Marching Forth!

Though God has graciously revealed Himself to people, there is infinitely more to God than we know.  The almighty God who is unapproachable in glory has spoken to us in His word, by voice booming from the heavens, in person by Jesus Christ and to our hearts by the Holy Spirit.  God's personal revelation to those who trust Him is as uniquely tailored by God as each person He has created. Have you noticed when people have an amazing experience they not only desire others to share that experience but to enjoy it as much as they did?  While this can sometimes happen, other times these desires are unfulfilled by both parties.  I had a friend who loved roller coasters, and I wasn't so sure.  As a young teen I would be fine to go on less "extreme" rides on offer, by my friend wasn't having it.  "You're going on every single ride in this park," my friend said.  And I did.  I don't know if I enjoyed them as much as he did from the start, but by the end I ...

The Bible is an awesome revelation of the living God so man might know and worship Him.  I was blessed beyond measure to read this passage today where David, in the midst of expressing faith in God, received first-person guidance from God he trusted in  Psalm 32:7-10 :  " You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah  8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.  9 Do not be like the horse or like the mule, w hich have no understanding,  w hich must be harnessed with bit and bridle,  e lse they will not come near you.  10  Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; b ut he who trusts in the LORD , mercy shall surround him ." David found God to be a refuge and help in time of trouble, the God who surrounded him with songs of deliverance.  The Psalms are packed with songs that begin in the midst of conflict and trouble r...

" Sing praise to the LORD , you saints of His, a nd give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.  5 For His anger is but for a moment, His favour is for life;  w eeping may endure for a night,  b ut joy comes in the morning ." Psalm 30:4-5 One attribute of God I find comforting is His immutability, the fact He does not change.  This means God is glorious and good now and forever, and He will always stay true to His word.  What security and rest we have by faith in our Creator who always loves us without fail.  His grace, mercy and goodness have no end.  David urged all to sing praise to the LORD and to give thanks, and He is our sole source of joy and life. Though God is eternal and all His attributes infinite, His " anger is but for a moment ."  The God who is infinite in power has set divine limits upon His anger.  The redeemed of the LORD praise God for this!  Those who die in their sins will face His wrath forever and ever, ...

The best celebrations are ones fit for every day, and Thanksgiving is one of them.  I appreciate how the term "thanksgiving" remains in the present tense because there are always reasons to presently praise and thank God for the wondrous things He does.  Since God is good and always was, is and is to come, all He has done, is doing and will do is absolutely worthy of thanksgiving. In light of God and His grace to all, Psalm 100:1-5 is a glorious exhortation God's people ought take to heart and practice:  " Make a joyful shout to the LORD , all you lands!  2 Serve the LORD with gladness; c ome before His presence with singing.  3  Know that the LORD , He is God; i t is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;  w e are His people and the sheep of His pasture.  4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, a nd into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.  5 For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting,  a nd H...

After Moses died, God spoke to Joshua and repeatedly encouraged him to "be strong and of good courage" because God would be with him wherever he went.  God said in  Joshua 1:6-9 , " Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.  7 Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.  8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.  9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go ." It is interesting Joshua ...

The covenant and commands God gave to His people provided guidance over what to do and explicit instruction what not to do.  It would do little good to avoid what was evil and shirk doing what God commands or to imagine our souls are profited by embracing good and evil together by our practices. When asked what the greatest commandment was in the Law, Jesus did not quote one of the Ten Commandments.  He instead summed up the Law this way in  Luke 10:27 :  " So he answered and said, "' You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and 'your neighbour as yourself .'"   The active love we show towards God should be demonstrated by doing what pleases Him, and it is also implied we should not do what is wicked in His sight.  Implied in traditional wedding vows is a promise of faithfulness to your spouse, and this can be demonstrated by pursuing adulterous relationships. God spell...

" Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, " Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat ?"  6 But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do ." John 6:5-6 When Jesus asked Philip where they should buy bread for a great multitude of people, it was not because Jesus was ignorant of the situation.  Jesus asked already knowing what He would do.  Because God is all-knowing and the source of all wisdom and understanding, He does not need to rely upon advisors, news reports or messengers.  Jesus revealed Himself to be the Living Bread come down from heaven, the Son of God, when He fed the 5,000 to the full with only five loaves and two fish.  I am amazed and in awe of God who has purposes, plans and foreknowledge of all that will happen for eternity.  No backup plans are needed for the God who knows and does all. I had a friend in university who was studying to be a landscape archit...

Every word of God is pure, and there is great significance in all God has written.  We may not always understand the meaning or personal application of a passage, but we can know the truth conveyed by the word of God is immutable and powerful like He is to transform us and our perspective. This morning I landed on one of the most familiar passages of the Bible, one often reserved for funerals and memorial services:  Psalm 23 .  The beauty of the lyrics to this psalm of praise to God are best appreciated and comprehended by those for whom Jesus Christ is our Good Shepherd ( John 10:11, 14 ).  Every word was instructive to me and is packed with significance as I considered the opening sentence which reads, " The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want ."  This is solid ground of faith which remains unshakable forever, thus a fitting passage to read in regards to all who placed their trust in God during their pilgrimage on earth. The :  a definite article that...

" Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,  27  to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary.  28  And having come in, the angel said to her, "Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women !" Luke 1:26-28 Here is a picture which is both awe-inspiring and slightly humorous:  God sent the angel Gabriel with glad tidings to Mary (a virgin at this stage) that she would conceive by the Holy Spirit and give birth to the Messiah.  This obviously was not in the plans of Mary who was betrothed to Joseph, and the possibility had never entered into her mind until she heard the message spoken by Gabriel, having come in.  It is a funny thought to have an angel just walk into your house.  I have heard people talk about "what the cat dragged in" but it is amazing to consider God sending an angel to deliver a messa...

This morning after I heard news of an old friend of mine had passed into eternity, I read  Psalm 20:6-8 :  " Now I know that the LORD saves His anointed; He will answer him from His holy heaven  w ith the saving strength of His right hand.  7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; b ut we will remember the name of the LORD our God.  8 They have bowed down and fallen; b ut we have risen and stand upright ."  The hearts of believers can be at rest knowing all who trust in Jesus Christ have a Saviour who gives eternal life.  The eyes of a Christian that close due to the death of the body will wake and arise in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD answers the prayer of His anointed with salvation. At the command of Pharaoh the Hebrews departed Egypt, and later the hard-headed Pharaoh regretted his decision.  He summoned his chariots and horses to pursue his former slaves who walked on foot as they lead their children, flocks and were bur...

God is able to do exceedingly beyond what we can ask or think, and He often operates in ways unexpected by man.  On one such occasion Elisha met with the sons of the prophets during a season of famine.  During their meeting, they filled a large pot with various herbs and wild gourds they found growing on a vine nearby.  Though the variety was unknown to them, the gourds certainly looked edible and good enough to eat.  I'm sure they thanked God for His provision as they cut up the gourds to make a stew. 2 Kings 4:40-41 tells us the miraculous event that followed:  " Then they served it to the men to eat. Now it happened, as they were eating the stew, that they cried out and said, "Man of God, there is death in the pot!" And they could not eat it.  41  So he said, "Then bring some flour." And he put it into the pot, and said, "Serve it to the people, that they may eat." And there was nothing harmful in the pot ."  It turned out the wild g...

As I was studying this week during sermon preparation, I came across this quote by D. L. Moody in the Enduring Word Commentary by pastor David Guzik:  “ The church has become very jealous about men being unsound in the faith. If a man becomes unsound in the faith, they draw their ecclesiastical swords and cut at him. But he may be ever so unsound in love, and they don’t say anything .”  In this context jealousy means to be suspicious with fearful unease.  Now I do not know if this is an accurate portrayal of the church as much as people with whom D. L. Moody was aware.  I myself am exceedingly hesitant to suggest the behaviour of some is indicative of all.  But it is a sobering consideration, that anyone in the church would dismiss the need to love one another in an effort to uphold the truth. In Paul's parting words to the elders of the church of Ephesus he said in  Acts 20:28-32 , " Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the...

During an early morning walk it is not uncommon for me to see snails of all sizes crossing the road.  It must take hours for those persistent mollusks to slowly make their way across the bitumen.  People ask why the chicken crossed the road, but I don't have a clever punchline about why snails would cross the road from a green, lush grassland to a construction jobsite filled with bricks, sand and clay, where nothing is able to grow.  It makes no sense to me why a snail would venture across the road towards a location which will only bring certain death.  The saturated clay is covered with puddles that would drown snails that attempted to ford them, and there is no food source for them to eat and survive. I imagine a snail crossing the road might say something like this:  "Life had become unbearable for me.  My spouse left me and I have nothing but trouble with my annoying brothers and sisters.  I was in an unfulfilling job, an abusive relationship, and...

" There is a pestilence upon this land. Nothing is sacred. Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history ." Roger the Shrubber When I was a kid going to church, we were told to remove our hats and not run in the sanctuary by watchful ushers.  It was viewed by some as a sacred place, the "house of God," a consecrated location to draw near to God in worship, adoration and reverence.  In Webster's 1828 Dictionary the first entries to define sacred are:  " the sense is removed or separated from that which is common, vulgar, polluted, or open, public...holy; pertaining to God or to his worship; separated from common secular uses and consecrated to God and his service; proceeding from God and containing religious precepts ."  The concept of a part of a building or hall being considered sacred in Christian circles perhaps comes from the example of the tabernacle or temple.  More likely it is me...

" I will sing to the LORD , b ecause He has dealt bountifully with me ." Psalm 13:6 Moses sang to God because He triumphed gloriously over his enemies, and David sung because God dealt bountifully with him.  God had heard David and delivered him out of His boundless mercy, and for this David rejoiced in the LORD.  I like how David said God "dealt bountifully" with him.  This "dealing" is not by chance like when cards are dealt in a game but speaks of God's merciful, purposeful and faithful dealings with those who trust in Him.  In baseball when a pitcher is dominant and mowing down hitters with ease, commentators, coaches and players alike say, "The pitcher was dealing today."  It is more than doling out what is expected or required but a generous demonstration of power and control without holding anything back. God's dealings with mankind are bountiful according to His infinite and everlasting mercy and grace.   Psalm 103:8-12 reads, ...

A few years back I had the privilege of visiting the historical location of the Alamo in Texas, a place where out-gunned and under-manned Americans took a brave stand in the face of Santa Anna during Texas' war for independence.  Davy Crockett and James Bowie were numbered among the men who held their ground with Colonel William Travis, a God-fearing man whose name I share.  During the siege  in 1836 Colonel Travis wrote a famous letter in which he signed off , "Victory or death."  In the post script he said, "The LORD is on our side," a testimony that he fixed his eyes on God beyond the reach of troops or cannon fire.  It sounds like Colonel Travis trusted God to provide for he and his men in this life and for his soul in the next should the fort fall, which it ultimately did. In the battle to hold the Alamo there were only two options:  victory over the attackers, or death of the men who valiantly aimed to hold it.  What is remarkable is how a third ...

I am enjoying reading through the Gospel of Mark with the family after dinner.  Yesterday we read chapter 5 of Mark when Jesus cast out a legion of demons from a possessed man.  The demons begged Jesus would not send them out of the country, and He permitted them to go into a herd of swine feeding nearby.  When the people of the town heard what Jesus had done, saw the man sitting with Jesus in His right mind, they begged Jesus to leave the region.  Ironic, right? As Jesus boarded the ship to leave, the man who previously was demon possessed begged Jesus to go with Him.  It might be surprising to the reader Jesus declined his request.   Mark 5:19-20 says, " However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, "Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you."  20  And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled ."...

The use of alliteration has the power to transform a mundane observation into a profound maxim.  Just because words rhyme, however, does not mean they are necessarily true.  One such statement I heard years ago is, " If your mind can conceive it and your heart can believe it, you can achieve it ."  While there can be correlation between committed drive to meet a goal and ultimate success, effort alone is no guarantee of a positive result.  Many people have dreamt big and invested their all, yet they failed to achieve all they hoped. This prescriptive formula does not account for the many people who achieved and accomplished exploits beyond their wildest expectations.  Looking back they plainly admitted not conceiving in their minds nor holding  belief in their hearts for all that later eventuated.  It can be satisfying to work towards goals and the achieve them, but the believer is called to realise all our ability and fruitfulness for our efforts is b...

Early this morning during a walk I happened upon an unexpected sight.  It wasn't the sliver of a moon hanging overhead or the mist which couched in the low lying fields that surprised me:  it was repeated declarations of love emblazoned in white and blue chalk all across the bitumen road that read, " I love Ned ." I was amused as I walked over the writing of someone who clearly was smitten by "Ned."  It made me wonder who this "Ned" was, if it was a person, dog, cat or skink.  Was "Ned" aware of this love written so boldly with elaborate lettering, or were these affections still a secret to him?  I considered what Ned must have done to have such devoted persistence to declare this love so willingly and passionately.  The last proclamation was even more personal:  " I love my Ned ."  Let's just say these messages made me curious about Ned and his chalky admirer. As I finished the walk, my thoughts went back to the chalk messages...