The Lord has done great things...

These are the regulations for the fellowship offering anyone may present to the LORD:

If they offer it as an expression of thankfulness, then along with this thank offering they are to offer thick loaves made without yeast and with olive oil mixed in, thin loaves made without yeast and brushed with oil, and thick loaves of the finest flour well-kneaded and with oil mixed in. Along with their fellowship offering of thanksgiving they are to present an offering with thick loaves of bread made with yeast. They are to bring one of each kind as an offering, a contribution to the LORD; it belongs to the priest who splashes the blood of the fellowship offering against the altar. The meat of their fellowship offering of thanksgiving must be eaten on the day it is offered; they must leave none of it till morning.  (Lev 7:11-15)

One of the offerings given in Leviticus was the “thanksgiving offering”, which involved three types of bread:  an unleavened cake; a thin wafer; and a cake with mixed flour.  In a way these three cakes can represent the most sincere heart of thanks that a person can have:  “heart, soul, and mind” (Deut 6:5).  This to me represents a sense that we live our lives in a constant state of thanksgiving.  Despite our problems or difficulties, we realize that we have been touched by the Mercy King (thanks Fee!), and given new life! 

Another interesting aspect of this offering is that all of it had to be eaten that same day.  Nothing was to be kept until the next day.  This leaves the implication that the person would need some help eating all of that food – in other words it was a fellowship offering!  It was to be shared with others. What a great picture of our thanksgiving meal:  Coming together as family and friends, sharing a meal, expressing our thanks to God for all that He has done for us. 

I pray that you all have a blessed Thanksgiving.  Share your life with someone else this week - share in the fellowship offering!

The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. 

(Ps 126:3)

 ... till the whole world hears,

Pastor Clay

Worship Magnifies God...

ran across this recently, thought you might enjoy it...

When you worship, you magnify God.  Your enemies or circumstances may seem to be so large and powerful that they are all you can see. But when you worship, you not only magnify God, but you reduce the size and power of everything else around you.
- Jentezen Franklin

Jesus: fully God, fully man, our great High Priest!

In Hebrews 3 the writer presents Jesus Christ as our High Priest. Having a proper perspective of Jesus in this role is essential for a healthy Christian life, especially when we encounter problems in life.

When I worked in the tech industry, we would often find problems with our products that went beyond running a test or replacing a piece of equipment.  In those cases I had to escalate the problem to the design team, the guys that actually wrote the code or designed the hardware.  Those guys, because they were involved in the creation of the product, they were able to fix problems that no one else could.

Fully God

When we have problems in this life, problems that the counsel of men cannot solve, we can escalate our issue to the creator – Jesus Christ – who was personally involved in the creation of the world and man:  He was the design team for man!  He knows how we were built, what makes us tick. He knows how to reach into that deep place in our heart or mind and touch that tender place.  He knows exactly what is needed to bring us to a place of healing.

Fully Man

We also see that Jesus, being fully man, has walked in our shoes, so He can understand any problems we might have from our perspective. He can relate.  He is sensitive to what we are going through.

Fully God, fully man, our great High Priest, who loves us to much He died for us!

In His Presence...

Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.  Hebrews 3:1-4  (NIV)

This Sunday we'll be holding communion together as a church, which I am really excited about! 

One of the things I have noticed in life (as the years click by) is that it is easy to fall into a routine.  For instance:  On the second Sunday of the month, we take communion. We do it every month.  Some months I notice it a few days earlier, and I'll have to somehow "fit it in" to the service.

This month I am feeling led to reduce the message time, and increase the time we spend with the Lord, to seek His face and enter into His presence.  I am really looking forward to it, and I hope you are as well.

See you Sunday!

… till the whole world hears,

Pastor Clay

Drifting away

Chandler and I landed in California last night and Chelsea picked up up from the airport... We were so happy to see her! 

Of course with the time difference I woke up at 5 am!  As I was studying Hebrews this morning I ran across this illustration that really hits home the concept of drifting. I thought it tied in with the message from Hebrews 1 yesterday. 

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If we do not give the more earnest heed, we will drift away.  Drifting is something that happens quite automatically when we are not anchored to anything solid; if we are not "anchored" in the superiority of Jesus, we will drift with the currents of the world, the flesh, and the devil.

One doesn't have to do anything to simply drift away; most Christian regress comes from a slow drifting, not from a sudden departure.

An ungodly farmer died, and they discovered in his will that he had left his farm to the Devil.  In the court, they didn't quite know what to do with it -- how do you give a farm to the Devil?  Finally, the judge decided: "The best way to carry out the wishes of the deceased is to allow the farm to grow weeds, the soil to erode, and the house and barn to rot.  In our opinion, the best way to leave something to the Devil is to do nothing." 

We can leave our lives to the Devil the same way - doing nothing, drifting with whatever currents will drive us.

Pastor clay 

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