Forty days. A few stories in the Bible use forty days to indicate a period of
testing and fasting. Moses was in the mount 40 days to receive the Law. (Exodus
24:18) Elijah, after an angelic meal, fasted 40 days on a journey to Mount Horeb.
(1 Kings 19:8) Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness as he began his public
ministry. (Matthew 4:2) In the 40 days leading to Easter, Christians around the
world will use the time to reflect on their spiritual journey of faith. It will
be a time of prayer and fasting and awareness of what it means to be disciples.
It will take us on a remembrance of the events that transpired in that final
week before the resurrection. Then we will rejoice in the moment the stone was
rolled away for us, so we could see the tomb was empty, and know that Jesus was
alive forevermore.
The concept of time is a curious subject. In Ecclesiastes 3:3 there is "a time
to break down, and a time to build up." Most of the contrasts made in v 2-8
verses are a ying-yang completion of the other. They appear to be opposites, but
are, in fact, two pieces of a whole. What we are witnessing today is a time when
the current civilization is breaking down to make space for a new paradigm of
earth to build up. The new paradigm is one where humans live in cooperation and
peace with each other for a common good. The rugged individualism is being
supplanted by community. We are finally realizing we are different parts of a
whole and that we need each other, and are all in this together. Jesus says
"Love your enemies." He helps us understand to love our neighbor means embracing
those who do not look or act or think as we do --the part of us we still don't
understand. Radical stuff to be sure. Yet the Spirit within us radiates an
unconditional love that we know is true. Now the question is, will we walk in
step with it or not?
The guestbook is working again. I had to re-install the files but it appears to be working correctly. If you have any issues when you try to use it, please send me an email to let me know.
The children's sermon The Tempest is a
favorite of mine because it addresses how we deal with fear. At the beginning of
a new year we have a time to reflect on the past year and look forward with
anticipation to a new one. This may cause is to think about how we are going to
stretch beyond our comfort zone into the unknown. Many will make resolutions,
whether they intend to keep them or not, because so many others are going
through the motions of doing the same thing. Others will be more serious and set
their plans and goals in writing with specific dates to meet them. In this
process, a sense of uneasiness and tension usually develops when we face the
unknown future. It is as if a storm develops in our minds, with raging waves
tossing us around, and strong winds blowing water in our boats -- those places
we feel safest.
The Psalmist has at least two psalms that describe how the Lord is ruler of the
storms that come our way, and can calm them at will. Psalm 89:9 is one. Another
is Psalm 107:29 "He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are
still." How often do we find ourselves in trouble and falling into the "fear
factor?" Why do we cling to our fears instead of releasing them with love and
embracing the faith of what we hope for? The strength of our spiritual growth
can be measured by how long it takes us to move
from fear to faith. As I stated in the children's sermon
Peter Walks on Water, God has to take the
storm out of us before he takes us out of the storms of life. In 2012, make it
your plan to "walk by faith, not by sight" as you trust Jesus in each moment,
knowing that he cares for you more than you can possibly imagine.
The site has been updated for faster loading and has a live RSS Feed. Update your
bookmarks to change the file extension from .htm to .php for pages to be found.
PHP stands for "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor." PHP is a server side scripting
language like ASP (contrasted to a client side language like HTML). The RSS Feed
is available on the home page, the guestbook, and this blog. You may subscribe
to any or all of them to keep up with changes on the site. Enough geek
talk -- more updates to improve the site will follow.
I am glad to see so many visitors using the new mailing list form. The
other list is a double opt in form and more secure, but a lot of folks just
don't want to have to respond to an email just to be added. So now this new
form has been used many times in the first few days. It is currently on the
home page but may be added to other pages soon. Another improvement coming
soon will be an RSS Feed on this blog and the home page so visitors can
easily know when new content has been added.
I received a nice compliment today. The young woman from Russia remarked
that my demeanor was calm and peaceful and she struggled to describe
something she felt in the air around me. What she experienced was the
presence of Christ consciousness within me - an aura of love and healing
energy being radiated to my surroundings. The fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
temperance: against such there is no law. (Galatians
5:22) Do not hide your love away, rather give it away. Let it shine,
radiate, glow. Others will be drawn to its warmth. The mystery is Christ in you
(Colossians
1:27) It's not a secret anymore.
In
John 13:34 Jesus gave us a "new commandment" to love one another as he loves
us. He loves us unconditionally. It may be easy to love your friends and family,
but what about your enemies? Ouch. Do you tune into the hatred by listening to
corporate-controlled media? The war for your mind is on as well as your soul.
Every time you give into the constant fear and victimhood you get a little
sicker -- physically, your immunity is attacked by those negative thoughts.
Every time you poison your thoughts with hatred your spiritual vitality is
weakened. Ponder for a minute what you allowed into your heart and mind today.
Did you listen to stories of division: divisions among humanity by race,
religion, ethnicity, nationalism, gender, political affiliation? How did you
respond? In love or fear? Do you feel more divided, or "made perfect in one?" (John
17:23) The answer lies in following the new commandment: to love one
another. Transformed minds generate positivity, pure, unconditional love.
Transformed hearts vibrate with it. Find your connectedness and oneness with
your Creator and love one another today, now, in this moment.
Today is the Feast of Tabernacles for
those who follow holy days in the Bible. It was a time when the community of
believers came together to recognize their connection as a people of faith. They
remembered how God preserved them as they wandered in the wilderness to bring
them to the blessings of a new home. Have you stopped today to count your
blessings? Do you have a grateful heart for what God has in store for you? Do
you recognize that the new home in your heart is where God is building a "home
that will last," not a temporary dwelling? Do you appreciate that a shack in
God's kingdom is worth more than a millionaire's mansion in this world? Open
your heart to the visitor at your gate and radiate the love that Jesus so
abundantly gives you each moment.
I have received this request for used Bibles from a Christian brother:
Dear my friend Brother Jim.
Greetings in the mighty name of our Lord and savior Christ Jesus believing that
you and you family you are all fine and strong in the faith. I have been busy in
the rural homes reaching people there with the gospel and following up those who
are new in the fellowship. There is need for the bibles and I and with your
help, I have been encouraging many believers and new converts with the deeper
truth. All in all our friends who have accepted Jesus Christ are crying out for
bibles. Bibles in any condition, shape or version will help no matter how old it
is. The people here are very poor and will gladly accept used bibles. People are
in hunger for God’s word any bible is a thrill to own.
Please post used bibles to me at the address : WILLIAM ONYANGO OKOLA,
P.O. BOX 6209 ELDORET 30100 KENYA. Used bibles you have at home, used
bibles from the friends or anywhere I will appreciate your kindness. Contribute
a gift that I will forward to our friends here in rural home. Please thank you
and looking forward to hear from you soon.
In Christ William.
In the Judeo Christian world today is Yom Kippur (dusk Friday to dusk Saturday)
or the "day of atonement." The children's sermon
Scapegoat tells the story. Have you ever
known a time when you could forgive others but had a hard time forgiving
yourself? This story is about allowance: allowance for others and making
allowance for our own shortcomings. It was a makeover. Once a year the
congregation asked God to wipe the slate clean and got a new start. Two goats
were used -- one killed for an offering (a Christ pre-figure) and Azazel (pronounced az-aw-ZALE)
meaning goat of departure. That goat had a crimson ribbon tied to its head
(representing the sin) and was led outside the camp, never to be allowed back
in. It was the scapegoat that carried the sins away. Are you still carrying any
baggage that you should let go? If you want to receive the forgiveness of God,
then make allowance for yourself and forgive yourself the same as you forgive
others - perfectly. Then the "at-one-ment" of experiencing the oneness with
Christ will flow into your life.
It is probably no surprise that the United States is ranked #1 on visitors to
this site. You are probably not even a surprised that the United Kingdom is #2. After that,
you will see a lot of Hispanic-speaking countries. In fact, eight of the top
fifteen countries have Spanish as the primary language. THAT may surprise you, but it
shouldn't since these children's sermons have a Spanish translation. Here is the
ranking of the Top 15 countries in the past six months:
There is a sane
reason it took me this long to start a blog. I refused to get swallowed up
by the electronic digital vortex of sweet nothingness. I make no promises of
how often I will add posts here, but will try to make what is done here
worthwhile.
Site updates: The guestbook is now fully integrated within the site and
has a stronger "bot" protection to keep spammers out. I've created a
Facebook Fan page for those who don't know what a guest book is anymore :-)
The site is also friendly to mobile phone users -- try it, especially on the
list of sermons page that is text-only for mobile phone users.
