THE GLORY OF GOD

Don't you just love those sparkly women's blouses which are so popular today? Take a common fabric like a light jersey blend, add some colored sequins or other bling, and voila.....instant party! Such dazzle used to be reserved for expensive evening wear but now t-shirts sprinkled with glimmer and glitz can brighten up the most ordinary of days and occasions.

 On pondering the appeal of this shimmering daily wear, I can't help but think it has something to do with our inner spirit. There is a longing in each of us to stand out a little, to shine, to feel special and yes even regal. It is the same inherent wellspring which causes every little girl to yearn to be a princess. I think this is because we were created to reflect the glory of God. His Spirit and presence within us reveal His glory through us. We are mere earthen vessels. Yet when we crucify our flesh and feed our souls with the manna of God's Word and will, we shine with the light of His splendor. 

I truly feel that we are in the last of the last of days. The world around us is getting spiritually and morally darker and darker. I also sense that God is calling His people to illuminate and penetrate the sinister realm about us with His Spirit and His love. As we fortify our hearts with God's Word, praise and worship Him, listen for His voice and obey Him consistently, we will gleam and glisten with the glory of His presence.

We can be beacon lights offering hope and healing to a lost and dying world. 

Heavenly Father, may we be used to help bring in the end time harvest as we yield to Your Spirit and show forth Your glory.

"Arise, shine, for your light has come, 

and the glory of the Lord
has risen upon you."  

Isaiah 60:1

 Written by 

Cathy Friberg 

Hummingbird Café

written by

Paula Glauber

I had all but given up ever seeing another hummingbird in our backyard.  The winter had been long and very cold, discouraging me from venturing out to our watermelon crepe myrtle where, in past years, hummers hung out and chit chatted in their chit chatterie way.  By mid-April our weather had relaxed a bit and we started seeing more sun than gray, so I trotted out onto the deck to release the feeder’s suction cups from our bedroom window.

I really couldn't blame the poor hungry hummingbirds for avoiding such an unappetizing café.  The neglected feeder was a breeding ground for hummingbird ecoli, if such a bird disease exists. The remaining remnants of nectar were nothing but crumbling bits of black mold.  A few ant carcasses floated in the bowl and one perch was missing altogether.  I gingerly popped the feeder off the window, dropping one of the suction cups into the Star Jasmine growing below.  I stepped off the deck into the Jasmine and carefully explored the vine until I spied the suction cup. 

I keep a few spare feeder parts in my gardening shed, and was fortunate to have a replacement perch for the feeder.  The man at the Bird Store had told me when I bought the feeder, that it was top rack dishwasher safe, so I placed it in the rack, put in some soap and started the dishwasher (empty but for the pitiful plastic hummingbird feeder).  I get a little squeamish about washing our dishes with some yet to be discovered bird flu.

While the feeder went through its cleansing, I boiled water for a new batch of nectar.  ¼ Cup cane sugar to 1 Cup boiled, cooled tap water.  While the water cooled I gave the window a good washing so the suction cups would stick securely.  Feeder filled, window cleaned, suction cups in place.  Diner “Open”.

I hurried inside to watch from my bedroom window.  There was no line out front of the feeder, no bellying up to the perches.  Alas, it appeared that the word was out on the wires that this canteen was closed for good.

 

After a few days of boycotting, however, the chatter was on and the hummers were vying for a spot at the feeder.  Seemed like the leader of the pack was Bill, a big bully of a hummer I’d seen the previous spring.  He was followed closely by Humm Baby, Chrome Dome, and Red Neck.  Doesn’t everyone name their hummingbirds?

Once the Hummingbird Café was once again in full operation, the patrons made no apologies for scolding me with their clickitty bird gripes when the feeder ran low.  They dived past me like miniature helicopters practicing war maneuvers. 

Isn’t that just like us with our Provider?  We are happy as long as we’re fed.  As long as the supplies don’t run out, we’ll hang around taking everything we can get.  But, if our Supplier doesn’t move quickly enough, or give us just what we ask for, we complain and sometimes even abandon our perch.   And as if that’s not bad enough, we chatter to all our friends about how neglected we are; how we’re forgotten and no longer cared for.  Maybe we should look to the cold, hungry stretches in our lives as a time to anticipate a new batch of nectar.

The Good Captain

A captain sails his ship on the sea. The wind fills the sails and the wood hull cuts through the glass of a turquoise sea. He consults his maps and charts his course. During the day, he positions his ship by the sun and at night he takes bearings from the stars.

But soon a storm is upon his vessel. The seas turn gray and the waves turn white. A strong wind blows him off course. Clouds cover the skies for days and weeks on end and he cannot get his bearings. He bravely sails on, the best he can, keeping his ship afloat until the hurricane blows past and the clouds dissipate.

One night, the stars shine again through a break in the clouds and he quickly takes a brief reading and runs to his map to plot his position. He finds he is miles off course. At his current heading he will be lost in open sea for months and probably perish there.

He takes immediate action, marking a new heading, adjusting the sails and plotting a course to reach the original destination. It will take longer to reach the port, and certainly more effort now that they must travel further to get back on course, but the ship and the captain sail onward toward home.

The captain corrects his navigation without guilt and does not condemn himself for being off course. It is a force of nature to be blown so hard and have all navigational markers obscured. He is a capable captain and he has kept his ship sound and whole in order to sail on when the storm finally passed.

If he were to turn the ship wrong in the waves, causing it to wallow and take on water, if he did not do everything in his power to keep his ship and crew safe, if he did not take his bearings at the first available opportunity and make corrections to his navigation, then he would be found guilty of negligence and derelict of his duty.

We all sail our little ships on the giant seas of life. And sooner or later, the storms will come. Sometimes it is a brief thunderstorm with loud noise and a quick deluge. But many times, it is a record breaking hurricane, hundreds of miles across, taking its sweet time to pass through our lives and, many times, blow us off course.

God expects us to keep our ship secure in the storms, to point safely into the waves with His word so that the waves do not hit us broadside and sink us. He asks us to keep the faith that the clouds will eventually give way to starry skies, and to correct our navigation when possible.

The Apostle Peter sailed along with Jesus, but when the storms of persecution and peer pressure blew him off course, he ran away, weeping bitterly, knowing he had betrayed his Lord. His ship floundered and began taking on water. But, even in these dark conditions, he held fast. His navigational correction came when he jumped out of his fishing boat into the water in order to be the first one to reach a resurrected Jesus on the shore. This new direction, this “on course” Peter, sailed on to preach a sermon where 3,000 people believed in Jesus.  And this same Peter went on to write one of the greatest statements of faith in the New Testament.

God is not surprised when we get blown off course and watches over our ship even when we are sailing in the wrong direction. And if we do find ourselves headed toward the abyss, we do not need to punish ourselves with scolding, rebuke and guilt because He is as near as our own breath to help us back on course. We only need to look to the heavens and get our bearings.

All the Lord desires for us is to sail safely home, so sail on.

• Matt. 26.75
• Mark 14.72
• John 21.7
• Acts 2.14-41
• 1 Peter 1.3-5

     Written by 

Jody Ward

    

He Is – Our Provider

On Sunday morning Linda delivered a communion message at our retreat. This is the text of what she said.

April 13, 2014

We need food to maintain our strength and good health. God has used food to illustrate our dependence on him many times.  Think of the abundance of food freely given to Adam and Eve; until they allowed themselves to be tempted by power.  This single lapse is the reason we must work for our food all of these years later.

God generously rained manna from heaven to provide for His beloved children while they wandered in the desert.  But, he only gave what was needed each day.

The Bible is full of examples where the Lord told His people to share His provision with one another.  To share the food and the story of how He provides, so others will know just how He cares for His people.

In Exodus 16:32 - Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of Egypt.’ ”

The Old Testament is also full of examples of the offerings He instructed His people to bring Him for various reasons.

Judges 6:20 says: The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. 

Food and drink given to others appears in several places in the Bible; either as an act of service or an offering to show respect.  Here are two huge turning points in the Book of Samuel where food plays an integral part in human history.

1 Samuel 17:17 -Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah^[a] of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp…” 

This act led David along his path to becoming a great King who reigned over Israel for 40 years.  Imagine if he had behaved like many of the young men we know today.  He would have stopped to hang with some friends, who might have eaten the loaves of bread and given some of the grain to a cute girl along the way.  Imagine if David had been too late to face Goliath.  How would his reign as king suffered at the loss of his brothers?

Or if Abigail had not chosen to take an offering to David after her foolish husband Nabal insulted him.  What if she’d chosen to let Nabal suffer the consequences? 

Instead, 1 Samuel 25:18 says, Abigail acted quickly. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys.

 

Our sharing God’s provision in memory of His sacrifice is not a suggestion; it is a direct order from the Lord.  It is how we show our respect and gratitude for His love and protection, which has carried us this far. Choosing to honor Him through this blessed meal is accepting and giving a love offering. He Is Our Provider.  He Is the reason we are here. He Is everything we need.

Imagine the room where the meal we now know as The Last Supper took place.  A gathering of friends; many had shared the Passover Seder with Jesus the previous year.  Some of them may have been thinking of other places they could have gone for the evening.  Only one knowing the significance this night’s gathering would have.  It is difficult to the pain and sorrow that each man would face before sunrise.

Our traditions can become simple habits, and we may miss a chance to see or hear some small, but vital thing the Lord has been waiting to give us at just this moment. 

Jesus called us to remember Him through our communion.  We need to be mindful of the sacrifice He made for us.  We also need to celebrate His provision.  He became our sustenance when he died on the cross.  The pain of His suffering and humiliating death must not be overlooked.  But we can also celebrate; because we know that He did not simply survive a crucifixion – He overcame the power of death for us. He has gone ahead to make a special place for us.

1 Corinthians 10: 16-17 says, Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ?  And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?  Because that is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf. 

We share bread and drink in remembrance of the meal He shared with his dearest disciples.

1 Corinthians 11:26 -  For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

May we each share in many more meals of thanksgiving, as a part of the fellowship of believers.  May our faith walk draw others to the Lord, so they too will have a place at the table.

He Is our provider.  Let us honor Him by accepting His love offering.

Written by

Lynda Kinnard

Teaching on the Wedding Proposal as seen in Communion

4/17/14

The word, “wed” is derived from the term for “pledge” which is a solemn promise,

When we say I do, it means we pledge to partner with, remain faithful, and be true and loving

Malachi 2:15 MSG says, “God, not you, made marriage. His Spirit inhabits even the smallest details of marriage. You were united…by the Lord. In God's wise plan, when you married, the two of you became one person in his sight.” So guard the spirit of marriage within you.

Scripture uses the marriage image to paint our relationship with Jesus to help us realize and grasp how much God loves and cherishes us

Rev 19:7-8 NIV says: “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear - Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.

Rich in imagery of proposals and marriages is Jesus’ Last Supper, which is actually the Passover Seder or meal. It was during the Seder that Jesus established the Lord’s Supper or Communion that when a young maiden caught an eligible bachelor’s eye, he and his father would go to the prospective lasses home. His dad would hammer out a deal with her father, which was called the Bride Price.

This is different than the bride’s dowry which was given to the newlyweds to help them get started. The bride price was to recompense the family for the loss of a worker and the cost of raising her, as she permanently become a part of the husband’s household

After they agreed upon a price, the prospective Bridegroom would go to his intended and offer her a chalice of wine of which he had just taken a sip, in effect offering his life to her. This was the actual proposal!  At this point, she could decline the cup, thereby rejecting his offer, or she could accept and drink from the cup and so signal her affirmation of the marriage covenant! At this time, there was no other culture in the world where a woman could refuse a marriage that had been arranged by the parents. This is a true picture of how God extends the cup of “Salvation” to each of us and we are given that liberty to accept it or reject it.

In Biblical times, you were considered already married when you were betrothed! The bride price had been paid. Cor 6:19-20 NLT states: Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price.

So each was now taken, set apart, consecrated, bought with a high price, they were no longer their own. These are all terms that the writers of the NT used to describe Believers! This is sanctified.

After the bride-to-be accepted the cup, the young man and his father headed home where the bridegroom built a room addition for them onto his parent’s home, usually under his dad’s careful supervision. This soon to be wedding chamber and new home for his bride was built to the highest standards of which he was capable.

Building the home was the final element to be completed before returning to bring her home! Heaven only knew how long this would take! The process could take 6 months to a year during which the bridegroom did not see his bride again until he returned to bring her home! Jesus speaks of this very act, drawing a parallel between His relationship with His disciples and marriage:

John 14:1-3 NIV In My Father’s house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

This means that you and I, the bride of Christ are awaiting Jesus, the Bridegroom, to come for us to take us home! Heaven only knows how long we will have to wait! When the chamber was finally completed; the Bridegroom, in keeping with Jewish tradition, would try to surprise his bride who was waiting for him! Typically the bridegroom tried to come when least expected so as to catch his bride unawares! Often it was near midnight as we hear from Jesus in:

Matt 25:5-6 NIV The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy & fell asleep. "At midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him! The Bridegroom would then fetch his wife home where they would become one flesh; and then the  wedding celebration would begin, sometimes lasting 7 days! Let’s tie this courtship process into the Passover Seder, one of the most important Jewish celebrations. During the Last Supper, Jesus offered his disciples a cup of wine. This would have been the 3rd cup of the Seder, called the cup of Redemption, what a beautiful image! 

We read in 1 Cor 11:25-26 NIV In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."

Jesus offered this cup to his disciples. In imagery his disciples clearly understood, Jesus was in effect asking them to marry Him! This would seem odd, peculiar, or maybe even amusing if we didn’t know the background! The disciples knew that when they accepted that cup and drank from it, they were acknowledging their acceptance of a spiritual marriage to Jesus.

However, they had yet to understand that the bride price that Jesus would pay was His persecution, torture, and crucifixion. Now we realize why these final hours of Jesus earthy life was called the Passion of Christ, because of His passionate love for His bride… us.

Communion’s purpose is to remember Jesus, to receive His comfort and strength, and to rededicate our lives to our relationship with Him.

It is one of the two sacraments or ordinances instituted by Christ that He asked us, His people, to observe until He returns. Today, as we participate in Holy Communion, please consider, that as your drink from the cup, you are saying; “yes, I pledge myself to Christ and accept His offer of marriage”.  When you eat of the bread, you are saying; “Yes, I will devote myself to Jesus, and I will spend this lifetime and all eternity with Him”. 

Written by
Linda Garrett