Marching Forth!

Last night I was reading in Exodus 34 about how Moses communed with God on Mt. Sinai as God wrote the 10 Commandments for a second time upon tablets of stone.  After 40 days, Moses descended from the mount, carrying the two tablets inscribed with the finger of God.  Unbeknown to Moses, his face literally shone from the time he spent in the presence of God.  This frightened the people, even Aaron his brother, to the point that he needed to cover his face with a veil when addressing the people.  Otherwise no one would come near him!  Exodus 34:33-35 explains, " And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. 34 But whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with Him, he would take the veil off until he came out; and he would come out and speak to the children of Israel whatever he had been commanded. 35 And whenever the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone, then Moses would put the vei...

In recent decades much emphasis has been placed on the ease and simplicity of receiving eternal salvation through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The downside of this is a neglect of preaching repentance and the necessity of living wholly for God.  People used to agonize in repentance for months with many tears before receiving salvation, and today people quickly raise a hand while all heads are bowed.  The devil would much rather us make church attenders than disciples of Jesus.  He would be happy for people to have their heads crammed with theology and doctrines rather than simple obedience to love God, love others, and make disciples of all nations. Servants serve.  Service involves sacrifice and work.  Jesus is the One who said, " If any man come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me " ( Luke 9:23 ).  That sounds like a huge life adjustment for most people.  No man should come to Christ so he might have a better...

People acquainted with me know that I enjoy cooking, especially baking.  From when I was relatively young, my mom taught me how to make pancakes and waffles from scratch.  Since then my love for baking and sharing with others (not to mention eating!) has continued to grow.  Some days I will simply open my Betty Crocker cookbook for inspiration and make something I've never made before.  The house favorites these days are pancakes, Wacky chocolate cake, pineapple upside-down cake, sour cream coffee cake, and lava cake.  It's shocking with all those cakes I can still fit into my pants!  To tweak a quote my Grandpa says affectionately about "Ol' Uncle August, a Lutheran minister who only lived to be 96, he preached moderation:  one cake at a time." Last night I was reading to our family from Hosea and was intrigued by Hosea 7:8 :  " Ephraim has mixed himself among the peoples; Ephraim is a cake unturned ."  God had commanded his people not to...

" Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness which may even be felt." 22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. 23 They did not see one another; nor did anyone rise from his place for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings ." Exodus 10:21-23 God performed signs and wonders in Egypt to reveal Himself in power and glory.  Led by God, Moses demanded that Pharaoh let the Israelites go, who for 430 years lived in Egypt.  Towards the end of their time in Egypt the children of Israel suffered severe oppression and bondage as slaves.  Again and again the might of God was manifested through miraculous plagues.  The same pattern was repeated over and over:  Moses demanded Pharaoh let the people go, God would send another plague upon Pharaoh and the people of Egypt, Pharaoh w...