Tag Archives: Jesus

The Sabbath

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Genesis 2:1-3

Today is Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. Many Jews won’t pick up a napkin or turn on a light today. Many, I am told, depend on non-orthodox or non-Jewish friends to do that kind of “work” for them as needed.

It’s true that of all the days of Creation, the seventh day is the only day God blessed and made holy. It’s the only day He didn’t create something. He rested.

So why am I not going to church today? Am I breaking God’s Law if I put the breakfast dishes in the dishwasher today?

I am going to share from what Warren Wiersbe wrote in Be Basic, (David C. Cook Publisher; Second Edition; 2010; pages 40-43). He speaks of three Sabbaths found in the Bible.

First we see a personal day of rest of the Lord. God rested on the seventh day, not because He was tired (Isaiah 40:28), but because Creation was complete. (pay attention you who want to believe in evolution.) In the Creation account as recorded in God’s Word, there is no mention of “evening and morning” on day seven, indicating God’s rest from the act of Creation will never end. Creation was completed in six days. The Sabbath rest is the period at the end of the sentence.

Secondly we see a national Sabbath of Israel. The Sabbath became a commandment for the people under the Law, those people God chose in order to reveal Himself to the world. The seventh day was commanded by God to be a day off work, a day devoted to Him. It separated the Israelites from the rest of the people.

The seventh year was a Sabbath year of no planting so even the land had rest from production. It was the Law. If you wanted God’s favor, you followed the Law.

But we don’t live under that bondage any more. We are free from those chains of the Law by the grace of the One who commanded adherence to the Law!

Which brings us to the third Sabbath in Scripture, according to Wiersbe: the spiritual Sabbath of Christian believers. Jesus demonstrated that spiritual Sabbath repeatedly while living on earth as a man. The Jewish Sabbath symbolizes the old creation, the old covenant that none of us can obey perfectly.

But the old has passed away. The new has come!

Jesus changed everything when He paid the punishment for our sin and made us new creations through the New Covenant of grace!

Here’s the thing: I don’t have to wait until a Saturday or a Sunday to experience a Sabbath. I can rest in Jesus every moment of every day. In fact, we are told to not be anxious about anything, to cast all our cares on Him because He cares for us. We are told by Jesus Himself to come to Him, “all who are weary (and who isn’t weary?)… and I will GIVE you rest!”

It is in Jesus we find rest for our souls, I don’t believe one day is more important than any other. But I will go to church tomorrow to worship God shoulder-to-shoulder with people I love. I will take a break from my week because my body needs time off, my soul needs refreshed, and I as a human I need to have my batteries recharged for the days ahead.

But I will rest in my relationship with God through Jesus every day… because I can! I don’t live under the Law. I live under grace. I can breathe. I can find comfort. I can rest. In Jesus is everything I need or want.

Jesus is my Sabbath.

In The Beginning God…

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Genesis 1:1

Happy New Year, 2025. Praying that God will be glorified in you, and that you will know the joy that comes from an honest relationship with your Savior. What a privilege we have to know our Creator as our friend.

This year, instead of reading the Bible through, I’ve chosen to do a topical series of studies written by Warren Wiersbe known as the “BE Series.” I’m starting with “Be Basic,” a study on Genesis 1-11. Not sure what this will look like, or how often I’ll post my thoughts. But my plan is to read the study along with God’s Word every day, journal my thoughts, and meditate on the beauty of Scripture as led by Rev. Wiersbe.

Today I was challenged to considered the first four words of the Bible: “In the beginning God…”

What does it mean to me that God is eternal? I can’t wrap my mind around “always existed.” I think I can imagine eternity future, never ending. But eternity past? How long did God exist before He created anything? What did He do all that time?

And there’s my answer. Words like “always,” or “future,” “ending,” “past,” “before,” and “time” are words bound by time. God exists outside of time. He exists in a perpetual “now.”

It’s not that He was or will be. It’s that He is. He just is. He even identified Himself as such when He told Moses, “I AM.” The disconnect comes with me, with my finite mind, limited understanding.

It’s like standing inches away from the Mona Lisa, gazing at it through a paper straw. If I tried to describe what I saw, or tried to imagine the whole, I would fail miserably. I would only be seeing the painting in part, I would not be able to understand the beauty of it. I would be limited by the lens through which I was looking.

Right now we can only know God in part. Our lens is like that of a paper straw. I love what I see through that straw, in nature and in His written Word. But if what I see of Him is limited by time and space, the whole of Him must be spectacular!

Even in my limited view of God, I see Him as all-powerful, all-knowing, kind, compassionate, faithful, true, righteous, and holy, singularly worthy of my worship. I can face the New Year with confidence, not because of who I am or what I’ve accomplished, or how determined I am to become a better person. I can face 2025 with confidence because of WHO GOD IS!

I can stand on the truth of, “In the beginning God…” because it’s THAT God I depend on.

Stay On The Ship

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Acts 27

I was talking to my pastor yesterday about how easy it can be to believe a lie. If you take time to listen to people who reject God, you being to understand their point of view. That can be a good thing, and I hope we are all investing ourselves in people we love and who are rejecting God. But when our understanding of their viewpoint becomes acceptance, we have a problem.

Paul was heading to Rome to be tried for bogus crimes the Jews made up to get rid of him. The ship he was sailing on got caught in a hurricane-force storm that pummeled them for weeks. The soldiers did everything they knew what to do to save the ship from being torn to pieces. They naturally feared for their lives, so Paul encouraged them with a word from God:

But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost, only the ship will be destroyed. Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me and said, “Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar, and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.” So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. (Acts 27:22-25)

In other words, stay in the ship and God has promised me you will be saved. Some of the sailors panicked, however. In their minds, and from what they believed about ships and storms, they determined the better option was to escape to land by lifeboats. They began to lower the lifeboats with the intention of abandoning the ship, in opposition to the Word of God.

When Paul saw what they were doing, he said to the centurion guarding him:

Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved. (Acts 27:31b)

So the ropes were cut, the lifeboats dropped empty into the raging sea. And although the ship was lost, not one of those men lost his life.

I think the moral of the story is the Word of God. Do you believe it or not?

We must sift everything we hear through the words God spoke. We must shape our world-view, our morality, our stand on what is right and what is wrong, our definition of sin and its punishment, our understanding of grace and mercy and love, through the lens of Scripture.

We all hear things from time to time that sound reasonable, maybe even scriptural. And maybe we think: “Ok. I can see their point. Maybe they have something there.”

BUT WAIT!

Before you go any further with that thought you better ask yourself: what does Scripture say? Not just a random verse taken out of context. What does God really say, how did it play out in the lives of the Old Testament Jews, how did Jesus embody the words spoken by the prophets?

Dear ones, there is one Truth. Anything that veers from that Truth is merely opinion and is nothing to stand on. Anything that is not Truth is a lie.

There is one salvation. There is one ship. To attempt to save yourself any other way is death.

I can confidently say that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and no one goes to the Father without going through Jesus. I can say you must be born again. I can say that faith comes through hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

I can tell you that Scripture is God-breathed and it is the first and final authority.

I can say those things unapologetically, having built my life on the truth of it, because those words are in the Bible and the truth of them is demonstrated in those precious pages, and in my life.

Again I ask you concerning to the Word of God: do you believe it or not? Your life depends on your answer.

Don’t Judge?

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Matthew 7:1-5; Luke 6:37-42

This whole “do not judge” thing is out of control these days, and entirely contrary to what Jesus actually said. He certainly wasn’t saying we shouldn’t call sin sin, or turn a blind eye to sin in ourselves or others. Scripture is pretty clear about that, if you take time to read it.

Jesus wasn’t implying that everyone is entitled to their own truth. Remember, He’s the same One who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one goes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6) Jesus is THE Truth. Not just one of many truths.

If you read these chapters Jesus is telling us to confront and restore a fellow believer who is sinning. Just don’t be a hypocrite about it. Recognize and confess your own sin before trying to address someone else’s sin.

Jesus didn’t say, “Because you’ve sinned, you have no right to point out someone else’s sin.” In fact, He’s saying that BECAUSE we are sinners saved by grace, we have a responsibility to address the plank in another’s eye.

Pointing out sins according to Scripture isn’t trying to judge them. Their actions judge them. You aren’t the judge. But you are the Judge’s voice, His arms and legs, when you have the ability to be used by Him to restore a sinning brother.

Satan’s interpretation of these verses has made Christians weak and stupid. We should be less concerned about being accused of “judging” and more concerned about being accountable to the Judge. Because one day, we all will face Him. I pray that when we do, we’ll be able to look Him in the eye and say, “I did what you told me.”

I’m Excited

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The Gospels

Every time I start reading the Gospels I get excited. After nine months of reading the Old Testament, I finally arrive at what the prophets, the Law, even the lives of the Jewish people pointed me toward – Jesus!

As hard as it is to read parts of the Old Testament, I still love it. I love looking for pictures of Jesus in the day-to-day lives of the Jews, through the words of the prophets, and the poets. I think it’s an amazing part of the Bible and there is something to learn on every page. It provides the backdrop and helps us understand the significance of what we are about to read in the New Testament. – Jesus!

The fulfillment of every word from Genesis to Malachi – Jesus!

I love reading the Old Testament. But I can’t help but get excited when I turn the page to the New. What a privilege it is to get to know my Savior through the eyes of people who knew Him!

I pray that God will open my eyes, draw me closer, challenge, convict, strengthen me, and reveal Himself a bit more as I spend the next three months in the New Testament.

I’m excited!

Grace

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2 Chronicles 30:19

When Hezekiah was king the dam broke. The people had been worshiping worthless idols, living in disobedience. I imagine they probably felt good about themselves thinking they were just fine doing what they were doing. But they weren’t fine. People living apart from God are never truly fine.

Like it or not. Deny it or not. There is a void placed by God in every human heart that can only be fulfilled by God Himself.

When the people heard the Truth and recognized their sinfulness, they couldn’t get to God fast enough. The dam that had separated them from God broke and the flood of repentance poured out. Hundreds of people hurried to the temple to offer sacrifices for their sin. In fact, so many came that the priests had trouble keeping up with the flow.

Then Hezekiah prayed:

May the Lord who is good, pardon everyone who sets his heart on seeking God… even if he is not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary.

You see, these people didn’t take time to clean themselves up. They went directly to the blood of the sacrifice. The rules of the sanctuary as had been explained by Moses weren’t abolished. But by the grace of God they were fulfilled on behalf of those who came seeking God for forgiveness.

And the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people. (verse 20)

Paul tells us:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

What we see here in 2 Chronicles and what is affirmed throughout the New Testament is that you don’t need to stop sinning, do X amount of good things, quit smoking or swearing BEFORE you go to God. Hezekiah calls it setting our hearts in seeking God. Paul calls it faith.

If you, dear one, would just run to the blood of Jesus instead of trying to make yourself feel worthy, if you would just place your faith in Jesus, the dam will break. The separation between you and God will be washed away and you will receive the beautiful, complete gift of salvation.

Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. (Acts 16:31)

The grace of God saved the Jews whose hearts were set on seeking Him. That same grace of God can save you, too.

They tried

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Jonah 1-4

There are so many lessons to be learned from Jonah. Today the sailors spoke to me, maybe for the first time. They were pagan. they didn’t know God and most likely thought He was just another god like the ones they worshiped.

When the storm came they cried out to their gods, they tried to lighten the ship by throwing their valuable cargo overboard. They did everything they knew to do to save themselves.

These seem like really good men. Even when Jonah said God was punishing him and that if they wanted to be saved they needed to throw him overboard, they couldn’t do it. They continued to struggle against the storm, throwing more things overboard while sparing the life of Jonah.

But no matter how moral they were, or how hard they worked, or how many times they cried out to their gods, the storm kept getting worse. It wasn’t until they obeyed God that the storm calmed, and they were saved.

Does that remind you of so many in our world these days? Sometimes we think the enemies of God are bad people. But many, if not most are nice, moral, hard working, well meaning people doing everything they can to calm the storm, to be ok, to save themselves. What they find it hard to do is to surrender to the will of God. Thing is, there is no salvation apart from God.

I’m so glad the sailors we read about in the book of Jonah recognized the truth about God and believed. I pray the same will be true for the modern-day sailors who are trying so hard to save themselves. May they give it up, surrender to God, obey Him, accept the gift of grace through the blood of Jesus… and be saved.

Good Intentions

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2 Samuel 4

Recab and Baanah must have expected a different outcome. Wasn’t Saul David’s enemy? So it would make sense that Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth would be David’s enemy, too. David’s power was increasing. Saul’s camp was weakening. Racab and Baanah, from Saul’s camp, made the decision to break ranks and defect to David’s side. And just so David would understand their sincerity, they killed Ish-Bosheth and brought his head to David.

“Look what we have done for you, King David. We know you will welcome us and throw a party in our honor because we have defeated your enemy.” (not exactly a direct quote if you’re wondering)

Recab and Baanah actually gave God credit for the murder (4:8). They were covering all their bases.

David did not accept their well-intended good deed. Instead, he ordered the execution of Recab and Baanah.

I am reminded the same kind of thing is happening today. So many religions, so many individuals believe that if they are good people, if they go to church occasionally, if they treat people with respect and don’t kick the dog, God will welcome them into heaven and throw a party in their honor. It makes sense, in the eyes of many, that God owes them heaven because they do things in His name. Their intentions are good. God should accept that.

There are those who believe people from every religion – or no religion – will be welcomed into heaven for their good intentions. They tell themselves a loving God wouldn’t send a nice guy to hell. They seem to say, “Take what we give you, God, and be grateful.”

Jesus tells us:

Many will say to me in that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?” Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers.” (Matthew 7:22-23)

Here’s the thing. When Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” He meant that He is the way, the truth and the life and no one – not even really good people – comes to the Father except through Jesus. In fact, there is no such thing as a really good person because all have sinned. There is no one righteous – not even one.

Have you accepted Jesus as your Savior and allowed Him to place His goodness on you? If not, you may stand before Him on that day holding Ish-Bosheth’s head with all the good intentions in the world. But it will cost you your life.

Living What We Believe

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Leviticus 8-11

I recently saw the phrase, “Christian Atheist,” referring to believers who live like God doesn’t exist. I think it can refer to people who believe some, but not all Scripture is true. People who go to church, maybe even preach, who are holding onto sins they refuse to surrender to God. They are Christians who believe God makes exceptions to His rules, and live like they will avoid the consequences spelled out in Scripture.

Nadab and Abihu fit that category. There have been times I have fit that category.

Are you a believer? Is Jesus your Savior? Do you read your Bible, go to church, sing in the choir or teach Sunday School? Then the question is, are you living the truth of what you know? Or are there sins you have yet to surrender to the cross?

James tells us our faith without works is dead. (2:14-26). Faith without living lives that honor God with every choice is as useful as a corpse. Having faith in God yet living like He doesn’t exist is not faith at all. It’s what Christian Atheists are made of.

Dear Christian, if we want to live what we believe, we need to stop right now and confess our sins. All of them. We need to repent, which means turn from those sins, and with the help of the Holy Spirit never repeat them again. It means to surrender to the demands of God as spelled out in His Word, and receive the grace and mercy Jesus died to give us.

Then one step, one choice at a time, we must live to glorify God and not ourselves, to point our loved ones to Jesus as He is revealed in Scripture. We must love our neighbor enough to speak truth, love God enough to stand firm.

It means living like our Holy God really does exist, and to be as serious about sin as He is. It means living what we believe so that others will see Jesus in us and want what we have in Him.

Rest

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Hebrews 1-4

Everything in creation, every life experience recorded in Scripture, and individually lived in 2023 points to God. I believe we don’t see the half of it. But that doesn’t mean it’s not there.

The writer of Hebrews reminds us that God rested after six days of creation. Many people have asked, “why?” I think the overall reason is, God was revealing something about Himself and His plan for humans. We find the answer in Hebrews.

God was done creating. His work was finished and it was very good. Then He showed us on the seventh day, that there is something after the work.

Rest.

And what we see is, God invites us to join Him. The older I get, the better that rest sounds.

But the writer of Hebrews also reminds us not everyone will enter that rest. That rest is reserved for believers.

If you are a non-believer and think life is hard, that things can’t get much worse, that you are hoping things will improve in the future – you don’t understand hell. If you toss and turn on those sleepless nights now, get used to it. There will be no rest in hell. If you have experienced trying to function after a couple consecutive nights of no sleep, think about sleepless consecutive nights for a couple million years.

God demonstrated that there is something after the work. There is life after life. And He is inviting you into a sweet rest with Him where you will put your feet up. Snuggle in. Take a deep breath of heavenly air. Rest.

My prayer is that if you haven’t already repented of sin in this lifetime, if you haven’t received God’s grace and forgiveness through the blood of His Son, Jesus, you will do that today.

Our souls need that. You need that. Receive the Lord Jesus and you will find rest for your soul. That’s a promise.