SEARCHLIGHT

 SEPTEMBER 01, 2022 Exodus 33:11 11 The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent. Psalm 17:6 6 I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 17 pray continually, Luke 11:1-4 11 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” 2 He said to them, “When you pray, say: “‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’” Yesterday we talked about the importance of listening to story. For a story to have an impact on us it needs to be told and listened to. We all are aware that in any relationship, conversation is how we get to know one another

 AUGUST 31, 2022 John 1:1-4 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. Jeremiah 15:16 16 When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty. Isaiah 50:4 4 The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed. Psalm 119:105 105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:165 165 Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble. Recently I have had the wonderful blessing of meeting some new people. One of things I notice about developing new relationships is that one of the best ways to get to know the per

 AUGUST 30, 2022 Exodus 29:37-46 37 For seven days make atonement for the altar and consecrate it. Then the altar will be most holy, and whatever touches it will be holy. 38 “This is what you are to offer on the altar regularly each day: two lambs a year old. 39 Offer one in the morning and the other at twilight. 40 With the first lamb offer a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil from pressed olives, and a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering. 41 Sacrifice the other lamb at twilight with the same grain offering and its drink offering as in the morning—a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the Lord. 42 “For the generations to come this burnt offering is to be made regularly at the entrance to the tent of meeting, before the Lord. There I will meet you and speak to you; 43 there also I will meet with the Israelites, and the place will be consecrated by my glory. 44 “So I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar and will cons

 AUGUST 29, 2022 Genesis 1:1-5; 26-27 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said , “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. 26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,  and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. The best place to start anything is at the beginning! Genesis teaches us so much. It is not a workshop or special report on cre

 AUGUST 26, 2022 Ephesians 2:4-6 But God,   being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us…made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus… What we have been saying in our devotions this week is that Biblical Lament and speaking the words of lament in the context of what we believe from God’s Word, will help us to wrestle with challenging circumstances. Lament in the scriptures says to never deny the existence of a problem, or painful circumstance. What Biblical Lament does invite us to do, is to face those hard places with the truth about God’s character, what God has done, and what God promises to do. Deliberately putting the two words that our above reading starts with “But God” into our claims about what we know about God, will help us to stay focused on the truth and bring hope and triumph to the challenges we must face in life. In every struggle t

 AUGUST 25, 2022 Psalm 42:1-6 As the deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, “Where is your God?” These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I went with the throng, and led them in procession to the house of God, with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God. Lament is one way we bring our honest expression to God – expecting that he is big enough, good enough, loving enough to hear our cry – and respond. We believe that Jesus can do something with and about our suffering, for He was “a man of suffering and familiar with pain” (Is. 53:3) What we have been discovering is instead of hiding our pain or suffering o

  AUGUST 24, 2022 Psalm 10 1 Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? 2 In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises. 3 He boasts about the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord. 4 In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. 5 His ways are always prosperous; your laws are rejected by him; he sneers at all his enemies. 6 He says to himself, “Nothing will ever shake me.” He swears, “No one will ever do me harm.” 7 His mouth is full of lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue. 8 He lies in wait near the villages; from ambush he murders the innocent. His eyes watch in secret for his victims; 9 like a lion in cover he lies in wait. He lies in wait to catch the helpless; he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net. 10 His victims are crushed, t

 AUGUST 23, 2022 How did writing your own prayer of lament go? Psalm 12 For the director of music.  According to sheminith. A psal m of David. 1 Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore; those who are loyal have vanished from the human race. 2 Everyone lies to their neighbor; they flatter with their lips but harbor deception in their hearts. 3 May the Lord silence all flattering lips and every boastful tongue— 4 those who say, “By our tongues we will prevail; our own lips will defend us—who is lord over us?” 5 “Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the Lord. “I will protect them from those who malign them.” 6 And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times. 7 You, Lord, will keep the needy safe and will protect us forever from the wicked, 8 who freely strut about when what is vile is honored by the human race. To lament is to express deep sorrow, grief, or regret. There

 AUGUST 22, 2022   Above is a video of Psalm 22 from our Good Friday service in 2021 if you would like to listen to a reading of this Psalm.                                                                  Psalm 22 For the director of music. To the tune of “The Doe of the Morning.” A psalm of David. 1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? 2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest. 3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. 4 In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. 5 To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. 6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. 7 All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. 8 “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him del

 AUGUST 18, 2022 1 Thessalonians 2:8  We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s Good News but our own lives, too. Authentic relationships are built on love. When you love someone, you give. God loves us, and in His love, He gives. Acts 17 says that God “ he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. (Acts 17:25). Everything we have is a gift from Him. The breath you just took, the life you now have, the food you have eaten today (and will eat later), the roof over your head, the device you are using to read this devotional. It’s all a gift from above. James 1 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1:17). John the Baptist said, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven” (John 3:27). Everything we have is a gift from God. The most well-known verse in all of the Bible speaks of God’s loving generosity: “Fo

 AUGUST 18, 2022 Luke 5:30-32 30But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with such scum?” 31Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. 32I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.” 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 14Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. 15He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. Jesus first disciples were a diverse “motley” crew. They were not from the polite corners of society, and they were not Bible scholars. The crew included several fishermen, a tax collector, and an outspoken pessimist. They were ordinary, common people. They disagreed with each other often, but they were un

 AUGUST 16, 2022 Acts 17:25-27 25 He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. 26 From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries. 27 “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. John 4:35 35 You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe  for harvest. Where we live is no accident: Not according to God’s Word. Acts 17 says the God “ 25 He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. 26 From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.27 “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find

 AUGUST 15, 2022 Exodus 4:1-5 4 But Moses protested again, “What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The Lord never appeared to you’?” 2 Then the Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied. 3 “Throw it down on the ground,” the Lord told him . . So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back. 4 Then the Lord told him, “Reach out and grab its tail.” So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd’s staff in his hand. 5 “Perform this sign,” the Lord told him. “Then they will believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—really has appeared to you.” Exodus 14:16 16 Pick up your staff and raise your hand over the sea. Divide the water so the Israelites can walk through the middle of the sea on dry ground. 1 Samuel 17:40 40 He picked up five smooth stones from a stream and put them into his shepherd’s bag. Then, ar

 AUGUST 15, 2022 Matthew 11:19 The Son of Man, on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!’ But wisdom is shown to be right by its results.” Luke 7:34 The Son of Man, on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!’ John 3:17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. Matthew 11:28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Jesus is the ultimate friend that this world has ever known.  Jesus was called “a friend of sinners” (Matthew 11:19). The gospel of John tells us that “God did not send His Son in to the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:17). When people came to Jesus with all their burdens and sins, He didn’t shake a judgmental  finger at them;

 AUGUST 12, 2022 Matthew 5:9 God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.   John 8:1-11 Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, un

AUGUST 11, 2022 Micah 5:4-5 And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. 5 And he shall be their peace. “How was your vacation?”, I asked, wonderful but it ended to soon, they replied. They go to the same area each year to a cottage on a beautiful lake. It’s quiet, except for the occasional welcome call of a loon, and other wildlife, they talked about the scenery, the hikes, the trees, and the breeze, and the campfire. Sounds alright doesn’t it? They said this is our “two weeks” of Peace each year in an otherwise hectic life. I have been there, haven’t you? Vacation ends and you wish it was longer, its your break from a hectic life, your few days of peace is now over. I am so thankful for a beautiful creation that God has gifted us with. We can find these special places that restore our spirits, slow us down, and disconnect from