We Care Warsaw: What’s Your Story?

We praise God for blessing this year’s “We Care Warsaw” event.   More than 700 people came to receive free goods and services, a delicious, hot meal, and care.  Over 300 individuals from our church body and other organizations helped make this a meaningful and Christ-honoring day.  

Those are some great numbers, but each number represents an individual.  Here is your opportunity to share with others how last Saturday impacted individuals, both those who served and those who were served.  So, what’s your story?  You can leave a reply below.  We’d love to hear it!

WLGBC

Comments on David Series

In his sermon on Sunday, Pastor Bruce encouraged people to leave comments about how the Spirit used the “After God’s Heart” sermon series in their lives.

You can leave a comment below by clicking on the “comments” link right below this entry, then scrolling to the bottom of the comments (feel free to read them!), and writing your thoughts in the box provided.

Some thoughts and pictures from Saturday and Sunday

Can we say again how appreciative we are to be with Randy on this trip? He has been so very encouraging to us as pastors and pastors’ wives as he has made the story of Jesus come alive in the locations that he put on flesh and lived with us. Our last two days have been spent in Jerusalem and surrounding area. I know that Kip wrote a note last night, so we wanted to include some pictures and explanations from the last two days.

Pictures:
1) Bethlehem. The popular place of Jesus’ birth (but Randy has another thought)
2) Our “members of the synagogue”
3) at the Herodopolis looking towards Jerusalem
4) this rock must be important!
5) the Dome of the Rock
6) the Wailing Wall
7) the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
8 ) Golgotha (it’s amazing what our own spiritual traditions appreciate here)
9) the rooftops of Jerusalem

Scenery of the Mind

You can’t turn off your imagination, but you can inform it. What do I mean by that? Well, when I read the story of Jesus’ life (or any story for that matter), I can’t help but imagine it in my mind. I create the setting, the sky, the land, the people, the clothes, the foods, the smells…you get the picture. We all have pictures in our minds of how things look. We can’t turn off our imagination. However, we can change the pictures with new information. For me this trip has radically changed the pictures in my mind. I’m excited to read the Gospels again because the scenery has all changed because it has been informed by being here in Israel.

For example, we have seen the remains of houses (more like caves) in Bethlehem and Nazareth where Jesus grew up. We saw the ruins of what very well may have been Peter’s mother-in-law’s house in Capernaum. We’ve had a boat ride on the lake of Galilee. So when the Gospel writer talks about Jesus crossing the lake and going into a house in Capernaum, my imagination is sparked with new information the creates a fuller, richer, and more accurate picture. The story comes to life in new ways!

Let me give one more example of how being here clears things up. Today we stood atop what is called the “Herodian” a fortress/palace built by Herod the Great. It also was his place of burial. From the top of this high hill (partially man-made by thousands of slaves who drug rock from the top of one hill to make the next higher) one can look out in one direction and see Bethlehem and the Mount of Olives with Jerusalem in the background. In the other direction one can look out and see far across the Dead Sea into the mountains of Jordan. One of those mountains is Nebo, where Moses died. I had always wondered how on earth God could have showed Moses the Promised Land from one spot. Sometimes I wondered if God showed him a vision or gave him a dream. However, now that I have seen the lay of the land, I realize that it is, in fact, completely possible to view a good portion of the land from one high spot. When I read that passage in the future I’ll be able to picture Moses looking out across the Jordan to the hills which God had promised his ancestor Abraham.

Thank you so much for making it possible for us to inform our imaginations in a way that will help us understand God’s Word better.

Yours,

Kip

We really did make it!

Hello WLGBC church family! We want you to know how thankful we are to you for your prayers as we traveled. We can hardly believe we’ve already gone through 3 days of great instruction from Randy and a great time walking where Jesus walked. We are finally in Jerusalem, which means we have consistent internet at the hotel. I know that we will write more later (maybe even tonight), but we wanted to include a few pictures from the first several days.

a left to right, top to bottom description of the pics:
1)Synagogue at Capernaum
2)Kip at Caesarea Maritima
3)Church of the Annunciation at Nazareth
4)On the Sea of Galilee
5)On the Sea of Galilee
6)Entering Jerusalem
7)Jordan River (at the south end of the Sea of Galilee)
8)Beth Shean/Scythopolis (actually, the amphitheater there)
9)Jericho

Travelblog

As a kid I used to love to go down to Rodeheaver Auditorium and watch the “travelogues” which, if I remember correctly, were sponsored by the Kiwanis Club.  Well, for the next ten days, this will be the “travelblog.”  I hope to give pictures and updates from our trip to Israel.  THANK YOU again for making this possible!

Our Itinerary:

9 November (Mon): South Bend to New York
10 November 2009 (Tue): New York to Israel

11 November 2009 (Wed): Four Conflicts of Jesus’ Ministry – Highlighting four example sites, this study focuses on four key conflicts in the background of Jesus’ public ministry. Sites: Caesarea Maritima, Megiddo, Nazareth, Tiberias.

12 November 2009 (Thu): The Galilee Ministry of Jesus – A careful look into the popular ministry of healing, teaching and modeling for the disciples at the Sea of Galilee, and in the withdrawals alone will be our central topic. Sites: Boat on Sea, Capernaum, Mt. of Beatitudes, Qatzrin, Bethsaida Excavations.

13 November 2009 (Fri): The Perean Ministry of Jesus – We will address the issues of the Perean Ministry with particularexamination of Luke 10-19, the “special section” of this account. Sites: Jordan River, Beth Shean, Views of Perea, view of Jericho.

14 November 2009 (Sat): The Wilderness of Refuge – With an examination of the role of the deserted places, we will highlight Habakkuk, John the Baptist, and many Psalms. Sites: Dead Sea, Masada, Ein Gedi, Qumran.

15 November 2009 (Sun): Setting of the Birth Narratives – We will investigate what the Biblical accounts tell us of Jesus’ birth, based on both the Matthew and Luke accounts. We will also look carefully at Psalm 23 in the hills of Bethlehem. Sites: Bethlehem (conditions permitting), Shepherd’s Field, Herodion, Haas Promenade. Overnight: Jerusalem.

16 November 2009 (Mon): Passion Week – With a specific view of the history of “other Messiahs” we will discuss the expectations for the Messiah, and their relationship to the record of the preaching of Jesus. Sites: Mt. of Olives, Gethsemane, Mt. Zion (Last Supper Room, St. Peter en Gallicantu), Western Wall, Old City walk.

17 November 2009 (Tue): Passion Week – The issues involved in the arrest, trial and conviction of Jesus will be our subject as we journey through the “salvation geography” of Jerusalem in the Gospel According to John. Sites: Ancient Temple Mount and excavations, Pool of Bethesda, Via Dolorosa, Holy Sepulcher, Garden Tomb.

18 November 2009 (Wed): Depart for USA just after midnight and arrive later the same day in the USA tired, but renewed for ministry!

“Blessed to be a Blessing” 2 Samuel 9

It strikes me that how David treats Mephibosheth in chapter 9 is a reflection of how God acted toward David in chapter 7.  Just as God remembered his promises to Abraham and Moses and worked them out through David in the process making even more generous and good promises to David, so David remembered his promise to Jonathan and worked them out through his goodness and generosity to Mephibosheth.

David experienced God’s grace and his response was to pass it on to Mephibosheth.  David recognized that he was blessed in order to be a blessing.

See any application for today?

Kip

“Business as Usual???” 2 Samuel 7:18-29

After yesterday’s lengthy entry, I’ll make today’s short.  I need some help from you. 

David is bowled over by God’s magnanimous, far-reaching promise to him.  God had promised that David’s throne will endure forever.  Blown away by God’s grace and goodness to him, David asks God a question: “Is this your usual way of dealing with man, O Sovereign LORD ?” (verse 19). 

The text does not provide a direct answer.  It’s one of those rhetorical questions where you feel like the answer should be obvious, but once you start thinking about it you begin to wonder. 

What do you think the answer to David’s question is?  Is this God’s usual way of dealing with man?  Is this “business as usual”?  I want to know what you think.

Kip

“A Promised Offspring” 2 Samuel 7:1-17

Throughout history God has taken the initiative to relate to his creation and his people, making bold, generous promises and expecting, as an appropriate response, faith and obedience.  The word that describes this is “covenant.” Here, God makes an astounding covenant with David.

David decides to build a “house” (i.e. a temple) for God.  Instead, God tells David that He will establish a “house” (i.e. a royal dynasty) for David.

After reminding David that it is the Lord who has made him king and delivered him from his enemies, God makes some promises to David that should ring somewhat familiar in our ears.

First, God promises to make David’s name great.  We’ve heard this before because God had already promised Abram the very same thing (see Genesis 12:2).

Then God promises His people a “home” of peace and rest.  Starting with Abram, God had promised a land to his people, and as part of His covenant with Israel at Sinai, God had promised peace and rest in the land, if the people obeyed Him (see Leviticus 26:6).

Finally, God promises David a “house” or “kingdom” that will endure forever.  This promise focuses on a particular descendant.  Here is where things get a little tricky.  This promise is partially fulfilled a little later in the person of David’s son Solomon, who does, indeed, build an impressive house for God.  However, Solomon’s rule, as glorious as it was, ended.  Because of Solomon’s disobedience, the kingdom was first rent in two and then eventually completely toppled by Assyria and Babylon.

So what happened to the promise?

Solomon was only an initial and partial fulfillment of the promise.  The promise is completely fulfilled much later in the person of Jesus Christ who was announced by the archangel Gabriel as follows: “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end” (Luke 1:32,33).  I would say that pretty much meets the criteria of the covenant.

Knowing what we now do about Jesus, we can see that God’s promise of an “offspring” to David (2 Samuel 7:12) was completely in line with His promise to Eve that her “offspring” would crush the head of Satan (Genesis 3:15), as well as His promise to Abraham that through his “offspring” all nations of the world would be blessed (Genesis 22:18).

And so to this day we pray “Thy kingdom come…” and await with eager anticipation the second coming of King Jesus and His eternal rule first over the House of Jacob in the Millenium and ultimately over the entire House of God, which includes His Bride, the Church, in the New Heavens and New Earth.

Interesting how much that promise to David can mean to us, huh?

Kip

“Seek his face!” Psalm 27, 138, 139

“My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face!’  Your face, LORD, I will seek” (Psalm 27:8).   This verse clearly reflects the title of our current sermon series in David: “After God’s Heart.” 

David’s greatest desire and longing was to “dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple” (Psalm 27:4). 

Why?  Why did David seek the LORD with his whole heart?  In Psalm 138:2, David says that the Lord’s “love,” “faithfulness,” “word,” and “name” are exalted “above all things.”  Clearly, the reason David seeks God before all other things is because God himself is greater and more excellent than all other things. 

In Psalm 139, as David eloquently ponders the Lord’s loving and infinite omniscience and omnipresence, he says, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain” (6).  Nonetheless, he continues, “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God” (17). 

Although our minds can only scratch the surface of the endless mystery and glory of God’s greatness and goodness, David makes seeking God his highest end. 

We are sorely tempted to seek after the fleeting, empty pleasures of this physical, temporal world.  And so we discover what John Cougar Melancamp so honestly sang, “Oh, yeah, life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone.” 

This doesn’t have to be our theme song, if God is our heart’s pursuit.  We can sing like David: “The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever” (138:8).   

Kip