Loving What You Hate and Vice Versa

Judges 14:3 "...But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes." Samson saw something appealing in a Philistine woman - a people God would call him to destroy. How could he love an enemy of God?

You probably know the story of Samson. Israel rebelled against God and so the Philistines oppressed them until they cried out for a deliverer. That person was Samson. But when Samson grew up his first encounter with the Philistines was that he lusted after one of their women. This woman later became a real snare to him (not Delilah, that comes later).

It took this incident and others to show Samson who the enemy was. For those of us who call on Jesus as Lord and Savior, sometimes the world around us appears very attractive. We see the success of others, the appeal of beauty and sensual pleasure or the power of money and fame. Sometimes it takes a real taste of that to see how much of enemy to your spiritual life these things can be.

Now I am not suggesting that you live in sin in order to know God better. But I think it is sometimes true that the bitter taste we get from trying to be satisfied with the world can lead us to our true mission: to put to death the deeds of the flesh.

Think back on the true results of sinful behavior. Paul in Galatians 6 says that if you sow to the flesh you will from the flesh reap corruption, or death. Look beyond the shiny appearance and see the slavery and death that await you. Learn from Samson and identify your enemies early.

Pastor Tom

The Problem With Fleeces

You probably know the story of Gideon; how God called him and how Gideon wanted a sign to know if God was going to deliver Israel by his hand. We find the story in Judges 6.

Gideon asked for a sign and many Christians have used what Gideon asked for as a way to gauge God's will. I'm not so sure that's wise.

Judges 6:37 "Behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said."

God did as Gideon asked, but that didn't satisfy him so he then asked for the opposite: that the fleece be dry and the ground wet. Now God doesn't fault Gideon for doing this so I'm not saying that he did anything wrong.

But often we use a "fleece" as a way to judge God's will. I think this is a mistake. We treat God like tea leaves: we ask that if a door opens it means we are to walk through it. We ask that if someone says a particular thing to us that it means a particular way is the right way.

I'm not convinced this works. I think we end up walking through doors we really shouldn't and relying on "signs" instead of the Spirit's witness in our lives.

So how to determine God's will? Ask Him and check your attitude about it (James 1:8). Seek his peace in your heart and test the answer by the fruit of the Spirit and the wisdom from heaven (Galatians 5:22, (James 3:1-17). Finally, if it will bring God glory then it's probably okay. God expects us to depend on Him and use our heads as to what is reasonable.

As a good pastor friend of mine says: it is hard to miss the will of God if you just love him.

Pastor Tom

Finishing The Task

After rebellion in the desert, a re-born Israel started out great in the Promised Land. So what happened?

Israel finishes up in Joshua on a high note having driven out the people who inhabited the land that God gave them. And they start out great in Judges where now individual tribes take on the Canaanites and win.

But something happens in Judges 1:27 "Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of ..." That same phrase is repeated over and over again. It's almost like the Israelites grew tired of the battles and just gave up, allowing the Canaanites to live with them in the land. What a mistake!

God told them to completely wipe out the Canaanites or they would become a snare that would lead Israel into idolatry and rebellion once again. And that's exactly what happened.

I think the lesson for us is to not give up on getting rid of the flesh and wordly influences in our lives. We get saved and forgiven but the old nature still tries to bring us down from within and the world system around us tries to draw us away from God.

In the meantime the Holy Spirit is in the process of transforming us into God's image. He does this through our relationship with Him and through trials. James tells us to let those trials have their perfect work. In other words, let the process continue. Don't get to a certain point and think you have arrived as a believer. You may find yourself being drawn away or down. A boat in a river will always float downstream unless someone is paddling.

Pastor Tom

You Can't Do It

Joshua 24:19 "You are not able to serve the Lord for He is a holy God."

Believe it or not this verse is very hopeful. For many generations the Jews thought they could do it. They thought that they were capable of actually serving God enough to be His people.

I wish they had taken Joshua's words to heart. Just before this Joshua tells the people to make a choice: serve the gods of Egypt where you came from or Canaan where you are, or serve the Lord - but make a choice.

They said they chose to serve God but Joshua knew better. He knew the fallen human nature would be drawn off to sensuality and practicality and that their hearts would go away from faith in God.

If only they had fallen on their faces and said "we know we are incapable of serving this holy God. Lord have mercy on us and help us!"

If only we'd do that too. The only way we can serve God is to have His holiness. And the only way to have that is to get it by giving your life to Jesus Christ then living day by day by the power of the Spirit; yielding your life to Him and yielding your desires and weaknesses to Him.

Choose you this day whom you will serve ... but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (by His power)!


Pastor Tom

Getting A Raw Deal from God

At a certain point in our Christian walk we begin trusting God. We start small; asking small things and getting small answers. It boosts our faith to begin asking for bigger things and entrust to God situations in our lives that really matter to us. You'd think that the more faith we have, the more maturity we have, the more likely God will answer us. Not so.

As the children of Israel settled the Promised Land God gave out large portions of property to the various tribes. I'm sure the various tribal leaders were excited to learn what God was giving them after they had worked so hard to take the land from the Canaanites.

But one tribe got this response: Joshua 18:7 "The Levites have no portion among you, for the priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance."

So, in other words, they served in the Temple (or Tabernacle at that time) and that was it. Yes, they got some towns to live in, but no huge tracts of land to own and look over and say "that's my spread!" Perhaps they were a little jealous of their other brethren. After all, it was their faithfulness to God against sin that got them named as priests. What did their loyalty get them really?

Sometimes we might feel that same way. We grow in God, we mature, we learn right from wrong, we stand up for God in situations, we allow ourselves to be used by Him and we give up lots of stuff others, even younger Christians, don't give up. And yet God still doesn't give us materially what we wish for. We are still struggling financially or with our health or relationships and we wonder why.

We need to take a lesson from the Levites. They got the better part of the bargain. Material things will waste away and will eventually burn. The best thing is knowing God personally and spending time in His presence. That's what heaven will be like.

So why not rejoice that you can come boldly into the throne room of God at any time; that you can worship Him and have Him inhabit your praises? Let God be your inheritance.

Pastor Tom

It Takes A While

Joshua 11:18 "Joshua made war a long time with all these kings."

We like to think of God moving quickly when we are in need. In fact, even when we read passages like the conquest of Canaan we are left with the feeling that God just swept in and in a couple of days all the enemies were toast. Not so.

That's why it's interesting to read Joshua 11:18. Just so we don't think that it happened overnight, God tells us that Joshua fought "a long time." That meant many days fighting on the battlefield and many nights sleeping on the ground. It meant many times when he had to rely on God just to survive and many times when he saw God come through in the pinch.

God does the same with us. We get very impatient, especially when He's given us the promise that He will be victorious on our behalf. We want answers now and we don't want to have fight anything or anyone to get it. But the flesh, the world, and the enemy stand in our way and they are not easily defeated.

We too must spend many days in the battle, and many nights away from comfort. The process of changing a life into the image of God takes time. Victory takes time. Let God take the time He needs in you to win the battle on your behalf because it is just as much about changing you through the battle than winning the battle for you.

God is patient, the victory is ours in Christ Jesus. We need to be patient too.

Pastor Tom

The Next Gen

Joshua is a really exciting book where we see God move in miraculous ways and make city walls fall down and armies crumble at the mere mention of Yahweh. But as I was reading the first five chapters something struck me about a very personal application.

In Chapter 5 we see the Israelites having just come across a Jordan at flood stage - a mighty miracle of God that will pave the way for victory over Jericho. The Jordan crossing is very similar to the Red Sea crossing when Israel came up out of Egypt.

All that generation died out because they refused to follow God into the Promised Land. Now a new generation stands ready to receive that victory and that land.

I find it interesting what they do, though, prior to their first battle, right after they actually set foot on the land. They get circumcised. That's right. Apparently that practice, which set them apart as belonging to God, had been abandoned.

There are a lot of ways we could apply this, but here's my take for today. Circumcision can represent the cutting away of the flesh spiritually. Today we would call it baptism - dieing to the world and the flesh and coming to life in Jesus Christ.

But as it relates to a cutting away of the flesh in general, I think that every generation needs to make that stand for God; to not rely on the faith and repentance of their parents, but devote themselves wholly to God who will make us holy.

Have you made that declaration to God? Your whole life? Let Him take it all and mark you as one of His.

Pastor Tom

Remembering Our Roots

Deuteronomy 26:1 "When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground which you harvest from you land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place that the Lord you God will choose, to make his name to dwell there. And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, 'I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.'"

This section of Deuteronomy goes on to say that the person is to recite the history of Israel beginning this way: "A wandering Aramean was my father ..."

I like this for two reasons. One: when God does good things for us we need to stop and give thanks. How often do we pray for things, God grants our prayers, then we just go on as if we should have gotten that answer all along. We forget that it is by God's grace and mercy that He brings these to us.

Giving a first fruit to the Lord might be spending some time in prayer or worship, or literally giving of the first of what benefit the Lord has given you and giving it back to him by donating to the Lord's work.

But then I also like the recitation of the story starting with "a wandering Aaramean." That was Abram, of course. Instead of "a great and mighty man of God," Abram is described as a "wandering Aaramean." That's us too. We should remember that we are nothing without the Lord working on our behalf.

We should never forget our humble beginnings, sinners in need of forgiveness wandering around lost in the world. And we should never forget to give God the first of all He gives us out of his grace.

Pastor Tom

Making God's Law Your Own

I really like this little tidbit in Deuteronomy 17. God has told the people that when they enter the Promised Land that they may have a king over them. There were a couple of provisos but I really think this one in particular is great:

17:18 "And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law."

I can just picture the high and lofty king of the land bent over a desk copying letter by letter the law into his notebook like a school boy practicing his cursive writing. It would have been somewhat demeaning, but then, I suppose that is the idea.

When we get into places of authority it is easy for us to let the office go to our heads. Then more than ever we need to be reminded that there is a much higher authority than ourselves, and a standard to which we must hold.

Pastor Tom

Who's The Boss?

You may be familiar with the story of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram - the three stooges who rebelled against Moses' authority in Numbers 16. But do you know the whole story?

Korah decided that Moses had "gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?" (16:3-4)

This sounds very reasonable on the surface. They accused Moses and Aaron of having a power trip. They were wrong in that God really did call Moses to lead the people, and that though God was with them all, Moses was the leader - end of story.

But what I wanted to point out is that it really wasn't about Moses and power. It was really about Korah and the Lord. Look at verse 30.

"But if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord."

See, it wasn't their relationship with Moses that was the problem, it was their relationship with the Lord. They "despised" the Lord and so they despised the Lord's servant.

So sometimes when we have problems with God we take it out on those around us, especially those that God is using to help us grow, like pastors and elders and others in the body of Christ that we should respect.

So the next time someone attacks you, pray for their relationship with the Lord (as well as seeing what God wants to change in you).

Pastor Tom

Our Peril and our False Needs

Numbers 11 and 12 contain a couple of interesting stories that bear some application to the Christian. In them we see man's lack of awareness of the peril he is in outside of God and how what we think we need can harm us.

The Children of Israel have just received the instructions for the Tabernacle and their marching orders (literally) from God. But as they travel through the desert on their way to the Promised Land they begin to complain to Moses.

Numbers 11:1 "And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, and when the Lord heard it His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned some of them and consumed some of the outlying parts of the camp."

It reminds me that as we go about our merry way and take potshots at the Lord for allowing us to go through difficulty that we don't realize what happens outside the grace of God. It's hot; it burns; it destroys.

We are not righteous on our own. If we are not part of the camp of God the family of God, then we are in mortal danger because no one can exist in God's presence unless he is perfect. And it is only in Jesus that we can be perfect.

The second story is only a few verses later when the people have a "strong craving" for the meat they had in Egypt. Egypt is a type of the world. Sometimes we Christians think back longingly to the way it was before we belonged to God. We think of the things we did that were sinful but seemingly pleasurable and we want that again.

In this case God gave them what they wanted: meat in the form of quail. They ate it until their tummies burst and then they experienced a plague because of it (starting in 11:31).

What they rebelled against was the Manna. Jesus said that He was the bread that fell from heaven. When we try to satisfy ourselves with the "meat" from the world and not the character of God in Jesus Christ, we may feel satisfied for a while, but it will only bring heartache in the end.

Pastor Tom

The Movable Cloud

In Numbers 9 we read that the after the dedication of the Tabernacle, that a cloud from God would hover over the tent. As long as the cloud was there, the children of Israel would remain. Once the cloud lifted, they would set off. So what does that mean to us?


Here's my thought: how flexible are you for God? I noticed that in some cases the cloud remained over the Tent many days, but sometimes it was only for from evening till morning. That would mean that the Israelites needed to be ready to go at all times. It meant they couldn't put down deep roots where they were; plant gardens or build houses or buy property.

For us, we need to be ready to go when God calls us. The Bible tells us that we are simply "sojourning" here on earth (1 Peter 2:11). In fact, Peter tell us to:

"1 Peter 2:11-12 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation."

We need to have shallow roots in the world system. Don't get so caught up in the values that are at odds with God's character that you have to rip up vast stretches of your life and value system when God says to move on. Yes, we can own property and things, but let God have real ownership of them, including your hopes and desires and goals.

Be ready to move on when the cloud moves on, both literally, and also spiritually, being aware of when the Holy Spirit wants to move you to another point in your walk with Him.

Don't put your tent stakes too deeply into the soil of the world.

Pastor Tom

Servicing the Tabernacle

As I was reading through Numbers I noticed something that had no caught my eye before. In Chapter 4 there is a lengthy discussion giving specific instructions to individuals in how they go about doing their daily duties in the Tabernacle. It made me wonder about how we go about tending to our own daily duties with God.

Numbers 4:16 "And Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall have charge of the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the regular grain offering, and the anointing oil, with the oversight of the whole Tabernacle and all that is in it, of the sanctuary and its vessels."

What I got to wondering is, when we get up each day, wouldn't it be great if we thought of ourselves like priests at the Tabernacle? If we thought carefully about asking for God's Holy Spirit to be a light in and through us, that we took time to actively lift up worship to God like a fragrant incense, and thanked Him in a purposeful way for all He has done, like a grain offering, and asked for Him to anoint us for service in doing His will that day.

It might be a good idea - after all, we are priests of our God (Revelation 1:6).

Pastor Tom

Giving God The Leftovers

There is a really strange passage in Leviticus 21 having to do with the holiness of the priests and then in chapter 22 about the type of sacrifices that were acceptable to God.

Essentially, a person who has any physical defect was not allowed to enter the Holy of Holies and offer sacrifices, though they could eat the holy things set aside for the priests and their families.

The same held true to sacrifices. If an animal was blind, blemished, or otherwise marred physically, it could not be offered.

Surely this was not solely to paint a picture of God's holiness, though I suppose this could picture that Jesus, our High Priest, was completely without sin when He entered the heavenly Holy of Holies to offer a sacrifice for our sins.

But if that was the sole reason for the picture the why not also rule out the mentally ill? What about someone with cancer or some other internal disease?

Without doing an entire exposition on the matter I just wanted to make one point. Especially with the sacrifices, the Israelites could have been tempted to pick out the "less than marketable" animals and said "here, this one I can't sell for much so let's give it to God."

God won't have that. He wants the best; He wants the first; He wants the thing that is most precious to us, not the leftovers. It's about our dedication to Him, our honor for Him, and our reliance on Him. If we give God those things of our life that we don't care much about, then it means we hold back those areas that mean a lot to us.

For instance: maybe you are an expert electrician. You make a lot of money doing that work. Then a poor widow down the street has an electrical problem. You have no trouble praying for the need, but when it comes time to fixing it you want to charge because, after all, you are a "professional."

Instead, give God the things that you do well or that you consider "good" about you and let Him govern and control you. It doesn't mean you won't ever get paid for what you do, but let God have it all and then provide what you need.

Pastor Tom

Do What's Right

Sounds pretty simple, huh? Perhaps too simple. But that's what I noticed reading Leviticus 19. Sure, there are some strange things in there about not rounding the hair on the your head or marring your beard, but by and large the message is clear - do the right thing (sorry, Dr. Laura).

If you read this blog before you know that I believe we are incapable to doing the right thing apart from the blood of Jesus washing away our sins then filling us with the Holy Spirit who transforms us into His image.

Given that, then, I think we should approach each situation in life with the principals God has outlined here, and ask the Holy Spirit to write them on our hearts.

Love God before anything else
Love your family and live your life so that it honors them
Treat the people around you fairly - pay them what you owe
When someone comes along that for some reason is at a disadvantage, don't use that for your gain - treat them fairly too.

God gives us a conscience - use it - and let His Word guide you when your conscience doesn't. Most of the time we really do know what the right, just, and fair thing is; our problem is doing it because it fights against our fleshly desire to get more for us.

Pastor Tom

Silly Laws or Symbols for a Savior?

Leviticus 11-15 contain some of the most interesting laws God gave. We have what animals are clean and unclean (fish with fins and scales are okay, cormorants are not). We also have the laws regarding how long a woman must remain unclean after childbirth (41 for a male child, 81 for a female). Following that are laws about leprosy and for cleansing houses ("if the disease breaks out again in the house, after he has taken out the stones and scraped the house and plastered it ... he shall break down the house...")

So what gives with these laws?

Some argue that they have more to do with public and personal health and safety than anything else. They argue that shellfish might have bad stuff in them but fish with fins and scales don't, and that the population was especially susceptible to outbreaks of disease and so the house rules were in place, etc.

I'm not here to argue for or against that position. It may or may not be true. Know this, that all the Law was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. But I want to simply point out that the reason for the laws doesn't really matter. What matters is that God told them to follow these rules and it was up to them to decide whether or not to obey.

The truth of the matter is that no matter how much we try, we cannot obey God's Law perfectly. We cannot be like God. That is the real purpose of the Law, to show us how weak we really are, and how sinful we really are.

Paul the Apostle told us that the Law was designed then as a tutor, showing us our need for a Savior to fulfill the Law for us.

Galatians 3:23-25 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

So don't sweat the details and the whys and wherefores. They are great for studying the symbolism of the Law and how Jesus fulfilled it, but what we should really focus on is letting Jesus Christ fulfill God's Law in our hearts as we become more like Him.

Pastor Tom

When Power Goes To Our Heads

I'm reading along in Leviticus all about the incredibly beautiful and symbolic clothing worn by Aaron and his sons, and about the ceremonies that accompanied their introduction into service as the priests of Israel. It's all very symbolic and stately, until I get to chapter 10.

It says that Nadab and Abihu, two of Aaron's sons, right after this incredible ceremony commissioning them as priests "each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD."

Needless to say, they got a rather "heated" reaction from the Lord, who killed them with fire that came out from His presence. I don't want to focus on just what the thing was that they did wrong in this space. Suffice to say that the operative word here is "unauthorized." Somehow they thought that their office as priests made them more important than the One who ordained them as priests.

That can happen to us as well. As we "step out for God" and see Him do amazing things through us. sometimes we start getting the mistaken idea that it was because of us that these things happen. It is very subtle and happens over a period of time, but it is pride and focuses on self, not on God. You could call this unauthorized fire.

Now I'm not saying that fire will come out from the Lord and consume us, but I am saying that we should always watch the spirit with which we offer service to the Lord. And we must always keep in mind that He is the One calling the shots and doing the work, and getting the glory. We are simply along for the ride.

Pastor Tom

Guilty Even When We Don't Know It

Leviticus 4:27 " 'If a member of the community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD's commands, he is guilty. 28 When he is made aware of the sin he committed, he must bring as his offering for the sin he committed a female goat without defect. 29 He is to lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place of the burnt offering."

I remember reading this verse before, but it struck me anew today. Even if someone does something against God's Law and doesn't know that its wrong, they are still guilty. It means we can't make up our own rules and morality. It means there is a standard of holiness that if violated means it is violated whether we know it or not.

I know this isn't very vogue. We like to think that as society changes so do the morals of that society and so must the god of that society. The problem is that is simply not true. God is God and He is so pure that whether we know it or not, if we are not like Him we cannot be with Him and will be judged by and separated from Him for all of eternity.

Pretty depressing, huh? Well, here's the good news. Jesus Christ paid for those sins of yours, even the ones you don't know about.

Romans 5:8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Notice that - not "when we got our act together" but while we were still sinners Jesus died for our sins - all our sins. So don't be worried that a sin you are unaware of will keep you from heaven. God Himself died to pay for those sins. The key is whether you have Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

Pastor Tom

How Long Should I Wait?

In Exodus 32 it says: "When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, 'Up, make us gods who shall go before us.'"

Most of us know the story of what happened, they made a golden calf and worshipped it. But I want to focus on something else.

The people were waiting to hear from God. That was what Moses went up on the mountain to do - bring word back from God. The people grew impatient and when Moses "delayed" they turned to other gods.

It made me wonder about when I ask God for something. How long before I grow impatient and turn to other things besides God for my answer? Isn't it very much like what the Israelies did?

God doesn't give us what we want when we want it so we figure out a way to do it for ourselves. God doesn't give us wisdom when we want so we just use our brains only.

How long should you wait on God? Till He answers.

Pastor Tom

Making Heart Decisions

I noticed something in Exodus 28 about Aaron's priestly garments. It says something to me about leadership in the body of Christ and our responsibility as Christians to hold one another up.

Aaron had three things next to his heart: stones that represent the 12 tribes of Israel, the Urim and the Thummim, and the the breastpiece of judgment. The idea was that he was to remember these three things as he came before the Lord.

Now I don't want to spiritualize this beyond reason, but it does bring to mind three things. As we come before God we should remember that we were judged for sin, but that payment for that judgement was born by our Savior Jesus Christ. This keeps us humble.

We should remember that all decisions for our lives belong to Him, not to us. This keeps us dependent on Him.

And we should always remember our fellow brothers and sisters to lift them up in prayer. This keeps us "other focused."

Humble, dependent, loving towards others. Hey, that's the character of God! How about that.

Pastor Tom

Why don't I have Total Victory?

The Bible says we are "more than conquerors" through Jesus Christ. If that's the case, the why don't my problems disappear as soon as I claim victory in Jesus' name? Why does it seem I still have temptations and trials and things don't always go my way?

I think the answer is found in Exodus 23:29.

God is talking to his people about when he brings them into the Promised Land. He says something very interesting about the process of victory over the enemy:

23:29 I will not drive them out before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you until you have increased and possess the land."

I think there is a bit of a spiritual principal here. You may simply not be ready for complete victory right off the top. God may have some work to do to prepare you to handle taking full possession of the land. Putting an immature Christian in charge of a large church would be completely overwhelming and wrong. The body would suffer and so would the young believer.

Sometimes God gives us small victories so we can learn to trust Him, learn His ways, and learn His plan. Over time the victory is complete, but have patience.

Pastor Tom

Back From Africa

Thank you for all who prayed for us while we were in Kenya. Our journey back was very long - 42 hours travelling. We returned to Newberg on Friday night the 26th. Here it is Monday and we are still very tired and in the wrong time zone!

The Lord really did some amazing things while we were there. The Lord's Ministry is a wonderful organization, doing the work of the gospel. Before we left, Pastor Gideon Mudenyo shared his missionary strategy with us.

Basically he and a few other pastors go into an area where the gospel has not penetrated. They stop people on the road or go house to house and tell them about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some get saved and they then start a house Bible study. From that churches get started and they hold open air crusades where hundreds get saved.

After the ministry is established another group comes in under the direction of Gideon's brother: Jonathan. This ministry is designed to disciple the young Christians and support the church that has started. Meanwhile Gideon starts over in another area.

Please continue to pray for this vital ministry and for the Lord to direct how we can support them.

Oh, it may be a few days before I resume my regular postings to this blog on our journey through the Scriptures. Please be patient!

Pastor Tom

Kenya Report 1-24-2007

We have just watched a beautiful sunset on our last night here in Kenya. God has been so good. Our sickness of the past few days has left us, thanks to the Cipro and many many prayers. We are finishing this work strongly.

On Tuesday we visited a small church in Mayanja pastored by Evans Mututa. They have a very large and exuberant worship and praise team and we enjoyed ourselves greatly. Both Margaret and I shared from the Word with them and they seemed very appreciative. Our host, Gideon, scaled back our schedule for that day so we could gain back our strength.

We also had the opportunity to present Pastor Gideon with his laptop that was donated by some folks in our body. He was so appreciative and caught on right away (he is very technically savvy). We had put a free Office and Bible Study program on the laptop and he was busy figuring out how to use it. He plans to use a car battery and an inverter to run the laptop from his house (remember he has no electricity).

Wednesday was a busy but very fruitful day. We went back to Kitale to speak at a worship symposium of some pastors and worship leaders from Kitale. Margaret shared from Psalm 95 and then Tom shared some insights into worship and how we worshp at Calvary Chapel Newberg. The group seemed appreciative of the encouragement and exhortation to make worship God focused and a sacrifice of praise.

We shopped a little bit in Kitale and lunched at a beautiful spot on the second story of a building looking down on a square. It was truly enjoyable.

After lunch it was off to Tulwet to Pastor Nickson's church. Pastor Nickson was with us during the conference in Busia and for several days after that. He is truly a humble man of God that we have grown very close to. Margaret shared her testimony and ended with Galatians 6 where we should bear one another's burdens.

Tom then shared a special word God had given him the night before from Matthew 11:28-30 encouraging the people to let Jesus be the stronger bull and them be the little bull, letting Jesus bear their burdens. All seemed to enjoy the words spoken by the two of us.

The pastor then asked us to dedicate three babies, which we were glad to do, laying hands on them and praying.

We shared an emotional goodbye with Pastor Nickson and his wife Lynnet and off we went back to Webuye. On the way we enjoyed beautiful scenery and again the great African sunset.

This will likely be our last report. On Thursday we speak at a small Bible school, then enjoy worshp with Evelyn (Gideon's wife) and her worship team. Lord willing we will teach them "With All I Am" in Swahili.

We are going to bring back with us two Swahili worship songs that we can learn both in English and Swahili. We then head to the airport in Kisumu where we fly to Nairobi. We then have a four hour layover and leave for Zurich at 12:20AM on Friday Kenya time.

We thank you so much for your prayers during our trip. We asked that you pray for the Holy Spirit to give us words to speak when we needed it and He has answered those prayers.

Blessings to you and we will see you again this weekend.

Pastor Tom and Margaret

Kenya Report January 23

Greetings from Kenya Africa. Getting on the Internet from Kenya proves to be difficult. It's taken me an hour and half just to get to this post, so I apologize.

Thank you for all of your prayers. Margaret and I have gotten quite ill over the past few days. We finally took the Cipro that our doctor prescribed and are on the mend.

On Monday we went to the orphanage in the large city of Kitale. Kitale is the first place we have seen outside of Nairobe that could be a U.S. town, but with many many differences.

The orphanage is outside of town in a setting that reminds me a lot of Oregon: many trees, a lot of grass, cows grazing, etc. The orphanage itself is a nicely built structure that had been envisioned by Gideon Mudenyo's father as a hospital. When that could not happen they remade it into an orphanage.


There were 23 kids there the day we visited, three surprise additions. They were all very friendly and seemed happy with the little whistle/recorders that our electric guitarist David provided. We unloaded the rest of the clothing and toys for the staff to distribute. They seemed very happy and blessed for the help. We are hoping to get shoe sizes and purchase shoes for the orphans on Wednesday.

They showed us where they are giving sewing lessons to neighbors as a way to raise money. We also saw the rooms of the children and watched as they cleaned each others feet.

The orphanage has cows and chickens to help supply food and even some money as they can sell the excess milk.
Today I am going to visit another town and teach at a church. Tomorrow they have created a worship symposium (as they call it) back in Kitale. When they found out that Margaret and I are worship leaders they wanted us to teach them about worship. Oh well, blessed are the flexible.!

On Wednesday we are also doing some sessions (as they call them) for the church of Pastor Nickson (pronounced Neek-sohn). He has been traveling with us over these past days and is a wonderful man of God.

If possible I'll update again before we leave back for the U.S.

Pastor Tom (and Margaret)

Kenya Report January 20

Greetings from Kenya! Hamjambo!

We greet you from East Africa. Sorry it has taken us this many days to give an update. We have been "out in the bush" and away from Internet access but wanted to give a brief update on what God has been doing.

We'll start from tonight. Margaret and I have just returned from an open air crusade in a market in the Kenyan region known as Busia. The churches in the area set up a sound system, held wonderful praise and worship African style, then I shared a simple gospel message. One of the local pastors, Pastor Boniface, translated into the local dialect of Swahilli. Praise God, about 100 responded to the message and came forward to accept Christ. There were also several healings that took place.

The trip has been very different than our expectations. We drove in a rented van from Kisumu to Webuye to Pastor Mudenyo's home. We were there only a couple of hours when we packed up again and drove into the very rural parts of this region near a town called Busia. The conference we were teaching at was held in a church with mud walls and a steel roof and a mud floor. The road to the area was dirt and in places more like a Jeep trail.

This is truly something we had not expected but we have fallen in love with the people in these villages, many still live in grass and mud homes. They love the Lord, love to praise, and love to share the gospel. I shared several messages with the group of pastors, pastors wives and church leaders about studying and teaching the Bible verse by verse. They were very well received.

Margaret shared powerful messages about how important it is that the Lord who shapes our lives and that we let His life live out through our lives to bring others to faith and strength in God.

We have had the pleasure of dining on authentic African food prepared in love and served in the traditional African way. The Kenyan people are very hospitable and friendly. They have accepted us with open arms and love. The conference is now complete and the pastors have headed home to teach Sunday morning.

We are happy for what the Lord has done, while pretty exhausted from the travelling and busy schedule. Pray for strength to do what remains. We look forward to visiting the orphanage Monday and bringing the many gifts our body has provided.

Life for many of these people is very hard. Many walk or bicycle many kilometers each day and earn less than a dollar a day. They suffer from famine and drought and disease. Yet they have a love for Jesus. We so much enjoy their singing and praise as you can see from the photo. We look forward to returning home soon to give more details!

God bless you!

Kenya Here We Come

Greetings. For those of you who regularly read these posts I wanted to give you an update of what's happening.

Tuesday, January 16 my wife, Margaret, and I will be jetting off to Kenya, East Africa. We will be there for about 10 days. The purpose of our visit is to 1) Teach about 150 pastors and church workers at a conference in Webuye, a small town north of Kisumu near the border of Uganda. 2) we will visit churches and see the tremendous move of God in that region. 3) Visit an orphanage run by The Lords Ministry and Pastors Jonathan and Gideon Mudenyo (our hosts). 4) Hold open air crusades the preach the gospel. 5) Teach at a Bible school run by Pastor Patrick Amutala.

We will be very busy during the time we are in Kenya but hope to see some of the wildlife and definitely get to know the culture. Your prayers are requested. You can get our Kenya Prayer Guide here.

I will be posting on this blog (hopefully) each day with photos and accounts of our trip. If you get these posts via email then the images may not come through, but you can check this space if you like. Once we return I will once again use this space for our journey through the Scriptures together. Look for the first post next week.

Pastor Tom

What If Nothing Pans Out?

For those of us who belong to Jesus Christ, we want to do God's will. So we pray and think and meditate on what that might be, then hopefully we start doing something. Perhaps it is teaching Sunday school or leading a Bible study or just sharing coffee with a friend that is in need or maybe donating to a missionary.

Sometimes when we do things, nothing happens. I mean nothing. We don't get money ringing into our bank account when we give, we don't see the end of our friend's need and perhaps we don't see any fruit from our endeavors at passing on God's truth. Does that mean we stop?

Joseph found himself in that situation in Genesis 40. Joseph has had it hard. He was just trying to be honest and found himself left for dead, sold into slavery, then falsley accused and thrown into prison.

There he had a chance to make things right for himself. Two guys had dreams that he knew God could interpret. His one request was that these guys remember him when they got out. They didn't

Joseph could have been pretty sore about his, but instead he just kept doing the excellent job he always had. Eventually the chief cup bearer of Pharaoh remembered him, he interpreted Pharaoh's dream and became Prime Minister of Egypt.

Joseph, you see, wasn't being excellent for what he could get, it was simply in his character to serve God diligently no matter what. How about you?

Colossians 3:23-24 Whatever you do, work heartily , as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. ESV

Pastor Tom

Being Cheated

When you read the account of Jacob in Genesis 30 and 31 you really feel sorry for the guy. His uncle took real advantage of him (not that Jacob didn't deserve it after he swindled his brother out of the birthright and the blessing).

But Jacob's trouble with Laban was only part of God's plan to help Jacob realize that he no longer needed to depend on his own wits to succeed, but that he needed to depend only on God. We need that lesson too.

It's like God took Jacob through a series of unmanagable situations to prove how incapable he really was, then showed Jacob through a series of miracles that God could provide where Jacob could not. An example is with the flocks. Jacob agreed to take the spotted and speckled sheep. Then all the sheep started being birthed spotted and speckled. Genesis 30 seems to suggest that it was Jacob's plan of showing the sheep the streaked stakes that made them streaked. That's unlikely, for it was really God who was making Jacob a success.

For us it is the same way. We get cheated and taken advantage of and we want to strike out and get back at that person. In reality we need to trust that it is God who will provide for us, not matter how much other people take advantage.

Focus on God as your provision, and not on how unfairly others treat you.

1 Corinthians 6:7 Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? NKJV

Philippians 4:19-20 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. 20 Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. NKJV

Pastor Tom

"It's All About Me"

What is the purpose of the Old Testament? There are actually a few, including setting the state for God being the Creator of the universe, and setting the stage for what the character of God is like through the Law.

But there is one main purpose of the Old Testament that we must always keep in mind or we will misunderstand the whole thing.

That is, that the entire thing - from Genesis to Malachi is about one thing: Jesus Christ. You won't find the words Jesus Christ in the Old Testament - but if you look for the Hebrew words Joshua and Messiah you will. Jesus is the Greek word for Joshua and Messiah changed to Greek is Christ - they both mean "Anointed One."

All the stories and prophecies and Psalms - they are all about God's Messiah: the Savior who came to redeem the world from the fatal disease called sin.

Think about it like a "V". On the left side of the V everything looks forward Jesus' life, death, burial and resurrection. On the right side everything looks back at what He has done. Jesus Himself said this too:

Luke 24:44-48 "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ESV

So if you have a hard time with the Old Testament, it may simply be that you have the wrong focus. Think about it in terms of God's Messiah and it'll all make sense.

Pastor Tom

Two Mistakes That Rock Our World

In Genesis 16 and following Abram and Sarai each make a mistake that cost them dearly and had repercussions all through the ages and today are a cause of world turmoil and affect things in our country like elections, the economy, and the war in Iraq.

God promised Abram that he would have a son and that this son would be the first of descendants too numerous to count. Years went by and the old man Abram and his equally old Sarai saw no signs of the fulfillment of that promise.

So Sarai tells Abram: Genesis 16: 2 "Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; It may be that I shall obtain children by her."

That was the first mistake. Instead of waiting on God to fulfill his promise she took matters into her own hands and suggested a way that they could help God out a bit.

The second mistake follows: "And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai."

Abram had heard the voice of God giving him the promise on more than one occasion. But he decided to listen to Sarai instead of God. He took Sarai's servant as his wife and she had a baby: Ishmael. Ishmael became the father of the Arab people.

He is described as being a "wild donkey of a man" who will always be fighting with his brothers. Sound familiar?

Now I'm not knocking the Arab people or anything like that. My point is very simple: God has given us great and very precious promises - promises like He will never leave us nor forsake us - promises that all things work together for the good of them that love God and are called according to his purposes - promises like no temptation will come upon you that you cannot bear by finding God's way of escape.

How often do we figure out ways we can get out of difficult situations instead on relying on God. How often do we listen to the voices of others who want to offer shortcuts rather than obedience?

Each decision has a consequence. We know Abram and Sarai's decisions did. How about yours?

Pastor Tom

But It Looked So Good!

How often do we make decisions based on our senses and our environment? "If it feels good, do it!" is a popular saying in our culture today. The problem is that often times our senses and our environment fool us.

Take Lot, for instance. In Genesis 13 Lot contends with Uncle Abraham. Instead of fighting, Abraham (Abram then) tells Lot to pick and he'll take the leftovers. Lot "lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar" (Genesis 13:10). Also in that direction was Sodom and Gomorrah.

Lot was after getting the best for himself by his own wits. Abraham was after getting God's best by God's promises. Lot quickly got into trouble as he moved closer to wicked Sodom. He got kidnapped in a battle and Uncle Abram had to rescue him. Not learning his lesson, Lot ended up living in Sodom and even becoming a city leader of sorts.

The "well watered" plain of the Jordan was also rife with sin. That internal rottenness did not manifest itself in an external desert. Quite the opposite in fact. It looked good on the outside but was rotten on the inside - where it really mattered.

In our lives we need to be careful making decisions based on what appears great. Madison Avenue makes us think that new expensive car will be a chick magnet and will get us on the road to happiness. Now that doesn't mean that we shouldn't have a car or even a new car. The difference is, are we like Lot looking out for our own best interests based on what we see and can do, or are we trusting God that He will provide our needs and is in the business of changing us on the inside into His likeness?

So when presented with "well watered plains" just make sure you include God in the discussion and ask for His guidance and then do things that will benefit your walk with Him, draw you closer to Him and lead you to act more like Him.

Pastor Tom

Why The Rainbow?

Today I wanted to talk about rainbows. In Genesis 9 after the flood God said to Noah: "I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth."

The agreement was that God would no longer destroy the earth by water (He will destroy it by fire, but that's another study).

In order to have a rainbow you need two ingredients: the sun and rain. I'm sure for Noah and his descendants when they saw storm clouds and rain approach they were probably frightened given what they had either experienced or heard about. They were to gain comfort from seeing the rainbow in the midst of the storm: God's promise of safety.

We face storms too in life. If God has a covenant with you through Jesus Christ then you have a promise of safety as well:

2 Timothy 4:17-18 "The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen." ESV

So how does the rainbow fit in? The rainbow is created when sunlight hits raindrops in midair. You have to be looking at the rain with the sun sort of behind you in order for the effect to work. The light shining on the storm actually changes its appearance from your perspective. You see instead of threatening rain and doom an incredibly beautiful scene that takes your breath away.

That's how God works through your difficulties. God takes the storms in your life and actually creates beauty in you through the transformation of your character into His character. Yes it is difficult, but the next time something looms on the horizon as a terrible storm in your life, try letting the light of God's love and promises shine on that problem so you can see the beauty He will make out of it.

Jeremiah 31:13 "I will turn their mourning into joy ;I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow." ESV

Romans 8:28 "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." ESV

Pastor Tom

Satan's First Line of Offense

Have you ever wondered where attacks from Satan will come first? Don't think that he'll appear as a guy in a red suit with a pitchfork, or even as some hideous looking demon. No, Satan will disguise himself as an angel of light (in fact his name: Lucifer, comes from a Latin word for 'light bringer').

There are many lines of attack: our own flesh, temptation, lies, and even sometimes frontal assault. But I think some instruction from the first book of the Bible is revealing:

Genesis 3:1 "Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?""

You know the story from there - Eve got in a theological argument with the serpent and ended up making a mistake that has cost each one of us a great deal. But I want to notice how the attack came - and make no mistake - this was an attack.

Satan questioned God's Word. "Did God actually say ..." He wanted Eve to doubt something God had said. Satan still does that to this day. I hear people all the time claim that the Bible is not the Word of God. I reject that for a number of reasons, including the fact that Jesus Himself validated the Old Testament, and His apostles (eye witnesses) validated the New Testament as Scripture.

While there isn't space here to debate that topic I just want us to be aware that when doubts are brought up about the validity of the Bible as God's Word, the source of the doubt may not be an honest intellectual or spiritual pursuit of truth (that's great when it happens) but a diabolical attempt to get you to do like Eve: doubt the word of God. Don't make that mistake, it can be fatal (in more ways than one!).

Pastor Tom

And now, the rest of the story...

Revelation 13:10 If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints. NIV

This verse comes during a phase in earth's history when evil will rule. You might say "well, I think if evil isn't ruling its doing a great job of back seat driving!" and this is true. But there is coming a time when the worst things you can possibly imagine will be commonplace.

As God prepares to return to earth He prepares the earth for His return. This includes allowing the powers of darkness to be unleashed as never before. Those powers will be focused primarily on wiping out anyone who belongs to God on earth. I believe during this period, known as the Great Tribulation, that those of us who have received Jesus as Lord and Savior will be snatched off this rock and will be enjoying the marriage supper of the Lamb.

But there will also be many who come to Christ during this period, when environmental disaster, the forces of man, and the forces of darkness all seem to have become the norm. Being a Christian during this time will be awful. I think that's why John wrote the words above. He is sending a message to those Tribulation Saints that bad things are going to happen. They might be killed or taken captive by the Beast. But what he is saying is for them to hang on, for the Lord will be their ultimate rescuer.

Here is the end for those that give their hearts to Jesus at this time:

Revelation 20:4-6 Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years. ESV

So if you know Him, rejoice that you are going to be with Him, and live a life that echos His character now so that many who do not know Him will also escape these times. If you don't yet know Jesus then get to know Him now. A little humbleness will allow you to escape terrible times later; times that make today's disasters look like nothing.

Pastor Tom

How to Overcome

Do you sometimes feel like the odds are stacked so high against you that you can't see the top of the stack? Do you experience attacks from the enemy or personal struggles that are too much for you? Take heart!

Revelation 12:10-11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony ESV

How do you overcome? It's not by being the "best that you can be" or by having some super secret weapon or by bucking up or depend on anything here in this world. You conquer by two things:

1. The blood of the Lamb. Jesus' blood cleanses you from sin; sin being anything that is outside the character of God. So anything Satan tries to throw your way in terms of accusations just bounces off. It's like double jeopardy (not the game show kind but the criminal kind). You can't be tried to the same crime twice. Jesus already paid the penalty for your crimes so there is no more trial or punishment.

2. The word of your testimony. The only way for Jesus' blood to take effect in your life is for you to make Him your Lord and Savior. If you can say "Jesus is my Lord" and mean it in your heart, then that is your testimony.

He paid the price, you took the deal. That's overcoming. You can now ignore the taunts of the enemy telling you you are no good and don't deserve God's love. We already know that - but He gave us His love anyway.

No matter what odds are stacked against you, you can rise above them because you are clean and loved and accepted by God who is much more powerful than any accusation brought against His children.

Pastor Tom

Feel Condemned?

Do you have a hard time recovering from sin? I'm talking to those of us who know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. If you don't know him you will never be able to recover from sin - sin being anything that is outside the character of God.

But if you do know him, do you find yourself often feeling under the pile when you fail?

I just want to share some comforting words from the Apostle John: 1 John 3:19 "By this we shall know we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything."

What does God know? He knows that you will fail. But He also knows that your failures have been paid for the blood of His Son Jesus. He also knows that He is in the process of changing you from the inside out. That process does not happen immediately, and often our life in Him is a series of failures, followed by discipline, followed by Holy Spirit empowered change of character.

When we find ourselves not able to accept the fact that God has forgiven us we need to go back to this verse and let Him reassure us that we are no longer condemned - ever. Accept this as truth and move on towards letting God make you more like Him!

Pastor Tom

Cleverly Devised Fables

It's sad to say that many people believe the Bible was written by men and not by God. I remember a recent Discovery Channel special on the flood of Noah. One conclusion the producers came to is that rabbis made up the story of the flood in order to keep unruly people in tow by proclaiming the judgment of God on the unrighteous.

Some also do not believe that Jesus Christ was a real person, or if He was real He was just an historical figure, but not a messiah or anything like that.

In a court of law what is the most important type of evidence? It is an eye witness. "I saw him shoot that guy!" So too in choosing whether to believe the Bible and Jesus Christ as the Son of God we need eye witnesses. We have them.

1 Peter 1:16 "For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty."

And: 1John 1:1 "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life ... that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you."

Both Peter and John saw Jesus, they witnessed His miracles, they heard His Words, they saw Him die, and also saw Him alive again and taken up into heaven. They didn't have to make anything up; God came down and gave it to them in person, then through His Holy Spirit gave them words to write down for us.

When someone puts doubt in your mind about the Bible or Jesus, just remember these verses and the men who later gave their lives to testify to its truth.

Pastor Tom

Why Stop Sinning?

Peter was a very practical person. His writings of 1st and 2nd Peter bear this out. They are filled with advice for workers and taxpayers and those who undergo the everyday stress of life.

Read through the first 3 chapters of Peter and you get the idea that Peter wants us to live a life that reflects the character of God in a world that reflects none of it, even if that means suffering unjustly.

Then in chapter 4 he takes an interesting direction. He says "Since, therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God."

I think we take our character way too lightly. We think that since we have been forgiven we can basically do anything we want. We don't realize that our flesh continually wars against us, trying to get us to give in to its desires. Reflecting God's character is a way for us to shine the light of God's forgiveness to a dying world. Can you do this on your own? Of course not. You need the power of God's Spirit in you to change you.

But what I really wanted to point out was a "why" that we should focus on a godly character. Look at verse 7:

"The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers."

Isn't that interesting? It seems that the more we pay attention to living life in the Spirit and not the flesh, paying attention to our character, it affects what we pray and how we pray and even the effectiveness of our prayers.

Do you want to make a difference in this world for Jesus? Focus on your life, and Peter has some great ways of doing that, so that you will know how to pray and that your prayers will be just that more effective.

Pastor Tom

Getting Help

All of us at one time or another need help. Recently climbers on Mount Hood in Oregon became trapped and one of them called on a cell phone for help. Unfortunately for them the weather kept searchers, and rescue, away for days. You may be in some sort of need, not as serious as being trapped on a mountain in winter, but perhaps your need is your health, or a family member who is sick. How do you get help?

Maybe your need is financial. You've lost your job and the bills are piling up. Maybe your need is emotional as relationships have broken and you don't know how to fix them. Perhaps your need is more spiritual. You feel rotten about yourself and your life and you just want to end all the pain once and for all.

The word for you today is good, my friend. Help is closer than a cell phone call and I guarantee that this Helper cannot be foiled by high winds and snow. There is no condition He cannot heal, no bind He cannot undo and no relationship He cannot heal.

But there is something you must do. You must make the call. You must make the effort. You must reach out and you'll find that this help is closer than you might have imagined.

Hebrews 4:1 "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Help is as close as your next breath, if with that breath you proclaim that you are falling on God's grace - receiving a gift of new life that you do not deserve. Normally when you drew near to a king's throne you could find yourself killed. Kings were not known for grace and mercy. But the King of Kings is.

Normally when you approach a monarch they are demanding something of you. But the head of all monarchs offers to help you instead. Don't stay away. Don't crawl into a snow cave in your life and shut out everything hoping that it'll all go away. No - come boldly before God's throne of mercy and grace to find help when you need it most.

Pastor Tom

Always Studying, Never Learning

Are you on a search for truth? Many people are these days. Spirituality is on the rise as people realize there is more to life than working our tails off to get more stuff. For some, the journey to find spiritual truth is like getting on a treadmill. You search all the world's religions, and even search through the Bible, trying to make sense of it all, but you can't. It seems that something stands in the way.

The Apostle Paul recognized this state when he described some people to a young pastor named Timothy:

2 Timothy 3:7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

If you have studied the Bible, even for many years and with a doctorate, but still can't find the truth, the problem may not be in your head, but in your heart. You see, our rational, finite human minds cannot fully conceive of an infinite God. He appears irrational to us and so we reject what He says.

"It's just too simple!" we say.

I think the problem may lie in the fact that we want to be masters of our destiny. If we can't understand something then it cannot be true because we are really the center of our universe.

I suggest that your heart, your will really, needs to let go and let God do the work of bringing truth to your life. You can't get enough knowledge to know it all, or even to understand God fully. But you can let His Word bypass your head and go into your heart.

2 Timothy 1:8-9 God, 9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.

For whatever reason, God has done all the work. Invite Him into your heart by changing your mind about your condition, admitting that you have fallen short, then grasping onto the free gift of new life that God gave through His Son Jesus.

Then God will begin to speak to both your heart and your mind!

Pastor Tom

Demons are teachers too

1 Timothy 4:1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. NIV

Did you know that demons can teach the word of God too? They can. They know the Bible better than you do. And they are in a campaign designed to draw people off from the truth of the Bible into doctrines that they make up.

And in some ways it is more subtle than you might think. We suppose that a demon-doctrine would be all about pleasure and sin and blaspheming God. But when a demon teaches falsehood it is cloaked in the truth.

Look at what Paul says about those doctrines:

1 Timothy 4:3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth."
NIV

Doesn't Paul himself say that if God gives them the gift they should stay unmarried? (1 Corinthians 7:8) And doesn't the Bible forbid the eating of certain foods in the Old Testament? Yes to both questions.

What is so diabolical about demonic doctrine is that it is not 180 out of phase with the truth, but only a few degrees. If you steer a ship a few degrees off from your destination in the end you will be way off the mark. That's how it is with demonic teaching. It reflects a partial truth of God and in the process obscures the full truth - that is that all the Bible is focused on Jesus Christ. We marry him when we become part of His body, and it is in Him that foods are no longer forbidden because it is our hearts that are changed into His image. We then have the freedom to abstain from foods if it helps someone else find Jesus as well (1 Corinthians 8:13).

So how do we tell the difference? Ask yourself - how does this doctrine reflect on the person of Jesus and His gospel. That'll help you steer clear of demon teachers.

Pastor Tom

Is What Paul Wrote The Word of God?

I've talked to more than a few people who think that the Bible is simply a bunch of stuff men wrote down, or at best some of the Bible was actually God speaking to man but not all of it. Some even think that because of the hard things he had to say, that what Paul in particular wrote is not inspired.

I beg to differ on that point. Paul was an Apostle. He met the resurrected Lord Jesus in person, was called by Him for the task of being an Apostle and performed many miracles in support of that ministry.

Further, what Paul wrote down in the letters that make up much of the New Testament is in fact God speaking to men and women.

Consider this verse: 1 Thessalonians 2:13 "And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in your believers."

Rest assured that the Holy Spirit did speak through Paul. If you have a hard time understanding what he said, dig deeper and pray more and seek good teaching on Pauline doctrine. You'll find that you may have misunderstood some things while others you need to hear, but just haven't opened up your heart enough for God to speak to you.

Pastor Tom

Put it Away

Ephesians 4:31 "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. :32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."

I don't know about you, but this verse is pretty hard hitting. How often when we feel wronged do we let all of these exact feelings take control of our minds and actions? In a way there is a process here. We are offended and so we feel bitter, then judgmental, then we get angry and start saying things, wishing things, and perhaps even doing things with the aim to hurt that person who we think hurt us.

My challenge for myself and for all of us today is to instead of letting those emotions control us, let God's love control us. Did God feel wrathful to you who have accepted His free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ? No. So instead of having a hardened heart towards that brother or sister, have a tender heart and forgive them.

You may not get satisfaction for the supposed wrong, but then again, did God for yours?

Pastor Tom

"Let he who is without sin ..."

Let me say something first before giving you today's scripture: sin is bad, sin is evil, sin is anything that does not reflect the character of God. I don't like sin because I like God and I want to be like Him. God made a way for me to be like Him by sending His Son to die in my place and give me His Spirit to transform me into His image.

That being said, I also realize I live in a fallen world that doesn't want me to be like God. I also have a flesh, or "old man," as the Bible calls it, that also doesn't want me to be like God and tempts me to do things that are sinful. We should also mention that we have a powerful enemy who also works night and day to get us to do things that aren't like God so we will be ineffective for Him.

I use that as a backdrop because the verse I am sharing today might be mistaken for a view that is soft on sin. I'm not.

Galatians 6:1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness."

Unfortunately, the way many of us act in the church today that verse might read "if anyone is caught in any transgression shoot first and ask questions later!" We are so focused on sin's badness that we don't take into the consideration the weakness that leads up to it and, more importantly, God's ultimate plan to restore, not ruin, the sinner.

I can't tell you the number of people I know who stay away from church because they feel their failures will be counted against them and they will be shunned instead of supported. Now I'm not talking about the arrogant person who sins and is proud of it and wants everyone he or she meets to sin as well. I've run into those people too and I don't welcome them into the church (if they claim to be Christians). I'm talking about the person who knows they have sinned and needs to be built up and encouraged, not shot down and judged.

For the pre-Christian we need to focus on the free of God through Jesus to cleanse us and make us like God. For the Christian we need to focus on the continual mercy and grace of God and the transforming power that will see even their sins and weaknesses used in the process of maturing them.

Pastor Tom

Comic Relief

I love this little verse in 2 Corinthians 9: "for God loves a cheerful giver." That word "cheerful" comes from a word that means "hilarious." I love that. God loves a person who gives, not grudgingly, not sparingly, not tentatively, but with hilarity!

Is that how you feel when the offering plate comes around? Does it feel like a huge magnet is holding your money in your wallet and it takes everything you have to pry it loose? Giving is actually a sign of maturity in the believer. Though there is no law of tithing in the New Testament, there is a principal of tithing.

Jesus fulfilled the entire Law and then put that law into our hearts. So instead of an external rule to give, Jesus has made it a part of who we are to give to His work.

And to those who think deep in their hearts that if they give to God He will pour out material blessings on their life I would say to read on in 2 Corinthians 9. The focus of this part of the chapter is giving so that God will supply to you the ability to give more!

I conclude with verse 10: "He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed" why? "for sowing and increase the harvest" of what? "of your righteousness."

See, God wants us to freely give ourselves and our possessions to Him so that He can freely give His character to us. I think that's a great bargain.

Pastor Tom

You Can Do Anything You Like

The Apostle Paul said "All things are lawful." And its true. For the person who has given their life to Jesus Christ and freed from the bondage of sin everything is okay.

"Okay," you ask, "what's the catch?" Paul goes on in that verse (1 Corinthians 10:23) to say "but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but not all things build up."

The "catch" is two fold. You can do anything as long as it brings glory to God (look at verse 31). In other words if you do something that reflects God's character then go for it! If you find yourself doing things that God wouldn't do then you need to look carefully at that thing and decide if a redeemed person should really do it.

The other "catch" is this: will your actions bring others closer to God or push them further away? That was what was going on in Corinth. The people were taking their freedom and flaunting it in front of people who had sacrificed meat to demon idols. This caused them to doubt whether Jesus was really God and got confused about the whole salvation thing.

Listen to what Paul says in 8:9 "But take care that this right of yours does not become a stumbling block to the weak."

Paul, and we, have a right to do anything that brings glory to God. All foods are given by God to be enjoyed, Paul says, and if we eat something or if we don't it won't affect whether we bring God glory - except if by eating we cause someone else to stumble in their faith. This can be applied to a lot of things.

Paul says in 9:19 "For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them."

Food for thought.

Pastor Tom