As I finished reading the Bible Reading in Deuteronomy chapter 4, For February 20th, 2012, in my Daily Walk Bible, its obvious how overwhelming the tasks can be that God often puts in front of us. It’s also clear that you can’t get to any promised land without passing through some wilderness.

And it’s often those wildnerness moments that are the real crossroads and benchmarks in our lives. I remember when…. do you remember… let me tell you my story…. and then we move on to a kept promise that God made possible.

God is in the business of providing encouragements, challenges and hope, in the midst of every wilderness that he will help us overcome.. with God’s help, and with a sure certainty that God is with us, every wilderness is the path to something better. As I’ve said many times, in faith, “The Best Days Are Aways Ahead of Us.”

I’ve also noticed in Deuteronomy, that prayer works! And I’ve also noticed that we cannot do life alone. We need God, and people, for life to really work.

Prayers and people make a difference!

How has your prayer life been lately? How are you relating to the people in your life? Are you growing….. together?

Many who wanted to read the entire Bible this year are probably behind, if we are like most groups trying to meet our goals.  If you are behind by more than 2 days, let me simply suggest:  give yourself grace and skip ahead to today and begin RIGHT NOW.  Don’t sweat it.  You will be blessed to keep up with the group- don’t beat yourself up over something God wants to use to bless you!  Seriously, relax.

I am underlining these days, and here are the phrases that jumped off the page to me this morning:

“It only takes 11 days to travel from Sinai to Kadesh Barnea . . . but 40 years after . . . “  Reminds me of the times I tried to take shortcuts without God . . .

“Don’t be afraid of anyone’s anger” reminds me of how often I am afraid.

The “deadly consequences of past disobedience” is a welcome warning to keep my life on the straight and narrow.

“Do not add or subtract from these commands . . . just obey” makes me think life is pretty simple, when you boil it all down.

Just obey.  Two words.  I do not need more than that today.  Do you?

Do you have a big job? I sure that most of you do, in some part of your life. Your big job very well may be raising children or providing for a family. It may be mentoring a child for conformation class, it might be serving meals on wheels, or helping a person who is in a nursing home. I Volunteer cards are still coming in, and those jobs listed and others not listed there are really about Kingdom Work, those are some of the really Big Jobs that we have. In this picture you see big hand prints and big foot prints from the biggest NBA player. This shot was taken at the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. Let me just say if you did not join us for that field trip you missed something. If you haven’t been there, GO! The shortest NBA player was 5’4″, and the tallest was 7’7″. Yikes. I like the fact that a guy who was 5’4″ was in the NBA. Do you think it was easy for him? I think not. But obviously he didn’t let an obstacle get in the way of a goal, and he did not let fear immobilize or paralyze him from playing. The Isaelites did not claim the promise land as God instructed them to do. There were out numberered and the people seemed bigger than them. They let fear grab them and they gave in to it. But go to Luke 1:37, and there is Mary who is maybe 15 and is told that she will soon have a baby, Emmauel. God is With Us. She is unmarried, bethroed to Joseph, and a virgin. She is told by angel and her response is “Nothing is Impossible With God.” So yes for Mary, God Is Big Enough. For the Israelites, it was not that way. So, as you are looking at a I Volunteer Card, or thinking about a small group, think of the Big Jobs. Get Connected. Kingdom Work, your real purpose.

I was listening to an interview recently with N.T. Wright,who happens to be one of my favorite writers and contemporary theologians. The question posed to Wright was this: “What would you tell your children on your deathbed?” Wow, what a question to ponder. It would take me all day to come up with an answer for this one, but Wright’s answer comes quickly. After a short pause, he says this: “I would tell them to look at Jesus more.”

Look at Jesus

He goes on to quote a friend of his that says for some reason, in the Church today, Christians have treated the Gospels as the optional chips and dip before the real meal. They are something nice to crunch on, but really, they are the precursor before the meat of Paul, and the letters in the New Testament. Acts through the Revelation of John are important, so important, but why do we move so quickly past Jesus? I think this is more of a statement about our lives than it is about our reading. What Wright is most interested in is keeping our gaze focused on Jesus.

Look at Jesus

I immediately think about Jesus’ friends, Mary and Martha. We all know the story so well from Luke’s Gospel (10:38-42). Martha welcomes Jesus into her house and is planning a large dinner. As we all know, when we host a dinner, there is lots of work to do, so she finds herself busy with all the work, because her sister Mary is not helping. Mary, however, is found sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to his teaching. She is modeling what it means to “Look at Jesus.” I don’t know about you, but I could learn to look at Jesus more. I want to be more connected to the Gospels. I want to step into the story and walk around, finding myself in it. I don’t want Jesus to be the optional chips and dip, but I want to soak in his presence, like Mary. I think if we all were like Mary, our lives would be completely different, if we would just learn to

Look at Jesus

I wonder if, as we read through Numbers, some may be asking the above question? Numbers can be hard to read, as well as depressing! You might think that a people just delivered from generational slavery and oppression, a people who witnessed first hand the remarkable miracles of God, who literally walked to freedom across a dry sea bed- you might think they would be disposed to do whatever God may ask. But you would be wrong. Numbers has numerous (pun fully intended) accounts of how the people of God just didn’t want to cooperate or obey. I wonder if we would do any better? Have you made any commitments to Jesus in 2012 that you are already having a difficult time keeping?
As far as whether God gets mad at you if you skim through some sections, I hope you believe that He does not. I believe He is pleased with our desire to read His Word and know Him better. If you have to skim some days, skim on! Try to stay caught up, don’t get discouraged, and for sure, never give up! You can do this and God will bless your desire and determination, wayne

I’m in love with the scriptures and totally believe in living a Holy life. I’m also a real believer in teaching Biblical standards of living to the people God has allowed me to influence. But I always have to decide, if I’m going to make a mistake, if we are to go far either way, I want to err on the side of grace. Aren’t you glad God erred on the side of grace for your situation? Aren’t you glad God did not say, “Okay, I’m going to love and accept you, but here are 600 laws you have to keep first. Call me when you get all that worked out.

Aren’t you glad God knew your heart, heard the cry of your heart, the desire of your heart, and said, “Long before you clean yourself up, fix your marriage, break that bad habit, long before that, I heard the cry of your heart on the side of your bed; I listened to you weep one night as you cried yourself to sleep; I saw you look at those pills and look at that alcohol and struggle and struggle and struggle, and you cried out to me. I began to love you just when it was a heart issue. Remember that? Wasn’t it true of you? It’s true of me.  Long before I knew to pray, run from sin, live as much like Christ as I could, there was grace.

So why would we not err on the side of grace?

Its always my prayer that God will use me, the church I pastor, and anyone I can influence for Christ, to do something unique and remarkable in our generation as we continue to share a message that starts with Grace and builds into a transformational life that looks more like Jesus every day.

When did God come to you first? How did his grace change how you looked at your life? What has he brought you from and what is he taking you to?

Today is our commitment day for I Volunteer, and already just after one service the altar is full of cards. Yeah Church! Looking at the volunteer leaders in their shirts helping and directing others is awesome! In the picture you see some great food on the table. This was a Super Bowl Party that I went to this last Sunday. The party was for the Singles here at FUMC, and it was held at a great house. Our hostess’s granddaughters iced and decorated muffins for both teams and laid out the team configurations on the table. Yes, the table cloth is astro turf. Is that not too cool! She even got her grandchildren involved in serving others. Now that is the spirit behind I Volunteer. This woman opened her home, and coordinated efforts for food and we just had a great time of fellowship, food, and fun. Wayne very powerfully preached the message as we conclude this series on the Church. He reminds us that God really has just given us two sets of instructions, Love God, and Love each other. Jesus is the way to that understanding and acceptance of this. If you are absent from church, you are missed. God calls us to come and worship Him. However, we hope to see you next week, and you can bring in or send in your I Volunteer Card, or even take care of it on line. But the bottom line is that when you are absent from Church, you are missed. Yes, the Church misses you, but God wants you here most of all. Thanks for stepping up and stepping out…. I Volunteer, and I Serve.

So, if you are current, you are beginning Numbers today (and all math fanatics- big shout out!).  I was reading about how each tribe had a place and a job to do.  Especially the tribe of Levi in Numbers 4.  Theirs was the important-and-frightening job of taking down, transporting, and erecting the Tabernacle and all of its tents, furnishings and sacred objects.  Each person had a specific task.

Which reminded me of our iVolunteer commitment card, which we will ALL bring to worship this weekend and present to the Lord Jesus.  How will you serve Him through His church?  What is your place, your job, your passion?  Have you thought it through?  This should be a great part of worship- will it?

I read the February 8th devotional and Bible Reading in my Daily Walk Bible and thought about the amazing adventure the people of Israel had been on with a God who guided them, loved them, and expected great things from them. As I read and re-read the scriptures, I was immediately reminded that:

At the end of the day, life is a journey… not just a destination. That means joy is found on the journey and not just at the end of our journey. That means joy has be be claimed as well as expected.

In Matthew 6:22 – we are given permission to go through life with an attitude of wonder. If we see everyday with fresh eyes, there are wonders all around us. People! Children! Sunrises! Flowers! Rain! etc.

I’m also reminded that its ok to be full of questions … after reading the Bible for many years … I have more questions than ever.. and sometimes I have to admit I have fewer answers. But I love God more, believe in God more, and know more than ever how important faith is.

As I read my daily scriptures, I also remember that It’s good to be a student of everything, and not an expert. We are on a journey, an adventure, and its wonderful, and painful, but we are on the “way.”

How is your “way” going? How is your faith? What questions are you asking? What have you learned lately?

People I know believe differently about making marks in the Bible. I am a big fan of underlining, writing notes in the margins, highlighting, etc. Especially if you are undertaking to read the whole Word in a year. I like being able to find things that really stuck out to me along the way. Like this morning. I underlined a text comment that says “you cannot call something insignificant when God has called it indispensable.”. The writer was referring to worship. Is worship indispensable to you? A huge portion of Scripture is written to aid God-followers to worship God. So, is worship indispensable or (mostly) insignificant in your life? Added to this is the depressing statistic that worship attendance on Super Bowl Sunday is significantly . . . down. This significantly disturbs me, as I do indeed believe worship is indispensable. What do you think? And does this make you want to underline??