Author: Peter Loeffelbein

Titus 2

I love the Andy Griffith Show. I long for life in Mayberry. Living life, doing what’s right, fishing, (what? I’ve fished before), talking with folks, living in a black and white world.

The instructions that Paul gives for the folks on Crete sounds like a life from a bygone era but it’s the life of a christian. The way we live today may seem antiquated to the world and culture around us and that’s ok.

“Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.”

This lifestyle won’t sell more beer, or guns or pickup trucks. It’s not what our culture wants but it is what our culture needs. We are Not to impose this on anyone but to live this way in front of everyone.

Ladies, your turn.

“3 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.”

Busy at home and subject to our husbands? Be pure? Think pure? 50 shades of white?

Yes.

Young men what can your lives look like?

“Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. 7 In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8 and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.”

Next are the Slaves, not many of those this century but there are a lot of employees. If we have someone to answer to at our job this week lets try and live like this:

“Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10 and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.”

Why? Why this self control and good behavior?

“11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”

Jesus died to save sinners. Not all the sinners have heard that yet. Let’s Tell somebody about Jesus today.

I’m telling you, now you go and tell someone else. Tell them Jesus loves them and died for them, to pay for their sins, mistakes and rebellions, then he rose from the dead and now lives in heaven where he’s busy doing 2 things; defending us against our accuser and building us a home to live in forever.

But wait, there’s more…

How many times have we heard that line in a TV ad?

The next story in Matthew 8 is about Jesus healing 2 demon possessed men that lived in tombs.

When I read it through I was distracted by the fact that Matthew talks about two men but when Mark and Luke tell the story they only mention one.

I did some extra research and read what the experts had to say. While reading about that, one expert mentioned the fact that while Jesus was in the midst of a successful ministry time, crowds were gathering, he hopped in a boat and went to the very place where two men were being tormented by a demonic legion. No one could contain these guys. Not only were they busting ropes, they were breaking chains. If they couldn’t be contained then they also couldn’t be set free. Jesus dropped everything and crossed a lake in a storm to get to These men.

“28 When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes,[c] two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. 29 “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”

30 Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31 The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”

32 He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. 33 Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.”

Jesus knows us, knows our troubles. He knows where we are and what we are going through and how to set us free and is able to set us free. No matter who or what or how many, Jesus can set us free. These men were not able to be held prisoners by anything but were in fact enslaved by evil. Jesus set them free with a word. He said to the legion, “go!” And they went.

I want add just a little from Luke’s telling of the story.

“34 When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, 35 and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 36 Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. 37 Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left.

38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.”

Jesus can restore us. He can bring release from enslavement to evil, he can bring sanity back. Jesus sought these guys out. He then set them free when no one else could. They couldn’t be chained or freed.

Today, right now, Jesus is still seeking the lost hurt and damaged. How do I know? I am one. I am damaged on the inside and the outside yet, Jesus loves me.

He loves us. Will we allow Jesus into our lives and let him clean us, clothe us and set us right?

2024 update:

I have shared this post before. I believe I first wrote it in 2015, wow, 9 years ago. Well this morning after I posted it I continued on my journey through psalms and reread psalm 107:13-16.

“Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress.
He brought them out of darkness, the utter darkness,
and broke away their chains.
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for mankind,
for he breaks down gates of bronze
and cuts through bars of iron.”

God has always been in the business of setting people free. Now a days we don’t see physical slavery much. There are enslavements that are addictions, behaviors, relationships, and let’s not forget the 2 we all have, slave to our sin nature, and slave to our mortality. We all sin. We all die.

God brings us out of darkness, the utter darkness and breaks away our chains.

We can be set free Just like the demoniacs. To be set right. To be set free. To be clothed and in our right minds.

2 Thessalonians 3

The end of another book.

While we are waiting for the return of Jesus here are some things we can do:

1. Pray for the workers who are out there spreading The news that Jesus has come to forgive our sins.

“As for other matters, brothers and sisters, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. 2 And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil people, for not everyone has faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. 4 We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. 5 May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.”

Wim and Jenni Dufoort
Chris Bowman and his wife Vicky
Marc O’Dare Shaw and his wife Kathy
Rory Lewellyn and Debbie Lewellyn
Brandon Bee and Leanne Bee
Blake and Christina Barnes
Just a few that I know. Please join me in praying for them.

I’m not sure what all has to happen before Jesus comes back but when the very last person who will accept the message of salvation has heard about Jesus, I think he will come and get us. We should be praying for these to get those. And let us not forget our own role in sharing Jesus with our world, our neighbors and coworkers and friends, The folks we see everyday.

2. Work. Earn the bread we eat.
   “For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9 We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”’
3. Live a life that reflects Jesus. Live morally, with grace and mercy.
   “And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good. Take special note of anyone who does not obey our instruction in this letter. Do not associate with them, in order that they may feel ashamed. 15 Yet do not regard them as an enemy, but warn him as you would a brother.”

My shift is almost over. I just want to finish up and go home.

I will end today with what I grew up hearing at the beginning of every sermon,
“Grace and peace to you, from God our father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

2 Thessalonians 1

Prelude

When I was 5 years old we lived in Moses Lake on Stratford road. My mom told me that my grandparents were coming to visit. I spent the morning straining my eyes, watching the road from the south, the direction my family always came from when driving to my house. I gave up watching at some point but I wouldn’t have seen them because they came from the north. I was overjoyed to see them but I remember being perturbed because they surprised me by coming from the other direction.

The people of Thessalonica were watching and waiting. Watching and waiting for Jesus to come back for them. Some had sold everything and basically sat down by the road to wait. This letter from Paul is to encourage them to continue to wait, but to stay busy until he comes. The first chapter sounds harsh but may have been intended to re-energize the waiters to get busy and share Jesus because eternity is hell for those who don’t accept him as savior.

“God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might 10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.”

I saw an interview with the magician Penn Jillette who although did not accept Jesus yet, talked about an encounter with a christian who was praying for him. Penn reprimanded all Christians because if we believe God is sending to hell all those who don’t believe, then we should be better at telling the world. Otherwise it shows that we don’t really care if the world burns in hell. We have our salvation, too bad for the rest of you.

So what am I to do? What are we to do?

“With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. 12 We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

I was telling someone today that the bible is like a truth bomb. That image has gotten stuck in my head.

I see this cartoonish bomb dropping from the sky, it may even have an ACME loggo on it. It falls down right in front of me and explodes! I expect to be anihilated but instead there is a new light all around me. I can see so much clearer. There air is thick with what appears to be dust but as I look closer its a bunch of tiny hearts dropping on me. They feel good on me. They feel good over me. But it is weird. It is different to be covered in love like this. I try to brush them off but they have barbs. They don’t hurt but they do dig in. They remind me of chihuahua hair, the more I brush them the deeper and more entangled they get.

” Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

God’s word to us comes from a loving Father’s heart. It is love. It may come in the form of correction but it is loving correction. Some of us have never experienced that before so it feels foreign. It is love. Love with no agenda. Love that goes all in one direction, to us. Love that does not demand anything back.

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,

6
because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”[a]

7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

Truth and love. God’s word to us.

Boom, <3, <3, ❤

When we were moving from our last house to our current house as we were emptying out the garage, we found boxes of our kids stuff, little sets of memories like favorite baby outfits and stuffed toys, our sons Kippy the pound puppy reappeared. It was a thrill to find so many treasures that we knew we had but didn’t know where they were.

I had a similar experience this morning as I read through psalm 103. Some of you who have done your homework, disciplined yourself to memorize are already thinking, “oh! I love psalm 103”. Good on you! Nicely done. I’m being serious. Well done good and faithful servant. You have stored away some good things and you know where to go to find them again.

For me it was a pleasant surprise to read through the psalm and hear these awesome words again. I knew that they were there but I didn’t know where to find them.

Words like this :
“Praise the LORD, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:
The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,”

The word All stood out to me.
All his benefits
Heals all our diseases
Justice for all the oppressed

And these words give me hope:
“He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”

His love is immense, beyond measure, and his forgiveness is free and complete.

What a treasure trove I have found in my disorganized garage of life.

The promises are true for all of us.

Let us Dive into God’s love, and be washed clean. Let us allow him to remove our ugly past and start over, fresh and clean.

I’m so glad I found this this morning . I hope it blesses you as much as it did me.

When you have time please read all 22 verses and be refreshed .

“You are my favorite!” Said God….to everyone.

On the eve of the invasion, not d-day, Jericho day, Joshua had a visitor.

“13 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

14 “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord[e] have for his servant?”’

The Fighting was about to start and every man woman and child in side the walls of Jericho would be dead within a week (with the exception of Rahab and her family).

15 The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

Still God had not taken sides. All people are Gods creation. All of us are his kids. Even in this situation on the eve of destruction God had not taken sides.

Another example of this is found in the book of Jonah.

Jonah had tried to escape going to Nineveh. Ninevites were an enemy of the nation of Israel. The were horribly cruel. I can’t substantiate this here but I have heard that Ninevites would skin their prisoners alive and disembowel pregnant women. They were wicked and evil yet God sent Jonah to warn them of his coming Judgement.

He walked through the city and proclaimed Gods coming judgement and the city repented so God did not judge them. This made Jonah angry.

“4 But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

4 But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

5 Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant[a] and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”

10 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”’

The last example is from the Gospel of John. A familiar verse. I will add a few on the end to give it more context.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”

God does play favorites – we are all his favorites. We can choose to accept this or reject but the offer is extended to every person who draws a breath. Will you believe in his rescue plan? Will accept his gift of rescue? Jesus came and died and rose again so we will not perish but have eternal life. He did not come to condemn us but we have to choose to be rescued, to be saved.

What will you decide today?

I’m reading The Christian Man by Patrick Morley. In the chapter titled “Culture” he says this:
“If you want to engage the culture, the questions are, “What are the practical needs around me that are going unmet? And once identified , what does loyalty to Jesus Christ look like?”

Being a loyal follower of Jesus will always call us into action. We are the hands and feet of Jesus. We are the lunch bucket that he used to feed 5 thousand. We are the Good Samaritan who got off his ass and put a broken man on it and carried him to health.

One finger points at you, the rest of the fingers on my hand are pointing at me.

Fellow follower of Jesus, what can we find to do today to loyally serve our king by serving others?

I’m going to help a friend with furnace that’s acting up.

What will you do?

A very long time ago a man who is gifted in the prophetic gifts gave a bible verse to Mary and me. He gave us more than one but as I was reading through 1 Corinthians 16 I saw it and remembered that day.

The verse is 9 but I will put it in context and add some at the beginning. This is Paul speaking to his congregation at Corinth.

“After I go through Macedonia, I will come to you—for I will be going through Macedonia. 6 Perhaps I will stay with you for a while, or even spend the winter, so that you can help me on my journey, wherever I go. 7 For I do not want to see you now and make only a passing visit; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. 8 But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.”

This verse and this event take me back to a time when my belief was new and exciting and scary. God spoke to me then through this man, a prophet. He is speaking now through the Bible and through other believers but it isn’t as specific as that verse was to me that day.

I don’t know how that verse has been fulfilled in my life, at the time, it made me think of mass evangelism but that isn’t what I have done. I raised a family. I worked and lived and Mary and I stayed married. I haven’t started any churches like Paul did. I served in one, the same one for about 32 years.

This verse though makes me think of another verse that explains my life a little better.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

This verse makes me think that God isn’t a trophy maker, He is a tool maker. When we are saved he changes us into tools that he can then use to enlarge His kingdom.

As a electrician I know that every job requires specific tools to get the job done.

Father God, May I be one of those in Your hands today.

Good news for the new year.

Jesus is alive.

He was dead, but he is alive.

1 Corinthians 15

“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas,[b] and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.”

Why is this important?

“And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”

But He IS alive.

“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For he “has put everything under his feet.”[c] Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. 28 When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.”

Our greatest enemy, the enemy we all will face, death, has been defeated by our greatest friend, the friend that paid for our sins with his life, Jesus.

Good news for the new year. What will we do with this news?

I want to live beyond.

It’s a longing of my soul that nothing here can satisfy, no drink can slake my thirst.

Part of the call is a call to adventure. Mary and I took a trip to Italy, that’s how it looked on paper. What we really did was answer a call to an adventure.
I recently read this quote by Chesterton “an adventure by its nature, a thing that comes to us. It is a thing that chooses us, not a thing we choose”. Mary and I have had many late night talks about going back but if we do, it would be a trip we planned, not an adventure. I keep watching and waiting to hear adventure call again. Two years before that we went on the adventure of recording her album. An adventure has at its core, a greater purpose, a bigger story where even if our role is only as an extra, or a gaffer, (whatever that is, I’ve seen it in movie credits) we are part of a bigger story.

I said that I want to live beyond, not the great beyond necessarily, I would gladly go there, but while I’m still in this body on this planet with all of you, I want to live in the beyond. I want to live beyond hopeful, and be confident. (Right now if my wife is reading this she’s probably thinking “I’d settle for hopeful”, I tend to be doubtful). I think this is new thing.

I want to live beyond thankful and I’m not sure what that is, possibly generous? Generously.

I want to live beyond forgiven. What is that? Forgive-ing? There are more of these than i can think of now, living beyond, and I’m hoping that I live the rest of my days in the beyond.

It starts with feeling like this about God.

“Come and see what God has done, his awesome deeds for mankind! Praise our God, all peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard; he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping.”
Psalm 66:5,8-9

Starting at grateful but living beyond it, worshipful? My acts of worship sometimes focus on the warm fuzzies I get when I touch the heart of God, those are so beautiful, I always cry…then the snot. Being so grateful that worship becomes my normal. But actually focusing on blessing God with my worship, without the hoping and planning for what it does for me.

Anyway, If were going to say how I want this next year to be different, that would be to start living in the beyond, and maybe my adventure will never take me outside the boundaries of my life now, but it will be moving into something new. I can feel spring breezes of change faintly blowing in my soul already, scented with petunias and pines and ocean sprays and I can faintly hear the babble of babies and rivers and i hear the unfamiliar languages of the angels.

Beyond is calling, no, Jesus is calling, he is calling me to begin to live beyond…

Sennacherib

There once was an Assyrian king named Sennacherib. He vowed he would capture and destroy Jerusalem. He and his army camped outside the city and breathed threats against the people of Jerusalem and their king Hezekiah and against God.

Sennacherib’s chief of staff was sent to speak to the people of Jerusalem.
Among other things he said this:

‘“I’ll tell you what! Strike a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2,000 horses if you can find that many men to ride on them! With your tiny army, how can you think of challenging even the weakest contingent of my master’s troops, even with the help of Egypt’s chariots and charioteers? What’s more, do you think we have invaded your land without the Lord’s direction? The Lord himself told us, ‘Attack this land and destroy it!’” Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Assyrian chief of staff, “Please speak to us in Aramaic, for we understand it well. Don’t speak in Hebrew, for the people on the wall will hear.” But Sennacherib’s chief of staff replied, “Do you think my master sent this message only to you and your master? He wants all the people to hear it, for when we put this city under siege, they will suffer along with you. They will be so hungry and thirsty that they will eat their own dung and drink their own urine.” Then the chief of staff stood and shouted in Hebrew to the people on the wall, “Listen to this message from the great king of Assyria! This is what the king says: Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you. He will never be able to rescue you. Don’t let him fool you into trusting in the Lord by saying, ‘The Lord will surely rescue us. This city will never fall into the hands of the Assyrian king!’ “Don’t listen to Hezekiah! These are the terms the king of Assyria is offering: Make peace with me—open the gates and come out. Then each of you can continue eating from your own grapevine and fig tree and drinking from your own well. Then I will arrange to take you to another land like this one—a land of grain and new wine, bread and vineyards. “Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will rescue us!’ Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria? What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim? Did any god rescue Samaria from my power? What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? So what makes you think that the Lord can rescue Jerusalem from me?”’
Isaiah 36:8-20 – NLT

King Hezekiah humbled himself and ordered those around him to follow suit and then sent messengers to Isaiah the prophet.

This was a real threat and a very scary situation.

This is what the Lord said through the prophet:
“the prophet replied, “Say to your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be disturbed by this blasphemous speech against me from the Assyrian king’s messengers. Listen! I myself will move against him, and the king will receive a message that he is needed at home. So he will return to his land, where I will have him killed with a sword.’”
Isaiah 37:6-7 – NLT

Then again the Assyrian chief of staff made boisterous blasphemous threats to defy God and destroy Jerusalem.

King Hezekiah humbled himself and went to meet God in the temple.

He prayed.

““O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth. Bend down, O Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord , and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words of defiance against the living God.
It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations. And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all—only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands. Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O Lord, are God. ”’
Isaiah 37:16-20 – NLT

The prophet Isaiah heard and saw how Hezekiah entreated the Lord.

Among other things he said this to and about the King of Assyria:

“But I know you well— where you stay and when you come and go. I know the way you have raged against me. And because of your raging against me and your arrogance, which I have heard for myself, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth. I will make you return by the same road on which you came.” “And this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: “‘His armies will not enter Jerusalem. They will not even shoot an arrow at it. They will not march outside its gates with their shields nor build banks of earth against its walls. The king will return to his own country by the same road on which he came. He will not enter this city,’ says the Lord. ‘For my own honor and for the sake of my servant David, I will defend this city and protect it.’”
Isaiah 37:28-29,33-35 – NLT

And this is what the Lord did:
“That night the angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the surviving Assyrians woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere. Then King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land. He went home to his capital of Nineveh and stayed there. One day while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with their swords. They then escaped to the land of Ararat, and another son, Esarhaddon, became the next king of Assyria.”
Isaiah 37:36-38 – NLT

What is the lesson for me here? Who am I in this story? I believe I am the city of Jerusalem under siege by a boastful lying enemy.

The Assyrian army was the most powerful force in the world at that time. It was parked outside the city that housed the temple of the almighty God, creator of heaven and earth. The Assyrian plan was to capture the city, pilfer all the valuables and take all the people into exile. They had done the same to every other place they encountered. None of the local armies or gods could stop them. They had recently invaded the northern tribes of Israel and taken them away into captivity and grabbed the statues of their respective gods on the way out.

Could someone “steal” God?

This might be a rabbit trail but that is a significant difference between the God of Israel and the gods of any other nation. First, the God of Israel is a real God, the only real God. He is creator and sustainer of all that exists. Secondly, the God of Israel has no images. There are no statues or idols of Him. At that time there was only one place on the planet where you were to worship Him, His temple in Jerusalem. If the Assyrian’s could have gotten access to His temple, there was no icon, no image they could break in and steal. No one could “carry away” the God of Israel because he is Spirit. There was one thing, his throne, the ark of the covenant. It was the place where his glory resided, inside the Holy of Holies and it was covered in the sprinkled blood of the annual sacrificial lamb.

No, Senecharib could not have stolen God.

Could someone “steal” God from me now? I know I can have my stuff taken, I can lose all I possess. I could lose my family and my place and my position but can someone storm into my life and steal my God? No. My God is Spirit. He cannot be seen or held or contained or controlled in any way.

On the night Jesus was betrayed he prayed this prayer to God our Father.

“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began! “O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.”
John 17:20-26 – NLT

Once we are born again, God cannot be stolen from us. He lives inside us.

Enemies who besiege us will be defeated. Is this a promise for every attack? Eventually the city of Jerusalem was taken captive.

I wrote this to give hope to some friends and relatives of mine who seem to be under siege. There isn’t an army camped outside their front door, but sickness and death and destruction have taken things from them, bitterness, envy, fear and doubt keep chomping up their confidence, faith and hope. What hope can I offer? What does God offer? If he was such an all powerful God, why are they in the terrifying mess they are in?

God is always our hope.

You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
Psalm 10:17 – NIV

We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you.
Psalm 33:20-22 – NIV

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
Psalm 42:5 – NIV

You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds, God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas, who formed the mountains by your power, having armed yourself with strength, who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations. The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy.
Psalm 65:5-8 – NIV

For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Romans 8:20-25 – NIV

I don’t know these verses by heart, I had to look them up by searching with the word “hope”. I didn’t know specifically where they would be, but knowing the character of God,I knew they would be there.

Our hope is in God who delivers his children. No matter how vile and evil and mean the enemies are who are banging on our door threatening to destroy us, our hope is in God.

Our hope is in God because he is our help. God is all powerful. God knows the future. Death itself is under his command. Remember Egypt and the first Passover? Death could not touch anyone who slept in a house with the blood of the sacrificial lambs blood on the doorposts and lentil.

Death is the scary specter that walks the halls of hospitals and nursing homes. Health is what we want. We chase health with everything we have. When health eludes us death is waiting. And there is hope for us.

Our God conquered death. Jesus died…and rose from the dead. Because he died and lives again, we can be assured the same resurrection.

It is the suffering we want to avoid.

And yet…”Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
James 1:2-4 – NIV

When there is an enemy banging on the front door of our life we can trust in God, a father who loves us.

Psalm 46:10
“Be Still and know that I am God.”

From C.S. Lewis
I am reading a book by C.S.Lewis called “the world’s last night” in it is a short article called “religion and Rocketry”. The article discusses the possibility of life outside our planet and the implications of that possibility to Christianity. Many who don’t believe in God or in Christ use this possibility as an argument against both God as creator and his son Jesus as redeemer. I recommend reading the book and especially this short article.

Lewis asks 5 questions, I was most provoked to thought by question 3.

“If there are any rational species other than man, are any or all of them, like us, fallen? This is the point that non-christians always seem to forget. They seem to think that the incarnation implies some particular merit or excellence in humanity. But of course it implies the reverse: a particular demerit or depravity. No creature that deserved redemption would need to be redeemed. They that are whole need not the physician. Christ died for men precisely because men are not worth dying for; to make them worth it. Notice what waves of utterly unwarranted hypothesis these critics of Christianity want us to swim through. We are now supposing the fall of hypothetically rational creatures whose mere existence is hypothetical!”

Paul in his letter to the believers in Rome said this: “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:6-8 NIV

We don’t have to be good for God to love us. He just does. He came to earth not that he needed us but that we need him.

It is a new year today, 2024. I am struggling for new ways to say the same old thing. Right now I’m gazing at our beautiful Christmas tree completely covered in sparkles and shiny and color. Light is refracted and reflecting every which way. I’m thinking that If I could turn a phrase like a twisting ornament and flash truth just right so it can sparkle into your heart and mind so that you can understand in a new way, the love that God has shown us in sending us Jesus, that would be a fantastic gift to end this Christmas season and start a new year.

Is this you today? Do you want a fresh start? Do you want to be forgiven and free?

Truth be told this from a memory 5 years ago but the message is the same this year.

It is New Year’s Eve. 2023 is almost in the books. Some of this year has been very good. Some of it not so much. We did some amazing things. But some of my bad habits followed me. I tend to focus on my failures because I want to not repeat them. I opened my bible ap and this is what I read:

“This is what the LORD says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

I believe in and worship and follow and am lead by an invisible God. I believe he created and sustains everything that exists. The earth will revolve on its axis and the sun will appear on the eastern horizon because a God who can create everything from nothing has said it should be so. God has revealed himself in a couple of ways, through his word, the Bible and through his son, Jesus. This Jesus lived a perfect life, and yet was brutally killed. We sing about his death. I was struck with how odd that must sound to people who don’t know the story. Why do we sing about his death? We believe that his death paid for our sins and we believe that death could not hold this Jesus, that he physically rose from the dead three days later. We believe that since death cannot hold Jesus, that it also has no power over those who believe in him.

This is the eve of a an old year being changed into a new year. Will you give some serious thought tonight about asking God to make changes in your life? I am. I am asking God to help me in how I spend my time and how I spend my money. I have already given him my heart and life and he has forgiven me all of my sin and welcomed me into his family. He will do the same to anyone who will confess with their mouth that he is their Lord, and believe in their heart that he rose from the dead.

Will you let God do a new thing in your life in 2024?

I’ve had this nagging problem that I’ve hinted at but I am prompted to share it and add what God is doing to help me.

The problem is that I don’t feel like God really loves me. I believe that I am saved by Jesus, but it feels like it was like a person at a yard sale who buys a box of junk because he sees in it some treasures. He has to buy the entire box just to get the treasures. I feel like the junk in the box that gets bought because God has to take all of us.

I was thinking about this yesterday and wondering if I should post about it, I was driving in Wenatchee at the time and just then a large truck drove past me, with large letters that read, “the junk man”. It said something about taking all your stuff or something to that effect.

As I Started to write this down I felt if God asked me what it I wanted? My brain didn’t have an answer but My heart yelled out, “I want to be your favorite!”

My brain was embarrassed by my hearts outburst. I expected a rebuke from God or at least an explanation by God of how he can’t have any favorites. Instead I felt like God Said “oh Peter, don’t you know, you are my favorite! My favorite Peter Loeffelbein” and then in my mind I saw a picture of God at the garage sale searching through the box, looking for me, I was the treasure he was seeking.

Tears and snot came next.

This is how God feels about me.

It also how God feels about you. We are each one of us, his favorite, His treasure.

My hope is that you read this and feel in your heart, God’s great love for you. I hope it brings hope and joy to you, that it breaks the crust off your heart like it did mine. God loves us all. Truth. But God loves me. You can say that too. God loves me, he sent his son to seek me. Seek you.

Now you say it.

God loves me. It’s true.

In my view The Christmas story started long before Bethlehem, long before the Star and shepherds and angels showed up, and before the wise men arrived.

It started way back in a garden, the first garden. Right after our first father and mother rebelled against God for the first time. God said this: “14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring[a] and hers;
he will crush[b] your head,
and you will strike his heel.”

God had a plan to restore our relationship with him.

Years later The prophet Isaiah gave us an update on the plan in Chapter 7.

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you[c] a sign: The virgin[d] will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”.

The best part of this message is in the name. Emmanuel , it means God with us. It doesn’t say God against us, God with arms folded across his chest tapping his foot, clucking his tongue. God is not looking down on us impatiently.

Instead a while later we get this message:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

I heard tonight, wait, it’s midnight, I heard yesterday that there are over 300 prophecies that Jesus fulfills. Little tidbits about the promise God made back in the garden that tell how his plan to restore our relationship with him would come about. Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecies and of the promise. We have a way back to God. It’s not by good works, it is by Gods gift of Jesus. Jesus made the way back to our Heavenly Father by dying for our sins. Then he came back to life to show that he also conquered death.

The gift this Christmas is Jesus. And through Jesus we are brought back to our father in heaven.

Jesus, Emanuel, God came to us as a baby. He came to restore us. He came to save us. He came because he loves us. God loves me. God loves you.

Merry Christmas.

I was at church this morning helping the worship team set up. We sat down to pray and I was suddenly remembering a Barney Miller episode. It was the one where the sweet older lady was arrested for writing bad checks. She was in the early stages of dementia. She was confused about why she had been arrested. One of the officers patiently explained to her that she owed several thousands of dollars to various people and businesses. She acted as though she understood and said “well let’s take care of that right now, I’ll just write you a check….”

That is where we all are morally. We are bankrupt but keep writing checks, asking for something or someone to cover us. We think that doing good deeds fills our checking account but according to the Bible, in God’s eyes our good deeds are like, this is kind of gross, like used menstral clothes, used sanitary devices. Our good deeds are worthless to God yet we hope to fill up our moral checking account with them, to balance the bad we do with some good deeds. It doesn’t work. It’s like writing a check on an overdrawn account to cover the overdrafts.

There is good news in all this. God himself has said that he can and will and has completely covered our debt. He did this in Jesus, in his death and resurrection. That is why his coming to earth is so important. It continues God’s plan forward.

The apostle Paul said this in his letter to the Christians in Rome, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Romans 5:6-11

He says this later in the same letter, “But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”
Romans 10:8-11

This Christmas God is waiting and wanting all of us to receive his gift, the best gift ever, forgiveness of sins, welcome into family and eternal life with him in a place where there are no tears or pain, only love and joy.

Let’s play “find the baby”

Hebrews 12

Focus on Jesus and run the race naked.

Maybe that would be better stated, run unencumbered. I understand that the original Olympians ran without clothes so as to be free as possible. I think that’s the idea.

“12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Getting to be with Jesus, becoming more like him. I don’t want to lose sight of Jesus. Especially in this Christmas season. Life doesn’t stop during Christmas. So we have life plus-and all the extra stuff that Christmas brings. Somewhere in all the tree trimming, lights, packages, people, sugar cookies and gingerbread there is a baby. Our God became flesh, he is with us and will live among us. He came for a purpose. He came to be a sacrifice, to die to pay for all of our sin.

I want to run the endurance race of my faith as if nothing will stop me or slow me down. I want to focus at this time of year on a baby, a baby born to save me, save us. He is man, he is God, he is our savior and he is our king.

There is a great group of people who have already finished their race. They stand to give us encouragement.

In everything I do this Christmas I am going to try and find the baby. Find Jesus in what I do. He is in there.

Hebrews 11

Heroes of faith.

2 things.

Thing 1. I apologize for skimming over such an important group of verses. Well worth reading every word. I missed this verse yesterday morning;

“6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

We believe in and follow an invisible God. His son was here for awhile in flesh living, eating breathing, touching, healing. He was killed as a sacrifice for us, came back to life and then left us to prepare a place for us. He sent down his Holy Spirit to comfort, lead guide and work in us and through us but Jesus has been gone a long long time. He said he is coming back. This takes faith to believe. Faith is the same for us as it was for the heroes in this chapter. If our faith is weak or small we can ask for more.

Thing 2

Briefly mentioned in the last part of the Chapter are 2 of my boyhood heroes, Samson and David. Mighty men.

I learned later in life that when I was little my dad would read bible stories to us kids. I was so little that I don’t remember and I remember stuff from when I was 3. My mom told me that my dad would not just read it, but bring it to life. When she was telling me about it her whole face and demeanor changed and I got a glimpse into the romance of my parents. It was sweet. But that’s not where I was going with this.

First my dad read us the bible. He Taught us the bible. It was so early I don’t remember the events but I do know the stories and characters.

Second is I heard about how an awesome God worked in the lives of insignificant people who then went on to do incredible things. The real people of the bible were my first super heroes. They weren’t perfect and God used them. I am not perfect. Can God use me?

More to the point young parents, your time invested in your children in teaching them the bible is never wasted. I don’t remember not knowing about Jesus and the heroes of faith. I wasn’t born with it, my dad placed it my little heart.

Thank you dad.

This is one of my favorite hymns. It’s not officially a Christmas hymn, it is written for the season just before Christmas called advent. It is the season that anticipates what God will do.

My favorite line in the song is this: “rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel has ransomed captive Israel”.

The Emanuel means God with us. God, the holy one, the one who is not created but is everlasting and eternal, the being who created everything, every thing that exists, the God who is all powerful, all knowing, always and everywhere present, that God, came down here to earth and has experienced life as one of us humans, not as a king or a superhero, but he came as we do, as a baby, born to peasants, poor peasants. He came with a purpose, that purpose was and is to ransom us, to buy us back, to pay the price for our slavery. One slavery is obvious and part of everyone’s life, that slavery is found in part, just a few blocks from my house, that lovely green lawn with all of the beautiful stone markers. We will All end up there, a cemetery, we are all slaves to death. The second slavery isn’t as obvious, sin. To define sin is to say anything less than perfect behavior. It is missing the bullseye. Some can do it some areas some of the time. But we need to do it in all areas, all of the time, for our entire life. Impossible. But that is what separates us from God, our imperfections. My company makes high purity chemicals. They need to be very pure, parts per billion pure. If there is 1 bad piece and 999,999,999 good pieces, it isn’t perfect. Spiritual perfection is even more demanding, Add nines out to infinity, all of those nines, perfect nines, waiting for that last one so they can all be turned to zeros but the last one is bad as all of those nines disappear because of the one bad one. Imperfect. Most of us aren’t that good, none of us are, but God is. Jesus lived that life, nines to infinity and then he added the last perfect one, he died in our place. He won our victory over imperfection and he gives us that freedom, freedom from death, freedom from imperfection.

This Christmas Jesus can ransom us, because he is Emanuel, the God who is with us.

“O come, O come, Emmanuel

And ransom captive Israel

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear

Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free

Thine own from Satan’s tyranny

From depths of Hell Thy people save

And give them victory o’er the grave

Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, o Israel

O come, Thou Day-Spring

Come and cheer

Our spirits by Thine advent here

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night

And death’s dark shadows put to flight

Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, o Israel

O come, Thou Key of David, come

And open wide our heavenly home

Make safe the way that leads on high

And close the path to misery

Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, o Israel

O come, O come, Thou Lord of might

Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai’s height

In ancient times did’st give the Law

In cloud, and majesty and awe

Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, o Israel

Yes Jesus come and ransom, set us free, cheer us, bring us home to our Father’s house. You have done all of that in my life so I rejoice. You are God with us, with me. ❤️