Notes of Faith April 7, 2020

God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble… Cease striving and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.
—Psalm 46:1, 10

The Invitation

No one could have predicted the unprecedented events that would unfold as the COVID-19 virus swept the globe. Many people are experiencing upheaval and uncertainty in their lives and ministries. Conversations can be pretty intense as they deal with a wide range of emotions and responses. Some feel angry, some feel guilty, some are afraid, some are grieving deeply. Many just want life to get back to normal.

And that, I think, may be a greater tragedy than the one we are now facing.

Faith assures us that no event is random, and that every experience—painful or pleasant—is rich with meaning. But difficult times seem to have a unique way of opening doors that once seemed firmly closed—even if just a crack—and offering an invitation to step through.

The invitations are as custom-made as a key to a lock, but each has at its heart the ultimate end of knowing God.

This current crisis is an invitation to turn to God for security as everything else gives way, to exalt Him to His proper place, and humbly accept the futility of our own striving. How sad it would be to come through significant times such as these and remain unchanged.

I cannot help but watch with awe as God has literally brought the world to a standstill to invite humanity to Himself. Please pray that this pandemic would cause people to turn to God on a global scale. Pray that revival would sweep through the church. But also pray along with me that He would cause each of our eyes to be open to the unique invitations He has for us in these trying times.

Pastor Dale

April 6, 2020

April 6, 2020

“I am with you always, even to the end of the age”. Matthew 28:20

When David Livingstone returned to his native Scotland after sixteen difficult years
as a missionary and explorer in Africa, his body was emaciated by the ravages
of some twenty-seven fevers that had coursed through his veins during the years
of his service.  His left arm hung useless at his side, the result of his being mangled by a lion.

Speaking to the students at Glasgow University, he said, “Shall I tell you what sustained
me during the hardship and loneliness of my exile?  It was Christ’s promise, ‘Lo, I am with you
always, even to the end of the age.’”

That promise is ours as well.  No matter what trials we face, Christ never leaves us. 
He is with us every step of the way! 
Keep that promise before you today – and always.

I am growing restless staying at home…Satan makes me feel unwanted, not needed,
useless.  I grow weary and tired doing nothing.  Does this sound like you? Draw
close to God through reading/listening to His Word.  I am on my 5th time through the
New Testament this year and not only want to stay connected with my Lord and
Savior but His children as well.  Use the church phone book and call to speak to those you know well and maybe some you do not.   Listen to the concerns and needs of one another and provide as you are able.  Please let me know of any need and our family will do our best to minister to you during this time.  It is a blessing to be a blessing!

Pastor Dale

Palm Sunday

Thanks to Larry Clark for sharing this with us . . .

The Triumphal Entry

 Palm Sunday.  This event, also known as "the Triumphal Entry," involves one of the most astonishing passages in the entire Bible.  The book of Daniel, with was written centuries before the birth of Christ, predicts the exact day that Jesus would make His triumphal entry into Jerusalem!

The story behind Palm Sunday begins, not in Jerusalem in the time of Christ but in Babylon several hundred years earlier.  The prophet Daniel, who was among the Jews who were taken captive by the Babylonians, was reading in the Book of Jeremiah.  He understood that the seventy years of servitude were almost over and he began to pray for his people.  The angel Gabriel interrupted Daniel's prayer and gave him a four-verse prophecy that is unquestionably the most remarkable passage in the entire Bible:  Daniel 9:24-27

The Meshiach Nagid

The first verse of the prophecy, Daniel 9:24 says: "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy Place."

This verse is essentially an overview of the entire prophecy.  The idiom of a “week” of years was common in Israel.  The prophecy encompasses seventy weeks, that is, seventy times seven years, or 490 years.  However verse 26 indicates that there is an interval between the 69th and 70th weeks.

A very specific prediction occurs in the next verse: “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times (Daniel 9:25).”

This includes a mathematical prophecy.  The Jewish (and Babylonian) calendars used a 360-day year; 69 weeks of 360-day years totals 173,880 days.  In effect, Gabriel told Daniel that the interval between the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem until the presentation of the Messiah as King would be 173,880 days.  The “Messiah the Prince” in the King James translation is actually the Meshiach Nagid, or “The Messiah, The King.”

The Countdown Begins

The commandment to restore and build Jerusalem was given by Artaxerxes Longimanus on March 14, 445 BC. (The emphasis in the verse on “the street” and “the wall” was to avoid confusion with other earlier mandates confined to rebuilding the Temple.)

But when did the Messiah present Himself as a King?  During the ministry of Jesus Christ there were several occasions in which the people attempted to promote Him as King, but He carefully avoided it, saying, “Mine hour is not yet come.”

Then one day He not only allows it, He meticulously arranges it.  On this particular day He rode into the city of Jerusalem riding on a donkey, deliberately fulfilling a prophecy by Zechariah that the Messiah would present Himself as King in just that way: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an donkey, and upon a colt the foal of a donkey (Zechariah 9:9).”

Whenever we might easily miss the significance of what was going on, the Pharisees come to our rescue.  They fest that the overzealous crowd was blaspheming, proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah, the King.  However, Jesus responded by saying “I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out (Luke 19:40).”

This is the only occasion that Jesus presented Himself as King.  It occurred on April 6, 32 AD.  When we examine the period between March 14, 445 BC and April 6 32 AD, and correct for leap years, we discover that it is 173,880 days exactly, to the very day!

It is amazing to realize that Jesus Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem was predicted, to the very day, hundreds of years in advance.  Keep this extraordinary miracle in mind on Palm Sunday as we celebrate the coming of the Meshiach Nagid, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Julian Calendar*

The calendar went from 1 BC to 1 AD.

There was no year “0” thus you must subtract 1 from the calculation from 445 BC to 32 AD = 477 – 1 = 476 years

476 x 365                                                      =     173740 days

Add (14 March to 6th April, both inclusive    =             24 days

Add for leap years                                           =            116 days

                                                                      =      173880 days

Biblical Calendar

The Biblical Calendar is always 360 days

69 weeks of prophetic (Biblical) years of

360 days or 69 x 7 x 360                                =       173880 days

Gabriel’s margin for error was zero.

God says what He means and means what He says!

In part from the March 11, 2008 Personal Update eNews issue Koinonia House

*The Coming Prince, Sir Robert Anderson, p. 128, Kregal Publications, 2000 Grand Rapids, Michigan

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This day is the first day that Jesus publicly allowed Himself to be proclaimed the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One whom the Father had sent into the world to die for the forgiveness of sin.  What an exciting day, filled with anticipation of good things to come!  Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Matt 21:1-9
​21 When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me.  3 "If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them."  4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: ​​5 "SAY TO THE DAUGHTER OF ZION,​'BEHOLD YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU,​GENTLE, AND MOUNTED ON A DONKEY,​EVEN ON A COLT, THE FOAL OF A BEAST OF BURDEN.'" ​​6 The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, 7 and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them; and He sat on the coats. 8 Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. 9 The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting,​​"Hosanna to the Son of David;​BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD;​Hosanna in the highest!" ​NASU​

Pastor Dale

Things are happening at the church facilities even while we are away.  Much of the problem areas of the parking lot on the west side have been replaced with six-inch thick concrete.  Our neighbor, Western Integrated is once again participating in blessing us with financial help to pay for this work.  

April 3, 2020

What keeps you from enjoying the blessings of God?  What gets in the way of appreciating His people or discerning His purposes for your life?  It is tempting to blame your circumstances, but maybe it could be something else.  Maybe it is you!

Many people struggle with feelings of discouragement, why is this happening to me, or just in general negative thoughts.  But by focusing only on the negatives, it is easy to miss the encouraging truth of the Word of God. 

In Peter's first letter to persecuted believers, he admonished them to remember their great salvation, eternal hope, and true identity in Christ.  Although circumstances may have left them feeling alone, abandoned or defeated, the opposite was true.  The Lord had not forgotten them.  In fact, He called them (and us) "a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession." 1 Peter 2:9

Earlier in his letter, Peter pointed out that we "as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood," and Christ Himself is our cornerstone (vv 5-6)  When we trust in Jesus as our Savior, we not only receive His Spirit within us, but we are also baptized into His body, the church.  We are not individual stones scattered around the ground, without purpose or hope.  But like a skilled mason who knows exactly where every stone belongs, Christ lovingly and specifically places each of us into the spiritual house that He is building. 

Since we have the role of priests in this structure, our job is to offer up spiritual sacrifices of praise, service, and obedience (v 5)  But a priest also has the function of intercessor between God and those who do not know Him.  We are living stones who act as bridge builders to dead stones so that they too, may become part of the house of God. 

Ps 127:1​127 Unless the Lord builds the house,​those who build it labor in vain.​ESV​

As we continue to build the house of the Lord, let us not labor in vain, but pray fervently, stay close to one another virtually, call one another and meet one another's needs as you are able.  Continue to share the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, especially now, that God might use these trying times to draw unbelievers to Himself.  Seek to draw closer to God yourself as you are drawing others to Him. 

My fervent prayers are for all of you!

Pastor Dale

April 2, 2020

If you have access to the internet you may see these "Notes of Faith" at:

www.communitygrace.church
and
Facebook.com/cgbclb

Thank you to those who have continued to send offerings through the mail or give directly through your bank or through our website.  We still pay all of our missionaries, staff and building costs though most of those are less due to our not holding services there. 

Joy is one of the hallmarks of the Christian life. This isn't something that happens automatically when we receive Jesus as Savior, although that experience is where it all begins. Unlike happiness, which is related to desirable circumstances, joy is gladness of the heart that results from a growing relationship with Christ. It is the reason James could say, "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials."  James 1:2

Life does not always work out the way we desire. Sometimes it is full of pain, trouble and loss. But joy is not dependent upon our circumstances. Shortly before Jesus was crucified, He told His disciples, "These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. John 15:11  However, the news that He gave them seemed anything but joyful - He was going to die, and they were going to be hated and persecuted. What the disciples did not understand was that Jesus' death was the beginning of the restoration of all things.

While becoming a Christian does not remove us from the pain and suffering that come with living in a fallen world, we can rejoice because God is indeed making all things new!

Pastor Dale

April 1, 2020

If a microscopic virus can do this much damage, 
imagine what mustard seed sized faith can do!

​​2 Corinthians 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for you"

The prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane is perhaps the greatest most moving prayer ever uttered.  Some say that in it our Lord asked that the cup of crucifixion quickly coming upon Him would be taken away.  

I believe that Jesus knowing all things, was looking ahead not only to the physical human experience of excruciating pain, but more so being the Holy, Sinless One, taking on ALL sin, causing however momentary, separation from the Father.  Nevertheless, with His next breath He uttered, Not as I will, but as You will.  Matt. 26:39

When the apostle Paul asked God to remove his "thorn in the flesh," God did not remove it, saying instead, "My grace is sufficient for you."  Rather than complain or become angry with God, Paul joyfully submitted to God's will.  He discovered that God's grace was truly sufficient even in the midst of struggle, pain, and tribulation. 

Christ is with us in whatever crises we may find ourselves.  I would think that the "Covid-19" crises is new to all of us.  I do believe that this virus is bigger than the people of earth have yet to understand.  That said, Jesus is here with us, and though He may not take our circumstances away, we will be overcomers by His power and grace.

Pastor Dale

“COURAGEOUS CHRISTIANS”

Psalm 27:13, 14

 I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  Be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.

 At this point it would seem that David looked back over his life and recalled the hundreds of times God had come through the darkness and discouragement of life to bolster the life of His faithful servant.  This being a fact he could count on, David applied that to the reality of what he was going through.  This gave him hope and encouragement.  He said, “If I didn’t have the reality of what God has done in the past, I would lose heart in the present - for God is faithful.  God’s goodness prevails at all times.”  Then David challenges his readers, “Let your heart take courage. “

 This is something all of us can use.  We all face discouragement of one kind or another.  But like David, analyze your past experience.  Hasn’t God always come through?  That ought to be fuel for your faith.  If He rescued you then, why do you think He won’t now?  Of course He will!  However, He may not do it at once.  Sometimes He has a way of waiting.  So we need to learn to wait on the Lord.  He does all things in His time.  This strengthens our faith.

 Paul knew the waiting principle.  He prayed on three occasions for the “thorn” to be removed from his life.  God said, “No!  My strength is sufficient for you.”  In this case God didn’t remove the trial, but He inserted His strength into Paul’s life so that the apostle was able to learn from the experience.

 At any rate Christian, whether God chooses to delay His action or insert His strength to overcome your weakness, waiting on Him is the best and wisest thing you can do.  What are you going through today?  Take courage.  God will strengthen your heart one way or another.

 God bless.

 Love to you all.