Over the years I have been part of building many fences. Sometimes I have seen how good fences can make good neighbors. On a farm a good fence can stop your neighbor’s cattle from eating your ready to harvest crop.

However, when we build fences, constructed out of offenses, we cause a lot of damage. Friend, it took the blood of Jesus Christ to break down these fences, (For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility, Eph.4:12). So, how can you prevent yourself from undoing Christ’s sacrifice?

First, don’t exchange good sense with anger. “Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense” (Proverbs 19:11 ESV). When you feel yourself getting angry you are starting to judge or blame instead of taking responsibility. Breathe, count to eight while choosing to focus on one of the following – gratitude, appreciation, care or compassion. Then let it go.

Secondly, if you keep taking things to heart, you may need to do some soul searching. Could it be that you have allowed yourself to become proud? “Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others” (Ecclesiastes 7:21-22 ESV).

And, finally, the next time you offend or allow yourself to become offended, please realize that you might be building a fence that can never be torn down. “A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, and quarreling is like the bars of a castle” (Proverbs 18:19 ESV).

Friend, do you have an “offense fence” in your life? Tear it down today by seeking first to forgive then to be forgiven.

For my daily Bible reading, I just finished the book of 1 Samuel. It ends with the death of Israel’s first king, Saul. When I’ve read this book in the past, I was always cheering for David and against Saul. However, in this year’s reading, I started to feel pity and compassion for Saul. First off, I cannot see how Saul is any worse than David. A comparison of their mistakes would be too lengthy for his article. More pertinent for this article is the comparison between the repentance of Saul and David. The former is rejected yet the latter is forgiven (compare 1 Sam 15 to 2 Sam 11–12). David’s sin against Uriah and Bathsheba was debatably worse than Saul sparing Agag’s life. Both were sorry for their actions, yet Saul was rejected, and David forgiven.

Saul’s rejection leads him to do some desperate things. The Lord leaves him to his own devices, which is never good. This leads Saul to become insecure when everyone begins to love David more than himself as people continuously taunt, “Saul has slayed his thousands and David his ten-thousands.” Saul’s own family loves David more (Michal and Jonathan, at least). It is no wonder why Saul found David a threat and wanted to kill him, especially given the fact that the Lord was not on his side. His insecurity and lack of guidance also leads him to go against his own morals and consult a medium that he himself has banned from the land (1 Sam 28).

Saul teaches us some very important lessons about leadership in God’s kingdom. We are completely powerless without God’s blessing. Once God rejected Saul, Saul was completely cut off from God’s power and guidance. Although Saul was a great warrior, charismatic, and powerful, he could not compete with the boy whom God had anointed as the new king. Saul’s best move probably would have been to concede power to David and save the kingdom from bloodshed and division. In our own ministry, we need to know that we are completely dependent on the Lord’s grace and favor. No matter how powerful we may appear, we are no match for the living God. We must continuously look to God and not our own abilities when we lead our families and our churches. Without God, we are like Saul, tying to grasp for power when the only true power is God.

Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God.     1 Peter 2:12

Do our actions say we are servants of the Lord?  Does the company we keep help or hurt our Christian walk?  Are we too busy to make Jesus and His church #1 in our lives?  Look at your checkbook, it will tell you what is important in your life.  Look at your calendar and it will show you what is important in your life.  Does your calendar have more sporting events than church events?  While we as Christians many times say we are servants of the Lord, our actions speak louder than our words.

We are commanded to “Shine as bright stars in this dark and evil world.” Phil 2:15

Today is the 10^th day of April, three months in 2022 are gone, what are we doing to make the next 9 months beneficial for the work at Summit?  We have a family workshop planned on the 30th of this month. Do you plan to attend; do you know a friend who could use this workshop? At the end of May, our friend Hermes will have a Spanish speaking revival here at Summit.  Do you know anyone who could come to this event?

We just had our parking lot resurfaced, and put new gravel in our lower parking lot, we are also in the process of purchasing and electronic sign to put close to the entrance, so the 25,000 cars going up and down 27 will know we are the Lord’s church that meets at Summit and we are servants of the Most High!

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a Holy nation, a People belonging to God, that you might declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful Light. Once you were not a people, but now you are a people of God, once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens, as strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.  Live such good lives among the pagans, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your GOOD DEEDS AND GLORIFY GOD. 1 Peter 2: 9-12                    

Brothers and sisters, Are we servants of the Lord?

This month God’s Army is getting ready to receive their SECRET SERVICE Christians back. These CEO Christians make their Religious Pilgrimage back twice a year for the obligatory CHRISTMAS EASTER ONLY services.

Unfortunately, God pruned off this SECRET SERVICE branch. Instead, he is calling all of us to be “good soldiers of Christ Jesus”.

2 Timothy 2:1–4 (ESV) — ¹ You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, ² and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. ³ Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. ⁴ No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.

So, if I understand the Apostle Paul correctly,
A GOOD SOLDIER …

• is strengthened by God’s grace

• passes on the good news

• shares in Christ’s suffering

• does not get entangled in civilian pursuits

• aims to please Jesus Christ

Friend, are you a GOOD SOLDIER? God is asking: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Will you answer, “Here I am! Send me” (Isaiah 6:8)?

Our congregation is a part of a religious movement in the nineteenth century often called the “Restoration Movement.” The main focus of this movement was to get back to the Bible and to reject traditions that suppressed biblical truth. It led to a further emphasis on water baptism as the rite which inaugurates a person’s salvation from God. It also emphasized taking the Lord’s Supper every week. This movement had a wide variety of views and had a significant amount of development in certain areas (such as a move from post-millennialism to amillennialism).

While there has been a restoration of core doctrines from the New Testament, the church still struggles with restoring the Spirit that empowered the apostles and early church. Our worship may be by “the Book,” but are we constantly reflecting as individuals and as a congregation on whether our worship is focused on God’s glory? We may be singing with our lips, but are we singing with our soul? We may take the Lord’s Supper every Sunday, but is it with the same attitude and in the same manner as the New Testament church? We may lead a prayer, but is that prayer sincere? Are we just repeating the same requests out of habit or are we truly cognizant that we are speaking before the Creator? If we are doing the right actions emptily, our worship is unacceptable before God (Isa 29:13–14).

There are three ways we can continue to restore New Testament Christianity. First, we must always prepare our minds and hearts throughout the week for worship. When we go to worship, we are the Temple of God. We should be in awe because we are in the presence of the Almighty. This requires preparation on everyone’s part, not just the worship leaders. Second, we need to constantly reflect on our worship as individuals and as a Church. We must catch ourselves when our minds drift off during prayers. We should be honest with ourselves if our mind is on the football game rather than on worshiping the Lord. Third, we must constantly reevaluate our traditions to make sure that our traditions not only are in line with the letter of the Scripture, but also help us keep the intention of Scripture. This requires study and humility in admitting that the way we do things now may not be the best way.

I love the scene in the “Jungle Book” where Baloo is teaching Mowgli the “Bare Necessities of life”. Can you, friend, explain to your friends and loved ones what the minimum requirements are to eternal life?

First, follow the path that leads to eternal life:

1. Hear the Gospel. (Romans 10:17, John 8:32)

2. Believe the Gospel (Hebrews 11:6, John 20:31)

3. Repent of past sins (Luke 13:3, Acts 17:30)

4. Confess faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 10:10,
Matthew 10:32)

5. Be Baptized (Galatians 3:27, Mark 16:16,
Acts 2:38)

6. Be faithful unto death (Revelation 2:10)

Second, faithfully worship God till the day you die:

1. Teaching/Preaching (1 Cor 4:17)

2. Singing without instruments (Eph 5:19)

3. Prayer (Acts 12:5)

4. Taking A Collection- Sunday only (1 Cor 16:1-2)

5. Lord’s Supper- Sunday only (Acts 20:7)

Third, constantly choose to do the right thing (James 4:17). However, even on our best day we will need God’s grace. So, constantly confess your sins before God.

Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name (Mt.6:9). We confess our sins before you, knowing you are faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 Jn.1:9). In Jesus name, amen.

The short answer is ‘yes’! The longer answer comes from 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (ESV). However, we often picture inspiration as God overriding the mind of the biblical author. If not that, then we picture the authors as dictating exact phrases uttered from an angel or God. While this may have been the case in some instances among the prophets and John the Revelator, we know that this was not the case for the majority of scripture.

Inspiration should be seen as a process rather than an event, in most cases. Even after one of the biblical authors wrote something down, that document could be changed later by the author or someone else. Look at the book of Psalms, for instance. It is a collection of different poems written over a very long period of time. Proverbs is also a compilation of wise sayings from different figures in Israel (and even broader ancient Near Eastern wisdom). We also see that the biblical authors rely on external witnesses, be they literary (e.g., Josh 10:13) or personal (perhaps Luke 1:2).

This shows that God works throughout history and guides history to create a certain outcome. We are not always able to tangibly prove God’s involvement. Nevertheless, He is involved. It takes faith to believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, for it involved several human processes, including thinking of what to write, what to include, what to edit in or out. Yet God oversees and is involved in the whole process. We can confidently look at what was written by humans and also know that it was simultaneously “breathed out by God”.

It was time to prepare and leave.  The door frames were marked with the blood of a lamb.  The perfect time, people and leadership were in place.  It happened: the fulfillment of the promise.  The ransom price was paid for their deliverance from bondage.  They were never to forget the event and the hope of deliverance. The Passover was to be remembered. The reason is: “Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord for the generations to come.” (Exodus 12:42) Each year they were to remember Passover, regain the hope and rededicate themselves.  It was not open to foreigners, hired workers or visitors.  They had to be excluded.  

Hope is placed in our hearts to help us walk throughout life and endure what is placed before us.  It is an understanding that all is not lost. We look forward and see we can endure.  We can enjoy the creation.  You remember John 1:1-5, the hope for mankind was always present.  As time passed, mankind either ignored or forgot what our Lord and God had done and would do.  But God did not forget.

Again, the time was right.  The people, leadership and attitude were in place.  It was the time for all mankind to prepare for the journey.  Israel and Rome in their twisted and stubborn misunderstanding, offered the Lamb, which provided our hope.  They took the Chosen One and pushed, led, abused, and forced Him out of the city while He carried all the evil, wrong doings, and sins of mankind on his back.   They killed the Lamb.

The event is not to be forgotten.  Once a year is not enough.  It is so important that each week we remember.  All can participate and no one is turned away.   Our Lord fulfilled the wishes of the Father.  He is The First Born; The Passover Lamb; The Perfect One; The Holy One.  It was His blood that fell to the earth, cleansing and sanctifying us before the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY.  Jesus was placed in a tomb and it was sealed shut with a large rock.  Three days later, the rock was removed. The tomb was empty.  The Lamb had arose and is alive.  That is why our hope is in the empty tomb and not the rock that sealed it.

This week I got to see the other side of a life lived for self-gratification. The tears, the anger, the anguish, the remorse was all palatable. Yet, even when confronted with truth, the journey back to sanity seemed insurmountable.

It is at times like this I want to shout a warning to those who have not yet started the journey towards pleasing self – STOP!

Paul warns in the iconic works of the flesh versus fruit of the spirit text:

Galatians 5:16–24 (ESV) — ¹⁶ But I say, WALK BY THE SPIRIT, and you WILL NOT GRATIFY THE DESIRES OF THE FLESH. ¹⁷ For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, TO KEEP YOU FROM DOING THE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. ¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, ²¹ envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things WILL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD. ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴ And those who belong to Christ Jesus have CRUCIFIED THE FLESH WITH ITS PASSIONS AND DESIRES.

Friend, starting NOW, please stop blaming others for where you find yourself today! It is all on you! Take responsibility for your life by going to God and saying: “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight…” (Ps.51:4). Cease satisfying the DESIRES OF THE FLESH, the LUST OF THE EYES, and let go of your pride. Then turn to God and say: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Ps.51:10).