Monthly Archives: November 2015

The Road Through Romans: The Gospel According To Moses

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

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We are currently working our way through Romans a verse (more like a word) at a time. If you have missed any of the discussion, it can be found on

THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.

We have been discussing the truth that the Bible is a unified text, the theme of which is Jesus, from beginning to end. Specifically we have been discussing that the Old Testament writers were used step by step to unveil God’s plan to send a Savior from among men for men. As Paul says,

“…the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.” Romans 1:2

I suppose the question can be asked, “Why did God not just reveal the whole plan at once?”

Paul offers us some insight when he says,

We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Cor. 2:6-8

For God’s plan to work it had to be revealed in such a way that God’s enemies would not realize that they were undoing themselves by crucifying Christ. In some ways the cross was the greatest long con in history. By the time God’s plan was revealed it was too late to do anything about it. Still, the signs were there like puzzle pieces scattered across time just waiting for someone to put them all together. It strikes me that Jesus was the first one to do this on the road to Emmaus after His resurrection.

He (Jesus) said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. Luke 24: 26-27

Jesus started his explanation of the gospel with Moses. Yes Moses was given a puzzle piece to share with the world too. In Deuteronomy 18 Moses shared these thoughts with the Israelites.

TheLord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. 16For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”

17The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. 18I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. 19I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name  Deut. 18:15-19

Like so many other Messianic prophecies this one lay hidden in between verses that seem to have little to do with Messiahship. Many probably looked at these verses and considered that they could speak of any prophet in general. Yet, the very words “like me” mark a certain prophet out from the rest of the prophets that crowd the annals of Israel’s history. Moses was a prophet of a different sort. He was the vessel that carried the ten plagues that brought low Egypt. He walked softly and carried a big stick that span ocean in two. Jeremiah was great but he was no Moses. Ezekiel? He was awesome. Moses rose above him. The prophet of Deuteronomy 18 would be like Moses. He would be a game-changer.

In preaching to the leaders of Israel after healing the crippled beggar Peter reveals the name of this prophet like Moses when he says, “Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. 19Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. 21Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. 22For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people.”  Acts 3: 17-23

The Principle is this. The New Testament reality fulfills Old Testament Prophecy. What the Old Testament saints looked forward too we experience in full if wee believe.

How exciting is that?

Friday Fictioneers: A Place To Play

Posted on by under The Stories

It is time for another episode of Friday Fictioneers. My 100 word story taken from the photo prompt is found below the photo. You can see how others interpreted the prompt by clicking on the underlined link above. Once you are at the Fridays Fictioneers site follow the little blue frog. 🙂

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PHOTO BY: J Hardy Carroll

A Place To Play

By JE Lillie

Momma died in April. The whole village came out for the funeral. She was the Pastor’s wife after all.

The whispers started that day.

“Poor man. Left a widower at such a young age and with two daughters. How’s he going to raise them?”

Daddy did just fine. Some days he would pack up our tea set and bring us to the church with him.

While he worked on his sermon we were shuffled out to the graveyard alongside the church.

He would wink at us and say, “Go see if mommy wants to play tea party.”

She always did.

The Road Through Romans: Noah’s Promise Through Abraham’s Eyes Pt. 2

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

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Yesterday we mentioned that the good news regarding a Savior for mankind was preached thousands of years before Christ was even born, through the stories of Noah and Abraham. If you have missed any part of our discussion in Romans you can find it on THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE

 We left off yesterday in this way,

So let’s ask, “What was going to happen in Abram’s life that would bless the whole world?

Many years after Genesis chapter twelve God would develop the promise a bit more and the promise of Messiah would begin to be seen more clearly than ever before.”

The story of that development is written in Genesis 22 and it goes like this,

“Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram[a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring[b] all nations on earth will be blessed,[c] because you have obeyed me.”

19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba”

In this chapter God promises that through Abraham’s (formerly Abram) offspring all nations on Earth will be blessed.

Paul explained that verse this way to the church in Galatia.

Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 8 Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”[d] 9 So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”[e] 11 Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.”[f] 12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.”[g] 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”[h] 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

15 Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. 16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,”[i] meaning one person, who is Christ.   

Galatians 3:7-16

Abraham may not have had the particulars but he taught his children that someone was coming who would fix the human race.

That was good news almost four thousand years before Christ!

The Road Through Romans: 1:2:3 Noah’s Promise Through Abram’s Eyes

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

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We are continuing our study verse by verse through the book of Romans. This week we are using Romans 1:2 to take a peek back through time to see that the gospel (good news) about Jesus was preached even in the Old Testament.

If you have missed any of our discussions they can be found on…

THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE

Romans 1:2 reads,

 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.

From this verse we understand that Paul was not preaching a new message in preaching the gospel (good news) about Jesus. He may have been bringing some new information to the table but the message was an ancient one. Yesterday we talked about how the message was first preached by God Himself in the Garden of Eden.

Today we turn to the end of the story of Noah to see how God used the first savior of mankind to proclaim some more information about the Savior Of Mankind.

I think we probably all know the story. Even many non-Christian societies have flood epics that are written into their cultural ethos but for the sake of making sure we are all on the same page I will share a brief summary of Noah’s history.

Noah was deemed by God to be the last righteous man on the face of the Earth.

God determined that He was left with no choice but to destroy the world by flood.

God told Noah to build a boat which would save himself, his immediate family and a small number of animals from the destruction to come.

Noah built the boat.

The flood came,

The world was destroyed.

The waters receded.

Noah and the animals got out of the boat.

The world started going back to normal, which was a bad thing.

Noah, a man of the soil, proceededa to plant a vineyard. 21When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. 23But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.

24When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25he said,

“Cursed be Canaan!

The lowest of slaves

will he be to his brothers.”

26He also said,

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem!

May Canaan be the slave of Shem.

27May God extend Japheth’sb territory;

may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,

and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.” Genesis 9:20-27

It may seem a small thing and maybe even to the listeners this father’s curse may have seemed nothing more than a Dad getting mad, but there was something of the prophetic being uttered here.

God was singling out the line of Shem to be the dominant among the three brothers. And while the whole world and even the hosts of Heaven may have missed it, God was singling out Shem’s family to be the genetic line of Messiah. Canaan (the son of Ham) was to be totally supplanted by Shem and to become Shem’s slave and Japheth was to find his protection in the tent of Shem.

Ten generations later God is speaking to one of Shem’s great- great and so forth grandsons, Abram. God says, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

2“I will make you into a great nation,

and I will bless you;

I will make your name great,

and you will be a blessing.a

3I will bless those who bless you,

and whoever curses you I will curse;

and all peoples on earth

will be blessed through you.”b

4So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

6Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspringc I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

Did you note the words “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” ? Did you note that Abram was being given the land that belonged to the Canaanites (the sons of Canaan the son of Ham)?

What was going to happen in Abram’s life that would bless the whole world?

Many years later God would develop the promise a bit more and the promise of Messiah would begin to be seen more clearly than ever before.

Tune in tomorrow for more of the Old Testament Gospel.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Anything Painted

Posted on by under Photography

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It’s Fun Foto time again. This week it is all about things painted. My mind immediately went to C.cada when I saw this challenge and all the painting we do as an artist’s collaborative.

Our mission statement for C.cada is…

C.cada (Cornerstone Christian artist’s day apart) was begun in an effort to give artists from every genre an opportunity to come together to discover, develop, and deploy their talents in ways that will better the church and the community.

To that end writers write, singers sing, musicians play and painters paint.

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Wendy Brouillet and her award winning painting of Cornerstone Church.

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Ken Knowlton paints a mural at our local hospital

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Melanie Painting the End of Time

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Jill Poland, Sandy Freeman and Debby Maciorowski splatter painting for Jesus.

To see how others depicted anything painted check out the underlined link at the front of the post!

Share Your World 2015 Week #45

Posted on by under For Family & Fun

It is time to SHARE OUR WORLD again. Cee has asked us five questions as usual.

My answers are below and the rest of the world has answered on Cee’s page. So check her place out by clicking the underlined link above to learn a little about a lot of people!

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What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “fun”?

Fun!?! I think life is fun. I think all that I get to do as a minister is fun. Oh sometimes I get bogged down by the volume of the work but most times I cannot believe I get paid to do the wonderful things I do. Life is one adventure after another. It is fun!

What is your favorite time of day?

I love waking up. I try to do it slowly and when I succeed I love those first moments of coming really awake and then progressing towards that first cup of morning coffee. I especially like it if I am up before the rest of the world. There is something special about drinking coffee as the sun rises and the rest of the world comes alive.

Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want to have an evening with?

That’s easy I would spend an evening with each of my children in turn followed by an evening with all of them together. I guess that’s four evenings but it will have to do. 🙂

Complete this sentence: Something that anyone can do that will guarantee my smile is… 

Join me in worship.

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful I got to start really writing again. I am looking forward to continuing at a little bit of a slower pace so that I can keep writing!

Pastor Wrinkles: The Road Through Romans 1:2:2

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

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We are continuing our verse by verse study through the Book of Romans.

Yesterday I stated that the Gospel Message was not “new news”, …that Jesus was preached in the Old Testament prophecies.

If you missed that discussion or any other part of our chat you can find it in its entirety on

THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.

We are in Romans 1:2. Paul writes:

 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.

The information that Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s promise was the newest piece of the gospel puzzle, but the promises had been made and reiterated for thousands of years.

SO…

Today we go back to see how Jesus was preached by the Old Testament writers. As we go back we are dealing with a topic called progressive revelation. You see, God created the plan of salvation before he made the Earth and certainly before He made men. The plan to send Jesus to die and rise again was made before the foundations of the world. It was part of plan A. It was not plan C which God put into effect because plan A didn’t work ( and that thought right there ought to blow your mind).

In spite of the fact that God made the plan in eternity before time, He did not reveal it all at once. Instead He chose to show His hand one card at a time, progressively, as the generations passed. But the first card was thrown down right in the beginning.

in Genesis 3 just after Adam and Eve had sinned, as God pronounced His judgments on everyone involved God said these words to the serpent who enticed Eve.

“Because you have done this,

“Cursed are you above all livestock
    and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
    and you will eat dust
    all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring[a] and hers;
he will crush[b] your head,
    and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3:14-15

Bible scholars call this the “protoevangelion” the first mention of Messiah. It is a prophetic word that a man would arise who would be stricken by the serpent but who would in turn crush the serpent completely.

Adam and Eve could hardly have known what it meant. Even the serpent (Satan) could not know. They all probably thought this referred to Eve’s immediate children (which explains why Satan worked so hard to destroy both Cain and Abel),

Today we can look back and see that Christ fits the prophecy perfectly. Writing to the church in Corinth Paul uses these words to show that Christ is the fulfillment of the protoevangelion,”… the end will come, when he will turn the Kingdom over to God the Father, having destroyed every ruler and authority and power. 25For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet. 26And the last enemy to be destroyed is death.” 1Corinthians 15;24-26

Christ was stricken by Satan on the cross. The devil injected Him with every poison sin had created. The enemy thought he had dealt the Son of God a mortal wound. He was sure he had found Jesus’ Achilles heel, but Jesus overcame. now Jesus is crushing the Devil’s head under His nail-pierced feet!

But the good news is even bigger than that! Listen to these words of Paul at the end of the Book of Romans.

“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. May the grace of our Lord Jesusg be with you.” Romans 16:20

The protoevangelion is about Jesus. Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is Eve’s offspring. But so are we and the Bible teaches us that “Jesus is the first-born among many brothers” Romans 8:29.  So you see…ALL THOSE WHO BELIEVE ARE EVE’S OFFSPRING!!! ALL WHO BELIEVE NOW HAVE THE ABILITY TO CRUSH THE SERPENT’S HEAD!!! BECAUSE OF WHAT JESUS DID WE HAVE VICTORY OVER THE DEVIL!!!

Now that is good news!

More tomorrow.