The Final Straw(s)

Exodus chapter 10 gives us the story of the eighth and ninth plagues. Here we see that Pharaoh is finally beginning to give in, but not completely. It was the tenth plague which was what we call the final straw, but as we all know, there usually is a bending that happens before the break.

So God hardened Pharaoh's heart in order that He would show the signs among the Egyptians, and in order for the Israelites to be able to tell their descendants about what God had done. As David mentioned on Sunday, all of this was to show that God is the one and only true God.

I love Pharaoh's response before the locusts come. He says the men can go worship God, but not the women and children and livestock. Moses says that's not good enough, so here come the locusts.

Both plague 8 and plague 9 are just haunting. As if the previous plagues did not do enough damage, all the vegetation still alive in Egypt is eaten by locusts. If you need a visual of a locust swarm that doesn't even compare to this plague, check out the video below.


Again, Pharaoh is not going to let the people go, so the darkness over the land comes. And this is not your normal darkness. The text seems to say that there were no stars, no moon, no light whatsoever for three days. I cannot even imagine what that would be like. I have enough trouble when the power goes out.

But Pharaoh's response is to let the people of Israel go, but not their livestock. Again, God hardened Pharaoh's heart, but we are seeing him begin to break. If you have ever cut down a tree or seen one cut down, the chainsaw cuts and cuts, and nothing really happens, but just before it finally falls, you begin to hear pops and snaps and cracks, warning signs that the breaking point is near. Pharaoh's attempt to let some of the Israelites go, but not all of them is like a tree beginning to pop and crack, The tree is almost weak enough to fall over, but it is hanging on.

The final plague was the death of the firstborn. That was the breaking point. But how important was it for all of the other plagues before this to happen? I have trouble with this because I live in a society that wants it now. I am not willing to wait to hear the pops and snaps and cracks because I just want the tree to fall over. God can do anything, right? Yes, but he doesn't always push the tree over. Often he wants to condition something within us. He hardened Pharaoh's heart so Pharaoh would know that he is the one true God.

What has God done, or what is God doing in your life? Is it something that he is doing in small steps so you will know who He is? Is he allowing you to experience things that will help you to be a better witness for Him? What are the things God uses in your life so you will tell your descendants about Him?

-Gary Luedecke, Lifegroups Pastor

God Revealed

Sometimes I wish God showed himself to us today like he did to the Israelites. I am continually dumbfounded by how Israel saw miracles that were indisputably God’s work and yet they still turned away from Him! How blind were they? Sometimes I tell myself, “If I was in the Israelites shoes, there is no way I would ever doubt God’s existence or authority!”

An amazing example of this is the ten plagues. In Hebrew history, the ten plagues and the exodus from Egypt stand as a mighty example of the power of God over the false gods of the mightiest empire of the era, Egypt. All ten plagues were a direct shot at the Egyptians’ belief in gods that took away the glory from the one true God!

In order for all these plagues, and the subsequent testimony of God’s power, to happen there is a very interesting pattern throughout the ten plagues in the book of Exodus. At some point during all ten plagues, either Pharaoh hardened his heart, or (catch this!) God hardened Pharaoh’s heart!

Why would God harden Pharaoh’s heart? Doesn’t he want the Israelites to be released from slavery? Of course He does! But God sees the big picture in all of this. God doesn’t just want the Israelites to be freed; God wants His people and the citizens of the mightiest empire in the world to see who is actually in control. If there was just one plague, someone could have explained it away. I can already hear them saying, “Wow that was a lot of frogs. Just another anomaly of nature, I guess.” But after ten horrendous, beyond miraculous plagues, the whole nation knows “these plagues will keep coming until Israel is freed.” God wants to make sure that everyone walks away from this experience without a shadow of a doubt that there was a divine catalyst for salvation!

Wouldn’t it just be easier if God just revealed himself to us? Wouldn’t our walk of faith just go so much smoother if God would write in the sky something like “I’m still here guys!” Sometimes I wish God gave me some grand sign that he is in control and that he will save me. But then I remember the greatest miracle of them all…

Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, fully human and fully divine, the image of the invisible God, lived on earth! God came down himself! And he saved us through the cross! And as proof that Jesus is who is says he is, he rose from the dead three days later. Not just rose from the dead and didn’t tell anybody. Rose from the dead and hundreds(!) of people saw him (1 Cor. 15:1-11).

I have been handed down the testimony of the greatest miracle of all. God has been revealed through Jesus Christ. Thank God He didn’t need 10 plagues to show me who was in control but instead God paid the price himself to free me from my chains of slavery to sin. And as Jesus told the disciple Thomas in John 20, “You have believed because you have seen me, but blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

- Alex Berger, High School Pastor

Dysfunctional

So this week we have been reading about Jacob and Esau (Genesis 25-32).  Dysfunction, dysfunction, dysfunction.  This family was really messed up. 

Isaac and Rebekah played favorites (Gen 25:38) with their sons Jacob and Esau.  Jacob was a manipulative deceiver (Genesis 25:29-34), and Esau wasn’t very bright.  Mom wasn’t above the fray, because Rebekah helped Jacob deceive Isaac and steal Esau’s blessing (Gen 27).  Jacob lied to his father (Gen 27:19,24). Esau then hates Jacob and makes plans to kill him (Gen 27:41).  Jacob runs off to escape Esau and began working for a fellow deceiver, his uncle Laban.  Laban tricks Jacob into marrying the wrong woman, Leah (Gen 29:25).  So Jacob repays Laban’s deception with more of his own by stealing from Laban (Gen30:40-43).  Jacob’s preferred wife, Rachel, then continues the family legacy by stealing from her father Laban as they leave (Gen 31:19).

So let’s recap: favoritism, enabling, deception, lying, selfishness, manipulation, murderous thoughts, hatred, anger, jealousy, competitiveness and stealing.  What a messed up family!  Yet this is the family that God selects through which to build His people Israel.  And this is the family through which God sends the Savior of the whole world, Jesus (Matthew 1:17)!  Long before Paul wrote Romans 8:28 (that God works out good for those who love Him), God had demonstrated this truth time and time again in the Bible – His story of love and grace running right through the stories of His people’s dysfunction!

So how you?  Feel like you’re surrounded by dysfunction?  Maybe it’s your family or your friends or your workplace or just our world all together.  Maybe you’re honest enough to see some of your own dysfunctions.  Take heart.  Be encouraged.  Our God is an amazing transformation specialist!  He can transform the worst dysfunction and use it for good and for His glory.  So God be glorified in us!  Use even our dysfunction for Your kingdom!

-        

         -  Jeremi, the older, shorter music guy

Deception

So Jacob decided to deceive his father and steal his brother's blessing in Genesis 27. Jacob's name means "deceiver" right? So this is just fitting, as Esau pointed out later in the chapter. Deception is kind of like a drug. It's easy to get addicted to it when you find that you can get away with it, right?

We have all lied at some point or another. Whether we were trying to surprise someone, so we told a little white lie, or we were flat out trying to deceive someone, we have all been there. What makes lying so bad is that it presents an alternate to reality. We begin living in another world when we lie.

For instance, you see all the time on television shows when someone does something and they don't want to get in trouble, they will tell a lie that they didn't do it. "It wasn't me." Right. What this creates, then, is a world of doubt. If you tell me you didn't do something, I then have to determine whether the reality of the situation is that you didn't do it or you are covering your tracks. Now, to make matters worse, perhaps you tell me how I can know you didn't do it, you were at the grocery store at the time that it happened. Now the possibilities begin to multiply. There is the possible reality where you didn't do it and you were at the grocery store; there is the possible reality that you didn't do it, but you were not at the grocery; there's the possible reality that you did do it, but you did go to the grocery store; and there is the possible reality that you did do it and you never were at the grocery store. This could go on and on.

Some people have become so accustomed to deceiving others that their whole lives are one big lie. They are not living in the reality of the world. Have you ever known someone like this? You never know whether to believe them or not. Every word that comes out of their mouth causes more and more doubt. Why do we do this? Wouldn't it just be so much easier if we all just told the truth?

It is necessary for anyone who claims to know the truth through Jesus Christ to speak the truth. If people doubt anything you say, they will not believe it when you tell them the truth of Jesus. Your life must be as much of a witness as your words. So is there something you need to be honest about? Maybe you need to be honest with yourself about something. Whatever the case may be, just be honest with everyone, whether it means you have to admit to something you wish you hadn't done or it will affect someone you love. Just speak the truth, but do it in love.

Gary Luedecke, Lifegroup Pastor

What is Your Isaac?

There are 24 verses in Genesis 22, but as a parent, once I read verse 2, all the other verses sound like the voice of Charlie Brown’s teacher, do you remember that?… “wa wawawa wawa wa.” See if you don’t feel the same way…the verse reads, 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.” Wow!! Really?!?

Even though it’s tough, we need to push through verse 2 and note that the author then paints us the picture of how Abraham and Isaac journeyed to the mountain and the dialogue that took place between father and son. We also need to see how God moved in to save the day and spare the life of Isaac by providing an alternative sacrifice and how Abraham’s unwavering obedience resulted in an audibly blessing from God through an angel.

This story reminds me that years ago James and I gave our children to God. Thankfully, we did not have to go to the extreme testing that Abraham did, but it was still a difficult task. Rather than a physical action, it was mostly a conscious decision in our hearts and minds to literally hand their lives over to him to take and use however he determined. It was not easy giving up our son and daughter but we recognized that they did not really belong to us anyway.  For since their conception, to their last breath, they will always and only belong to their Creator.

As I read Genesis 22, I have a flood of emotions for Abraham such as an overwhelming sympathy and agony. While I know the feeling of “giving up” my children to God, I can’t fathom the thought process that Abraham must have been dealing with as the trip progressed, and as he considered his full assignment. I am especially troubled for Abraham when Isaac asks his dad, “where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Do you think Abraham had sorrow or dread in his heart? Do you think there are words to even describe what he must have been feeling? Do you think Abraham ever considered disobeying? If he did, there is no hint found in these verses but rather a steadfast belief that God knew what was best.

Just a little over a year ago, James and I were blessed to become grandparents to a beautiful little girl named Chloe. She has been a source of great joy. What you may or may not know is that just a few months ago she and her parents moved to Kansas to do ministry work. This new arrangement has been a difficult and painful adjustment. I have struggled with the transition from having her every Friday to weekly FaceTime experiences. As I was praying over the situation one day and asking God the “why” questions and seeking his comfort I heard the Holy Spirit ask me a question. “Have you given me your Chloe?” At first, I was shocked! “What do you mean, have I given you my Chloe? I’ve given you my kids.” To that response I heard in my spirit, “Yes, but have you given me your Chloe?” The tears fell then as I cried, for I knew that I had not done so.  I wish I could tell her that I humbled myself right then and there and submitted to this request, and willing obeyed as Abraham did, but I didn’t. I argued and wrestled in my spirit with God until I came into full submission to him, and released her to her Designer. While I eventually succumbed to the act of obedience the process did not represent the beautiful portrait of faith that Abraham demonstrated, but rather an ugly, struggling mess.

The message here in Genesis 22 is all over the place; it is about faith and trust, it’s obedience, it’s giving up that which is most valuable to you, it is humility and it is strength under pressure. It’s laying down all other ‘things’ in life and yielding them up to Him in accordance to his will and purpose!! It is releasing your hold and control over anything and handing God the reigns. It’s believing that he has a higher purpose and that everything I love and hold dear belongs to him. It’s acknowledging the irrefutable fact that he is God and I am not!

So, I ask you? What is your Issac? What is that one thing that you dearly love that you are holding so tightly too? Is it a spouse, children, status, possessions, control, unmet expectations, a sinful habit, pride or worse…your Chloe? If God asked you to give any one of these objects/ matter up to him completely and fully, could you? Would you? Would you yield so magnificently in obedience, faith and trust or would you fight kicking, and screaming in rebellion? In the end, Abraham was blessed for his obedience and sacrifice. It is a beautiful thing to humbly submit to the Lord God. I pray that we can grow in the depth of our obedience and offer up to God anything that he requires of us…what would that be for you?

Blessings,

Christy Garison, Serve Minister

For the Sake of Ten...

Today our passage is Genesis 18:22-33. Abraham has just overheard God’s plans to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their wickedness, so he begins an interesting dialogue with God to intercede for the two cities. “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Far be it from you to do such a thing! What if there are fifty righteous people? Will you really sweep it away? What if there are 45? 40? 30? 20? 10? Finally God tells Abraham, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”

Over the years, I have heard several sermons preached on this particular passage; and in almost every one, the preacher focuses on Abraham’s boldness to “push back” on God’s decision to destroy Sodom. I mean, who does that? Getting back in God’s face after he’s already made a decision? That’s pretty gutsy! And while I admire Abraham’s faith and his willingness to speak up, I want to take this moment to focus on God’s response to Abraham’s appeal. 

Many times throughout the Old Testament, we view God as an unwavering dispenser of justice in the form of destruction and deliverance. He destroyed the wicked by flooding the world in Noah’s time. He brought severe calamity upon Egypt before Pharaoh relented and allowed the oppressed Israelites to go free. In one instance He flung huge hailstones upon the Amorite armies and caused the sun to stand still so that Joshua and the Israelites could defeat their enemies. Time and time again, story after story in God’s relentless war against sin, evil and oppression, he brought destruction upon those that were in opposition to both his people and his character. So the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah would only be another “notch” on God’s belt of how he handled sinful people.

But in the midst of our story today, in God’s response to Abraham, we catch a glimpse of more of God’s amazing qualities; more facets in the gem of His remarkable character. While we do see justice, we also see traits like mercy, compassion, patience and grace. I can’t help but think of the Apostle Peter’s words in 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 

“For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”

In the end, God does destroy the two cities; He saw firsthand that their sin and wickedness were just too great; not even ten righteous people could be found. But that’s how serious God is about sin and its destructive tendencies. He hates it and he wants us to avoid it because of what it does to us.

Take some time today and thank God for his patience, his mercy and his grace. And let’s remember, one day the entire earth will be consumed in the fires of God’s judgment. And since we are his hands, feet and voice, let’s bring the message of his love to this world that needs it so desperately. 

Blessings,

Jimmy Garison, Family Care Pastor

Adventure is Out There

I am always surprised how quickly my life feels mundane, boring, and
devoid of meaning when I am not consistently connected to God. When I
am not connected to God, life quickly seems so pointless, you get up,
get ready, and head to work, work all day, come home, eat, sleep and
do it all over again. It is easy to get caught in that cycle and to
loose a sense of meaning and purpose when you are not connected to the
source of all life.

On the other hand I am also equally surprised how quickly I see
meaning and purpose in my everyday life when I am connected to God
daily. Even stopping for a few minutes in the morning and connecting
with God makes a difference in how I view my day - suddenly I am
looking for ways to serve others, looking for opportunities God is
sending my way and God is moving in me through out the day - certainly
not boring.

I love the story of God calling Abram in Genesis 12, it is insane to
think about - God asks Abram to do something crazy - leave everything
you know and follow me to a place I am not revealing to you right now.
Just pick up everything and leave - now that is adventure! God
promises Abram that he is going to bless him beyond his wildest
imagination but he doesn’t give many details and leaves Abram
completely dependent on his connection to God to make this adventure
happen.

I love this story because it is messy - God doesn’t give Abram a clear
seven step plan or a road map to get to where He is leading - Abram
has to stay connected to God. If you know the story of Abram, he
messes up more than just a few times, with some serious ramifications
we still deal with today, but the beauty of the story to me is the
connection to God, the complete reliance on Him for everything - and
the amazing things that happen when Abram (and us for that matter)
trust God and simply follow him.

We like to make things so complicated in life - we need to know all
the details, have all the facts, make the perfect plan - but we fail
to see that God is really in control and if our plans don’t match His,
they won’t work. Brandon was absolutely right on Sunday when he said
that technology separates us from the source of life - it makes us
feel like we don’t need God - which is just as untrue for us today as
it was for Abram. We think that we can make a plan for our life and
just go for it, I am not sure about you but when I try to do
everything on my own it doesn’t work out the way I had planned. I
think it’s time we stop trying to control everything and plan out
every detail of our lives and start asking God where He is leading.

Where is God leading you? What crazy thing is He asking you to do?
Join a life group? Lead a life group? Go on a mission trip? Talk to
your neighbor about more than cars and sports? Admit you have a
problem and get some help? What ever God is asking you to do, big or
small, I urge you to give it a try. It may seem crazy and completely
unattainable but with God nothing is impossible. God is calling us to
more - to adventure beyond our wildest imagination. Are you ready to
say yes?

Vicki Sommerwerck, Youth/Missions Minister

Genesis Chapter 7

A few thoughts on the Noah flood narrative...

7:5 - How would you like that to be said about your life? "And (Your name here) did everything the Lord had commanded of him (or her)." What a legacy...what a way to be known by the people around you! This is such a simple verse...such a simple way to live your life that Noah models for us. God tells Noah that the whole earth is going to be flooded. Tells him to build a huge boat (Do people even know what boats are at this point?). Tells him to pile wild animals on this thing and get ready for the entire earth to flood like a giant washing machine cleaning off all the vile sinfulness that exists. (Genesis 6:5 tells us that every single thought of the people on earth at this point was corrupt - every moment they were thinking only of ways to serve themselves and please themselves.) And how does Noah respond to these insane sounding instructions...he immediately does everything that the Lord commanded him to do. So many times it seems like the things that God is calling us to do are impossible. Bless those who curse you? It seems like the people God is calling us to be are crazy. Love your enemies? But if we have the courage to follow in the footsteps of Noah...the faith to trust that God knows what He is doing...the wisdom to believe that God's way is better - we will see God at work boldly in our lives just like Noah did. I need to stop making excuses for myself and live out the life God is calling me to live. How about you?

That was the challenging part - now on to the fun sidebar discussion...

7:11 - I like the term the English Standard Version of the Bible uses, "The windows of heaven were opened...". I think maybe there were different types of cloud layers at this point in earth's history. Maybe the clouds were insanely low and thick so that the entire earth was like a greenhouse...enabling the people to live hundreds and hundreds of years.You will notice that after the flood, the ages of people start to drastically decline. Maybe God caused the greenhouse clouds to collapse causing the flood and He didn't put them back the way they were? What do you think?