Peter’s Posts

When I wrote this I wrote with both hands and both eyes and both feet intact.

If I took this verse in Matthew 18 literally none of that would be true.

“6 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”

My eyes, my hands and my feet all cause me to stumble but only because my heart told them to. My heart, where all my thoughts are pondered and decisions made. It is desperately and decidedly wicked and selfish. My heart wants what it wants no matter what or who says differently. What can I do to be pure? What can I do To wash away sin and selfishness that is woven into my very fabric? My heart and soul are burlap, rough and coarse.

Jesus.

Jesus can and will take over our lives. He will cover us in his perfection so our Father God only sees his son when he looks at us, and as he is draped over us on the outside he begins to rebuild us on the inside. To restore and refine us. To turn our burlap souls into silk or satin or 600 count cotton.

God is the God of “and yet” or “even while”.

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

While we were yet sinners Jesus willingly died for us. He died for me. He died for us. He died for you.

If you don’t know him yet, do you want to? If you do know him, can you think of someone who doesn’t know him that you can gently show his love to?

#matthew18 #doesJesusloveme?

I do a bible study on the weekdays. We are given a set of verses to read and to ponder, to reflect on. It is terrible of me but I hope for a short section. Just a few short verses that are succinct so I can grab the message and go.

Today was Psalm 99. The entire Psalm. Mary my wife has many of the Psalms memorized so she would know that it was short but powerful. It only has 9 verses.

I opened my bible to read and I got what I needed in the first three words.

“The Lord reigns…”

What else do we need to know? God is still running the world. He is still in charge. He is still actively working on bringing his children home to himself.

I am feeling like a bubble on the wind, vulnerable and not in control, useless and powerless to change myself or my direction but the Lord reigns, he sees me and knows me and has a purpose for me, and for us.

The last 6 words are as powerful as the first 3: “for the Lord our God is holy.”

God is holy, he is separate from us, he is not part of creation, but instead is creator. He is not limited in any direction or in any way. If what we need doesn’t yet exist, he can create it. He is not in a hurry, in fact he is not subject to time. He is not subject to anything or anyone. All this is true of him AND he loves us.

He loves us so much that he gave his one and only son to die in our place, to pay for our mistakes and create a way back into a relationship with him.

The Lord reigns.

The Lord or God is Holy.

Imagine walking through a forest or a jungle and everything you saw, you could eat. Fruits, leaves, twigs, bark, seeds, didn’t matter, it is all edible. Now contrast that with a forest or jungle where some stuff was edible and some stuff is poison, and the more poisonous it is, the more delicious it appears, hold that thought for a moment.

I’ve been thinking about how I am living and doing this Christian life. I was going over how my schedule has morphed and changed over the last several years.

I don’t remember how I used to do it in my earlier years. I somehow knew (more likely was instructed by my mentor Dr. Floyd Jacobson) that I need to study the Bible on my own. It is not enough food for a persons soul to simply rely on a pastors message one day a week to supply all I need spiritually for a 7 day stretch of time. What is that saying? Seven days without reading the Bible makes one weak (week). Would I try to live my life on one meal a week? No I need to feed myself daily, with food and so also with the word of God which is spiritual food. I have had plans and schedules for time to study the Bible in the past, I don’t remember now how I did it but I did it. And then for a while, I didn’t do it. No plan, no schedule, “I’ll get to it, eventually”  I would tell myself, but I didn’t get to it. I listened to Christian radio occasionally and listened to Christian music but even that slowly eroded and I was left with bibles and books about the Bible on shelves but seldom opened, unused CD’s (compact discs, a way of recording and playing musical files) by christian artists. Somehow God called me back into an active relationship with him, (prompting by my Pastor and nudging and urging by my wife certainly played a big part) and I began reading, then studying the bible again. I decided I would do it in the morning. I had to set my alarm for enough time to add some study time.

Now back to the forest or jungle, whichever image you can relate to better. (I like the forest). The Christian life that is lived picking and choosing whatever the culture is offering as a spiritual food source would be like that forest where I didn’t know what was poison and what was good. The Christian life that is lived reading and studying the word of God is more like the first example, everything is good to eat. while studying the bible I can read anywhere in it, and it will feed my soul. The thing about our culture  is that just walking through life, our head, heart and soul are getting crammed a steady diet of our culture, poison and all. We don’t have to choose, our culture will choose for us. The thing is, we can choose, I can choose what I watch, what I listen to, what I read but if I do not choose, I will continue to receive what the culture has chosen for me, force fed, crammed into my soft little brain, my tender heart and my hungry aching soul.

As a Christian I am wanting to live the life  of a Christian, but what does that that life look like? Is it the same as a non-Christians? With just a bookend of church on Sunday? No. Well, it can be but that isn’t a good way to survive. We already talked about how a soul and spirit need to get fed. How do I know about God unless I’m reading God’s words written to his children? How do I know what God expects from me? How do I know who God is or how he acts and reacts towards me, how he feels about me, (he loves me, and loves you too) unless I am reading the book he gave us to learn about him?

Have a plan, or don’t have a plan. Did I have a plan when I used to crawl up into my Dad’s lap for a back scratch? Okay, maybe that’s a bad example, but the bible is a book that will feed us, no matter where we go in it. It does not all taste the same, there are some portions of the bible that are dry as old bones, but even old bones have nourishment if you chew on them.

Paul says this in Romans chapter 12: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

In his letter to the Philippians Paul says this:

“Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.”

Philippians 2:14-16

We are to not conform to the pattern of the world, renew our minds and hold firmly to the word of life. My new schedule of getting up earlier started as hard, this morning it slipped back to hard. I read a little then napped before my second alarm went off alerting me to critical time crunch mode. I don’t want to not be transformed. I don’t want to slip into the shape the world and our culture is trying to press me into. Even after reverting to my old sleepy sleep in ways this morning. I still grabbed a nibble of God’s word.

Christianity, It’s a relationship. Relationships take time, and space, and interaction, and conversation. The Bible is God’s voice to us. My dad and I weren’t close but I do have memories of when we were physically near, in conversation and interacting, sometime a back scratch but usually on a project, building this or that, and those times, the memories are sweet. That is what I believe God wants from us, for us and with us. Time.

The bible is sweet food for our soul.

God is a father who wants to have input into our lives, to have a relationship.

I encourage all of us to get back into the habit of renewing our minds and nourishing our souls, and building our relationship with our Father God by spending more time in his word, the Bible.

John 14

The Lord our God is one! (in three persons).

Deuteronomy 6:4 says “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!”

Jesus quoted this verse when asked what was the most important commandment was.

And yet he says this here; “15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.

“Come now; let us leave.”

Our God is one God. Our God is 3 persons. Our God is the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. One God. Three persons. One God.

This idea that Jesus states here was as radical a thought then as it is hard to understand now. God pre-existed creation, he became a man, not BOOM here I am a man, but like labor and delivery, smack smack “wah”, “it’s a boy!”, became a man. Lived life, had a job, ate, drank, went to weddings and funerals man, (while at the wedding turning water into wine, while at the funeral, raising the dead). He was a man a special God in flesh kind of man, who lived, he then died. But he didn’t stay dead! He rose from the grave! He hung around for 7 weeks and then went back to heaven to work on our home so he can take us there to be with him. While he is away he sent himself, as God in Spirit form, like the wind, we can’t see it but we feel it. We can’t see Him but we feel Him.

The Lord our God is one. To quote Mr Waturri from Joe versus the Volcano, “I’m not arguing that with you”. However, The Lord our God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, is one.

I am bummed that I don’t get to hang out with Jesus in the flesh…..yet. But I do get to be filled with His Holy Spirit, have Him, God in Spirit live in me. I know that I have yet to fully understand or appreciate or take full advantage of this amazing truth. But it there for me, for us. He is there, for me for us.

Have you invited him in? Will you invite him in? I did.

To borrow a Disney lyric that I heard recently, “Everybody wants to be a cat

Because a cat’s the only cat who knows where it’s at”. Now replace the word “cat” with boss. Every body wants to be a boss…Our nature creates in us a desire to be the one to tell others what to do, and to not want to be the one being told what to do.

Christianity is the upside down of that.

The disciples were walking along the road with Jesus, I see this in my head as Jesus walking ahead of them and the twelve in a clump, jostling each other arguing about who is the boss of whom.

Matthew 18 tells it like this.

“18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”

If we follow the example of our leader Jesus, the way up is the way down. Jesus humbled himself. He started as the Godhead in heaven, but he knew we needed him so he humbled himself and took on the form of a servant. Going back to the story in Matthew, Jesus will continue in this servant role until it kills him. He will follow the path down to the point of becoming not just a servant of all, but a sacrifice for all, a human sacrifice. His death will be the payment for my sins, for the sins of all of us. He has restored my relationship with God by being the servant to die and pay the price. It was a role only he could fill because he had no sin. He rose up from death to live forever, and offer us a way into God’s kingdom.

Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Jesus is. The servant-sacrifice. The way up in this kingdom is the way down. The greatest of all is the servant of all.

Just a reminder about this Jesus guy we believe in and follow.

“12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man,[d] dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”

“At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.”

“5 Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. 4 I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. 5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits[a] of God sent out into all the earth. 7 He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. 9 And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll

and to open its seals,

because you were slain,

and with your blood you purchased for God

persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.”

Jesus is the alpha and omega, first and last, he is the same yesterday, today and forever, he is the good shepherd, he is the way, the truth and the life. He is our king. Forever our king. He is our savior and redeemer. He is full of grace towards us.

I Just needed to remind myself.

Who is this Jesus?

See above.

Finish work

Philippians 1 & 3

I build stuff, usually with wood. I build boxes and trays and shelves and sometimes small furniture pieces. When i build once i get the basic form done and it works like it should i feel like I’m finished, like the project is finished. Recently i was given a birdhouse by a friend of mine and it is beautiful. He actually sanded it, put a coat of varnish on it then sanded between coats a put on another coat of varnish.

In contrast to my level of craftsmanship When God builds something God does the finish work. I am one of his projects. All of us who accepted Jesus as our savior are a project that God is working on. We may feel complete once major construction is done, the frame work is in place. But God carries every project to its finished completion.

In his letter to the Philippians Paul wrote about God’s work in us.

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 1:3-6 –

He goes on to say in chapter 3

“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. But we must hold on to the progress we have already made. Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example. For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.

Philippians 3:12-21

In the midst of reading in Philippians i read Ezekiel 37. Ezekiel wrote about the valley of dry bones. Even after the skeletons were complete they weren’t finished, God’s Spirit needed to fill them.

“So I spoke this message, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons. Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’” So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army.

Ezekiel 37:7-10 –

I don’t know why I’m stuck in this rut of being finished as in a craft or project built by a master and not finished until the finish is finished but here I am. And then I read the verses in Ezekiel where the bones were assembled and all the other fleshy parts were there but still they were not finished until God’s Spirit filled them.

Having God’s Spirit enter us does not finish us, but it does start the finish work because it starts the project God wants to work in our life and whatever God starts, he finishes.

I have written this post over several weeks and I’m not sure that it ever really congealed.

I end with where I started, a promise by God to finish what he has started in each one of us who have been adopted into his family through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

“he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

If you have not yet been adopted into God’s family, you can be. Today you can finalize the adoption.

“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.”

Romans 10:9-10

Today is a good to be adopted and start the finish work.

I’m sick today.

God is still good and wanting to let the world know about his love for us, displayed in Jesus.

Here are the lyrics to a song that I learned long ago.

Jesus loves me! This I know, 
For the Bible tells me so;
Little ones to Him belong,
They are weak but He is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me! He who died,
Heaven’s gate to open wide;
He will wash away my sin,
Let His little child come in.
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me! loves me still,
When I’m very weak and ill;
From His shining throne on high,
Comes to watch me where I lie.
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me! He will stay,
Close beside me all the way;
He’s prepared a home for me,
And some day His face I’ll see.
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.

True for me, true for you.

Whatever God is, he is completely. He is all powerful, omnipotent. He is all knowing, omniscient. He is completely just. He is completely merciful. Wait, can he be both just and merciful? Justice demands punishment for wrongdoing. Mercy pardons wrongdoings. How can those two characteristics coexist in one being?

The two character traits collide and coalesce in the person of Jesus. Jesus has taken on the judgement for our sin.

“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

Jesus absorbed Gods wrath by dying in our place.

In Isaiah the prophet saw this was to come and wrote this:

“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Isaiah 53:5-6

When I’m having a problem with another person, how they are behaving, how they are treating me or someone else I want God to reign in justice and bring the hammer down on them. When i myself am struggling with a weakness and find my strength giving way and my heart giving in to bad behavior I want God to reign in mercy and forgive me, and wipe away my mistakes.

Jesus is the balance point for these two opposing stands. Crying out for justice and begging for mercy.

All our iniquities were heaped upon Jesus at the cross. Our sins were justly dealt with. God’s mercy was poured out on us while his wrath and the punishment we deserve was taken up, laid upon God’s only son Jesus.

God is completely just.

God is completely merciful.

Thank you Jesus.

Hosea and Gomer

I felt lead to read the book of Hosea recently. It is about a man who lived in the nation of Israel. It was during the period of the country being split apart. 10 tribes banded together and disassociated themselves from God and followed false god’s, worshiping idols.

God spoke to Hosea and told him to marry a prostitute. He wanted to use Hosea’s marriage as a word picture for the nations adulterous relationship with idols.

“When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.”

Hosea 1:2-3

The couple had 3 children together, then Gomer

went back to prostitution.

This straying relationship was a symbol of the relationship between God and his wayward family of the 10 northern tribes of Israel.

After all of their unfaithfulness God still longed for them to repent and come back to him.

There are some hungers that go away if you feed them. My wife was craving the candy called Smarties. Not all stores carry them. Our normal grocery store doesn’t. When I found them at Walmart I rejoiced. I may have even said out loud, “yes! Woo hoo!” There were 2 sizes of bags. The one pound and the baby size. It’s called baby size because it weighs the same as a large baby. I got the baby size. We ate Smarties until my wife no longer craved them. Her craving was sated. (Parks and Rec reference).

Some cravings though just get stronger. As you feed them they gain power. I don’t know why but a craving for something that is outside of God’s boundaries usually has this power.

We don’t get to know what it was that drove Gomer back to a life of prostitution but I would guess that it was a craving that she kept feeding until it overwhelmed and overpowered her and she ended up back where she started. Did she go kicking and screaming? Fighting and clawing at the forces that were enticing her away? Maybe but probably not. Many times these battles are won by our enemy not by a frontal attack but by constant erosion and a lack of shoring up defenses on our part. Usually there is no SOS or “God Help!” signal being sent out. The constant pounding on our walls of defense by our enemy is seen as an annoyance, not as an attack. We never even sound an alarm.

We follow paths in our life. There are physical paths like the one in my back yard that leads to the gate, then there are mental paths, like how I respond to to gentle touch or a kind word. I also have mental paths for harsh words or abuse or neglect. An outward stimulus leads to an internal reaction, following well worn mental paths. Ruts in a road aren’t made by occasional travel and neither are mental ruts. Maybe Gomer just fell into a rut that led her back to prostitution, we just don’t know.

Our enemy knows our paths better than we do. He watches and he waits. In his spare time he has target practice on those paths that get us close to the edge and leave us exposed. Like a little mound of pride where we stand and look over the borders and boundaries of our life and we see the verdant fields, and maybe here the soft cooing of the sirens song.

What can we do? We cannot escape temptation but neither should we play with it. Fire is a great thing on a cold day, as long as it stays in the fire box where it belongs. If we play with fire, and I know this from personal experience, we will eventually get burned. Fire has no saturation point. It does not decide on its own to say, “I’ve burned enough for today, I will stop here”. No, fire consumes constantly with an ever increasing appetite for more. Temptation is not sated by giving in. It just gets stronger with every little opening we give it.

The book of Hosea I isn’t really about how to avoid falling into sin. The book of Hosea is more about God’s faithfulness and dogged pursuit of his wayward people. It’s about God’s grace and mercy toward people bent on running away. People who are rebellious and selfish and self seeking and self serving. People like, well, people like me.

Chapter 6 verse 2 and 6 are worth looking at.

“After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight. For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”

Hosea 6:2,6 – NKJV

These verses are clearer in the New Living Translation, “I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.”

Hosea 6:6 –

God’s people had begun living selfish, indulgent lives, and then they would heap up sacrifices at the temple to pay for them. I believe God’s point was he wanted hearts that followed him and obeyed him rather than profuse apologies.

After Gomer returned to prostitution God spoke to Hosea a and told him to buy her back.

“Then the Lord said to me, “Go and love your wife again, even though she commits adultery with another lover. This will illustrate that the Lord still loves Israel, even though the people have turned to other gods and love to worship them. ” So I bought her back for fifteen pieces of silver and five bushels of barley and a measure of wine. Then I said to her, “You must live in my house for many days and stop your prostitution. During this time, you will not have sexual relations with anyone, not even with me. ”

Hosea 3:1-3

I heard a radio pastor point out that it cost Hosea everything he had, his money, his grain and his wine. To redeem me, It cost Jesus his life.

The last chapter of Hosea has these words:

“Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to him: “Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips. Assyria cannot save us; we will not mount warhorses. We will never again say ‘Our gods’ to what our own hands have made, for in you the fatherless find compassion.” “I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.”

Hosea 14:2-4

If you the reader have strayed from God, return to him. He has given all for you. If you the reader are walking with God today but you know others who have strayed, remember God’s heart toward us all. God loves us even though we have strayed and broken our covenant vows with him.

“I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.”

One truth about Jesus and my life following jesus.

He won’t quit.

He will not give up on me.

He has plans for me and he will keep building toward that goal.

Even if I tear down what he’s doing as he’s doing it.

He will not quit on me.

This is true for all of us.

It is true for me and it is true for you.

Another thing that I believe is true for every follower of Jesus. At one time all of us will experience a version of what the apostle John experienced that he recorded in Revelation

“Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.”

Revelation 5:1-6

There has to be a time when we see Jesus as the lamb slain. We have to see Jesus as the sacrifice for our sin

And.

And we will see him as the Lion of Judah. Lions are the king of The jungle. Jesus is the king. Is. Not was. Jesus is the living King.

Romans 10:9-10 “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.

Romans 10:9-10

These verses show us this same thing, Jesus as Lord, the lion, the king, and we believe that Jesus is the sacrificial lamb, that he died but now lives forever. The lamb that had been slain standing in the middle of the throne.

I encountered Jesus in these two ways. And now he promises to complete the project he has started in me.

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Philippians 1:3-6

My prayer for any and every person who reads this is that they will see Jesus as the Lion and the lamb and that they will as I am doing, stumble on toward completion.

My favorite part of any project is the design and build part. I dislike the finish work part. The tedious sanding and coat after coat of paint. The filling in of nail holes and all the other things that go into “finishing”. Jesus loves it all, every part of the process, he doesn’t tire of it, any of it.

Where am I in my own finish process? I don’t know.

How do you see Jesus? Is he your Lion? Is he your Lamb? He wants to be.

Has he begun a good work in you? If yes then rejoice because he will finish it. If not, would you like him to? All you have to do is ask.

God’s love is amazing

How small does a matter have to be to fall off Gods radar screen of our life?

In money value? Less than 19 cents. According to my exhaustive research , (2 websites from a google search) the drachma was worth about 19 cents. When the tax collector came around, Jesus knew, he cared and he provided.

“24 After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”

25 “Yes, he does,” he replied.

When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?”

26 “From others,” Peter answered.

“Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him. 27 “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”

It seems like a non story. Why is this little story even in the Bible? The Gospel writer Matthew was by trade, a tax collector. That may be why this story stuck out in his memory. But the Holy Spirit has something to teach me from this.

It has some odd things in it too, Jesus didn’t reach in his purse or pocket to get the money, he didn’t pull a 4 drachma Coin from behind Peters ear, he had Peter fish for it. Not catch a fish and sell it, but catch a fish and pull the coin out of the fishes mouth(?). What an odd way to provide. Jesus showed so much of his power and knowledge and ability in this coin retrieval system. The ocean is his piggy bank.

As Gods son, Jesus was exempt from the tax but he paid it anyway. Jesus was exempt from the punishment for sin, yet he paid it anyway. He paid the price for my sin, he paid the price for our sin.

My take aways from this story:

God hears our life story live, he cares about what is happening, he has knowledge of and possesses all the earth, it is all at his disposal, he will pay my way, he has paid my way into the temple and beyond, into Gods presence in heaven by dying for me on a cross.

Now he lives forever, not to brag about his own goodness and selflessness, but to continuously intercede for me to God as I am stumbling through life. Intercede for me, for us, the ones who put him on the cross.

God’s love is amazing.

I just found this on the road while i was taking my walk. Sometimes it feels like I have one just like it rattling around in my chest. A heart of stone.

I have been reading the second half of John 14 but I keep stumbling over part of it.

“15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”

If you love me you will obey my teachings.

Obedience, do what he says AND don’t do what he says not to do.

I was thinking about this and how I fail and being hyper self critical when my dogs crawled up on the couch with me. We have 2 dogs one smart one and one cute one- (I hope I can bring this all together, stone heart, obedience from love, dogs), and I realized something. My dogs love me and I love them but they are not always obedient. They don’t do what I tell them every time. Sometimes I will even change my command so that what they are doing matches what I’m saying. (The analogy sags a bit here). My heart feels stiff because my will is not always His will. Sometimes my will is counter his will. He still loves me. Jesus died for me and forgave before I committed any sins because he knew I would need to be bathed in forgiveness from birth.

I constantly need to have my heart softened towards God and towards the people around me. I have received grace, I need to dispense grace.

Change my heart o’ God make it ever true, may I be like You.

Jehovah Nissi. The lord our banner. It’s one of the names of God that I struggle to connect with… Or did until today. I saw a picture in my mind in a flash. It was like a second. I’m going to try to describe to what I saw In my mind. I was a young soldier reporting to battle. It was ancient times. I couldn’t see the battle field until I was almost on it. As I cleared the last hill a huge valley spread out in front of me. As far as I could see there were soldiers and horses and weapons, every menacing tool imaginable was there. The valley was filled with encampments, each encampment had at its center a banner. Every banner was the name of the tribe… Or so I thought, but as I got closer the banners each listed one of my sins. One banner I read said “Peter Loeffelbein should die because he on May 5th 1970 he stole Mike Hancocks green army truck.” That was the only one I feel comfortable sharing here but all my sins were there. My enemies wanted to destroy me for them. Myriad of enemies all ready to do battle against me because my sins. I was overwhelmed. But then I saw it. In the center of all this hatred of me I saw another banner. It said ” I love peter Loeffelbein! my son Jesus will die in his place”. There was Gods camp. His banner declared his love for me. He would send out his son, his only son to die in my place. All of my sins which in the enemies hands had become weapons would strike him and not me. I ran to that banner and fell down and wept at the feet of my king and my Champion. Jesus.

Jehovah Nissi, his banner over me is love. He has a banner for each one of us. Run to his banner.

Yesterday, as I was leaving work to have my teeth cleaned I overheard a conversation between friends One friend was listing and defining his recent court appearances, how his DUI had been reduced to a lesser charge. As I walked away I was congratulating myself on my spotless driving record.

I could almost hear God say to me, “really? That’s what your take away from that conversation? You are being a Pharisee Peter, ‘thank you God that I’m not like that sinner’, but you are, you are all fallen…”

I repented of my pharisaical heart and continued on my way to my appointment. The radio station was tuned to moody radio and a pastor was talking about how wrong it is for us believers not to care about whether or not our coworkers are going to hell.

My coworker, could I know that he was going to hell? Isn’t that being judge-y?

The Bible truth is, we are all going there unless we accept Jesus death as the payment for our sins. I believe this statement is true, harsh but true. If we haven’t heard about God’s gracious offer of salvation through Jesus before we die, we will be eternally separated from God, and spend eternity in hell, which is a place of torment and suffering.

The radio pastor likened not caring enough to warn others to being in a large gathering at church, and knowing that a bomb was going off at 12:15, but not wanting to bum anyone out, so as not to bring anyone down or share bad news, instead of relaying the message that the bomb would go off at 12:15, we just quietly leave at 12:14. There is death coming to everyone. We Christians believe that if a person has not received Jesus as their savior, death will be the entrance to hell. It doesn’t have to be. Death can be the entrance to heaven. All it takes is confession and belief.

When I am privy to a private conversation, not by my own means of spying or eavesdropping, I tend to think that God is giving me a glimpse into a life. This information can be used in many ways. It can used to help or hurt. I can gossip or? Maybe I heard this so that I can know part of their story, so I can know their pain, so I can know how to pray for them, so I can know how to serve them. Hmmm.

John 3:16, “for God so loved the world… “ is often quoted. I would like to add verse 17 too.

“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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

John 3:16-17

I wonder if this coworker knows about Jesus. How can I be used to help him?

He knew.

Jesus knew how he would die and he did it anyway.

Matthew 16 Jesus begins to tells his disciples that he was going to suffer and die.

“21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life[f] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

28 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

He did it any way because he knew why he would die. Without his death as payment none of us would have a chance at having our relationship with God restored.

He died for me, a sinner. We can all say that sentence and it will be true, the sad part, being a sinner, and the happy part, that Jesus died for us, all true for each and every person.

If you didn’t know that yet, what will you do about it today? Don’t wait, act today. Decide. Will you receive the gift Jesus has given?

If you’ve read this and you heard it before and you acted on it and now are a disciple of Jesus, I am so happy but I have a follow up question, who have you told about this Jesus who loves enough to knowingly die in our place? 2/3rds of the world still hasn’t accepted his gift. There are many who need to hear. Who will we tell today?

Mark 14:3

While He was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper, and reclining at the table, there came a woman with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume of pure nard; and she broke the vial and poured it over His head.

I heard a radio pastor speak on this section of scripture and his explanation really moved me.

He pointed out that the jar was very special. It would normally be used for either a dowry in marriage or a burial ointment.

The woman didn’t just crack the seal and dip some out. She broke the jar. She was all in. This jar that would either marry her or bury her she gave it all to Jesus.

Her commitment, her willingness to throw it all in poked my heart. Am I willing to commit like this? Am I 100% given over to this Jesus who has given all of himself for me?

John 12

Are you in darkness? Jesus is the light of the world.

“John 12

Belief and Unbelief Among the Jews

37 Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. 38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet:

“Lord, who has believed our message

and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”[h]

39 For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:

40 “He has blinded their eyes

and hardened their hearts,

so they can neither see with their eyes,

nor understand with their hearts,

nor turn—and I would heal them.”[i]

41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.

42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved human praise more than praise from God.

44 Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45 The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

47 “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. 49 For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. 50 I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”’

I am afraid of the dark. As a child it paralyzed me. As an adult I’ve worked past the fear, and I carry a flashlight. All of us with phones carry a flashlight. Jesus can be our spiritual flashlight.

Jesus being light and bringing light into our lives is one of the things that can make us uncomfortable. There are things done in darkness, or memories hidden in dark corners of our hearts, things done by us, things done to us that we want to stay hidden. Hidden and forgotten.

Jesus came to expose those things not to shame us or hurt us, but to forgive us and free us from the pain and the stench and the mess and the clutter.

Some of us are hoarders of bad memories.

I challenge all of us today to let the light of the world into our darkest corners so that cleansing and forgiveness can begin.

“I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.”

Seed faith. Size matters.

Pictured is a mustard seed. No matter what seed we talk about, inside the seed there are plans and genetic design plus the unknown life force packed into the seed to recreate the parent plant as soon as the conditions are right for growth. It’s magic or masterful at the very least.

In Matthew 17 Jesus talks about faith and how it affects our ministry.

“14 When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”

17 “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” 18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.

19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” ‘

I don’t like being scolded. Who was Jesus scolding here? The dad? The son? The disciples?

In Mark there is more of Jesus’ conversation with the dad recorded.

“20 So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

21 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”

“From childhood,” he answered. 22 “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

23 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

26 The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.

28 After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

29 He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”’

If you can. The dads faith seems to be the faith in question. The Mark version adds prayer to the cure, some manuscripts also add fasting.

I have a list of people that I pray for, a written list. There are four names scribbled out. These four names represent four people who are dead now. I was praying for them and they died anyway.

Jesus says in this passage that if our faith is as big as a mustard seed that I can move mountains, that nothing will be impossible for me. So what size IS my faith?

If we look at the details of Marks version of the story I must ask myself, did I ever fast for these sick people? No. I did not.

I have an ineffectual prayer life in part because I don’t take it seriously. Who am I talking to? The dog? (Sometimes they are the only one in the room). Who am I talking to and what can He do about what I am asking him about? Gods will and his plan are sovereign but I am still seeing things that I would like to change. Do I believe God can do them? If I don’t believe, why am I wasting my time?

I have either never or seldom asked God to increase my faith. Today that changes.

God, please make my faith bigger. I want to see change in my world. Use me. Help me to see what to ask for and to believe in your bigness enough that people lives can be set free from torment and disease and the repercussions of sin. Grow me so the kingdom, Your kingdom can grow through me.

Amen?

Amen.

John 14

Come home.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Jesus the Way to the Father

5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

God our father is beckoning us to come home.

He stands on his front step of his house smiling and waving, scooping the air in a “come here” motion. He is smiling and pleading. “Come home! Come and spend time with me, rest here with me”.

As we approach we are scared and disappointed by the fact that between us and him is an expanse. The expanse is uncross able, impossible. We recognize the expanse for what caused it, our sin. We stop and shout across to our father, “how? How can I get to you? I want so much to come home to you but how?”

He smiles and points. There is a bridge that we didn’t see. As we run towards the bridge we notice it’s odd shape and as we get even closer we see the bridge is covered in blood and then we hear a voice, his voice, Jesus’ voice, “it is finished” and we realize the bridge isn’t something, it is someone. The only bridge to our father is his bloodied and beaten son, stretched across the expanse of our sins.

The only way to God our Father is across the bridge of Jesus’ death. Will we take it?

The father is calling us, come home.