Friday... What do you love to do? What does it cost?

Pastor Drew, our Pastor, loves to climb mountains. He really does. Now I love to see them. I am sitting right now looking out on some beautiful mountains. And I do love to hike on them.

Now in order to climb and hike some mountains in the Sierra Madre Mountains in California and the Rocky Mountains in Colorado you need a permit. It will cost you something.

Psalm 24:3 (NLT) asks a very good question, "Who may climb the mountain of the Lord?" There are some requirements. Did you know that? Well there are. There are some costs.

It goes on. "Who may stand in his holy place?" Verse 4, "Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies." Wow, you can't tell lies? Yes, you must be honest.

What would happen in this world if everyone told the truth, they never told lies? What would it be like? It really would be a good world to live in, wouldn't it? What about everyone in your family? You could trust what they say.

The purity thing would also be very good too. The Message says it this way, "Only the clean-handed, only the pure-hearted; Men who won't cheat, women who won't seduce." You see there is a price to pay to have a right relationship with God.

And then verses 5-6, "God is at their side; with God's help they make it. This Jacob, is what happens to God-seekers, God questers."

Verses 5-6 in the Amplified Bible says, "He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from God of his salvation. This is the generation (description) of those who diligently seek Him and require Him as their greatest need. Who seek Your face, even [as did] Jacob."

The NLT says, "They will receive the Lord's blessing and have a right relationship with God their savior. Such people may seek you and worship in your presence, O God of Jacob."

Yes, it has a cost to it but oh the benefit, oh the blessing. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

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Friday... Yes, we need them. We really do

Psalm 8:3-4 (NLT), "When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers - the moon and the stars you set in place - what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?" Friday... Yes, we need them. We really do. No, not the fact that I can go out my front door and look out at night at the marvels of the sky. I can do that and it is amazing and it takes my breath away each time I see it. Yes, that is a fact but the reality of who did that and the wisdom and the faith that I have to believe that and to marvel that the one who did that cares about me makes such a difference in how I live my life. Yes, God really does. That is so wonderful for us to believe. And that is why faith and wisdom are so important. Now whatever belief you have at how that marvel happened must also be believed through faith. And the sad thing to me is that more and more people have been taught that there is no God and therefore he did not have a h...

Wednesday... It didn't just happen.

Psalm 16;10 (NLT), "For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave." Wednesday... It didn't just happen. We are headed into a weekend of deep emotion. One that we really really love was killed and it didn't just happen. David in Psalm 16:10 (NLT) writes of this happening. He says about God, "For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave." We read over in the Gospels at the beginning of the New Testament in the Bible of the life of God's Son who came to earth to be our sacrifice so that our soul would not be left among the dead. Jesus came so that we wouldn't have to be buried at death and just left there. But he also shares that Jesus who was going to be killed as a sacrifice for our sins would not have to rot in a grave. David many generations before foretold this and that is what happened. Now that had to be a God thing. We can guess a lot about our future and we d...

Tuesday... Each one of us see and describe what we are going through differently but...

Tuesday... Each one of us see and describe what we are going through differently but... We each one have our own way of explaining what we are going through, don't we? Some of us are maximisers, other are minimizers and neither one is better. We each one are different and we see what we are facing differently but no matter what it is and how you see it and describe it, God can handle it! Now the writer of Psalm 46 shows the extremes. In verse 1 he states the basic reality and then he moves on into our fears and he maximizes them to make sure we really understand. Here is what Psalm 46:1-3 (NLT) says, "God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!" So what do you fear? The Amplified Bible says verse 1 this way, "God is our refuge and strength [mighty and impenetrable], a very presen...

Todays Beginning

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