Peter’s Posts

When I was 5 I told a cousin that they were going to hell for something they were doing. I think it had to do with a bicycle or a cookie, both very important things to a 5 year old.

“7 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

6 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

In the 52 years since then I have changed my position. I hope that my cousin doesn’t go to hell. In fact I hope they ask Jesus to forgive them and they go to heaven.

I cannot, in the few minutes I spent researching to write this, find proof of this but I believe that what Jesus was saying in this passage is do not condemn to hell another person. Do not condemn.

Later in this chapter we see the the golden rule. The one rule that if we follow it we will also be following all the other rules.

“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

I don’t want to be condemned to hell. I will not condemn my cousin, or anyone else to hell. There are people that make me crazy but I must treat them not as they deserve but as I want to treated. This is hard stuff.

Not doing so well with this this morning.

I am today just as I was when I was 5 in need of forgiveness for myself.

Father forgive my sin. Help me forgive others.

Wouldn’t it be nice if each time something broke, the repairman was already there to help us? Like as we are pulling off the highway with a flat tire, or steam billowing out from under the hood, the service truck was already there in front of us and the service tech was smiling and waving walking towards us with tools and parts in his hands? That would be nice.

God is like that.

That is why he sent Jesus to us.

“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.”

1 John 1:8-10

The thing is, us humans come out of the womb broken and in need of repair.

“As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Romans 3:10-18

God knows us and knows our predicament and that is why he sent Jesus to suffer and die in our place. Then to be raised to life again. He knows us AND he loves us. He wants us to be with him, to have fellowship with him.

“What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 6:21-23

The bad news is, we all need a repairman for our souls. The good news is that God has already sent not just any repair technician, but God Himself has come down, in the form of his son to repair our broken condition.

Does everyone around us know that? Do all the people we know, know about Jesus? That he came not to condemn us for being broken but to save us from our brokenness? I wonder if the ones who don’t know, would like to know? Only one way to find out….

Hebrews 12

Focus on Jesus and run the race naked.

(Originally posted during the Christmas season)

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.

Was it my fear of the dark that eventually led me to become an electrician? It could just be a coincidence. It still thrills me to go through the process of wiring and conduit and termination of devices, to get to the reveal-drumroll- -click- then let there be light!

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

1 John 1:5-7

Electricians participate in what God started at the beginning of creation. He said “let there be light” and there was light. Since God is light, does that mean he just entered the void where nothing was and just him being there brought light? Or did he create light that would be part of creation?

I don’t know and I suppose it doesn’t matter. What matters is that God is light, his character is light. That’s one of the scary things about him. We can’t hide in the shadows, we can’t cover or shade ourselves AND be in his presence. He is light, exposing us his exposure is not intended to shame us, (shame not being the impetus for repentance) but to make us aware of our own condition, our own direction, so we can repent and get set right and get cleaned up.

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

1 John 1:5-7

I get dressed in our basement in the morning. I dress in one room then turn off the light as I leave and head for the stairs up and out. Many times the darkness disorients me, I can’t find the stairs or the switch for the lights and I have walked into the walls and or tripped. What if once I found the switch and could see the way up and out, I refused the updated information and continued on my misguided path? that would be silly. So it is when we meet with God and refuse the information that his light of revelation brings us.

Jesus, being God also has character of light.

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 8:12

This quote comes directly after Jesus defended a woman caught in adultery. His light exposed her sin but did not condemn her for it, instead he forgave her.

Someday this light will light the earth , until that day…? What will we do with the light we have experienced that did not condemn but forgave, forgives us? Will we share it? Will we use it? Will we spread it as we share the good news of what Jesus has done in us and can do for anyone else who will confess and believe?

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.

Revelation 21:22-24

#Godislight #1john1

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.

Jesus has an exclusive. It is Jesus plus nothing, and Jesus or nothing.

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched —this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.

1 John 1:1-4

There is no one else who can truthfully claim to be the Word of life.

Jesus said in John’s Gospel “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:6

Our culture wants to downgrade Jesus, to make him one of many ways to God, but that is not what he said. He said we can’t get to the Father without going through him. Can Jesus lie and still be perfect? Can he exaggerate and still be sinless? Can he be mistaken and still be trustworthy? It looks like I have a choice to make, he can’t be one of many if he said he is THE way, THE truth and THE life. I choose to believe what he said about himself.

John also said this about Jesus in his Gospel “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

John 1:1-5

I can’t imagine how cool it would be to hang out with Jesus. John, the writer of this Book was a close friend, maybe the closest friend of Jesus. “We heard him, seen him, touched him…” He’ll say it again, “seen and heard”. John was an eyewitness to Jesus’ ministry. He was one of 3 who got to see him transfigured on the the mountain top.

“Make our joy complete. “ John’s joy was to see people believing in Jesus and being saved. Our family, my dads side, us four siblings, any cousins and aunts and uncles we can gather will be meeting again this year. Loeffelbein’s are descendants of German immigrants. Our family has a history of being hard working industrious people. We know how to work. We don’t know as well how to play, how to relax. We are learning. We do enjoy getting together. There is sweet fellowship. There is family love.

Fellowship with God will be like this except beyond it, way way beyond it. Love that knows no boundaries or limits. Love that knows us completely, faults and fears, failures and foibles and still loves us completely. Engulfed in love, like the security of a warm newborn swaddle and the freedom of a moonlight skinny dip, blended together in perfection. I believe that I cannot fully comprehend what fellowship with God will be but I think it will be like the garden of Eden, fully exposed and unashamed. We receive Jesus not only to escape hell and avoid its tortures but to gain fellowship, with each other, the family of God, and with God our Father.

Jesus knew that sweet fellowship before he left heaven. He left that to come here to earth, to to live and love and serve, and in completion of that service, to suffer and die for our sins, for my sins, then raise to life again and go to back to heaven to intercede for me and make ready a place for me to spend eternity.

Today the Word of life is reaching out to each one of us. What will we do with his offer of forgiveness of sin and eternal fellowship with a God who loves us more and better than we can know or deserve?

Hebrews 11

By Faith.

We are saved by faith in Jesus. The life of one who follows an unseen God has always been by faith.

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.”

The hall of fame for faith; Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and Rahab. We know their stories not because they got what they were promised but because they believed what they were promised and acted on it.

We believe in an invisible God and our main tenant of faith is that Jesus’ death paid for our sins giving us eternal life with him but we must die to find out if it’s true.

I grew up reciting a creed. It’s old fashioned now to recite liturgy but I think it’s worth reciting today.

“We believe in one God,

the Father, the Almighty

maker of heaven and earth,

of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,

the only Son of God,

eternally begotten of the Father,

God from God, Light from Light,

true God from true God,

begotten, not made,

of one Being with the Father.

Through him all things were made.

For us men and for our salvation

he came down from heaven:

by the power of the Holy Spirit

he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;

he suffered death and was buried.

On the third day he rose again

in accordance with the Scriptures;

he ascended into heaven

and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,

and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of Life,

who proceeds from the Father and the Son.

With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.

He has spoken through the prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic (it means universal)and apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

We look for the resurrection of the dead,

and the life of the world to come. Amen.”

This is what I believe. I live my life in faith, in trust in God who I cannot see.

John 21:1-19

It must’ve been hard to do.

Make the change from being a follower of Jesus to a teller about Jesus. From having him there with them to having him pop in and out of life unexpectedly.

This next bit is a paraphrase told from the perspective of the once disciple, now apostle, Peter.

I remember that day…

What to do? Let’s go fishing. Fishing is what we do, Simon and Thomas and Nathaniel, James and John. Fishermen. It’s what we do, it’s what we know, it’s how we provide for our families. Fished all night and got nothing. Some guy on the beach shouting instructions on how to catch fish…we’ll try it.

Whoa! Wow! So many fish, almost too many fish. One fish, two fish red fish, 152 fish. (Plus one).

This all seems so familiar, I’ve had this happen before. It was Jesus on the shore.

A quick swim, some breakfast, fish hauling ashore and then the “chat”.

For 3 years we’ve hung out with Jesus. On meeting me he said he would change my name. Now, after the denial, ( three denials, if you’re counting) and the resurrection we are back to Simon son of John. Not Peter. Simon.

Then the questions, do I love him more than these? Do I️ love Jesus more than my fishing buddies do? At one time in the not so distant past I️ claimed that I️ did.

Then the questions come. Jesus could’ve used 4 different words for the word love in his questions. He went straight to the highest, the strongest, the purest, do I Simon, love, agape love, Jesus?

It may be my failures and denials but all I can muster is “you know I love you like a brother, I️ phileo you Jesus”.

He gives me a job. “Feed my lambs”.

Then he asks me again, do I Simon, agape him, Jesus?

“Jesus, I love you, like a brother” is my answer.

“Take care of my sheep”.

He asks again, a third time. I didn’t get why he asked me twice but it becomes clear as he asks the third time, my mind went back to that horrible early morning, my third denial, “I tell you I do not know the man”….and then began swearing like a fisherman.

The third and last question Jesus asks, “Simon, son of John, do you love me….like a brother?”

I’m hurt and frustrated, so my answer is terse, “ you know all things, you know I love you like a brother..”

Again, “Feed my sheep…”

And then I get the prophecy about my death.

“18 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”

John 21:18

There are 2 things that encourage me here. “When you are old,” it isn’t eminent, and “old” I will continue to follow Jesus for the rest of my life.

This is one of the memories I think about as I write to those followers of Jesus who will continue after I’m dead. They will continue to tell others about our Jesus.

Add to your faith…brotherly love, and add to that, Agape love, God kind of love, selfless, others first, die in your place, kind of love. Add that to your faith in Jesus. Then you will be able to be fruitful and productive in your faith.

Jesus welcomed me back, I fell, I fell further and harder but his love covered my failures. His love will always do that. It will always cover over our sin.

Hebrews 10b

Be encouraged.

“19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Go to church. We need each other. We are a body. The kidneys need the lungs and vise-versa. We all need the function of the others. The heart can’t function without the lungs, the lungs need the heart, the brain needs the lungs and heart and so on. We need each other.

Be careful.

“If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God….For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[d] and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”[e] 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

I don’t know how to talk about this passage. While writing this my Facebook started freaking out and kept closing, my nose started bleeding so I put my phone down and started to nap. (I frequently default to a nap).

While I was waiting for sleep and/or coagulation for my nose I got this picture in my mind.

If sinning means missing the mark, Like at an archery contest. The archer tries his best to hit the bullseye. Then Any shot that is not a bullseye is a “sin”. What if that same archer turns 180 degrees and lobs a few shots into the crowd? Is that kind of miss the same? He misses the target. A sin. But a deliberate miss. Does this kind of miss get the same kind of forgiveness?

I’m going back to verses 12-14.

“12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”

We must hang onto Jesus and hang onto, stay connected, with and to each other. By Gods undeserved forgiveness we are saved. There is no other way.

Hebrews 10c

Persevere.

One more look at chapter 10. It is a long chapter with so much to say to us.

“Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34 You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. 35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.”

Perseverance is maintained by remembering. Remembering the joy of forgiveness. Being released from shame and regret. Remembering who carries our sin and why. Why does Jesus carry our sin? He loves us. He loves me. Remembering that we are part of a community of faith, a body, and each part supports the other parts. Every part is essential to the survival of the other parts.

“You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For,

“In just a little while,

he who is coming will come

and will not delay.”[f]

38 And,

“But my righteous[g] one will live by faith.

And I take no pleasure

in the one who shrinks back.”[h]

39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.”

In a just a little while the writer said 2000 years ago. He is closer today than ever before. Let’s get ourselves ready. Good servants have their chores done and watch and wait for their master. When he steps back into our world I want to hear him say to us “well done good and faithful servants”.

2 Peter, the last two verses, “Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

2 Peter 3:17-18

These verses, especially verse 18, are significant to me.

When I was in my early 20s, an older guy took me under his wing and mentored me in my new faith in Jesus. He was a friend of the family, a dentist in the next town over. He would come over to our little cafe in the evening, once a week and lead a Bible study. He didn’t directly bring me to Salvation but he was around when I was saved, he did pray for me to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and he encouraged me to grow as a Christian by asking me to memorize verse 18 of 2 Peter, chapter 3.

I wasn’t part of his church (yet). But he invested in my life anyway. Thank you Floyd Jacobson for sharing your life, and your savior with me.

The second reason that this verse is significant is because of what it says.

Grow.

Get bigger. Expand. Mature. Take up more space in. In Grace. Grace, unmerited favor. Whose favor? God’s favor. Why? Because the world, my own evil desires and rebellious heart, along with the hateful and destructive enemy of my soul will be actively trying to shrink, kill, distract and destruct my faith. I need to be even more actively involved and invested in my relationship with Jesus, keeping it alive and growing.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever and he is always worthy of praise and glory, yesterday today and forever.

Ever heard of the phrase “to know me is to love me”? That phrase has never been truer than when we apply it to Jesus. To grow in the knowledge of Jesus is to grow in love and trust of Jesus. There is no darkness or shadow or even a variation in him. As I’m writing these things about Jesus I am convicted that I don’t always apply this knowledge to my own life. I encourage myself then too, to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, to him be the glory, both now and forevermore, do you agree?

Hebrews 10

This book is written to a group of people who wanted to go back. Go back to the old familiar.

I am reading my bible In the early morning darkness through the wizardry and technology of the electric light bulb. The old technology- candle or lamp, basically portable and containable fire, was good but this is better. I don’t want to go back.

New is usually better. That’s why it’s here. If there wasn’t room for improvement we would have never sought a replacement.

“Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

The new is better. Jesus is better.

“11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”

Jesus came and replaced the old system. One sacrifice for all people, for all of our sin for all time.

Thank you Jesus! You are the light of the world. Shine on us.

What does that mean for our lives?

Jesus.

His test.

He prepared for his life and his ministry by fasting 40 days.

He fought temptations with just words, but they were Gods words.

“4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted[a] by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’[b]”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,

and they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’[c]”

7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’[d]”

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

When his cousin John was arrested and sent to prison, awaiting the death penalty he took up where John left off.

“Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is near.”

He began calling disciples. He said to four fishermen, “come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” One of those first four would be dead in 4 years.

(For the sake of accuracy James was probably killed in 44 AD. He may have been run through or disemboweled or Beheaded. He was killed for believing that Jesus rose from the dead. Killed for following Jesus.

“2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.”)

He started teaching and preaching the “good news”. He then began healing everyone who was sick or lame, demon possessed, or even just hurting.

“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. 25 Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis,[g] Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.”

Jesus. Who is he? How did he do this stuff? Why did he do this stuff? What am I supposed to do with him?

Life is the test. The questions are listed above. You have the rest of your life to finish the test. The thing is, no one knows how long that is.

This is how I answered those questions:

“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.”

Hebrews 9

Connect the dots.

As a kid I was more of a free hander drawing what else? Race cars. Occasionally I would allow someone else to dictate what the drawing would be and follow the numbered dots with my crayon. Most of the time I wouldn’t follow the order and just guess by the suggested shape of the dots. If I drew straight lines between all the dots the shape would look funny. In nature, Very rarely are there straight lines.

Judaism and its practices were a connect the dots so to speak. The temple sacrifices and ceremonies were, once completed, a set of things to show us who Jesus is and what he came to do.

“When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. 20 He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.”[a] 21 In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. 22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

23 It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”

In my bible I have verses 22&28 underlined.

Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. It can’t be my blood. I am sinful. Jesus sacrificed his perfect blood for our sins.

“and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”

I’m waiting for him. Will you watch and wait with me? There is much to do while we wait. Many who don’t know that their sins are all forgiven. We must let them know. Jesus left us with an open invitation and it read, Bring a guest. Bring lots of guests.

I feel like I’m walking out of a dense foggy forest, spiritually. I have not been able to see and I am all banged and scratched. This post could be the result of that.

I also feel like my creative part of my brain is speeding up. Like for months I have not had a creative or original thought. This post could just be my brain connecting disparate things.

Well here goes.

I was disappointed in myself for digging the cho reservoir so shallow. I thought I might have it full by April but by January 11 I am almost at the top. I kicked myself for not making it bigger. Earlier this week I thought “ hey, I can just dig another one!” Today is Friday, Wednesday (?) I tried to stick a shovel in the ground and it actually made a “tink-tink” sound. Totally frozen. Today, Friday January 11 I thought I would try again. Bam! 10 minutes of digging and I am almost as big as Cho reservoir 1.

Here is the application my racing creative brain is making which could be the Holy Spirit speaking.

“The ground is open, dig!”

Is there spiritual territory that you’re called to dig into but you don’t think that the time is right?

“The ground is open, dig!”

Is there a person God is prompting you to tell them about Jesus? “The ground is open, dig!”

Maybe it’s just for me. But maybe, and I hope it is, this is a word to the church, “The ground is open, dig!”

Part of the Lutheran liturgy came to mind this morning.

“Holy holy holy, Lord God almighty, all thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea, Only thou art holy, there is none besides thee, God in three persons, blessed trinity.”

I guess it’s a hymn.

I grew up believing in God. I have since childhood believed that this God I believe in is one God in 3 persons.

Today I read about it in Matthew 3.

“13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

We don’t have a plethora of gods to sort through when we pray like so many cultures do. We have one God. He is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I believed in God since childhood, but believing he exists and knowing and trusting him as my savior are two different things. I received him as savior when I realized that I couldn’t be good enough and God knew that and gave Jesus his son to pay for my sin. I confessed my need and received forgiveness all in an instant standing next to the dishwasher in my parents cafe.

Have you received Jesus as your savior yet? Today would be a good day to do that. He is waiting for you.

Hebrews 8

The new and improved promise.

The letter of Hebrews was written to first century Jewish Christians. They were familiar with the ceremony and practices in the temple. The writer was reminding them that Jesus is the new way of life. What he brings to them and us is a vast improvement over the past.

“But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.

7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8 But God found fault with the people and said[b]:

“The days are coming, declares the Lord,

when I will make a new covenant

with the people of Israel

and with the people of Judah.

9 It will not be like the covenant

I made with their ancestors

when I took them by the hand

to lead them out of Egypt,

because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,

and I turned away from them,

declares the Lord.”

The new covenant will include God writing his laws on our minds and hearts. And….

“No longer will they teach their neighbor,

or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’

because they will all know me,

from the least of them to the greatest.

12 For I will forgive their wickedness

and will remember their sins no more.”[c]

13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.”

The new and improved way to God is through Jesus. We no longer need the flesh and blood of animals to pay for our sins. We have the sacrifice of Jesus. We no longer rely on a line of men just as fallen as we are to go to God for us. We can go to Jesus who is our priest and our mediator and our sacrifice. He lived the human experience and did not miss the mark, he did not sin.

Jesus, he knows us, knows what it’s like to be us, loved us enough to die for us and stands before God the father on our behalf.

Repeat after me: Jesus loves me. That is what this book is all about.

How will they survive? How will the newly converted believers continue in their faith in Jesus? How will this group continue to reach a lost and fallen world with the good news (aka gospel)?

That had to be on Peters mind as he approached his death. How will these people who didn’t have the privilege of face to face time with Jesus survive, even thrive and grow, in numbers and in strength?

What would bind them together? What will unify them? What will keep them from drifting or straying away.

The words. God’s words.

As Peter said to Jesus, “To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life!”

(“Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

John 6:68)

The Old Testament was a map to Jesus. The apostles had their stories of Jesus’ life and ministry, and then there were the letters being written by Peter and Paul, later John and others would write letters, and Luke would write about the miraculous lives, ministry and Acts of the apostles in the early church.

Peter mentions all of these types of books or letters here in chapter three.

“Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

2 Peter 3:1-2

“So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

2 Peter 3:14-16

We are believing in Jesus because generations of believers have studied and copied and preserved the word. Now it is our privilege and duty to carry it on. To tell it, to share it, to preserve it we need to know it. We need to know it, as my pastor Rory says, to assimilate it. One teacher I heard or read recently said we need to know it, on an intimate level, like a husband knows his wife, on that level of experiential full knowledge.

Forces are at work to discredit and dilute the Word. Our job is know it and share as best we can.

I want to Remember this one other thing too “Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation.” Salvation is a treasure meant to be shared.

It’s a new year so I started a new book. I started reading the book of Matthew. In the first 2 chapters one thing stood out to me. While in the Christmas story in Luke, angels are speaking directly to Zacharias and to Mary, in Matthew, Joseph is spoken to through dreams. There are 4 dreams recorded in the just these chapters.

As I was driving home yesterday listening to the radio I was reminded of another bible character named Joseph, (my daughter Lizzy used to pronounce it Jo-fiss). He was Jacob’s son, the favored son, the son of his much beloved wife Rachel. He was also a dreamer. Not in the sense that he lazed around just thinking about stuff, but that God gave him prophetic dreams, and gave him the ability to interpret other peoples dreams. He was able to be used to interpret Pharoh’s dream and it landed him at the number two position in Egypt.

Dreams. God has used dreams in my life to help guide me and my family. He used one dream to let us know that it was time to leave the church denomination that I was raised in and find a new one, one that emphasized salvation by grace, that taught the bible and that would help me raise my children to know Jesus as their savior.

God used another dream to let me know that my food service career was coming to end. That was a scary time but He was faithful and we never missed a meal or a house payment.

God is still speaking and moving. God is still gathering his people, still guiding and providing for his people. Sometimes he speaks through dreams. Always he speaks through his word and through his Holy Spirit.

As I imagine the scene of the angel of God visiting the house of Joseph and finding him asleep. I think about the hard physical labor involved in being a carpenter in the first century. Every step of forming wood into a table, or a chair, or just the process of making a tree into a board so it could be made into something else. Exhausting work. Did he arrive at the house ready to talk but found Joseph already snoring. Do you suppose when the angel saw Joseph asleep he said to himself, “Aw, isn’t he cute when he’s asleep?”

“19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.”

God sees us and knows us. When we are asleep and when we are awake. He longs to communicate with us. What he most wants to tell us is, “I Love You! I gave up my only son to die in your place so we can be together. I raised him from the dead and now we can be together forever. Because he lives, you can live. Forever with us.”

I don’t want to put imaginary words in the mouth of God so here is a verse that says it.

” 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.” Jn 3:16

(I originally wrote this in 2017. As I post it here, it is 2019. I found this post in my memories on Facebook. This morning when the alarm went off I was dreaming. In my dream I kept being urged to go back to a book I was reading and continue the story. I kept trying to tell myself that I had finished the book that i was reading. But in my dream another voice was compelling me to get back to the book, that the story wasn’t over yet. I think God might be saying something to me. The book I believe is his word, the Bible, and the story is my life and his mission for me. Does that excite anyone else? I am tearful and excited and scared about not being finished yet and that God is excitedly saying, “just wait! We coming to the good part!”)

Hebrews 7

There are 2 history lessons here but I won’t go into them now. The story of Melchizedek and the story of the Judaic priesthood. Great stories, must reads. Maybe later.

I’m excited to share this next section because it encapsulates Jesus’ mission.

“And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath, 21 but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him:

“The Lord has sworn

and will not change his mind:

‘You are a priest forever.’”[b]

22 Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.

23 Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; 24 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely[c] those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

26 Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. 27 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.”

That part, vs 25 Jesus saves completely, and he always lives to intercede for us.

At work we have a tech support contract for our control system. They offered 2 levels. Entry level was support M-F 8-5. We run 24/7. Most break downs for some reason happen in the middle of the night. We took option 2, for the 24/7 support. Jesus is on 24/7 for each one of us. He saves us completely and then is there to support us all day, and all night.

We have 24/7 support. That is good news. He is there to support us and as we saw recently, he understands our situation. He has been where we are, yet without messing up.

Jesus help me come to you with my problems and concerns and junk and yuck and thanks and good reports. I tend to hang onto them too long trying to fix it myself. Help me ask for help.