To Die For

Last night as I was doing review with my children's quiz group we ran upon an interesting verse of scripture. Exodus 14:30 That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 31 And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.



My young group of 1,2, and 3 graders all seemed to pick up on how weak the faith of the Israelite people was UNTIL they actually saw all of the Egyptians lying dead on the sea shore. The question was raised why didn't they believe (the Israelites) that God was able in the first place. After some elementary discussion we concluded that this is true today and that sometimes it takes that much extreme in our lives for us to really believe in God, even to the point sometimes of the death of a loved one.



But then if you look at this story you can also see the similarity of Jesus in here too. Jesus has come as the Messiah and predicts that he must suffer as the Son of Man, so that all may have life. He even goes as far to predict His own death. But just as the Israelite people seemed not to believe totally until they saw the dead Egyptians, it would seem the same can be said of the Messiah as others failed to believe until they saw Jesus actually on the cross being crucified. But even then it is evident that the visual of a lifeless Messiah who predicted His own suffering, as well as His own resurrection still hadn't convinced everyone. As in the resurrected Christ and His appearance to the disciples there was still disbelief until some could physically touch Him.



So as we look at the patterns of life even throughout the Bible is it that hard to believe that sometimes it takes actual death for people to begin to believe that God is real? Perhaps it's that final realization that God is the giver and taker of all things that finally sinks in, or perhaps it's the realization that the loss of the one loved should they be a Believer is not a loss at all but a beginning to a life with Christ in eternity and it's our realization that in order to share that we need to put our trust in God. Or perhaps in the uncertainty of it all, we learn that the only sure thing is the presence of God as we lean upon Him more and more during our times of heartache. Whatever the case may be it would seem it brings a new insight to the words of Christ when He taught in Luke 9:24For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.



For it seems in death we believe.



Blessings to you all

Happy Valentine's Day

So how's your love life? I once learned from one of the greatest teachers I have ever had that love comes in three forms. Eros, Phileo and Agape love are all forms of love used in the Bible. The one Jesus holds us accountable to is the Agape love, but the interesting thing about this love is it can circumfrentiate the other two. What I mean is if you love your wife like Jesus loved the churched you are upholding His commandment but hopefully you also have some Eros love in there too as that's the affectionate love between you. But naturally if you have some eros, you seemingly automatically have some agape as well. As described in the New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, the agape love is not an emotion but ones' will for the best for someone else. In other words you always hold the one you agape love best interest's at heart. You genuinely care for them and with that it is unconditional being you expect nothing in return. But besides all of that let's get back to how is your love life? See despite all the definitions we can find, there is one common root of love and is made ultra clear in 1 John 4:8. It simply states that if you don't have the right love you must not know God because God is love. Paul provides us a great checklist for the qualities of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, but the reality of it is if we fall short in any of these qualities, we need to look at our relationship with God first. Like most relationships the more time we spend with Him, the closer we get to Him and thusly His Spirit spills out in love to all those we come in contact with.

So if your checklist has shortfalls take a look at the one question of questions. How is your love for God these days? How is that relationship? After all anything less would be.................uncivilized.................wouldn't it?

Happy Valentine's Day and say I love you to someone.

Pastor Wayne

Long Time

It has been nearly a year since my last blog here. My apologies. A lot has taken place in that year as well. But first let me say that the blessings of the Lord have continued and God has truly been good to us. My wife was spared significant injury after being struck by a city bus in our van, our newest addition Benjamyn continues to get better, and our daughter Alyssa was with us for Ben and Krys's birthday this past year. Our church has grown and is looking for a new place again and we continue to see peoples lives changed for the Lord as well.

I will do my best to improve on my blogging. Until then I invite you to check us out at our website and visit us at Lighthouse Church. We are a church on the move and looking for those who have a desire to share and join us.

Blessings

Pastor Wayne