Hope is an indispensable value in life that we all need, but too often we fail to acquire it nor to strengthen the hope we have. Hope is the force that propels us to overcome obstacles in life and enables us to accomplish unimaginable things like discovering a medicine like penicillin that cures a multitude of sickness, or maybe building something that changes our life like cell phones. It use to be that those who had hope in God’s loving kindness were among the leading scientists who discovered cures and medicine that changed our lives for the better. Today greed and money seem to be the drivers for discovery, and there is often a big price tag for those of us on the receiving end.

I have no idea what 2025 holds for you.  It may be a year where you reach your goals.  If so, it will have more to do with your attitude than your circumstances.  Success in life is mostly about our perspective on what’s possible or impossible and what’s valuable to us.

Few Christians today talk about the soul, whereas in previous generations it was a prime topic to speak or write about. We have drifted from seeing the importance of the soul. I think much of that is because the church has turned over giving counsel to secular professionals, rather than pastors and shepherds of God’s people who understand the deep connection between the Word of God and a healthy soul.

People generally love things that are reliable and predictable but what if a lot of things in life aren’t that way? For Christians, the idea and expectation of a reliable life is heightened by the idea of God setting up our future so reliably that many have bought into the idea of their future being  “Predestined”, which believes our eternity as well as this life is both guaranteed and that no worry or concern is needed. But what if that teaching is an exaggeration of scripture and not biblical? What if life and eternity is only as sure as we continue to trust God rather than just trusting our own thoughts and intentions? What if life is far more unpredictable than we realize? For many, that idea is unsettling and can create fear and anxiety unless people are truly trusting God day by day.

This idea of predestination is really a concept that both secular and religious people wonder about. Many movies wrestle with the idea of our destiny being set or not.  There are many movies that have been made in the last twenty years relating to time travel and trying to figure out if people can change their past or not because people want to know if we are predestined or not.

Many Christians have been taught that God predestines our future so it is set before we are even born. This theology became strongly developed for many Christians because of the reformation and the shift in theology by people like John Calvin, Martin Luther and others in the 1500s. These church leaders were trying to figure out what theology was wrong in the Catholic Church doctrine and they came up with the idea of going back to Augustine in third century for a confirmation in which God predestines people. Much of this shift in my mind came from the hatred of many over the sale of indulgences to wipe away the past, unrepentant sins of those who were about to die or had already passed away.

The strange thing is that these writers and others base this major doctrine over five verses from the New Testament in which the apostle Paul wrote instead of looking at the overall bible context of both the Old and New Testament. The idea of God choosing people for his purpose, also known as “election”, was formulated mostly by Calvin to say that certain people are chosen by God to be saved for eternity and others are predestined to go to hell for eternity regardless of their choices or desire. Once a person was baptized they no longer needed to worry about salvation or their conduct.

Romans 8:28-29

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

One of the problems of this doctrine is that it makes God out to be a liar when he says anyone can choose to follow him, and if we choose him, he will bless us both now and in eternity. Secondly, using Rom:28-29 to support this doctrine fails to look at the context. Paul is referring to people who are living according to God’s purpose, not our own, and they are predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus. Our predestination is about our calling to become like Jesus “NOT” predestined about our future. It is easy to twist scripture when failing to look at the objective and context.

Another verse of scripture about predestination used by many to justify God choosing us before the foundation of the world comes from individuals having a calling before they were born. Unfortunately, they fail to read or acknowledge that the purpose God set before the foundation of the world was about “HOLINESS” to walk in a blameless way with God and thus our adoption is based on what John wrote about a person’s adoption as God’s children.

John 1:11-12

He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:

Ephesians 1:4-5

Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

Lastly, Paul writes in the book of Ephesians about being predestined according to God’s purpose, not being predestined to or for individuals desires. When Paul uses the word predestination it’s always in reference to God’s purpose, not according to some notion of election regardless of our choices. God, throughout the scripture from Genesis to Revelation, is calling man to choose rightly with the promise of blessing and if we choose wrongly the results are punishment and sorrow.

Ephesians 1:11

In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,

Starting with Adam and Eve, God creates mankind with the potential to make choices, either good or bad, either constructive or destructive. Adam and Eve chose poorly and they suffered for it.  You would think their children would take stock in their mistakes and learn to make right choices. Abel made the right choice and honored God and Cain did not, which resulted in him killing his brother. Here is what God says to Cain when he is so mad and ready to do something so stupid it will cost him for the rest of his life.

Genesis 4:5-7

God did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. So the LORD said to Cain,

“Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?  “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”

God posed to Cain that he was in charge of his future, either good or bad. He challenged him that if his feelings rule in his life he is in trouble and if he listens to God he will be blessed. Throughout scripture, God says the same thing. Our choices set our course, not some notion of being predestined outside of our choices.

God puts great value on our choices. He doesn’t make us choose, he lets us choose. Real love cannot be forced and thus God gave us the potential of choosing to love or hate. Don’t be fooled into thinking you can’t do anything about your future because God says otherwise. He says you have the power to make the future we want. Remember the enemies plan for us.

John 10:10

The thief ( Satan ) does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Satan wants to steal our future and to kill any hope of redeeming it, thus destroying our faith in God for change. Remember Jeremiah’s prophetic words to rebellious Israel, who went into captivity because they chose poorly. These were the people of God and yet they did not inherit God’s blessing but his curse.

Jeremiah 29:11-13

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you and you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

It is better to listen to God’s own words than to listen to theologians who don’t seem to read scripture as it was meant to be read and understood. Your choices mean a great deal to God and they should mean a great deal to us as well.

Questions:

1) Have you believed the lie that people are predestined to heaven and hell regardless of their choices? Study the word of God yourself and discover how important your choices are.

2) Have you bought into the lie that once you’re saved you can never get unsaved? Ask yourself what salvation is about. Is it about letting us live like fools or like Christ?

Loving God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength,

Pastor Dale

As you get older, hopefully you gain a different perspective on how life really works. When we are 18-20 we think we can do anything and that anything is possible, which is true but with a catch. What you don’t know is how much those ideas and potential dreams will cost you, or the challenge of what you will need to sacrifice in order for those dreams and ideas too manifest.

I witness too many Christians trying to live a life of faith in a lopsided way because they just learn more and more information about God without actually changing how they live. When I became a true believer, I knew I had to change my thinking as well as the life I was living.  Now, more than 50 years later, I am still in the same place…..learning and engaging in the changes that Christ compels me to make.

As a former master mechanic, I was taught about rebuilding transmissions, both automatic & manual. In fact, I started tearing apart four speed manual transmissions before I knew what I was doing because the used junker car I bought had problems. What I discovered was the previous owner must have tried to force the transmission into different gears wrongly because the gears were all torn up, not to mention that it had very little gear oil in it. As Christians, I think there are similarities.  As new believers, we try to change without being ready or instructed how to make changes.  Consequently, we stay in one gear all our lives, which is something we were never designed to do. We were designed to travel in all the gears available, not just one.  Consider the analogy of staying in first gear as a Christian. You’re moving forward, but everyone is passing you by, even the old people! You would be frustrated to say the least and might stop driving. Many a believer has been in such a place and abandoned their faith by thinking it doesn’t work, at least for them.

The title I am using in this article actually came from a book I am reading by Erwin MacManus called “Chasing Daylight”. It is an awesome book about pursuing your life of faith and developing to be the Christian that God intended. His point in the chapter I pulled this from stood out to me because of my mechanical background. How many Christian believers have resigned themselves to just learning about God and the world he has made for us but never really traveling that life of faith? The book of James, which was probably the first book written in the Bible, states the following:

James 2:18-20

But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?

When James uses the topic of “Works” he is talking about “Action” and how it affects our belief. You see, when we just capitalize on learning without applying what we think it’s not faith at all. At best it’s just philosophy and at worst it is deception because God designed the human soul to function with both. To learn about God and his ways without engaging in action only breeds guilt and condemnation in our soul. Many Christians claim the verse which states there is no condemnation when we are Christians yet what it really says is for those who are in Christ. meaning abiding in that relationship. It requires real faith and action to be in Christ, not just religious thoughts or theology.

Before becoming true believers we had to learn about our rebellious ways in order to repent of them. That repentance should produce all kinds of pain in us, which should motivate us to surrender completely to Christ. Unfortunately, many never saw their rebellion, only the need to want God in their lives and thus they are what James calls, “Being Double Minded” by thinking one way and living another. But, when we act on the knowledge of our rebellion and embrace the love of Christ and His redemption, guilt disappears we start learning to live a life of faith.

As an early believer, Christianity showed my soul the path to life and resonated in me that this was truth. However, I also was in conflict because of the selfishness in my soul.  I refused to yield to the authority of Christ. The more I learned, the more I wanted to learn. The enemy of my soul used this hunger to confuse me and keep me bound to a life of darkness by telling me I needed more information. Now, you might ask why Satan would encourage me to read and study the truth of God’s word?  It is because Satan knew I was attracted to it so he leveraged it against me to keep me bound. One of the greatest tools Satan uses with us is to tell us to only learn and not apply. Why? In order to keep us bound in guilt and away from the Father’s love for transformation.

Now consider the Magi traveling from Babylon to Bethlehem.  These men didn’t have all the truth they desired, but they used what they knew to seek out the messiah. History says they were philosophers, scientists and astronomers. Some translations of the Bible say they were astrologers, which in our use of the word today is incorrect. These men were not waiting to discover, they were acting on the knowledge they had and that involved sacrifice.

Psalms 119:29-32

Remove the false way from me & graciously grant me Your law.

I have chosen the faithful way; I have placed Your ordinances before me. I cling to Your testimonies; O LORD, do not put me to shame!

I shall run the way of Your commandments, for You will enlarge my heart.

They were smart enough to realize it is not enough to get rid of false beliefs, they had to replace those false ways with the standard of God’s word if they hoped to change. They would then have the guidance of God to go deeper in their pursuit of Him.

The other day I was having a breakfast with a police officer and sharing my testimony of how I came to Christ from a life of rebellion. As I finished sharing, a woman approached our table with tears in her eyes and confessed she was listening to our conversation and said she needed a miracle in her life and asked if I would pray for her. She could have just received the information of my testimony and walked away, but instead she acted on it to the degree that she made herself vulnerable to a total stranger. She took information God gave her about miracles and acted on it and that’s what we all need to do.

Can you imagine the Magi studying the scripture in a foreign land and then studying the stars to discover the possible birth of a messiah? Consider that they had little to go on and yet they traveled many, many miles to see if what they learned and hoped for was real. They gambled their wealth and their reputations on a possibility and God blessed them with seeing Jesus in person. God shows in his word how delighted he is when we act as they did.

Matthew 2:1-2

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

The Holy Spirit is today giving humanity enough information to act on. That information doesn’t become faith until it is acted on, but when we do He blesses us in ways we least expect. The police officer and myself were so blessed that God used us to touch this woman in need. Maybe the Holy Spirit is giving you information so that you will act on the Father’s behalf today? Act on that information and see yourself grow in your faith and touch the world that desperately needs the message of Christ this Christmas.

Questions :

1) Are you just learning and not applying?  You can change that with one prayer asking God to give you the strength to apply.

2) Are your aware that broken people need what you know?  Only by offering your availability to God will that change.

Pastor Dale

In the book of Romans Paul links everything in the Christian faith back to Abraham, who was the father of the Jewish nation. Abraham set the tone for trusting God even when he couldn’t understand his future. Trusting God is often a very hard concept when you give your heart to God because, like Abraham, we may not understand what or why God is leading us to do something or go somewhere. Faith and trust are linked together and if a Christian wants to please God we have to put our faith and trust in what God says just as Abraham did so many years ago. The pathway to a healthy relationship with God starts and continues with trust, in spite of a lack of information or revelation.

Hebrews 11:6

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

At the foundation of faith and trust is the purpose He gives all believers to “Be a Blessing” to those around us. This idea of purposely being a blessing challenges us at the core of our self-centeredness and the Holy Spirit will work on this attitude all of our lives. Building our life around loving God and loving people are the two many principles Jesus talked tirelessly about. It often means giving up resentment and bitterness over offenses. Abraham understood that God was calling him to be like his Heavenly Father and we have the same calling.

Genesis 12:2-3

And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.

God blesses mankind so God expects and directs us to follow in his footsteps. I am reminded of the scripture in the book of Matthew where Jesus is talking about loving not only your neighbor but your enemies as well. I confess this is a hard value and principle to follow but it is incorporated within seeking the kingdom of God directive. God implies that since He is perfect in loving people, even the bad ones, we should strive to love as God loves, even the ones that seem difficult to bless because of their conduct. God knows we are broken because of sin in the world and yet He still loves us as John 3:16 declares. Every time it rains it does so on both the good and bad among us.

Matthew 5:45

So that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Let’s go back to Abraham. God shows him that the calling in his life is to be a blessing to those around him and impact the world.  God also says that Abraham’s greatness will be tied to that purpose. Since Abraham is our father of faith, we should follow in his footsteps and be a blessing to those we encounter in life each and every day.  It is certainly not always easy to do yet God promises us we will be blessed if we act as he does. It may be easy to bless those who seem to desire it or who are kind and generous to us but what about those who are unfair or cruel to us? That’s why having faith in what God says is often difficult to do. We must trust, even though we can’t always see the why.

After being freed from slavery in Egypt, Abraham’s brother Aaron was given the responsibility and privilege to be the head priest over Israel. If you look at the character of Abraham’s brother, he was anything but a solid believer in God and yet God chose him to set the example for Israel by verbally blessing them. Likewise, we may have come out of the world with bad habits and flawed character yet, as born again believers, we are now to order our steps like Abraham and his brother Aaron.

Aaron was given the calling to “Bless” God’s people and that same purpose is our calling.

Numbers 6:24-26

The LORD bless you, and keep you; The LORD make His faceshine on you, and be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace

There are over 500 direct verses that speak to the importance this practice of blessing and being a blessing. The disciples of Jesus, when going out to preach and heal, were instructed to have this same attitude of imparting a blessing and even to verbally bless those they encounter.

Matthew 10:12-13

As you enter the house, give it your greeting. If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace.

Blessing others may not always be received with open arms but, in the end, our attempt to be a blessing to people we meet will impact the world around us. Today could be that day the Holy Spirit puts in your path a person who desperately needs your blessing. Will you be obedient to the call of God and be the light of God through your actions or will you sit on your blessing and close your heart?

Questions:

1) Do you purposefully try to be a blessing to others? If we are not intentional regularly, we will most likely fall into the rut of thinking the world around us is for our benefit only.

2) How do you prepare to be a blessing to others? Look at your own talents and endeavor to naturally be a blessing to others with your gifts. Don’t just do what others do.

Pastor Dale

If we read the scripture without a social or commentary bias, this story about Jesus sending his 12 disciples to the next city when evening was approaching is very interesting. Little did the disciples know there would be a strong storm coming that evening, though they knew the sea of Galilee was known for storms happening quickly. The question I have is: did Jesus know he was sending the disciples into trouble or did this just happen?

Mark 6:45

Immediately after this, Jesus made his disciples get back into the boat and head out across the lake to Bethsaida, while he sent the people home.

Things to remember in answering this question is remembering Jesus always was led by what he saw the Father do.  In other words, this was the Father’s will to send the disciples into this storm.  Doesn’t that bring comfort to your heart! Secondly, Jesus often would put problems in front of the disciples in order to evaluate their heart and perception about doing God’s will. Often, these problems exposed hidden issues in the disciple’s hearts and their thinking.  Jesus wanted to address things they should have learned earlier and facing problems helped to sort out where the disciples trust was weak in their Heavenly Father. Without tests, there is no true evidence of faith.

Within this story, scripture says Jesus went to pray alone while he disciples herded for Bethsaida, which was about 4 miles along the coast. Considering what happened to the disciples, was Jesus praying for them or just praying about other things? My best guess is he knew this would be a test and they would either lose ground in their spiritual walk because of it or they could advance in their walk with God, which I believe is always God’s heart for us. So, I think Jesus was interceding for them to pass the test the father had laid out in this storm.

Here is the thing. Somehow many believers think that if they pray for safety or protection then nothing bad will happen to them. In some cases that is true but certainly not in all cases. Sometimes God has to let us walk independently into harms way in order to awaken us to our need of him. Our personal independence from God often is a problem for every believer and thus the Holy Spirit develops ways to manifest it to us so we can address it. The sad thing is the more we get to know God and his word the tendency is to act more independently because we “Assume” God is always with us and therefore we don’t need to pursue him as hard as when we were more immature.  It is paradoxical how knowledge can make us foolish or wise.

This story is in all four of the gospels so it must have greater importance than other stories or principles in scripture. That being said, I think we all have heard this story in sermons and thus it’s easy to think we know all it has to give us and therein is another problem. Shutting down our hunger to know more prevents us from seeing more, especially when it comes to our self reliance in reading scripture or hearing God’s voice. If our souls are not constantly adjusting to new revelation from the Holy Spirit we get stuck in religious thinking instead of flowing in the spirit. We fool ourselves into thinking we are more mature than we really are.

Verse 48 contains one important fact.   It says Jesus was going to them but then he started to go past them. Why? Why go to them and then seemingly decide to go past them? Maybe the disciples’ ability to overcome their fear of the storm would be exaggerated by the fear they saw a ghost. Fear is the opposite of faith and they were swimming in it with the storm.

Mark 6:48

He saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and waves. About three o’clock in the morning he came to them, walking on the water. He started to go past them,

Is it possible Jesus felt they would just freak out by seeing him walking on water so much so he figured it’s best to pass them by and then just meet them at their destination? I wonder how many times I didn’t have an encounter with the Lord because my heart and mind were so captivated by my problem or my trial?  Likely more than I realize, just like the disciple seemed to be. Maybe your fear clouds your ability to hear and feel the presence of the Lord, just like it did the disciples on that stormy night.

Near the end of this story, I think there is a hidden truth that applies to the disciples and to us. It states that the disciples didn’t get the “Significance” of the previous miracle of feeding the 5,000. Scripture literally says their “Hearts” were hard, which means not open to what God was trying to teach them. Again, they often react to miracles like you and I do. We forget the significance rather than having it build our faith and relationship with God.

Mark 6:51-52

Then he climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped. They were astonished at what they saw. They still didn’t understand the significance of the miracle of the multiplied loaves, for their hearts were hard and they did not believe.

I hate to say it but many times my heart is hard or resistant towards what God is trying to speak to me.  Therefore, he has to allow hardship or trouble or great struggle to happen so that my heart becomes broken and moldable all over again. I’m sure the Lord doesn’t desire harm to come to us yet he knows if it does it will help us have a soft heart so he can teach us the secrets of the kingdom.

Psalms 34:18

The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit.

You and I have the ability to have a “Teachable” spirit or a stubborn one. We can stay moldable in the Father’s hand or we can become stiff and resistant to what he wants us to learn.  Sometimes we are ignorant because we want to be and sometimes we are ignorant of what God is saying because we have become entrenched in our habits and ways of thinking.

I hate to say it but the disciples were just like us in some ways. They wanted to understand the words of Jesus but there were times when Jesus spoke and thy just couldn’t comprehend his words.  An example of this is when Jesus told them that the son of Man was going to be killed.  They heard his words but didn’t understand them because in this area they were not moldable because it went against what they wanted. They wanted a king that would overturn Roman rule, not a king that would be sacrificed for their sin.

Mark 9:32

But they didn’t understand what he was saying, and they were afraid to ask him what he meant.

That inability to understand Jesus hurt them more than they understood because when the time to stand up for their messiah came in the garden, they all ran away.

I pray you and I will constantly ask God to help us be moldable like clay so that his words to us will be understood and we will bless his heart because of it.

Questions:

1) Can we point out troubles that have come our way because we lacked the ability to see some weakness in our character without it? Confess your desire for God to make your heart soft and pliable like Isaiah did ( Isaiah 64:8)

2) Do you regularly ask God to keep you from testing? The Lord’s prayer encourages us to pray that we would not be led into temptation – that word is about “Testing” (Matthew 6:13)

May the Holy Spirit help us to keep soft hearts and open minds so our tests would be few rather than great,

Pastor Dale

Today we often hear in church that God wants to heal our broken heart but have we ever thought God might want our hearts broken instead? Is it possible that God requires a brokenness in our souls in order for us to be truly healed? In scripture we often get confused when understanding how and when God restores us and thus we may in fact fight against the process He designed for our own restoration.

When you read books about Christianity written before the 1900s, or even the early 20th century, they often used different words to described what a person coming to Christ should look like and act like. Generally, they did not use the word “SAVED” or even ”Born again” but rather they used a word like “Converted” to describe the change in a person’s life. Why is this important and and how should we look at our own salvation or the experience of others who have been “Born again?”