Ken Winter
Bread That Is Sufficient

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The day God provided a ram to be sacrificed in the place of his son Isaac, Abraham called that place Jehovah Jireh, meaning “The Lord will provide.”(1) That day was to be a reminder to all generations that the Lord will provide. He will be faithful to provide just what is needed at the exact time it is needed. He is seldom early; but He is never late! He seldom provides in the manner we anticipate; but He always provides in a way that is sufficient. That was true for Abraham and Isaac, it was true for Moses and the Israelites, and it is true for us today.

God promised Moses and the Israelites that each morning He would provide bread that would be sufficient for every person for the day – everyone would have their fill.(2) After the people had gotten over the shock that this “white, flaky stuff” was God’s bread for them, they set about the process of gathering what was needed for their household. God’s provision, though “packaged” in a very unexpected way, came with very specific instructions.

Bread That Is Sufficient
Ken Winter
Chosen to Serve

If you would prefer to listen to this post as a podcast,CLICK HERE.

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There is no such thing as a perfect church. That statement does not come as a shock to any of us, whether we are a part of a church … or not. However, i do believe that those of us inside the church often tend to want everyone to believe we have it all together. We have a tendency to hide the “real me” behind a mask and cover up the things, the hurts, the doubts, and the imperfections that we don’t want anyone else to see. (It’s similar to the way most of us – believers and non-believers alike – tend to portray ourselves on social media.)

i also believe that those outside the church often project that false impression – that we think we’re perfect – upon the church, and enjoy highlighting the downfall of those within the church when they fall.

No, the church isn’t perfect, but then again, it never has been! But we endeavor to worship, follow, and follow the example of the only One who is and ever was perfect.

Chosen to Serve
Ken Winter
Perilous Times

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We live in a day filled with upheaval, confusion, and uncertainty. It therefore comes as no surprise that the rates of depression, anxiety, and fearfulness about the future continue to reach new highs  among adults in the U. S. according to a Gallup poll published in May 2023.(1) But as followers of Christ, we can take heart that the perilous times in which we find ourselves are also indicative of the days to come that Jesus described two thousand years ago. We can embrace the hope we have through the promises and assurance He gave to His disciples—and through them, to us.

Jesus was sitting on the slopes of the Mount of Olives with His disciples telling them about the perilous times that would signal the end of the age and His return.(2) The disciples, in turn, asked Him three questions:

1.    When will all this happen?

2.    What sign will signal Your return?

3.    What sign will signal the end of the world?

Perilous Times
Ken Winter
His Face Was Set

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The New King James translation of Luke 9:51 says “Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Jesus to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.” The timeframe of this particular journey recorded in Luke 9 was well over a year before Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday. He still had much yet to do, messages yet to preach, and miracles yet to perform. But in this verse, Luke is reminding us that Jesus never lost sight of why the Father had sent Him. No matter what was on His “to do list,” His face was always set, His eye was always focused, and His stride never wavered from His ultimate purpose.

Sometimes, as we remember the events of Holy Week, we can fall into a trap of thinking that Jesus’s crucifixion was the result of Judas’s betrayal, the Sanhedrin’s envy and hatred, Pilate’s spinelessness, and the soldiers’ cruelty. We can be lulled into thinking His death was involuntary. And salvation was the result of God taking something that the enemy meant for evil and using it for His glory and our good.

His Face Was Set
Ken Winter
Thomas (A Story of Guilt and Shame)

If you would prefer to listen to this post as a podcast, CLICK HERE.

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NOTE: This week, just like last week, as we prepare for Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, i want us to look at the events leading up to those days through the eyes of the second of two of Jesus’s disciples. But in so doing, i want us to see how the sin they both harbored in their hearts kept them from seeing the truth of God in those events.

Too often, the sin we harbor in our hearts keeps us from seeing God’s truth. Instead of confessing our sin, we justify it, and thus we fall headlong down the slippery slope. This week let’s see if we can learn from the second of the two men who despite his personal walk with Jesus became blinded to truth. And let’s see if we can learn from him.

Though elements of the story you are about to read are fictionalized, the ultimate truth it reveals is very real!

Thomas (A Story of Guilt and Shame)

Abraham

Bread That Is Sufficient

Bread That Is Sufficient

If you would prefer to listen to this post as a podcast, CLICK HERE.

* * * * *

The day God provided a ram to be sacrificed in the place of his son Isaac, Abraham called that place Jehovah Jireh, meaning “The Lord will provide.”(1) That day was to be a reminder to all generations that the Lord will provide. He will be faithful to provide just what is needed at the exact time it is needed. He is seldom early; but He is never late! He seldom provides in the manner we anticipate; but He always provides in a way that is sufficient. That was true for Abraham and Isaac, it was true for Moses and the Israelites, and it is true for us today.

God promised Moses and the Israelites that each morning He would provide bread that would be sufficient for every person for the day – everyone would have their fill.(2) After the people had gotten over the shock that this “white, flaky stuff” was God’s bread for them, they set about the process of gathering what was needed for their household. God’s provision, though “packaged” in a very unexpected way, came with very specific instructions.

A Story for Advent: Isaac

A Story for Advent: Isaac

If you would prefer to listen to this post as a podcast, CLICK HERE.

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NOTE: Those of you who have subscribed to this blog for more than a year know that it is my annual practice to post a weekly story for the season of Advent about the incarnational birth of Jesus. My hope is that the stories become a part of your Advent tradition as you remember and celebrate the Good News of the advent of our Lord and Savior.

This year i have chosen to share the eyewitness accounts of four adolescents, beginning with Isaac, the son of Abraham. i have included his story so that we might be reminded of the promise of a Savior even dating back to the days of Genesis. The remaining three accounts are from fictional characters who represent the nameless individuals who experienced the circumstances surrounding the advent of Jesus. Though some of the characters and details contained in each story are fictional, you will find that the truth they reveal is very REAL!

To that end, let’s look at each part of this story through the eyes of these four very different eyewitnesses:

Part 1 as told by Isaac, the son of Abraham (This week – November 29th)

Part 2 as told by Salome, the friend of Mary (December 6th)

Part 3 as told by Yanzu, the servant of Balthazar (December 13th)

Part 4 as told by Ashriel, the great-grandson of Simeon (December 20th) 

* * * * *

My name is Isaac and I am the fourteen-year-old son of Abraham….

A Divine Interruption

A Divine Interruption

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Some interruptions in our lives are simply unplanned delays. Like i wrote about last week, God can use His divine delays in our journey to bring us into alignment with His perfect timing. He slows us down in order to accomplish His perfect plan in the midst of our journey. But some interruptions are far more than a delay. They are moments, events and/or circumstances He uses in our lives to completely redirect us onto a course that looks very different from the one we’ve been on.

Most often, these interruptions can occur in the midst of a “normal” day. We’re doing what we normally do, going about our routine, perhaps on auto-pilot. When the day started out, we had a pretty good idea of how the day was going to look. We had our “to-do” list in hand, our schedule laid out, and our sights set, not only on the plans for this day but also the others that would follow. We were looking to the plans we had for that evening, or the coming weekend, or the upcoming vacation, or some other occasion. We weren’t planning on the change in direction, and we weren’t anticipating a change in our plans.

Then suddenly ….

Madness or Faith

Madness or Faith

“Take your son, your only son — yes, Isaac, whom you love so much — and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you” (Genesis 22:2). If God had not come through and stayed Abraham’s hand, would we consider Abraham to have been a madman or a man of faith? It was not solely Abraham’s action that confirmed his faith; it was also God’s response to Abraham’s faith. 

Fifteen years ago, we were at the edge of being “mad”. In obedience to what my wife and i believed was a word from God, i had, three months earlier, resigned my position from the church staff where i had served for eleven years, but now found myself with no prospects of another position. i had no leads, no money, and bills that were piling up. The only work before me was a writing project that i believed God was directing me to undertake, but it had little prospect of being published. Three months into our journey through this unknown, people were beginning to look at us as if we were mad; and i must confess, i was questioning that as well. Did i really hear God? Was this really what He had told us to do? How far would He let us go? 

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