nurse. Who better than the baby's mom?  Moses would live with mom and then he would be in trai...

 Reading this book in one setting takes an hour. Understanding this book takes… well, who really understands it? Many have written much about it. These writings explain each author's research and opinions about John's letter to the seven churches. In all the ink spilt over these visions not many students come to the same conclusions.  Did the Holy Spirit throw us a curveball in this, the last letter/ book of the Bible? Was his purpose to leave us guessing as to what he really wanted to communicate? Or are we just slow learners? I believe (opinion coming) that we could answer yes or no to each of the above questions. Thus leaving yet one more enigma.  Someone has said that the Great Apostle John left none more confused about his last book than his commentators. Others have noted that the Revelation is the only book in the Bible which begins and ends with a blessing. Strange but true.  We may have memorized Revelation 3:20 as part of an evangelism class. It's the verse...

When I was growing up in the 50s my parents would talk about the hard times that they had gone through in the 30s. They had seen the world crash financially and then soon after came World War 2. Those were definitely hard times for millions. One crazed fool in Germany and another in Japan caused death to millions around the world. That not to mention (though I am mentioning) the crazed fool in Russia.  These days it seems that more crazed fools are taking over good guy ville, the good old USA. Current bills in congress threaten the "normal" fabric of family, and religious freedom. We're seeing perversion of all sorts permeate everyday news. Even in small town América things that reek of Sodom and Gamora are being promulgated as though they were normal and right.  These are times where we as God's children need to heed scripture. Peter spoke about how we should treat such climates and historic twists. He tells us in 1 Peter 1:7 These have come so that the proven genuin...

Rush Limbaugh died recently of lung cancer that had been diagnosed in 2020. He was a beloved radio personality. Well, beloved by some and hated by others. He was brash, bold, loud at times as well as articulate and knowledgeable. He was the champion of conservatism and was also a very wealthy man. Forbes had listed his 2018 earnings at $84.5 million dollars.  I don't know where you are on the wage scale spectrum, but to me $84.5 million is a good chunk of change. I'm the guy who, at least for now, thinks that one million is a lot. For now.  Us common folk see figures like $84.5 million and we can't imagine such a sum of cash. We'd be lost in the maintenance of so much money. Have you ever stopped to think about what you'd do with so much cash? Think about it. After you'd bought all the fun stuff like a new house, car and cell phone, or the ring or trip you've always wanted, what would you do with the $84 million left over?  You can't put it into the bank...

Hebrews 13:1 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Hospitality is a gift. It can also be a learned trait. Some people seem as if having strangers in their homes is normal and natural. Others have to fight against themselves in order to have friends over for a meal.  The author of Hebrews says that some have entertained angels when they thought that they were helping a stranger. That's weird. This statement brings questions to mind. Do angels eat? Of course, silly, they eat angel food cake!  Seriously, who in the Bible entertained angels by accident? Well, how about Abraham, Lot or Jacob? Granted, Jacob's treatment of the Angel of the Lord was questionable. But he did wrestle the night away, when in fact that angel could have dislocated Jacob's hip early in the match.  Abraham, read Sarah, prepared a big meal and Lot had to offer ...

  Hebrews 5:12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Do you know your Bible? How much do you know your Bible? Do you search the scriptures like the Berean did when Paul preached, just to see if what Paul was preaching was correct? Can you imagine combining the scriptures to find out if there Apostle Paul was right on? Wow. We just sit back and take what our preachers say without even thinking about it. Fact is that we don't often even remember what the morning's message was about.  We have the whole of scripture, logos software (some do I know, I don't) we have Bible apps with maps and commentaries. We have Sunday school and Bible study materials. We have Sunday mornings and evenings to sit throughout without going to the bathroom at least once. YET we don't know the meaty doctrines.  What would those tough to chew teachings be? Not Escha...

Psalm 23:2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. This verse in psalm 23 is often read at funerals. Funny isn't it. A psalm that talks about life is read to a dead person. What this Davidic psalm is talking about is a life guided by the almighty hand of the Great shepherd.  Leading by still waters can have different meanings but what I want to emphasize is the perfect direction that God provides. Each step of each of his sheep is carefully observed and directed. It happened to me just this morning.  I was guided directly to a certain place because of how God helped me. In his helping process he led me to pray for his guidance and protection. I then took a "wrong" turn and clicked the place that I wanted to go into my GPS. I parked my car and walked there. However, as I went past a certain landmark I noticed that it was the place that I had contacted the other day. I stepped into the office and began a conversation with the recep...

 Ele me faz deitar em pastagens verdes; ele me conduz até as águas paradas.  Salmo 23: 2 Este versículo do salmo 23 é frequentemente lido em funerais. Engraçado, não é.  Um salmo que fala sobre a vida é lido para uma pessoa morta.  O que este salmo davídico está falando é uma vida guiada pela mão todo-poderosa do Grande Pastor.  Liderar por águas tranquilas pode ter significados diferentes, mas o que quero enfatizar é a direção perfeita que Deus fornece. Cada passo de uma de suas ovelhas é cuidadosamente observado e dirigido.  Aconteceu comigo esta manhã.  Fui conduzido diretamente a um determinado lugar por causa de como Deus me ajudou.  Em seu processo de ajuda, ele me levou a orar por sua orientação e proteção. Então peguei uma curva "errada" e cliquei no local que queria ir no meu GPS.  Estacionei o meu carro e fui até lá.  Porém, ao passar por um certo ponto de referência, percebi ser o local que havia contactado outro dia.  En...

I saw this title on a YouTube real estate channel that I watch fairly regularly. I thought about what I would say to an 18 year old Mike Jewell. I didn't think too long about that subject, though maybe I should so as to be able to communicate with my grand kids.  However, a conversation with my younger self is just a dream talk. Because it can't happen nor can it change anything. I think that it might be better to talk to my old self. That talk can still yield some positive impact and might even help the younger members of my family in the process.  So, what would I say to my current version Mike? Focus on the goal. That goal is to be more like Christ everyday. Forget what is in the past that didn't have a positive effect on your walk with Jesus. Spend time in the word of God on a daily basis. Don't just read to read, though that will happen sometimes. Read to see Christ in every part of the scriptures. It is possible because he is the focus throughout.  Plan for the fu...

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him (Colossians 1:15,16).  I recently saw a headline about how NASA has sent another explorer to Mars to try and find life. When I was a kid I loved to look at the moon and the planets through my 60 power telescope. When I first saw craters on the moon I was in ecstasy. I had visions of getting a more powerful telescope so that I could see even more. I had an 11 year old mind but I had an advantage over most of the scientists at NASA. I knew that there was no life on Mars and I knew the origins of the universe.  Since early childhood I had been in Sunday school and one of the first things we kids had learned there was how that God created everything. The first book in the Bible, written by Moses around 1445 years b...

I never liked English class. I got confused with pronouns and adverbs. I never memorized the lists and I got lost in the explanations. English is a hard language. Writing was never on my radar. I had no plans to write anything of value. None. Though I did think that writing my story would be cool. However, I also thought that it would be rather egotistical.  Then I became a missionary. Missionaries are expected to write updates. Back in the day our mission told us that a supporting church wanted to receive at least one update every quarter. I had been on a missions committee and remembered getting loooooong updates, with fine print and fuzzy pictures. Ho hum.  Anyway, we joined our mission in June of 1993, the very same year that email became a popular way of communicating. You remember email right?  The old update method saw missionaries typing out multiple letters to multiple supporters, addressing multiple envelopes, sealing said envelopes, licking stamps and tossing t...

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, (Philippians 2:14)  Man! What?! I can't believe the gall of that guy Paul! Haha.  How can age have anything to do with complaining, grumbling and arguing? I should be wiser, calmer and a peacemaker. But it seems so easy to be what Paul was warning against! Doesn't it? I know that you know what I mean.  Years ago both Dawn and I made a pact. I think that it came just after a Bob K tirade. We said to each other, "let's not become old and cantankerous! If I start, please let me know!"  Well, here we are, old. And it really does seem so easy to be crotchety! Grumble? Complain? Argue? I have the skill of a fine craftsman. I can pick out a defect in someone or something from a mile away. I can see how a plan can and will go wrong before the person is half way through their explanation.  Some would call this point of view "negative" I call it, "being a realist" or being "practical".  So this idea t...

  Have you ever heard or used the above phrase and meant, “I have troubles, but I can be confident that they will never be more than my feeble body or mind can support.”  Is this true? If so, what Bible verses can I use to help me out.  I found one! 2 Corinthians 1:8. Listen to what Paul says, " We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. "  Whoa! Paul had tremendous troubles. So many that he,"despaired of life"? Paul uses a word here that he only uses in one other place, that being in 4:8 of this same letter. The word, "despaired" means, "to be utterly at a loss, be utterly destitute of ... resources, to renounce all hope, be in despair" That sounds pretty drastic. That sounds like he had received more than he could bear. So, what happened to him? How did Paul bear up under...

  I'm doing something different this year and listening to the New Testament. I want to compete it each month and so far I'm on track. Of course it is only February. It has been fascinating so far. It has been amazing to hear Jesus talk and to hear Paul's seemingly constant scoldings mixed with tender comments about his tremendous love for the church and his Lord Jesus.  Just this morning he was giving some hard love instructions to the folks at the Corinthian church. It was his second letter and it was as stern and tender as his first. That church was a piece of work.  You have to think about context when you think about Corinth. The context is weighty and necessary because it reveals how artistically Paul communicated with his beloved flock there in that port city.  Port cities were receptacles for all sorts of diversity. Sailors, often a rough subset of society in those days, were ubiquitous. Where there were sailors there was all sorts of debauchery. Corinth plus...

This is what I say when I forget something or have trouble walking on the sidewalk or forget someone's name. It is a funny way of saying that because of my age I kind of have the right to said faux pas.  The real funny part of this saying is that when those two cells came together in my mother's womb, I was already getting old. When we are young it seems to take longer to realize how fast we are aging. When we're 18 the world seems a slight thing to conquer. We have strength we are pretty and there are so many options in front of us.  In my day, college wasn't a big thing. Only the nerds went to college. I remember snickering to myself while thinking about my friend who was going to college to be a teacher. My reasoning was, "What a nut! Here I am making $3.25 an hour during the four years that he is in college PAYING money so that he can make three bucks an hour!" The wisdom of youth.  But that was then, when I was young. I soon had a rude awakening. I realiz...

Paul had a hard life AFTER he came into God's family. Sometimes we think that having Jesus as our Savior means that we will have less problems. But that is rarely the case. More often than not times will get worse. However, we need to do what Paul said in his letter to the church of Philippi, "Press toward the mark". He literally said that we should forget the past and keep our eyes on the goal, which is the high calling of God in Christ.  Many times our futures are tied up and hampered by the fetters of our past. We think that we can't be used by God because we are too far gone and have done too many bad things. Thus our past life becomes an excuse for why God won't use us now nor in future ministry. If Paul had thought that way he would have never been used to write thirteen of the New Testament letters and half of the book of Acts would be nonexistent.  Paul was a Pharisees, or Jesus hater, he was a murderer a mob leader, he hated the Way and did everything in ...

Talking to a friend recently he told me that his dad had given up hope on life. He's made some bad business decisions, he feels like he has no friends and doesn't believe that his pastor will listen to him. David knew troubles aplenty. He had been a fugitive, murder, warrior and king. Just to name a few. So when he wrote the simple line of poetry it might have seemed like a sissy thing to do. Poetry? Warrior killer David?  However, look at what he wrote, in Psalm 119:81 My soul faints with longing for your salvation, but I have put my hope in your word. David wanted to be rescued from his problems. He wanted to disappear, evaporate, hide. Yet his hope was fixed in something unchangeable, the word of God.  Hope for a Christian is not a nebulous long for a fairytale to come true. Hope for a child of God is a certainty in the unchanging God of the universe. He has left us his word so that we might know his promises. When we discover them we must remember to apply those that apply...

 What a title right? I'm thinking of Romans 3:1 where Paul asks, "What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision?"  This was always an avoided subject in Sunday school, especially in a mixed class. We didn't use the "C" word. Too wierd.  Paul is bringing up this topic for good reasons. He wants to show that the Jews definitely have had a great advantage during their history. In the next verse he tells one of them when he says, ... "First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God." The first jew talked to God in person. God chose Abram to be the father of many nations and to bring the blessing of the Messiah to the world. The Old Testament is the story of the Jewish nation. God dealt with the Jews throughout the ages of the time before Christ. They were the chosen. But in all that blessing they ended up crucifying the Messiah.  With all of their advantages the Jews came short of the ideal....

I just finished Acts of the Apostles. The intriguing account of the beginning of the church. It seems like that every time that I get near the end of this story I want to jump into the scene where Paul appeals to Caesar. In my thinking, if he hadn't done that he would have lived another ten years or so and could have written 3 and 4th Corinthians and maybe a letter to Jerusalem or something like that. Can you imagine that?  Of course my thinking is nothing but silliness. But I often wonder what would have happened if he had survived a little longer.  Paul is one of those bigger than life characters that is hard to relate to. He seems to be in a class all his own. He wrote the Bible for Pete sake. Oops. He wrote the Bible because he was one of those authors who was moved by the Holy Spirit.  Paul was one of those whom Jesus had said would testify before kings. Could it be that he even shared Christ before Nero?  Guessing aside, we do know that Paul was God's chosen ve...

Years ago there was this guy that always seemed to be in the TV cameras viewfinder at football games. He had a wild multi-colored afro and was holding a makeshift sign with "John 3:16" scrawled on it. Do you remember him? I believe that in his own weird way he was trying to get the message out. But what was the message?  John 3:16 is without doubt the most recognized verse in the Bible. Most Sunday school kids learn John 3:16 before any other verse. It is an important verse that contains a crucial truth of the Christian faith. We learn it early and can say it so fast that we mostly breeze through it without thinking. So let's think about it.  Here is the whole verse, John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  As with all of scripture, John 3:16 has a context. Many scholars believe that this verse was not spoken by Jesus but was a commentary by John. In chapter thr...

February flies by doesn't it. Last year we didn't know that the fastest month was leading us to the brink of worldwide panic. Funny how that worked out. Maybe "funny" is not the best descriptor. Strange would be a better choice. Where is this short month taking us this time? Last year in February, President Trump was a sure second term winner, there would be four more years of good economy and plenty of jobs to go around. Last February we personally were headed toward a scary move to a different city. One which I had said throughout the years that I had no desire to live in. Last year we thought that all of those Chinese wearing masks that we always saw in the news were weird.  Fleeting February had us fooled.  Now here we are again. In the seeming blink of the eye we're nearly half way through February. Biden is in White House. The economy is questionable and we're in Tatui. Romans 8:28 comes to mind. That verse that is often quoted to people in the midst of ...

I keep hearing Jesus say over and over, the Kingdom, the Kingdom, the Kingdom (52x in Matthew’s Gospel). I've never noticed how much he spoke about it. We must know what he means or we breeze through said texts with no notion about what he wanted to tell us. In the U.S. when we think of a kingdom we think Disney, as in Magic Kingdom. We revolted against England to escape the king. We are “free” people. We don't want a king telling us what to do.  When Jesus talked about the Kingdom, he was speaking about his coming perfect rule over his people. He initially spoke only to the Jews but then sent his men to tell the World. In Acts 10 the centurion Cornilus and his family became the first Gentile converts to Christ and that expansion of the Kingdom theme has continued to the ends of the earth.  The Kingdom for Jesus was presented to the Jews over 2000 years ago and according to plan, they rejected it. Notice that I said, “according to plan”. It was actually according to plan that ...

In his masterpiece work, Pilgrim Theology, Dr Michael Horton explains in layman's terms the Reformed theological perspective of past and present doctrines. His summary of the book of Revelation and understanding of Matthew 24 is concise and clear. Thus the following extended quote will help us grasp a seemingly difficult teaching called Amillennialism.  "It is easy to summarize Jesus' sequence of events (in Matthew 24): (1) destruction of the temple in Jerusalem ("the abomination of desolation" [Mt 24:15], which occurred in AD 70); (2) the tribulation of those days” (v. 29), involving long period of persecution, apostasy, general calamities, and yet the progress of the gospel throughout the world; (3) the coming of the Son of Man from heaven; (4) the gathering of the elect; and (5) the last judgment. "The immediate recipients of the book of Revelation would certainly have recognized themselves in our Lord's description of the great tribulation, as would ...

 Luke 17 is complicated. Jesus talks of stumbling people, millstones around necks, people needing to be forgiven and the need to forgive. His comments bring the disciples to say, Lord, increase our faith! Jesus replies, if you have tiny faith you can uproot trees. Then he goes into this explanation about how to treat a servant and how they, his men, should respond when they have only done their duty.  My head is spinning at this point. But wait, there's more.  Ten lepers meet him and he heals all ten as they go to present themselves to the priest. However, only a Samaritan returned to thank him. And Jesus notes the one and says that his faith has healed him.  Then the storyline gets even more complicated. The Pharisees, of all people, ask about end time indications, or rather about when the Kingdom will begin. Here is Jesus’ answer, "The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' bec...

Luke 11:9 "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. The Lord teaches us not to give up in our prayers. We're to ask, seek and knock on that responsive door. So why does it always seem so hard to pray?  For me it's just laziness. I'm always going to pray some other time. That other time never comes. Well, it might come if I really need something. However, praying takes time and doesn't always seem to bring results. Well, it does bring results like: yes, no or wait. Not one of these responses Is guaranteed to come quickly. Thus we tend to do stuff in our own strength and forgo the mystery.  When we do, we short circuit the blessings. God still completes his will, it's just that we're left out of the equation. Therefore the urgency that Jesus put on his injunction. We shouldn...

When I think of John the Baptist I think of this tough as nails dude that lived in the desert eating locus YUCK and wild honey. He looked like a caveman or like Elijah, who looked like a caveman. I think of this confident person who was willing to obey his God predicted call of preparing the way for the Messiah. Just like Isaiah had promised that he would. I think of a guy who was willing to call on the carpet Herod of all people. He told Herod that it was unlawful for him to have his brother’s wife. That was not the smartest thing to do. Making a wild man leader mad at you can get you thrown into jail. And, surprise surprise, that is exactly what happened. John found himself in prison.  Prison was different in those days. No TV or Internet access to pass the time. Meals? Let your imagination run wild on that subject. Visiting hours? At the visitor's own risk.  While in prison people have time to think. A lot of time. Depending on their sentence, of course. John didn't know it...

Luke 5:17-26 records Jesus healing that paralyzed guy who was let down through the roof into the middle of a roomful of people. It is such a familiar story that we often breeze by it because we know how it turns out. However, as you stop and think about it for a moment it becomes intriguing in several ways.  After living in Brazil for twenty four years I am amazed about how this event even happened without the evangelist mentioning the mess involved in tearing a hole in the roof. You can't imagine that filth until you have done some roofing in said structures. It's horrific.  The second aspect that always calls my attention is the faith of the four. These unnamed guys deserve a medal. They put their credibility on the line with their actions. They demonstrate their true friendship to their socially discarded friend while showing that they believed that Jesus could do the impossible. Jesus even commended their faith.  The part of the story is that hard to imagine happens j...

Just three years!  What happened in your life just three years ago? Where were you? What were you doing that seemed normal or important? What news or event has made a difference? Who has come or gone in these last three years that either filled or left a hole in your heart?  Three years. Just three short years was the sum of Jesus' ministry. What? Wait a minute? How can that be? Jesus ministered just three years?  Incredible to think about isn't it. A man that lived 2000 years ago, in a country the size of New Jersey and impacted his region for just three years, why are we still talking about him? He was born in obscurity and poverty. He lived with insignificant people in a town with a reputation for producing nothing good. He had no property nor education. He never wrote anything except in the dirt. He didn't travel much outside of the country. He spent most of his time in the rural área talking to the common people.  However, he did have this thing about doing mira...

It depends. Are you a believer in Jesus the Christ? Is he your Lord? Does he consume your thoughts and desires? Then God's will for you is different than his will for a non-believer.  For non-believers God's will is eternal destruction. Eternal separation from his presence and satisfaction in seeing them suffer.  Whoa! Where did that come from?! Isn't God a God of love?  God isn't just a love god, God is love. It consumes his entire being. All of God is love. There is not one part that isn't saturated by and controlled by love. God is perfect love. God is omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent. In each aspect, he is love.  However, he is also just and holy. He saves and blesses his flock with his grace and mercy. He provides salvation to his children. Jesus said it this way in John 10:27 and 28, My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. So, God's...

Matthew 12 is a dicy chapter where Jesus is under constant pressure to perform according to what the Pharisees think that he should be doing. He comes at them with strong words. The first  quote in verse six is interesting in an escatological perspective.  6 I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. This is an amazing statement. You’ve probably read it many times and not given it a second thought. I don’t mean to short change your spirituality or Bible knowledge but in an action packed chapter like Matthew 12 it would be easy to breeze by this comment without much thought.  Just after being scolded by the religious leaders because they saw his men picking grain in a field during the Sabbath, thus showing how they were really scrutinizing his every move, Jesus gives the illustration of what David did when he and his men were hungry and the more intimate illustration of the priests who desecrate the temple on the Sabbath during their duties but are innocent...