Coming to the Still Waters

The picture shows a transformed sanctuary for the month ahead.  One of the seasonal industries of the Down East Maine region is the tipping of evergreen trees and the making of wreaths.  Semi-loads of them will head to the Arlington Cemetery in Washington, D.C. to decorate the graves of our soldiers.  I have a great place to sit at times during this season of hustle and bustle.  A place of quiet to view the manger, the cross, and the star while songs speaking of the coming Messiah play in the background.   Today's Wednesday in the Word has us back in the Upper Room and picking up the story of Jesus washing His disciples feet.  He has risen from the table, laid aside His outer garments, taken up the towel and the basin, and girded Himself to be in a position of service.  A reminder again to us to be servants like Christ that we need to do likewise.  We rise up to meet a need; we lay aside our agendas; we pick up the tools He has give...

" Disobedience ."   I think this is the word of God to the post exile Israelites back in the land of Israel and specifically the city of Jerusalem.  God was calling them out for their disobedience of direct commands from Him.  These were not obscure, fine print regulations requiring that you check the box saying you agree and allowing you to go on to the next page.  On the contrary, these were commands tied to the 10 commandments given on Mt. Sinai by God's very finger; instructions from the covenant made to Abraham; and dealing with God's creation and definition of marriage.  These were things listed in the table of contents and bullet pointed out so that the readers would not miss them. The first mention of disobedience is in regards to worship.  The Israelites were bringing less than required and therefore disobeying God's explicit orders about an approved sacrifice.  We don't sacrifice animals anyone because Christ became the perfect and ...

Sometimes being under the pressure of a self-imposed deadline brings out the best stuff (at least that is my opinion this morning).  Listening to preachers to teach chapter by chapter and verse by verse has helped me to see patterns and lists I have never seen before.  4 verbs that Jesus did really jumped off the page at me today.  Today's Wednesday in the Word is John chapter 13 and verses 1 through 4, which read, v. 1 - Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.  We are entering the final hours of Jesus' earthly life before the cross.  This would be His final passover and it would also be the final passover because He would take the place of the sacrificial lamb to be slain for  "...His own who were in the world..."   This would be an act of love of  "...having loved..."...

The stretch of 18 days of no Stephanie is coming to a close.  It will be a great reunion to be under the same roof again.  We are so thankful for God's provision to make this happen so she could care for her parents.   My Monday's Reflection centers on the words "by,  from" and "for."  I heard these three words this week in this way. We are saved by God. We are saved from God. We are saved for God. We are saved by God through the act of His mercy and the gift of His grace given willingly and fully through His Son, Jesus Christ.  We are saved by God through salvation.   We are saved from God in reference to His wrath against sin.  The wrath of God is upon us and ahead of us if we are not saved from it.  The all sufficient sacrifice of Christ on the cross paid the price for those who respond to the call of God with repentance, confession, submission, and obedience.  The wrath of God is satisfied and d...

We are flirting with winter here with a mixture of rain and snow.  I've heard this is common to go back and forth for awhile.  Also, we lose the sun pretty early in the afternoon, around 4 p.m., so the nights seem long and it makes you want to get up early to get as much of it as you can. Words are important and we will see in this section of Scripture that Jesus is stressing His faithfulness to the words that His Father has given Him to give to us. Wednesday in the Word is finishing chapter 12 of John with looking at verses 44 through 50. v.44, 45 - And Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me.  He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me." Notice that we have a lot of "red" to read today.  These are the very words of Jesus and we will find out also the very words of God given to Jesus to say to us.  Chapter 12 started with Mary anointing Jesus and there was opposition to that action.  It...

This photo is not a younger version of me or of any of our children but just a stock photo to show what I am going to be doing this week.  Sometimes I wonder why I put myself under this much pressure but again, I have been called by God to preach His word.  So I wade into the deep waters of God's word this week for the sake of His church.  Let me let you in on what is on my plate. I finished the book of Titus this week in the morning worship service so next week is the start of a new book of the Bible and it will be Malachi.  The start of a new book always requires more study as I get acquainted with the whole of the book prior to preaching from chapter 1.   At the same time, I will be starting the book of Ezra in the evening worship service.  I didn't plan it this way but both the Sunday morning and evening services ended their series at the same time.   I will be reading the book of Numbers this week for my online masters class and...

Today's Wednesday in the Word covers John chapter 12 and verses 37 through 43, which read, Verse 37 -  But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him.  This is a clue that our belief in Jesus as the Son of God is not just Him performing just the right miracle at the right time to switch some lever inside of us that indicates that now we have enough to believe that He is who He says He is.  Jesus did so many miracles that they were searching for those who He hadn't healed! Another element of Jesus is His teaching and the crowd's response to it.  Mark 1:22 says, They were astonished at His teaching because, unlike the scribes, He was teaching them as one having authority. So we have Jesus teaching like none other and performing miracles with 1000's of eyewitnesses and yet...some were not believing in Him.  How can this be?  Usually this type of "matter of fact" reporting is tied to something...

My photo wall is growing in my office in Machias, Maine and so is the requirements of my online masters class.  More papers are due this time and this section of my second class deals with the third book of the Old Testament, the book of Leviticus. If you like reading instruction manuals, you would like to read the book of Leviticus.  Maybe Leviticus is the very first instruction manual with its meticulous details.  What can I learn from it?  Well that is what I am challenged to find out and write about in this week's upcoming paper.  God gives Moses plenty to record that will set up the procedures to follow to the "t" .  The title "Leviticus" literally means, "matters of the Levites" and there are a lot of matters. With the required reading of the book, I started to jot down some observations.  Some things are holy; some things are clean; and some things are unclean.  These are three distinct groups in the book of Leviticus.  The ho...