Ken Winter
Advent – We Three Kings (Balthazar’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 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

The Promised Land

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.

A Lesson in Unbelief

A Lesson in Unbelief

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

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They were God’s people. They were the people whom He had delivered from the bondage of Egypt so that through them, He might reveal His Name and glory to the nations. These were the people with whom God had made the covenant: “If you will obey Me and keep My covenant, you will be My own special treasure from among all the nations of the earth; for all the earth belongs to Me. And you will be to Me a kingdom of priests, My holy nation.”

Yet, time and again since leaving Egypt, the people had forgotten, doubted, or outright rejected God’s promise. Now, standing on the edge of the land God had promised them, they had heard the report that it was indeed a land flowing with milk and honey—everything God had said it would be.  He had led them all the way; the end of their journey was in sight.

When Strength Becomes a Stumbling Block

When Strength Becomes a Stumbling Block

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

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During my years as an associate pastor, i was blessed to serve alongside many gifted servants of God. i witnessed how the Lord uniquely prepared each individual for their respective assignments and called them to their positions of service at just the right time. i saw the remarkable way their complementary strengths and gifts came together under God’s leadership.

However, there is a potential weakness among even the most outstanding members that must be safeguarded against. An exceptionally talented group may be tempted to rely on their own strengths and abilities, attempting to do God’s work in their own way. This group might confidently advance based on human wisdom while neglecting to seek the Lord.

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.

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….

Finish Strong

Finish Strong

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

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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?

He’s Never Gonna Let Us Down

He’s Never Gonna Let Us Down

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

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We live in stormy times. Our world can be a very distressing place. We can easily become overwhelmed or defeated. Our news feeds are filled with reports of the ravages of disease, the havoc of disasters, and the inhumanity and incivility of man. Within a matter of moments, our lives can be upended into a cascading turmoil by sudden loss, distressing news, or tragic circumstances.

Where are we to turn? Our God has promised to never leave us nor forsake us . . . no matter what we face. He will never abandon us. He will never fail to keep His promises. He’s never gonna let us down!

We read in the book of Joshua, “Not a single one of all the good promises the LORD had given to the family of Israel was left unfulfilled; everything He had spoken came true.”

Possessing His Promise

Possessing His Promise

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

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If i was to ask you, “Does God keep His promises?” – i will venture that you and i would both say, “Yes!” We would point to promises He has given us, and the way we have seen those promises fulfilled. We would point to the many promises He has made throughout His Word, and the many examples of His faithfulness evidenced in His Word. Most notably, we would point to Jesus – who came in fulfillment of His promise – and who has promised to come again!

But allow me to ask a different question: “Are you currently in a place that you are waiting on God to fulfill a specific promise He has given you? And, if so, have you been waiting for a long time … and is the end nowhere in sight?”

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