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

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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

Not Until They Came

Not Until They Came

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Have you ever done something because you knew you were supposed to do it, even though you didn’t really know why you were doing it? Or maybe you thought you were doing it for one reason, only to later discover that God obviously had a completely different reason in mind. If that’s the case, you’re in very good company!

Throughout His earthly ministry, there were a number of women who traveled with Jesus and His disciples. Some were members of His extended family or the families of His disciples, such as Salome (the mother of James and John, and the wife of Zebedee) and Mary (the mother of James the Less, and the wife of Clopas). Some of the women had been healed by Jesus, or were those from whom He had cast out evil spirits, including Mary Magdalene and Joanna (the wife of Chuza, the household manager of Herod Antipas). These, and many others, “were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and His disciples.” Mark lists Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James) and Salome as coming to the tomb the Sunday morning after Jesus was crucified.

Who is Greatest?

Who is Greatest?

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The age in which we live often prompts us to ask the question, “What’s in it for me?” We can, at times, find ourselves preoccupied with making sure that we are receiving our just rewards for our effort. We can even do so as it relates to our relationship with God. We can become preoccupied with the benefits of our salvation and disregard why He has saved us – His mission, His purpose and His glory. We can become preoccupied with the blessings we expect from Him and lose sight of the honor and worship that is due Him through our lives.

Sadly, we’re not the first ones to get our view of what it means to follow Jesus upside down. For example, Jesus had just washed His disciples’ feet. He had just declared that one of them was going to betray Him. And yet, the Gospel according to Luke tells us, all the disciples could seemingly think about was their position in the Kingdom.(1) This wasn’t the first time. It had occurred several times before.(2) Even the mother of James and John had asked the question to Jesus.(3) But no matter how many times Jesus answered them, they kept coming back to the same question.

Apart from Jesus

Apart from Jesus

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The events that unfolded that night in the upper room before Jesus’ arrest, as recorded in John’s Gospel, were not happening “to” Jesus.(1) The plan of redemption had been set in motion by the Father before the beginning of time. Jesus had always known what was going to occur. He knew when He called Judas Iscariot to follow Him as one of His disciples, that Judas would betray Him.

For there to be a cross, there needed to be an arrest. For there to be an arrest, there needed to be a betrayal. For there to be a betrayal, there needed to be a betrayer. But please do not misunderstand – Judas did not betray Jesus because God put it in his heart. Rather, Satan put it in his heart! But God knew Satan would do so … and He knew Judas would make that choice.

The Hour Will Come

The Hour Will Come

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God’s timing is perfect. It always has been and it always will be. He is eternal. He’s not constrained by such things as time or space. He created it all. Time is as much His creation as we are. He can turn it backward, as we see recorded in the days of the prophet Isaiah and King Hezekiah. And just as easily as He could have turned time forward, He can make it stand still, like He did on the day He gave the Israelites victory over the Amorites.

 

He does everything according to His own perfect timing. He chose to create heaven and earth, and all of its inhabitants within six days. He put the rotation of the earth, the sun and the moon in motion to create a day in time through each rotation. He determined that each orbit of the earth around the sun would equate to one year with four seasons. He created time, as He did all of His creation, for His purpose and to bring Him glory. And nothing and no one can frustrate His plan, His purpose, or His timing.

Revival Over Capacity

Revival Over Capacity

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

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i came across this picture earlier today on the internet. Regrettably i don’t know who took the picture, so i am unable to acknowledge them as the source. But i do know that it was a traffic sign placed by state troopers on a highway outside of Wilmore, Kentucky. Safety concerns have developed regarding the town of Wilmore, with its population of 6,000 people. It’s the home to Asbury University and Seminary.

You are probably aware that something has been taking place for the past couple weeks on this campus of 1,600 students. Some would call it a revival; others would call it an awakening. i’ll leave it to the theologians to decide what to call it. (However, for the purpose of this post, i’ll use the term “revival” since that is the way it has been publicly referenced.) What i do know is that on February 8th young men and women began to sense the Spirit of God moving in their hearts. Dr. Kevin Brown, the president of the university has said, “We are experiencing an historic moment at Asbury University. Since our regularly scheduled chapel service on February 8, there have been countless expressions and demonstrations of radical humility, compassion, confession, consecration, and surrender unto God.”

What If?

What If?

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By all appearances they were faithful men. They were two of Moses’ most trusted leaders. Aaron was his brother. Hur was his brother-in-law. These were the two who had lifted up Moses’ arms that day on the hill overlooking Rephidim – the day the Amalekites were defeated. These two were probably the closest of Moses’ inner circle. If anyone had seen the hand of God moving on behalf of His people throughout the exodus from Egypt and the journey through the wilderness, it was these men. Aaron had been designated by God Himself to be Moses’ spokesperson to the people. Both men had been near Moses’ side at every critical juncture in the journey thus far.

This was their opportunity to shine.

A Journey on the Damascus Road

A Journey on the Damascus Road

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A religious zealot by the name of Saul set out on a journey that day. It was a journey of his own choosing. He was on a mission – his own mission. No one had told him to go. He had to solicit letters of endorsement to provide to the synagogues in Damascus so that he could obtain their cooperation. No one gave him those letters. He had to solicit them.

There are two possible reasons for his actions. One possibility is that he had become so caught up in the rhetoric of the religious leaders that he truly had developed a deep-seated hatred for these followers of Jesus. He had guarded the cloaks while the others had stoned Stephen. Since that day he had begun to make a name for himself as a persecutor of Christ followers there in Jerusalem. He had become a part of the threat that prompted the believers to scatter. As he saw it, the believers were a threat to the very fiber of the established religious community, and he saw this as a holy war to eliminate their influence. As such, he was willing to go fight battles that even the religious leaders themselves had no interest in fighting. They were content to be rid of the many believers who had fled from Jerusalem; Saul, however, was not.

The Lesson of the Fig Tree

The Lesson of the Fig Tree

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It was the day after Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. He knew that in four days He would be nailed to a cross. There was much He wanted to teach His disciples in those remaining days – and there is much He wants to teach us through them.

He and His disciples had more than likely been lodging with Lazarus, Martha and Mary in Bethany the night before. On that Monday morning they were headed to the temple in Jerusalem. En route, Jesus was hungry. Apparently, Martha hadn’t fed them breakfast that morning. Or more likely, He had forgone breakfast to spend time with the Father in prayer. He saw a fig tree beside the road and it was in “full leaf”. Both Matthew and Mark in their Gospels tell us that Jesus “went over to see if He could find any figs.”

Let’s stop and consider that for a moment.

Take It From The Fish

Take It From The Fish

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Have you ever noticed that God works in ways that we rarely expect? It’s His way of reminding us that His ways are not our ways … and His thoughts are not our thoughts. Are you walking through a circumstance in your life today where you are trusting God for an answer? Perhaps you are expecting Him to answer in a certain way … or perhaps you have no idea. Regardless, trust Him to answer in His perfect way … no matter how unexpected it might be. Just ask the fish!

It is not surprising that Matthew, the tax collector, is the only Gospel writer that records this conversation and miracle.

It Was By Faith

It Was By Faith

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It was by faith! Those are four powerful words. Apart from those four words, Noah would have perished with everyone else when the flood waters came.(1) Abram would have been a wealthy landowner who none of us would have ever heard of, living in an obscure village none of us would have ever known.(2) Moses would have lived out his life as the spoiled adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter, surrounded by Israelite slaves.(3) And a woman named Rahab would have lived out her days as a prostitute until her days were abruptly cut short.(4) As a matter of fact, without faith, she would have died in obscurity just like all the rest of the people who were living in Jericho when the walls “came crashing down.”(5)

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