Category: Harvest

Bread of Affliction

8/10/2025

Sweat trickled in small streams down his face, making narrow rivulets through the dust and grime. He lifted his hand over his head and brought is down again in a swift, sudden movement, beating the miniscule wheat out of the chaff. The process was especially difficult—there was no breeze to chase away the chaff or the heat that beat down upon him, the waves dancing up and down upon the chiseled-out rock winepress.
      “Egypt,” the man of God had said. “Deliverance.” “...Gave us this land.” The words repeated continuously in his mind, in cadence with every blow. The “God of Israel.” The One who “led” us.
      The young man paused, lifting his back up into a standing position, arching against the pain. His painfully thin arm reached up and scrubbed away at the sweat trickling into his eyes, the salt stinging, the moisture blurring his vision. He looked out over the fields below. Stripped. Bare. Ugly. Brown.
      They had come again and left nothing. Seven long years they had come. He looked down again to his small pile. All he had beaten out was barely enough to sow for next year, let alone live off of through the winter.
      He felt tears spring to his eyes, smarting painfully before joining the sweat pooling on his chin. The man of God had given no hope. Just condemnation. Only a reminder of what God had done for others. Just the statement: “You haven’t obeyed.”
      He knew it was true. He’d watched his village meet at the Asherah pole and sacrifice what they had to Baal. They’d hoped that serving the gods of their enemies would prevent their enemies from coming, would ensure an abundant harvest and bigger families. But the child sacrifice had only made their numbers smaller, only brought more pain and grief as the laughter in the streets had turned to silence and the sound of the little feet running had ceased.
      Even more shameful was that it was his own dad who had set it up. As he recalled that night, his head hung lower and his shoulders, their blades sticking gauntly from his back, began to slump. His dad had thought maybe they could be like the other nations; that wealth and abundance could come to them just like it seemed to for their enemies.
They used to have some things, but now there was nothing left—except his dad’s bulls. Those he had kept. They were a symbol of Ba’al, the storm god who controlled the rains that made their crops grow. They were sacred. They had to be fed and fattened with the grain that was withheld from the starving people.
      A picture of the idol sprang to his mind, the golden head of the bull with his horns of strength and might raised up into the sky. His arms were outstretched, waiting for the children he would be given in exchange for his favor. The sacred tree-pole of the Asherah goddess was erected next to him, her promise of supernatural fertility mocking the now emaciated worshippers.
      Gideon shuddered as he shook away the horror of what he’d seen, wishing to erase it from his memory. How could people be so cruel?
He looked up again, eager to look elsewhere, to redirect his mind. He sighed. Yes, they did deserve this. They had given their children and disobeyed God’s commands. He had told them never to give their children or to serve those idols.
He felt anger grip his heart, tightening, painful in its intensity. In a sudden, weary exhaustion, the anger collapsed back to fear and despair.
God would never forgive them. They were here because of their own sin.
There was no hope.

The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of Yehovah, and Yehovah gave them into the hand of Midian (מִדְיָן S#4080 midyan: descended from Abraham’s son Midian by his wife Keturah; from מִדְיָן S#4079 madown: brawling, contention) seven years. 2And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. 3For whenever the Israelites scattered seed, the Midianites and the Amalekites (עֲמָלֵק S#6002 Amalek: a descendant of Esau; from עָמַל S#5998 strenuous human effort that carries a sense of weariness, frustration, and even sorrow) and the people of the East would come up against them. 4They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no ability to stay alive in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey. 5For they would come up with their livestock and their tents; they would come like locusts in number—both they and their camels could not be counted—so that they laid waste the land as they came in. 6And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to Yehovah. Judges 6:1-5

God's hand is mighty. The Bible often tells us that God saved His people by His mighty hand. Yet, when we sin, it is not His hand but the hand of others who also sin to whom God gives us over. He does this to remind us of what our sin does. As others hurt us through their sin, we begin to realize the sad reality of what sin does, now turned against us. Often our response is to blame God for our consequences: “A person’s own folly leads to their ruin, yet their heart rages against the LORD” (Prov. 19:3 NIV), But this is a mistake and will never bring us back into relationship.
It is our Midianites and Amalekites that bring us back to God by showing us the result of our choices. Midianites are the contentions that arise, those fights and arguments that steal our peace and cause our relationships to be broken. Amalekites are all the human efforts we put into trying to save what we have in a way that only brings weariness, frustration and sorrow.
These two painful enemies come into our lives like locusts, swarming in such numbers and landing on everything green and growing that we have in our lives. By the time they are done ravaging our land, there is nothing left; everything is stripped bare and lifeless. There is no more bread.
When we have finally had enough of our own selfishness and sin, when we finally can see the devastation it causes in our lives and the lives around us, we may find ourselves willing to cry out to God.

7When the people of Israel cried out to Yehovah on account of the Midianites, 8 Yehovah sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, “Thus says Yehovah, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. 9And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10And I said to you, ‘I am Yehovah your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.” Judges 6:7-10

"Why didn't you listen to the ones I sent?"
Have you ever had a friend, pastor, fellow Christian, family member—or even a complete stranger, confront you about your sin? It is easy for our response to be offended denial and defensiveness. "Who are you to judge!" We might angrily retort. We may resist the very words of God if we are not sufficiently humbled enough to receive even the hard words that might bring life back to our souls. How that grieves Jesus!

“Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.” Luke 10:16

And they went back and reported [Jesus' resurrection\ to the rest, but they did not believe them either. 14Later, as they were eating, Jesus appeared to the Eleven and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. Mark 16:13-14

Instead of becoming angry when we are confronted, let's remember how much courage and love they must have to face the potential of our anger and perhaps punitive response. Fortunately, and notably quickly for the stories in the book of Judges, the people were ready to respond to God’s gracious remonstrance. And as God always does, He had a plan already for their salvation.

11Now the Ambassador of Elohim came and sat under the oak (אִלָה S#424 or terebinth; from אַיִל S#352 strength, mighty, a pillar, a mighty man, to be twisted together to form a stronger element, as in a cord) at Ophrah (from עָפַר S#6080-6083 dust), which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon ( גִּדְעוֹן S#1439: one who cuts down, a warrior, a feller of trees; from גָּדַע S#1438 gada and גָּדַל S#1438 gadol: to twist, to be great, to grow, to be mighty) was beating out wheat in the winepress to allow it to escape from the Midianites. Judges 6:11

Gideon was hiding at the place of dust, Ophrah, from which he had been created. Dust reminds us that just as we were made from the dust of the cursed ground, as a result of our sin we also will return to dust at the end of our toilsome days (Gen. 3:19). It is our inevitable end to work with difficulty to cultivate the ground, to scatter seed and to have thorns and thistles make the task of yielding a harvest of seed and bread for food a wearisome task (Gen 3). Dust reminds us of our frailness, the temporal nature of our fleeting lives and our extreme vulnerability.
Contrastingly, the oak (or terebinth) tree was a symbol of strength and might in the Bible, and it was under these trees that judgments and judicial decisions would be made by judges, as well as covenants entered into by the people. And yet it is here that Gideon is found, not threshing the grain on the hilltop so that the wind might chase away the chaff, but hiding down in a winepress in order that the Midianites might not see that he was trying to store away what he had been able to retain.

12And the Ambassador of Elohim (מֲלְאָךְ S#4397 / מֶלֶךְ S#4428 malek: ambassador, king, envoy of the king; אֱלהִים S#430 elohim: plural of God, the triune godhead) appeared to him and said to him, “Yehovah is with you, O mighty man of valor!” (חַיִל S#2428 chayil: mighty, valor, abundance, wealth) 13And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if Yehovah is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not Yehovah bring us up from Egypt?’ But now Yehovah has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

"Why, God?"
Oh, dear ones! Isn’t that so often the question aching in our hearts? If God is with us, if God is for us, if God loves us, if God is all powerful and all knowing, then “Why???” Why did my mom die from painful disease? Why did I lose my baby? Why did my spouse betray me? Why did my child reject me? Why did we lose everything we had worked hard for? Why are we impoverished? Why is everything I try to accomplish destroyed by the enemy of my soul?
We’ve heard the stories of what God has done for others. Incredible miracles. Happily-ever-after soundbytes. It’s even painful to hear them at times. And yet God has allowed devastation to come on us and seems to be uncaring. In fact, when the prophet came to condemn the people for not obeying God, it wasn’t necessarily Gideon who had been disobedient. Often, though, we find God’s people suffering along with others as God has to give loving discipling and correction to whole nations and communities.
But God’s representative has not come to berate Gideon for the sins of his family members or his nation. Rather, He has come to commission Gideon and to remind him that though he is dust, his very name carries the greatness, abundance and might that God can instill in a person committed to operating by faith.
Though Gideon had learned through trauma and hardship to have a scarcity mindset, God was ready to teach him about the abundance we have in Christ.

14And Yehovah turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” 15And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh (מְנַשֶּׁה S#4519; from נָשָׁה S#5382 to cause to forget), and I am the least in my father’s house.” 16And Yehovah said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” 17And he [Gideon] said to Him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is You who speak with me. 18Please do not depart from here until I come to You and bring out my present and set it before You.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.”

It is worth noting that, although Gideon was hiding, he had, in fact, shown a tremendous amount of faith in his act of continuing to scatter seed and gather it even through seven long years of raids by their enemies. Though he was hiding in a winepress, he was still using the strength he had and the resources he could find. Perhaps it was as a result of this act of faith that the Ambassador of Elohim, the very image-bearer of God Himself, would come to him. Under this great and mighty oak, God manifested in the flesh as Jesus had come to Gideon. He had declared that Gideon also was a mighty man of valor. Just as the word for Oak means also to be twisted together for strength, we know that it is a “three cord strand” that is “not easily broken (Eccl. 4:12). When we are twisted together with Jesus, God the Father and the Holy Spirit, we are indeed mighty.
Gideon was a descendant of the tribe of Manasseh, which means “to forget.” Joseph had named his son Manasseh because God had so blessed him with abundance and greatness that he no longer remembered the painful years of slavery his brothers had inflicted upon him in Egypt.

[God\ allowed no one to oppress them;
he rebuked kings on their account,
15saying, “Touch not my anointed ones,
do my prophets no harm!”
When [God\ summoned a famine on the land
and broke all supply of bread,
17He had sent a man ahead of them,
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18His feet were hurt with fetters;
his neck was put in a collar of iron;
19until what He had said came to pass,
the word of the Lord tested him.
20The king sent and released him;
the ruler of the peoples set him free;
21he made him lord of his house
and ruler of all his possessions, Psalm 105:14-21 ESV

Psalm 105 tells us that first God would not allow His chosen ones to be harmed, then shares that Joseph was allowed to be harmed. In Joseph’s story, it was also a famine of grain, just as in Gideon’s. Additionally, God had promised Joseph that one day he would be great and powerful. It was God’s word to him that tested and tried his faith while falsely accused and imprisoned for many years.
But in due course, God word was fulfilled and Joseph’s faith was found to be genuine. So also with Gideon, God would bring him through this testing of his faith and into a place of abundance.

19So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth [oak\ and presented them. 20And the Ambassador of Elohim said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this Rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so. 21Then the Ambassador of Elohim reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the Rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the Ambassador of Elohim vanished from his sight. 22Then Gideon perceived that he was the Ambassador of Elohim. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the Ambassador of Elohim face to face.” 23But Yehovah said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” 24Then Gideon built an altar there to Yehovah and called it, Yehovah Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah (dust), which belongs to the Abiezrites (אֲבִי הָעֶזְרִי S#33 abi (father of) ezer (help).

Gideon was now offering a sacrifice to Yeshua, to Jesus, who is the Ambassador and direct representation of the Father (Heb. 1:3).
This offering is reminiscent of the Pesach, or Passover Supper that Jesus celebrated with His disciples on the night before His death as their Passover Lamb. This Last Supper, Jesus declared, was symbolic of His own body and blood given for the sin of mankind. According to the commandments relating to the observance of this Feast, this animal offering could be either a firstborn, unblemished, young goat or lamb (Exodus 12:4-5). This offering would be eaten in haste and entire, and the blood put over the door of their households in order to spare their firstborn from death. It would be served with unleavened bread, in sign of the haste with which they would need to leave Egypt out of their slavery. Instead of the children of Israel being killed as the pharaoh had predicted, it was instead his own son whose life had been required.
Just as Jesus vanished from Gideon’s sight after receiving the offering, so also Jesus vanished from the sight of His disciples after death and His resurrection.

30When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. 32They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” 33And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. Luke 24:30-35

After this realization, the disciples immediately went running back to Jerusalem to tell the rest of the unbelieving disciples that they had just seen the Risen Lord, just as He had foretold. Their hearts had burned, just as the Gideon’s bread had burned, both with the eternal fire of Jesus.

And they [the two disciples of Luke 24:30-36\ went back and reported it to the rest, but they did not believe them either. Mark 16:13

36As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” 37But they were startled and frightened, thinking they had seen a spirit. Luke 24:36-37

14Later, as they were eating, Jesus appeared to the Eleven and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. Mark 16:14

When the word of God has so touched our hearts, when we realize that we have been with Jesus, our hearts burn within us. The sacrifice that He receives are a broken and contrite (repentant) heart (Ps. 51:17) that we give Him as a result of our gratitude for His sacrifice for us.
Just as Gideon was startled and frightened when he realized he had seen the face of God in the form of Jesus, so also the disciples became afraid. But Jesus is the God of Peace, and it this peace He leaves with us—not a peace like the world gives, but a peace that is everlasting and can never be taken away!
The Rock from which the fire sprang is Jesus (1 Pet. 2:4-8) and He Himself was made from the dust of the ground, just like us, being made like us in every way (Heb. 2:17). He still stands with us, being fully God and fully man.
All of it belongs to Abi-ezer, our "Father of Help." God is our Father, and the Helper, the Holy Spirit, is the other member of the triune godhead:

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. John 14:26

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8

“So Send I you!”

25That same night Yehovah said to him, “Take your father’s bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it 26and build an altar to Yehovah your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.” 27So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as Yehovah had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night. Judges 6:25-27

It is notable that it was the very same night that God gave this instruction to Gideon. Jesus also went out from the Passover Last Supper with His disciples and was taken in custody by the soldier in the Garden of Gethsemane. This was done by night, because the high priests were afraid of the people who believed Jesus to be their Messiah:

At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.
Matt. 26:55-56

The ten servants represent the ten commandments of the Law, by which Jesus must be crucified in order to redeem us from the curse of the Law (Matt. 5:17), thus fulfilling all the requirements of the Law, and the stones represent the entirety of the nation of Isael:

There are to be twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes. Exodus 28:21

Additionally, Though Jesus had vanished from Gideon’s sight, He is still there. His presence would not leave, and His voice would be heard. He has promised never to leave us, never to forsake us (Deut. 31:6, Matt. 28:20)
Before we can fight the larger battles, there is often a battle closer to home that we need to address. While sin comes in a multitude of ways, the sins of the ancient people groups really aren’t any different than we encounter today, in our own culture, in our own families.
Abortion, sexual immorality, greed (which is idolatry (Col. 3:5), lust, dishonesty, rebellion, lust and hatred are just some that God has repeatedly warned us will bring nothing but destruction to our lives.
God did not send Gideon first to tackle the nations problem. He sent him first to his own family’s issues.
Sometimes these seemingly smaller battles to win people to a relationship with God are more intimidating than the larger ones. The fear of alienating family members, rejection by our immediate community and friend groups, and even retaliation for our obedience to cutting off anything from our lives that causes us and others to sin that can be very intimidating and have painful reactions by those we love.
Jesus’ final command to His disciples after He rebuked them for not listening to the women and men He had sent to witness to His death and resurrection was to go to world and witness to what we have seen:

15And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:15-16

Gideon’s family had been practicing idolatry—what is more, they had been leading their community in this practice. Gideon’s name also carries the idea of cutting down, of felling. He was being instructed to walk in this: to cut down the idols, to cut down the Asherah pole.
Not only that, but the bull God instructed Gideon to sacrifice was what his family was saving to live off of. No doubt they had been carefully hidden and safeguarded from their enemies. Gideon was to take his father’s bull, and a second bull seven years old. This second bull had been alive ironically and tellingly as long as the oppression the people of Israel had undergone. It had been kept safe through all of the difficulties; honored, worshipped and fattened. Just as the Ba’al idol was fashioned in the image of a sacred bull, the symbol of strength and might, the bulls represented the strength the people were trying to obtain through their efforts and pointless sacrifices.
God had commanded Gideon to remove it, placing his entire dependence upon God alone for their needs. They could no longer count on these physical provisions or their own ingenuity to protect them from starvation. They must rest their hope entirely on God’s help. With the sacrifice of Jesus, the people unknowingly rejected Him while simultaneously securing the means to the salvation of the world.

Jesus was the second bull, taking on the form of sinful flesh, though innocent of all charges. The first man, Barabbas, guilty of sin and charged justly under the Law, was released because his debt was being paid by Jesus:

After [Pilate\ had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in [Jesus\. But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.
John 18:38-40

The people, crying out to crucify Jesus with the chant, "We have no king but Caesar!" showed their own idolatry to the pagan idolatrous practice of worshipping their Caesar.

28When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built. 29And they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And after they had searched and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash (יְהוֹאָשׁ S#3060 fire of Yehovah) has done this thing.” 30Then the men of the town said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it.” 31But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been broken down.” 32Therefore on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he broke down his altar.
Judges 6:28-32

We find that what Joash should have done, Gideon did. Joash had been unwilling to take on the responsibility, had been too afraid of the nations, of the idols and of the people. But just as Ba’al, the storm god, was depicted with lightning, the fire from heaven in their reliefs, so Joash’ name reflects this dynamic. It was the fire of God that they needed to fear. It was the fire of God, which had touched Gideon’s offering.
But Joash did state one thing very correctly: If Ba’al was god, he could fight his own battles.

Though Gideon was certainly not a god, Jesus was God Himself. It is ironic, then, that the declaration of Baal's need to contend, or fight for himself, is echoed in the mocking jeers of the rulers at the foot of the cross:

And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” Luke 23:35

We see that to the Jews, power is all-important as a sign of God's authority (1 Cor. 1:22-24), which became a stumbling block to them receiving Jesus. However, it is in the foolishness and weakness of the cross that the gospel was chosen to come to us. Jesus knew that He would receive salvation from the grave in due time and willingly gave up enacting His own contention. Unlike Baal, who would indeed come next to contend against Gideon, Jesus knew that His vindication would come from God alone.
This was an entire sacrifice, including the accursed wood of the asherah tree. Significantly, it was the wood of the tree, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, that had borne the fruit that through mankind’s disobedience would bring death and sin to all of God’s Creation. It was the wood of this tree that was accursed. As it is written:

22“And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.
Deut. 21:22-23

“Bring out your son that he may die!”
Early in the morning the men of the town surrounded Gideon's father. This happened also with Jesus:

Early in the morning, the chief priests, elders, scribes, and the whole Sanhedrina devised a plan. They bound Jesus, led Him away, and handed Him over to Pilate. Mark 15:1

The words of the people of Ophrah, those people of dust, resound in our ears with impact. Unlike Gideon's father, our The Father, God, did bring out His Son. He was given as a sacrifice because of the need to destroy the works of darkness, to destroy that ancient enemy, the Serpent. It is this cursed tree that must be used to redeem us from the curse of sin. Jesus would become sin, become our curse, so that we might be brought back into relationship with our God:

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.”
Gal 3:13

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Cor. 5:21 ESV

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Col 2:13-15

Just as Gideon had to contend first with his sin and that of his family, so Jesus was sent first to the lost sheep of Israel (Matt. 15:24) and then His disciples were sent to bring the good news to the world. This would take great courage.
Gideon, the feller of trees, the mighty warrior, stands in the symbolic place of Jesus, who felled the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, became sin on this tree and broke down the altar of Ba’al (בַּעַל S#1168 ba’al: owner, master), the slave master over us. God had indeed rescued Gideon and His people from Egypt once again. With Jesus’ help, we will never again be in slavery to sin or endless work to receive our salvation.
There is, and only ever will be, one Sacrifice that will bring us victory over sin's mastery and back into relationship with God. Have you trusted in Jesus alone for your salvation? Have you confronted your need to repent?
Have you been willing to confront the sin in your family and in your community? When will it be worth it to tell people just how devastating their sin has been and what their remedy is?

Will you let fear stop you from bringing salvation to those you love?

https://www.thearchaeologist.org/blog/the-worship-of-baal-in-the-ancient-levant
https://armstronginstitute.org/325-zeus-baal-and-a-rare-bronze-bull-idol-discovered-in-greece
https://www.ancient-origins.net/history/moloch-0016383
https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends-asia/identity-moloch-0011457

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Behold, the Lamb of God!

4/28/2024

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Every year Pesach is celebrated, and every year the Jewish nation awaits their Messiah. When we visited Israel two years ago, I was able to speak with a Jew at the Pool of Siloam. He questioned me about Jesus, and told me that the Jewish people are fearfully awaiting the coming of the Messiah, because they are told that he was coming soon, ready or not. To get ready, they are told, they must do enough good works. Sometime between now and the end of the 6000 years of the world, he will come. If they are ready, it will be to set up his kingdom. If they are not, it will be to judge them. He asked me about our Messiah. We talked about how Jesus, a Jew, is the passover lamb, crucified for our sins to bring us back into a relationship with God. We talked about how He is coming again, and all those who place their faith and trust in Him have no fear of His coming, but only joy and anticipation!

It was deeply sad to me that, for many of the Jews, a "veil lies over their hearts," so that they cannot see that their Messiah has come.

Yet hidden in their own Seder meal is the very heart of the gospel. Moses prophesied that a “Prophet like” him would come, One whom God’s people must listen to. The Messiah, a prophet deliverer like Moses has come, was rejected, suffered and died for our sins to reconcile us to the Father and rose again to give us new life! This good news is first for the Jews, then to the Gentiles. Not only that, but the Exodus story is prophesied to repeat itself, when our Messiah returns for His people. On that day, The Suffering Messiah will come as the Triumphant King! God’s people will be delivered and the Enemy we see before us today, we will see no more forever! (Ex. 13:14)

As we meditate on this holy and deeply meaningful feast, I invite you to join us as we discover the meaning behind each element and the incredible hope we have as we await our Messiah, Jesus, who will return again for us!

The week of Pesach, of Passover, begins on Nisan 14th with a Seder meal and concludes with the bringing of the Firstfruits and rituals in readiness for the Harvest.

Yeast Removal

Each household was commanded to examine and remove all leaven from their homes. Ridding all forms of yeast, or leaven, from the whole household was meticulously done for days. All breads with any leaven were abstained from for the entirety of the seven day festival. This represented the close examination of our hearts by the Holy Spirit to remove any sin against God or others. We are to repent of any wrong and remove anything within our homes or families and even throughout our whole church family that causes us to turn away from obedience to God (Exodus 12:8, 15, 13:7, 1 Cor. 5: 11:27-29).

Fast of the Firstborn

Some Jews have the practice that the firstborn in every family fasts on the eve of Passover from sunrise to sunset. This comes from the firstborn son being consecrated to God alone as the Firstfruits of the womb. Instead of sacrifice their firstborn, they would instead redeem him with a sacrifice (Ex. 13:13-16). In addition, it is in memory of their redemption out of Egypt, the house of slavery to dead, unending work. Both Pharaoh and Herod killed all the male Hebrews babies two years old and under, in their attempt to prevent the Messiah/Deliverer from coming (Ex. 1:22; Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Chapter 9.2; Matt. 2:16). This Deliverer had been prophesied in each instance by wise men who instructed the ruler about the coming Deliverer. In an outstanding reversal, it is God who brings Pharaoh’s second attempt at killing the firstborn back upon him, when the Angel of Death comes to take the Egyptians firstborn, and passes over the firstborn of all under the blood of the sacrificial lamb.

Cessation from Work

During the first two and last two days of Passover observant Jews will abstain from all work, resting in the finished work of God. This symbolizes the finished work of Christ in his life, death and resurrection and how believers are to enter into His work and refrain from any form of trying to earn their own salvation through good works or observance of the Law (Genesis 2:2; John 17:4, 19:28-30; 1 Cor. 5:1-9; Hebrews 4:9-10).

Seder Meal (Last Supper/Communion)

1. Kadesh — Kiddush (“Holy,” or “sanctified”)
The wine is blessed at the start of the meal. This cup of sanctified wine represents the blood of Christ, poured out in death for us. His side was pierced on the cross, blood and water pouring out as He prophesied at the Seder meal (Last Supper)(Luke 22:20-21, John 19:34). There are four cups of wine:

The Cup of Sanctification
The Cup of Deliverance/Judgement (deliverance for those who repent, judgment for those who refuse
The Cup of Redemption
The Cup of Acceptance

2. Urhatz —Wash
Washing is first performed in preparation for eating. A towel is wrapped on the arm of the one serving. This person goes around to each of the participants, pouring water over the hands from a pitcher into a bowl. In Jesus' time, this would have included foot washing because of the many miles of walking through dust with sandaled feet. Jesus represented this washing when He wrapped a towel on himself and washed the feet of His disciples, declaring them fully “clean.” This further signifies how Jesus washes His bride, the Church, with the water of the Word, cleansing her and preparing her for the Wedding Supper of the Lamb when He returns for His Church. (John 13:1-17, Eph. 5:26)

3. Karpas — “wool”
Any vegetable that is not bitter may be eaten. Common vegetables used are celery, parsley, onion, or potato. Dipped in salt water for purification and seasoning, they remind us of the baby boys cast in the Nile and the tears shed by the slaves.
In its meaning of “wool,” it is used in the Hebrew scriptures to demonstrate Christ types, who as a “lamb before His (wool)shearers was silent, so He did not open His mouth” at His trial and crucifixion (Isaiah 53:7:
It is used to describe Esther’s royal robe when she went before the King after three days, risking her life to intercede for her people and gaining their freedom on the day of Passover.
It describes Joseph’s “coat of many colors,” made of wool, torn and dipped in the blood of the goat as his brothers when they sold him into slavery.
It describes Tamar’s torn “coat of many colors” as she was defiled by her brother, her blood being shed.
Finally, they remind us of Jesus’ command to rejoice at our own persecution as believers, stating that we are the salt of the earth in order to bring the purification of Christ to others. Though we are favored by our Father, just as Esther, Joseph, Tamar and Jesus, and wear the royal robes of righteousness, through suffering, we allow others to “taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Matt 5:10-16, Psalm 34:8)

4. Yahatz — “Divide”
Three matzahs (unleavened breads) are used in the ceremony, represented the triune nature of God. The middle matzah is broken and the larger part saved for the conclusion of the meal, signifying Jesus’ body, broken for His people (Luke 22:19). The saved portion signifies the return of the Messiah at the end of time. The matzah is unleavened, representing the innocent and sinlessness of Christ. It is pierced through many times, representing the piercing with the spear by the soldier at Christ’s death as well as the flogging He received in order to save us from our sins: 5But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5

5. Magid — Narration of the Exodus story of redemption from slavery

The plate of affliction. The plate with the symbols of affliction is lifted up.
The shankbone of the Paschal lamb or kid: the zero’a of the paschal sacrifice is included because the word zero’a literally means “arm,” alluding to the verse which states, “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm . . .”;

Boiled egg: In Aramaic (spoken by Jews at the time of Jesus), an egg is called bey’a, which also means “pray” or “please.” Thus, the foods silently plead, “May it please the Merciful God to redeem us with an outstretched arm.”

Bitter herbs: These signify the bitterness of the death. The word bitter in Hebrew is “marah,” and was included in the names of the women, three different Marys, who attended Jesus’ cross, burial and witnessed to His resurrection.

Invitation to the nations. An invitation to the stranger and foreigners is to join the Seder meal, signifying the invitation to the world, including Gentiles, to become part of the Body or Church of Jesus.

The wine cups are refilled.
The youngest person at the seder asks the Four Questions and responses are given.

The Four Children
These signify four kinds of people who respond to the gospel: wise, wicked, simple, and one who does not know how to ask. Jesus’ parable of the farmer who sows his seed represents the gospel being shared with people. There are four kinds of people who receive His Word: 1) Those who hear, but Satan comes and takes it away so they will not believe to salvation; 2) those who receive it with joy, but because they do not press onto maturity through a deeper understanding and relationship with God, only persevere in the faith for a time until they give into temptation; 3) those that are consumed by the cares, riches and pleasures of this world and bring no fruit of the Spirit because they never reach in maturity in God; and 4) those who are honest and good in heart, who having heard the Word, hold tightly to it and bring much fruit with persevering patience (Luke 8:5-15).

The Ten Plagues. The word “plague” is also the word “stricken.” Just as Jesus was stricken, so also the evil of the world will be stricken at the end of time as the Lamb of God avenges and delivers His holy people who have suffered at the hands of those who refuse to repent (Rev. 15).

Cup of Suffering. Since our “cup of salvation” cannot be regarded as full when we recall the suffering of the Egyptians, a drop of wine is removed from the cup with the mention of each plague. This signifies the remainder of the suffering which we as believers will endure as we also drink the Cup of Suffering given us by our Father (Mark 10:38-40, John 18:11, Col. 1:24)

Dayenu (It Would Have Been Enough). Let all present join in the refrain thanking God for all the miracles he bestowed upon the Israelites.

The cup is again lifted in joy, thankful for God’s deliverance, ready to praise Him with the first word of the Psalm of praise (Hallel). Two Psalms of the Hallel, Psalms 113-118
Drink the wine, with the blessing of salvation.

6. Rohtza — WashReady to eat, the hands are washed before the meal, as is required at any meal. It is similar to the previous hand-washing, but now all wash with the usual benediction as the hands are dried.

7. Motzi Matzah — Eating MatzahThe first food at the meal is the matzah, the unleavened bread. It is blessed before being eaten.

8. Maror — Bitter HerbsSmall pieces of horseradish are dipped into haroset (a sweet paste symbolic of mortar) to indicate that overemphasis on material things results in bitterness.

9. Korekh —The Passover lamb or kid (young goat) was sacrificed in memory of the blood of the lamb or goat that was put on the doorframe of the houses of Egypt in order for the angel of death, which was bringing judgment, to pass over them and spare their families. In ancient times, the Talmudic scholar Hillel ate the three symbolic foods (lamb, matzah, and bitter herbs) together so that each mouthful contained all three. Thus, the symbols of slavery and liberation were intermingled.

10. Shulhan Orekh — MealThe joyous feasting gives us the feeling of human fellowship in harmony with God.

11. Tzafun — DessertNow the afikomen. Either someone has “stolen” it, or parents can hide the afikoman when it is first put aside (Step 4) and let the children look for it during the meal to win a prize. The larger piece of matzah, the unleavened bread which was broken and hidden is now found and shared among those present. This represents how the body of Jesus was hidden from the sight of His disciples as he ascended into the clouds, with the promise that He will return one day in the same way He ascended and that every eye will see Him on that day! Those who pierced Him will mourn for Him as for an only, beloved son (Acts 1:9-11, Rev. 1:7). Just as the matzah is hidden, it is found by the children and they are rewarded, so also Jesus is coming soon, and says to us, “My reward is with Me!” (Rev. 22:12)

12. Barekh — “Let us praise!”This is the usual “bentschen,” grace after meals, including, of course, thankfulness for the Passover holiday. Fill the cup before this grace and drink the third cup at its conclusion, with the usual “bore p’ri hagafen” blessing.

Door for Elijah. At this point in the seder, they open the door for Elijah, who by tradition is the forerunner of the Messiah, the harbinger of hope, and sing “Eliyahu Ha-navi.” At Jesus’ transfiguration, there was both Moses and Elijah who came and talked with Him. Moses represents the 5 books of the Law that witness against our sin, while Elijah represents the Prophets who prophesied of the Messiah’s coming. Afterward, the disciples asked Him about this, and Jesus declared that Elijah would come, but also had come in the form of John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah. Malachi 4 prophesies of the Judgment Day of the Lord, the second coming of the Messiah, wherein Moses’ Law would testify to our guilt and the prophets would testify to whether we have received the Messiah. Elijah would come again, and if the hearts were not restored, would “strike” the land with a decree to bring them all under the curse of those devoted to destruction.
This is prophesied for completion at the end of time, when the two witnesses will stand and strike the earth with plagues before being martyred and resurrected (2 Kings 2:11, Jude 1:9, Matt 17:1-12, Malachi 4:1-6, Rev. 11:3-13, Zechariah 4:11, John 6:30-46, Luke 16).

13. Hallel — Psalms of PraiseThe rest of the evening is given over to hymns and songs. The Hallel is sung, including Psalm 118, a messianic prophecy of the rejection of Messiah by the leaders of Israel, the Messiah’s death and resurrection and how He becomes the gateway to God for His people (Matt 26:30, Psalm 118).

14. Nirtzah — “Accepted”Nirtzah means to be accepted. Because of the Lamb’s sacrifice, we are included in the righteousness of Jesus when He offered the payment for our redemption price in the form of His life. God accepted us in His Beloved and we are also to accept one another in Jesus in the same way. At this conclusion, they sing L’Shana HaBa’ah B’Y’rushalayim [Next Year in Jerusalem] (Eph. 1:6, Rom. 15:7).

Bringing the Firstfruits (Bikkurim)

By law, the Israelites were commanded to bring the first of their crops and the firstborn of their children or animals to the temple (Ex. 23:19; 34:26, Num. 15:17–21; 18:12–13; Deut. 26:1–11). If it was a crop, it was given to the Levites. If it was an animal or a child, it was redeemed. All firstfruits, however, belonged to God. Jesus became the firstfruits, the firstborn from among the dead in order to redeem all other firstborns (Col 1:18). Just as the firstborns were redeemed before the Exodus from death by the blood of the sacrificial lamb, so when Christ became our Lamb He redeemed us and became the firstborn among many brothers and sisters (Rom. 8:29).

The Resurrection of Christ would begin the first day of the counting of the Omer--on Nisan 16. This harvest counting would give time for the harvest to be fully brought in and completed.

As we continue our studies into the Book of Acts and the work of the Holy Spirit in beginning the Harvest of all souls, let's prayerfully consider how we can follow Jesus, our forerunner.

Isaiah 53

Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
3He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
9And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief;
when his soul makesh an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
11Out of the anguish of his soul he shall seei and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
12Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.

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You, Follow Me!

4/20/2024

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We have a lot of kids. If you might believe it, sometimes it's hard for me to concentrate, get work done, or rest well in our home. :) But I still need to be present and available. So Jeff built me a little cottage as a retreat. I love going out there and looking at the trees, listening to the wind and the water in the creek. God restores my soul there.

For a while my daughters lived in the cottage while our parents were living with us. After they were able to move into other rooms again, the cottage was left cold, empty and uninviting. Of the many things needed out there, the top concern I had was heat! I searched the internet for the perfect heater. I love to read and have a lot of books, so I wanted it to have bookshelves attached. After some time, I found a little, white electric fireplace with bookshelves on either side. It was delightful! I could go out there with a cup of tea and enjoy watching the fake flames dance around. It was great-- until two weeks later the fireplace stopped working.

Oh, the flames still danced, it still looked like it worked, but there was no power to the heat element. All it could do was look pretty. It couldn't function in any purposeful way to chase away the cold in that little room. It needed to be connected to a genuine source of real power.

So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” John 21:15

We must hear and 0bey by agape-loving God.

In John 21, John introduces us to Jesus’ commissioning of His disciples on His third appearance to them after His resurrection. The disciples had just gone out fishing, mirroring their original calling by Jesus. Now, after breakfast, Jesus has three questions for Peter, and three questions for us. "Do you love Me?"

John, the author of this gospel, refers to Peter as Simon Peter. His original name was Simon. It is the same name as Simeon, and comes from the Hebrew verb, “shama:” to hear and obey.

The Shama was the commandment of God which the Israelites would recite first in the morning and last at night every day of their existence, which Jesus claimed to be the Greatest Commandment:

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Deut. 6:4-5

This was Simon’s name. He carried this around with him daily. He was to hear and obey God out of gratitude for God hearing his cries for salvation.

But John reminds us that Simon has another name, “Peter.” Why?

To understand Simon Peter’s second name, we need to go back to the beginning of the book, to John 1:40-42. Andrew had just been at John the Baptist’s Jordan River baptism, where John the Baptist identified Jesus as the Messiah when the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus as a dove and remained. He announced Jesus as the Lamb of God who would “take away the sin of the world!” It was then that Andrew went and got Simon and told him that he had found the Messiah and brought him to Jesus.

Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas (Peter)” (which is translated, A Rock). John 1:40-42

But here in this passage Jesus specifically refers only to his original name. Why? We will get to that in a bit, but for now we also need to see that Jesus keeps referring to Simon as the son of Jonah.

Jonah means “Dove.”

But there is also another story of Jonah. It is the story of a prophet that God commands to go to his enemies to tell them of God’s pending judgment who wanted God’s grace for himself, but not for his enemies. The story ends with us as the readers not being told whether Jonah ever allows God to change his heart.

Simon is a son of Jonah. He is frail, weak and full of false bravado. He hears God, he receives God’s grace for his three times’ denial of Jesus and every other wicked thing he had done—but he still doesn’t want to give God’s grace to the evil Gentiles, like the Romans, who had taken over his country and abused them.

Next Week we will start a series in the Book of Acts, and we will find that twice God uses this story with Jesus in John 21, in the story of the Acts of the Spirit in the birth of the Church. Simon will truly be Simon son of Jonah, with a redemptive ending!

So Jesus asks the question, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?”

More specifically, Jesus asks “do you have agape-love for me?” This is God’s sacrificial love for us. God so agape-loved the world that while we were still sinners, living in hostile rebellion to God, He gave His only, beloved Son to die to redeem us. That is the agape-love of God. “Simon, son of Jonah, do you agape-love me more than these?

We must agape-love God more than anything in the world.

“More than these.” To whom or what is Jesus referring?

To find out, we need to go back to Jesus’ original calling of Simon Peter in Luke 5:1-11. Jesus had just spoken to the multitude from inside Simon’s boat. Afterward, He tells Simon to put the boat out into the water to catch, and Simon, after protesting that he had tried all night and caught nothing, hears and obeys Jesus. They catch such a great amount of fish that their nets begin to break. In Simon’s awe of this miracle, he falls down at Jesus’ knees in repentance and fear, proclaiming, “go away from me, Lord, I am a sinful man!”

And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him. Luke 5:10-11

Back in John 21, we must remember, Jesus had just risen from the dead. Where does Peter go? Fishing. Jesus’ renewed calling of Simon Peter in John 21 recalls his realization of his sinfulness and the grace given to him. Jesus had originally told him not to be afraid. Simon, however, had been very afraid at the cross, to the point where he denied Jesus three times. So after Jesus’ death Peter goes back to fishing, because it’s what he knows, what he loves, what is safe, and what provides him the life that he wants: one of success and safety.

There is a grammatical structure in the Greek that point to what Jesus is talking about with his phrase “more than these” in both accounts. In the Greek, these words “all” and “more than these” grammatically end the same as the object to which they are referring. In Peter’s original calling, when they “forsook all,” the grammar indicates that the “all” is referring back to the boats. In John 21, “more than these” is also referring to the fishing, to the fish and to his livelihood from this career. The antecedent, the words earlier referenced are the “so many great fish, 153 of them.” Jesus is asking him, “Do you agape-love me more than you love fishing? More than you love this boat, this net, this job, this income, this world?”

Jesus clarifies this further in Luke 14:25:

Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’? Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. Luke 14:12-14, 25-33

Back in John 21, Simon’s response to Jesus’ question, Do you agape-love me more than these” is sad and unsatisfactory. He has no power over fear. Simon said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I have phileo-affection for You.”

Peter has a self-awareness. He doesn’t use agape-love, he uses “affection.” He loved Jesus like he might his brother or his family. To agape-love God means to love Him more than anything else. It is a comparison word, and by comparison our love for Him should be so much more than anything else in this world that people might consider the natural love we have for people who are close to us to be in comparison a hatred. That is the difference between the agape-love of God and the phileo-affection that Simon has for Jesus.

If we love Jesus, we must Shepherd His Church.

"Jesus said to Simon, 'Feed My Lambs."

Jesus had just called His disciples “children” at the beginning of their encounter with Him. To feed a sheep means to give it nourishment. To feed a lamb is to give it milk, because it is not yet ready for solid food. Milk is the Word of God, but it is the easy word of God. The gospel, the commands, the elemental principles of God’s word. “As newborn babes,” 2 Peter 2:2 tells us, we are to “desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.”

This command to Simon is part of The Shama:

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
Deut. 6:4-7

If we agape-love Jesus, we will feed those new to Jesus, the little children who are new to the faith, the milk of the Word of God as they grow. We will spend our waking hours looking for opportunities to share with them who God is, what His nature is, and how we can follow Him better.

Milk is for the immature, for the worldly, those not taking the steps of walking in the Spirit.

Paul talks to the Corinthian Church in 1 Cor. 3:1-3 about their pettinesses and sinful, worldly lifestyles as Christians and challenges them:

Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? 1 cor. 3:1-3

Simon was still a “child” because he was still focusing on the world and what he could get out of it. Jesus was calling him to maturity, to forsaking the world and preparing to live out his calling in a way that would no longer just focus on his own need for grace, but also for the world’s need for salvation.

Jesus said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you agape-love Me?”

He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I have affection for You.”

He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.”

Sheep are mature adults, mature Christians. To shepherd means to not only provide pasture and calm waters, but also protection from thieves and predators. They are ready to grow on more than just milk. As we shepherd our families and those God has placed into our lives, they will need to be led to where they can learn more about God. They need protection and wisdom from the enemy's lies and deception. They need to be led to still, quiet places where they can have their soul restored in the Lord's presence. They need to be taught how to be discerning between God's voice and the enemy's voice:

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Heb. 5:11-14

Peter was still worldly. He was still focused on what he could gain out of this for himself. He was “supposing that Godliness was gain” (1 Tim. 6:5).

When we are raising our children, the goal isn’t just that they feed themselves, clothe themselves and clean up after themselves. When they are newborns, we do everything for them. As they grow and starting to eat solid food, we still do much of the work for them. But the goal is so much more. We are raising our children to not only provide for themselves, but to be able to provide for a family and their community. To be a blessing to the world. That is maturity.

Jesus is telling Simon will need agape-love to shepherd His church. It is a sacrificial love that lays down one’s life, one’s dreams, one’s success and reputation. In fighting off predators and protecting the sheep, there is necessary risk that we must accept. As a parent, we understand this. We know that caring for our kids means that we may need to place ourselves into harm to make sure that our kids are protected. We know that there will be sleepless nights, long hours, and challenging times trying to provide for them.

This is something that is very challenging for us to accept. It was challenging for Simon, because he loved and cherished his life. In Matthew 16 The Jewish rulers come to Jesus asking him to prove himself as the Messiah. Jesus tells them the only sign they will be given is the Sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the sea serpent for three days and three nights, so Jesus would be in the grave for three days and three nights before his resurrection. Jesus was suffer the cross before the life. The Jewish rulers were looking for a conquering messiah, one who would conquer, decimate and humiliate their enemies, raise them all to power, fame and wealth, and make everything amazing. This is what Simon also wanted from a Messiah. As we go on in Matthew 16, Jesus then warns his disciples to be wary of the problem the Pharisees have. Then in verse 15 he asks them this very important question: Who do you say that I am? It is Simon's answer that defines his identity:

Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter (a small pebble or easily moved stone), and on this Rock (a large, cliff-side rock used as a foundation to build structures) I will build My church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.
Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”
But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
Matthew 16:16-28

It was by the Spirit of God that Peter recognized the power of God in the Son of God! It was by the frailty of his humanity that he resisted the calling to suffering of His same Messiah. Again, in John 10:11-13, Jesus reminds us of the difference between sharing the gospel for worldly gain vs one taking care of the Church out of agape-love:

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. John 10:11-13

But Jesus knows that Simon doesn’t have this kind of courage in him. He knows he’s just a Peter, just a movable, little rock. So when Jesus is telling Simon Peter to Shepherd His Sheep, he is reminding him of his need to understand his frailty as Peter, not just Simon. Simon would need to depend entirely on the Spirit of God to accomplish the work of shepherding God's people. It would only be on the Rock of Christ that the Church would indeed be built and that not even Hell’s Gates could stand up against the onslaught of the Church of Christ to redeem the world that God loves!

Simon Peter should not be afraid. But he is. He is afraid of the cross. He is afraid of death. And this is preventing him from being who he is called to be: one that shepherds Christ’s church.

He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you have affection for Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you have phileo-affection for Me?”
And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I have phileo-affection for You.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.

Jesus knows all things. Yes, he knows that Simon Peter only has an affection at this point. He needed Simon to know it. He needed Simon to know the kind of love that was necessary. He knows us too. He knows our fears. He knows our conflicting allegiances. He knows that we struggle to give up what we cannot keep to gain what we cannot lose.

He knows it’s hard.

But if we have even affection for Jesus, we must follow Him by taking up our cross and caring for His people.

Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.”

The very cross Simon ran from would become the death he died. The fear he faced would be changed into courage by the Power of the Spirit and out of the love that he would be given for God and for the world. Jesus knows this about you too. The Bible says that God always finishes what He starts. He will carry us on to maturity and complete the work He has begun in you and in me (Phil 1:6). Jesus knows this and isn’t afraid that He can’t accomplish this work in us!

But what do we do? I think we are so much like Simon here. We compare ourselves to others in this process. When my kids are young, they often want to divert our learning conversations to avoid applying to themselves what they need to do. "What about her?" "What about him?" they ask. "Don’t they have to do their chores too?" "Why are they getting to stay up late and I have to go to bed?" "Why did they get a date and I haven’t yet?" We look around and wonder what God’s trying to do with someone else. That’s exactly where Simon goes when the conversation gets uncomfortable:

Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?” Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “But Lord, what about this man?”
Jesus said to him, “If I desire that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.”
Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?”

Simon was likely also remembering Jesus’ words in Matt 16:28:

Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” Matt 16:28

John was the only one of the disciples who, according to church tradition, lived a long life and died naturally. John was enabled to see the revelation of Jesus’ second coming in the book of revelation.

Peter sees John following Jesus. John hadn’t run at the cross. It was John who brought Simon into the room where Jesus was standing trial. It was John who stood at the cross, watching Jesus die. It was John who believed as soon as he saw the empty tomb. John is already following Jesus. But Jesus isn’t talking to or about John. He’s talking to Peter. We do that, don’t we? Try to distract ourselves with God’s dealings with others. "What about them, Lord?" "See how they messed up?" "What about them, Lord, aren’t you going to ask them to do something hard?" "Your people aren't getting it right." "What about them, Lord, are they going to have to do it too?"

But Jesus’ response to Simon Peter is the same as to us: If He desires a different outcome for someone else, what is that to us?

“You, follow Me.”

Have you counted the cost to follow Jesus? Do you love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength? Do you love the people of the world as you love yourself? Are we willing to follow Jesus, even to the cross?

Peter wasn’t ready for any of these things. He was just a weak, double-minded human who was frail and too small to accomplish the great task that Jesus had assigned for him. We feel that. If we are real with ourselves before God, we know we don’t have what it takes to love like God loves, to lay down our lives every day for others, to risk our lives to save our enemies. But Jesus isn’t asking us to be strong, He is asking us to connect into Him as our Source of Power so that we can walk in His strength, doing His works, and allowing God to use us to build His Church on Jesus Christ, the immovable Rock! As we will see next week, a Power was coming from God that would give them and us exactly the kind of courage that we need to love God and shepherd His Church.

As we lean into Jesus’ hard questions for us this week, let’s not get distracted with what God is doing with other people. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to show us what things in this world—our families, friends, work, reputation, comfort.

What are the things that we are clinging to that prevent us from loving God with all our hearts? Are we willing let His Spirit fill us with the power to accomplish what He's called us to do?

References:
1Strong's Greek: 4074. Πέτρος (Petros) -- "a stone" or "a boulder," Peter, one of the twelve apostles (biblehub.com)
2Strong's Greek: 3404. μισέω (miseó) -- to hate (biblehub.com)

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The Harvest of Love

7/8/2021

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Those who sow in tears shall reap with
Shouts of Joy!
Psalm 126:5 ESV

One night I had a dream. In my dream, I was in a large house, full of family and friends. As I walked around this house, I was trying to find ways to share Jesus with them; loving them, having conversations, talking about what the Lord was doing in my life, sharing my story.
At some point, I looked in my wallet, and noticed that some investments I had been spending into had multiplied. One in particular, in just a few short months, had tripled. I got excited! I started thinking about all the ways I could save money in other areas, coffee, food, outings...and funnel that money into this one investment. If this investment was so very profitable, it would be well worth my time and money to put as much in now as I could!
As I woke up from my dream, I could still feel the excitement. My mind was still churning with ways I could save, ways I could invest more. And then as the dream receded and I realized it was only a dream, the realization began to come to me that it was more. That that investment that was multiplying so quickly-- not ready yet for harvest, but very ready for growth-- that investment was the gospel and people.

Sharing my story. Loving people.

I realized if I could save my time, energy, resources, and funnel them into people: relationships, serving, discipling, teaching, then that investment would be the most important and valuable investment I could ever make in my life. It would have the most return, and bring the most joy.
But these investments, they come with a price, don't they? If I took my money away from coffee, it would mean that I couldn't have that coffee that day. If I took the money from what would have been our vacation to invest in a return later, then we would miss out on disneyland, or camping, or other fun, right? Now, coffee and vacations are great, and we would love to have them. But some investments cost more.
Sometimes the investments of love for Jesus and others cost us much more. Tears, grief, sorrow. We may lose friends because we love them enough to tell them truth that they need to hear. We might be rejected by the ones we are trying to help.
In foster care, which many of you may have experienced, the heartbreak can be very real and painful. You know you must fully open your heart and love these children, because they desperately need love. Love that does not hold back. Love that does not put up a shield. Love that opens wide (2 Cor. 6:11-13). But you know they may reject your love. They may be torn away from you. There are no guarantees, and as often as not, or perhaps more, your heart is broken, and the pain may be carried for a lifetime.

This love that Jesus calls us to is painful. It's a cross. It's suffering.

People joke that you shouldn't pray for patience, because then God will send you difficult experiences that require you to grow in patience. I think they pick patience out from the group of the fruit of the Spirit, because there is a feeling that joy is more of an easy, happy feeling. That love is a natural affection for others. That peace is just given. But each of these characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit are born and grow through suffering.
Just like with patience, our love for people grows when we have difficult people to love—when it costs us something because our love is not being returned.
There have been really difficult people in my life, where, honestly, my attitudes were really sour. I found that the feeling of natural affection just wasn't there for that person. I found that the only way to show love for that person was to go daily back into my room and cry out to Jesus to give me His love for that person; to give me the grace to show them love when I didn't feel it. I cried out to Him to change my hard, selfish heart.
Jesus heard my cries, and gradually my heart became softer, more loving, more gentle. Over time, some relationships became beautiful and such a blessing to me. That outcome, however, hasn't always happen. Sometimes I have loved, and my heart has been broken.

We love most when we love those who may never give love back.

Jesus said it this way:

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.
But love your enemies, do good to them,
and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.
Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High,
because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Luke 6:32-36

Have you ever experienced the sacrificial love of others into your life? How did that change your life and heart? How did that experience inspire you to give love in the same way you had received it (without expectation of repayment by them)?

What experiences of costly or painful love have you had that brought a harvest of joy? What life changes have you seen that were worth the costly investment?

How can you love in a way that would cost you something small?

How could you love in a way that may bring potential tears, heartache, and suffering for Jesus' sake?

As we invest in love, we will find that the next fruit of the Spirit—Joy—becomes a natural follow-up. When you know that what you are doing will, by God's unbreakable promise, bring life, healing and beauty to you and to others, then even in the midst of the painful relationship or circumstance, even as you carry your cross, you can look forward with joy to the reward and harvest that will be waiting: "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Heb. 12:2

..................Read the next blog in the Fruit of the Spirit series: "The Strength of Joy"

”If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
"Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is LOVE.
1 Corinthians 13

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Beside All Waters

4/16/2021

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Happy
are you who sow
beside all waters,
who send out
freely the feet of the ox and the donkey.
Isaiah 32:20

It's springtime in the Canyon. Our new blueberry plants are set in their rows, and the raspberries are sending up their new canes. Jeff has been building new cedar planting beds, and our kids are helping to dig out the earth in terraces for the planters to rest.
Beside my recliner in the living room I have my packets of seeds, and I have been leafing through “The Family Garden Plan” by Melissa K. Norris (from the Pioneering Today podcast), a fellow Santiam Canyon gardening enthusiast who is much more skilled than I am, in the hopes that I might glean from her years of experience.

My favorite part is the planning—because I can sit in my recliner with my warm and cozy blanket, hugging a warm cappuccino with a chocolate drizzle. I am fine with getting the seeds and plants into the ground, but once it's time to weed and water—that's all Jeff.
Weeding season happily coincides with allergy season. In fact, I only get a desire to work out in my gardens when it is sunny and warm, something that not a frequent occurrence in our mountainous climate. I have a haunting suspicion that to be truly successful at gardening I would need be out there rain and shine, cold and warm, working to make sure that each plant has the best shot at bearing fruit later on.
While I love the convenience we have in our culture of raised beds, automatic watering systems, and online seed shopping, it doesn't help much in understanding some of Scripture's analogies in planting and harvesting—Scripture's most often used parallel for ministering in the Word of God.
In Eastern Biblical cultures, they didn't have raised cedar beds and imported topsoil. Instead, they worked with what they did have—their water systems. Every year the streams, creeks and rivers would overflow onto their banks with rich topsoil, spilling essential nutrients and water past their normal bounds. The families would take their grain carefully hoarded from the previous year's harvest out to the moist banks, and, using the oxen and donkeys, would plough up the wet dirt with the animals' feet, afterward throwing out the seed onto the wet topsoil. This would soak the grains and prepare them for more uniform germination. As the waters subsided, the plants would spring up and have easy access to water and nutritious soil throughout the hot summer months.
Those most successful, the ones who would reap the richest most bountiful harvests, were those who would continue to sow beside as many water sources as they could find. They wouldn't just sow once and be done. They knew that if you wanted the fullest harvest, you wouldn't “put all your eggs in one basket.” You would diversify. You would invest your time, energy and resources into as many places as you could for the most profitable return.
Have you ever checked the back of those little seed packets? It always has a spacing for each plant's optimal production. However, the garden experts don't always advise following those spacing rules. It is not that they are inaccurate, but rather that if you sow generously across the entire area, so many more plants will come up that the net result of your harvest will be much greater than if you had sowed sparingly.
For the ministries the Lord has given me, this might mean that I participate in worship with my cello. When my son falls on the playground and comes to me with a bleeding lip, I hold and comfort him. When the Lord prompts me to share a verse or song with a friend, I obey. When the floor in the kitchen at church needs mopped, maybe I can help with that. If there's a devotional needed for youth group, I can ask the Lord to give me something to share. It can mean different things at different times, but it is more about being flexible to the leadings of the Holy Spirit than about certain amount of time or involvement.
Obviously we have our giftings from the Lord in particular areas, and those areas may see a more natural growth and return, but if there's another place that we can invest, even if it's a smaller rate, it is worth sowing into, because the end result will be all the greater.
In Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 there is a passage that continues to help me to persevere in “sowing” in ministry in those times when it seems fruitless or discouraging:

“Cast your grain upon the waters;
after many days you will receive a return.

Invest in seven ventures, yes in eight;
you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.

If the clouds are full of water, they pour rain on the earth.

Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north,
in the place where it falls, there it will lie.

Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.

As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb,
so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.

Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle,
for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that,
or whether both will do equally well.”
Ecclesiastes 11:1-6

While these verses speak about many different things, they really are all illustrating a couple of parallel concepts.
Our “grain” is whatever the Lord has given us to share with others—talents, finances, knowledge, service. Jesus' parable in Luke 8 tells of the farmer who scatters his seed on the path, the rocks, and the thorny areas as well as the good soil. While he may harvest with little to no return in some of those soils, the percentage of people, though small, who receive and bear a harvest when they hear the Word of God is multiplied exponentially. The ability to bear more seed and impact “100 times” more in the future is a harvest worth our investment.
Unlike the farmer though, as servants we cannot see the inside of a person's heart. “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Sam 16:7. We may see what looks like hard-heartedness in people, but is only a carefully formed facade meant to self-protect. We may see what looks like a lack of understanding, but as maturity forms and knowledge increases may come back to them with a Spirit-inspired revelation of insight. Only God can see beyond the appearance of things.

We must keep casting the gospel everywhere we can find to cast it,
because as seed-casters, we cannot see the heart's condition.

It takes a measure of faith to take what we have carefully saved of our time, energies and resources, and “throw it into the mud.” It's easy to wonder if that investment into people will ever produce anything, especially when many people reject the gospel, or treat us poorly as a result. Many often consider what we have to share to be of no value, and the sacrifice of what we could have enjoyed for ourselves with that precious resource can seem pointless and discarded.
If we look at those discouragements, if we focus on what seem to be failures, than we lose our courage to keep planting. If we “watch the wind” or “look at the clouds,” we will in turn make fear-based choices that will end up with no reward, no ministry fruit.
Only God, who forms and works miracles in secret in the womb, knows what He will do with the seed we cast. Just as we know that rain-clouds will eventually drop their rain, so we know that if we keep persevering there will end up being a harvest. Just as we can predict where a tree will lay when it starts to fall, so we know that our ministry in the Lord will never be wasted. God intently watches over His Word to make sure that it will accomplish what He intends. (Jer. 1:12, Isa. 55:11)

“There, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you.
Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord,
because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
1 Cor. 15:58

We must keep serving regardless of the conditions and outlook,
because God watches over His own purposes.

At our church we are wrapping up our school year schedule of ministry, and moving into a season of rest and minimal work so that we can restore our energies for the next year and spend more family time. This year, honestly, has been a difficult one to finish out. Trying to juggle seminary, homeschooling and leadership at the same time has on many occasions drained my energy. At the end of a particularly challenging season, when we have given and given and feel like there's nothing left to give, it can feel like perhaps we should have saved more. It can be challenging to continue to throw it all out there and to trust that we will have more again to give later on.
My husband owns his own business, and he is always looking for ways to supply his employees with better, faster tools, more efficient vehicles, and sufficient help to get each job finished in a timely and profitable way. A good and wise owner will always want to supply his workers with what they need to get the job done well.
In the same way, our God, who created all things by the Word of His mouth, wants to re-supply and refresh us with all that we need for each new day. So at the end of each day, let's take our empty baskets back to Him and ask for more. More energy, multiplied time, more help, more resources.

God is invested in His own kingdom as the Lord of the Harvest.
He will abundantly supply us with what we need to serve Him.

“And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times,
having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
As it is written, 'They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures .' Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food,
supply and multiply the seed you have sown
and increase the harvest of your righteousness.”
2 Corinthians 9:10

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Bread of Affliction

There are to be twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes. Exodus 28:21

15And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:15-16

And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” Luke 23:35

Early in the morning, the chief priests, elders, scribes, and the whole Sanhedrina devised a plan. They bound Jesus, led Him away, and handed Him over to Pilate. Mark 15:1

Behold, the Lamb of God!

Yeast Removal

Fast of the Firstborn

Cessation from Work

Seder Meal (Last Supper/Communion)

Bringing the Firstfruits (Bikkurim)

You, Follow Me!

So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” John 21:15

We must hear and 0bey by agape-loving God.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Deut. 6:4-5

Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas (Peter)” (which is translated, A Rock). John 1:40-42

We must agape-love God more than anything in the world.

And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him. Luke 5:10-11

If we love Jesus, we must Shepherd His Church.

Jesus said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you agape-love Me?”

He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I have affection for You.”

He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.”

Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” Matt 16:28

The Harvest of Love

Those who sow in tears shall reap with
Shouts of Joy!
Psalm 126:5 ESV

Beside All Waters

Happy
are you who sow
beside all waters,
who send out
freely the feet of the ox and the donkey.
Isaiah 32:20

Author

Archives

Categories

Bread of Affliction

​

There are to be twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes. Exodus 28:21

15And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:15-16​

And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” Luke 23:35

Early in the morning, the chief priests, elders, scribes, and the whole Sanhedrina devised a plan. They bound Jesus, led Him away, and handed Him over to Pilate. Mark 15:1​

Behold, the Lamb of God!

Yeast Removal

Fast of the Firstborn

Cessation from Work

Seder Meal (Last Supper/Communion)

Bringing the Firstfruits (Bikkurim)

You, Follow Me!

So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” John 21:15​

We must hear and 0bey by agape-loving God.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Deut. 6:4-5

Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas (Peter)” (which is translated, A Rock). John 1:40-42

We must agape-love God more than anything in the world.

And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him. Luke 5:10-11

If we love Jesus, we must Shepherd His Church.

Jesus said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you agape-love Me?”He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I have affection for You.”​He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.”​

Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” Matt 16:28​

The Harvest of Love

Those who sow in tears shall reap withShouts of Joy!Psalm 126:5 ESV

Beside All Waters

​Happy are you who sow beside all waters,who send out freely the feet of the ox and the donkey.Isaiah 32:20

Author

Archives

Categories

15And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:15-16

Early in the morning, the chief priests, elders, scribes, and the whole Sanhedrina devised a plan. They bound Jesus, led Him away, and handed Him over to Pilate. Mark 15:1

So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” John 21:15

Jesus said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you agape-love Me?”

He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I have affection for You.”

He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.”

Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” Matt 16:28

Those who sow in tears shall reap with
Shouts of Joy!
Psalm 126:5 ESV

Happy
are you who sow
beside all waters,
who send out
freely the feet of the ox and the donkey.
Isaiah 32:20