Sunday's Coming

So I’m sitting here in Lock Haven, PA enjoying a great cup of coffee at Avenue 209 on an absolutely gorgeous Wednesday.  While sitting here, inspiration has hit and there is something that I just have to write about right now.  We are in the middle of Holy Week, the week prior to Easter.  Well, my mind was wandering this morning and I suddenly remembered a phrase that one of my favorite professors in college would use.  The class was Introduction to the Gospels taught by none other than Dr. Weatherly.  I think the quote is significant, especially for this week and what this week represents.  While we would be discussing the Gospels, Dr. Weatherly would regularly reference something that wasn’t positive.  Then he would go on to say, “It’s Friday...but SUNDAY’S COMING!”  This thought and statement has stuck with me through out the years since I finished his class and for some reason it is strongly on my mind right now.  Do you get what he was saying?  Man that is a powerful thought.  As we go into this weekend in which we remember the death of Christ on Friday, it is very important to remember also that Sunday is coming!  The death of Christ was a horrible thing, yet it means nothing without Sunday.  If Christ didn’t rise from the dead, then Friday would have just been a bad day, and Sunday would have meant nothing.

This statement also is a great reminder for us throughout the rest of the year as well.  What I mean by that is it has a future hope in it as well.  Yes, it fits for the past and what we remember on Easter weekend, but let this though sink in your mind for a minute.  The struggles you are going through in this life, the difficulties you have in your everyday life, the good times and the bad are not always positive.  It’s Friday, if you will.  But we have a hope for the future, a hope for eternity.  Because we believe in Christ and strive to have a relationship with him, we have God’s promise of eternal life to look forward too.  In other words, SUNDAY’S COMING! for all of us.  Who knows how long we will have to suffer through this Friday of a world we live in, but Sunday is coming!  Keep the faith, trust in God and keep fighting that good fight because SUNDAY IS COMING!

Day 16 Joshua 1-14

Reading today was so refreshing. We finally got to more of a narrative, although reading (actually skimming) through the Law was interesting, it is a lot easier to read when it is more of a story...at least for me! The book of Joshua has always been very interesting to me. We get to see Israel, a nation that 40 years before, was completely in captivity, just completely destroying any country that got in it's way...that's some pretty cool stuff. But we also get to see the walls of a very fortified city just crumbling away and on another occasion the sun completely standing still for an entire day.

Some of the major events that I wanted to point out about this reading is we see some things repeated that we saw at the beginning of the Exodus story. First, we have the Jordan river crossing on dry ground just as we had the Red Sea crossing. And the Jordan was not just a tiny little stream either. It was at flood stage meaning it was a massive river at the time

We also see Joshua being told to take off his sandals because he was on holy ground just as we saw with Moses and the burning bush. We also see Israel forgetting to follow God on a number of occasions and we see them suffer the consequences of that.

There are two things, however, during the first two chapters that I feel are the most important things to point out. In chapter 1 verses 6-9, we see God's promise and encouragement to Joshua. A number of times, He tells Joshua to "be strong and courageous". I wonder how many times He has tried to tell me that and I didn't listen...my guess is that it has happened a lot.

The other thing I want to point out is how time and time again God uses people of "insignificance" to do His most important work. We had Moses in Exodus saying that he wasn't the right man for the job and later on we will see many other examples of that as well. But in this story, it is Rahab the prostitute that is used to hide the spies in chapter 2. You see, all God needs is someone that is willing to listen to Him and He can and will do the rest.

This thought came to mind while I was reading the text for today and writing this blog so I will end it with this. God often uses people of "insignificance" to do the most significant parts of His plan. Don't let your "insignificance" in society make you think God can't use you! Just be willing to let Him work through you and He'll do the rest!

Day 12 Numbers 21:8-32:19

This was an interesting read again today. There was more of a story so it was a little bit easier to read. There were some very familiar stories but none as familiar and interesting to me as Balaam's donkey. What a strange story. Here is a guy that is being asked to curse the Israelites and he will not do it, although he starts to travel to the person that is asking him to curse them. He's riding his donkey and all of the sudden his donkey turns off the path. So he beats the donkey back onto the path and just a little later the donkey crushes his foot up against the wall. So, again he beats the donkey. They continue on until finally the donkey just lays down on the path. Balaam is furious and starts beating the donkey again, until the donkey starts to speak. That's where this story started getting a little strange. Have you ever seen a talking donkey? I guess that shouldn't be too weird seeing how we saw a talking snake on day 1 of B90X. It's not until Balaam's eyes are opened to what's in front of him that he finally understands and likes what the donkey was doing. The donkey basically saved his life.

All to often, I think we are like Balaam. We have something happen to us that we don't really like and we don't see any reason for it to be happening, so we get mad or frustrated about it. What we don't realize is that we don't see the full reasoning behind it. God might be setting us up for something better or we might just not get God's plan for our lives at all. If our eyes were ever fully opened, my guess is that we would be very thankful for the same acts that were making us mad or frustrated.

Numbers 8-21

Sorry about not blogging every day this week. It has been kinda crazy around here. Plus, while there is always something we can learn from any Scripture, it was hard to really come up with things to point out about Leviticus other than being thankful we're not under the law.

Numbers has some interesting stories in it though. From the ground opening up and swallowing people whole to a plague running through the Israelite camp to a large group of venomous snakes there is a lot of action. Two things really stuck out to me though.

The first is that the Israelites are a bunch of whiners. When things got hard, they cried about it and said it would have been better to either stay in Egypt or die with everyone else. At the same time, I have a hard time calling them too much of a whiner since I feel like we tend to do the same things. Not that we constantly say that it would be better if we had died but when things get tough or don't go our way, we tend to complain or whine.

The other thing that really stuck out to me was the fact that time after time, God was fed up with this group of people that just constantly whined about everything and He was ready to destroy them all. But each and every time that happened, Moses and Aaron stepped in and begged God to forgive the people. I find this hugely significant. This is definitely, in my opinion, a foreshadowing of things to come. I picture Jesus doing the exact same thing for us. When we screw up and God is not happy with us, Jesus steps in and takes the blame for us. That's why He died on the cross. If we have a relationship with Him, He takes our blame! That's exciting stuff, and I think you all should at least be starting to see that everything in the entire Bible points to one event--> The coming of Christ, His ministry, death, burial and Resurrection...in other words-->THE CROSS!

First Day of Leviticus

So it's been a couple days since I have posted on here. I am still on pace with reading but I discovered something this weekend. I will probably not be taking the time over the weekends to be writing on here unless it is something that is very important.

So on with what I found interesting in Monday's reading. This post will actually be really short because the one thing that I want to point out is very simple. After starting to read through the laws, I am so thankful that we are under the blood of Christ and not under the law anymore! Thank you God for your Son and His sacrifice because I don't think I could handle the law! Thank you for the freedom we have in Christ!

Day 5 Exodus 1-15:18

Man, Genesis went by really quick. I was really excited to start reading Exodus today. Especially the part that we read, because it is so full of really interesting information. So because of that, I have a feeling that this might be one of the longer blogs, at least for now.

First of all we start out with two women that fear God more that Pharaoh. They ignore Pharaoh's order to kill all the Hebrew male babies at birth and because of that, God blesses them by giving them families of their own.

We then see the birth of one of the most well known men of the Bible. Many of you are probably somewhat familiar with the life of Moses, but there is some really interesting stuff that I'm guessing most of you probably haven't heard before. The first part that I would like to point out from the life of Moses is the "basket" that he is placed in and hidden in the Nile in. I remember from my time at CCU, I took a class called "Old Testament History". The professor in that class blew my mind when we got to this section because of what he told us about this basket. Other places say that it could have been other things, but I remember vividly the day that our professor explained that most likely the "basket" that was used in this story was actually more like a coffin. Moses, as a child, was laid in a coffin and sent down the Nile. God drew him out of the Nile and gave him a life with the daughter of Pharaoh. I just think the imagery there is incredible.

Later in chapter 2, we find out that even though Moses grew up as a son of Pharaoh's daughter, he knew that he was part of the Hebrew people. I don't know if that was because Pharaoh's daughter told him this or he could just tell because of his appearance, but he knew when he grew up that his people were the Hebrews. We also see that after he fled Egypt, Moses did marry and have children.

Chapter 3 is really really exciting. Moses gets to meet God face-to-face...kinda. I have always liked the "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground..." from 3:5. I have often thought of adopting a practice of anytime I am speaking about the word of God either in a youth group lesson or preaching in a Sunday morning service of actually taking my shoes off...just to make me remember while doing that that I am speaking and teaching on the Holy word of God.

We also see where Moses just completely argues with God's call in his life to go back and lead His people out of Egypt. We see excuse after excuse from Moses, and it's easy to think how silly Moses is being in not listening to God. But really think about how often have you done the same thing in your life. How often have you been given the chance to do something for God and you make excuses for why you shouldn't do that. I know I did that for years before I finally realized and accepted that God was calling me into ministry. The cool thing in Exodus is that God continued to try to use Moses even after excuse after excuse was given.

I thought it was really interesting that when Moses returned to Egypt that he was 80 years old. Actually it is really easy to divide Moses life into 3 sections. He flees Egypt when he is 40 years old, he returns and leads the people out when he is 80, he wanders in the desert for 40 years and then dies when he is 120...of course we have a few more days before we get to the death of Moses. Just thought I would throw that out to you now though.

Now we get to the really exciting stuff from this section of reading...the Plagues. Before I get into the plagues, I want to point something out. God hardened Pharaoh's heart. God did not want Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go easily because he knew that Pharaoh would quickly change his mind. God wanted to destroy Egypt and weaken it greatly in the Exodus of His people. He also wanted to let the whole world know that He truly was God and that He was really powerful. 9:16 states, "But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth".

I am not going to go into a detailed description of each plague or any event that takes place during the plagues. But the way the plagues happen and all the miracles that Moses and Aaron performed in front of Pharaoh and even the location of the crossing of the Red Sea, one theme surrounds it all. All of these things are a direct attack of the different god's of Egypt. Each plague represented something that a god of Egypt was supposed to control. The crossing of the Red Sea was also done in the sight of the altar or temple to the Egyptian god that controlled the sea. God specifically used all of these plagues to show that He was more powerful then any Egyptian god and that He actually existed.

Today was a really interesting read and I hope it was for you too. Any questions just ask.

Day 4 Genesis 40:12 -50: Actual thoughts

Right at the end of chapter 40 we see that even though Joseph had interpreted these dreams correctly, the cupbearer forgot to actually get him out of prison for helping him. It wasn't until Pharaoh needed a dream interpreted that Joseph was actually thought of.

I thought is was cool that just because Joseph was able to interpret a dream that Pharaoh believed that Joseph was blessed by God. It was this blessing that allowed Joseph to become the second most powerful man in all of Egypt.

The meeting in 42:7 had to be intense. Here is Joseph, the second most powerful man in all of Egypt now, seeing the brothers that sold him into slavery years ago for the very first time. I don't see how he didn't just completely go off on them. The fact that they couldn't recognize him would have made it even easier for him just to take his revenge without them even knowing it. But we see in chapter 45 why Joseph didn't take revenge. It was because he realized that God was the one that sent him to Egypt to put him in the position he was in now to save his people from the severe famine that was going on. He doesn't hold a grudge against his brothers because he understands that God used them to fulfill His over all plan.

Between chapters 42 and 45 there is one thing, however, that really stuck out. Joseph mentions divination a lot. Later, we will see that the law prohibits this kind of act, but for now, Joseph, a man of God, practices divination. I just thought that was interesting.

In chapter 46, we see God speaking directly to Jacob (Israel) and telling him that it is His plan for Israel to go to Egypt. It is His plan for him to see his son Joseph, whom he believed had died many years before this. It is His plan for Joseph to close the eyes of his father when his father Israel dies. That has to be a major comforting statement for the now old Israel; to find out that your son you thought was dead is still alive and that you know you will definitely get to see him again.

In chapter 47, we find the same kind of position for an oath that we found earlier in Genesis. Again, it was just really a culture thing.

I thought it was interesting that the area that Jacob buried Rachel in was actually in Bethlehem.

In chapter 48, we see another occurrence of a younger son being blessed above the first born, which was completely against the culture of the time. But for some reason, that was a theme throughout this book.

In chapter 50, it was cool to see in writing how long it actually took to embalm someone in Egypt. I had no idea that it took 40 days

And finally, we see Joseph again trying to forgive his brothers.

Happy reading!

Day 4 Genesis 40:12 through the end of Genesis

I have finished the reading for today, but I do not have time right now to write a full blog on it. Expect it sometime either late this evening or early tomorrow morning. Peace to you and let me know if you have any questions.

Day 3 Genesis 28:20-40:11

Chapter 30 is really cool if you look at it in the sense that we actually just got to read about and witness the birth of an entire nation. The twelve sons of Jacob are the original twelve tribes of Israel and we see them all born right here in front of us. History has just unfolded in front of our very eyes!.

Chapter 32, Jacob thinks his brother Esau is still going to be furious with him, so he prepares to meet him. I think I would be scared to meet the brother that I tricked out of his birthright and his blessing and the brother that was plotting to kill me just a few chapters before. Yes, Jacob had been gone for over 20 years, but I can understand why Jacob was preparing to meet Esau.

Also in chapter 32, we have the famous "Jacob Wrestles with God" story. I really have always like this story. The fact that Jacob wrestles with Him all night is a pretty cool image, although I know I could never last that long physically wrestling with God. But how many times do we wrestle with God over His will for our lives and what we actually want to do? I know I seem to constantly come under that stress of wrestling with God. That's why I love this story, because it's a metaphor for our own struggles with God that actually don't even need to exist. Also, as I pointed out yesterday, we see a huge name change take place in this chapter as well. Jacob is now given the name of Israel and we start to really see the formation of a nation.

In chapter 33, we read one of the most beautiful passages in the OT, at least in my opinion. I never really thought about how beautiful it was until one of my Bible college professors pointed out what Jacob's 7 bows to Esau as Esau approached actually meant. You see, Jacob really thought that his brother was coming to kill him, as we discussed above. Jacob's bow and the number of bows is very significant here. I don't remember the exact position one would be in with this type of bow, but it basically presented a very easy and accessible kill shot to Esau. Basically Jacob gave his brother 7 opportunities to kill him. The beautiful thing is that Esau didn't kill him, he forgave him, just like God forgives our sin even though we know we don't deserve to be forgiven.

We find in chapter 34 that Jacob's sons were very vicious and very protective of their sister. I would not have wanted to make them angry.

In Chapter 38 we find another man, just like Lot, being deceived and getting a relative pregnant. But in this case, the woman, Tamar, was actually doing the socially correct thing. In this time period, if a husband were to die before giving his wife children, his brother was to take his place and get his brother's wife pregnant. Well Judah, after losing two sons, decided to not allow this to happen again. But Tamar knew what was going on and was able to get herself pregnant by Judah, her father-in-law.

What stuck out to you? Are you keeping up with the reading or are you getting slowed down on it already? Are you learning anything new?

Genesis 17 through 28

Well we're on day 2. Just as I was afraid, life is already trying to get in my way of reading but I was able to finish todays, just not when I wanted to. There is some exciting stuff that takes place in these chapters that we are looking at today, so I will briefly share what I stood out to me or things that I think are significant. I have already gotten some great questions from yesterdays readings so please ask. Just because I don't mention something doesn't mean it isn't worth asking about. Different stuff will stick out to you than will stick out to me. Ask if you have questions, comment on what I am pointing out or both. This is for all of us to grow in our understanding and in our love for God and His word.

Chapter 17 is a very cool chapter to me. Yes, it is also a painful chapter to read as it talks about circumcision, but that's beside the point. The part that is very cool to me is the name changes that take place in this chapter. God changes Abram's name to Abraham and changes Sarai's name to Sarah. Just that might not be that exciting or cool. But the reasoning behind it is very cool. You see, this is not the only time we are going to see God changing someone's name throughout our reading over the next 3 months. In fact, in the next couple of days we are going to see at least one more name change, but I'll mention that when we get there. The reason I think the name changes make this chapter cool is because of what the name changes mean or signify. When God changes the name of someone or something in the Bible, it never fails that He does something great with that person's life. God changes names because God changes people. Let's briefly look at Abraham and Sarah. They are the parents of an entire nation! I would say that is something great! They also become parents and the young age of (Abraham) over 100 and (Sarah) over 90. I would say God had something great planned for them in their lives.

Chapters 18 and 19 are really exciting as well. Abraham meets 3 visitors, one of which turns out to be God and the other two turn out to be angels of God. He gets to meet these three "people" face to face. Wow! That would be really cool and really scary at the same time. We also see Abraham pleading to God for the salvation of an evil city for the sake of 10 people. This really shows Abraham's heart for people as well as for his relative Lot, who is living in Sodom. God agrees to spare Sodom if there are only 10 righteous people found in the city. When the angels of God arrive in Sodom, it is clear that there are not 10 righteous to be found. The men of the city basically try to rape the "men" (angels) that have just come into the city. Lot and his family are spared, at least those who are smart enough to listen. His daughters future husbands don't believe Lot and Lot's wife looks back, probably longing after the city, and turns into a pillar of salt. That leaves only Lot and his two daughters that make it completely out of Sodom and Gomorrah alive. You would think this would be because they are righteous people, but then we read that Lot's daughters are so desperate to have children and keep the family going, that twice they get their father drunk and each become pregnant by him. Whoever said the Bible was dull?

Something I didn't point out yesterday was Abraham saying that Sarah was his sister in Egypt instead of his wife. Well he does that again in chapter 20. Does he not learn? Well I can't really say much. I can't tell you how many times it has taken me multiple times of making the same mistake before I finally learned. This must be a family problem because Isaac makes the same mistake with the same king later on in today's reading.

Chapter 22 is another exciting and hard to comprehend chapter. There is also a lot of "foreshadowing" in this chapter. If you don't understand foreshadowing, ask and I will explain it to you. Abraham is called to sacrifice his one and only son to God. What sticks out to me greatly in this story is Abraham's answer to Isaac's question about where the offering was. Verse 8 reads, "Abraham answered, 'God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering my son.' and the two of them went on together". That had to be so hard to say for Abraham. Here he was, getting ready to sacrifice his own son, and he tells Isaac that God will provide. Wow! And you know what, God provided!

In chapter 24, I have a feeling that some of you will be confused by the "put your hand under my thigh" comment from Abraham in verse 2. That is simply one of the ways they made oaths during this time period.

Isaac marries a relative (which was normal back then) and Rebekah gives him twin boys. Esau was the first born and Jacob came out right after Esau. This would mean that Esau should get the birthright and the blessing from his father. Both are taking away from him by his brother Jacob and this causes a lot of family stress (we will see that even more in tomorrow's reading). God tells Isaac and Rebekah that their twins will become two nations and that the older will serve the younger.

The last thing I really want to point out from today's reading is what Esau did to get back at his father for giving away his birthright and his blessing. He knew that Isaac did not approve of his sons marrying Canaanite women, so he goes to Ishmael, his father's brother, who was a Canaanite, and marries one of his relatives. That is spiteful, but I guess when your brother ruins your chance at getting a blessing, that is a logical response.

What stuck out to you?

B90X reading plan

Click on the image and it will redirect you to another page where you can read it all.

Genesis 1 through Genesis 16

Well Day 1 of B90X is well under way. I hope you have found it as interesting and refreshing as I have. It was great digging into God's word! There are a few things that have really stuck out to me in reading today. So what follows is what I have found interesting and then I look forward to your discussion and questions about that.

Right from the start, I love that the Bible starts with the assumption of God's existence. There is never a moment in which His existence is ever really questioned in this book. Genesis 1 is the account of creation from the beginning of the world, and it starts with, "In the beginning God...". It shows us God from the start.

Not only does it show us God from the start, but it also shows us God as the Trinity from the start. I am not going to get into a discussion about how the Trinity exists because I really don't know how to explain it. No where in the OT is the Trinity named. But right from the start in Genesis 1, the Trinity is described. Verse 2 mentions the Spirit of God. Later in 1:26 it states, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness...". Again, in 3:22, this same kind of speech is found that shows us the existence of the Trinity right from the start of creation.

I love the short story of Enoch in the genealogy found in chapter 5. Enoch is the first person (and only 1 of 2) that we are told that never dies. He is also described as walking with God. Could you imagine getting to physically walk with God on this earth. That would be so much fun! Verse 24 of chapter 5 states, "Enoch walked with god; then he was no more, because God took him away". WOW!

Another thing that really stuck out to me is something that I don't think I had ever realized before. I know I have read this part before, but this had never dawned on me. Methuselah, who is the person that lived the longest on this earth at the age of 969, is actually the grandfather of Noah, who built the ark. I don't know why, but that is just a really cool fact to me, and one that might show up on Bible Baseball sometime in Sunday school (hint).

Now in chapter 6 is the first time I get to something that is really a little challenging to describe or even understand. I actually tried to do a little research on this as well, and I don't feel too bad about not being able to explain it because there is still a lot of debate on what these people that are mentioned really are. 6:2 talks about the "sons of God" marrying the "daughters of men". Some would argue that these "sons of God" are actually sons of kings and some even argue that they are angels. I don't know what they are, but I will be trying to get a little more info on them. The other group that is mentioned in chapter 6 are found in verse 4. "The Nephilim...". This is a cool group. From all the research that I could do today on this group, one thing is made clear. THESE WERE HUGE MEN! Or better yet, they were people of great size and strength. The Hebrew word means 'fallen ones.' They were viewed by people as 'the heroes of old, men of renown,' but in God's eyes they were sinners ripe for judgement. I know this might sound a little strange, but these "Nephilim" sound like characters right out of the "Lord of the Ring" movies to me.

There are two really cool things that I want to point out about the flood narrative found in chapter 7. First, the fact is that there were actually more than just two of every animal found on the ark. Some animals there was up to 7 pairs on the ark. Don't believe me? Go look back at 7:2 and read that real close again. The second thing I want to point out here is about the rain. Up until the day the rain started for the flood, it had never rained on the earth. Could you imagine the fear of the people of Noah's day when all of the sudden water starts falling from the sky. Up until this day, the plants of the ground had been watered by a gentle mist and springs from the ground.

One last thing, and then I'll let you all start posting, I hope. Do you realize that before the flood, all of creation was vegetarian? In the creation account, God tells Adam and Eve that they may eat from any tree or plan in the garden (except for a couple) but eating animals was never mentioned...until chapter 9. In 9:3, God states, "Everything that lives and moves will be food for you just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything". I guess that's one of the great things that came out of the flood along with the promise that God would never destroy the earth again like He had just done!

Well there you have it. There is what really stuck out to me on this first day of B90X. I hope you have enjoyed this as much as I have. Please ask any questions you have or discuss how you see things. God bless and keep reading!

B90X

Over the next 90 days, a majority, if not all of my posts will be somehow related to a new program that The Point Ministry at Blanchard Church of Christ is running. This program is called B90X and is a reading plan in which we will read through the entire Bible in just 90 days! I'm really excited about this but I also know that this will be a challenge some days. I plan on most days of posting about something new or something that God is teaching me through this exercise. This blog is a place where anyone doing this program with us can come and read what I'm thinking, ask questions about something they don't understand, or discuss how they are feeling through this. It actually started today, so I will be posting shortly about Genesis 1-16, which was the reading for today. Please join us over the next 90 days as we dig into God's word in an intense yet productive reading plan.

Kraig