In recent years, many have grown concerned about the lack of “manliness” in our society. Men seem to have lost touch with the masculine energy that has helped perpetuate humanity and was a defining characteristic of the “Greatest
Generation.” Our modern conveniences have caused men to grow lazy and insulate (or, better, isolate) themselves from their community. Men can go through life without contributing anything to society and simply going to work for the bare minimum amount of time, living in their mothers’ basements, and playing games in their ample free time. There have been movements to try and counteract this decrease of “masculinity” by challenging and educating men on how to be men instead of boys in men’s bodies. They draw from anthropology, psychology, and other social sciences to help reestablish this construct of masculinity that helped serve the world rather than serve themselves.

Yet, we need only the Bible to be our guide for defining masculinity. Often times, the Bible’s portrayal of masculinity is the opposite of what the cultures of the world practice. Jesus as the archetypal human and man shows us that masculinity is not defined by violence, ambition, and self-sufficiency. Jesus teaches us that true masculinity is peaceful, loving, humble, selfless, and completely dependent on the Father. Furthermore, to put it in Jungian terms, Jesus is also the embodiment of the masculine archetypes of king, warrior, “magician,” and lover. He is king, not by being a tyrant, but by serving others. He is a warrior, not by slaying his enemies, but by defeating the chaos and evil of this world through self-sacrifice. He is “magician” by depending upon God and the Holy Spirit for empowerment and wisdom rather than himself. He is a “lover” not by being a womanizer but by selflessly serving everyone, including sinners, the marginalized, and even his enemies.

Blessed are those who die in the Lord. Rev 14:13

This week we say goodbye to one of our own, Woody Turner.  Woody and his wife Ella, are faithful members at Summit.  Woody’s battle with cancer is finally over. Woody fought it as long as he could until Tuesday Feb.15 at 2:10 am.  Woody has gone to a place prepared for him by his Lord and Savior, a place with many rooms, a place with no more pain, no more suffering.

Woody was 85 years old, and he and Ella just celebrated their 60^th wedding anniversary.  This shows what kind of man Woody is, a man true to his God and his wife. Woody liked the outdoors, he loved to squirrel hunt and to garden. Many times, Woody would walk around his farm in Berry, KY just enjoying God’s creation. When Woody was at the building you could always find him in the lobby talking to anyone about his Kentucky Wildcats.  So do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

Brothers and Sisters, we say goodbye to our dear friend, but we know we will see him again. No, in all things we are more than conquerors through Him Whom loves us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, not anything in all creation, will be able to SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD. Rom 8:37-39.

Till we meet again, goodbye my brother.

Leviticus 6:5, 6 says, “And the fire on the altar shall keep burning on it, it shall not go out, and the priest shall burn wood on it morning after morning and lay out on it the burnt offering…A perpetual fire shall keep burning on the altar. It shall not go out.” Although we do not keep the literal letters of the Old Covenant anymore, we still must fulfill the spirit of the law in Christ. We no longer sacrifice burnt offerings at a temple or tabernacle. We do not have an alter that we can perpetually burn a fire. How do we keep the spirit of this law?

Paul says in Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” (NKJV). We are still required to sacrifice today as Christians. However, we do not offer up the blood of bulls and goats, we offer up ourselves as burnt offerings. Just as under the Old Covenant, we are not supposed to quench this fire. The altar upon which we offer our bodies as a sacrifice must burn perpetually. This altar is our service and ministry to God and his saints, the burning flame our undying love.

Have you been tending the flame of your altar? Have you laid wood upon it recently? Or has your flame been dwindling for some time now? I urge you, stoke the fire, stir up the embers of your love! Unload the kindling and add fuel to the flame! Unleash a pleasing aroma of your faith before God! For this is our priestly service before God.

As I was pulling into our driveway after evening services the phone rang. It was Douwene asking me to pick up something on my way home from a store close to the church building. Has this ever happened to you?

It is at this point that you are either a “grumbling argumentative meanie” (Phil.2:14) or a Christian superhero who walks in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called (humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love … eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, — Eph.4:1-3).

Paul focuses in on this through a series of dos and don’ts in Ephesians 5:15–18. “¹⁵ Look carefully then how you walk, NOT as unwise BUT as wise, ¹⁶ making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore do NOT be foolish, BUT understand what the will of the Lord is. ¹⁸ And do NOT get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, BUT be filled with the Spirit” (ESV).

What Paul is teaching us here is how to develop our critical thinking skills. To become even better at making wise choices here are some practical suggestions: Become aware of the consequences of each path by asking questions. This will help develop foresight and evaluate existing evidence. With this information analyze, infer, and communicate your conclusions with God as together you problem solve.

Friend, be aware that Jesus will always be happy with you if you choose life and not death (James 4:17; Josh.24:15; Dt.30:15).

(Cf. http://scientificamerican.com/…/why-do-smart-people-do…).

The most central doctrine of Christianity is to love God and love one another (Mark 12:28–31). Many preachers and commentators have said that love is not simply emotional in the Bible; love is an action. However, I think that sometimes we are in danger of simply equating obedience and love. I can obey someone’s commands for many reasons other than love. I may obey their commands because I want the benefits that obedience provide for me. I may heed their orders because I am afraid of their punishment. So, obeying God’s commands does not always mean that you love God.

Someone may say, “What about John 14:15, where Jesus says, ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments’?” I certainly used to think that this meant ‘love = obedience.’ Only about a paragraph later we also see, “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me” (14:21). However, after hearing part of a sermon on this topic, I realized that I may be thinking about this passage all wrong.

Now notice that this verse is a conditional or “if…then” statement. The “if” part must happen in order for the “then” part to occur. We often understand John 14:15 as “If you love me, you [must] keep my commandments” or more colloquially “You have to keep my commandments to prove that you love me.” However, the conditional implies that obedience to the commandments can only occur when you first love Jesus. What I am getting at is this: Love is what will lead us, motivate us, and enable us to keep Jesus’ commandments. We have had it backward this whole time. We must love in order to obey, not obey in order to love. But just as faith without works is dead, so also love without obedience is dead.

“Selah”, a mysterious word, the exact meaning of which scholars cannot totally agree.   It is a Hebrew word, found 74 times in the Old Testament (71 times in Psalms and 3 times in Habakkuk).  Selah first appears in between verses 2 and 3 of Psalm 3 and always only in the context of a song.  The definition given by some is “Amen”; others think it is a musical term for instruments such as, a full measure rest, or “Allegro” or some other musical meaning.   Others think the meaning is an “interlude” or “stop and contemplate”.  I lean toward STOP and CONTEMPLATE and call Selah a “hand over the heart moment”.   This is a time to capture the words or meaning in our hand and place them in our heart and hold them there so we can digest the full meaning and strengthen our soul.

There are many such moments in Scripture.  Each of us could list many such verses.  I encourage you to do so and take time to think about your personal favorites.

Isaiah 40: 28-31 is a “Selah” moment. When we are tired and life seems to be too difficult to endure, God promises we will have our strength renewed and rise up as on the strong wings of an eagle.  “Strength of an Eagle”

Consider John 1:1-18 and especially verses 12 and 13 as a “Selah” event.   Placing these words in our heart and realizing the full meaning takes more than a few seconds of our time.  The promise and meaning will expand in our heart and the longer we hold the words there, the greater the hope we have.  Imagine a lifetime, as a child of the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY with all the privileges and promises He has granted.

Genesis 1, a chapter of simple faith.   “SELAH”   God gives us a transparent explanation so that anyone can understand “in the beginning”.  It is not a scientific interpretation of the beginning and the creation; rather, Genesis is the starting place for us as children of God, to understand and realize that “in the beginning” there was chaos, disorder and confusion.  “In the beginning” the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY changed that chaos into order, calmness, repose and the list goes on.  God saw that all HE had done was good.  HE can and still does change the chaos in our hearts to faith, hope and love.  Hold that in your heart.

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.  Ephesians 5:31-33

My new friend, Trey Morgan, a preacher in the Lord’s church in Texas tweeted the other day, “Why should every church be actively involved in building healthy marriages and families? Because healthy marriages make healthy families, and those healthy families make:

Healthy choices

Healthy schools

Healthy communities

Healthy states and a

Healthy nation and world.”

Can I get an Amen?  Perhaps the greatest plague on, the greatest threat to, American society is the breakdown of the traditional family.  Our theme at Summit for 2022 is Our Family.  We will focus on the family of God, our responsibilities and our relationships, as well as our earthly families, and those responsibilities and relationships.

On April 30^th, we are scheduled to host a Parenting and Family workshop with Adam and Leah Faughn.  Tentatively scheduled to be morning to mid-afternoon.  We hope to have a schedule and promotional materials available in the next few days. If you are married, or plan to be married at some point, with children or without children, we hope you will make plans to attend.

Trey Morgan, and his wife Lea, are scheduled to be at Summit in 2024 to host their Stronger Marriages workshop.  You can follow them on social media: Facebook at StrongerMarriageWorkshops, Instagram Stronger_Marriages, and Twitter at StrongMarriage5.  They are a great follow for any married couple or anyone in a relationship.

We think one of the most important things we can do is encourage and support stronger relationships in marriages and families.  We pray that you will support all of the efforts and please let us know what else we can do to make an even greater impact on our families.

Winning a competition is extremely satisfying. After all the hard work you put into practicing your art, you not only overcome your adversary, but you also overcome yourself. In this way, winning does not just mean that you come in first place. Sometimes winning just means you overcame the odds. In the first Rocky movie, Rocky does not win the heavyweight title, but he still won in the sense that he “went the distance” and fought for fifteen rounds against a superior opponent.

Similarly, our spiritual contest is not about dominating others and competing with others. Rather, it is simply about having the endurance to go the distance. In a sense, Jesus has already conquered our adversary and hindered Satan from defeating us. While Satan still works to sabotage our success, ultimately, we have everything we need to defeat him. John assures us of this (1 John 5:4).

I love to look at the first Rocky movie as an allegory for my spiritual journey. The guy was punched in the face more times than humanly possible. His face looked like a purple balloon. Yet he kept on getting back up off the mat. He kept fighting. He went the distance despite his extreme injuries. Likewise, “we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed…constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifest in our mortal flesh” (2 Cor 4:8, 9, 11). I hope that every time you get knocked down, you choose to rise up again. Even if you are bloody and bruised, all that matters is that you finish the race.

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests and to our God; and they will reign upon the earth. (“Revelation 5:10 You have made them to be a kingdom and …”) (Rev 5:10)

To some, a priest is a celibate man wearing a white collar to whom you confess your sins. Others have more of an ancient conception of a priest who wears white linen garments and sacrifices animals in a temple. But when Peter says that we are the
priesthood (1 Pet 1:5-9), what did he have in mind?

Priests serve. Priests in the Old Testament served God and the people by mediating between God and humans. Without the priesthood, Israel’s relationship with God was precarious at best. This is why it was so horrible for Eli and his sons to be so sinful; they put the entire nation in danger. We also mediate between God and the rest of his creation. We are his representatives, called to serve others and to help them have a strong relationship with their creator. We do this through mediating his love, but also through giving life and light in places which are sterile and dark. To be a priest means we are to serve humanity.

Priests sanctify. One way priests served in the Old Testament is by consecrating people and places. In order for God to dwell on this earth, the earth had to be holy and sacred. The priests of the Old Testament sanctified the temple and Israel through the blood of bulls and goats. However, today we only need the blood of Jesus to consecrate ourselves and others. Wherever we go is holy ground and wherever we gather is the temple of the Lord (1 Cor 3:16, 17). We ought to change whatever organizations we are a part of through our presence.

Therefore, you do not have to be a man, wear a collar, or go to a seminary. We are not ordained by a cardinal or bishop, but by the Bishop (1 Pet 2:25). We do not wash ourselves with holy water or in mikvah’s, but in the waters of baptism. I hope that you will live up to the high calling to both serve and sanctify the world in which we live. There is no shortage of darkness and gloom. And while we must wait for Yahweh to vanquish death and darkness once and for all, we can still provide life and light through mediating God’s presence to the world.

When life gets precariously tough, we either run to or from God. For instance, consider running in the life of Jonah. He started his very costly “escape God Road trip” after disagreeing with God’s call for his life.

But, as Jonah found out the hard way, you can never run from God’s will for your life. Those who have tried can, like Jonah, tell you in detail what will happen.

First, you will try sleeping (Jonah 1:4–6). It is shocking that God’s “great prophet”, His “chosen vessel” to save the world, chose to escape from reality and obligations by sleeping. So many of us do the same. Our world is currently scared. Death is a real possibility, and therefore many are curious about salvation. What are you doing about it? Has your lifestyle closed your lips? Can you tell them “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved” (Mk.16:16; cf. Jn.3:3-5; Acts 2:38; Rom.1:16; 1 Cor.15:1-4; Rom.6:3-4)?

Second, confusion will ensue (Jonah 1:7–10). The sailors found out that Jonah was a Lukewarm Child of God. As such he was alone – and enemy of both God and the Heathens. Our world needs all dangling Christians to get off the “fence”.

And finally, you will hit rock bottom (Jonah 1:11–16). At this low point in his life, Jonah confesses the truth and is thrown overboard.

Friend, God has always wanted us to let go of our stubborn will and come home because it is supper time in His Kingdom. https://youtu.be/5B1nm1Co9wA