Let us stop telling God how big our storm is but instead let us tell our storm how big our God is.

I have to say everyone I come in contact at least know who Jesus is. But I realize that they all do not know him personally. There is a difference between the head knowledge of Jesus and having a personal relationship with Jesus.

There are more riches than we’ve every dreamed at the banquet table concentrate on walking.

Do people really understand what it is to be in fellowship with other believers? Luke tells us early Christians also devoted themselves to fellowship. They just didn’t have fellowship; they devoted themselves to it. This means that fellowship was a priority and one of the objectives for gathering together. They made fellowship a priority.

Henry’s brain stimulator battery has been replaced and we are getting back to a more normal life that is what our normal life is living with Parkinson’s Disease. We thank God every day that HE is WAY BIGGER than Parkinson’s Disease.

Sorry for the short time we have taken off this blog. Henry has Parkinson’s and one of his brain stimulator batteries has died thus causing a chain of events in our life as we wait on the replacement battery.

There’s only one door into heaven, but the roads leading to that door are infinite.

Only when we truly rest in God we will be happier than we have ever been.

THE CALL OF GOD
One remarkable feature of our relationship with God is the fact that He sought us! The Word is very clear, “while we were yet sinners”, and again, “there is none that seek God, we have all gone out of the way”. In this study I would like to think of God’s call to the heart of man. How gracious He is! As we read Scripture it becomes apparent that we were not seeking God, nor is the inclination of the heart toward God. God has bound all men over to unbelief that in our miserable state we might finally bend our rebellious hearts to Him.

Let’s consider together three calls of God to men;

Gen 3:9-10; And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. (KJV)

Exod 3:2-5; And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. (KJV)

Lev 1:1-3; And the LORD called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the LORD, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock. If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD.

We see in Genesis the Lord calls out to Adam from the garden. Isn’t it interesting the way the Bible uses ‘garden’? “A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed (Song of Songs 4:12).” It is almost a metaphor for pristine love. Consider that God’s first meeting place with man was a lovely paradise where God could walk with man in the cool of the day.

In Exodus we find God calling out to Moses from the desert, or as some versions have it, the wilderness. Quit a difference between the paradise of God and desert of man’s self will. God’s character is seen here. His desire towards us was to meet with us in the cool of the day in a garden He had planted. You would think when man was banished from the garden that all communication with the Creator would cease. Isn’t that the way we would have handled the situation? Not satisfied with my garden? So out with you then! Not so our God! He Himself enters into the scene of the curse and reveals Himself to Moses in the burning bush! So God called from the garden, God called from the desert, what next?

In Leviticus God calls from the Tent of Meeting. The Lord is a God of restoration. He is not satisfied to leave us in the wilderness. “You will remember ALL THE WAY the Lord thy God lead you these forty years in the desert (De 8:2)”. In the last half of Exodus we find God’s instructions for building the Tabernacle. God gave detailed instructions for the building of the Tabernacle, which was the vehicle God used to once again dwell in the midst of His people. From the Tent of Meeting God invites His people to come unto Him, “if any man bring an offering unto the Lord (Lev 1:3)”. From the provision of the continual burnt offering God is able to extend grace unto His people and invite them to offer gifts unto Him. Blessed picture of the satisfaction God has found in Christ.

So we see God calling men to fellowship in the cool of the day, God calling out to deliver men from bondage, then a call to men to worship and bring an offering. In Exodus we read of the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb. “When I see the blood I will pass over you”. This was the shelter God gave His people that the Angel of Destruction would not harm them. Also the Passover Lamb was the means by which God delivered His people from the bondage of Pharaoh and from Egypt, pictures for us of sin and Satan. Shelter under the blood, deliverance from the bondage of sin, even out from under the cruel taskmaster Satan, what more could we want? Why did God continue to call, what do men want after deliverance? God was to provide a way for grateful hearts to give thanks in a tangible way. And every detail again will speak of the Preciousness of Christ. What then do the sacrifices of Leviticus mean?

The sacrifices detailed for us in Leviticus are the offerings of ‘approach’. God’s goal in redemption was that He have us before Him in love. The offerings of Leviticus allowed sinful men to approach God. The sacrifices were gifts and offerings from a thankful people drawn to God. Drawn by the beauty of holiness, drawn by hearts full of gratitude to God. “But on our side we have been the subjects of divine working, and the result of this is that certain exercises have been produced in our souls to which Christ is the answer. One exercise is as to acceptance, and Christ as the burnt offering is the answer to that. Another is in regard to perfection of an object for the heart, and the meat offering is Christ as the answer to that exercise. A third longing of the soul is fellowship, and Christ as the peace offering is the answer to that. And, lastly, there are exercises arising from the humbling discovery of what is in ourselves, and the consciousness of our own failure, to which the answer is Christ as the sin offering. (C.A. Coates)”

Isn’t it amazing that God in infinite grace has made a way for man to bring an offering, as though He needed anything, and to show himself accepted before God. You will remember in Leviticus chapter 9 that fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the sacrifice, showing that God had accepted their offering. It is interesting to note that although our God is a ‘consuming fire’, His satisfaction is seen in the complete burning of the sacrifice upon the altar, there was a Sacrifice who was able to suffer the fire of God’s judgement and not be consumed. Our Blessed Lord Jesus sustained the full penalty of God’s judgement that we don’t have to! We have a picture of this foreshadowed in the bush that burned with fire but was not consumed. How careful Scripture is to tell us it was the Angel of the Lord speaking from the bush. The Lord Jesus was the only person in all creation who being Himself God considered it not robbery to be equal with God but came down, humbled Himself, even in this instance to speak from the bush burning in the place of the curse and sustained the curse for us. How these thoughts lead our hearts out to worship Him!

May God help us, as He Himself has called us, to spend time thinking of the fullness of Christ as presented to our hearts through the Levitical Offerings

We woke this morning to the birds outside singing praises mixed with our chimes out front it was glorious to listen to. Then I had to go and ruin it by starting the lawn mower. How often do we let the noises of our world drown out what God is telling us? I know that we as a couple continually point out things that reminds us of how blessed we are, or reminds us of God and His precious word? I was thinking this morning do other people see God in all the places we see God? Do they see Him in the little things that remind us of Him, do they know that he can be so ever present in their lives?
How can we not go with our baskets full before the Lord with all the blessings he bestows on us?