Author: Jennifer Armstrong

Today’s reading:  Deuteronomy 18:15-19

The book of Deuteronomy, written by Moses, was aimed at reminding the Nation of Israel (2nd generation), what God had done for them and to convince them to rededicate their lives to following him.  Remember the first generation of God’s people, who Moses led out of slavery in Egypt?  The group of “stiff-necked” people who wandered the desert grumbling?  God let this first generation of his people wander the desert for 40 years until they all died off.  Then, before Joshua led the 2nd generation across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land, Moses stopped to remind them of how God had delivered their ancestors and to make sure they were clear about God’s playbook for their lives (the law).  Before they entered the Promised Land, Moses was responsible to get the God’s people back to following God’s ways.

Deuteronomy 18:15 is the key verse in this passage.  Fourteen hundred years before his birth, Moses identified Jesus as a primary part of God’s plan.  He is the prophet God promised to raise up, the hope for our world.  This verse is so important, it is referenced two other times in the Bible – in Acts 7 when Steven was making the case that Jesus was God’s son, and again in Act 3 when Peter was calling on the Jewish nation to recognize what they had done to their long-awaited Messiah and repent.

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your fellow Israelites, and you must listen to that prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15).

Do you believe Jesus was God’s son?  Have have you put your faith in him?  Is he your hope?  As we move through the 2020 Advent season, how do we keep our focus on Jesus as the perfect and complete gift God sent to earth for us?  Jesus lowered himself, came to earth as a human, yet lived a perfect and sinless life.  Even so, he was willing to take all our sins upon himself and offer his body as the sacrifice that paid the price for our sins.  It is only through faith in Jesus that we have a way to spend eternity in God’s presence.  Let me tell you, a better source of hope does not exist!

If you haven’t confessed faith in Jesus Christ and accepted him as Savior and Lord of your life, I pray the 2020 Advent season offers you the opportunity to get to know him.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you (James 4:8).  I promise you won’t regret it.

Today’s reading:  John 15

Last weekend, B.J. and I spent Saturday and Sunday at a (virtual) goal setting retreat.  The sessions were designed to lead us through a framework that helps to create clarity and alignment for couples’ shared goals (the course was designed for marriages, business partners, etc.).  While I was tired and ready to be done by the end of day two, the experience was beneficial.  I’m really glad we went.  In fact, I’ve already put the retreat on my calendar for November, 2021.

One of the exercises early on day one was to have each person identify their top three values.  Believe me, this was a lot more difficult than I expected.  Do you know how hard it is to reduce a page of 140 different values down to your top three?  Now imagine trying to do that in 15 minutes or less!  Needless to say, I didn’t get it whittled down to my top three until about midway through day two.  But when I finally finished the exercise and compared my results to B.J.’s results, I discovered that our #2 value is the same – Impact.  Having a positive, measurable impact on people is very important to both of us.

As a I was studying John 15 and preparing for this post, I kept coming back to the notion of positively impacting others.  I think the apostle John would consider positively impacting others to be part of what Jesus refers to as “bearing fruit”.  We positively impact others when we encourage them, pray for them, love them, and point them to Jesus.

A little more than half of John chapter 15 is focused on Jesus as the vine, his followers as the branches, and God as the gardener.  Just like any other gardner, God’s objective is for his crops to produce much fruit, as this brings him glory (verse 8).

Depending on the type of fruit, vines (or trees) are its life source.  If you cut fruit off from the life source, it dies.  In the same way, we as followers of Jesus Christ will not bear fruit if we are cut off from Jesus, our life source.  How do we do stay connected to him?  We read his word, talk to him, seek counsel from and connection with other Christfollowers.

Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5).

If I want to live out my core value of positively impacting those around me, the recipe is pretty simple.  I must stay close to Jesus Christ and let him guide my paths.  A life apart from him yields nothing.

Today’s reading:  John 3

When telling stories about past events, do you sometimes find yourself fighting with others (often times your spouse) over the details?  We both could have experienced the same thing, but how B.J. retells the story is almost always different than how I retell it.  Why?  Which details are important always depends on our individual perspective.  Often, what might have been important to me wasn’t important to him, or the detail is that is key to the point he’s trying to make is inconsequential to mine.

The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), are four different versions of same story – the life of Jesus Christ.  They are different because the writers had different perspectives.  John’s version is unique.  Rather than sharing stories that help us understand what happened in Jesus’ life, John uses the stories to make the case that Jesus is the Son of God and the only source of eternal life.

Chapter 1 begins with a clear statement of John’s position.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind (John 1:1-4).

Our text for today, Chapter 3, closes with John affirming his position using the words of John the Baptist.

The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth.  The one who comes from heaven is above all.  He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony.  Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful.  For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.  The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.  Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them (John 3:31-36).

Let’s take a closer look at John’s main points:

Jesus is above all (verses 31-33) – his testimony is trustworthy because he came from above and could speak about the things he saw/experienced there.

Jesus was sent by God (verse 34) – he was sent to earth to carryout God’s mission of salvation for humanity; while he was here, he had the full power of God (through the Holy Spirit) at his disposal.

Jesus has authority over everything (verse 35-36) – those who choose to believe and put their faith in Jesus have eternal life; those that do not will experience the wrath of God.

In 21 chapters, the Apostle John lays out his argument that Jesus Christ is the indisputable Son of God, the light of the world who offers eternal life to all people.

Do you agree?  Who is Jesus Christ to you?

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us (Tozer, 1978).

As I’ve continued to study God’s word as I’ve grown older, I can remember a few times when I’ve realized my theology was a little off.  Has that ever happened to you?  I had one of those times this past weekend.

Sundays are usually my “rest day” from a workout perspective.  For the last few months, I’ve gotten into a pretty good routine on Sundays of walking a mile, running a mile, then walking another mile with a friend of mine.  This routine keeps our bodies moving, isn’t overly taxing, and gives us an hour to catch up on what’s happened in our lives.  I look forward to this every week!

This past Sunday, my friend and I were running/walking and talking about her son who is deciding what he is going to do after college and has started interviewing for jobs.  We talked about a few good things that have happened, and a few things he wished had gone differently, and concluded that it will work out in the end…EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON, right?

A couple hours later I was listening to the Eastside Christian Church Sunday service.  They were just starting a new sermon series called “You Know What They Say”.  Their guest speaker, Rusty George, kicked off the message time by going through a list of phrases that sound like they are in the Bible, but they aren’t actually Biblical.  Guess what?  The phrase “everything happens for a reason” isn’t actually in the Bible.  Oops, I guess my theology was a little off.  How timely this message was!

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those that love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).

Using Romans 8:28 as a foundation, Rusty shared a few messages that helped clean up my theology on this:

• If everything happened for a reason, that would mean God causes everything to happen.  Could that be true?  Does God cause everything, both good and bad, to happen?  No –  God is without sin and he doesn’t cause sinful things to happen.  Sometimes our circumstances are a result of living in a world that is broken by sin, sometimes they are just an outcome of our poor choices.
• Things aren’t always good, but God is.  He can work through good circumstances and through bad circumstances to accomplish his good purposes, but he is always working on behalf of his people.
• What are God’s good purposes?  There is nothing more important to God than your soul.  More than your happiness, health or prosperity, God wants you to spend eternity with him.  Good is whatever brings God’s people closer to him.
• God is working for those that love him and are called according to his purpose.  If you haven’t chosen to put your faith in Jesus Christ, God isn’t necessarily working on your behalf.
• Fortunately the gospel message, salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, is available to everyone, everywhere.

If you haven’t already chosen to put your faith in Jesus Christ so he can work all things together for your good, will you reconsider today?

https://www.eastside.com/youknowwhattheysay#content-jm93x

Against the backdrop of God saving the children of Israel from Pharaoh and Egyptian persecution, Exodus 15:3 calls God a warrior.  How he parted the Red Sea so his people could safely cross, then closed it on the pursuing Egyptian army never really seemed that odd to me.  I want a warrior who is on my side, fighting against my enemies.  Don’t you?  When it comes to how God deals with me and my own sin, however, a warrior isn’t how I want God to show up.  Rather, I want him to be the God of Exodus 34:6.

“The Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness…(Exodus 34:6).

Are these really the same God?  As I was preparing for this post, I spent some time reconciling these seemingly disparate views, and how they both show up in the person of Jesus Christ.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:16-17).

We all know John 3:16, but verse 17 is the key verse here.  Jesus Christ came to earth to accomplish God’s purpose.  His purpose wasn’t to oppose the world, but to do whatever he could to save the world and reconcile it to a perfect God.  As such, Jesus is warrior against anyone or anything that opposes God or his plan for the world. At the same time, he is a warrior / advocate for anything or anyone who is working with God or his plan for the world.

My challenge for each one of us today is to look inward and consider which side you’re on.  Jesus is a warrior king that we know wins the ultimate battle.  Is he your warrior/adversary or warrior/advocate?

Did you like school growing up?  Some years were better than others, but overall I remember generally liking school.  Often times whether the year was good or bad simply depended on the teacher I was assigned.  I had one or two with whom I never really made a good connection, a few that made the class tons of fun, and a few that truly inspired me to excellence / to love the subject matter / to love learning.  Inspiring teachers had a lasting impact on my life by getting me to engage in the learning process.

During the season of remote learning we are currently enduring, one of the things my kids are missing out on is the opportunity to connect with others, in person, on a daily basis.  Personal interaction enhances friendships and I am convinced it enhances learning.  While my kids’ teachers are doing all they can to increase the effectiveness of remote learning plans, it cannot completely replace the value of personal interaction.  These teachers don’t have the same ability to influence the lives of their students because it is so much harder to get students excited about/engaged in learning when you never see them in person.  It is sad, both the students and teachers are missing out!

Merriam-Webster defines teacher as, a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence or virtue (conformity to a standard of right).  This is a pretty high standard.  Every teacher who had a lasting impact on my life took this responsibility seriously.

In the New Testament, Jesus was often called, Rabbi or teacher.  He helped his followers acquire knowledge and conform to the ways of the Lord.  He inspired his followers to engage in the learning process and thereby had the opportunity to make a lasting impact on their lives.

Do you consider Jesus a teacher?  Are you allowing him to guide and influence your life through personal interaction?  While Jesus is not physically present, by accepting him and Savior and Lord, the Holy Spirit will come and live in your heart.  He will be with you always.

An inspiring teacher + a willing learner = life change

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you (John 14:16-17).

Does following Jesus sometimes make you tired?  I will admit I am finding myself a lot more tired and discouraged than I’ve been at any other time in my life.  There are a lot of days I’m tired of trying to do what is right, tired of figuring out how to speak the truth in love, tired of turning the other cheek and definitely tired of taking the high road and feeling like I’m always getting kicked in the gut.

As I was reading and preparing to write today’s post, it dawned on me.  While my calling or what is required of me hasn’t changed, maybe I’m tired because I’m not using all the resources available to me.

In John chapter 14, Jesus tells his disciples that God was sending them a helper to guide them after Jesus departed from the earth.  But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you (John 14:26).  Ah ha. I am called to do what is right, speak truth and turn the other cheek, but I don’t have to do all these things on my own.  The Holy Spirit, who lives in my heart, will show me the way if I call on his power.

As I was studying for this post, I came across three insights about the Holy Spirit that that were very helpful to me:

• The Holy Spirit is defined by truth, it is his nature / who he is.  But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes…(John 16:13).  The Holy Spirit isn’t just any spirit, he is the Spirit of Truth.

• Speaking truth is the Holy Spirit’s purpose. …he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future (John 16:13). The truth the Spirit speaks to us is from Jesus himself.  And don’t forget, Jesus is THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIGHT.

• When the Spirit Speaks Truth, he brings glory to Jesus – He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me (John 16:14).  God is glorified when the Holy Spirit guides our actions.

God, thank you for sending your Spirit to dwell in our hearts and guide us in truth.  As we follow his ways, may we find new energy and continually bring glory to you.  Amen.

Laura is a Category 4 hurricane that is forecasted to hit the Texas and Louisiana border late tonight (Wednesday) / early tomorrow morning (Thursday). In order to survive, people need to take shelter from the storm surge and damaging winds that are expected to batter the region.

As I sit down to write this post, I’m tired.  Since tropical storm Isaias headed up the east coast almost 3 weeks ago, I haven’t taken a break from storm planning.  Following the path of the storms and trying to figure out how we safely get people and the equipment they need to assist those impacted by the storm has been all consuming.  My employer deploys thousands of people to respond to people’s needs, IF they have a an in-force insurance policy with us and IF the policy covers the specific damages they’ve experienced.

I’m not anywhere near the path of hurricane Laura, but I feel like I’m in a storm nonetheless.  The craziness of hurricane-wildfire season, starting a new school year that changed from partially in person to all remote at the very last minute, having to answer a health questionnaire before I can do anything, having to wear a mask everywhere and trying to remodel a house while we’re living in it, is nuts.  Can you relate?  I could use a shelter from this craziness.

If you haven’t guessed, the attribute of God we are studying today is shelter.

In the shelter of your presence you hide them from all human intrigues; you keep them safe in your dwelling from accusing tongues (Psalm 31:20).

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty (Psalm 91:1).

God can be our shelter from the storms of life.  He gives us rest, keeps us safe, and offers us hope for a better tomorrow.  Unlike insurance, God’s help is open to everyone.  You aren’t required to have a in-force insurance policy that covers the specific challenges you’re going through.  Rather, all you have to do is ask for his help.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches.  I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star” (Revelation 22:16).

The last book of the Bible concludes with a promise of Christ’s coming return (Revelation 22:7-21), a message of hope to Christfollowers.  I’ve heard Jesus referred to as the Root and Offspring of David before, but I never really thought of it as a message of hope.  The hope in this verse is about the fulfillment of prophecy, that Jesus is who he claims to be.  Let’s look at these names of Jesus a little closer:

The Root and Offspring of David

The Gospel of Luke traces Jesus’ ancestors through Joseph, his earthly father, through King David, back to Adam, and ends at God (Luke 3:23-38).  Jesus, as part of the Triune God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) is at the beginning of Luke’s genealogy.  Then as a man, the son of Joseph, Jesus is at the end of Luke’s genealogy, making him both the Root and the Offspring of David.

Why is this so significant?  This confirms Jesus is both the creator of all things the rightful heir to the kingdom God promised to David in 2 Samuel.

When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.   I will be his father, and he will be my son (2 Samuel 7:12-14).

The Bright Morning Star

In astronomy the term “morning star” is reference to the planet Venus.  A few characteristics of Venus that parallel to our hope in Jesus:

• Venus appears before sunrise and points to the dawn of a new day.  In a similar fashion, Jesus is a light in the darkness, pointing to our hope of new life.

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life’ (John 8:12).

• Venus is the brightest planet in the solar system.  Jesus is the great light to those living in darkness.

…the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned” (Matthew 4:16).

• Venus is not just a ‘morning star’ but it is also an ‘evening star.’ Similarly, Jesus Christ, is called the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end.

For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him (Colossians 1:16).

• Unlike stars that twinkle, the planet Venus is a constant light.  In a similar fashion, the light of Christ never wavers and never fails.  He is our hope.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5).

The name of God we are studying today is “Priest Forever”.  To understand the significance of this title, I had to go back to the Old Testament and consult my Life Application Study Bible (Tyndale House Publishers).

• Burnt offering – to make payment for sins in general
• Grain offering – to show honor and respect to God in worship
• Peace offering – To express gratitude to God
• Sin offering – To make make payment for unintentional sins of uncleanness, neglect or thoughtlessness
• Guilt offering – To make payment for sins against God and others

In reading through Leviticus a couple years ago, I remember that trying to keep track of all these sacrifices, what they were for, and the specific procedures of each simply wore me out.  If the procedures for each sacrifice weren’t followed, no forgiveness was available.  If, however, the procedures were dutifully followed, the sacrifice offered temporary forgiveness.  These sacrifices had to be continuously repeated in order to stay in favor with God.