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Joshua five starts with a stunning demonstration of fear by pagan kings. Then moves to a painful rite and ends with the Israeli General on his face before Jesus Christ the Commander of the LORD's army. It is an interesting mix of events.  This important chapter tells the story of preparation for the Big Mission; that of conquest in God's Name. From verse two until nine, circumcision is described and explained. Usually this is a topic for private conversation. Here, however, it is performed on a nation. The reason Joshua spent so much ink on this topic is because it was of utmost importance.  Way back in Genesis seventeen God reiterates his covenant with the patriarch and adds a new symbol to remind him that it is going to cost him some skin.  The Abrahamic covenant was made between God and Abraham and was ratified by God to God. He was showing that it was a done deal that would never be broken. Later, however, he added circumcision to be a physical symbol of his promise....

Joshua 1:2 Moses, my servant, is slain; Get ready now, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land that I give to the children of Israel. I found a theme from the book of Joshua fascinating. In my Bible, there are notes, and I found this comment about verse two. 1:2  all this people . The unity of God's people in faithfulness is the key to success. When Israel is united in their devotion to God, they cannot be defeated (chs. 6; 8; 10-11; etc.). When they are divided, they don't win (7:3-5; and most of the Judges). The Hebrew word for " all " or " each " occurs 236 times in Joshua, flooding the book with the theme of a unified nation called to receive all the Land. The unity of God's people in their faithfulness to him remains the key to winning Canaan and, in the New Testament, to winning the world (John 17:21). For this reason, I think our church is so precious because it is a united family. That's why it's so important to hold fir...

In Deuteronomy 15:7-11 we might be tempted to breeze through this short lesson on generosity. Or we might even excuse it as teaching to the Jews and not applicable for us. However, it appears that this teaching should be near to our hearts.  We remember that Judas was interested in giving to the poor when an expensive bottle of perfume was used to anoint Jesus (John 12:6). Judas' motives are revealed in that text. He was a thief and often took from the money bag.  Deuteronomy 15:7 If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. Wait? I don't like this verse. It makes me uncomfortable. It makes me feel like I want to hide from that bum on the corner asking for spare change.  You might have pity on that person or not, however, this verse is talking about your fellows in the faith. It was being spoken to the children of Israel but might be applied to us today as ...

I don't know if you recall, but we began something that I dubbed "the teeth project" back in February, remember?  I described how God had guided me to the perfect dental institution and that the Christmas gifts you had sent would cover all expenses for Cida's new teeth. It seemed like the perfect story of God's provision and direction.  Here we are, eight months after our initial visit, and we are ALMOST done. What was to take eight weeks has dragged out to over eight months! So, did God guide me? If so, why has it taken so long for us to see the results? This can't be what God intended, can it?  If you have been a Christ believer for any time, you know that God's path isn't always the short one, nor does it always seem to make sense. We are all familiar with people who have suffered a lifetime of pain and anguish, only to die without firm answers as to why they had to walk that path. A lifetime of pain versus eight months of inconvenience is not a fai...

The Shema is the Jewish confession of faith composed of three scriptural texts (Deuteronomy 6:4–9, 11:13–21; Numbers 15:37–41). Chapter six of Deuteronomy is SO crucial that Jesus quoted parts of it twice in his temptation defense against Satan. The most important declaration in the Old Testament, if not the Bible, is in verse four. "Hear, oh Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is One." With this sentence in view, Jews today will not believe in the Trinity nor Jesus as their Messiah. So, how do we Christians support the doctrine of the Trinity? We recognize that the above statement is true. However, we also understand, through various other scriptures, the other members of the Trinity are mentioned. In the beginning, we see God present and the Holy Spirit hovering over the creation. We then go to the New Testament and see several texts that show that Jesus was there in the beginning and was the Creator (John 1:3; 1Cor 8:6; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2). Because of these refere...

Our God is omniscient. Which is a fancy word for "He Knows Everything." There is nothing that he does not know and no scenario or possibility that he hasn't always known. Did you know that?  Trying to wrap our puny minds around such grandeur is impossible. We are the opposite of omniscient, which is finite. I have trouble remembering which daughter I'm talking to, and all of their names start with the letter A.  Moses wrote Deuteronomy 4 at Mount Sinai, a mere forty years before his current family chat. However, a lot had transpired over those years, and Moses is having a family chat just before going into Disney World. "Come here, kids! If we get separated, DON'T go with strangers!! Do you hear me?" I know that you parents have had these chats.  Well, ok, it's not Disney. But it was going to be really cool!  These hard-headed kids were to listen up and understand what was being said. Never ever, no not once, make an image of something to call your G...

Why is it that God knows that we are going to mess things up? He does, he knows. Now, mind you, this is not a license to sin, but it indicates how wicked our heart is.  The last book of the Law, Deuteronomy, whose name means "the Second Law '' is packed with information for the budding nation of Israel. It comes with a lot of information for you and me too. Chapter four starts with Moses passing on to the people what God expects from them concerning obedience.  There is great insight for new and more mature families in the first fourteen verses. If you have your Bible, look at those instructions now. I'll wait.  So, what did you see in that passage? Here are some principles that I saw. The people were to:  Hear the law  Follow it  Keep it  They weren't to add to it nor take things out of it  The people had seen what would happen if they were disobedient at a place called Baal of Peor. Look that place up in Numbers 25:1-9 to see what Moses meant....

Deuteronomy 1:2 states, (It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road.) Deuteronomy's second verse might escape our curiosity if we're reading the Bible to get it done in a year. However, if we stop here and think about it for a second or two, we might be shocked about what we discover.  In this short geographical description, Moses tells us that the journey from Mount Horeb, which is Mount Sinai, takes only eleven days. But, wait a minute, from Mount Sinai to the Jordan River área, just across the way from Jericho, is an eleven-day walk? How could that be?  The Israelites had taken this walk after spending a year at the foot of Mount Sinai. So, why did it take FORTY years to get there?? Do you remember how that happened? An eleven-day walk turned into a death march of forty years because the people didn’t trust God.  You see, God had promised their father, Abraham, that he would inherit the land for his descendants. That land was thus nam...

Numbers is a book about a forty-year camping trip. Israel goes from Mount Sinai to the Promised Land, a two-week walk, and it takes them forty long years. Strange.  During that walk, as mentioned yesterday, they are led by a cloud pillar. It moved the mob at a turtle pace until all of the original generation died in the desert. During the trip, strange things happened. Water comes from a rock, not once but twice! The people, always a murmuring crowd, are always getting punished for disobedience or grumbling. Once, they cried for meat, and God gave them so much quail that it made them sick, and many died of a plague. Even the ground opened up one time to swallow Korah and his family. They were a bad bunch.  One of the weirdest stories entails a talking donkey! Do you remember that one? In chapter 22, Balaam's mule saves the mystic's hide by avoiding the Angel of the LORD (Jesus Christ). Unfortunately, it took Balaam a few attempts to pass a particular location before the donkey...

Have you ever had a near-death experience? Your wife probably has if she's ridden in the car with you! Just ask her to share. But have you ever had a brush with death where you lost consciousness? I have. I'm not talking about the time when four armed men came waltzing into my bedroom and held a gun to my head. Nor am I thinking of the time when an angry drunk had a footlong butcher knife to my chest while saying that he didn't care a lick if he went to jail for the rest of his life. No, not those times. This time was different. I was at home in bed, and Dawn was in the States. So, just Abby and I were home. I woke up feeling a pain coming from deep down in my soul. For some reason, the first thing that I thought of was KIDNEY STONE! Though I had never had one before. As I struggled to my feet and shuffled towards the kitchen, I continued to feel a welling paint overtake me. It was this thing that was coming and that I had no control over. I reached the kitchen sink, grabbe...

Does God ever give you a gut punch? He did that just a few days ago when I watched a missionary story from the other side of the world. It was short but poignant, and it punched me in the belly button and brought a few tears too. One thing that shook me was the final statement that the missionary made. He was questioning himself and said, I wonder if what I have done will make a difference. This question comes to a missionary's mind now and again as they ponder how vast God's world is and how tiny one’s work is. As I thought, and identified, with his sentiment, the Lord brought a verse to mind that I had used recently in a youth talk. It was this one in John 12:24, “ Very truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ” When, in Matthew, the sower sowed his seed, it was the Word of God. Here in John, Jesus indicates that the seed is the life of the servant. Jesus talked of his comi...

Sometimes we look back on life and wonder why? We see a situation that might have turned out better if it had been approached differently. Or we see friends who've become enemies because of hasty words or actions. Acquaintances who could have continued as friends with our help. We are tempted to yell WHY in these situations.  Moses and Aaron may have uttered this word when thinking about the "rock incident." Both had seen miracle after miracle from God. Yet, in a moment of frustration and pride, Moses' emotions take charge, and he loses the privilege of leading the people into the Promised Land. It was a stupid move that he later regretted. God, however, took holy offense to his actions and thus punished his friend. I always want to scream as Moses lifts his rod in this chapter, "Don't Do It!" But he always does it. So sad.  God is God, and he is strong. He is all-powerful and all-knowing. However, if God were like me, I know that he would cringe before ...

No, I didn't say Firebird. I know that was a car by Pontiac way back when. It may still be a model. That tells you how much I keep up with new cars these days.  In Numbers 11, a lot is going on. It starts out with fire from God burning up some complainers. I can hear a few pastors saying, "Oh, that this was how God still did business!" However, if he did, I doubt that we'd be around to rejoice in the carnage.  Numbers 11 goes from God sending fire, to him sending quail. I've heard that quail taste like chicken! I don't know that I've ever had any. The Israelites began to complain about the nasty old manna they had to eat every stinking day. "We want MEAT and leeks and garlic! Give us a break! We're Jews. We need seasonings!"  Side note, can you imagine the same meal every day for forty years? We know that the people were wrong. But maybe if they'd have asked nicely? IDK.  After their crying, God called a meeting. Seventy elders were going...

Numbers 9:15-23 tells an interesting aspect of how God guided his people in the wastelands of Saudi Arabia. Just after the Tent of Meeting, or Tabernacle, was set up, a pillar of cloud descended on it and hovered above it all the time. When the people were to move on, the pillar lifted and moved. At night the pillar became what looked like fire. How cool is that?  A fiery pillar lit the camp at night and a cloud to protect from the desert sun during the day! No worries about UV rays for this group.  The end of the chapter tells how the people moved when the cloud moved and stayed put whenever it didn't. At times it stayed a day at other times a year. Whatever the case, the people moved when the cloud did. This chapter has a couple of time references. The people had been at Sinai for a year when the cloud moved for the first time. Wouldn't that be handy? This colossal cloud tells you what to do and where to go, and it is always there leading the way! For example, through our ye...

When my girls were home and I would sneeze, they would often say, "Bless you!" I would usually have a come-back like, "Are you a Roman Catholic? Cause that's what the Catholics say."  I had heard that in the catholic tradition, when someone sneezed, that they thought that the heart skipped a beat. Thus the tiny "blessing" would protect the sneezer from death. Making sure that God restarted the stopped heart. That is what I had heard.  In reading Numbers 6, just after an explanation of the Nazarite vow, comes a tiny blessing that, in a way, seems out of place.  Numbers 6:24 "'"The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace."' 27 "So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them." At times you may have seen your pastor raise his hand at the end of the church service and recite this blessing. It is an a...

The title means, "Everything in Order". It is a concept that seems normal and natural to some and strange and impossible to the rest of us. But, as I read the description of the camp in Numbers 2, God's character was emphasized in its orderliness.  It sounds so ridiculous to say. We see it everywhere in creation, even though his creation is under a curse. It's orderly. Precise, might even be a better word. Precision is seen in all aspects of life and it is so common that we can't see it.  Just after bringing two million Jewish slaves out of 400 years of captivity he now wants to show the group that he is organized. The camp will be set up a certain way and also disassembled in an orderly manner. Leaders are named, and numbers are summed to explain how many men were a part of the masses. The group will leave the holy circle in a precise fashion and walk thus too.  The application for me is that I need to get my world in order.

Does God ever give you gut punches? He did that just a few minutes ago when I watched a missionary story from the other side of the world. It was short but poignant, and it punched me in the belly button, along with a few tears.  One thing that shook me was one of the final statements that the missionary made. He was questioning whether what he had done would make a difference. That comes to mind now and again as one thinks about how vast the world is and how tiny one’s work is.  As I pondered and identified with his sentiment, the Lord brought a verse to mind that I had used recently in a youth talk. It was this one in John 12:24, “Very truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” When the sower in Matthew 13 sowed his seed, it was the Word of God. Here Jesus indicates that the seed is the life of the servant. Jesus talked of his coming death, and he knew the future of each of...

We've seen many emails for "Urgent Prayer Needed!" this last year, haven't we? My urgent prayer request is of a different sort. It appears that Baptist Mid-Missions has needed missionaries in Brazil for decades. We missionaries are "promoters," if you will, of this need. We realize that God lays His burden on hearts and lives, and we take no credit for someone who follows His call to Brazil.  The urgent need for workers was pointed out by our Lord when he stated that the "harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few" in Luke 10:2. Urgency doesn't lose its fire with time. Baptist Mid-Missions' Brazil field is an example of that point. What started back in the 1930s and 1950s in different regions of Brazil has seen thousands of eternities impacted by the Gospel. Hundreds of missionaries who have dedicated their lives to the call of God.  However, as society waxes stronger in the craziness of the day, missions suffer. The call gets muffled b...

I have many fun memories of our camping adventures as a kid and as a dad. Camping is one activity that can involve the whole family and can be enjoyable if you like camping.  Some consider going to a Motel 6 as camping, while others have to kill and eat a deer or trout for it to be considered camping. Whatever your likes or dislikes, there was never camping as the Israelites did in the wilderness.  In Leviticus 23, there was even to be camping on top of camping. There God gives instructions for the special celebration called the Feast of Tabernacles or what we might call the Great Tent-out.  The people would have special meals and festivities during this once-a-year celebration and would sleep in "lean-to" type shelters all week. I can see the look on Mom's face. Oh my! However, this was a real celebration that commemorated the harvest and illustrated how that God "had the Israelites live in temporary shelters when (He) brought them out of Egyp" (23:43). That is...

Has this question ever crossed your mind? If it hasn't, then you are probably brain dead. All people who know God are sinners saved by grace. So we have the constant battle of putting off the old man, as Paul called the struggle, and putting on the new man.  In that old man's way of thinking, there is a doubt that our Creator exists. Of course, we may never express that thought for fear of being criticized as a non-believer. But it is there. It might even be revealed during a crisis moment of weakness when we cry out, "Where are you, God?"  With our weak logic, it might be challenging to understand how an eternally invisible being could be believable if we think about God. If we can't see him or even touch him, how do we know that he exists? Even those who had walked with Jesus for three years had doubts. John 14:8 registers one such moment when Philip asked Jesus, "Show us the Father, and that will be enough."  Jesus, in his mysterious yet comforting wo...

Once a year, the high priest entered the Holiest place on earth and offered sacrifice for the people's sins. This particular day came with many rules and regulations to avoid offending God. Here are a few that God gave to Aaron. Come at the set time each year Bring a Bull - sin offering Ram - burnt offering Take a bath Put on Tunic Underwear Sash Turbin Take from the people Two male goats - sin offering  Ram - burnt offering Offer the bull for your (Aaron's) own sins. Present the two goats at the entrance of the meeting tent Throw dice for the two goats to see which one will be sacrificed and which one will be sent into the desert as the scapegoat. You will slaughter the bull for your family's sins. You will take a censer of burning coals from the altar and some finely ground incense. You'll put that on the inner altar to make enough smoke to hide the Ark of the Covenant, and then you can go into the Holiest place.  And that is just the first thirteen verses of this uni...

We sometimes find it difficult to get out of bed on Sunday mornings. Put on a suit? What for? Go to church TWICE on Sunday? What is that all about? Isn't that something that was started way back in the olden days to accommodate the farm workers? Why do we need to do it that way now?  Gripe gripe gripe. Boo Hoo. I don't need to go to church to worship God. I have an app for that. They do make such apps you know.  If you really can't come to grips with the fact that God deserves all of you every day and that going to church to celebrate his ownership of your life, then you need to look at Leviticus!  Every chapter is chocked full of fun things to do in your Sunday school class. Come on kids let's do chapter 14! It's fun. Come here Tommy let's put the bird blood on your ear, thumb and big toe!  Kidding aside. This book was the workers manual for the Livite. He had to know what animal to kill, how old that animal was to be, when to wave what over who. It is always t...

How do you want to be remembered? And how is your worship going? Do you want people to recognize you as a hero or a goat? As a winner or a loser? As God's good servant or as toast?  If you are familiar with the story of Nadab and Abihu, then you know how they ended up. Toast. Now get this, this pair was in a position of great importance. They were in the rare air of priesthood. Their dad was the Big guy. Aaron was the First High Priest of Israel.  Mind you, the priesthood was just being set up, and the rules were all new. The three knew that they were to walk and act in a set pattern of obedience to God's directions. His instructions had been clearly spoken to Moses and then passed on to Aaron and his sons. There was no stuttering. This was not a game of "telephone" where something was lost in the passing on of information. This was life and death stuff.  So, what exactly, Strange fire is no one knows. Later in this chapter, God instructed Aaron not to drink strong dr...

Aren't we captivated by the "10 suggestions" method of success? They are ubiquitous. They call our attention like a dollar bill on the sidewalk. We nearly dive into knowing the mysteries of a successful life. Then when we go to them, it seems as if we can never come to the heart of the issue. There is always something missing.  In Exodus 20, God gave Moses the beginning of His laws for success in 10 easy steps. Today we call them the 10 Commandments. Not to be confused with the movie starring Charlton Heston made in the 50s. That was ridiculous.  God gave ten laws that will bring complete peace and success in life. Over six hundred rules follow these short sentences. However, even here, there is a catch. That being, we can't keep the 10 Commandments. No average human ever has.  It seems that such a shortlist might be easy to follow, but it isn't. It is impossible, and only one human being has ever kept all of the 10. That was Jesus. He came to do the unthinkable a...

If you take the Bible in bite-sized chunks it is amazing what you discover. Take Exodus 13:17-22, for example. Crossing the Red Sea is in their near future, but of course,e the Israeli don't know that yet. They are busy getting to that location via a "longer" than usual route. God didn't want to take them through Philistine territory just yet because, even though they were battle-ready (18b), He didn't want to discourage them right out of the shoot. Joseph's bones went along for the walk because Moses was honoring Joseph's last words. I talked about that in a previous post.  Most placenames in Exodus are lost to history, so the Jew’s route is mere speculation. The intriguing part of this chapter is that it is here that the Pillar appears to guide and protect them. I believe that the pillar of cloud led and also covered the people from the desert sun. The pillar of fire also lit the camp at night. It was a tremendous physical symbol of God's presence on...

Last Wednesday, we saw something called a confession of faith. It was at the end of our magazine in the youth group Sunday school class. Often a confession is something we go through quickly without thinking too much about it, but it describes the basis of our faith. It says who we are, what we believe about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, man, the Devil, angels, sin, salvation, etc. We reviewed it for two weeks in Sunday School, and I thought it would be good to bring this information to your attention as a church. Because it will help you and me know why we believe what we believe. Last time, we saw Article 1 which says: We believe that there is only one God in his essence, but that he exists in three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. All three have the same attributes and perfections. One of the proof texts we saw was Matthew 3:16-17 and the baptism of Jesus. Tonight, we're going to look at Article 2, which states that: We believe in God the Fat...

Exodus chapter three presents the story of a radical change in Moses’ life. His story is fascinating because of all of its twists and intriguing turns. Born a Jew during tremendous persecution, he is floated down the Nile to an unknown fate. He was eventually found by a Princess and finally fathered by Pharoah. He thus spent his first forty years in luxury.  Moses could not endure the strife that his blood-brothers were suffering, and because of that anguish and a quick temper, he murdered a man. Thus he became a fugitive to his adopted people. The next forty years were relatively uneventful as Moses learned the humble trade of shepherding. He met his bride at a well, had a son, and herded sheep. Then, after forty years of shepherding, he met God at the burning bush, and another radical change took place.  Chapter four tells the story of Moses’s many excuses and his attempt to avoid God’s will for him. God had an answer for each one, and He used Moses to do the impossible duri...

Where in the Bible do we see an excellent example of a father-in-law? In Exodus 2 and three, we are introduced to Jethro. Jethro was not a big, goofy hillbilly. On the contrary, he was a good man who, that as one author says, "... Offered wise counsel, stepped in to help when needed, and then got out of the way."  In chapter 3, he is called a "priest of Midian," and it was this phrase that caught my attention. He must have been a representative of the True God who was willing to be used when necessary by his actions and words. He thus also is a good role model for all Christians.  We all are priests of God. We can go directly to God through Jesus Christ. We don't need to share our sins and confess them to a priest. The veil was split when Jesus said, "it is finished!" He opened the holy of holies, becoming the only mediator between God and man is Jesus Christ. And we can approach God's throne boldly.  Jethro offered wise counsel when he helped Mose...

When kids get married, the phrase," until death do us part," that they repeat as a part of their wedding vows flows, quickly, and almost unnoticed, from their lips. It's the thing that is said at weddings. Granted, it is a very weighty five words, yet it seemingly makes little sense at the moment. The couple is in love and just beginning their life's journey, and death is far from their supposed reality. "Eternal love" is just starting. However, during their lifelong trip, the truth or falsity of those five words will be played out.  In olden times we thought that marriage was forever. Unless your parents had suffered a divorce, marriage was a spiritual chemistry experiment that lasted until the last breath of one or both of its participants. For a kid brought up in a home where Dad loved Mom and Mom loved Dad, and both loved God, divorce was a curse word.  Thank you, Father God!  My, no, our marriage has been a God blessed experience. Never has divorce been...