As Moses is saying his last words to the people of Israel before he dies and they enter the promised land, he wants to make one thing perfectly clear:  The promised land is exactly that.  A promise that God will keep.  The promise is not based on the “righteousness” or “integrity” of the Israelites.  It is not based on their ability to win battles or have the largest army.  It’s not based on their possessions or livestock or population size.

Everything that the Israelites (and us) have or will have, is based on God’s grace and generosity, not our own ability to provide for ourselves.  Let’s all remember this when we are “counting our blessings”.

In today’s reading we see God making the case for why his people should live in obedience to Him. There are a few points to consider as we take a look at the Deuteronomy text. First, God is devoted to us and has chosen us. This should be something that makes us celebrate God in all His goodness. He chose us in order to make us his people. It reminds me of Colossians 3:12 “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” which let’s us know that we are a chosen people.

Secondly, God chose us not for what we have done, but for what he can do through us. The great numbers of the Israelites was not the  reason for God’s choice. It was also not because of their moral or ethical behavior. It was due to the fact that God could be glorified through them.  The reason He instructs them to “keep the commands” is so that their behavior will be known as Godly, or that of people who glorify Go with their lives. When we follow God in obedience it shows our appreciation to Him.

Lastly, God is loyal. Even though we might step away, He will not. He is in constant pursuit of us, even when we aren’t of Him. Let that be a reminder to us that daily repentance is necessary. In order to fully appreciate who God is, we must submit ourselves to Him daily. Let us pray today that our actions demonstrate our appreciation of God’s choosing us.

Psalms 68:19 HCSB

“May the Lord be praised! Day after day He bears our burdens; God is our salvation. Selah”

Just stop and think about that.  Day after day God bears our burdens.  He carries them.  He carries us through them.  He cares.  All of them.  Family, finances, sadness – all of it.  He is aware.  He is over them, in them, and under them, carrying them for us.  Our God is not merely transcendent, but immanent.  Praise God for His intimate care.

This healing occurred by faith in God’s provision, not by faith in the bronze snake. It was God who did the healing, not magic or because the people worshiped the snake.  Flash forward to John 3:14-16 and we see Jesus use this imagery as a metaphor for what is about to happen.  Just as the Israelites looked upon the snake and were healed, those who look in faith Jesus who was lifted up on the cross will be healed of their sins. Those who looked upon Him and believed in Him would have eternal life.

Thank You God!  We are grateful that your Word isn’t a bunch of disconnected stories assembled in some anthology.  Your desire for people to turn to you for healing and salvation is one of the golden threads woven throughout your entire Bible!

Proverbs 11:4, “Wealth is not profitable on a day of wrath, but righteousness rescues from death.”

We understand that everything belongs to God…

We understand that you can’t take earthly wealth into the afterlife…

We understand that “righteousness” (in this case, how we use our resources) is more important than accumulating “things”…

We understand that God wants and deserves our best (Time, Talents, Resources)…

We would love to share more with you about how God wants all of us to CONTRIBUTE to His Story and live out Proverbs 11:4.  If you haven’t been through our ELEMENTS class, be on the lookout for the next class offering and get signed up!

In today’s reading there cannot be a greater demonstration to full submission than Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane praying to his Father. Mark’s gospel demonstrates the conflicting will of Father and Son, but also the absolute surrender of Jesus’ power to the plan God had for him. Think of it–Jesus, fully knowing what was about to take place, since we was fully God and fully man, asks God if it is possible the events that were about to take place to be avoided. Is there anything so theologically complex?

But let’s not focus on theological theories for what transpired and instead focus on what we do know–Jesus submitted himself to the Father’s will even unto death.I find it had to separate the pain of the physical torture, from the torment of being separated from the Father because the weight of humanity’s sin in resting upon you. I think both of these aspects of what laid ahead for Jesus had him pleading for another way. Yet, he relented and submitted to the Father.

Let us think for ourselves today how well we submit. What is God asking of us that we need to give in to him. In comparison to the cross, does it even seem important?

“God bless you!” How often do you find yourself saying that each day? What is the context; a cordial exchange? A prayer? A sneeze? In today’s reading we see how much power there can be in God’s blessing. God tells Moses to instruct his brother, Aaron, how to bless the Children of Israel. They are to recite a saying that God gives them. Is the power in the words? No, the power is in the name. God says, “In this way they will pronounce My name of the Israelites, and I will bless them.” So, this should challenge us to ask, “Do I see power in God’s name?”

Every Monday and Thursday I spend time in prayer with either the Westwind staff, or the elder team. During these great moments we intercede on behalf of the people of Westwind. We lift up the names of the sick, those looking for jobs, marriages in trouble, and other issues that are brought before us as spiritual leaders. From time to time the list seems so overwhelming because of all the issues facing our worshipping community. It can feel like we are just presenting a “To Do” list to God. It is in times like these when I pray, “God we bring these requests to you as an act of worship. We recognize that there is no other person or god who could meet these needs. Please, see this as our humble request, recognizing that you are God and we need you.” What a humbling thing to acknowledge. In our world of self reliance, when we offer requests to the Lord we are admitting that we need His help.

When Moses shares the God-given prayer with Aaron, he is showing that they need God, just like we do, too. We need God’s blessing. We need God’s graciousness. We need His favor and peace. And how do these things come to us? By calling on His name and recognizing that He is Yahweh!

Let us recognize our need for God today and call on his NAME.

“God, within Your temple, we contemplate Your faithful love. Your name, God, like Your praise, reaches to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is filled with justice.”

The psalmist says something interesting here.  In the temple, he contemplates God’s faithful love.  And so I’ll do the same.  I see God’s love in many ways.

As I type, I am eating a cereal I love.  God is good.  It’s cheaper than the name brand but still tastes the same.  I delight in how God provides even little gifts.  My dad is visiting and it seems the Lord is doing a work in his heart.  I’ve prayed for this now 20 years.  God hears and works.  I feel better today than I have the last week.  It seems Jenni is feeling better today as well.  Another expression of God’s love.  The Lord really blessed my connection group last night.  People were very honest, open, and my mom and my dad both jumped right in.  God is so good.  I look forward to opening this passage with my kids tonight at dinner and asking them and my mom and dad to contemplate God’s various expressions of love to them.  I want to encourage you to pause, with your families if you have them, and contemplate and draw attention to and celebrate God’s manifold love for you.  Enjoy!

Ever talk to someone and notice that they aren’t really paying attention to what you are saying? Embarrassingly enough, I do this too often. I am sure it frustrates people and it makes me seem uncaring. I know when I am explaining something of interest to me to someone, and the person I am talking with doesn’t really seem to be listening, I get frustrated to the point of being perturbed. How much more so it would have been for Jesus in today’s reading when he says that he is going into Jerusalem to be tortured and punished, only to have one of his disciples say, “Teacher, we want You to do something for us if we ask You. Allow us to sit at Your right and at Your left in Your glory.” It’s like telling someone you are dying only for them to ask if they can have your stuff when you are gone. Jesus is being vulnerable with his disciples and they see this as an opportunity to find out which one of them will be his favorites. They miss the entire point.

It seems like Jesus addresses their desire for power with these words later in that chapter;

“You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles dominate them, and their men of high positions exercise power over them. But it must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be a slave to all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life—a ransom for many.”

While the disciples are almost uncaringly disregarding the fate of their Rabbi and pursuing their own individual gains, Jesus addresses what real leadership looks like–servant leadership. Not only is Jesus teaching this with his words, but every step that he takes toward Jerusalem, and his pending execution is testimony to his servant leadership to the world. What a contrast! While disciples try to buddy up to Jesus to get prestige, Jesus gathers dust on his feet that will soon be dripping with blood because of the terrible torture he will endure for his followers, and the world.

Can we learn from this? Let Westwind be a place where people don’t seek selfish gain, but become slaves to others. Let our leaders not pursue their own “domination” but be humble of heart and moved by the model of Christ (I would say even unto death). Let our passion for others always eclipse out own agendas. Let us be like Christ.

Proverbs 10:21 HCSB

“The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of sense.”

Last night I asked the parents of Grow if they feed their children.  Everyone raised their hands.  To not feed your children would be abuse.  I next challenged parents to feed their kids God’s word, opening their Bibles regularly with their children.  Jesus said that man does not live on bread alone but on every word from God (Deut. 8:3; Mt. 4:4).  There is something to be learned here.  While our bodies need physical food, our souls need spiritual food.  There is a hunger in our souls that food and sex and friendships and new apps can’t ever satisfy.  And Pr. 10:21 says that the lips of the righteous feed many.  May God feed your souls with His word and may you not keep it to yourself, but turn around and nourish someone with those life-giving truths.  Eat up, my friend.  Eat up!

I just want to take this opportunity to encourage you in your reading.  When I told Allison about no reading tomorrow, she responded with, “phew, now I can get caught up”.  We don’t want you to get all legalistic about reading EVERY verse if you are behind.  Take this day to get caught up.  If you are current with your reading, take this opportunity to read some of the other blogs that Brandon, Paul, and I have written about our readings.

If you need something else to do, send us a note to let us know how you are doing.  How is the reading going?  What’s it been doing for your faith?  Share any stories you might have about how God is working through the One Year Bible plan.  We are two full months into this and it is a blast for us to share with you our thoughts and we want to hear yours.  Drop us an email or give us a call!

In today’s reading we are challenged to keep a day “holy” by not working on it. We know that after God created the universe He rested. We shouldn’t think that God needed rest as if He were tired. Instead, He was taking time to relish in the majesty of His creation. When we are called to rest, it isn’t because God wants us to be energized for the other six days a week. We are being called to take time weekly to reflect on who God is and His wonder.

So, does the sabbath apply today? Are we supposed to take time to not work, not shop, not support those who do? To do this would miss the spirit of the sabbath. As God’s children we need to take time to reflect on his glory. We need to do this on a daily basis of course, but we also need to make sure that we taking time weekly to honor Him.

At Westwind that is why we provide a Celebration Service every week. It is an opportunity for you to take time in your hectic week to honor God. When we think that we are just “doing church” we minimize the importance of this Leviticus passage and what the sabbath represented. Our worship service is to  allow us an opportunity to give our entire focus on God. We are to push aside everything that might hinder this and focus on God’s majesty.

As our weekly schedules get more and more busy, we need to make sure we are taking time to honor God in worship, just as those who practiced a sabbath day did in the Old Testament times.

Mark 9:20–25 HCSB

“So they brought him to Him. When the spirit saw Him, it immediately convulsed the boy. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. “How long has this been happening to him?” Jesus asked his father. “From childhood,” he said. “And many times it has thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Then Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ Everything is possible to the one who believes.” Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe! Help my unbelief.” When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly coming together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you: come out of him and never enter him again!””

Twice in the same conversation, this father lays his cards on the table and shows Jesus right where he is at, saying, “But if you can do anything” and then, “I do believe! Help my unbelief.”  Though the father isn’t fully sure and though the father has less than perfect faith, he cries out to Jesus and Jesus meets him where he is at.  I can connect with this guy.  I believe and yet I struggle to believe.  I doubt all the time, but I feel so invited towards Jesus by this passage realizing Jesus is ready to work with people right where they are at.  How wonderful.

The woman’s response is beautiful… “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs”.  She understands.  She gets it.  She knows what Jesus is all about.  But she also appeals to Jesus’ love and grace for of God’s children.  And Jesus responds with, “…you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter”

But the story does not end there.  After another healing (of a deaf man with speech difficulties) Jesus has compassion on a crowd (Gentiles) of people that have been following Him for three days.  What does He start feeding this large group of people (the “dogs” of 7:27-28)?  Bread.  It looks like the woman’s request in verse 28 is fulfilled.

What an amazing look into the heart of Jesus…

In today’s reading we are warned of the danger of placing our own religious practices above God. The Pharisees, it trying to prove that Jesus and his disciples were a rebellious bunch, point out the fact the they were not practicing a Jewish tradition that the pious of that day enforced. They were placing religious tradition over the teaching of God. This angered Jesus, as it should, as he saw those who called themselves spiritual using their spiritual influence to misdirect people’s attentions away from God and more toward a man-made spirituality.

How dangerous we can become if we spiritualize small groups, or 40-Day Bible campaigns, or dress codes to worship. All these can be an expression of worship, but non of these should be placed into “law”. When Jesus, in the Gospel of Matthew, said “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” He was saying that these are THE most important things. Followers of him are to be set in that direction toward worship. To illustrate that he adds, “all the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.” This means that the accumulation of the the Old Testament is to get people to love God and others. Any thing outside of this is an addition that must be seen as such.

The reason people tend to make their own rules when it comes to worship is because it is easier to go through the check list of what worship is (sang the song, stood up, dressed appropriately, etc) instead of face the heart issue inside. I wonder how many Americas enter into a church on a weekend and never really worship God. However, in their minds they are worshipping because they meet the manmade criteria for worship.

Let’s be mindful of this every day as we enter the presence of God–He cares about our hearts.

Mark 6:31–32

“He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest a while.” For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. So they went away in the boat by themselves to a remote place,”

It seems only right that they needed a break.  Everyone needs margins.  Jesus gets that and lovingly takes them off the frontlines.  Yet the sentence that began in verse 32 isn’t quite finished…

Mark 6:33–34 HCSB

“but many saw them leaving and recognized them. People ran there by land from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. So as He stepped ashore, He saw a huge crowd and had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then He began to teach them many things.”

How do you know when you are going too hard and need a break?  How can you be sure that the rest you “need” isn’t merely an excuse to get your kids to bed and out of your hair so that you can put the next Redbox in?  Jesus had compassion for people and could be interrupted when it wasn’t convenient.  He wasn’t a workaholic.  He created the Sabbath because we would need it.  May God help us find the tender balance between the ditches of laziness and workaholism.

In today’s reading we see how God’ glory cannot be manipulated for our own benefit. Aaron, the leader of God’s chosen holy people (the Levites) was in charge of presenting the people’s offering to the Lord. It would have been an amazing, and somewhat terrifying ceremony, filled with blood and guts. As Aaron had the sacrifice prepared, following the rules handed down by God through Moses would have been very important. Aaron, understanding God’s holiness, would have followed every word of direction; and because of this “fire came from the LORD and consumed the burnt offering.” The result of this was that people fell down and worship the Lord. Aaron’s obedience brought about a supernatural act from the Lord that led to people glorifying God.

Enter Aaron’s sons. Seeing the power and awesomeness of this event, Nadab and Abihu try to become part of these event by capturing their own fire and presenting it to the Lord in an unauthorized manner. The result of which is that God brings down fire to consume them.

So, what can we take from this? I think there are two distinct messages that come from this passage. First, God is holy and his holiness cannot be altered or diminished. We must be mindful that we serve the a holy God, one that is always 100% holy and because of that he cannot be in the presence of unholiness. We must be wise to remember Samuel’s words “There is no one holy like the LORD” (1 Samuel 2:2).

Secondly, we must always check out motives when it comes to worshipping God. Nadab and Abihu we looking for personal gain or an association with God’s power that was to benefit them, and not to worship God. What are our motives when it comes to worship. Do we think that if we pray for something that God should answer it? Do we think if we go to church, our lives should be suffering free? If you think like that, then you are trying to manipulate God’s power like Aaron’s son’s. Let us remember that God will be glorified before all people because of what he has done, and not for what we have gotten him to do.

Let us pray today for a spirit of humility and true worship as we be our offerings (our lives) before God.

1. Know God. “In all your ways, know Him, and He will direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:6)
2. Ask God. “If anyone lacks wisdom let him ask God.” (James 1:5). For we do not know what to pray, but “the Spirit Himself intercedes for us”-helping us in our weaknesses. (Romans 8:26) The Spirit knows perfectly the mind and will and power of God. Our prayers are unstoppable when we pray according to His will. (1 John 5:14-15)
3. Pray like Christ. Pray His kingdom would come and His will would be done on earth. Consider all the places where His Name is not worshiped. Pray for these places. Pray for God to send out workers into the harvest. Pray for the gospel to go forth like an unquenchable wildfire.
4. Pray for light to shine in dark places. “For God who said, ‘let light shine out of darkness’, made His light shine into our hearts to give us the light of the gospel.” (2 Corinthians 4:6). Pray those who are blind would see and that those in darkness would be drawn to the light.
5. Pray for good news to reach the poor, healing to come to the broken-hearted, freedom to come to the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners. (Isaiah 61:1). Pray for Christ to be glorified and the Spirit of the Lord to set them free. (2 Corinthians 3:17)
6. Remember. Don’t forget our brothers and sisters at work in the world. We can help them by our prayers. Pray that Christ might “meet all their needs according to the riches of His supply in Christ.” (Phil 4:19). Pray that God’s strong arm would support them and that the joy of the Lord would be their (and our) strength. Pray especially for those suffering for the sake of the gospel.
7. Release power. Our prayers are powerful and effective for the removal of strongholds. “A wise man has great power and a man of understanding increases strength. For waging war you need guidance and for victory many advisors.” (Proverbs 24:5-6)
8. Pray Together. Encourage one another so we don’t lose heart or give up praying. “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their work…though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not easily broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9, 12). Jesus said “pray at all times and don’t lose heart.” (Luke 18:1)
9. Pray now. If we wait until we have finished praying for everything else, we will never pray for a lost world. While we are praying for others -God will “accomplish all things concerning us.” (Psalm 57:2).
10. Pray big. “Ask of me and I will give you the nations as your inheritance.” (Psalms 2:8). Nothing is impossible with God.