At the end of chapter 13 of Numbers we see Caleb, who was one of the spies, stand up and say “let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” However, some of the other spies spoke up and told the people of Israel that they could not overcome it. Of all the spies who entered the land, only Caleb and Joshua said they could do it, the rest (10 of them) said they couldn’t.

The people of Israel were so upset from what the 10 spies said that they began to grumble and even suggest returning to Egypt…the place where they were enslaved and had just come out of. Moses, Aaron, Caleb, and Joshua begged the people to reconsider, reminding that God can accomplish anything so do not fear what you see in the land. They even begged the people to not rebel against God.

Unfortunately, as you continue to read the story of the history of Israel, we see that they went with the report from the 10 spies instead of the report from the Caleb and Joshua. And the Israelites ended up wandering around in the wilderness for 40 years.

Because of the fear of what they didn’t know and looked too hard to deal with, the Israelites chose to listen to the bad report of the 10 spies and rebel against God…they chose to trust in the words of a few men rather than God.

What about us? What are we afraid of because we don’t know/understand it, or we think it would be too hard to deal with? Where are we choosing to listen and trust in the words of men rather than God?

If we claim to be followers of God, then doesn’t that mean that we should follow Him wherever He leads us? To be unwilling to go somewhere or do something He wants us because of the unknown or potential for hardships, then at that moment we aren’t actually following God.

The big question in my mind when I think of this idea of not following God where He leads is “What will I miss out on”? The Israelites chose to not follow God into the Promised Land and they spent 40 years wandering around the wilderness. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to wander around aimlessly for a good chunk of my life because I am afraid to follow God and go where he leads.

When God is leading then we as His followers need to listen and follow, even if the place He is leading will be very difficult and full of unknowns. Better to face the unknown and go through something difficult while following God than to not listen to God and run the other direction, missing out on what God has planned and in store.

Don’t fear, but rather trust God’s leading. Listen to and follow God, because those who claim they are following God are to follow Him wherever he leads.

Pastor Woogy

In youth group this past weekend we talked about God’s forgiveness and salvation. As a way to demonstrate this I copied what happened in Mark 15:38 by having a sheet held up between me and the students while I was talking. As I talked about what Jesus did for us on the cross and then read that verse, I ripped the sheet down the middle so that it was no longer between me and the students. A simple demonstration that reminds us of a HUGE truth…when Jesus died he forgave us by completely removing the barrier that was between us and God, our own sin.

1 Peter 3:18 says that when Jesus died for our sins, he died for them “once for all”. In Hebrews chapter 10 it speaks of the priests who would have to continually make sacrifices for sin, but when Jesus became our sacrifice our sins were forgiven “once for all”. When Jesus died to take the punishment for our sins, He removed all of our sins that had come between us and God, making it possible once again to have a relationship with God because our sin no longer got in the way.

Too often, however, we act as though when we first accept Jesus as our savior He forgives our sin…but then later on when we sin, that barrier is put back up again between us and God. If that barrier goes up again each time we sin, then Jesus didn’t die for ALL of our sins, just the ones we committed in the past. And if that is the case, then Jesus would need to continually die again over and over so that our new and future sins can be forgiven as well. But in Hebrews chapter 10 it says that Jesus doesn’t have to do that because Jesus “offered one sacrifice for all sins for all time”. Past, present, and future sins were all forgiven and removed when Jesus died.

And not only were they forgiven and removed, He never brings them back again…they are completely forgiven and removed FOREVER. Psalm 103:12 tells us that God removes our sin from us “as far as the east is from the west.” They are gone, never held against us or put up as a barrier between us and God ever again.

Jesus died for our sins so that we could be restored to God, restored from our sinful state to having a relationship with God. Being restored is a main part of the Gospel; in fact the two cannot be separated at any point. This is no certain sin that God didn’t forgive and restore us from; his forgiveness is an ALL INCLUDED kind of forgiveness.

And since he died for all our sins for all time, then we are always restored to Him even when we do commit a sin in the future. Does that mean we don’t have to ask for forgiveness for that sin? Of course not. What it means is that it doesn’t change the fact that we are restored to God and in relationship with Him…it means that we have to apologize for what we’ve done in order to keep our relationship with Him strong on our end, because in all honesty we have a tendency to stray from Him.

Think of a marriage. Just because I do something that is wrong to my wife, that doesn’t mean we suddenly aren’t married anymore, it just means we have a strain in the relationship that needs to be repaired. And it is repaired by me going to her and apologizing for what I did wrong. It’s the same with our relationship with God; it doesn’t stop because of sin, we just need to apologize for what we did wrong so that our relationship can stay strong.

If we believe that there are certain sins that God doesn’t forgive completely or restore us from, then we don’t believe in biblical forgiveness. If we think the barrier that existed between us and God gets put back up every time we sin, we don’t understand the depth of God’s salvation. Either God forgave us completely or He didn’t…we can’t pick and choose what is forgiven and what isn’t.

May we understand the completeness and depth of God’s forgiveness and salvation, helping us to truly live in the freedom God wants to give us (Galatians 5:1). May we not only accept God’s forgiveness and salvation for ourselves, but also pass it on to others because that is what God commands us to do (Ephesians 4:32). May our churches be filled with God’s forgiveness and salvation!

Pastor Woogy

20^th ANNUAL LADIES DAY APART

APRIL 13 OR 14, 2012

with

KAREN KINGSBURY

This is a ONE day event held on two consecutive days.

Brochures are in the mail as of January 20th!  Please allow some time to reach you, because they were bulk mailed.  You may also download the brochure by clicking this. If you need additional brochures or have questions regarding this event, please call Linda at 603-437-5652.

Karen will be sharing in three one hour sessions and there will be a wonderful time of praise and worship.  Her books will be available for sale!!  We know this will be a “SOLD OUT” event once again, so PLEASE  register early!