Marching Forth!

One of the biggest problems with the Mosaic covenant was not that it was flawed, but that it exposed the flaws in people and demonstrated the impossibility of them keeping it.  God promised the Hebrews in  Exodus 19:5-6 :  " Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.  6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel ."  After Moses spoke the word of God to the people, they agreed to keep His covenant.  It wasn't long at all before they broke it, and ironically they did so before Moses descended from the mountain with the 10 Commandments in hand! The writer of Hebrews explained how God put everything under Jesus Christ, and that He is greater than Moses and the angels:  the unique, only begotten Son of God who is both eternal King and High Priest. ...

Every time I read the classic Love, Acceptance and Forgiveness by Jerry Cook with Stanley Baldwin, I am reminded how much I like it.  The book resonates with me because it is written with grace and practical examples we can apply in our own lives and ministry.  He holds forth a simple philosophy founded on scripture that the church is people, equipped by the Holy Spirit, to meet needs everywhere in the name of Jesus.  Rather than seeking to wield or maintain control over others, the approach to ministry held forth in this little book embraces releasing people to serve by faith in God. One point Cook makes is to consider what messages we send, that fruitful Christian ministry is reserved for the trained professionals, the gifted or experienced.  Rather than implying real ministry takes place primarily in a church building, Cook encourages people to use their spiritual gifts in the situation God places them in the real world.  While there is a valid place for tea...

When we read the Bible and observe what God has done in the past, we are reminded of God's power to save today.  We glory in the LORD who previously delivered His people in Scripture, and we can also be confident in God's salvation in the future.  God is the same yesterday, today and forever.  It is we who are forgetful and need reminders of God's faithfulness to help and deliver His people. Psalm 78:40-42 shows the awful consequences when God's people forget what God has done:  " How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, a nd grieved Him in the desert!  41  Yes, again and again they tempted God, a nd limited the Holy One of Israel.  42  They did not remember His power: t he day when He redeemed them from the enemy... "  The Hebrews in the wilderness may have remembered the series of plagues God brought upon the Egyptians, but they forgot His power and redemption to save them in current distress.  They provoked, grieved and temp...

I am often intrigued by the odd and unusual--especially in advertising.  Yesterday it was a brand name that sparked my interest:  Random Harvest.  This is apparently a well-known brand used for gift hampers in Australia that has been in business since 1981, but not well-known enough for me to have heard of it after living Down Under for over a decade!  It was amusing to consider how tasty a salad dressing could possibly be if it was compiled of a harvest of random ingredients.  I would imagine the dressings and chutneys produced would render the brand infamous and be out of business before long.  If by "random" it implies unexpectedly good perhaps it works, yet it remains a stretch. This prompted me to think of an occasion in the Bible when a random harvest had terrible consequences.   2 Kings 4:38-40 reads, " And Elisha returned to Gilgal, and there was a famine in the land. Now the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said to ...