Look to the Star https://looktothestar.org/ More joy than guilt! Mon, 18 Mar 2024 19:15:47 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://looktothestar.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2018/07/logoplain-about-450-by-450-150x150.jpg Look to the Star https://looktothestar.org/ 32 32 By His Wounds We Are Healed – The Great High Priest https://looktothestar.org/2024/03/by-his-wounds-we-are-healed-the-great-high-priest/ Mon, 18 Mar 2024 19:15:26 +0000 https://looktothestar.org/?p=16815 By His Wounds We Are Healed - The Great High Priest is the final in our series on the passion of our Lord Jesus.  In the final video we watched Jesus die. 

The post By His Wounds We Are Healed – The Great High Priest appeared first on Look to the Star.

]]>
By His Wounds We Are Healed – The Great High Priest is the final in our series on the passion of our Lord Jesus.  In the final video we watched Jesus die.  The gravity of that event is enormous.  It wasn’t just Jesus the man on that cross.  That was God who died, not for his own sins, but for the sins of the whole world.  Consider what that meant.  Let’s say that I was born sinless and made it all the way through life being sinless.  I was crucified – never once harboring a sinful thought.  My death – tragic as it would have been – would not have meant anything aside from the fact that I was sinless.

When God died after living a sinless life, his death impacted the whole human race.  When God died, everyone who trusted in him died too!  What is more important is that when Jesus rose from the dead – the proof that his sacrifice was enough – we rise with Christ too!

The second lesson appointed for the fifth Sunday in Lent is taken from Hebrews 5.  It is there that we find Jesus our Great High Priest offering himself for the sins of the world.  There is nothing left for us to do.  We don’t need a priest to approach God.  God and I are not just speaking terms, the best terms imaginable!  God has made me his heir!  One way that God expressed that freedom was ripping the curtain in the temple in two.  There was no separation between God and man any longer.

This was big news because there was pressure in the early days of Christianity to abandon the faith.  The book of Hebrews teaches us that Jesus was great than the angels, greater than Moses, greater than just about everything!

Want to hear more?  Watch this week’s Bible study from our series By His Wounds We Are Healed – The Great High Priest.

Please click HERE for the Bible class slides.

The post By His Wounds We Are Healed – The Great High Priest appeared first on Look to the Star.

]]>
By His Wounds We Are Healed – Look to Jesus https://looktothestar.org/2024/03/by-his-wounds-we-are-healed-look-to-jesus/ Sun, 10 Mar 2024 22:15:39 +0000 https://looktothestar.org/?p=16483 By His Wounds We Are Healed - Look to Jesus is the 4th study in our series on the readings in Lent.  We start off each of these lessons with a look at the passion accounts.

The post By His Wounds We Are Healed – Look to Jesus appeared first on Look to the Star.

]]>
By His Wounds We Are Healed – Look to Jesus is the 4th study in our series on the readings in Lent.  We start off each of these lessons with a look at the passion accounts.  We are walking through the Visual Gospel according to Matthew this year.  There are five videos and the 4th is the most graphic.  Jesus gets flogged and crucified.  There is no way to sugar coat the violence of an ancient execution.  In all of the violence and horror of the scene – Jesus never sins.  He didn’t lash out in a rage – he asks for forgiveness of those who were acting in ignorance.  He didn’t call down a legion of angels to slaughter the lot of them – he watched as his followers abandoned him, all but one.  The Apostle John was there with women who wept as he died.

In our study of the lessons appointed for the 4th Sunday in Lent we went back to to the wilderness wanderings of God’s people.  Little Johnny asks his mom why they keep on wandering in circles.  All mom can do is reply that God is waiting for all of the Israelites to died who doubted that God would give them the Promised Land.  Only Joshua and Caleb trusted God’s promise.  From that generation, only Joshua and Caleb would enter the land of Canaan.  As they wandered, it was a soap opera of sin and consequences.  In Numbers 21 we find the Israelites complaining about the food.  This was a bad idea.  God sends snakes into the camp that bite the people.  Many die.  God provides a cure for the venom.  Look to the snake on the cross.  In the same way Jesus connects the dots for us in John 3.  Look to Jesus and live!  Jesus is the cure for our sin.

Want to hear more?  Watch this week’s Bible study from our series By His Wounds We Are Healed – Look to Jesus.

Please click HERE for the Bible class slides.

The post By His Wounds We Are Healed – Look to Jesus appeared first on Look to the Star.

]]>
By His Wounds We Are Healed – Zeal for Worship https://looktothestar.org/2024/03/by-his-wounds-we-are-healed-zeal-for-worship/ Mon, 04 Mar 2024 20:06:37 +0000 https://looktothestar.org/?p=16465 By His Wounds We Are Healed - Zeal for Worship brings us into the temple courtyard with Jesus.  What would it take to get Jesus SO riled up?!  It's not the money - per se - it was the abuse of the worship of God's people just to make money.

The post By His Wounds We Are Healed – Zeal for Worship appeared first on Look to the Star.

]]>
By His Wounds We Are Healed – Zeal for Worship brings us into the temple courtyard with Jesus.  What would it take to get Jesus SO riled up?!  It’s not the money – per se – it was the abuse of the worship of God’s people just to make money.

I wanted to reference the stats I shared on Sunday.  HERE are the stats on churches and giving.  And HERE are the stats on soda consumption – it’s not really all that much money for the church, is it?

Jesus throwing around tables in the temple might seem surprising.  I wonder if people have this cute picture of Jesus petting bunnies and plucking flowers as he dances all the way to Jerusalem to be betrayed into the hands of sinners?  Jesus isn’t a “nice guy” in the sense that he won’t do anything “mean”.  God is harsh.  The kids would say – he’s not playing.  Do not be deceived God cannot be mocked!  Maybe I’ll commission an artist someday to make a painting of Jesus flipping over a table.

But what’s the big deal – you say – it’s just a little money.  Before we go there, why did the Jewish authorities let him? They didn’t call him out – “Stop it, Psycho!” They simply asked for a sign?!  Did they know what they were doing was wrong?

Finally what is the temptation for us?  Part of the answer with that would go into why Jesus was so angry and started table flipping.  The story of fluffy is a hard one to hear, but it was a beautiful picture of worship.  The family lamb (think like family dog) ate peas from the table, watched survivor with the kids, and ran in the yard.  Fluffy – we’ll call him – was part of the family.  Every year the average Jewish family would make the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem with Fluffy.  Take him to the priests who would NOT slit his throat, drain his blood, and offer him as a sacrifice.  They would REJECT fluffy (who was perfectly fine) so that they could force God’s people to purchase a “good” sacrifice from a merchant on hand.  They turned the worship of God’s people into a business.  It was despicable.

There aren’t direct parallels today.  Can you think of any ways we abuse the worship of our God?  Maybe it’s not greed.  Want to hear more?  Watch this week’s Bible study from our series By His Wounds We Are Healed – Zeal for Worship.

Please click HERE for the Bible class slides.

The post By His Wounds We Are Healed – Zeal for Worship appeared first on Look to the Star.

]]>
By His Wounds We Are Healed – Job Loses Everything https://looktothestar.org/2024/02/by-his-wounds-we-are-healed-job-loses-everything/ Mon, 26 Feb 2024 02:08:58 +0000 https://looktothestar.org/?p=16452 By His Wounds We Are Healed - Job Loses Everything is the second in our Lent Bible study series. Job 1 is some of the most terrifying verses in the Bible. 

The post By His Wounds We Are Healed – Job Loses Everything appeared first on Look to the Star.

]]>
By His Wounds We Are Healed – Job Loses Everything is the second in our Lent Bible study series.  We are looking at the passions accounts viewed from the Gospel of Matthew and the lessons from the Sundays in Lent.

Job 1 is some of the most terrifying verses in the Bible.  Satan is cruising around and swings into heaven to talk with God.  God SUGGESTS Job to Satan.  WHY would he do that?!  I’m sure if Job was there he would object!  This is where we need to remember that our heavenly Father will only allow trials into our lives that we strengthen us.  This whole Sunday – the second Sunday in Lent – happens under the banner of cross bearing.  God tells us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him.

Let’s take the example of the flu.  You’re sick!  You feel like crud.  This is a trial.  You wonder – does God like me anymore?  Why would he allow this to happen to me?

As soon as a trial moves you to question God’s love, we are at cross bearing.  The solution to this situation is threefold.

  1. God can remove the cross from our lives.  This happens – I’m going to say – most of the time.  Temptations come and go as do sicknesses.  Troubles in relationships?  You’re not alone!  When you get the flu – say a prayer thanking God for the flu, he gave it to you to be a blessing.  And then ask him to take it away pronto because it’s miserable!  Most of the time he hears your prayer and rescues you.
  2. God can give us the strength to bear up under the cross.  This is chronic trials.  Addiction, migraines, consequences from abuse and other severe relationship issues.  These won’t go away any time soon.  God has not abandoned you!  He will not give you more than you can handle.
  3. God can remove us from the cross.  Best case scenario is a Christian who has lived a long full life and is now ready to be done with a battle with cancer.  Lord, come quickly and take your servant home.  The struggle with this one is when God acts – in what we think – at a time that seems wrong.  Harrison Vaugh was 24 years old when he died last week.  We rejoice in the victory that Harrison won in Jesus and we mourn with his family and friends who miss him dearly.

Want to hear more?  Watch this week’s Bible study from our series By His Wounds We Are Healed – Job Loses Everything.

HERE is sermon on Job from 2018.

Please click HERE for the Bible class slides.

 

The post By His Wounds We Are Healed – Job Loses Everything appeared first on Look to the Star.

]]>
By His Wounds We Are Healed – The Sacrifice of Isaac https://looktothestar.org/2024/02/by-his-wounds-we-are-healed-the-sacrifice-of-isaac/ Mon, 19 Feb 2024 01:33:19 +0000 https://looktothestar.org/?p=16439 By His Wounds We Are Healed - The Sacrifice of Isaac is the first lesson in our Lent Bible study series.  There is a lot of ground to cover in Lent.  We will be watching and preaching on the Passion Readings this season. 

The post By His Wounds We Are Healed – The Sacrifice of Isaac appeared first on Look to the Star.

]]>
By His Wounds We Are Healed – The Sacrifice of Isaac is the first lesson in our Lent Bible study series.  There is a lot of ground to cover in Lent.  We will be watching and preaching on the Passion Readings this season.  That means the lessons appointed for each Sunday won’t get much attention.  That is, of course, unless we look at the lessons in the Bible study following worship.  Each week we’ll talk about the Passion Readings viewed by the congregation and then take a look at one of the lessons!

Since we’ve been spending time looking angels and demons we actually considered the Temptation of Christ about a month ago.  So we’ll so on a hike with Abraham and Isaac.

Abram was a name that meant exalted father in Hebrew.  That all changed when God made a promise to Abram that he would be the father of many nations.  There was just one problem with that promise – Abram didn’t have any kids.  Abram and his wife Sarai were past the age of child bearing.  That is no problem for the Lord Almighty who promised that the child would be born to the elderly couple AND HE WAS!  Happy day!  Isaac was born!  God was keeping his promise of not only having kids, but his promise of sending a Savior.  God keeps his promises.

The temptation to Abraham was to shift Isaac into the position of 1st importance in life.  Yes, Isaac could have become an idol.  That doesn’t mean Abraham would’ve bowed down and worshipped his son, but ANYTHING or, in this case, ANYONE can become more important that God.  We still see this today when parents make poor choices regarding their children.  The truth is that children are on loan to parents from God and at any time God can ask for them back early.  This is a heartbreaking thought.  That is exactly what God asked of Abraham.

Want to hear more?  Watch this week’s Bible study from our series By His Wounds We Are Healed – The Sacrifice of Isaac.

Please click HERE for the Bible class slides.

The post By His Wounds We Are Healed – The Sacrifice of Isaac appeared first on Look to the Star.

]]>
Angels and Demons 5 – The Occult https://looktothestar.org/2024/02/angels-and-demons-5-the-occult/ Mon, 12 Feb 2024 14:43:24 +0000 https://looktothestar.org/?p=16398 Angels and Demons 5 - The Occult is the look into the devil's playground. Playgrounds seem like a fun place to play. By definition they should be safe, but if you wander into the devil's playground, all you will find are lies and danger. 

The post Angels and Demons 5 – The Occult appeared first on Look to the Star.

]]>
Angels and Demons 5 – The Occult is the look into the devil’s playground. Playgrounds seem like a fun place to play. By definition they should be safe, but if you wander into the devil’s playground, all you will find are lies and danger.

The Occult is a wide topic that touches on movies, music, and increasingly video games.  BUT the area that I see as most dangerous is divination.  Seeking to find out what the future will be might seem harmless enough but there are a few problems.

For starters, God doesn’t want us to know what the future holds.  He call on us to trust him.  He is in control of all things.  He doesn’t do this to rob our lives of fun, but to lead us to fully rely on him.  That said, God does know the future.  Our God knows all things!  He has planned out the future for our good.

If we decide that we want to know the future because we either don’t know God or we don’t trust God, that has a few unintended consequences.  For starters, let’s just say you could know the future.  Would you want to?  How does that change how you live.  Would you want to know the day that you would die?  …the day that your spouse would die?  Would that radically change how you live?  Would you be reckless or lazy?  This doesn’t lead us to a good place.  Our life and times are safely laid out by our loving God.

Finally the next problem with divination, or knowing the future is that you can’t figure it out on your own.  So you either need to go to God’s word – he does tell us the future.  1) The world will end.  2) There will be a judgment.  3) If you’re a Christian, you go to heaven!  Easy!  We do not know what the future holds for day-to-day details and events.

If you wanted to find out the day-to-day details (will I get the promotion, will my favorite team win the big game, what will happen with the stock market, etc.) you need to go somewhere other than Scriptures.  The only place you can go is the devil’s playground.  No danger; no fun! (Am I right?!)

WRONG.  This isn’t harmless fun.  This playing with matches 10x.  For starters the devil lies!  Would you want to base your life on a lie?!  I know people do all the time.  For some people believing the lie is easier than dealing with reality.  The devil is evil and only wants to see people suffer.

Want to hear more?  Watch this week’s study – the final in our series on the Angels and Demons 5 – The Occult.

Please click HERE for the Bible class slides.

The post Angels and Demons 5 – The Occult appeared first on Look to the Star.

]]>
Angels and Demons 4 – The Fall https://looktothestar.org/2024/02/angels-and-demons-4-the-fall/ Mon, 05 Feb 2024 21:17:11 +0000 https://looktothestar.org/?p=16387 Angels and Demons 4 - The Fall starts a dark look at the spirit world.  There are evil angels.  They rebelled against God.

The post Angels and Demons 4 – The Fall appeared first on Look to the Star.

]]>
Angels and Demons 4 – The Fall starts a dark look at the spirit world.  There are evil angels.  They rebelled against God.  There wasn’t time to go through everything on Sunday on this topic, so we’ll give you a little more information.

How did Satan fall, or why did Satan fall from grace?  This angel was created to be perfect, after all…  this passage from Isaiah 14 gives us a commentary on the topic.  This passage seems to be talking about the king of Tyre, but the description also could be talking about Satan.  All of the passages speak of 1) pride and 2) rebellion.  Satan thought too much of himself and rebelled against God.

We wonder how many demons there are.  Jesus meets an angel named legion because there were many demons in the person.  This passage from Revelation helps.  It doesn’t give us a concrete number, but it does give us a percentage of 1/3 being swept away in the fall of the evil angels.

How powerful are evil angels? They can do miracles and wonders.  This passage from Exodus reminds us that magic doesn’t just come from… Pharaoh.  There are two sources of supernatural power in world – God and the devil.  The devil doesn’t go punch for punch in Exodus.  His power is limited.

There are a number of names for demons and the devil.  Often these names are descriptions of who angels are and what they do.

Satan = Enemy, Accuser

Devil = Liar, slanderer

Abaddon (Hebrew) = The Destroyer

Apollyon (Greek) = The Destroyer

Beelzebub = Lord of the Flies

Belial (Hebrew) = Worthlessness

There are other names for the devil that speak for themselves…

Murderer, Red dragon, the ancient serpent, prince of this world, ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is at work in those who are disobedient, the evil one, the tempter, roaring lion, the god of this age.

Want to hear more?  Watch this week’s study – the final in our series on the Angels and Demons 4 – The Fall.

Please click HERE for the Bible class slides.

The post Angels and Demons 4 – The Fall appeared first on Look to the Star.

]]>
Angels and Demons 3 – The Angel of the Lord https://looktothestar.org/2024/01/angels-and-demons-3-the-angel-of-the-lord/ Mon, 22 Jan 2024 16:19:39 +0000 https://looktothestar.org/?p=16338 Angels and Demons 3 - The Angel of the Lord is the third installment in our study of these heavenly beings.  One of the more confusing pieces to this puzzle is the concept of the Angel of the Lord.

The post Angels and Demons 3 – The Angel of the Lord appeared first on Look to the Star.

]]>
Angels and Demons 3 – The Angel of the Lord is the third installment in our study of these heavenly beings.  One of the more confusing pieces to this puzzle is the concept of the Angel of the Lord.  This phrase occurs all over the Bible – Old and New Testaments.  Figuring out if the Angel of the Lord is an Angel or The Lord isn’t as hard as it first seems.

When an angel appears to a mere mortal normally the human becomes afraid and falls to the ground.  This is natural anytime a sinful person stands in the presence of someone holy.  The angel will ALWAYS say, “GET UP!  Do I look like God?! (Ok, maybe.) But I’m NOT God.  You don’t get to worship me.”  If this is God talking and the person falls to the ground, God tells him or her to stay there.  “Take off your shoes – the ground is holy too because I’m here.”  Angels don’t accept sacrifices.  We don’t pray to angels.  The writer to the Hebrews says it well – Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

Another way you can tell if this is an angel or The Lord is to listen to what is said.  Often times, God will say, “I’m God.”  The angel will say, “I’m Gabriel.”

Finally if there is a case that we aren’t sure about sometimes if we keep reading, God will let us know the answer.  There are parallel accounts of some portions of Scripture that help us out in a few different way.  This topic – The Angel of the Lord – is one of them.

Want to hear more?  Watch this week’s study – the final in our series on the Angels and Demons 3 – The Angel of the Lord.

Please click HERE for the Bible class slides.

The post Angels and Demons 3 – The Angel of the Lord appeared first on Look to the Star.

]]>
Angels and Demons 2 – Ministry https://looktothestar.org/2024/01/angels-and-demons-2-ministry/ Mon, 15 Jan 2024 20:57:03 +0000 https://looktothestar.org/?p=16313 Angels and Demons 2 - Ministry is our second look into the spirit world using God's word as our guide.  What exactly do angels do all day long?  They look after us. 

The post Angels and Demons 2 – Ministry appeared first on Look to the Star.

]]>
Angels and Demons 2 – Ministry is our second look into the spirit world using God’s word as our guide.  What exactly do angels do all day long?  They look after us.  Primarily we see them delivering messages from God.  In fact the Greek word for angel means messenger.   We have a few prominent examples at the start of the New Testament, but there are plenty of other places in the Bible where angels are active bringing messages to God’s people.

What’s interesting is that God did NOT give the job of carrying the important message of the Gospel to the world.  They long to look into that work.  That evangelism is left to us – God’s church!  In this work angels still help.  The book of Acts has a few examples of angels breaking Apostles out of prison, giving directions to missionaries, and rubbing out godless kings who would get in the way.  Angels are plenty powerful.

No one argues that angels are a great reason to praise God, but are they worthy of our praise?  Should we worship and pray to them?  The answer is a resounding no.  Anytime any angel shows up on the pages of history, people recognize this as a holy, heavenly being and they drop to the ground.  The first thing the angel says to the prostrate person is – GET UP!  What are you doing?!  I am not God.  We have a negative example of Satan actually trying to get Jesus to worship him and Jesus could just tell him off, but as he lived in our place he used Scripture!  Jesus never gave into temptation.  That doesn’t mean the temptations weren’t real.  God tells us, Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.

Want to hear more?  Watch this week’s study – the final in our series on the Angels and Demons 2 – Ministry.

Please click HERE for the Bible class slides.

The post Angels and Demons 2 – Ministry appeared first on Look to the Star.

]]>
Angels and Demons 1 – Creation https://looktothestar.org/2024/01/angels-and-demons-1-creation/ Sun, 07 Jan 2024 20:23:01 +0000 https://looktothestar.org/?p=16284 Angels and Demons 1 - Creation begins a new Bible class series on angels for the New Year.  There are plenty of questions on the topic of angels.  We won't answer all of them in this first lesson, but we will talk about their creation.

The post Angels and Demons 1 – Creation appeared first on Look to the Star.

]]>
Angels and Demons 1 – Creation begins a new Bible class series on angels for the New Year.  Can angels get married?  Are they eternal?  Should God be worries if they all gang up on him?  There are plenty of questions on the topic of angels.  We won’t answer all of them in this first lesson, but we will talk about their creation.

The word eternal can be a little confusing for some.  It’s true that God created everything, including angels (including mankind) to live forever.  The fall into sin changed all of that, of course.  Just because something will live forever doesn’t mean that it’s eternal.  The word eternal means that something or someone doesn’t have a beginning and it doesn’t have an end.  If the angels were created – and Colossians 1 includes them in a blanket list  of everything being created – then angels had a beginning.  And if angels had a beginning, then they can’t be eternal.

While we’re on the topic of creation, when – as in what day of creation – were the angels created?  That’s a harder question.  They aren’t listed in Genesis 1, but we do have a few other clues on the topic.  When God is speaking to Job out of a thunderhead, he asks Job a series of questions.  The point of the questions is to remind Job that God is God – Job isn’t.   So Job, “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”  This doesn’t answer the question as to the day of creation, but it does make it sound like it was early in the process.

Want to hear more?  Watch this week’s study – the final in our series on the Angels and Demons 1 – Creation.

Please click HERE for the Bible class slides.

 

The post Angels and Demons 1 – Creation appeared first on Look to the Star.

]]>