March 19

EXODUS 30
My Uncle Ross was a very outgoing man. He had a charisma about him that made you want to be around him. For a number of terms, he was a state legislator. As a legislator, the thing he enjoyed most was being able to help his constituents with their problems. Whenever I was around him, he always welcomed me and always exhibited an interest in my life. He would frequently say, “Come see me some time.” Laura and I took him up on his offer one weekend. We came and visited him and Aunt Charlene (Charlie). They made us feel royally welcomed. It was great to meet with him and her.
Twice in this chapter, verses 6 & 36, the Lord repeats a similar message related to the altar of incense and the mercy seat:

6“And you shall put it before the veil that is before the ark of the Testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the Testimony, where I will meet with you. 36“And you shall beat some of it very fine, and put some of it before the Testimony in the tabernacle of meeting where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you.

The incense and its fragrant smell represents the prayers of the saints before the Lord. The burning of incense is made possible by the golden altar which represents the deity and humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Creator of the Universe has made it possible to meet with Him! The glory of that meeting is far greater than meeting with any human. He makes that meeting possible through prayer. Prayer is possible because of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we choose to meet with him, He communicates with us giving us His designs for our lives. From those designs we may ask, and He fulfills them all. Like my uncle who delighted in being able to help his constituents with their problems, He delights in helping His people fulfill His designs for their lives and our problems getting there. He does it at the place of prayer, His mercy seat. The Mercy Seat represents the death of the Lord Jesus Christ in our place. His blood is applied to us and we are forgiven. Now that is glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 78
A trite but true saying applies to this Psalm, “The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history,” (attributed to Friedrich Hegel.) Asaph says that he will open his mouth in a parable and utter a dark saying of old, and then he seems to recount the history of Israel. So what is the parable? For decades now the Biblical literacy of our young people entering Bible colleges has been dropping. Many of them are ignorant of most of the Bible Stories and can hardly trace the history of the nation of Israel. Why is that? Certainly we can place some of the blame at the feet of the organized church, and certainly we can place some of the blame at the feet of fathers who fail to do even simple things such as read the Scripture to their children.
There is a necessity of one generation proclaiming the deeds of God’s glory to another generation. How can that be done aside from consistently reading and praying God’s Word with our children in a family situation? In some sense the church has failed. Perhaps we have failed because we usurped the parental responsibility by assigning the task to be performed solely by ministries of individuals in the church, rather than coming alongside parents in challenging and equipping them to proclaim God’s glory to their children, we have farmed it out to the ‘gifted’ people. It begins with reading Scripture with our children, then praying back opportunity for the child to see that Scriptural principle happen in our lives, then as that prayer is answered we point out the answer to our children and grandchildren. God’s glory is then revealed in our lives. It becomes caught more than taught. Why would we want to do this? So that:
They may set their hope in God, And not forget the works of God, But keep His commandments; And may not be like their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that did not set its heart aright, And whose spirit was not faithful to God.
In so doing we can break the cycle and actually learn from history. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ECCLESIASTES 5
As of today, I have breathed air for 21,860 days. Sounds like a long time. A good portion of those days as an adult, I have spent in intense labor, not really enjoying the day which God had given me. I was more than willing to set aside a current pleasure in order to obtain future riches. Sometimes those days were compounded one upon another until the days turned to weeks and months turned to years. I did not enjoy the days, but I was willing to endure them in order to receive a future reward. On the one hand that is a good thing, it is the basis of responsible living. On the other hand it is a bad thing, it is the basis of wasteful living. One could go through the entirety of one’s life without enjoying what God has given him. What really makes it wasteful is that one could go through the entirety of one’s life and never enjoy God or one’s family. “The cat’s in the cradle, the silver spoon, the little boy blue and the man in the moon, ‘Whenya comin home Dad?’ ‘I don’t know when, but we’ll get together then son, ya know we’ll have a good time then.’”
What makes a day worth living? If I am created by a Creator who also created the entire Universe, if I am created by a Creator who loved me enough to become a man in order to rescue me from my sin, if I am created by a Creator who created me to be part of a family, if I am created by a Creator in order to work to bring greater glory to His name, if I am created by a Creator who desires to communicate with me, if I am created by a Creator Who wants me to be joyful, then does it not make sense that the Creator desires that my days should be lived first of all in recognition of Him to receive my orders for the day from Him, to know His presence in all that I do during the day? Does it not make sense that a day begun with that goal and lived to that end is what makes it worth living? I do not know how many more days I have left, but oh that they should be lived in such a manner! That would be joy! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

MARK 16
We were trying to make the drive from Philadelphia to Oklahoma in one long drive. I drove through Indianapolis. I then relinquished the wheel to Laura, because I was too tired to drive. It was in the middle of the night and cold. I awoke to the sensation of spinning, Laura’s scream and the sight of snow coming over the windshield. My first thought was, “Lord, I’m coming home.” We ended up embedded in a deep snow bank. We had hit black ice on the highway. The Lord’s hand had certainly been upon us. Laura said that when we began spinning we were between two semi trailers. The car seemed to steer itself, and the trucks missed us and kept on going. The snow cushioned our sudden stop and there was no visible damage to the car.
I pushed the door open. It was difficult with snow packed around it. I heard a tremendous hissing sound and steam was billowing out from under the hood of the car. Popping the hood, I was greeted with the sight of snow packed around the engine. The hissing and steam was the snow melting against the hot engine. My first thought was, “Oh no, the sudden cooling has cracked the block.” But a little inspection seemed to indicate everything was okay. And the car started again. My next problem was that I was royally stuck in the snow. What had saved us from injury now seemed to encase us next to the road. Who would get me out of this snow bank?
It was early Sunday morning and the women were approaching the tomb. Jesus was dead, or so they thought. They were coming with spices to anoint His body. Their thought was, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” The thought must have loomed heavy upon their spirits. One second century manuscript of Mark has written in the margin that it was a stone that needed 20 men to move. (Some archaeologists suggest that the stone rather than being round was a cubical cork shape. It would have to be pushed from the entrance and then roll it by turning it side to side.) Certainly it is true that the stone was so large that the three women knew they could not move it by themselves. To their surprise, when they arrived, the stone was already rolled away! Entering into the tomb, angels informed them that Jesus was risen and that they needed to go tell the disciples.
Can you imagine the flood of emotions--first fear, then amazement, then perplexity, but eventually joy? They were encased in the coldness of death, wondering who would move the stone so they could make the whole situation smell better. But the glory of our Lord is such that He liberates us from the stench of death. He moves gigantic stones to set us free. We don’t need more men to move them, we need Him. We don’t need more spices to hide the stench, we need Him. He sets us free that we may tell others of His glory. If we don’t first acknowledge our desperate situation, we can’t be set free to tell others.
Am I stuck in a snow bank? Is there a stone I can’t roll away? He can do all things—He conquered death! That’s His glory. His death saved us from death, but He rose again to set us free from the encasement of death. Oh by the way, I wasn’t in the snow bank more than 5 minutes when an Indiana Highway Patrolman drove up. He pulled out a shovel, dug us out of the snow and helped push me back up onto the highway. Before he left to help someone else, he said, “There is ice from here through Illinois. Get off at the next exit and find some shelter.” We did. Jesus rescues us from being encased in sin, death and other problems. He gives us new life and tells us to walk in it and share His glory with others. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John