Israel Tour - Day 5

On day 5 on our Israel Tour we drove through the Judean desert to the Dead Sea, the lowest point of earth, and along its shore to the fortress of Massada. We viewed a 3 dimensional museum theater, then rode a cable car to the top of the mountain to see Herod's fortress-palace, synagogue, bathhouses, and more. On our return trip to Jerusalem we visited the caves of Qumran where the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered. Then we stopped on the shores of the Dead Sea and enjoyed a "float" in the dense waters. The whole day was awesome!

Israel Tour Day Four

Day four of our trip started off by going to the River Jordan at the spot where many believe that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. What a joy to experience getting baptized and baptizing in the Jordan! Unforgettable. We then drove to Cana to visit the place where Jesus performed his first miracle of turning water into wine. Then to Nazareth to a mock up village to see how it may have looked at the time of Jesus. We visited the Church of the Annunciation, the supposed place where the angel Gabriel announced the birth of Messiah to Mary. Short drive to Beit Shean and visited the beautiful excavations and Roman theater. Simply amazing architecture. We ended the day on the Mount of Olives overloooking Jerusalem just as the sun was going down. What an amazing day this was! Make plans to come with me maybe next year or two. Check out the pics on the slideshow.

note: If you double-click on the slideshow you can see the pictures much larger.

Isarel Day three -Sea of Galilee

We began day three of our tour by watching the sun rise over the Sea of Galilee from our hotel room. The view was simply marvelous. This day we took a boat ride across the sea of Galilee to the Mount of Beatitudes where Jesus gave his sermon on the mount and also where he fed the multitudes. For lunch we ate fried fish of course. There are two short video clips and here is the first one.

Israel Tour - Day 2

Looking out over the Valley of Megiddo from atop Mt. Carmel where Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal. It was on this Mt. that God answered by fire. The Valley of Megiddo is also known as the Valley of Armageddon where the final battle between good and evil will be waged.

Sunset in Tel Aviv

A short video clip from day one of our ten day trip. A beautiful sunset on the coast of Tel Aviv. The weather was spectacular the whole ten days we were there.

Israel Tour - Day 1

Having arrived in Tel-Aviv, Israel early in the day and with nothing scheduled for the rest of the day we decided to explore on our own. First things first we sought out a coffee shop to whet our palette with some native cup-o-joe.

From here we headed out to the Mediterranean beach just a couple blocks away from our hotel.

Roots

In Genesis 4 we read the story of Cain and Abel. While the story is very short I believe it took much longer for Cain to work out his plan against Abel. Most people don't go from one rejection and make the leap to murder. I think it took a while. I think Cain had allowed his rejection to fester. I think he nursed the hurt he felt and began to focus his hatred towards what he perceived to be the root cause of his self-loathing, his brother Abel. 

Light and darkness cannot live together. They cannot co-exist for long without something exploding, without a confrontation. Abel had done what was right. He lived right and this made Cain's life look all wrong. 

Those who go on a rampage don't usually wake up one morning and decide to murder people. It is usually a lifetime of rejection that has built up inside of them. They have allowed bitterness to take root in their lives and they find someone to blame for their rejection and short comings. They buy guns and knives, they write journals or keep logs of all the wrongs committed against them, they carefully rehearse the scenarios in their heads. Their whole life has now become focused on revenge, on a hurt that happened in the past. They have lost all connection to reality. They plot and wait for the right moment to carry out their evil plans.

With Cain it led to murder. We may not take it so far but far too many of us carry some sort of hurt that we have not dealt with. We've allowed it to take root in our lives. Even the thought of that person or that event brings us pain.

We are told in the scriptures to not allow the root of bitterness to take a hold of us. 

Let us instead come boldly before the throne room of grace and find help for overcoming those past hurts. It's time to let them go before they bear fruit.

Back to Paradise

From Sunday's Message in Genesis 3:20-24.

Here we see one of the consequences of Adam & Eve's failure to obey. Adam and Eve had to leave the Garden of Eden for their own good. 

Often times we may not immediately realize the dire consequences of our sins. This false sense of security may lead us to think that we got away with it and that we can sin again since there were no immediate consequences but be sure your sin will find you out.

In Hebrews it tells us, "It is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment."

We will all have to give an account for our actions. If we suffer no punishment in this life we can be sure we will in the next. Part of the deception of sin is that we can get away with it but in reality we won't. 

Adam and Eve lost their home, their comfortable lifestyle but most importantly they lost their close relationship with the Lord. It was this relationship that Jesus Christ came to restore.

"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through might be saved." John 3:18.

The best laid plans of mice and men.....

Well it happened. After careful planning and scheduling something went wrong, terribly wrong. The new carpet was supposed to be installed on Tuesday. I received a call first thing in the morning on Tuesday and it turns out the it was the wrong carpet. 

So it will be another two weeks before the new carpet gets installed. I was so disappointed and frustrated. 

It seems that no matter how hard we plan and prepare something is bound to go wrong. Murphy's Law says, "if anything can go wrong it will." Thanks a lot Murphy!

Oh well, when life gives you lemons you just make lemonade. So please be patient as we remodel our Sanctuary. 

How about you? Life not turning out like you planned? Got thrown a curve-ball? Don't know what to do? Jesus said, "Come unto me all ye who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest."

Stop and take stock of what is truly important. Take a moment to rest in Christ. Take your burdens to the cross and lay them down. 

Forgiven

Isaiah 53:1-12

"Who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?

My servant grew up in the Lord's presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground.

There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him.

He was despised and rejected - a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.

We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.

He was despised and we did not care.

Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down.

And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!

But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins.

He was beaten so we could be whole.

He was whipped so we could be healed.

All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.

He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before his shearers, he did not open his mouth. Unjustly condemned he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people. He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man's grave. 

But it was the Lord's good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy long life, and the Lord's good plan will prosper in his hands.

When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied.

And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins. I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death.

He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels."

from the New Living Translation.

God is a righteous judge

Satan's Secret Strategy.

The second thing Satan tries to do as he is talking to Eve is he tries to deny God's punishment for sin. In fact he boldly declares to Eve, "You will NOT die." A bold faced lie. Jesus calls Satan a liar from the beginning and the father of lies. There is no truth in him.

The new age movement repackages the same old lie with their teaching on reincarnation. If you don't get it right in this life you will have another chance but that is not what God's word, the bible, teaches. In Hebrews 9:27 it clearly states, "It is appointed unto men once to die and after this the judgement."

Be sure your sin will find you out. Some think God is too good to punish sin but the truth is God is too good not to punish sin. What would you think of a judge who continually let criminals go unpunished? You would say that is a bad judge. A good judge punishes evil and God is a good judge. The cross is in fact the proof that God demands punishment for sins. Jesus Christ took our punishment for us when he died on the cross. God accepted the payment in full and was pleased with Christ's sacrifice so he resurrected him from the dead and gave him a place of honor at his right hand. 

Don't let the devil lie to you and tell you that you will get away with it. No one gets away with it before God. We will all have to answer on that day as we stand before God's judgment throne. 

Thank God for mercy and grace! 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

There is forgiveness of sins for all those who repent. Thank God I'm forgiven. How about you?

Satan's Secret Strategy

Continuing our series in Genesis we looked at Genesis 3:1-7. 

Satan has a strategy. Jesus pointed this out in John 10:10. "The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life."

As we read the story of the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden we learn several things about the enemies schemes.

First the devil tries to get us to doubt God's provisions. Though God had given all things to Adam and Eve he did have one rule and that was not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Satan's goal was to take Eve's eyes off of what she had in abundance to what she could not have i.e. the forbidden fruit. Satan tries to convince us that God is holding out on us. He's not giving us everything when we want it. 

During this time of Hurricane cleanup in Galveston and the surrounding area we can easily be tempted to focus on what we have lost instead of what we still have. We begin to doubt God. We begin to question God. When we begin down that path without realizing it we begin to bring God's character into doubt. 

When Job lost everything in one day he fell on his face before God and cried out, "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." At the end of the story of Job God gave him much more than he had to begin with. In other words God is able and willing to restore not only what has been lost but also more because of His great love for us.

Tell the devil to take a hike! We're not biting into his lies. I will trust God to see me through and I will do my best with God's help, to aid my neighbors and demonstrate the love of Christ.

Hurricane Ike

I know it's been a while since I posted something but we have been kinda distracted to say the least with Hurricane Ike. While many fared well with minimal damage to their property there are some who have lost much and it's going to take time to rebuild and restore. 

While we were in Dallas hiding from Ike I kept thinking about those FEMA trailers and if they would be big enough for my family and would I still have a job to go back to and what exactly was all that stuff in my garage since I had the presence  of mind to take a video recording of the interior of my house before we left, just in case, but I forgot about the garage so I lay awake at night and started making a list of everything in my garage for the insurance because it adds up pretty fast and i was surprised to see how many tools and other stuff we actually had and this is after I had cleaned up my garage and repainted it.

But alas, we didn't have any damage to speak of. I was secretly hoping for new rain gutters since the ones we have are so old and I was sure they were going to be gone but not one lousy rusted gutter was moved from it's place. We didn't even lose one shingle of roofing and I started to feel bad because I had prayed that the Lord would protect our home and now I was a little miffed because he did such a good job. I hope that doesn't make me a bad person and all. I think it just shows I'm human and sometimes not as spiritual as I would like to think. 

I did weep for those who have lost so much and I will do my best to pray for them and to help them as much as I can to recover.

Ideas for the Sabbath

Things to say "yes" to on the Sabbath.

*joyful worship

*feasting, playing, taking delight in nature and in one other

*freedom that contributes to the freedom of others and to the well-being of the natural world

*something different from what you do regularly all other days

Things to say "no" to on the Sabbath.

*committee meetings - even for church

*the marketplace - try not to spend money on the Sabbath. Refuse to let the marketplace govern this day.

*mourning and sadness at least on this day

*rest from commerce

*rest from worry

*rest for creation

*rest from work

These ideas are from www.practicingourfaith.org

What ideas do you have for the Sabbath day?

The Gift of Sabbath

Pastor Dan shared from Genesis 2:1-3 where God establishes a day of rest called Sabbath. It is important to note that this Sabbath of rest is set aside before the law and the ten commandments was given. It was later incorporated into the laws given the Israelites with punishment for those who disregarded the day.

As Christians we also have the privilege of observing the Sabbath although we are not under the law of Moses we do live by a higher law. Many Christians say that since it was under the law we no longer need to keep it but we must remember that it was established before the law was given. If this argument holds true then we should be able to disregard all the other commandments as well. Since no one believes that then we need to come to a mature understanding of exactly what it was that God intended when he set aside this day of rest.

Jesus words help to shed some light on the subject. When criticized for breaking the Sabbath by allowing his disciples to pick a few heads of wheat Jesus responded that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. There are some religious groups that insist that the day be kept on Saturday and in a certain way. The Scribes, Pharisees and teachers of the law had over the years come up with 39 categories of prohibited actions for the Sabbath. Each category was then subdivided into more things not to do. It had become a burden and repressive and nearly impossible to keep.

Jesus came to free us from all the rules and regulations and brought us back to what was originally intended and that is relationship. Sabbath was a day for nurturing relationships both with God and with people. 

This week I'll post some ways we as Christians can honor the Sabbath in a way that is pleasing to God. I am very interested in how creative we can be with the Sabbath. Leave a comment.

Free to Worship

From Sam's message last Sunday.

The second thing Sam brought out in his message about the Woman at the Well from John 4 was that an encounter with Jesus will cause you to worship with no excuses.

The woman was more concerned with "where" we are supposed to worship but Jesus told her that God was more concerned with "how" we worship.

For our worship to be acceptable it must be done in spirit and in truth. Too often we concern ourselves with style and we put substance aside. Jesus would say to us, I believe, that its not about hymns or choruses, traditional or contemporary, blue grass or country or rock. Its about worshipping in spirit and in truth and in fact it is those kinds of worshippers that God is actually looking for.

I hope that when God hears us on Sunday mornings at Faith that he finds many such worshippers. Believers who are simply excited and thankful and can't wait to worship the Lord with all our hearts. There is something beautiful to God that he dwells or inhabits the praises of His people. When we worship in spirit and in truth God himself draws near to hear us.

Coming clean with the Master

Sam Puente brought a powerful message on Sunday. Sam and Ester Puente serve as Associate Pastors at Faith Assembly in League City, Texas. Both Sam & Ester have degrees from Southwestern Assemblies of God University.

One point that really stuck in my mind and heart was the first point in Sam's message from John 4 on the woman at the well.

An encounter with Christ will always reveal truth. When Jesus asked the woman to go get her husband she said she didn't have a husband. Jesus knew this was true and commended her for it. You cannot come to Christ without coming clean with who or what you are. There was this feeling in her that she could come clean about her past with Jesus. Something accepting and non-judgmental about him that she just couldn't resist telling him the truth. 

There must have been a huge weight lifting from her soul as she became vulnerable.

Christ was not shocked or disgusted with her truth. He already knew it. I really believe that the reason Jesus offered her "living water" was because she had taken a huge step forward by acknowledging who and what she was. She was ready to receive and he knew it.

How about you? Are you ready to come clean with your past? With Jesus you can unburden your soul and receive eternal life in the process.