Foter.com / Public Domain Mark 1.0 “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the slave trade, all left their mark on earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in; aim at earth…

Exodus 32 tells the story of the golden calf. After the crossing of the Red Sea, God told Moses to meet Him on the holy mountain of Mt.Sinai. There God spoke with Moses and gave him the Law that the Hebrews were to follow from now  on. Moses was there for some time — 40 days and 40 nights. (We’ve heard the “40” number before, haven’t we? The number of completed preparation.) Moses took Joshua with him and left his brother the high priest Aaron in charge of the people. But after Moses was gone for a few weeks, the people thought Moses is not coming back and so they…

I’m talking about a hard subject today – suffering. My church is suffering a recent spate of serious illnesses. That is not the only suffering on our congregation or in the world. The loss of husbands and children, the loss of children to certain lifestyles. Mental illness. Lifelong struggles against addiction to drugs, alcohol, food, or porn. Losing jobs and homes, physical violence on the battlefield or in the home. This is a darkened world! God created this world, is in this world, and will renew this world. But the Fall of Man was a terrible fall, so terrible that God himself chose to die to save the world. Because…