Ken Winter
Advent – We Three Kings (Balthazar’s Story)

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Introduction to this post:

This is the fourth of this year’s weekly Advent posts. Those of you who have followed the 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 have 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’s posts are as follows:

Week #1 - November 27th: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (Joseph’s Story)

Week #2 - December 4th: Away in a Manger (Achim’s Story)

Week #3 – December 11th: Silent Night (Moshe’s Story)

This week - December 18th: We Three Kings (Balthazar’s Story)

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My name is Balthazar and I am a lifelong student of the science of the stars….

Advent – We Three Kings (Balthazar’s Story)
Ken Winter
Advent – Silent Night (Moshe’s Story)

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

Introduction to this post:

This is the third of this year’s weekly Advent posts. Those of you who have followed the 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 have 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’s posts are as follows:

Week #1 - November 27th: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (Joseph’s Story)

Week #2 - December 4th: Away in a Manger (Achim’s Story)

This week – December 11th: Silent Night (Moshe’s Story)

December 18th: We Three Kings (Balthazar’s Story)

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I am a shepherd named Moshe.

Advent – Silent Night (Moshe’s Story)
Ken Winter
Advent – Away in a Manger (Achim’s Story)

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

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Introduction to this post:

This is the second of this year’s weekly Advent posts. Those of you who have followed the 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 have 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’s posts are as follows:

Last week - November 27th: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (Joseph’s Story)

This week - December 4th: Away in a Manger (Achim’s Story)

December 11th: Silent Night (Moshe’s Story)

December 18th: We Three Kings (Balthazar’s Story)

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My name is Achim. My family and I live here in Bethlehem, the town of our ancestor David, the shepherd king….

Advent – Away in a Manger (Achim’s Story)
Ken Winter
Advent - O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (Joseph’s ...

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

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A preface to this post:

Dear family, friends and faithful readers of this blog,

This week is my 321st weekly blog post—not a huge number for many, but for me it has been a sharing of my heart with you. Those of you who have followed the blog for more than a year know that it is my annual practice to post a weekly stories for the season of Advent about the incarnational birth of Jesus. My hope is that the stories have 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 am repeating four of the weekly Advent posts from 2019 for two reasons. First, i have made changes to the posts, and have a higher quality audio recording of the posts in the event you would like to listen to them on audio—feel free to click the link above to do so.

The second reason is that i will be bringing my season of posting to an end as of the end of December. As many of you know, i have been diagnosed with metastatic (stage 4) lung cancer and am now being placed on home hospice care. Thus, it has become more difficult for me to produce these post. I hope and pray you receive these as my gift and expression of love to you.

The remaining five posts are as follows:

November 27th: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (Joseph’s Story)

December 4th: Away in a Manger (Achim’s Story)

December 11th: Silent Night (Moshe’s Story)

December 18th: We Three Kings (Balthazar’s Story)

December 25th: A Christmas Celebration (My Story)

Advent - O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (Joseph’s Story)
Ken Winter
His Dwelling Place

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

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What does it mean to live in the shelter of the Most High and to find rest in His shadow? This is how Psalm 91 begins—a psalm many attribute to Moses. i believe that attribution is fitting. Moses is the one who carried Jehovah God’s instructions to His people for constructing the Tabernacle in the wilderness. He witnessed the fabrication of each part and completed the last of the work.

The Tabernacle was completed exactly as the Lord specified and was erected on the first anniversary of Israel’s departure from Egypt. That day, the Lord’s glorious presence descended upon it, covering and filling it with His awesome glory. His presence, previously seen in the guiding pillar of cloud, now took residence within His dwelling place among the people. From that day on, as His Spirit led, the people moved forward; when His Spirit remained in the Tabernacle, the people encamped.

His Dwelling Place

Possessing The Promise

No More Manna

No More Manna

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

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Have you recently lost a job or seen a significant income stream dry up? Are you feeling discouraged or confused about what’s happening? Are you struggling to make sense of an unexpected change in your life? There’s a lesson to be learned from the Israelites’ experience soon after they crossed into the Promised Land.

Few Israelites were old enough to remember the days before they ate manna. For them, it had become a basic staple of their diet—like fresh ground peanut butter is for me today. The generation that perished in the wilderness had been the ones grumbling, “If only the LORD had killed us back in Egypt… There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.”God responded to their complaints and miraculously provided them with manna.

Faithful to the Finish

Faithful to the Finish

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Despite having witnessed God repeatedly overcome countless obstacles on their behalf, the Israelites were overwhelmed and discouraged by the size of the force now standing before them. Their fear eroded their confidence in God’s faithfulness. i don’t know about you, but i fear i am often guilty of allowing my fear to do the same thing.

The kings of the northern cities had seen how the God of the Israelites defeated other kings in Canaan. They had witnessed the destruction of Jericho and Ai after those kings had foolishly tried to resist the Israelites alone. They saw the five southern kings unite, only to be defeated. But instead of seeking peace, surrendering to the Israelites, and submitting to their God, the northern kings hardened their hearts. Driven by selfish ambition and pride, they chose to fight the Israelites. As Joshua led the Israelites north, the northern kings decided that their only chance of survival was to unite all the armies of the north.

Whose Counsel Will We Seek?

Whose Counsel Will We Seek?

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

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Though the term “fake news” was coined in the late 1800s and the birth of the digital age has greatly multiplied its prevalence in our day-to-day world, the reality is that it dates back to the Garden of Eden. Satan was the original editor-in-chief of “fake news,” and he still is! That’s why there is only one reliable source for all that we need to know in making our decisions.

A Covenant Renewed

A Covenant Renewed

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

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Does it seem like God is directing you to do something at a time which you believe is most inopportune? Has that still, small voice (the Holy Spirit within you) directed you to do something now that is contrary to what your conventional wisdom is telling you to do?

For thirty-eight of the forty years the Israelites spent in the wilderness, no Israelite male was circumcised.And yet, 470 years earlier, God had entered into a covenant with Abraham and his descendants saying, “I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you. And I will give the entire land of Canaan …  to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God…. Your responsibility is to obey the terms of the covenant. You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility. This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must be circumcised.”(1) God had given a promise to that first generation of Israelites and had entered into a covenant with them. Their part of the covenant was to obey the terms and seal it through the circumcision of every Israelite male.

Leaning On Our Own Understanding

Leaning On Our Own Understanding

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The situation had changed, and Joshua and the Israelites had no idea. The memory was fresh of their absolute defeat of Jericho. The imposing walls of Jericho had proven to be no problem whatsoever! The men had just returned from spying out the city of Ai. It was nowhere near as imposing as Jericho! Defeating Ai would be a piece of cake – it would not require any effort.

And though the spies didn’t say this, the confidence in their remarks communicated – “we don’t even need God to defeat Ai! We can defeat them ourselves!” “We can even leave 597,000 of our fighting force back in the camp. We only need 3,000 warriors to do this. And they won’t even break a sweat.” Obviously i am putting words in their mouths, but i believe it fairly expresses the sentiment of the spies.

Get Ready! We’re Leaving in Three Days!

Get Ready! We’re Leaving in Three Days!

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

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The Israelites had been camped on the plains of Moab on the east side of the Jordan River for many months. During that time Moses had written the book of Deuteronomy. God had taken him up onto Mt. Nebo to see the land that the Israelites would inhabit. Moses had died, and God had made Joshua their new leader.

The Israelites had planted crops and were augmenting their meals of manna with fresh produce from the land. They had begun to put down modest roots. As a matter of fact, the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh had petitioned Moses to make their permanent dwelling place on this side of the Jordan, and God had permitted them to do so.

So, when Joshua sent out word that they were leaving in three days, it was very short notice for a move of that magnitude….

Don’t Forget to Be Thankful

Don’t Forget to Be Thankful

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

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Thursday, November 23rd, is Thanksgiving Day here in the U.S. Our Canadian friends celebrated Thanksgiving on October 9th, and our friends in the U.K. celebrated Harvest Festival on October 1st. Regardless of the date on the calendar, we all typically celebrate the day with good food, good fun, and a special time with family and friends. Hopefully in the midst of all the festivities, we make time to be thankful.

Because we all have much for which to be thankful—even in the midst of challenging days. But i fear we tend to forget. We lose sight of all the reasons from days past, and we become distracted by the urgency surrounding days present. As a result, the thanksgiving which should influence our thoughts, attitudes and actions each and every day gets lost in the shuffle.

That was the message Joshua was giving to the Israelites from his deathbed….

Commissioned by God

Commissioned by God

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Be ever mindful that our God is always at work preparing us for what He is preparing for us. And His preparation is perfect, because He knows what we will need and He knows what we will encounter. He knows the plans He has for us – “plans for good and not for disaster, to give a future and a hope.”(1) He has been at work all around us every day of our lives leading up to this very moment. He has been at work long before we ever knew it – and even before we knew Him! Every circumstance, every situation and every experience we have ever encountered has been authored or permitted by the Sovereign God to prepare us for this moment and for those ahead. Every unexpected twist and turn have been designed to prepare us for those unexpected twists and turns that we will encounter in the journey ahead.

Joshua had been Moses’ understudy for forty years. He had seen his mentor lead the people through the challenges of the wilderness – many of their own making, and some the result of the challenges of the wilderness itself. And on the eve of their entry into the Promised Land, as we see recorded in Joshua chapter 1,(2) God confirmed that now was the time for the mantle of leadership to be placed upon Joshua. And in so doing, God was giving him something even greater than all those years of preparation – God was giving him His charge – His calling – His commission.

Finish Strong

Finish Strong

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In his last letter, the apostle Paul told his protégé Timothy that he had fought the good fight. He had finished the race. He had kept the faith. He had completed what God had set before him. His life is an example to us to not stop short of the goal . . . to not give up . . . but to finish strong! 

Sadly, the Israelites demonstrated to us what it looks like when we give up and don’t finish strong. The LORD had led them to conquer the individual lands that He had given them to possess. And He said, “I have given you victory over the land.” But repeatedly throughout the first chapter of Judges we read, they “failed to drive out the people living” in the land. The tribe of Judah failed to drive out the people living in the plains who had iron chariots. The tribe of Benjamin failed to drive out the Jebusites. The tribes of Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher, and Naphtali failed to drive out the Canaanites. The tribe of Dan failed to drive out the Amorites. Each of the tribes stopped short of the direction the LORD had given them, and the long term result was catastrophic.

Why did they stop short?

The Goodness of God

The Goodness of God

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It is all too easy for us to lose sight of the grace, mercy and goodness God extends to us each and every day of our lives. We can so easily develop a mindset of entitlement. We can begin to think we deserve every good thing we have, as well as every good thing we don’t have. We can act as if God’s role is to serve us, instead of the other way around. We can easily forget that every good and perfect gift comes from Him.

One day, seventy years after God led the Israelites out of Egypt,  their leader, Joshua, assembled them for what would be his last time. He reminded them that seventy years earlier they had been the property of their Egyptian masters. They had possessed very little, if anything, that they could call their own. They had taken their direction from the Egyptian pharaoh, his government and their masters. Egypt had been built, fed and maintained through the strain of their backs and the sweat of their brow. The only act of service they were not permitted to perform was to serve in the Egyptian army, for fear by their masters that armed Israelites would turn against them.

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