Numbers 11 tells the fascinating story of Moses and God getting frustrated with the Israelites as they complain about having nothing but manna to eat. They want meat and they have fond memories of the food they used to enjoy back in Egypt – when they were SLAVES. There’s material here for several different sermons. But this week I was focused on the tail end of the story. God eases Moses’ burden by calling out 70 other leaders and taking some of the Spirit that is on Moses and spreading that Spirit among the 70. And “when the Spirit rested…

After getting into a verbal tussle with a fellow believer in the comments section of a YouTube video* today, I just feel the need to say this: If your faith makes you angry, judgmental and humorless, you are doing something very wrong. God invited you into His family to be His son or daughter, not His theological pit bull.  Although my opponent questioned my salvation, I did not return the favor. Imagine calling a fellow believer’s salvation into question based on a few sentences back and forth on the internet!  So I did not suggest that he himself was unsaved…

I can’t even cope with November’s arrival the day after tomorrow. When I get my computer back, I need to get serious about moving forward with my dissertation.  I reserved a date for my youth retreat which is supposed to become the cornerstone of my project. And I feel pretty confident that I can get my curriculum together by the time that weekend rolls around at the end of January. BUT – I still have not reworked my prospectus and there’s no guarantee that it will be quickly or automatically accepted when I do.  And at this point, it has…

I was a bonehead today and invited extra stress into my life. And the day was going so well. My friend Chris drove down last night from Fort Wayne – a nearly 3 hour trip. His mission was to demonstrate the SmartBox to my business networking group this morning at our 7:00 am meeting today.  We left the house right on time, I threw my computer bag in his back seat and we drove to the Moose Lodge downtown.  The meeting was fantastic. There was much interest in the SmartBox and we got a thousand dollar donation toward the $8,000…

One of the big questions I have had since becoming an American Baptist has been this: since we don’t see baptism referenced anywhere in the Old Testament, where does the ritual come from?  I had never found the answer until researching this week’s sermon.  The only Jewish ritual which comes close to what John was practicing before the start of Jesus’ earthly ministry was the mikveh, submersion in water that was used in two broad ways: 1) As a periodic cleaning from impurity. (Like after a woman gave birth.) Or 2) The conversion of a Gentile to the Jewish religion.…

The book of Genesis ends with Joseph’s rise to power in Egypt and all of his family joining him there to enjoy the prosperity of the land. The book of Exodus begins with an acknowledgment of how quickly things can change:  Exodus 1:6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7 but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them. 8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. 9 “Look,” he said to his people,…

The first time the word “prophet” shows up in Scripture is Genesis 20:7. Fascinatingly, it is Abraham who is the first to be called a prophet by God. The word pops up in a dialogue which the Lord has with King Abimelech after the king has taken Sarah into his household – because Abraham said she was his sister rather than his wife. (It’s surprising how quick Abraham was to throw Sarah under the bus whenever he got scared!)  Anyway, God appears to Abimelech in a dream and says, “Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet,…