Sunday Morning Worship Service at 10:00 a.m.

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    In the Chronological Bible Reading lately we have been getting into Leviticus.  Leviticus primarily deals with the Law that is often referred to throughout the rest of the Bible.  Pastor Jack Hayford reminds us that all of the Bible is the inspired work of God, but speaking practically Pastor Jack also says that not all of the Bible is inspiring.  Do your best to kind of “slog through” those parts and allow God to speak to you even through the less inspiring sections of His Word.

     Today’s reading (Wednesday) was in Chapters 14 & 15 and they dealt with the fascinating topic of skin diseases, mold in the home, and other bodily functions (seriously!).  Well, maybe not fascinating, but I did manage to pull a little something out if what I read.  In either case when the situation resolved itself, the person was supposed to present themselves to the priests and before they were declared “clean” they had to present an offering.  Part of the offering was a sin offering.  Sin Offering?  Since when is getting a rash a sin?  That was my thought, and so when faced with a seemingly unfair situation, I did what I normally do – Prayed.  My prayer was “Okay God, I asked these people to be reading this, someone is going to come to me having read the same thing and asked the same question.  What do you want me to tell them?” 

     Here is what I believe is God’s answer.  First of all understand that I have found that my concept of sin has changed considerably since becoming a Christian.  When I first got saved, I confined my definition of sin to basically the Ten Commandments; the “thou shalt nots”.  As I have drawn closer to God I found sin was not only what we do, but sometimes what we don’t do.  That led me to believe that it is also what we think when we do what we do.  Eventually the idea of “failure”, which is the literal definition of the Greek word; hamartia , the word we translate sin.  The root word hamart is where we get the idea that sin is “missing the mark”.  (By the way, did you know, that in Archery, missing the bull’s eye is called a sin?)

     So with the idea that sin is a failure or a missing what God has intended for us, sickness in one sense could be “a sin”.  Please hear me, not “sinful” in the sense we often use, but sinful, because our bodies do not function they way God intended them to function and therefore missing God’s mark.

     Let’s take another look at the sin offering for a minute.  The basic difference between the Old Testament (Hebrew) word for atonement, means cover, where the New Testament (Greek) word means to obliterate.  So the sin offerings were never meant to remove sin from the sinner, but to cover them over until the process of forgiveness can be made complete by Jesus’ willing death on the cross.  In my study and to my way of thinking, the sin offerings was meant to be less of an “I’m sorry Lord, I have disobeyed”; and more of a “Lord, I agree that things in my life are not as they should be and I look forward to the day when you make all things right again.”

     We need to adopt the idea that sin is a failure, or a missing the mark.  Sometimes it requires us to acknowledge that we have done something to cause the failure, and other times we need to acknowledge that life – even the very planet we live on (and in fact – all of creation)  is no longer functioning the way it was intended to.  Sin is a lot more prevalent and the result of sin far more devastating than when we talk about it in terms of the “thou shalt nots”.

     We have the advantage of looking from the other side of the cross (the “sins are obliterated” side).  Still we have some time before all things once again function the way they were meant to.  Isn’t it comforting to know that one day things will work they way they were supposed to?  It is to me.

     And that was the answer to my prayer.

Bill

This Week - February 21 - February 27, 2010

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Upcoming Events:

March 14 is Daylight Savings Time, spring forward 1 hour

Sat. 3/27/10 Pastor Bill is hosting a PIECES seminar at the church bldg. from 9am to 4pm. It is designed to help you understand how God has uniquely pieced you together. There is a pre-work packet, be sure and sign up to receive your's today.

Wednesday, March 31 Jewish Passover Seder celebration will be held at the church. More information coming.

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 BAPTISM

Talk to Pastor Bill if you would like to be baptized

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Church Information:

Telephone -  (775) 738-3982 

Email - efb@frontiernet.net

Website - www.elkofirstbaptist.org

Each Sunday, our bulletin at church is full of prayer requests and praises.  Please keep these concerns in your prayers, and join us in praising God for His answers to our prayers!

Remember:

• those who are recovering from illness or surgery
• those who are looking for a house or for a job or a car
• those who are struggling with depression
• parents as they raise their children
• teachers and students as they work in school
• our military, especially those who are in harm's way
• our emergency personnel - fire, law, medical
• our political leaders, and the upcoming elections
• your own concerns, and the people you are thinking of as you read this

Pray - and let us know when you get answers!