Notes of Faith January 15, 2021

There is a very close connection between God and His Word. Jesus Himself is called the Word of God (John 1:1, John 1:14; Revelation 19:13). To know God, you must know His Word; to honor God, you must honor His Word; to be in touch with God, you must be in touch with His Word.

Mighty promises are given to those who master the Bible so well that the Bible masters them.  

• We are promised spiritual stability, fruitfulness, and true prosperity as we meditate on His Word day and night (Psalm 1:1–3).

• When the words of Jesus abide in us, our desires will be given to us, according to God’s will (John 15:7).

• Meditating on God’s Word leads to prosperity and success in our endeavors (Joshua 1:8).

• We will have more wisdom than our enemies, more insight than our teachers, and more understanding than the aged (Psalm 119:97–100).

• We will have greater power over sin (Psalm 119:11).

• We will have comfort in affliction (Psalm 119:50).

• By drawing near to God, we have His promise that He will draw near to us (James 4:8).

These astonishing observations, these magnificent claims, these profound promises — they help us to realize how important the Bible is, and what remarkable potential we bring to our lives when we become serious students of Scripture. That’s why it’s so important that we commit ourselves to mastering the Bible so well that the Bible masters us.  

There are four steps to mastering the Bible so well that the Bible masters you:  

1.   Read the Bible

2.   Study the Bible

3.   Memorize the Bible

4.   Meditate on the Bible 

Seems simple. Obvious, even, for those who have been Christians for a while. Yet very few people take all four steps. Many take one step. Some take two steps. A few take three steps. Very few take all four steps. As a result, very few people ever experience the full life transformation, the fellowship with God, the spiritual stability and strength, the power in ministry, the joy in worship, and the spiritual prosperity that the Bible promises to those who master it so well that it masters them.  

READ THE BIBLE FOR BREADTH OF KNOWLEDGE.  

To begin a mastery of the Bible, you must read the Bible. This may seem self-evident to some, but to others who have never developed the habit, it is groundbreaking. Some Christians do not read the Bible, or they only read snippets that are attached to daily devotionals. This will not get you where you want to go. You must begin to read the Bible widely.  

It is only by covering a lot of territory in Scripture that you gain a breadth of knowledge. If you never read the Old Testament, you will never have a general knowledge of it. If you only read the Gospels, or the Epistles, you will never have a basic grasp of the other sections of the Bible. As a result, your life will be untouched by important truth, plus your ability to connect the dots from various different Scripture passages — a critical component of a mature Christian experience — will be limited.  

The New Testament tells us that many stories in the Old Testament were “written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Corinthians 10:11). If we never read those Old Testament stories, we will never gain the insight, the power, or the freedom that become ours when we do.  

The good news is that there is a simple way to read for breadth of knowledge. If you read the Bible for five minutes a day, you will read the Bible over thirty hours a year! (5 minutes × 365 days = 1,825 minutes divided by 60 minutes per hour = 30.4 hours!)  

Think of it!! Thirty hours a year! Perhaps no other discipline will provide a breadth of Bible knowledge more easily. If you want to master the Word so well that the Word masters you, begin by reading it.  

Very early in my Christian experience, I was challenged to read the Bible at least five minutes a day. I took that challenge, and have not missed my daily time in God’s Word in over forty years. As a result, I have read the Bible for a couple thousand hours! And it was all done at the manageable pace of five minutes a day. There is no easier way I could have gained and maintained the breadth of knowledge of Scripture than by taking this simple step. I urge you to take this first step, too.  

Pick a readable translation. To begin with, pick a translation that is easy for you to read. Many Christians have a New International Version of the Bible, which is a fairly readable translation. (I prefer that you do not use this translation to read/study unless it is all that you have available [Dale])  I study out of the New American Standard Bible, which is a good study Bible because the translation is very literal. However, for those times of just reading for the story and flow, and breadth of knowledge, I have found that more conversational translations sometimes allow the Bible to come alive in a way that the NASB does not. I experimented for years with more conversational Bibles and, frankly, was disappointed with them for two reasons. First, they often interpret unclear passages for you to make it more readable, and I didn’t always agree with the translators’ interpretation. Second, in their attempt to be conversational, they often dumb down the language so that it is unsatisfying to read.  

However, I have found The New Living Translation to be an effective reading Bible. This version began as a paraphrase that author and publisher Ken Taylor wrote to help his young children understand the Bible better. In a paraphrase, you start with an English Bible and reword it to make it easier to understand. But in 1995, Taylor commissioned a team of translation experts to go back to the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts and change whatever needed to be changed in order to bring the version up to the level of a translation. In my opinion, they did a commendable job.  

All Bible versions have strengths and weaknesses. More literal translations have the strength of being closer to the original languages but the weakness of sometimes being more difficult to understand. More conversational translations are often easier to understand, but sometimes that clarity comes at the expense of accuracy, especially when a difficult passage may have two possible meanings in the original language.  

For those reasons, I prefer having both a more literal translation for studying and a more conversational translation for reading. This way, I can compare both translations to gain a fuller understanding.  

Pick a time to read. I read before I go to sleep. By experimentation, I learned that I could always carve out five minutes before I go to sleep. But when I tried to read in the morning, sometimes I would get too busy and forget, and I would end up having to read in the evening, so I just switched to reading in the evening.  

I found that I can always stay up an extra five minutes to read. No matter how late it is, another five minutes is not going to make or break my evening’s rest. There have been times I have been so tired I had to read standing up so I wouldn’t fall asleep, but I did it. I have been accused of being legalistic. I’m not. I’m being realistic and disciplined.

I’ve learned that if I give myself an excuse one day, I am likely to give myself an excuse another day and another day. So, I have just not given myself an excuse. And more than two thousand hours of reading the Bible later, with a breadth of knowledge of Scripture I could never have gained or maintained any other way, I am glad I haven’t.  

Others find that they must read first thing in the morning. It really doesn’t matter when you read. The bottom line is: read when it is best for you.  

Read for understanding. This was a recommendation given to me by the man who led me to the Lord. He said, “When you read, don’t get bogged down by anything you don’t understand. Just skip over it, and read for the things you do understand... and underline everything that seems especially important.” This counsel was extremely valuable to me, and it set me on a course of Bible-knowledge acquisition I’m not sure I would have taken any other way.

Without that advice, whenever I would come to something in the text I didn’t understand, I would grind to a halt, or be forced to stop reading and start studying, both of which destroyed the original intent.  

Read with a plan: Many people are motivated by the goal of reading through the Bible in a year. I think it is something that everyone might want to do at least once, just to know that one has read the entire Bible. However, it is not an easy task, and many who start the project do not complete it. You might set a goal of reading through the Bible without committing to having to do it in a year. Just read five minutes a day, and let it take however long it takes to get through the entire Bible. Other reading plans can be found online.  

If the Bible is new to you, I recommend what my mentor recommended to me when I first became a Christian. Read the Gospel of John six times in a row, not worrying about what you don’t understand but underlining everything that seems especially important. Then you might read the rest of the Gospels and then the New Testament. After that, you might read the first seventeen books of the Old Testament, known as the historical books. Or, there are eleven primary historical books that you might start with: Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Those are the eleven books that tell the story of the Old Testament. The other Old Testament books give additional information, but do not advance the Old Testament story significantly. Then, reading Psalms and Proverbs is always a profitable experience.  

On the other hand, if you are a more seasoned Christian and are generally familiar with the Bible, read what is interesting to you in your current circumstances... but be open to stretching yourself into other territory from time to time, remembering the importance of reading for breadth of knowledge.  

STUDY THE BIBLE FOR DEPTH OF KNOWLEDGE.  

Few of us can gain a depth of knowledge without sitting under skilled teachers. So, for most people, they must sit under effective preaching from the Bible and be involved in a Bible study taught by an effective teacher. For maximum benefit, Bible study must have assignments that get you studying and interacting with the Bible on your own. To gain a depth of knowledge, you cannot be passive. You must become active in the process of deepening your knowledge. Crawl before you walk, and walk before you run, but this should be your goal. That is the only way you will progress to a depth of knowledge.  

If this is new to you, begin by attending a church that is committed to teaching the Bible, not only from the pulpit during sermons, but also in small groups or Sunday school classes. You might also find helpful information in Christian bookstores or online. More seasoned Christians might be able to give you helpful suggestions as well. If you are an avid reader, there is a wealth of knowledge available to you as well through good books available online or at Christian bookstores. 

Excerpted from 30 Days to Understanding the Bible by Max Anders, copyright Max Anders. 

I prefer that you DO NOT use the NIV translation because they have changed or even left out truth that points to Jesus.  If you buy a new Bible please consider the New American Standard Bible NASB or ESV English Standard Version.  These will be closer to the original language and if there are things that you do not understand, ask the Holy Spirit first and then other believers for help.

There’s no better time than right now to start or re-start reading and learning the Bible! Let’s get going today!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith January 14, 2021

Let me tell you about a most wonderful experience I had early Monday morning, March 19, 2007, a little after six o’clock. God actually spoke to me. There is no doubt that it was God. I heard the words in my head just as clearly as when a memory of a conversation passes across your consciousness. The words were in English, but they had about them an absolutely self-authenticating ring of truth. I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God still speaks today.

I couldn’t sleep for some reason. I was at Shalom House in northern Minnesota on a staff couples’ retreat. It was about five thirty in the morning. I lay there wondering if I should get up or wait till I got sleepy again. In his mercy, God moved me out of bed. It was mostly dark, but I managed to find my clothing, got dressed, grabbed my briefcase, and slipped out of the room without waking up Noël. In the main room below, it was totally quiet. No one else seemed to be up. So I sat down on a couch in the corner to pray.

“Come and See”

As I prayed and mused, suddenly it happened. God said, “Come and see what I have done.” There was not the slightest doubt in my mind that these were the very words of God. In this very moment. At this very place in the twenty-first century, 2007, God was speaking to me with absolute authority and self-evidencing reality. I paused to let this sink in. There was a sweetness about it. Time seemed to matter little. God was near. He had me in his sights. He had something to say to me. When God draws near, hurry ceases. Time slows down.

“I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God still speaks today.”

I wondered what he meant by “come and see.” Would he take me somewhere, like he did Paul into heaven to see what can’t be spoken (2 Corinthians 12:3–4)? Did “see” mean that I would have a vision of some great deed of God that no one has seen? I am not sure how much time elapsed between God’s initial word, “Come and see what I have done” and his next words. It doesn’t matter. I was being enveloped in the love of his personal communication. The God of the universe was speaking to me.

Then he said, as clearly as any words have ever come into my mind, “I am awesome in my deeds toward the children of man.” My heart leaped up, “Yes, Lord! You are awesome in your deeds. Yes, to all men whether they see it or not. Yes! Now, what will you show me?”

The words came again. Just as clear as before, but increasingly specific: “I turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot. There they rejoiced in me — who rules by my might forever.” Suddenly I realized God was taking me back several thousand years to the time when he dried up the Red Sea and the Jordan River. I was being transported by his word back into history to those great deeds. This is what he meant by “come and see.” He was transporting me back by his words to those two glorious deeds before the children of men. These were the “awesome deeds” he referred to. God himself was narrating the mighty works of God. He was doing it for me. He was doing it with words that were resounding in my own mind.

A Holy Moment

There settled over me a wonderful reverence. A palpable peace came down. This was a holy moment and a holy corner of the world in northern Minnesota. God Almighty had come down and was giving me the stillness and the openness and the willingness to hear his very voice. As I marveled at his power to dry the sea and the river, he spoke again: “I keep watch over the nations — let not the rebellious exalt themselves.”

This was breathtaking. It was very serious. It was almost a rebuke. At least a warning. He may as well have taken me by the collar of my shirt, lifted me off the ground with one hand, and said, with an incomparable mixture of fierceness and love, “Never, never, never exalt yourself. Never rebel against me.”

I sat staring at nothing. My mind was full of the global glory of God. “I keep watch over the nations.” He had said this to me. It was not just that he had said it. Yes, that is glorious. But he had said this to me. The very words of God were in my head. They were there in my head just as much as the words that I am writing at this moment are in my head. They were heard as clearly as if at this moment I recalled that my wife said, “Come down for supper whenever you are ready.” I know those are the words of my wife. And I know these are the words of God.

He Still Speaks

Think of it. Marvel at this. Stand in awe of this. The God who keeps watch over the nations — like some people keep watch over cattle or stock markets or construction sites — this God still speaks in the twenty-first century. I heard his very words. He spoke personally to me.

“When God draws near, hurry ceases. Time slows down.”

What effect did this have on me? It filled me with a fresh sense of God’s reality. It assured me more deeply that he acts in history and in our time. It strengthened my faith that he is for me and cares about me and will use his global power to watch over me. Why else would he come and tell me these things?

It has increased my love for the Bible as God’s very word, because it was through the Bible that I heard these divine words and through the Bible I have experiences like this almost every day. The very God of the universe speaks on every page into my mind — and your mind. We hear his very words. God himself has multiplied his wondrous deeds and thoughts toward us; none can compare with him! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told (Psalm 40:5).

And best of all, they are available to all. If you would like to hear the very same words I heard on the couch in northern Minnesota, read Psalm 66:5–7. That is where I heard them. Oh, how precious is the Bible. It is the very word of God. In it God speaks in the twenty-first century. This is the very voice of God. By this voice, he speaks with absolute truth and personal force. By this voice, he reveals his all-surpassing beauty. By this voice, he reveals the deepest secrets of our hearts. No voice anywhere anytime can reach as deep or lift as high or carry as far as the voice of God that we hear in the Bible.

It is a great wonder that God still speaks today through the Bible with greater force and greater glory and greater assurance and greater sweetness and greater hope and greater guidance and greater transforming power and greater Christ-exalting truth than can be heard through any voice in any human soul on the planet from outside the Bible.

Misplaced Amazement

This is why I found the Christianity Today article “My Conversation with God” so sad. Written by an anonymous professor at a “well-known Christian University,” it tells of his experience of hearing God. What God said was that he must give all his royalties from a new book toward the tuition of a needy student.

What makes me sad about the article is not that it isn’t true or didn’t happen. What’s sad is that it really does give the impression that extra-biblical communication with God is surpassingly wonderful and faith-deepening. All the while, the supremely glorious communication of the living God which personally and powerfully and transformingly explodes in the receptive heart through the Bible everyday is passed over in silence.

“The Bible is the very voice of God. In it he speaks in the twenty-first century.”

I am sure this professor of theology did not mean it this way, but what he actually said was, “For years I’ve taught that God still speaks, but I couldn’t testify to it personally. I can only do so now anonymously, for reasons I hope will be clear” (emphasis added). Surely he does not mean what he seems to imply: that only when one hears an extra-biblical voice like “The money is not yours” can you testify personally that God still speaks. Surely he does not mean to belittle the voice of God in the Bible which speaks this very day with power and truth and wisdom and glory and joy and hope and wonder and helpfulness ten thousand times more decisively than anything we can hear outside the Bible.

I grieve at what is being communicated here. The great need of our time is for people to experience the living reality of God by hearing his word personally and transformingly in Scripture. Something is incredibly wrong when the words we hear outside Scripture are more powerful and more affecting to us than the inspired word of God.

Let us cry with the psalmist, “Incline my heart to your testimonies” (Psalm 119:36). “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18). Grant that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened to know our hope and our inheritance and the love of Christ that passes knowledge and be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 1:18; 3:19).

O God, don’t let us be so deaf to your word and so unaffected with its ineffable, evidential excellency that we celebrate lesser things as more thrilling, and even consider this misplacement of amazement worthy of printing in a national magazine.

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary.

As God has graciously led me into His Word more and more, I find that I not only hear Him speak but speak more clearly than I have ever heard Him before.  Please join me in giving more time to be in the presence of the Lord, reading and praying through the Scriptures.  I guarantee that you will hear Him speak!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith January 13, 2021

How do we enjoy life?

Each Day Totally

We do not know how long we have to live, so we should live every day with gusto.

Oh, how sweet the light of day,
And how wonderful to live in the sunshine!
Even if you live a long time, don’t take a single day for granted.
Take delight in each light-filled hour,
Remembering that there will also be many dark days And that most of what comes your way is smoke.
— Ecclesiastes 11:7-8 (The Message)

I love the sunshine. I love to see the sun peeking through the window when I get up in the morning.

From the rising of the sun to its going down the Lord’s name is to be praised. — Psalm 113:3 (NKJV)

That is the theme behind the hymn “When Morning Gilds the Skies.” There are many, many stanzas, but here are a few:

When morning gilds the skies my heart awaking cries:
May Jesus Christ be praised!

Alike at work and prayer, to Jesus I repair:
May Jesus Christ be praised!

When you begin the day, O never fail to say,
May Jesus Christ be praised!

And at your work rejoice, to sing with heart and voice,
May Jesus Christ be praised!

Sing, suns and stars of space, sing, ye that see His face,
Sing, Jesus Christ be praised!

God’s whole creation o’er, for aye and evermore
Shall Jesus Christ be praised!

We praise God because it is right, because it is appropriate, and because it is commanded. But praising God also has a radical effect on us. I dare you to begin the next seven days with intense, heartfelt praise and worship. Read a praise psalm each day, and reflect on a thoughtful hymn like the one above. Then watch the effect on your day.

Enjoy Your Youth Thoroughly

Rejoice, O young man, in your youth,
And let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth;
Walk in the ways of your heart,
And in the sight of your eyes;
But know that for all these
God will bring you into judgment.
Therefore remove sorrow from your heart,
And put away evil from your flesh,
For childhood and youth are vanity.
— Ecclesiastes 11:9-10

Sixteen-year-olds want to be eighteen, and eighteen-year-olds can’t wait to be twenty-one. Somewhere along the way that process starts to reverse itself.

We ought to be telling our kids to enjoy themselves.

Youth has many advantages: less responsibility, lots of energy, many good friends, and boatloads of opportunity.

While young people face many challenges and difficulties today, it is also true that life tends to become harder and heavier as we grow older. Solomon counsels us to rejoice in our youth.

But there is a warning.

Sow joyfully, but sow healthy seeds and not wild oats. Youth is no excuse for exploits that do not honor Him.

If I were a young person, I would look at my life as a bowl of premium chocolate ice cream. I would savor every bite. I would take a moment to thank God before digging in and be grateful that He designed this treat to melt so delightfully on the tongue.

If I were a new parent, I would let my kids be kids. I would not want them to grow up too quickly, and when they stumble along the learning path, I would gently help them up and show them how to walk upright. Kids have lots of energy and crazy imaginations, but I would see God’s joy in that rather than shushing them and imposing unnatural restraint on their natural vitality.

Express Your Faith Thoughtfully

Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth,
Before the difficult days come,
And the years draw near when you say,
“I have no pleasure in them”:
While the sun and the light,
The moon and the stars,
Are not darkened,
And the clouds do not return after the rain.
— Ecclesiastes 12:1-2

I think of Solomon, sitting in the courtyard of the palace and watching the children romp beneath the trees. A teenager sits at the king’s feet. Solomon is struck by how fast she is growing up. He can already see the patronizing look in the eyes of this young girl before him. He says,

“Now is the very time to draw near to your God. The longer you wait, the less you will desire Him, and the more elusive He will prove to be. Now is the time when you will make the pivotal decisions on which your whole future will turn. Please don’t make them without your Lord.”

 Get with God.
Get with Him daily as you spend time together.
Get with Him through His Word.
Get with Him in service and with His other children.
Get with Him and honor Him.

It is traditional for kids to be criticized by ex-kids.

Grumpy old [former kid] Martin Luther: “The young people of today are utterly dissolute and disorderly.”

Plato, [philosopher and past child,] agreed. “The youth are rebellious, pleasure-seeking, and irresponsible. They have no respect for their elders.”

Socrates, [a one-time juvenile, sniped], “Children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority. They show disrespect for elders and love chatter.”

The next time you think the “modern generation” is going from bad to worse, remember that God always has a rich handful of teenage heroes ready to change the world.

• Joseph the dreamer

• Daniel in Babylon

• David the giant killer

• and the virgin Mary

As a teenager, Charles Spurgeon preached to great crowds, but when they referred to his youthfulness, he replied, “Never mind my age. Think of the Lord Jesus Christ and His preciousness.”

Let us encourage our young people and pray for them.

Embrace Your Aging Thankfully

In the day when the keepers of the house tremble,
And the strong men bow down;
When the grinders cease because they are few,
And those that look through the windows grow dim;
When the doors are shut in the streets,
And the sound of grinding is low;
When one rises up at the sound of a bird,
And all the daughters of music are brought low.
Also they are afraid of height,
And of terrors in the way;
When the almond tree blossoms,
The grasshopper is a burden,
And desire fails.
For man goes to his eternal home,
And the mourners go about the streets.
Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed,
Or the golden bowl is broken,
Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain,
Or the wheel broken at the well.
Then the dust will return to the earth as it was,
And the spirit will return to God who gave it.
“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher,
“All is vanity.”
— Ecclesiastes 12:3-8

Life can only be enjoyed day by day, bite by bite. Finally we learn to embrace the aging process thankfully.

Solomon keeps a heavy subject light — and downright funny.

Isn’t that just what we need when we fret about fresh wrinkles? We need to take ourselves a little less seriously. We need a good laugh.

Solomon gives us a poetic picture of getting older. Let’s work our way through this passage looking at the phrases he chooses:

The day when the keepers of the house tremble. Those are your arms and hands. As we get older, they begin to shake and tremble more.

And the strong men bow down. Knees and shoulders grow weaker, more frail as we age, bending and bowing and slumping.

When the grinders cease because they are few. What are “grinders”? Your teeth, of course! We can be thankful for improved dental care, but we still lose a tooth every now and then.

And those that look through the windows grow dim. Are you getting the idea? No one had spectacles in Solomon’s time; they had to live with blurry vision.

When the doors are shut in the streets, and the sound of grinding is low. We can’t hear the old street sounds or the mills grinding away.

When one rises up at the sound of a bird. Teenagers can sleep until noon, but that is a skill we lose as we age. We old-timers are up with the chickens.

And all the daughters of music are brought low. Your voice starts to quiver and weaken. You don’t sing as loudly or clearly as you once did.

When the almond tree blossoms. Your hair puts forth white shoots! Rather than informing your spouse you have spotted another gray hair, why not say, “Nice almond tree, honey!”

The grasshopper is a burden. By summer’s end, grasshoppers lose their hop. They are more like “grass-limpers.”

And desire fails. You can work this one out for yourself. (Hint: there are several lines of pharmaceuticals to help.)

For man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets. This is referring to the unavoidable funeral and funeral procession.

Solomon goes on in verse 6 to give us four images of what it is like to die.

• It’s like a silver cord that loosens and falls away.

• It’s like a golden bowl that plummets to the floor and crashes.

• It’s like a pitcher shattered at the fountain.

• It’s like a wheel broken at the well.

Fallen. Crashed. Shattered. Broken. These are all images of lost beauty. Together their picture is heartbreaking.

Then again, Art Linkletter once said that it is better to be over the hill than under it. Whatever life is for us, wherever we find ourselves in age or stage, every moment is a gift of God — brightly wrapped, waiting to be opened, admired, and delighted in. The bittersweet nature of loss makes the present more precious; knowing that the silver cord will one day slip away, we cherish it all the more while it is in our hands.

We must not spend too much time brooding over life’s transience, for that defeats the very purpose. The time is to be used, to be invested in joy and meaning.

That includes today. Go ye therefore and have fun!

Excerpted with permission from 31 Days to Happiness by Dr. David Jeremiah, copyright Dr. David Jeremiah.

Are you enjoying your season of life? You should be! God in His grace has given it to you. “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith January 12, 2021

“What a mystery,” wrote Horatius Bonar, “the soul and eternity of one man depends upon the voice of another.” What a mystery, I then thought, that I do not speak more.

I gazed out of my window. Three houses stood across the street. Of two, I had to ask myself, Who lives there? What were they doing as I read and prayed?

Although I had not yet met them, I knew much about them. They — whoever they were — like me, had been born in sin. They, like me, had souls. They, like me, careened irreversibly towards eternity. They, like me, were tempted to ruin their souls, blinded and energized to do so by unseen spiritual forces. And they, like me, lived deceitfully mundane lives upon a thread floating between heaven and hell, now and forever.

As I looked at the homes which sheltered eternal beings, I realized that my voice had not yet traveled across the street. Even though I knew news that they desperately need to hear and a “him” that they were made for (Colossians 1:16), my voice had not bothered to make its way to speak to them, befriend them, and share with them the most necessary message to ever grace human ears: the gospel of Jesus Christ.

What a mystery, that the soul and eternity of one man depends on the voice of another — and that the voice upon which souls depend would be so terribly silent and unconcerned.

To the Highways and Hedges

It is not an overstatement that souls depend upon us to speak. How will they believe if they never hear (Romans 10:14)?

“It is not an overstatement that the world depends upon the church to speak.”

Each one of us has a part to play; each has work of the ministry to accomplish (Ephesians 4:11–12). Standing far below the electing love of God, you and I muster our courage to knock on doors, to invite neighbors for dinner, to reason with them about God, sin, and Jesus Christ — his cross and resurrection. We all have people to tell the bad news of their condemned standing before a holy God, and the good news of amazing grace that God, in the gospel of his Son, is reconciling sinners to himself.

What kind of man — and I stare at him in the mirror more often than I like — could so calmly smile and wave, laugh and chitchat with his dying neighbor, and yet rarely get around to opening my mouth to witness to the authority, love, and mercy of Jesus Christ?

Devils wink as sinners perish. Demons dance as the lost submerge undisturbed. Saints, as we see them in Scripture and church history, do not join them, masking their indifference with tutored speech about God’s sovereignty to excuse inactivity. They weep, they fast, they pray. They walk across the street, they share their very lives and this great news, this only news of reconciliation with God. They speak the name — the only name given under heaven — by which we must be saved. As ambassadors of Christ, they implore the lost, “Be reconciled to God!” (2 Corinthians 5:20). They happily go to the highways and hedges of this fallen world, and compel them to come into the Master’s great banquet (Luke 14:23).

When you look out your window, when you scroll through your text conversations, when you sit down at the dinner table, or enjoy laughter with friends, do they know? Have they heard? What else should we discuss if not this? But oh, how much do we discuss instead of this.

Beyond Personality Types

Some do not speak because you are not as profitably given to the verbal exercise as your extroverted brothers and sisters.

What comes fluently, naturally, effortlessly for others requires great toil and courage for you. For whatever reason, speaking to strangers is very uncomfortable — your throat clenches in protest, you become short of breath, you grow very self-conscious. Perhaps you replay embarrassing moments early in life, when you seemed to speak English as a second language. Thus, this part of our Christian calling, speaking the good news to others, comes to you with dense clouds and a darkness to be felt.

Though you are not the mouth of the Body, your voice — and perhaps especially your voice — is needed, my brother or sister. Your words, rarer and thus less inflated, can do what those whose words are voluminous cannot do as easily: come with weight. We need your testimony to the steadfast love of God. Consider less what your sweaty hands and rapid pulse has to say about you, or how Myers-Briggs describes you. Let God dictate who you are and how you see yourself.

Who You Are

Who are you?

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9–10)

Once you were less than nothing. A child of Satan, a spiritual harlot, a rebel defying the living God. You wallowed in the blood of your fallen father, Adam, without hope and without God in the world. But he, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved you — a love unsought, unreturned, undeserved — made you alive together with Christ. And this excellent Christ, not considering his equality with God something to be grasped, became poor so that you might be rich — died so that you might live (2 Corinthians 8:9).

“Have we forgotten the wonder and privilege of bringing the power of God for salvation to lost souls?”

And he made us a people — his people. And he gives us a voice, a purpose: to proclaim his excellencies. We, so seemingly unimpressive and nonthreateningly normal — saints with normal jobs in normal neighborhoods — carry the spectacular message next door and across the street: Christ has died for the forgiveness of sins for all who repent and believe the gospel.

This gold lies in jars of clay. We must let it out. We must speak, and go on speaking. It depends not on what our strengths are nor on what personalities we possess — it matters who Christ has made us to be. And he has made us his chosen race, his royal priesthood, his holy nation of people who are satisfied in his excellencies — and can’t stop talking about them.

Any Sweeter Work?

Have I, have you, have we, forgotten the wonder and privilege of bringing the power of God for salvation to lost souls? Do we now count it a burden? Spurgeon asks each one of us,

[We who are] sent on so sweet a service as the proclaiming of the gospel, how can we tarry? What, to tell the poor criminal shut up in the dungeon of despair that there is liberty, to tell the condemned that there is pardon, to tell the dying that there is life in a look at the crucified One — do you find this hard? Do you call this toil? Should it not be the sweetest feature of your life that you have such blessed work as this to do?

To speak of him and live lives of love that do not blaspheme his holy name — do we not feel that this is a very small response to such a great salvation? Jesus was slaughtered in the garbage heap outside the camp so that we might go out to him and “continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name” (Hebrews 13:15).

“What a mystery,” wrote Horatius Bonar, “the soul and eternity of one man depends upon the voice of another.” What a mystery indeed. Let’s not deprive our neighbors of ours this year, but resolve to send out our voices as light into the darkness, proclaiming the excellencies of Jesus Christ.

Greg Morse is a staff writer for desiringGod.org

Now, more than ever we need to share the gospel and give our testimony of saving faith.  The world is watching Christians.  The world watches even more closely when Christians are persecuted.  But God will complete bringing His children to Himself and we can be blessed in being a part of His work if we will open our mouths and speak.  May God give us voice that we may never have used before to shine into the darkness all around us.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith January 11, 2021

The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein. — Psalm 24:1 

Consider for a moment your possessions. Actually, we can possess nothing — no property and no person — along the way. It is God who owns everything, and we are but stewards of His property during the brief time we are on earth. Everything that we see about us that we count as our possessions only comprises a loan from God, and it is when we lose sight of this all-pervading truth that we become greedy and covetous.  

When we clutch an object or a person and say, “This thing is mine,” we are forgetting that we can’t take it with us. This does not mean earthly riches are a sin — the Bible does not say that. The Bible makes it clear that God expects us to do the best we can with the talents, the abilities, the situations with which life endows us. But there is a right way and a wrong way to acquire money and a right way and a wrong way to achieve power.  

Choose God’s way, and hold possessions lightly.  How can you think about possessions so that you hold them lightly?  

A CHRISTIAN VIEW OF MATERIALISM  

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. — 1 Timothy 6:10  

The Christian attitude should prevail in the matter of economics. Jesus said a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. Money is a good slave but a bad master. Property is to be used, enjoyed, shared, given, but not hoarded. Paul said that the love of money was the “root of all... evil” (1 Timothy 6:10).

Covetousness shackles its devotee and makes him its victim. It hardens the heart and deadens the noble impulses and destroys the vital qualities of life.  

Beware of covetousness in every phase and form! All of us should keep ourselves from it through vigilance, prayer, self-control, and discipline. Life is not a matter of dollars and cents, houses and lands, earning capacity and financial achievement. Greed must not be allowed to make man the slave of wealth.  

The Christian, above all others, should realize that we come into life with empty hands — and it is with empty hands that we leave it.  

Do you feel money is more your servant or your boss?  

Excerpted from Peace for Each Day by Billy Graham, copyright Billy Graham Literary Trust. 

Everything belongs to God. Everything. Whatever we have is just on loan to us! Let’s hold things and people lightly and be grateful and generous with what has been entrusted to us.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith January 10, 2021

Jesus tells the disciples to return to Galilee. So they do. Peter, Thomas, Nathaniel, James, and John, and two unnamed disciples. Unlike the rest, Peter has a problem. A self-inflicted wound. A telephone pole sticking out of his chest. And Jesus is about to expose and heal it.

Peter, opening his big mouth once again, announces to the group, “I’m going fishing.” They all pile in the boat with him. Notice what he’s doing. He’s returning to his former life. Fishing for fish. Why? His shame has convinced him that he’s disqualified himself for the life to which Jesus had called him. One and done and all that.

Jesus is having none of this. Just as Jesus crucified every assault the enemy could level at us, He is about to show Peter (and those around him… and us) that He wasn’t kidding when He said, “It is finished.” And that “finishing” includes shame, regret, and self-inflicted wounds.

So, they fish all night with no luck. Jesus, again having cloaked His divinity so they can’t recognize Him, stands on the beach and yells, “Children, have you any food?”1

First, He calls them “children.” Which they are. As expressed by the fact that they are standing in their former life, not living in the new life He has given them. The truth of the resurrection hasn’t yet set in. But it will. Pentecost is coming. Later in his life, John will write, “See how great a love the Father has bestowed [other translations say “lavished.” I like “lavished” better] on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are… Beloved, now we are children of God.”2 When he wrote that, I wonder if he was thinking of this interaction on the beach with the risen King?

Back on the beach, the question is a two-in-one. Yes, He’s asking them if they’ve caught anything. But He’s also asking them if they have any food for their souls. Bread of life kind of stuff. They corporately answer, “No.”

He laughs. “Cast the net on the right side of the boat.” The implication is, “Do what you’re not doing.”

Not knowing who He is, they look at Him with squinted eyes. These guys fish for a living. They’re pros. They know what they’re doing. They mumble among themselves. “Who’s this guy think He is? Left or right side doesn’t matter.” Nevertheless, they cast the net, and wonder of wonders, they are unable to haul it in it’s so full of fish. A foretelling of what’s to come. Of what’s about to happen.

Sensing that something is amiss, John scratches his head and says to Peter, “It is the Lord!”

You think?

Having stripped down for work, Peter is standing in his undergarments. Hair pulled back in a ponytail. Sweat dripping off him. Seeing the Lord, he puts on his outer garment — and takes a swan dive off the bow. Notice, while he is going forward, he is also covering up. Who does this remind you of? It reminds me of two people. The first is Adam in the garden. Ashamed, he and Eve sewed fig leaves to cover their nakedness. What drove them to do this? Shame. Contrast that with man number two, who was blind Bartimaeus at the gate in Jericho. When he came to Jesus, he threw aside his garment.3 Why? He had nothing to hide. No shame. Peter has everything to hide and he is draped in shame. Don’t think so? Okay, let me ask a pragmatic question — who covers up when he’s about to jump in the water?

Notice also what Peter doesn’t do. He doesn’t ask the Lord to tell him to come to Him so that he might walk on water. He doesn’t feel worthy. Shame is crushing his spirit. Peter is a mess. He swims to shore and walks up on the bank. In the meantime, his fishing buddies row to shore, dragging the filled-to-capacity net.

The Charcoal Fire

Onshore, they see Jesus cooking fish — over a charcoal fire. Uh-oh. Back up a week. This does not bode well for Peter:

Simon Peter was following Jesus, and so was another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest, but Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper, and brought Peter in. Then the slave-girl who kept the door said to Peter, “You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.” Now the slaves and the officers were standing there, having made a charcoal fire, for it was cold and they were warming themselves; and Peter was also with them, standing and warming himself.4

Smoke rises from the beach. The smell of fish cooking. Peter sees the fire and freezes. Ice water trickles through his veins. That night returns. As does his denial. Peter’s heart shatters on the beach. From the mountain-top victory at Caesarea Philippi and Peter’s vocal proclamation to Jesus and the whole world, “You are the Christ,” he has bottomed out here. Sea level. The single greatest failure and betrayal of his life and Jesus is bringing him back to that moment. With a charcoal fire. Peter shakes his head.

Jesus speaks over His shoulder, “Bring some of the fish which you have just caught.”5

Peter grabs the net and singlehandedly hauls it to shore where somebody counts out 153 large fish. Testament that since the time of Jesus, fishermen have kept track of their catch. Jesus tells everyone, “Come. Let’s have some breakfast.”

Jesus takes bread and fish and gives it to them. This was the third time Jesus had revealed Himself to them. Amazingly, Jesus lets them eat. They’re elated to see Him. All save one. They sit down alongside Jesus. Like old times. Only don’t think for a second that they’ve grown accustomed to this whole risen-from-the-dead thing. They haven’t. He appears. Walks through walls. Disguises Himself. Disappears. Speaks. Eats. They still don’t know what to make of all this. Don’t know what’ll happen if they get too close. All they know is that He’s alive; but as evidenced by the fact that they’re in the water in a boat, led by Peter, they still don’t know what to do with the rest of their individual and corporate lives. They are lacking direction — and none more so than the big, mouthy guy in the middle.

And in order to get some direction, their leader needs to get his head straight. So Jesus is about to straighten Peter’s way of thinking. And heal his heart.

One of the beautiful moments in this event for me is the tenderness with which Jesus loves on Peter. He had every right to shame him. Deride him. Poke him in the chest. But He doesn’t. Instead, I think He sits alongside and wraps an arm around his shoulder.

Peter is sitting by himself. His hair dangling down over his eyes so Jesus can’t see the whites. Peter is afraid to look at Him. Despite his braggadocious claims to the contrary, he did the very thing Jesus said he would do after promising not to. Sitting on the beach, Peter is a liar and a back-stabbing coward. Better than no one.

Which makes him a perfect disciple.

Jesus fills a plate and sits down. Shoulder to shoulder. He hands Peter the plate. Peter pushes the fish around. Afraid to look up. His heart is breaking. He wants to vomit. Jesus leans in. His face inches from Peter’s. “Peter…” Jesus glances at the men spread across the beach. “Do you love me more than these?”

The implication is clear. Before Jesus’ crucifixion, Peter said he did.

What happened next? Imagine a man on a rescue mission. Saving prisoners. All of them. Once they are free, our hero hears the helicopter coming. He makes it to the evac zone. Sees the helicopter. Waves at the pilot who gives him a thumbs up and tells him “good job.” Then, just as the hero thinks he is about to climb aboard and be air-lifted to safety, the pilot pulls up on the stick and disappears while the enemy in the grass surrounds our hero and shoves their bayonets through his chest.

This is exactly what Peter did to Jesus.

He pulled up on the stick and watched as the enemy pierced His side. And before you or I get self-righteous, this is exactly what every one of us has done a thousand times over. To think otherwise is to hold a tainted view of your sin. Our sin is filthy rags. Used feminine products. None is righteous, no not one. So in this moment, when He’s speaking to Peter, He’s speaking to us.

Peter knows exactly what Jesus is referring to. It’s all he’s been thinking about. Can’t get it off his mind. Peter won’t look at him. He nods. “Yes, Lord.” He exhales. His chest is tight. A shallow inhale. “You know that I love you.”6

Peter sets down the plate and finally looks at Jesus. Tears pouring off his face. He is shattered at his own betrayal. His bottom lip is trembling. Tears trail his face and snot is pouring out his nose. In his spirit, he is begging his friend, his Lord, his King, to take him back. Give him another shot. End this misery. For the first time, Peter knows how truly unworthy he really is, and yet he is sitting at the feet of his King, asking for a return to the team, to the lineup, when he knows he doesn’t have a leg to stand on. “Please take me back. Please Lord, give me one more chance.”

Jesus will do one better. It’s why He’s here. He loves this stuff. Almost as much as He loves Peter.

Jesus presses His forehead to Peter’s. Friend to friend. Brother to brother. Jesus knows the ache of Peter’s heart. It’s why He built a charcoal fire. To take him back to the moment. But to heal the wound, He’s got to pick the scab. Only then can He dig out the shrapnel. Jesus holds Peter’s face in both His nail-pierced palms and speaks softly, “Feed My lambs.”

Somewhere in here, it strikes Peter that Jesus is restoring him. Bringing him back in. He’s no longer an outcast. He’s forgiven. Further, he’s been charged with tending and feeding sheep. That makes him a shepherd. Something he is now uniquely qualified to be since he understands lost sheep.

Jesus is not finished with him. Not by a long shot.

Peter’s desire — the singular cry of Peter’s heart — is to show Jesus that he loves Him. Jesus knows this. So, He looks into the future and gives Peter a glimpse. He wraps His arm around Peter and says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.”7

Jesus is speaking of Peter’s death.

I’ve heard people interpret this as a seething indictment of Peter. As if Jesus is saying, “This is what you’ve got coming. And being the two-faced traitor that you are, it’s all you deserve.” I don’t see it that way. Peter has been broken. Jesus knows this. He is telling Peter He can see the future, and in the future, Peter does not and will not deny Him as he did before the Cross. He’ll finish the race. Keep the faith. He’ll die the same kind of death. And to Peter, this is the greatest news he could ever hear.

Peter weeps. That he is counted worthy to suffer for Christ and that Christ knows it. He wants nothing more.

Finally, Jesus, in perfect grace-filled, forgiving, pulling-for-us, lover-of-our-souls fashion, speaks to Peter the first words He ever spoke to him. And He does it after wrapping His arm around him and bringing him back into the fold. As if He’s saying, “Enough of this foolishness. Let’s get on with it. We have work to do. There’s stuff to be done.”

He leans in, and once again the Word of God is breathing life into one of His own. Resurrecting another dead sinner. He could have said anything. The same voice that upholds all things by the word of His power and spoke ten trillion stars into the universe and calls each by name, is whispering the only two words Peter’s heart needs to hear. He makes eye contact, smiles, and whispers, “Follow Me.”

For the first time since that night, Peter drinks in a deep breath with no taint of smoke. He holds it. One second. Two. Then he lets it out slowly. Remember what he just did: chained as a slave in the prison of his making, having failed miserably he returned to his former life, but when he sees the Lord, he turns from his old life, dives in, and escapes from Egypt in the same way Israel did fifteen hundred years prior. One more deliverance through water.

For Peter, this is a do-over. The most beautiful do-over in the history of do-overs. In the ages to come, when pained parents and their broken children look up “do-over” in the dictionary, when shattered husbands and tortured wives stare across the pieces and look up “do-over” in the dictionary, when you or I rub our faces and stare back through the wreckage, they and we will see a picture of this moment. And Peter, to his great credit, takes it and never looks back. To me, this is what makes Peter great. He followed Him — again.

Remember, Jesus despises shame. And here He is driving a stake through its chest.

Peter is free. From himself. From his past. From his pain. And from his shame. Two simple words shattered its hold. Peter has been welcomed back in. He is now what he once tasted and has always wanted to be.

Peter is a child of God.

John 21:5 NKJV

1 John 3:1–2 NASB

Mark 10:50

John 18:15–18 NASB

John 21:10 NKJV

Much has been made of Peter’s response, and for good reason. Jesus asks Peter if he agape loves Him. Agape is sacrificial love. It’s Jesus on the cross, me-for-you kind of love. Peter responds with, Yes Lord, you know that I love [phileo] You. Phileo love means to have affection toward. Or, a personal attachment. Like a favorite pair of shoes. Or maybe the chair you like to sit in while you flip channels. One comes from the Father. The other comes out of our humanness. They’re not even in the same stratosphere. Jesus responds with, Feed My lambs. This response strikes Peter as a bit odd. He scratches his head. Who feeds sheep? Jesus asks again. Agape. Peter responds again. With phileo. Jesus says a second time, Tend My sheep Peter is starting to get irritated. Who tends sheep? Jesus, knowing both what Peter needed and was capable of, asks a third time. Only this time, He uses the same word Peter has been using — phileo. It doesn’t quite have the punch of agape. Phileo is friendship. Affection. To share the same interests. No strings. Agape is a choice at a deeper level. Few choose it. Peter had once said he could agape, but when push came to shove, he couldn’t even phileo. Jesus has come down to his level. But truth is, Peter knows that when pressed at that charcoal fire more than a week ago, he didn’t even phileo He betrayed Him. Rejected Him.

John 21:18 NKJV

Excerpted from They Turned the World Upside Down by Charles Martin, copyright Charles Martin.

The message of shame that the enemy whispers in our ears is relentless. It makes us cower and shrink, steals our strength, robs us of our birthright, undercuts our authority in the Holy Spirit. Jesus broke through Peter’s shame and He longs to break yours as well.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith January 9, 2021

John Bunyan’s words have inspired and influenced Christians for hundreds of years. When The Pilgrim’s Progress was written in 1678, John Bunyan was confined to a prison cell for proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ and refusing to stop preaching even when the government demanded it.

In light of John Bunyan’s impact on Christians throughout the years, we want to share with you some of our very favorite John Bunyan quotes, and why we think his witness is so valuable.

He was committed to serving the Lord, even if it meant staying in prison:

“I will stay in prison till the moss grows on my eyelids rather than disobey God.”

He was well-acquainted with suffering and affliction:

“In times of affliction we commonly meet with the sweetest experiences of the love of God.”

He knew the value of humility, and relied on God:

“He who is down, needs fear no fall; He who is low, has no pride. He who is humble ever shall have God to be his guide.”

He believed in the saving power of God, and trusted in His promises:

“We fulfilled the law by Him, died by Him, rose from the dead by Him, got the victory over sin, death, the devil, and hell, by Him; when He died, we died, and so of His resurrection. Thy dead men shall live, together with My dead body shall they arise, saith He."

He knew that this life would be hard, but God would give him grace in all circumstances:

“It doth not say, the Lord gives gifts and glory, but the Lord gives grace and glory; and blessed is such a one, to whom the Lord gives grace, true grace; for that is a certain forerunner of glory.”

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith January 8, 2021

I’m a self-professed choir nerd. Or I used to be. The melodies of a choral ensemble warming up before state competitions are the most memorable soundtracks of my high school years. Show choir, girls’ pop, quartet — you name the combination, I wanted to sing in it. Rarely a stand-alone soloist, I was at my best harmonizing with a group. Singing for the choir created a very tidy category for my identity. At the start of every new semester, every new school year, I knew my place in my little world and had a letterman jacket branded to prove it. 

I just turned forty and the older I get, the harder it is to fit into such a neat category. Almost every life change can easily become an existential crisis: Who am I, really? Where is this all going? I’ve felt this on a deeper, sometimes unbearable level, living through a global pandemic, and polarizing politics where unwelcomed change is our new normal.  

As we launch into 2021, you and I may not know where we belong or how we fit in any given situation. And now we need to regroup and kick off a brand-new year while many of us feel depleted from our hardest year ever behind us. I want to speak to any of us desperate for a fresh start but worried it’s not even possible. And I’ll give it all away up front.  

When we need a new beginning, God shows up to make it possible.  

This is the hope we need to mark in our 2021 calendars. It might feel hard to believe, but that’s the truth.  

In the Bible we see this most clearly in the Old Testament’s first book, Genesis, and in one of the first New Testament books, the gospel of John. Both writers, Moses and John, chose to open their records of history with the phrase “In the beginning.” Whether it’s through Moses’ testimony in Genesis about our first beginnings — 

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth — Genesis 1:1 — 

or through John’s testimony in his gospel about our new beginnings — 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God — John 1:1 

—one thing is clear. 

Jesus is the Genesis Creator and Beginning Maker.

Three little words, in the beginning, remind us that God specializes in a genesis of any kind.  

In the same way God made something from nothing during creation, this year He can make your nothing-left-to-give self into your something-to-write-home-about self. In the same way God came to redeem us through Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection through His incarnation, He can burst onto the scenes of our life with unfathomable hope that all is not lost. 

Wherever you need “in the beginning” to be a part of your story this year, God is able to create and recreate. To those who feel undeserving of a new beginning, remember, it’s grace. Grace upon grace, actually. No one deserves it, but it’s available to us now through Jesus. 

What I’m struggling with this January is accepting “foreboding joy,” a term Brené Brown defines in her book Daring Greatly. She describes how practiced most of us are at resisting joyful feelings to protect ourselves from disappointment.1  

Instead of attacking my 2021 goals, I’m waiting for the shoe to drop, and I’m flow-charting worst-case scenarios. That, my friends, is foreboding joy. We are so practiced at living disappointed, we have to retrain our hearts and minds to experience the joy of Jesus’s new beginnings. 

I want to leave you with a list I have pinned to my wall near my computer screen. This list serves as a reminder and a challenge to me. A reminder that my Genesis Creator and Beginning Maker, Jesus, has good things planned for me this year. And a challenge to embrace joy. 

• What God starts, He brings to completion (Philippians 1:6).

• All good things come from God (James 1:17).

• God is able, always (Ephesians 3:20).

• God will make a way (Isaiah 43:19).

• Goodness and faithful love will follow me all the days of my life (Psalm 23:6).

• God is my friend (John 15:15).

• God has good plans for me. I can trust His plan (Romans 8:28).

• God will be with me every step of the way (Isaiah 43:2).

• God never tires (Isaiah 40:28).

1.       Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead (New York: Avery, 2012), 117–23.  

Adapted from The In-Between Place by Kat Armstrong, copyright Kat Armstrong. 

If you don’t have the energy, hope, or faith to follow Jesus into the New Year, take heart: He comes to you. God has proven time and time again that He will make a way to be with us, most notably through His Son, Jesus Christ.  Jesus, who was fully God and fully man, is the one who brings Heaven to earth. While we are looking for launching points into new opportunities or transition markers that confirm we are moving in the right direction, we can be sure that no matter where we are or where we end up, God will be there. God’s presence is the start of a joyful new beginning. 

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith January 7, 2021

This was written to pastors but it can be applied to all Christians as God’s command to us is to love and serve Him and our neighbor (all others).

We have waited so long. The night seems so deep. Our people need our constant reminders to remain at the ready.

Jesus said,

Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes (Luke 12:35-36).

So we keep watching knowing that one day he will burst through the door of the heavens, trumpet sounding. What happens next in Jesus’ telling caught me by surprise.

Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them (v.37).

Did you realize that Jesus washing the feet of his disciples in the upper room was eschatology? What shocked them we tend to take for granted. Jesus served us on the cross. He served us when He sent the Holy Spirit, when we married into his family, the countless times He has listened as we unburdened our hearts, and with all those answered prayers. He is constantly serving us, always washing our feet. But this?

It seems Jesus pictured us all coming into that great Upper Room, fresh from meeting him in the air, in our new immortal bodies, dressed in blood-bleached white linen. Before us is spread a vast bridal banquet, lavish and regal. The Lord, having prepared the place for us and us for the place, now invites us all to recline around the table. “On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine—the best of meats and the finest of wines.” Then, instead of taking his seat at the head of the table, the Lord Jesus lays aside his blood-dipped, gleaming white robe and golden sash to dress as a servant, and he begins to wait on us! Not just on that festive occasion but forever after! Because, after all, that is his nature.

Surely, I thought, if Jesus’ disciples had gaped to see him wash their feet how much more dumbfounded will we be then. But John tells us that when we see Christ we will be like him. If Jesus, even in glory, bears “the very nature of a servant” then so shall we, finally and forever. In that upside-right world, seeing our King serve will be as natural and fitting as seeing a grand coronation in this world. His service will be the very embodiment of his majesty.

But for now, our duty is to “be dressed ready for service.” That is true for all believers but especially for pastors. In calling us, the Good Shepherd endowed us with love for the sheep of his pasture. That love leads to service.

Much of our service is a delight, of course, but not all of it. Pastoral service this past year sometimes seemed slavish, didn’t it? It’s one thing to be a servant but another to be treated like one. But for now, let us together with other shepherds, bear the slights of servitude with the grace and wisdom of Jesus. Let us wear the servant’s apron like we were born to it.

Love them because Jesus first loved you. Love them because Jesus died in order to dress his bride in spotless white. Love them because by so doing we all become more and more like Jesus, and because serving them gives them a taste for heaven.

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Love is a fruit of the Spirit and all true Christians have the Holy Spirit abiding within them.  As we daily press on toward maturity in Christ, more and more of the fruit of the Spirit should develop and be expressed through word and deed.  Let the Word of Christ dwell within you richly that you may grow in grace and His abundant fruit!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith January 6, 2021

America's future looks very dim as the forces advocating moral depravity and contempt for God's Word prepare to take over the White House and Congress.

We should expect an all-out effort to encourage the goals of the Sexual Perversion Movement, with its demands to legalize prostitution, polygamy, polyamory marriage and even pedophilia (with "consenting" children!).

Religious expression will become an obsessive target with the aim of forcing it into the closet — declaring that it is appropriate only within the walls of churches, synagogues and mosques. Efforts will be made to reinterpret the constitutional guarantee of "free exercise of religion" as meaning only the freedom of worship. Don't be surprised at efforts to eliminate tax exemptions for churches and ministries (despite the Supreme Court's ruling in 1819 that "the power to tax is the power to destroy").

There will be a determined effort to eliminate all limitations on abortion. And there will be a goal of allowing infanticide up to a year after the birth of a child. Attempts will also be made to further the legalization of euthanasia.

Expect efforts to enact hate speech legislation that would outlaw any criticism of abortion, homosexuality and same-sex marriage. There will also be attempts to declare that the public proclamation of Jesus as the only way to Heaven constitutes hate speech.

And then there are the Socialists who are demanding a minimum income for everyone regardless of whether they want to work.

Regarding foreign policy, expect a lack of support for Israel and the revival of the emphasis that began with President George H. W. Bush on the creation of a One World Order. Consequently, we should anticipate America's national interest to be subordinated to the demands of international organizations like the United Nations.

Expect a renewed effort to grant citizenship to all illegal aliens. Also, expect demands for reparations for Blacks and Homosexuals.

You are probably thinking, "Come on, David, this is too extreme." Yes, it is too extreme in concept but not in reality. These are policy positions endorsed by various Democrats during the last Presidential campaign. And they are evidence of the fact that our nation has reached the last stage of destruction described in Romans 1:28 when God turns the nation over to a "depraved mind."

So, is there any hope for our nation? I do not believe so. We have rejected the Judeo-Christian principles this nation was based upon and which have made this nation great. We have forgotten God and His Word, and we are now determined to do as we please. We are operating in open rebellion against God. In the process, we are digging our own grave.

But there is hope for individuals who place their faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. They will receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who will comfort them, guide them and give them the peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7). They will also become heirs of the promise that they will be included in the Rapture when Jesus appears in the heavens for His Church before the Great Tribulation begins.

And those of us who are believers need to keep in mind that God is in control. Read Psalm 2 and rejoice!

David Reagan – Lamb and Lion Ministries

We do not know what the future holds, but we do know who holds the future!  God is at work bringing about His will for His creation.  Things seem to happen quickly at times and move very slowly at others.  It seems to me that we are moving rapidly toward the close of the church age and the coming of our Lord to meet us in the air.  The rapture of the church appears to be near.  Are you ready?  As the world descends into chaos and evil led by their leader Satan, there will be some, desperate to escape who will respond at last to the Word of truth, the gospel.  We who are alive to see what is happening around us must respond with renewed strength to offer to all who will listen that salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone! Like Ester in her day, perhaps we were born for such a time as this!  Praise God! 

Pastor Dale