Dealing with the Negative Space!

I played the resident critic on Ecclesiastes Sunday!

Have you ever been around someone who is a ‘downer’ or the resident critic?? This type of person is always quick to crush hope, breed negativity and always revert to laws like Murphy’s…’if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong.’  Sometimes it isn’t a person, but a runaway thought in our mind and it festers a spirit of panic, fear and anxiety.  We actually have to take action when this type of spirit manifests in our lives or it can easily overwhelm and paralyze our progress.  I know it’s pretty easy to let the spirit of ‘murphy’ take hold in my own life.  I would easily say it becomes my “default” mode if I don’t actively challenge it by the power of the Holy Spirit.

As we continue to work through the Bible at Church at the Manor, we come to another poetic writing, the book of Ecclesiastes.  Simply, there are three main themes that the ‘critic’ throws at us as developed by the “Read Scripture” series.  They are the perspective of one “under the sun” or apart from the acknowledgement of God in one’s life and they are very “Murphy” like.  The good thing is that we won’t stop at pointing them out… there is a counter attack.

1.        The March of Time  -  The book is quick to point out that generations come and go, you will soon be forgotten and  everything that you really work hard for will not be enjoyed by you but others who you have to leave it too.

2.       We Are All Going To Die – That’s right, so what’s the point of doing good, make a difference when everyone experiences the same fate no matter whether they  are rich or poor, status or no status.  It’s all just really pointless.

3.       Life’s Random Nature -  There is no cause and effect relationship to life.  It all just “hevel”  in Hebrew  and that means everything is really without meaning.   It’s all just smoke, you think it is something and it turns to something else.  It’s confusing. There is a glitch in the system.  The race doesn’t always go to the swift.  You can’t control anything in life.

The Counter Attack 

Here are some great insights we focused at the Manor Church

In response to the ‘march of time’ Ephesians 5:16 challenges us to make the most of every opportunity that God places in front of us.  Recognize also that worry is pointless.  Read Matthew 6:30-33

When you are overwhelmed by the thought that we’re all gonna die, it is sobering but remember there is never a U-Haul that follows a hearse.  The good part is that it reminds us the most important things worth investing in are not things, but people and making a difference for eternity.  I can remember so clearly when I started attending Bible College and thinking to myself, why am I here?  I just started  reading the New Testament and when I got to Matthew 6:21 it all became clear.  “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”  I knew right in that moment that I wanted to invest my life in others.  Another really good point that was made is that in light of how fast time really flies, we can’t leave any room for resentment.  It is too much of a burden to carry.

In response to life’s random nature, recognize that the only thing that you can really control is your attitude.  The author steps in at the end of the book, overrides the critic to make sure that we realize that God will ultimately clear the ‘hevel’ and bring clarity to everything.  As one author stated, ‘life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react or respond to it.  Reacting is my knee-jerk reaction, it’s usually self-centered, pretty ugly and selfish.  Now responding takes grace and the Spirit of God in my life.  It’s a perspective that I have to absolutely rely on Him for and it takes time and patience to cultivate in my life.

In the end the author tells us to fear God and that it’s much easier to honor Him and follow Him when we are young and willing to listen than when we get old and think we know it all.  Ecclesiastes 12:1  ‘remember your Creator in the days of your youth’!

The simple takeaway of the book is to keep hope and remain humble.  I’m not in control but I remain steadfast in hope in the One who is!

Well we said our goodbyes to Addi who is off to YWAM Kona on Thursday bright and early.  She will be missed on Sundays at Church at the Manor as she has been part of the worship team from the very beginning!

On Saturday September 30th, I will be riding with Ride For Refuge to raise funds for Church at the Manor.  Your support is greatly appreciated!!

http://bit.ly/2xuNsZR

When Life Doesn't Make Sense

The story of Job in the Bible has always been a challenging one to fully understand.  At Church at the Manor, we have moved into the poetic books and it was a great exercise to have a group of our people to act the story out together.  We then had a very lively discussion on one of the most common objections to why people choose not to believe and that is this question. “If God is a loving God, why does He allow human suffering and pain?  It was a great discussion question and I received some good feedback with answers like:

God doesn’t make us without free will and the ability to choose Him.

We live in a world that is completely affected by the devastation of our sin nature and we were born in sin and also with the effects of the ugliness of sin.

It is often in our suffering and pain that we experience the most profound depths of God’s presence.

The reality is that this book actually never does address the why of human suffering; however the one burning question that it forces you to answer is this.

As a believer, do you trust your Father God?  

Do you trust Him when it feels like He isn’t there and when you don’t sense His presence?  Do you trust Him when your prayers don’t get answered?  Do you trust Him when your life doesn’t make sense, when you can’t explain the situation?  Do you trust your Father God when there doesn’t appear to be any benefits from doing so?

This is the real burning question and the right answer is to say, yes, I trust You Father.  I think the best answer that I have for the life of Job is found in Psalm 23.  I rediscovered this beautiful Psalm after having been requested to share on it for a couple of funerals that I performed this past month. 

In Psalm 23 David shares of the very fact that the Lord Is My Shepherd.  He essentially is the one that I put my complete trust in.  Why?  He ultimately leads me to still waters, green pastures…yes but even though I walk through the valley of death, YOU ARE WITH ME…emphasis mine! J   David speaks of the LORD ( the personal, covenant keeping God) and His presence, protection and power.  He is a good Father and He is absolutely worth placing our complete trust in. 

In the N.T.  Jesus expanded on the theme of the Shepherd and shared how His sheep know His voice.  They listen and obey him.  I can’t emphasize enough about the importance of listening to His still small voice.  It is so important that we know that the LORD still speaks today and prayer is meant to be a conversation.  John 10:27 We need to get to the place where we are still, where we fix our eyes on Jesus and allow His words to penetrate our mind and heart.  It is then that our trust takes us to a greater place of rest, a place where my soul is quiet and He restores my soul.

As Jenny shared earlier in the month, often those green pastures that we might picture in Psalm 23 are not necessarily  those lush pastures that go on forever, they are just enough  for what we need today.  Check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdzhbv2eGxk

Random Insights and Celebrations!

Singing Psalms!

On Sunday we took to the Psalms…80’s style.  For those who remember, how many of these Psalms can you sing?

Unto Thee O LORD

I Will Enter His Gates With Thanksgiving in my heart

Make A joyful Noise Unto The LORD

This is the Day

Jen reminded us that the Psalms aren’t all just “thank You LORD, you are amazing but reminded us of the laments as well, the very real, heartfelt honesty of the psalmists.

The Wedding!

On August 19^th, we hosted the wedding of Tiara and Bob at our new home and it was a beautiful celebration.  It was our first Manor Church peeps wedding too and our core team came together and did such an amazing job.  Steve, Carolyn, Bob, Jenny, Jen and Kristen, you all rock!  We were also so blessed by the generosity of Christine who gave us so many beautiful flowers, especially hydrangeas!  Can I just add that my wife Sharon can now add “florist” to her resume as she put together the incredible arrangements and did an amazing job on decorating!!

I Gave Up Coffee!

I decided to give up drinking coffee…. for the time being.  It was definitely our morning ritual to have a good coffee with breakfast but Sharon challenged me to drink a hot drink with apple cider vinegar and raw honey instead.  There are certainly a lot of health benefits! http://www.healthyandnaturalworld.com/health-benefits-of-apple-cider-vinegar-and-honey/

It also has been great to journey with Dan who is in the process of giving up smoking and talk about all the challenges of working through withdrawal.

Captain Canada!

I had the opportunity to revisit my former church in Milton and be Captain Canada for their High Power Soccer Camp.  It was an amazing day to see their camp ministry going strong and reaching many children with the love of Jesus.

Back Pack Giveaway #sameteam  

On Sunday August 20^th we partnered with Pastor Michael and team from Kingdom Life, RL and her team from Freedom House and the Healing Center to give away 200 "back to school" back packs filled with pencil crayons, notebooks, erasers, glue sticks and  BBQ at Willow and Dawson Rd!  We met people, discovered their story and for me it was so eye-opening to learn that in just one apartment complex, there were 20 families all from Nepal living there.

Overcomers Prevailing On The Way To Victory

We prevailed at work today with the help of Icee!! How awesome is that when the neighbor of the place you are working at just happens to own an Icee truck and calls you over for free drinks!

Speaking of overcomers...it is an interesting  discovery to find out that the Greek word most often translated “overcomer” stems  from the word ‘nike’ that means to carry out the victory!  We see the word overcomer often used in Revelation as a message to the church to endure, to fight the good fight so to speak, to not give in to weakness and temptation.  Paul also referenced being an overcomer in Romans 8 and the power we have through the indwelling Holy Spirit to experience the victory personally!

At Church at the Manor, we have been pressing on through the themes of each book of the Bible and we just completed Nehemiah.  When I look at the life of Nehemiah and how he led the remnant from exile to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem in 52 days, that deserves a nike swoosh for overcoming!!

Here are three things that I see from his life that are so worth emulating.

Overcomers start with a battle cry!  Nehemiah 1:1-11

It is a battle cry of desperation for change, a battle cry of confession.  For Nehemiah it included a time of weeping and fasting.  The situation that he faced was dire.  There was no concern for the welfare of the city, no focus on the bigger picture of rebuilding the nation, no awe of the LORD.

He readied himself and absolutely came out of this time knowing who his God was!

“O, LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keep his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands.” Nehemiah 1:5

I know there are defining moments in my life personally that I have come through and are a result of intense time of prayer and getting on my knees with the LORD.  I look back on my journal and recognize the powerful hand of God over the whole situation and how my resilience and awareness was solidified in those moments.  Often when we get into difficult times and situations, it is so easy to bail.  However, when we have gone through a time when our calling was clarified and crystallized,  we have the impetus to press on!

Overcomers aren’t sidelined by negativity.  Nehemiah 4:2-7

You don’t have to look far to find realists in your life.  These are the people who like to bring you “back to reality”  They often mean well, but it is not well for you.  They are quick to remind you of your past failures and mistakes.  The like to say things like ‘past performance determines future behavior’ and the like.  They are often condemning voices from others and those voices are also planted by the enemy in your own thought process. 

Here is what those voices shouted to Nehemiah and the children of Israel.

Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!” Nehemiah 4:3

As Neil Anderson says every time you are faced with temptation to give up or give in you are on the threshold of a decision.  There is that moment when the negative thought enters your mind, that you have a choice to either dwell on it or refuse it and throw it into the trash can so to speak.  Romans 12:2  “be transformed by the renewing of your mind!”  When the enemy tries to derail you, you are in the moment to overcome, to follow through, to persevere on your God-given focus, dream or plan.

 Overcomers know how to celebrate victories!

So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.  Nehemiah 6:15,16

There was a huge victory celebration following the improbable success of the Israelites under the leadership of Nehemiah.  Ezra read the law, they confessed their sins and a time of praise and blessing to God followed.

Where are the places that you are seeing growth in your life?  What are the changes that you are encountering?  Take time to celebrate, to give thanks to God and celebrate what He is doing NOW!!

Last week we had a FLASH hot dog BBQ in the Willow and Dawson area of Guelph inspired by Sharon.  We know that there is a lot of subsidized apartments as well as new immigrants that live here.  One of the things that I celebrated was how our Manor peeps were involved in giving and being part of the volunteer team doing the BBQ and handing out over 200 hot dogs, playing with children, making conversations and  face-painting.  The event was a success, but what struck me was the joy I saw on the faces of those who served!  It was also a great time to also join arms with other churches and ministries including Move In Ministry and Kingdom Life Church.  It was a fantastic evening of love, joy and serving!!

What have you had a rant about??

So Sharon wrote a post the other day about Value Village and it has gone #viral on Facebook.  She simply made the point that VV ‘s prices are often higher than retail stores.  Well apparently a lot of people agree as the post has over 25000 shares!

Dear Value Village...do you realize that you are not a retail store? And do you know what I can buy at Homesense for $12.99??

SHARE this if you agree that VV's prices are tooooo high. End of rant.

Value Village

What have you had a rant about? 

There was a man in the Bible who had a rant with God.  However, in his case, he had just gone viral with an amazing victory and display of God’s power at Mount Carmel proving the existence of God and that He is worthy of worship.

Ok, now enter the scene with me in 1 Kings 19.  We have Ahab, who was a wicked king in Israel and his wife Jezebel who was even more wicked and the story is being relayed to her about what Elijah has done.She is swearing by the same gods who failed miserably against the God of Elijah in the previous chapter and then we read... 

Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. 

I don’t get it….You just saw God demonstrate Himself powerfully on the mountaintop,

He answered your prayers and now he is going to let one woman scare him to the point where he runs away from his next assignment

Elijah was running for his life.

V4 He wants to die and now the #rant

“I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

Elijah is afraid.

You can’t have a great faith, great God and great fear or can you?

You can wake up in the morning after a great day of serving God in some form or fashion, helping people out, serving others, blessing people, singing His praises and wake up feeling defeated.

We were never meant to leave God’s presence

So, how do you live through it…It’s not that the fear is gone, but they found a faith in God

I’m so grateful that the Bible shows me a man of great faith in 1 Kings 18… and then in 1 Kings 19, a man so low he is ready to die …he’s real, we can relate to him!

My question today is, “Are you running away from the direction that God is calling you?”

We easily can get caught up in what everyone else is thinking and forget about listening to the most important voice in our life, the voice of our Father God through His Holy Spirit.

Here are three keys right out of the TEXT to really living from the life of Elijah:

Get up and eat v6

Elijah runs far away, he wants God to take his life… and what does God do…He tells him to eat. This is just not a picture of physical food,  it is a picture of how God’s Word meets our spiritual needs

 John 6:35  Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

God cooked the food for Elijah, meal service was coming through; He has given you his promises, but you got to get up and eat it.  So start listening to His Word, listen to His voice and take it to heart!

Go out and stand v9-11

It is one thing that God speaks to you on the mountain when we are in a good place, but He also speaks to us in the cave, when we are going through darker times.  You feel more distant from God sort of like when your “wifi signal” is not as strong in the cave.  Here’s the truth, in isolation there can be more despondency.  But why do we do that.  We make a mistake, we crash spiritually or something devastating happens in our life and the first thing we do is go into hiding.  It happened in the beginning with Adam and Eve and it still happens now. I was just talking with someone whose husband left her and the first thing I asked is do you have a good support system of people around you and she replied by saying that she was too embarrassed to go to church.

Whatever you are going through, you are not the only one left.

You are not the only one left.  God says I’m with you when you pull the covers over your head, when you don’t want to face the day.

The enemy wants to keep you in the cave.  He wants you to keep replaying the film of how you went down and how you lost your perspective

He speaks into our depression, dysfunction, addiction.  Elijah is still running but the LORD keeps pursuing him.  There are lies that bounce around in the walls of your cave and God wants to get you out of the cave.  You may be stuck and He wants to get you unstuck.

When you get on the mountain, it’s a picture of worship, we hear God more clearly, in the presence of the LORD.

How do we stay calm?  We do it by listening to our Father’s voice through His Spirit

Look how God passes by!

The wind tears apart the mountains…He is not there.

A fire consumes, a flashback scene for Elijah… He is not there.

There are so many more dramatic ways that God could have shown Himself that He is in control but then…a gentle whisper…  Elijah, what are you doing here?

Why did he whisper to Elijah?  He whispers because He is close.The enemy can yell, the voices inside your head can yell, but God chooses to whisper in this moment. He doesn’t need to shout because He is right, He is in control, he holds you in the palm of His hand.

What about you?  What are you doing here, how long are you going to stay in that cave, how long are you going to refuse to forgive that person and hold them and yourself hostage?

How long are you going to stay awake at night trying to fight a battle He already has won for you?

Remember how I was with you, how I provided for you

Remember He knows everything about you...The hairs on your head are numbered. Luke 12:7

His Spirit is inside of you and I believe there are things He wants to tell you.

The 3rd Thing God tells Elijah -

Go back the way you came v15

It’s time to move on.

Elijah was told, “Go to the desert of Damascus….anoint  Nimshi…hand the torch over to Elisha, get back to the work I called you.”

How many more nights will you spend in the cave? Are you ready to get back to the place I called you to be?

REMEMBER…you didn’t get into a relationship with God by your own achievements, performance or effort….It was all by grace.

One of our friends at Church at the Manor, Greg, is literally moving on.  He was baptized on Sunday and it’s his heart’s desire to get a fresh start.  We prayed for the infilling of the Holy Spirit too.  He is actually moving out of the Manor after living there for 12 years.  He shares how everywhere that he has lived, he has seen a cross from his window… a reminder that God is always there, chasing him.  I have had many conversations with Greg and shared some real God moments as well as we broke bread , prayed, laughed and shared life together. 

EAT, STAND, GO…it’s a message for all of us!

The Most Amazing Wine At A Wedding!

Well, wedding season is heating up and with that I have had to take a closer look at passages on marriage and life.  I want to share some insights from John 2 about a wedding that Jesus attended and some great truths I discovered here

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee.  Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.  When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

Jesus’ response was unpredictable at best… “Dear woman, why do you involve me?.  My time has not yet come.

Here’s the point.

1.       There is something larger than life itself going on here.

 This is not a simple task of running to the LCBO.   The truth is that this very wine is a picture of Jesus’ sacrificial love for the world.

It is the very foundation that we all need to rest our lives and relationships on.  The only way that real love has an opportunity to grow is when it is based on the love of Jesus.

She was living in the moment and Jesus was looking ahead to the cross. There is something larger happening here, more than just a social faux pas at a wedding.

We are looking ahead to a covenant with Christ at the center.

Let’s keep looking at the events that unfold at this wedding…

5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

2.       Jesus Is The Ultimate Purifier

So, here we see Jesus taking water jars  that were appointed for purification and turned them into most amazing wine.  Jesus again was pointing to His death on the cross as the place where we would be purified from our sins.  He would pay the ultimate price.

Do the math… 6 ceremonial jars x 25 gallons each.

That is a lot of wine!  Here’s the realization.  The love God has for us that Jesus would pour out His life for us is an extravagant and overflowing love.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  1 John 3:1

1 John 1:7  The blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin.

He paid the price for your forgiveness. 

Knowing that you are forgiven and experiencing real forgiveness from Jesus is the ultimate glass of wine that we continue to drink everyday.

I wonder if John had the wedding celebration in mind when he continued to write about the extravagant love of God.  I’m sure it inspired him to write about purity as well as he continued to write…

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. 1 John 3:2,3

3.       Jesus is The Ultimate Bridegroom

We as Jesus’ followers are His bride the Bible teaches us.  So, back to the wedding. ..

Recognize that Jesus performed a miracle here and did what the groom at the wedding couldn’t do. 

The groom at the wedding wasn’t going to be able to “COMPLETE” his bride like we see in the movies.  We can’t even meet all the needs of our spouse, but here’s the AHA moment.  We need to point each other to the ultimate source, the one who will meet all our needs.  Colossians 2 says that we are made complete in HIM, Jesus.

My prayer is that you will discover that kind of love.

Manor Church NEWS

Jenny joins the team!

We are excited that Jenny Johnson is joining our core team at Church at the Manor.  She recently preached on the theme ,  We are living in a love story"

Jenny shared snippets of her former life "I laughed when I wanted too cry, lived when I wanted too die" ...all the while she knew deep down God was calling her to live the love story designed for her.

Tina – Garden Caretaker

It has been awesome to see Tina B. step up to the plate and take leadership of our Manor Garden at the back of the property.  She has already had it rototilled, found a  $200- grant and seeds!!  We also have a water container to keep things growing as well!!

Biblical Literacy – we just tackled Ruth!

A great review of Ruth

http://www.shmoop.com/ruth/summary.html

Sharon focused on Jesus as our ultimate “Kinsmen Redeemer”.  He is our next of kin who has come to redeem us, to rescue us from a place of alienation and separation to a place of family and being part of God’s  Kingdom community! 

The Tragedy of Judges

Judges is really written as a tragedy.  The Judges were the regional, political, warrior leaders during that time. We see the nation of Israel called to drive out nations that were morally corrupt and was certainly evident through child sacrifice in the worship of their gods like molech.   So, what happens?  Israel settles into the land and becomes complacent, they forget the challenge of Moses to obey the laws and commands they are given. Unfortunately, the move in and end up adopting the same practices of the very nations that resided in the land. It really is a classic spiral, a desperate nation that turns to God, but one that falls into an ugly cycle. 

It looks like this.

                                  

                              

Ultimately, Israel needed to be delivered from themselves and the truth of it was a reminder of the human condition.  Ultimately, they cried out for a king and a king would come.  What they really needed was what Moses spoke of in Deuteronomy 30:6, a heart circumcision that would come in the person of Holy Spirit.

The Choice of a New Generation!

It was an amazing adventure during my last missions trip for me as I joined my brother Lloyd, his wife, Lisa, my mom, a young adult from CTF Kitchener, Ariel and a former youth of mine, Travis.  We ran an “Encuentro Da Vida” Soccer Camp based on John 10:10 that Jesus came to give us life to the full!

On the last day of the camp close to 100 children did just that!  It was awesome.  The way my brother Lloyd shared with those who attended is very inspirational and empowering and it reminds me of our study through Deuteronomy that we recently went through at Church at the Manor.

The book of Deuteronomy is a speech, pep talk, inspirational call to a new generation of God’s people.  They had watched the futility and lack of faith of their parents that caused them to miss out on the very best promise that God had spoken over them.  What causes us to miss out on experiencing out on everything that our Father has for us?  It is the heart of unbelief.

Moses gives the famous ‘shema’ to this young generation and it is built on two words,

LISTEN and LOVE. 

Deuteronomy 6:4 “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 8 Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

It was a prayer that they were called to express twice a day.

Listen in the Hebrew is not just a call to hear, but to respond to what you are hearing, to respond to God’s grace, to obey the words of the covenant.

Love is the motivation for obeying the commands of the covenant.  It is out of devotion that the LORD (meaning the personal, covenanting God) wants us to respond.  If they are going to live out and fulfill this  Abrahamic covenant to be blessed and be a blessing

It is the same imperative that Jesus gave us when he said, He who ears, let him hear and James who said, let’s be doers of the Word and not hearers only.

In the second section of the book, he takes the to repeat, explain and clarify. 

Here is the breakdown:

The path of obedience leads to blessing, abundance and enjoying the land.  So, choose life.

The path of disobedience however leads to the curse and a time of famine, plagues and finally exile from the land that God has graciously given. This is the path of death.

The New Testament in Galatians 6:7-10 essentially lays out the same cause and effect.  We will reap what we sow.

However, there is a huge gap, issue with all of this… Moses essentially predicts their failure to live it out as well.  He basically says that they will be incapable of listening and loving much like Adam and Eve in the garden. 

The problem is a universal human condition and Moses then goes on to focus on a time after exile when they will be able to listen and love.  In Deuteronomy 30:6, “The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts”.  Other prophets like Jeremiah also speak of when God wlll write the law on hearts of flesh.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  Ezekiel 36:26

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  Jeremiah 31:3

And it’s reiterated again in Hebrews 8:10

So, bottom line for us is this, there is no way to live out the Christian life without the power and the fullness of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

It’s the Holy Spirit that enables us to do the things that God has prepared in advance for us to do.  Ephesians 2:10.

We had so MANY divine appointments where God set us up.  We had issues with the government about our camp and God literally brings a believer to us who works for the government.  Another time we were just visiting at the pastor’s home and a man “randomly” shows up to ask for prayer for his wife.  It turns out he was in prison, but here they put them to work in construction.  During our time with him, the pastor leads him to Jesus.  We ask him how often this sort of thing happens, he says this is the first time!  Amazing!!

The Bible Project video series does such an excellent job sharing this in the following video, it is SO worth the watch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BGO9Mmd_cU

No Longer In Debt!

Our journey through the Old Testament continues along with the awesome videos provided from the team at Bible Project.  Some of our Manor peeps have put the app on their phones to journey alongside us.  The great thing about doing this systematically is that even we as leaders cover passages and subjects that in all honesty we just haven’t done.  So, recently we were in Leviticus and if there was a book that you might get bogged down in, that would be one!  The most encouraging thing for me was to read insights from a passage that one of our attendees wrote.  He gave me permission to share his journaling.

Leviticus 26:6  “peace in the land”  God will take care of all that ails us and holds us in fear and bondage, our addictions, fear of rejection, failure etc… He will rid the land (us) of all these things.  HE will, not us and our own efforts.  Our role is to trust and obey and believe.  HE will, no matter, what.

Exodus ends with Moses unable to enter God’s presence and in Leviticus we see how God graciously provides a way for people to live in His holy presence.  The big question to be answered is how can a sinful and selfish Israel be reconciled to God?   God is holy and we are called to holiness as well.  To be holy means to be set apart, unique, in life, purity, goodness and justice.  Israel was to do life differently and be set apart as a nation in the ways that they cared for the poor, in their sexual integrity and in social justice.  When we look at all the ritual sacrifices, the priestly requirements and the strict laws on purity, it can all seem overwhelming. 

However, the wonderful reality lies in the Day of Atonement where sin is dealt with. The key idea with this feast is that sin and its consequences have been removed from us, His people and allow us to be in God’s presence!

Fast forward to the New Testament and we read in Colossians 2:13,14

13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.

Thanks to the cross of Christ, we have experienced our own Day of Atonement and truly know the freedom of having our sins forgiven! 

Have you ever done the happy dance when you no longer have a monthly payment owing?  Man, there is incredible joy to be finished with payments for a vehicle or even a house!  I’ll never forget the celebration in my home when my parents ‘burned the mortgage!’   Now take that joy and multiply it infinitely!!  Every day as believers we can sing and dance knowing the immense joy of having our sins  forgiven.

It reminds me of a song by Delirious!

Oh I could sing unending songs

Of how you saved my soul

Well I could dance a thousand miles

Because of your great love.

My heart is bursting Lord

To tell of all you've done

Of how you changed my life

And wiped away the past

I want to shout it out

From every roof top sing

For now I know that God

Is for me not against me

Everybody's singing now 'cause we're so happy

Everybody's dancing now 'cause we're so happy

If only we could see your face

And see you smiling over us

And unseen angels celebrate

For joy is in this place!