Curious about Ashes to Fire?  Here’s the video:

So it’s Ash Weds and the big deal is ashes.  Are you gonna get them? Should you get them?  Do you have to get them?  The answer is that you do not have to get them and if you do get them it’s not a violation of the Joel passage.  Joel tells us to “rend our hearts, not our garments.”  His whole point is that sorrow over sin is not some show.  Our outward acts don’t earn us God’s favor – the gift of Jesus does.  The ashes are our way of agreeing with God that we are broken and lost – we are dead and we are blind without Him.  So we accept these ashes, but we don’t wear them pridefully, they are a symbol of our shame – we are dust and to dust we shall return.  Jesus is our hope and these days of Lent are all about His great love for us.  Let’s get moving towards that Cross!

Countdown to Ashes to Fire is on – this Wednesday – Feb 22 and it’s on!  We will go deep into some incredible passage and look at our lives through the lens of the Word of God!  Join us and tell everyone to log on!

Hey it’s a great day to worship God!  Actually, every single day is perfect to worship God.  Why is that?  Isn’t Sunday the only day to worship?  Sunday is a huge day – it’s the day we remember that Jesus rose and so we gather with other believers to hear more about that and to strengthen the bonds that God has given to us!  That is rather amazing and yet there is more – a whole life of worship.  So, how will this week change know that you know that you can worship God all the time?

Oh yeah – the Ten Commandments.  First three are about God: He is first in all things – He is God! His name is Holy and we should treat it that way and finally we are to trust Him so that we take a day to rest!  Commandments 4-10 deal with our relationships with each other.  So we: honor mom and dad, we don’t murder, commit adultery, steal, lie about each other, or covet what others have.  Sounds like a simple thing.  As Jesus put it: Love God with all you have and love other people in the same way you love yourself.  If we could only do the first one – what kind of life would we have?  A pretty amazing life!

Even a guy in the Bible needs some patience.  I am talking about Moses, who is about to lose it in our readings from Exodus.  He has had enough!  These people that God saddle him with – yikes – what a bunch of whiners !  Moses cries out to God and God has it covered.  What a thing for us to see.  It’s not that we will be frustration-free!  It’s that we go to God and He will help us – He will strengthen us.  What is getting to you right now?  Take it to the Lord in Prayer (like the Hymn says).  Peace

Here is the promo video for the journey we will be taking next week:

In one week something called Lent will begin.  It’s this cool time in the church where we look at our need for Christ and His gift of forgiveness and love.  That is really important thing for us to do – to focus on Jesus.  Jesus is the focus of all Scripture and His dying for human beings brings us back to God!  So we will be doing something differently on this blog starting next Wednesday (Feb 22, 2012).  We will take like a three month break from our trek through the Bible to get into some different readings from the Bible.  We will be hitting something called Ashes to Fire and the Bible readings it lines up each day!  Sound Good?  We will still be in the Word – just not chronologically.  Cool!

Ok, so its Valentines Day – its all about love.  So, where’s the love in God crushing the army of Egypt?  Actually, God is showing a great deal of love for His people.  Yeah, but what if you are on the Egyptians side?  Doesn’t look so good there, does it?  Not really.  But that’s the point: you wanna be on Gods side.  God is the one who is in control – He wins – get it?

Seems like God is into us remembering things.  Why do you suppose that is?  I believe it’s because we humans tend to forget and we also tend to want to be in control.  In today’s reading from Exodus 13, notice God setting up the telling of HIS story to future generations.  The point for us is that we are the ones who are responsible for telling the next generation about God’s love in Christ.  How are you doing with that? What kind of help do you need?