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exodus 32:10

1/30/2015

Today’s thoughts come from our Elder Clyde

Exodus 32:10

“Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”

Many times people accuse our God of being an evil God. They take verses like this and others from the Bible that talk about God wiping out entire nations, and use them against God. They try to say He is evil and does evil and abuses people to His own will and desires. This is the farthest thing from the truth. Our God is a God of love. God chose people out of love for His good pleasure.

This verse is first here to show us that God is not only testing Moses but also His people. God knows who His children are by their obedience. God was testing to see if Moses was compassionate and obedient. God was finding out if His people were obedient.

This verse also highlights God’s holy righteous wrath. God hates sin. God hates sin so much His holy anger burns against it. Here is 2 keys to remember about God’s holy righteous anger against sin. We are all sinnerss as Romans 3 teaches us. We all deserve to feel this holy righteous anger burn against us. So why did God choose us to give grace and mercy to? Why me, because I am just like every other sinner? We also need to know that this holy righteous anger was paid for by Jesus for us. This burning anger was poured out on Jesus and Jesus took the punishment for this holy righteous anger against sin. Oh what a Savior we have.

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Tabernacle and priest

1/29/2015

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In the Bible reading plan I have started reading through the second half of the book of Exodus. First, we need to remember that from Exodus 19 on there is no narrative feed and some of the material is God dictating to Moses and other parts of the text are stories that fit into the Law section that gives us a clearer picture of God and His character. Remember, this book is about getting to know God and both the law and the stories work together in helping us get to know God. But as I have been reading chapters 24-31 of Exodus, 2 words stuck out to me and kept being found in the text. The words are Holiness and Atonement.

God's holiness means the He is separated from sin and devoted to seeking his own honor. This holiness and separation of God can be found in many places throughout the text in Exodus. The current that separated the Holy of Holies, the covering of the whole tabernacle, the fence around the tabernacle, the separation of the Priest and Levites from the rest of the People, and the consecration of Aaron and his sons. All of these facts point to the holiness of God and His separation from sinful and unholy people. We to today have the same problem. We are just as unholy as the Israelites and there is no way to cross that bridge to holy. That is why we need Jesus first on the cross but also everyday reconciling us back to a holy separated God of purity.

Atonement is another word that stuck out to me. The sacrifice of the animals, the money set to God as a sacrifice from the people, are to examples from the text. Think about how much blood was spilled and how many animals died daily to pay for the sin and unholiness of the people. When you would begin to add up just some of the figures we are talking gallons of blood daily that was spilled for the people at the Tabernacle. That is a lot of atonement. Now think about the fact we as the children of God today, do not have to spill any blood ourselves or take our animals to get sacrificed. Why? Because Jesus was our atoning sacrifice on the cross and spilled all of His blood for us.

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Exodus 18

1/24/2015

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Today in the Bible reading plan we read the last few chapters leading up to the stop at Mt. Sinai in Exodus 19. In my teaching time tomorrow I will be looking at the narrative from Exodus 16 and talking about God's blessings in our lives and the correct response we need to have to them. So today I want to share a few thoughts on Exodus 18 and another blessing from God and our response.

In Exodus 18 Moses' father-in-law shows up and celebrates with the Hebrew's God's faithfulness and blessings. Jethro then gives Moses some great advice and another blessing from God. Moses up to this point has been leading and judging the people by himself. Jethro realizes that Moses could use some help, so he tells Moses to get some help and find other leaders to serve and judge with him. Moses listens to this great advice and finds other men that are God fearing and trustworthy. This is the first mention in Scripture of a plurality in leadership. Yes Moses is still the liaison between God and the people. Yes Moses still brings the Word of the Lord. Yes Moses is still the first among equals. But now Moses has help and support and other men to lead the people with him.

A plurality in leadership is a great blessing from God. I am a Pastor. I bring the Word of the Lord 50 times a year. Yes I will answer someday and be accountable for the flock under me. But I have experienced and rejoice in this blessing of plurality in leadership first hand. I get the blessing and joy to serve with 3 other God fearing trustworthy men. I have the privilege to cry with them, pray with them, serve others with them, rejoice with them, and lead with them. Having these other men serve along side with me as my equals has give me accountability and friendship. These 3 men love me and serve me in ways that I could never anticipate. Having others walk alongside me in this journey, just like Moses had his other leaders, has proved to be a blessing beyond words. And now I have the responsibility to use them in leadership and listen to their advice. God has blessed in giving other leaders and now I get the chance to respond in trusting the other leaders and listen to their advice.

To my dear friends and fellow Elders, I thank you for your love, support, encouragement, and accountability. To all others, this plurality in leadership is God designed and there for our benefit, are you using others in your life or are you doing things on your own by yourself being a lone wolf? God has designed us to live in community with others, whether they are fellow leaders or members of our faith family.

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Worship

1/23/2015

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As I said a few days ago, one of the main themes of the book of Exodus is knowing God through experience. The other day I talked about Moses and Pharaoh each getting to know God through their experiences with Him. In the reading today the whole nation of Israel gets to know God by their experiences at the shore of the Red Sea. They get to see the power of their Yahweh first hand as He not only protects them and saves them by dividing the Sea but then they get to see the wrath of God in the total destruction of the Egyptian army. But as the Daily Walk points our for those who read it, when we begin to know more of God and see Him reveal more to us, we must have a response. Exodus 15 is a key to the narrative in the first half of the book. God reveals Himself and the people have a response. This is called worship. Worship is about revelation and response. Worship takes place daily as we see God moving in our lives and we respond with thanksgiving. Worship in the Sunday services is about revelation and response. Worship take places in the teaching times as God reveals Himself and His will and then response take place through giving, singing, and partaking of Communion. Worship is something that needs to flow from us daily and even hourly as we get to know more of God through experiencing more of Him. Do respond like the Hebrews when we see God revealing more of Himself?

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Power in the Blood

1/22/2015

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Today in the Bible reading the Passover was read. Many different truths and great theology stuck out to me. The lamb and it's foreshadowing of Christ in so many ways is clear the more you read through the text. Much else can be found and gleaned through the reading of the Passover story many times. But 2 things s tuck out at me clearly the first time I read it today.

First, Pharaoh's sin and its effect. The story in Exodus 12 makes it clear that Pharaoh does not die at the hand of God but his oldest child does. Pharaoh is the man with the sin of pride and his rejection of Moses and the Lord. But others, many others in fact pay for that sin with their lives. How many times is this true in our lives. How many times do others pay more than we do for the sin we commit. In fact I am convinced that others pay with us for every sin we commit. The sin of lust...others besides us pay for that. The sin of pride....others will always feel the payment and effects more. The sin of gossip....always hurts others more than us. The sin of covetness....the other person is hurt as much as we are. The act of unbelief...God is hurt just as much as we are. So our sin, just like Pharaoh's goes far beyond ourselves and effects others in a big way.

The other truth I found reading through Exodus 12 is the power of the blood of the Lamb. Let me share this truth by giving you the words to one of my most favorite hymns, "There is Power in the Blood". Exodus 12 is bloody but there is power in the blood.

Would you be free from the burden of sin?
There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
Would you o’er evil a victory win?
There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.
- Refrain:
  There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-working pow’r
  In the blood of the Lamb;
  There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-working pow’r
  In the precious blood of the Lamb.
Would you be free from your passion and pride?
There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
Come for a cleansing to Calvary’s tide;
There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.
Would you be whiter, much whiter than snow?
There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
Sin-stains are lost in its life-giving flow;
There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.
Would you do service for Jesus your King?
There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
Would you live daily His praises to sing?
There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.

Are you finding power in the blood like the Hebrews did in Exodus 12?

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January 20th

1/20/2015

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Today's thoughts come from our Elder Jeff Wagner

The passage for January 20th is Exodus 8 (Frogs, Gnats and Flies).

When I was a kid, one night I noticed a chirping sound. I followed the chirping sound for about a half a mile until I found that the chirping seemed to be coming from stagnate little pond or maybe the trees behind it. I couldn’t see what made the noise, but later, my friend told me that they were spring peepers. I looked them up and spring peepers are small frogs 1” to 1.5”. The males make a high pitched noise to attract mates.

Now if you lived thousands of years ago, in a place with a hot climate, like Egypt, you would need a house that has good ventilation. However, with lots of ventilation, there would be no way to keep out the frogs. Even the palace was full of frogs. The frogs were probably looking for food and wanting to mate. They were everywhere. Frogs in the food, frogs in the beds. While I don’t think Africa has spring peepers, the noise of all that croaking would have been loud and heard everywhere. It was so bad the Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron to get rid of the frogs.

Personally, I haven’t had any bad experiences with frogs, but I can relate to how terrible gnats and flies can be. It doesn’t take very many relentless gnats or flies buzzing around my head, getting in my eyes, ears, nose, mouth and hair, and biting everywhere they land, to make me feel miserable. Even worse than the frogs, the gnats and then the flies would have crawled on and gotten in everything.

When Moses prayed to God and the current plague left, it must have been such a relief. Then the next plague comes and it starts all over again. Why wasn’t 1 or 2 or 3 plagues enough for Pharaoh to learn to do it God’s way. Why is it that sometimes I have to learn the hard way. And sometimes I don’t actually learn, and the hard thinks keep coming over and over again. When I do things my way instead of yielding to God, I bring darkness, confusion, and misery, for myself and everyone around me. But, as God’s children, saved by grace, with the life of Christ living in us, as we yield to the Spirit, putting to death our old desires, we can be the conduit, the channel, that Jesus uses to bring Light, Freedom and Life.

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exodus-Knowing God

1/19/2015

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Today in the Bible reading plan, Exodus 3-6 was to be read. These chapters got me to thinking about one of the main themes of the entire book, knowing God. Exodus is a book with a big theme about coming to know God through personal experience. In the reading today we see 2 different people who either have come to know God through personal experience or are about to come to know God through their personal and even violent experience with Him.

Moses in chapter 3 gets to meet God in the bush, somewhat face to face and hear His voice. Moses gets to know God by His personal intimate covenant name, I AM WHO I AM (the LORD and also YHWH). This personal meeting with God sets the stage for Moses the rest of the story as he now acts and becomes a mediator between the LORD and His covenant people. Moses begins to know the LORD now in chapter 3 at the burning bush, but as the story progresses He finds out so much more about God and His revealed character like; His holiness, patience, covenant love, longsuffering, compassion, hatred toward evil, justice, and majesty. Today's reading marks the beginning of the journey for Moses to come to know God through experience.

Pharaoh in chapter 5 also begins his journey into coming to know of God through personal experience. In 5:2 Pharaoh states, "Who is the LORD that I should obey Him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go!" Pharaoh is defiant in the fact he does not know I AM and he think he is the I am. But as we will see in the next 3 days of reading, Pharaoh gets to know of and about some of the character of the LORD through his personal experience and interaction with Him.

So who's personal experience in knowing God would you rather have, Moses or Pharaoh? And does your life and obedience match which person you would rather be?

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Starting Exodus

1/18/2015

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Today in the Bible reading plan we read Exodus 1 and 2. Finally, we get to another book of the Bible and read about new characters in the story. Here are some initial thoughts to keep in mind as the book of Exodus is read through in the next 3 weeks.

First, Exodus is the second part of a much larger narrative and story. The larger narrative and story is called the Pentateuch, which in the English Bible is Genesis through Deuteronomy. That means Exodus just carries over many of the same themes, topics, and truths from Genesis. It should catch our ear that the first lines in Exodus sound similar to many of the same lines found in Genesis with the genealogy stuff.

Second, Exodus is a bi-fid book. This means the book, unlike Genesis structure, can now be split into 2 parts. The first part of Exodus is chapters 1-19 and the second part of the book is 20-40. The first half of the book is narrative and the second half of the book is Law. Follow this 2 part structure as we read through the book. Many of the stories and narratives found in the first 19 chapters will be taught about and revealed in Word in the Law portion of the book.

Finally, this bi-fid structure means that after chapter 19 is read the narrative style and chronological order should be throw out the window. Chapters 20-40 take place on or at the foot of the mountain and happen at different times and the events get mixed up. The story now goes more for theological points connected rather than narrative connected.

Just some points to keep in mind as we begin to read and enjoy the book of Exodus.

FYI- My favorite character in the book of Exodus is Bezalel

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final chapters of genesis

1/17/2015

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Congratulations, today we finished reading the book of Genesis. I wanted to share 4 things I saw in the 3 chapters we read today.

Jacob reckons Joseph’s sons into the family. The word that Jacob uses is translate in the NIV as community. Jacob’s family was a community. Do we have this same family, blood tie mindset about our church and faith family?

Jacob in his prophetic blessing to Judah gives the picture of a lion. This is the first time in Scripture that David and then Jesus is given the picture of a lion. Jesus is a lion in the tribe of Judah which is seen much clearer in Revelation, the last book of the Bible. Wow, this is one complete story from beginning to end that is about the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God.

Joseph in his comments to his brothers after Jacob dies tells us that God uses the sin and bad choices of people for His plans. As I stated yesterday God has eternal decrees and He uses the free will (sinful choices because that is all we would ever chose on our own) of man in His plans and His plans work through them to accomplish His perfect plan from beginning of time to the end of time.

In the beginning God…in a coffin in Egypt. Moses and God had a design for this book in how it was written. This is the first line of the book and the last line of the book. This is a Hebrew poetic technique that wants us to capture the truth about God and His faithfulness from the beginning until the end and also anticipating the next act to come from God. Do we see God and His faithfulness from the beginning of our story until now and do we anticipate His next move in our lives?

Now, I know many of us are struggling and stressing out in the daily reading of God’s Word because we are struggling to keep up. I know it is a lot to read, I recognize that. But let me give 3 suggestions that might help. 1-When you miss a day, skip over it and read the day you should be on and start reading the current day. Do not feel like you have to catch up on the reading. It is hard in narrative readings like Genesis but when we get into the Law of Exodus or Wisdom of Psalms just jump to the current day.

2-Read at your own pace and split the reading up to even amounts each day. The Daily Walk Bible has us reading 5 chapters some days and 2 chapters other days and giving us a day off ever 7 or so days. Break up the reading to the same amount everyday like 3 chapters and go at a steadier pace rather than big amounts and days off.

3-Make God’s Word a priority in your life. The Bible is the only thing that can give life. The TV, Iphone, sports teams, sleep, and other things in life cannot give us life. The Bible is the most powerful force in the Universe and we have the privilege and ability to read and saturate ourselves with it. Make God’s Word the first thing that is focused on each day because God’s Word is one of the only things in this life that will last for Eternity. Make it a priority in life.

I hope and pray that you learned much of God and His faithfulness and see that He is a God of second chances. Let’s get excited about God now and more of His revealed character in Exodus!

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Genesis 45-47-Sovereignty

1/16/2015

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In the daily walk devotional today the word Sovereignty is talked about. This is a big word, with a simple meaning, that has an amazing picture that is connected to a comforting word. The daily walk asks us to make our own definition of Sovereignty, so let me explain what I mean in the sentence above by giving you my definition first.

First, I define sovereignty as: God exercising His perfect total power over His creation showing His rule and reign over all that He has created, including me and my "small time" events and circumstances. Yes this is a wordy definition but sovereignty is a big word that can have complexity to it but it does have a simple meaning.

Second, the simple meaning is basically: God has totally control with perfect power. Wow, this simple meaning then taken out of my bigger definition has some clarity to it. But this simple definition totally separates God from His creation and everything in it. This then is an amazing picture.

Third, this amazing picture shows that God is the controlling factor in everything not man. God is above, beyond, and totally separated from the creation that He controls and shows His power in. That means we as humans, though we think we do, do not control very much of anything. God has complete control and in His power controls all circumstances, even to the simplest action like the falling of a snowflake. This then is connected to a very comforting and encouraging words called, God's decrees.

I define God's decrees as: the eternal plans of God so that, before the creation of the universe, He determined to bring about everything that happens. That not only means that God controls everything perfectly, but He has a plan and design for everything perfectly in a perfect way. That should give us great comfort in the fact that nothing, every, happens by chance and is everything ever is dictated and controlled by God in His plan before the creation of the universe. That means before Creation, God planned to put Joseph in prison, before creation, God had in His plan for 9/11 to happen, and before Creation God planned for me to be His child and a pastor. Wow! I know this will bring up many other questions about free will and choice but as a child of God, His plan and decree put forth by His Sovereignty should bring us great comfort in knowing He has a plan, nothing takes place by chance, and we are in His plan and perfect control. So when the cancer word or natural disaster takes place, in our lives, we can have comfort in knowing God in His decree with His sovereignty has got it covered and we can rest in that.

*Any questions on this see me, email me, call me, or facebook me since this is a lot to digest.*

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exodus 32:10

Tabernacle and priest

Exodus 18

Worship

Power in the Blood

January 20th

exodus-Knowing God

Starting Exodus

final chapters of genesis

Genesis 45-47-Sovereignty

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