Friday, March 28, 2014
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Article: "Spring Cleaning" by Rusty Hilliard, March 23, 2014
I like history. I love discovering the origins of the different habits and hobbies that make up our society. One of the issues that catch my attention this time of year is “SPRING CLEANING”- it has a Biblical background.
The custom can be traced back to the days of the Passover in Exodus 12. There we read the instruction which Moses was to translate to the Children of Israel. The point was to help them survive the passing through of the Lord as he smote the first born children of Egypt. The important verse to notice is Exodus 12:15. “Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.” The portion to notice is the command to make sure that even the house in which they lived was clean of ALL LEAVEN.
Jewish tradition holds that even to have a crumb in the home was unacceptable, and therefore resulted in the people of Israel making sure to clean their houses in order to be pleasing in the sight of the Lord.
So, how clean is your house? Not your home in which you live, but your spiritual home? Paul states in 2 Corinthians 13: 5 that each man should examine himself to see whether he is in the faith; we should make sure that we are keeping our spiritual house in order. Today, take a moment to look around, maybe do a little spring cleaning of your own, for that would be pleasing in the sight of the Lord.
Springtime in My Soul
For when the Lord is near,
The dove of peace sings in my heart,
The Flow'rs of grace appear.
O there's sunshine, blessed sunshine,
While the peaceful, happy moments roll;
When Jesus shows His smiling face,
There is sunshine in soul.
-There Is Sunshine in My Soul by Eliza Edmunds Hewitt, 1887
photos by Ryan Herren, Delaney Hilliard, Darlene McKee and George, Jason and Peggy Goldtrap
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Your Sacrifice by Rusty Hilliard, March 12, 2014
Hopefully all who read this enjoyed
food, fellowship and faith at last Sunday’s potluck and pm service. If you
were not there, I want to revisit the devotion.
In Genesis
4, Adam and Eve are beginning their lives after the fall. Verses
1-2 reveal that Eve gave birth to two sons named Cain and Abel. Cain
was a farmer, while Abel was a “keeper of sheep.” Even at this early time,
man came before the Lord with sacrifice. These two guys brought
sacrifice before God from their different interests.
In verse 4 the
Lord respected Abel’s sacrifice, but found Cain’s sacrifice unworthy. The
problem is that this angered Cain, which led to the death of Abel at the hands
of his brother.
Cain
was mad because his offering was counted as unworthy. Folks the truth is that Cain
came to the Lord more worried about what he could get, rather than what he
could give. He was
offered correction, but instead of reforming and resolving to do better, he was
upset that someone else had done better.
I want to encourage us all to begin showing
up looking to give all that we have to the Lord, as well as those around us. Let’s
stop looking to take, and instead approach the throne of the Lord ready to give
all that we can.
Friday, March 14, 2014
Friday, March 7, 2014
Article: Letting God Mold You by Rusty Hilliard, March 9, 2014
letting god mold you
Who you are is
often defined by where you’ve been and what you’ve done. The past dictates both
the present and the future. Should the past have this power to mold and
define you? In Genesis 37, we meet an influencer of
secular and biblical events named Joseph, the son of Jacob. In
fact, Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob and Rachel. Consider the history of Joseph:
Genesis 37:4 Joseph was hated and mocked by his brothers
because of the love his father showed to him.
Genesis 37:5 it wasn’t enough to “hate him”, but the
brothers actually increased in their dislike of Joseph.
Genesis 37:18 his brothers formed a conspiracy against
him.
Genesis 37:24 he was cast into a pit, and abandoned.
Genesis 37:28 he was sold to the Ishmaelite’s, and taken
into Egypt.
Genesis 39:12-20 finally Joseph was accused of rape, and
thrown into prison.
This is only
part of Joseph’s life, but this glimpse shows many difficulties. Yet he did not allow the challenges of the
past become the stumbling blocks of his present. Instead he continued to trust
and believe in the God who never left him. (Genesis 39: 21)
Don’t be
caught off guard by the present because you were so busy looking at the past. Let’s take the events, mistakes, missteps,
and outright bone-headed choices of our past and allow God to mold us and make
us into what he would have us to be. -Rusty-
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