These are good principles for us to live by in our homes, schools, workplaces, and in the church.  Proverbs 23:23 encourages us to “Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.” Certainly truth, wisdom, instruction, and understanding cannot simply be purchased with money! But you and I can pursue these things as if they are of supreme value. My prayer is that the Lord would make us wise as we study the scriptures together and apply them to our lives.

Continue to pursue Him, church! Devour His Word; put it to memory; live it out!

Lord willing, I will see you on Sunday!

In His Grace,

Joe

“’Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.’” (Luke 22:31–34, ESV)

This must have been a very troubling moment for Peter to hear His Lord say, “Peter, you will stumble tonight.” We should not to quickly forget that Peter’s stumbling was for a purpose. It’s mind boggling to know that our Lord is able to take even our blunders and use them for His glory. For Peter, it would seem that he needed to be humbled so that he could lead effectively. Jesus had promised earlier that Peter would be an essential leader in the Church and now Jesus is promising that he will fail.

Of particular interest to me is what Jesus says in verse 32. “I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Two things stand out. One, Jesus is always interceding for us, defending us and sustaining us before the Father. Two, when we are humbled through failure we are more appropriately equipped to strengthen our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Peter knew what it was to fail and to be restored by the grace of God. Therefore, he was also well equipped to lead the church into further dependence upon the grace of God and the sustaining power of the Holy Spirit. By no means do I want more failure in my life, but I do desire a heart of humility that is able to say to my brothers and sisters, “run to Jesus for He is gracious and able to sustain you!”

In His Grace,

Joe

Exodus 33 is crucial for understanding why it is that the people of Israel stood before God as His chosen people. Remember that while Moses was on the mountain with God the people decided to make for themselves a golden calf to worship. They saw the power and majesty of God manifest on the mountain and yet they still went after false gods. As a result the wrath of God fell upon them in the form of a plague (32:35).

In chapter 33 God tells Moses to move on from Mount Sinai but He says “I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way for you are a stiff necked people.” The people mourned when they heard this. They knew that they did not want to move on from Sinai without the presence of God. Verse 12-23 are of great significance. Moses pleads with God saying, “If Your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here” (33:15), and “Is it not in Your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?” (33:16)

On what grounds did Moses plead with God in this way? What gave Him the confidence to talk with God and to, in a sense, bargain with Him. As far as I can tell, Moses brings nothing to the table at this point! And yet Moses stands before God with confidence. The question is, why?

There is a repeating theme in this chapter that answers this question. look at verses 12,13,16,17, and 19. What is the reoccurring theme?  The word translated “favor” in this passage is the Hebrew word for “favor” or “grace”. Why was Israel chosen and saved? Why did Moses approach God in this way? It was because God had chosen to shown Moses grace! Why did God show grace to Moses and the people of Israel as opposed to the other nations? God answers this question in verse 19b saying, “I will be gracious to whom I am will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” Though Moses and the people of Israel brought nothing to the table, God choose, according to His the good pleasure or His will, to show mercy and grace to them despite their sin and rebellion. And so from Genesis 3 to Revelation 22, what is our confidence? It is by the grace of God that we are saved! Do you see how the story of redemption is consistent Genesis to Revelation? From Genesis 3 on the Bible is a story of God pursuing and saving a sinful rebellious people. It was this way with ethnic Israel, and it is this way with the Church today!

Let us live daily trusting fully in Christ Jesus with hearts of humility.

In His Grace,

Joe

It’s interesting in Exodus 35 that Moses reminds the people to honor the Sabbath right before a major work project is launched. The people are about to build the Tabernacle and Moses, knowing the tendency of man, reminds the people to work six days and rest on the seventh even when there is a bunch of work to do. This is certainly a good word of encouragement to me!

To rest one day out of seven as unto the Lord is to make sure that God, and not work or material possessions, is at the center of our life. The Sabbath is a gift to us from God. He gives us permission to rest, celebrate, enjoy relationships and all of the blessings that He has poured out on us, and especially to enjoy Him. To refuse to rest is to deny that God is sovereign and supreme in the details of our lives.

There are a number of things that must happen if we are to enjoy Sabbath rest in our culture.

1) We must plan for it. Taking one day out of seven to focus on family, friends, rest, and worship is counter-cultural. For many, Sunday will be the Sabbath. For our family, Saturday is the day of rest.

2) We must protect it. There will always be distractions that pull us away from this day of rest. Sometimes the distractions are valid and there is a real need to be meet and service to be done. We should not neglect human need for the sake of rule keeping, but we should protect the Sabbath with regularity for our good and the glory of God.

3) We must prepare for it. There is a bit of irony here in that if we are to enjoy the Sabbath it requires that we first be diligent in our work during the other six day of the week. The pattern should be six good, hard, God honoring days of work followed by one glorious day of rest. Get your work done, the bills paid, the lawn mowed, and the house clean so that the Sabbath can be enjoyed.

These are just a few thoughts that came out of my devotional time this morning and I hope that they are an encouragement to you!

In His Grace,

Joe

If my understanding of the passage in Matthew 19 is correct, I might be last. Make sure to come to church on Sunday and find out whether you might be first or last as well.

Pastor Gil

 This Sunday we will examine in what ways Jesus came at just the right time. Why was it the right time politically? Why was it the right time economically? Why was it the right time religiously? Imagine what the world would be like today if Jesus hadn’t come at all! What would it be like if he came today? We gratefully celebrate Christmas because Jesus did come and has brought salvation to the world, not only for the last 2000 years, but also for such a time as this.

 It’s important to remember that Christmas time is a great time to share to share our faith. Think prayerfully about ways to share your faith and testimony with family, friends, and neighbors this Christmas. Now is the time to purpose ourselves to do exactly that! Are you clear on the gospel you need to share? Have you written down your personal testimony to share with them? This week would be the time.

 Honor Christ and let him be the Lord of your life.  Always be ready to give an answer when someone asks you about your hope.  1 Peter 3:15 (Contemporary English Version)

 Pastor Gil

                This has been quite a week politically. If you voted then I want to say thank you for doing so. I was thinking again this week that the early Christians did not have the privilege of living under a democracy like we do; they had to obey governments that they had no say in and yet Paul was able to write that wonderful chapter in Romans 13 that is so informative for us today! With newly elected representatives and old ones too, we really need to pray for them now (1 Timothy 2:1-8). Ultimately it is good to know that God has a plan, He is on His throne in Heaven and nothing misses His notice (Isaiah 40:18-31). Every time we take Communion Paul says we should “. . . proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes again” (1 Co 11:26). This always reminds me that I must be “salt and light” here for our Lord’s Kingdom’s sake (Mt 5:13-16) with the balance of both of those elements in mind. When I vote that is one way to be “salt” in America, but I must remember to be “light” to all people by sharing the gospel with them so that they can be saved. By doing both we keep the balance and please our Lord (and it is pleasing to us as well). Please keep upper most in your heart that the people you and I mix with at home, at work, at school, in our neighborhoods, are people who are eternal beings that will either spend eternity with the Lord or with Satan. Let us be both “salt and light” and keep the balance always.

 –Pastor Gil

 How can we be “on the alert” to our enemy’s tactics? What can we do when he comes to tempt us? When he brings accusations against us through others, what does the Bible say we can do to defend ourselves? How can we recognize his deception keep ourselves from being deceived? These and several other truths will be examined in God’s Word this Sunday. You will go away with “the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God” (Eph 6:17) and know how to use it against the wiles of the devil not only on Halloween but throughout the year. I hope to see you there!

 Pastor Gil

Well, we know the good news is the Bible. I hope everyone is enjoying the Passage Journal as you are getting more familiar with the Bible. This Sunday we will be examining the Scriptures and discovering how they are authoritative, without error, and powerful. Isaiah the prophet says of God: “My Word will not return void but will accomplish that for which I send it forth.”

 In addition to seeing how important the Bible is, we will learn to use it to lead a person to a personal faith in Jesus Christ. We will look at what Bible Fellowship Church believes about salvation. WE will examine the gospel and how to share it with others and will even give an invitation to those not yet saved. (This would be a good Sunday to bring a friend who doesn’t yet know Christ and is searching).

 Finally we will look at the hope of the believer. We’ll look at the next big event on God’s calendar … the rapture of believers, the judgment seat of Christ and the believer’s return in resurrection bodies to rule with Jesus here on earth for 1000 years. With all the bad news around us in this day and age, this is good news to enjoy ourselves and share with others

 I look forward to seeing you this Sunday!

 Pastor Gil