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Throughout the forty years that Moses led God’s people in the desert, it seems that they were rarely happy. In fact, the two words that the Bible most often uses to describe their attitudes are “grumbled” or “complained”. Now notice the word that describes them in the passage below. “Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. They quarreled with Moses and said, "If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! Why did you bring the Lord’s community into this desert, that we and our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!" (Verses 2-5). The sad part: The people still had not learned anything about God! For forty years, they complained, cried, and thought that they were going to die. Every time they were in need, God pr...

When the Israelites lived in tents and did not have a land to call their own, the Lord commanded them to build him a special tent called the “Tabernacle”. This was to be God’s dwelling place among his people. When the tabernacle was complete, a cloud filled it as a sign that the Lord’s Spirit was with them. With that background, read this passage and see if you get the point. “On the day the tabernacle, the tent of testimony, was set up, the cloud covered it… and at night it looked like fire. Whenever the cloud lifted from above the Tent, the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped. At the Lord's command, the Israelites set out, and at his command they encamped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the Israelites obeyed the Lord’s order and did not set out. Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle only a few da...

As I write this article, it is Monday morning and I am getting ready to go to a funeral. As I think about the day ahead, I am not anticipating a sad day. There will be sadness in it, some tears will be shed for sure, but this will be a day of celebration. For as long as I have known them, and for many years before that, George and his wife Doris have been faithful followers of Christ. Their faith was not just something that they talked about or something that they had in name only. Rather, it was something that influenced how they lived, what they valued and how they saw their entire lives. George was not a very vocal man, but he was influential. His home was always open to anyone who needed a meal or a place to stay. In fact, that is how I first met them. When I was an intern, preaching in the town of Wawota , I stayed with George and Doris. When our Bible camp needed a place to go for a hayride, George and Doris were the first ...

During his time in the desert, Moses had seen many things, but he had never seen anything like this. Off in the distance he could see a fire burning in a bush, but the bush was not being burned up. Moses decided to go and have a closer look and that is when he heard it: the voice of God. “The Lord said, ‘I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt . I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them…’” (Exodus 3:7-8a). That message changed the life of Moses and, if we really listen, it can change our lives too. You see, God is in the rescue business. He saved his people when they were slaves in Egypt and he can save us too. Now, you may be thinking, “Well, that is nice, but I do not need to be saved from anything”, but the Bible would disagree. From God’s point of view, we are as much slaves as God’s people back then were. The only...

While on the internet last night, I came across a review of the new CD by the Christian band “Casting Crowns”, so I decided to have a look. The review was brutal! I have rarely, if ever, seen anyone who has disliked a CD as much as this reviewer did. He did not like the songs, the music, the lead singer’s voice or anything else about it. Interestingly, his main complaint was that the CD was “too preachy”. He thought that the lyrics were too serious, too pointed and too demanding. The album made him think too much. “Casting Crowns” is one of my favorite bands because their lyrics are deep and their songs are challenging. Don’t get me wrong, I like fun, joyful, fluffy songs, but I listen to “Casting Crowns” because their songs say something that is based on the word of God. I guess I should not be surprised by the fact that someone does not want to hear what the Bible has to say. Two thousand years ago, the apostle...

The first chapter of the New Testament letter of First Peter has a very simple outline. The first twelve verses are all about what God, in his mercy and grace, has done for us. Phrases in this section include words like, “mercy… new birth… living hope… inheritance… heaven… God’s power… rejoice… Jesus… salvation” (verses 1-12). The focus in this section of the letter is entirely on what God has done for us. The second section focuses on our response to God. It contains phrases like, “Prepare your minds for action… obedient children… be holy… purified… love one another deeply from the heart” (verses 13-25). It is absolutely essential to get those two sections in the proper order. First, God has given you the gift of salvation, forgiveness and hope through the death of his son Jesus. Then, in response to God’s love, you live a different life. We make a huge mistake when we turn this teaching around and do not honor the ...

They say, “Familiarity breeds contempt”. It is also true that, “Familiarity breeds misunderstanding”. That is especially true of the Bible where we often misinterpret and miss the point of the familiar stories. For example, what is the point of the story of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3)? The common answer is “Disobedience is punished”. They were told not to eat from that tree, they did eat from it and God was not happy. While those details are technically correct, that is not the point of the story! The bottom line of the story is actually “The seriousness of losing your relationship with God”. At one point, they walked and talked with God in the garden. After they disobeyed it says, “The man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden… and they hid from the Lord” (Genesis 3:8). Later it says that, “The Lord banished them from the Garden of Eden” (3:23) and placed a guard at the gate to ke...

It is not often that one arrives at the cemetery 35 years after the funeral, but this past Thanksgiving Sunday, that is exactly what my wife’s family did. Sara’s Grandma, Faye, died of Multiple Sclerosis in the early 1970s. In an effort to help other families avoid living through a similar tragedy, the family donated her body to the University of Saskatchewan so that they could do research regarding this disease. A funeral was held and a memorial stone was placed in a cemetery in Kansas . This past year, however, the family found out that the University had buried Faye in Woodlawn cemetery in Saskatoon and so plans were made to place a stone on her actual grave. To be honest, I did not want to go. I mean, it was 35 years ago! Sure, Saskatoon is the actual spot, but, in reality, what difference does that make? It is just a plot of ground. Why would we bother driving up there just to stand around another stone? Well, ...

Thanks to a friend of mine, I attended the recent “Athletes in Action” supper that was held in town. Saskatchewan Roughriders Kerry Joseph and Wes Cates as well as defensive line coach Ron Estay came to talk about their faith and about how God has blessed them. One of the things that impressed me was the fact that these guys did not have to be here. In fact, I asked Wes, “How many hours of community service do the Riders require you to do?” His answer, “None! We do not have to do anything if we do not want to. They encourage us to get involved in the community, but we are not required to”. These three men gave up their day off to drive down here, speak at the supper and drive home again. Why would they bother doing that? Kerry Joseph answered that question by saying (and I am paraphrasing here), “As football players, we have some influence on others. People look up to us and listen to us, so I have decided to use tha...

The title of this article may seem strange, but, in our most honest moments, I think that we would admit that it accurately describes us. The great majority of our thoughts are about us. Generally, we do what we want when we want to do it. We think in terms of “What will make me happy?” and see almost every situation through the lens that asks, “How will this affect me?” Most of us spend a lot of money, time and effort in order to keep ourselves feeling good about who we are and what we are doing. To a "self-obsessed” world (which includes many Christians), Jesus has some very odd sounding things to say. “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:34-35). “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers...

This past weekend, I asked the congregation to name someone who had helped them in their spiritual walk. I also asked them to tell what that person did that made them so memorable. One of the things that quickly became obvious is that you do not have to be a “Leader” to be a leader. In other words, you do not have to have a spotlight or an official position in the church to make a difference. In fact, of the approximately 20 people mentioned, only one of them was a preacher. Most of them were simply neighbours, friends or co-workers. The second thing I noticed was that “little things” were big things. When people recalled what really helped them, they remembered things like kind words, encouragement, friendship and time spent together. The answers that I received confirmed what I had already suspected. Too often, we make Christianity too hard. In our efforts to be useful servants of God, we impose rules and expectations that...

Over the years, I have been to literally hundreds of stock car races. At every one of them, I have been surrounded by “Expert Drivers”. You know, guys who sit there and say, “Why did he do that?” or “He should have…” (fill in the blank). In fact, I have given out my fair share of “driving advice” while sitting in the grandstands. However, after this past weekend, my attitude is completely different. Last Friday night, Estevan Motor Speedway held its first annual “Faster Pastor” race. It was a chance for church leaders to get into race cars and see what things are like from the other side of the fence and, let me tell you, it is very different. The cars are loud. The track is rough. It is hard to see anything beside you and, because you do not have a rearview mirror, you cannot see anything behind you. The track that seemed so wide before the race started suddenly seems very narrow. In other words, it is much more difficult than...

The Old Testament Book called “Lamentations” is both a strange and amazing book. It is strange because, as the title suggests, it is a book of crying. Most likely written by Jeremiah (whose nickname was “The weeping prophet”), this book focuses on how bad things were for the people of God. Their enemies had overrun Jerusalem and had taken their homes, their land, their treasures and even their people. Everything that they hoped in was either destroyed or taken from them. Worst of all, they had caused this trouble themselves because they had not listened to God (Lamentations 1). Things could not be worse for God’s people and Jeremiah spends five chapters crying about their troubles. The book is also amazing because of Jeremiah’s response to all of this. Right in the middle of the book, he stops and writes, “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; ...

On August 24 th , “Estevan Motor Speedway” is going to put preachers in race cars and let us compete against each other. They are calling it the “Faster pastor” race and I have to say that I am excited about it! I grew up going to stock car races. When I was a kid, one of my dad’s friends built a stock car in our backyard garage. This past May, my brother and I went to Charlotte , North Carolina for the “Coca Cola 600” NASCAR race. I also attend every race in Estevan that I can. The bottom line is that I am really excited about driving a car, being in the race and having some fun. Racing, however, is more than just fun. It is also a spiritual metaphor. In I Corinthians, the apostle Paul compares our life of faith to racing (albeit a foot race not a stock car race). “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into...