90 Days: Joshua 1:1-14:15

·      Take courage in the strength of the Lord.  Not your own ability (Joshua 1)

·      Focus on the word of the lord.  (Joshua 1)

·      Read scripture (Joshua 1)

·      Study scripture (Joshua 1)

·      Meditate on scripture (Joshua 1)

·      Speak scripture (Joshua 1)

·      Obey the scripture (Joshua 1)

·      God sometimes uses the most unlikely people to do His work (Joshua 2)

·      If you live in opposition to God you have something to fear (Joshua 2)

·      When leading others do not take the glory that belongs to God.  He is the on hero.  (Joshua 3)

·      Sometimes you do not know what He will do until you step into the river (Joshua 3)

·      Remember what the Lord has done.  Tell it to the next generation. (Joshua 4)

·      The strength of the Lord makes his enemies shrink back in fear. (Joshua 5)

·      When faced with a great challenge you have a choice to rely on your strength or the strength of the Lord.  The latter requires patience and obedience but is far more fruitful.  (Joshua 5)

·      “Are you for us or us or for our enemies?”  It not the right question for God.  It is his question for us.  (Joshua 5)

·      Sometimes God asks us to do things that seem ridiculous.  Follow Him through these seasons.  He will show you amazing things.  (Joshua 6)

·      The Lord is faithful.  He keeps his promises to everyone. (Joshua 6)

·      God can use anyone to make a difference in this world.  Prostitutes and Pastors. (Joshua 6)

·      This whole existence is about Him.  His glory, his kingdom.  Not us.  (Joshua 6)

·      Your sin affects others.  Know this.  (Joshua 7)

·      Do not forget the commands for the Lord in great moments of success.  It is during these seasons that we often lose our way. (Joshua 8)

·      Seek the Lord before you decide. Less you may be deceived.  (Joshua 9)

·      Keep your word.  (Joshua 9)

·      “Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand.” (Joshua 10)

·      He can make the sun stand still. (Joshua 10)

·      Even the greatest of those who oppose the Lord end up hiding in caves. (Joshua 10)

·      Then the land had rest from war.  (Joshua 14)

Peace on Earth?

My friend Dave Runyon sends out the best Christmas card ever year.  I always look forward to seeing what he and his family will do next!  This year’s card is one of the best.  Here are a couple of thoughts from Pastor Steve Cordle on where we can find peace this Christmas.

Christmas has a way of amplifying the pain of life’s imperfections.

If death or divorce taken someone who was celebrating with us last year, it hurts even more than other days. If our health is limiting us, or key relationships are strained or our job threatened, it seems it seems to cut a little deeper at Christmas.

Christmas is supposed to be Merry!

But if we look back at the first Christmas, you see that things did not go all that well for Mary and Joseph either. It came complete with:

Family Drama: Mary had been widely accused of sleeping around and Joseph planning on breaking off their engagement.

It had the Unpleasant Travel Experience: try riding a donkey for more than 80 miles when 9 months pregnant.

There was the Accommodation Hassle: no room at inn, have to sleep in a barn… which is worse than with your cousins.

There was the pain of childbirth and then unexpected company dropping in as shepherds showed up wanting to see the baby.

I’m just saying that circumstances were not perfect for the main players on that first Christmas.

I hope you get just what you want for Christmas this year, and everything turns out like you want it to – that would be great!

But if it doesn’t, don’t worry, you haven’t missed Christmas’ best.

Because the best part of Christmas is not what is happening in our circumstances, but who has come to be with us.

Video: Revealed The One Who Purifes Us

Revealed:  The One Who Purifies Us from Mike Arnold on Vimeo.

Malachi was the last prophet before Jesus came. The book of Malachi was written after the Jews came back from exile and rebuilt the Temple. The Jews had once again begun to be complacent about obeying God. So Malachi spoke to point them toward obedience again, and toward renewal of their relationship with God. Malachi also spoke to tell the Jews about the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Read Malachi 2:17-3:5.

• In 2:17, Malachi implied that the Jews were convinced that they somehow had escaped God’s notice when they sinned. How do we downplay our own sins? What excuses do we make? Give some examples.

• In 2:17, the Jews wondered where the God of justice was. Life did not seem fair to them. When did life seem unfair to you?

• How can our own sin lead to unfairness in our own lives or in the lives of others? Give examples. … By the way, one reason God hates sin so much is that unfairness results from sin!

• How does God work justice in the world? What are some examples of how God can use us to bring justice?

In 3:1, the coming of Jesus is foretold, hundreds of years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. But 3:2-4 doesn’t sound like a baby in a manger! Jesus is pictured as a refiner and purifier, and both of those processes sound painful! What do you think spiritual “refining” and “purifying” are?

• Give an example of when Jesus “refined” or “purified” you. How was it painful? How were you different afterward?

• Sometimes God’s refining and purifying processes in our lives take a long time. How does the waiting benefit us? What are some strategies for “waiting productively”?

• In what way do you currently need God’s “refining” or “purifying”? Or, how is God already doing that process now?

Read Isaiah 62:5. 

• In what ways is God’s love for us like the love of a groom for his bride?

• How have you experienced the extent of God’s love for you? With whom will you share God’s love this Christmas?

Revealed: The One Who Purifies Us from Mike Arnold on Vimeo.
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Revealed: The One Who Purifies Us

“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty.

But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap.  He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.” Malachi 3:1-5

Last words are important.  The last words of a movie, book, or great story can captivate and create a sense of closure, or open a door to another chapter. 

This week at Crossroads Cranberry we will be looking at the last words God gave his people before 400 years of silence.  These are the last words of God before he spoke again in the cry of a newborn baby.

Sunday we will be in the book of Malachi.  In this book, God Reveals that the coming Messiah will be the one that purifies his people.  Take a few moments this weekend to look at this amazing book.  And Join us Sunday as we continue to look explore the coming Jesus.  Revealed:  The One Who Purifies Us.

Waiting for the Bride

One of my favorite privileges as a pastor is to lead or officiate weddings.  For me, it is an honor to be with people in such a great moment in life.  Before the ceremony begins, I visit with the bride and groom to pray with them just minutes before their wedding. 

When doing this, I usually visit the bride first. She is usually nervous, emotional, and sometimes even tearful.  She is usually surrounded by her best friends and close family.  After praying with everyone, the tears are flowing.  It is then that I give my final words of advice:  “enjoy the day!”

Then I go visit the guys.   The mood in the room full of guys tends to be a little bit different.  They too are nervous and excited, but the emotions are handled differently.  Some wear their “game face” while others kick back with groomsmen enjoying the humor in the man’s last moments as a bachelor.  In some ways the guys’ waiting area feels a little more like a football locker room. 

I like to look into the eyes of the groom as his men are standing around him before we pray.   I ask him how he feels.  This is usually met with a response like, “I’m excited,” or “I can’t wait to see her.”  In that moment, I look into the eyes of the groom and say, “remember this feeling.  Never forget it.  Because this is how Scripture describes God’s love for you.  He waits for you.  He loves you  and longs for you as a groom waiting for his bride.”

If you are married, think back to your wedding day and remember that feeling.  Know that God loves you with that same intensity.  It has never faded and it never will.

Revealed: Malachi

This weekend I will be preaching at the main campus of Crossroads Church in Oakdale, PA.  We will be in part three of the Revealed Series as we look at what the Prophets said about the coming Jesus.  Here are a couple of my quick thoughts as I prepare for this weekend.

·      The Lord loves you more than you can ever imagine.  He is always faithful to you even when you are not. (Malachi 1)

·      The Lord is sovereign over all.  Both the good and the bad of this world.  He is just.  Just more patient than us and has a far greater perspective (Malachi 1)

·      Offer your best to the lord everyday. (Malachi 1)

·      Who gets the best of you? (Malachi 1)

·      Giving to the Lord is a blessing not a burden. (Malachi 1)

·      Priests and pastors are held to a higher standard of integrity.  God has trusted you with much and others trust your instruction.  Do not betray this trust. (Malachi 2)

·      The only way for us to understand the love of God is to compare it to the most intimate relationship we know.  Marriage.  It is with this kind of trust and desire that the Lord loves you. (Malachi 2)

·      When we turn away from Him it feels like unfaithfulness to the Lord.  It hurts Him.  (Malachi 2)

·      Return to Him.  Return to the wife of your youth. (Malachi 2)

·      Be careful when asking the Lord for justice.  We all live in his grace.  (Malachi 2)

·      The Lord Reveals his plan:  He will send one to save us (Malachi 2)

·      The one will refine his people. (Malachi 3)

·      The one will clean them. (Malachi 3)

·      The one will bring justice (Malachi 3)

·      The Lord has not change.  He was, He is, and He forever will be.  He is the faithful one. (Malachi 3)

·      Return to Him and He will return to you. (Malachi 3)

·      Trust in the Lord more than you trust in yourself. Return to Him. (Malachi 3)

·      Justice will come. (Malachi 4)

Our God Who Restores

Have you ever messed up in life? 

When I was a junior in high school I was driving to class on a cold winters morning.  The frost had covered my car and rather than clearing the windows properly, I decided to shave just a small slit in the windshield to see through as I drove to school. 

On my way, I came to a busy intersection where I couldn’t completely see what was coming but decided to pull forward and cross the road. 

In a matter of seconds, I realized that I had made a serious mistake as I collided with another car coming in the opposite direction. 

I wrecked, I messed up.  And it was my fault.

I will never forget the felling I had that morning when I called may father to let him know what had happened.  As he approached me I began to apologize for the mess that I made, the trouble that I caused, and the car that I ruined.  But before I could finish my speech he just hugged me and said, “son I am so glad that you are OK.” 

The Restoration process had already begun.

The week at Crossroads Cranberry we are in the second week of our Advent series entitled, Revealed. 

Sunday we will be taking some time to study the book of Zephaniah and how God revealed that one day a Messiah would come to restore those who have walked away from Him, those of us who have messed up. 

Join us this weekend at 10:30am as we continue the journey together. 

idol thoughts

“Our contemporary society is not fundamentally different from these ancient ones.  Each culture is dominated by it own set of idols.  Each has its “priesthoods,” it totem and rituals.  Each one has it shrines whether office towers, spas, and gyms, studios, or stadiums-where sacrifices must be made in order to procure the blessings of the good life and ward off disaster.  What are the gods of beauty, power, money, and achievement but these same things that have assumed mythic proportions in our individual lives and in our society?  We may not physically kneel before the statue of Aphrodite, but many young women today are drive into depression and eating disorders by an obsessive concern over their body image.  We may not actually burn incense to Artemis, but when money and career are raised to cosmic proportions, we perform a kind of child sacrifice, neglecting family and community to achieve a higher place in business and gain more wealth and prestige.”  Timothy Keller Counterfeit Gods

It is often very difficult to identify idols in our own lives.  One of the ways I examine my own heart in this area is by looking at my first response difficult situations. 

Where do I go in times of trial?  Where do I seek comfort?  Who do I talk with?  Where do I go first?

For example if my car broke down today what would be my first response?

Do I ask the Lord for guidance? 

Do I ask for a miracle? 

Do I yell at God? 

Do I try to fix it on my own? 

Call a friend? 

Call a mechanic?

If I am honest my first response is often very similar to someone who does not believe in God at all.  I try to fix it on my own. 

It is only when I am truly stuck.  When I cannot solve the problem, when I don’t know the right people.  When I do not have the resources.  It is then and only then that I set aside the idols of strength, knowledge, and self to ask God for help.

This is not to say that rational thought or problem solving is bad.  No, God has given us this.  But if we consistently turn to self, others, or things in our times of need.  Even simple needs it reveals something about where we find our strength.  It reveals something about what or who we worship.

Where do you go in difficult seasons of life?  Where do you seek comfort? In others, self, food, success?  What are the idols in your life?

Revealed

Some have said that waiting is the hardest part of life. This weekend we will be celebrating the second weekend of Advent and Advent is all about waiting.

For more than a thousand years the church has called the four weeks before Christmas “Advent”. It is not a time of celebrating; it is a time of waiting. It reminds us of how the people of Israel waited for hundreds of years for the Messiah to come. For centuries the prophets declared, “Someday, God is going to send the Messiah who will save his people.”

This weekend we will be looking at the book of Micah and what he had to say about the coming Messiah 700 years before His birth.

Join us this week at Crossroads Cranberry as we start our new series Revealed 

The Old Testament contains hundreds of prophecies about Jesus. They reveal what he would be and do; that Jesus would himself reveal what God is like. As we prepare for Christmas we will look at several of the OT prophecies to see what they teach us about following Jesus today.