Gathered Around the Fire

Remember the account of Jesus at a Wedding in Cana when they ran out of wine. He performs His first sign there. This is perhaps the greatest of all His miracles. In that it unveils the purpose of His earthly ministry as the bridge between the Old and New Covenants. Ephesians 2:14-22  Water Turned to Wine  On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  2  Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.  3  And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him,   “They have no wine.” 4  Jesus said to her,  “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” John 2    H as that last line ever bothered you?  It has bothered me, plenty! In fact it made me believe that somehow this miracle was not that significant: if Jesus did it only by compulsion... can you hear your teenager responding when you suggest that they display a talent in front of a group at a family get together. "Okay

THE DAYS OF AWE During the seventh month of Elul there are three fall feasts established by the Lord the God of Israel in Leviticus 23:23-43 right now as of 7:12 pm in Minnesota it is Elul 11 the day after the Day of Atonement.  THE KING IS IN THE FIELD  Rabbi  Schneur Zalman of Liadi  explains the paradox of Elul with the following metaphor:  The king's usual place is in the capital city, in the royal palace. Anyone wishing to approach the king must go through the appropriate channels in the palace bureaucracy and gain the approval of a succession of secretaries and ministers. He must journey to the capital and pass through the many gates, corridors and antechambers that lead to the throne room. His presentation must be meticulously prepared, and he must adhere to an exacting code of dress, speech and mannerism upon entering into the royal presence. However, there are times when the king comes out to the fields outside the city. At such times, anyone can approach him;

THE SIXTH KINGDOM IS sometimes called the Stone Kingdom In the second chapter of Daniel this transition is described as the stone cut out of the mountain without hands. 34  You watched while  a stone was cut out without hands , which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.  35  Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found.  And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. This depiction of Jesus (the Word of God) being cut out of the mountain, is very similar to the two tablets of stone that were cut out of Mount Horeb without hands so that the 10 commandments (the word of God) could be written on them back in the wilderness. What mountain is mentioned in Daniel Chapter 2? One that fills the whole earth. To me, this sounds a lot like Isaiah 2:2

I was in a conversation the other night and an analogy of the life of religious performance came to mind and I wanted to expand on it here. Here is the picture… I said, “your life is like a person who pulls up to a parking meter.  To feel good about yourself you must put in a quarter but the meter. The meter only gives you 15 minutes of peace and security, your 15 minutes in the sun, fifteen minutes of approval. Fifteen short minutes later it demands another quarter for you to stay there, in your happy place.  Without your performance (another quarter) the flag will come back up declaring in big RED letters “Violation!” Many religious people live right there, PARKED!  They want God’s love but have missed the entire message of the good news! Plugging money into the offering basket to “park in His presence” on Sunday morning, was not what God had in mind when he started the church. The good news is NOT that you can earn God’s love it is that long before you knew about o