December 18, 2016 - The Shepherds Christmas

 TONY & MICHELLE PAWLAK

MEMORY VERSE

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 

John 3:16

  

It's Christmas time again and who better to learn about Christmas from than someone who was there? That is why this week I decided to teach about Christmas from the perspective of one of the Shepherds. (Some creative license was taken.)  Enjoy.

Hello, my name is Tobias and I am a Shepherd just outside the city of Bethlehem.  Please excuse me while I sit down, my back is a bit sore.  Last night is was my turn to guard the sheep gate.  You see, we don't have gates on hinges like

you would imagine, we ARE the gate.  We sleep in the gate opening and that way, when a sheep tries to escape, they kick us, it hurts, we wake up, it's not fun but (shrug) it works.  The life of a shepherd is not an easy one. 

Well, I didn't get much sleep last night.  I was sound asleep when I was awakened by a light as bright as the noon day sun.  I shielded my eyes and shout, "Hey! Who turned on the

lights?"  Then I remembered it was two thousand years ago and there were no lights.  I looked up and there before me stood an angel! "Do not be afraid." he said and I'm glad he did because I was terrified.  It's not every day you see a glowing man walking around a sheep pasture.  In fact, most people don't like to be around us shepherds.  You see, when you spend days at a time with stinky sheep, you start to smell like stinky sheep.  That doesn't make us the most popular people is Israel.  

The angel went on to say,  "I bring you good news that will cause great joy to all people.  Today in the city of David (which everyone knows is Bethlehem) A savior has been

born who is Christ the Lord!"  We couldn't believe what we were hearing.  This angel of God has actually come to a bunch of stinky shepherds  to announce the birth of the Christ that we have been waiting for centuries to arrive?  And in the little town of Bethlehem no less!  This seemed to incredible to be believed.   As if the angel knew what we were thinking he went on to say, "This is how you will know what I am saying is true.  You will find the baby laying in a manger wrapped in  swaddling clothes."

"A MANGER?"  I thought.  An manger is nothing but a stone food trough for the stabled animals.  Certainly not the place for the newborn King of the Jews to lay down.  As I

was thinking these things, suddenly the field was lit up by what seemed like thousands of angels all shouting, " Glory to God int he highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests." 

Then, just as quickly as they appeared, the angels left and all was quiet and dark again.

 As our eyes adjusted to the darkness, we began to discuss what had just happened.  My fellow shepherd Moishe turned to me and said, "What should we do now?"  I said to him, :The angel said go to Bethlehem so we go to Bethlehem." "But what about the sheep?" he asked.  "Eh," I shrugged, "They'll be okay.  Let's go." So off we went to Bethlehem so see the baby the angels told us about.

Now today you may sing a song called "Silent Night."  This confuses me because there was nothing silent about it!  What is so silent about a bunch of stinky shepherds running through town in the middle of the night, knocking on doors, shouting about angels, and asking about a baby.  More than a few times we were to go back to our sheep.  Finally, we

came to a house who said that a young couple had arrived earlier but were sent to the stable because the place was full.  There had been a census declared and the town was overrun by people coming to register.  

"Did the girl have a baby?" I asked.  

"She was quite pregnant when she arrived and was in labor last I heard."  The man at the door told us.

So off to the stable we went as fast as we could.  When we got there, we found that every woman in the house must have come out to help the young mother give birth.  We went in to find the young mother resting next to a manger.  As we got close we saw that, sure enough, there was the

newborn baby swaddled tightly in the manger crying.  We immediately fell to our knees praising God and worshiping our new Messiah.  Then I looked up to see a very confused and obviously concerned mommy and daddy staring at us.

"I suppose you would like an explanation." I said.  They quietly nodded and I told them all about the angel's visit and what we had been told about this child.  To my surprise they took it very calmly.  Then I asked, "What is the name of the baby and the parents that God has entrusted him with?"  

"I am Yoseph and this is my betrothed, Miriam."  He said.  "We too have had angelic visits foretelling of this child.  They even told us what we should name him."

"And, please tell, what will his name be?"  I said.  Then Miriam looked up at me and smiled and said, "Yeshua."  

Have you never heard these names before?  Ah, I see.  You have heard this story but the names were in your own language.  You may recognize them as Joseph, Mary, and the baby Jesus.

Then we wished them all well and left.  That night we went all over the town telling whoever would listen about what had happened and what we had seen.  Those who believed us were amazed.  

Little did we know that in thirty three short years, this baby that we had seen would give his life to pay for the sins of the world.  What a wonderful gift God has given us of this child.  The next time you open a Christmas gift, remember the wonderful gift of Jesus Christ.

Well, it is time for Moishe and I to be getting back to our field.  You can only leave sheep alone for so long, you know.

December 11, 2016 - Hanukkah

TONY AND MICHELLE PAWLAK

MEMORY VERSE

‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ 

says the Lord Almighty.

Zechariah 4:6b

Today we're going to talk about a wonderful holiday in December that celebrates and commemorates an absolutely awesome event in history!  I'll bet you thought I was talking about Christmas, didn't you?  Well, I wasn't.  Although, Jesus

did celebrate this holiday.  Don't believe me?  Just check out John 10:22-23.  Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade.

Festival of Dedication?  What's that you say?  You can't find it anywhere else in the Bible you say?  Well, there's a reason for that.  You see, there is a four hundred year period between the Old Testament and the New Testament.  The story of the Festival of Dedication happens about halfway through that period.  Let me tell you the story.

Over three hundred years before Jesus was born,  A man called Alexander the Great, leader of the Greeks, set about conquering the world.  He even Conquered Judah (northern Israel).  However, he allowed them to keep their religion and way of life if they wanted as long as they sent him a tribute (payment). Many Jews still decided they wanted to be more like the Greeks and started dressing like them and even worshiping their gods!  Idolatry has never pleased God. Things were about to get really bad...

Not long after, Alexander died and Israel had a new Greek

ruler.  Many years and rulers later, Antiochus Epiphanes came to power and was nowhere near as nice as Alexander was.  Antiochus thought that everyone should have the same language, culture, and religion as the Greeks.  So he made Judaism (the religion of Israel) illegal.  No one could worship God in Israel anymore, they had to worship the false Greek gods.  Anyone caught breaking these new laws could be put to death!

To make things worse, Antiochus even took God's Temple in Jerusalem and stole all of it's treasures.  He then put a giant statue of the the Greek god Zeus in it and told people to worship it!  He even had people

sacrifice filthy pigs to the false gods in the Temple!  This desecrated (made spiritually dirty) the Temple and deeply offended the Jews who still worshiped the true God. Soon, everyone in Jerusalem who wanted to worship God had to leave or die.  

One person who left was a priest named Mattathias.  He took his family and went to the town of Modein where they continued to worship God.  That is until the Greeks came and set up an altar to false gods there too.  They tried to get Mattathias to worship the false gods but he refused. When he saw

another Jew offer a sacrifice on the evil altar, Mattathias rose up and killed him for idolatry.  He then killed the Greek soldier who had set up the altar.  After that, he destroyed the evil altar itself. 

Mattathias knew that he would be in trouble with the Greeks for what he had done so he and all the people who worshiped God fled into the

wilderness and set up an army. One of his five sons, Judah, became the general of the Jewish army and they began attacking Greek regiments and winning.  This made Antiochus very angry so he sent more soldiers after them. Judah, however, was a very good and very tough soldier.  So tough, in fact, the people named him Judah Maccabee (The Hammer).  

Antiochus even sent a large army with War Elephants (the

Jews had never seen an elephant) to try and defeat Judah's army.  Judah reminded his soldiers that God had enabled Israel to win against great odds before and they should keep fighting.  Eventually, Judah's army kicked the entire Greek army out of Israel.  Judah decided it was time to go to Jerusalem and restore worship to the true God.

When they arrived in Jerusalem, it was a mess!  There were weeds growing in the Temple court, the Temple treasures either had to be restored or remade, there were dirty sacrifices and idols throughout the Temple, and the altar had been so desecrated that it

needed to be rebuilt.  Judah Maccabee gathered the priests and they got to work. 

Finally when all the work was done, it was time to dedicate (set aside for a specific purpose) the Temple to God once again. This meant they had to light the Menorah, a special seven tiered lamp stand that was fueled with a very special oil.

 However, all the oil for the Menorah had been desecrated except for one cruse (earthen pot or container) which was only enough to light it for one day!  It took eight days to make new oil  so they didn't know what to do.  They decided to light the Menorah and hope for the best as they began to make new oil.

Amazingly, the Menorah stayed lit for all eight days, just enough time for more oil to be made and added.  Because of this, the Festival of Dedication is also called the Festival of Lights and is celebrated every year for eight days.  You may know the Feast of Dedication by it's Hebrew name: Hanukkah!  And, thanks to the Book of John, we know that even Jesus celebrated Hanukkah and, if we want to, we can celebrate it too.  

Happy Hanukkah Everybody!

December 4, 2016 - Building the Tabernacle

TONY AND MICHELLE PAWLAK

MEMORY VERSE

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, 

do it all for the glory of God.

I Corinthians 10:31  

Have you worshiped God lately?  I hope so.  How did you do it?  Where did you do it? Did you sing? Did you dance? Did you pray? Were you in church?  How and where we worship God is very different for us today than it was almost 3,500 years ago for the Israelites.  Let's talk about how...

Last time we talked about how God had sent the Israelites into the wilderness for forty years because they had disobeyed Him.  They had almost stoned Joshua and Caleb but God showed up in the Tabernacle.  Wait, what? The Tabernacle? What's that?  Well, I'm going to tell you.

After God gave Moses the Shema and the Ten Commandments, He had Moses give the people a very special job to do.  God knew the Israelites were going to be traveling around a lot and they needed a place to worship Him.  So God decided to have them build a movable Temple that they could take with them and set up wherever they were.  

So Moses told the people that God wanted them to make a

special Tabernacle (or tent) where they would worship God. He also told people to bring their gold and silver and give it to make things for the tabernacle.  The people were more than happy to give what they had (much of which they had gotten from the Egyptians when they left) so they could worship God. 

This was a big job and Moses needed talented people with special skills to do it.  God found two men, Bezalel and

Oholiab, who He Gave special abilities in wood carving, metal working, sewing, engraving, and many other things.  These men taught others and together they made everything for the Tabernacle just as God told them to.  They made a

 

 
bronze altar for burned sacrifices, a laver 

(or water basin) for the priests to wash their hands, a table for show-bread which only the priests could eat, a seven-tiered lamp stand called a Menorah, a smaller altar on which they burned incense, as well as special clothes for the priests to wear.

The most important thing they made, however, was a very special box called the Ark of the Covenant. This box was made of acacia wood and completely covered in gold,  The lid, which was called the Mercy Seat, was made of solid gold and had to special angels called cherubim on it.  The Ark of the Covenant was placed in the innermost place in the

Tabernacle called the Holy of Holies. Only the high priest could go into the Holy of Holies and offer the blood of sacrifices on the Mercy Seat for the sins of the people. 

God would meet with Moses in the Tabernacle, also called the Tent of Meeting, to tell him how to govern the people of Israel.  This is where the people worshiped God for many years until a permanent Temple was built in Jerusalem.  

Would you be willing to go through all that to worship God today?  Would you happily give whatever you have to accomplish what God wants?  How much is God worth to you.  Maybe we should think of worship as WORTHSHIP; showing God how much He's worth to us.

November 27, 2016 - The Twelve Spies

TONY & MICHELLE PAWLAK

MEMORY VERSE

 When I am afraid, I will trust in You.

… I will not fear. What can man do to me?

Psalm 56:3, 4b

Does God keep his promises?  Of course He does!  So what is there to worry about?  If we live believing God’s promises to us then we never have anything to be afraid of, right?  Absolutely!  Sometimes though, God will call us to do something that can be scary.  Even though we know we have a mighty God that always keeps His promises, it is easy to forget that and become afraid when we have to face a scary situation.  Is it okay to run away from what God has told us to do because we are scared?  No!  If we do, we may miss out on the wonderful things that God has promised us.  Today’s story will make this easier to understand.

For the past few weeks we have been discussing God’s promises, namely the promise he made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that He would make a great nation of their family in the Promised Land and that all nations would be blessed through them.  God began keeping His promise by sending Jacob/Israel and his sons to Egypt.  Four hundred years later, Pharaoh had enslaved all of the children of Israel.  God moved on to the next stage in keeping His promise, getting the Israelites out of Egypt and heading toward the Promised Land in Canaan.  Ten devastating plagues on Egypt later, the Pharaoh finally let the Israelites leave and, after God split the Red Sea for one final escape from Pharaoh, they were off to the Promised Land.  

Finally, the Israelites arrived on the very edge of Canaan.  God had given the Canaanites four hundred years to turn from their evil ways but they didn’t.  Now God was going to give their land to Israel. God told Moses to send twelve spies, one from each of the twelve

tribes of Israel, to go and spy out the land and bring back a report of what they could expect.  Over the next forty days, the spies went all throughout Canaan.  They saw giant people called the Anakim. They also saw cities that had enormous walls around

them making them hard to attack. Then they checked out the crops and found bunches of grapes so huge that they had to attach one to a pole so that two people could carry it back to show the Israelites.  It was a very good 
land with cities, farms, wells, and everything you could ever want or need.  The spies knew, however, that it would not be an easy task. 

When they came back to the Israelites, they showed them the grapes and told of the wonderful things that they had seen.  They also told of the dangers of giants and the challenges of trying to defeat walled cities.  Ten of the spies were so afraid that they told the people that it was too dangerous to go into the land.  One of the spies, Caleb, said differently.  He said, “We

should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” (Numbers 13:30b)  The ten spies said, “But the people are so big that we must look like grasshoppers to them! They are too strong for us to defeat!”  

The ten spies fear spread to the rest of the Israelites. They began to ask, “Why did God bring us here just so we could die?”  They even talked about replacing Moses with another leader who would take them back to Egypt!  Caleb and the 

twelfth spy, Joshua, were angered by the people acting like cowards that they tore their clothes to show how upset they were.  Then they stood up and said to the people, “It is a very good land.  We saw it ourselves!  If we obey God he will give it to us so, whatever you do, don’t rebel against God!  God is with us, not with them.  Do not be afraid of the people because nothing can help them against our God.”

This made the people so angry that they were about to stone Joshua and Caleb to death but God stepped in just in time. God’s glory appeared over the Tabernacle which meant that He wanted to speak to Moses.  The people stopped

what they were doing and waited to hear what God had to say.  Moses went in and God said to him, “How long will these people not respect me? How long will they refuse to believe in me? They refuse even though I have done many signs among them.  So I will strike them down with a plague. I will destroy them. But I will make you (Moses) into a greater and stronger nation than they are.” (Numbers 14:11-12 NIrV)

Moses said, “But God, if You do this then the Egyptians will hear about it and tell even the people in Canaan.  They all know that You have used Your mighty power to save us from Egypt and that You have been with us this whole way.  They will think that You failed to keep Your promise to give us this land and so You killed them all.  You said You are slow to anger, full of love, and you desire to forgive sin.  So, instead, please forgive this people one more time.  

God agreed to forgive the people again but said that they

would still need to be punished.  First, God made the ten spies that spread fear through the Israelites get very sick and die.  Then He said that, because the people refused to trust God’s promises and instead gave in to fear, the people would not be allowed to have the Promised Land.  Instead, they would have to wander around the wilderness for forty years; one year for every day the spies were in the land.  Everyone over the age of twenty would die in the wilderness and their children would receive the land that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel.  

When the people heard this they said, “Okay, we’re ready to obey now and take the land like God told us to.”  But it was too late.  They had missed their chance.  They tried to take the land but God was not with them and they were

quickly beaten.  So the Israelites turned around and went into the wilderness for forty years where everyone over twenty years old died.  The only two exceptions were Joshua and Caleb, the two spies that were strong and courageous and believed

God’s promise.

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