Author Archives: lrbartel

Dec 17 2017
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Devos

Christmas symbols… But what about this one… what do you think?

Christmas symbols… almost “emoji” if you please…

A star… a manger… a man and a woman next to a manger… a few kneeling figures with gifts … another few figures with shepherd’s staffs… (Those are the religious symbols… then there are a whole bunch of secular symbols… won’t go into those.)

But what about this Christmas symbol (or “emoji”)? …  or this one 

Thought about that one as I read this passage from the Bible during “coffee with the Lord” this morning…

“BELOVED, LET US LOVE ONE ANOTHER, for LOVE is from God, and whoever LOVES has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not LOVE does not know God, because GOD IS LOVE. IN THIS THE LOVE OF GOD WAS MADE MANIFEST AMONG US, THAT GOD SENT HIS ONLY SON INTO THE WORLD, so that we might live through him. In this is LOVE, not that we have loved God but that HE LOVED US AND SENT HIS SON to be the propitiation for our sins. BELOVED, IF GOD SO LOVED US, WE ALSO OUGHT TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER. No one has ever seen God; if we LOVE ONE ANOTHER, God abides in us and HIS LOVE IS PERFECTED IN US.” (from 1 John 4:7–12 ESV)

Yeah, I know all the CAPS are a little distracting… but do you get the point?! I think… no I’m sure that a very important symbol (“emoji” if you please) is the heart – the loving heart of God in sending Jesus to save us, and our responsibility during this season to “love one another” as He loved us! Com’on let’s do it… to honor Him this Christmas!!!

Dec 15 2017
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Devos

When I think about what happened at Christmas, two words come to mind… “inscrutable!” and “ineffable!”

Baby in the wombHere’s what the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 12:5 (I just read it this morning during my time of “coffee with the Lord”)…

“As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything!”

Add to that the declaration of Scripture about the creation of everything that exists (a declaration, I might add, that I believe!)… “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.”  (Hebrews 11:3)  The theological term used to describe that mystery is “ex nihilo” (God created it all “out of nothing!”)

And if that isn’t enough to blow your mind, consider this reality during this Christmas season… The “incarnation!” – God Himself, creator of the universe, entering the womb of a virgin and being born as a baby!  The news of it when it was communicated by an angel caused Mary, His mother, to exclaim, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel’s explanation?  “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born to you will be called holy – the Son of God!” (Luke 1:34-35)

Two words come to mind when I reflect on all of this… “inscrutable!” (beyond  our comprehension) and “ineffable!” (beyond our ability explain)… Oh, and one more… MIRACULOUS!  Hey, I’m not going to try to explain it!  Instead, I’m going to accept these realities as true, by faith… and WORSHIP!  Why not join me this Christmas season in worship?  I think the God behind it all would be pleased!

Dec 13 2017
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Devos

A comparison designed to produce some healthy introspection (and seeking after God)!

Eutychus falling from windowI do not intend today’s post to be critical, negative or cause vitriolic against the church of today… I do hope that it causes some comparison, introspection and a longing for God to display His mighty power among us and restore the dynamic activity of the Holy Spirit that the Ancient Church experienced!

So here’s what I jotted in the margin of my Bible after reading Acts 20:7-12 during “Coffee with the Lord”… “I can only imagine what would have happened if this emergency had occurred in the average American church today! What would we do, compared with what Apostle Paul did on that occasion?”

Can you visualize the difference in the scenes?

And the passage?

“On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, ‘Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.’ And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.” (ESV)

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