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By pastorbillwalden
I stepped out under the full moon again tonight. That same moon illuminated the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed so many years ago. It lit the dark paths where Judas and the Temple guards came to arrest Jesus. It shined down upon the fire where Peter swore three times that he never knew Jesus. It guided the Roman soldiers as they led Jesus from Pilate to Herod, and then back to Pilate again.
The next night it shined brightly again, as Jesus’ followers were afraid for their own lives, and began to go into hiding. They were dumbfounded and shocked at Jesus having been killed and laid in a tomb. They saw Him die, and their hopes came to a brutal end.
The moonlight probably still shined that resurrection morning, as Mary and the others went to the tomb of Jesus to anoint His body for a proper burial. There at the tomb, as the moonlight waned and as the sun began to rise, He appeared to them, and the world change began.
I am part of that world change. I am a follower of Jesus. I believe that He was raised from the dead, and that He is alive. Either I am correct, or I am deceived. I don’t think I am crazy. I do believe He lives, and that He has dwelt within me since I surrendered to Him 38 years ago.
I departed from Him for 6 years, but He never departed from me. I have walked with Jesus for 30 years this year. I cannot shake Him, nor do I want to.
I succeed and fail. I am hopeful and hopeless. I understand and am confused. I have holy desires, and unholy ones. I am a redeemed soul in an unredeemed body. The internal spiritual war is constant, but it has gotten better every year, every month.
I cannot shake Him. I cannot disregard Him. I cannot convince myself that He is not there, not that I try. He is alive, and He lives in me, my wife, and many of my loved ones and friends.
I expect to see Him face to face one day. It will be awesome and fearful, but it will be good. I will finally be home.
Words of thanksgiving flow from my mouth on a daily basis. ”Thank you for your love, your mercy, and your grace. Thank you for your provision, kindness, patience, faithfulness. Thank you for my wife, my kids, my parents, my friends, my church, and for this life you have given me”.
The words come like my breath. I often don’t even plan on saying them, but they have become to me part of the fabric of my life. They are not vain repetition, or a mantra. They just flow. They are real, because He is real. It has become like breathing.
I cannot shake Him, not that I want to. I cannot step out under that moon and not think of Him, especially at this time of year. I cannot help but be amazed that I am a part of this grand plan for humanity. I cannot help but be thankful.
I have not captured Him, but he has captured me.
I do not make Him promises. I have never been a promise maker to Him. I don’t think He asks me to promise Him anything. He just asks me to keep trying and keep believing. We talk, and somehow, I know He hears me, and somehow, I believe that He speaks back to me in the secret recesses of my soul.
I am a Christian. I am a Christ follower. I want no other name, title, or affiliation.
I invite you to consider Jesus. The church has failed since the beginning, but Jesus doesn’t fail. Jesus takes up residence within people that fail, and He brings great change. He forgives, and renews. I invite you to take an honest look at Jesus. I may be right, or I may be wrong, but I believe that He is coming back. I look forward to that day. I pray that you will also.
I expect that as long as God gives me life on Earth, I will be enamored and intrigued at that same full moon. It is something special that He shares with me. I cannot help but be moved as I remember all He has done for me.
May God bless you this Easter season. May you meet Jesus.
By pastorbillwalden
During the month of December 2011, we are studying different passage regarding the birth of Jesus. Here is the latest effort, from Matthew 1:18-25.
http://vimeo.com/33698255
By pastorbillwalden
Some thoughts for fellow followers of Jesus… 
The ten second sound bite version of what I am writing is this: If you blew it, and have a mess on your hands, let God fix it. You thought you could be in control and do things your own way, and now you have a mess. In your flesh, you made a mess. What makes you think that in your flesh, you can fix it? Better to walk in the Spirit like you should have to begin with. Walk in the Spirit, and let God fix it.
The longer version of the same story line is as follows…
Sin is a nasty thing. It promises much, and delivers little. The consequences are always bigger than the gratification. It never seems as bad as it really is…until later.
We get used to sinning. We minimize it. We get de-sensitized to it. We agree in our heads that something is wrong, but we do it anyway, intending to stop.
There are sins of commission: we do things that we know are wrong.
There are sins of omission: we don’t do things we know that we should.
The sin in a Christian’s life can run the gamut of not reading your Bible (dumb…you need God’s Word, heart, and direction) to something much more obvious, like substance abuse or sexual immorality. We can be committing little sins, like being disagreeable, or we can be committing bigger sins, such as being violent and a striker. A sin of omission might be that you don’t think that church attendance is important, and eventually find yourself isolated, alone, unchallenged, un-encouraged, etc. There are numerous examples of sins of commission and omission.
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Filed under:
Christianity,
Decision Making,
Dying To Self,
God's Will,
Good Intentions,
Jesus,
Obedience,
Presumption,
Repentance,
Self Awareness,
Spirit Filled Life,
Spiritual Blindness,
Spiritual Growth
By pastorbillwalden
Dear friends….please take 33 minutes to watch this documentary video. 
It is upsetting, shocking, and compelling, but it brings forth some facts and asks some questions that need to be considered.
http://www.180movie.com/
By pastorbillwalden
Each Sunday I receive questions from our congregation regarding either what I just taught, or about the Christian life in general. We read a Psalm corporately at the beginning of each service. On 2/27/2001, we read Psalm 8, which speaks of “the son of man”, in verse 8.
The question that came was as follows: Is the reference to to “son of man” in Psalm 8:4 a prophecy regarding Jesus? If so, what does it mean that God would “visit” him?
In the context of the Psalm, I don’t believe that the psalmist is intentionally referring to Jesus, though Jesus did use the title “The Son Of Man” when speaking of Himself.
Regarding the passage in Psalm 8, David Guzik writes:
What is man that You are mindful of him: Considering the greatness of the heavens also made David consider the relative smallness and insignificance of man. David wondered why just a big, great God would bemindful of such small beings.
i. “We gave you but a feeble image of our comparative insignificance, when we said that the glories of an extended forest would suffer no more from the fall of a single leaf, than the glories of an extended universe would suffer though the globe we tread upon, and all that it inherits, should dissolve.” (Chalmers, cited in Spurgeon)
ii. God is so big that He makes the universe with His fingers; man is so small that he is dwarfed by the universe. Yet David did not doubt that God was mindful of man; he simply said “You are mindful of Him” and only wondered why. Before we share David’s question, we should first share his assured confidence that God is mindful of us; He thinks of us and considers what we do.
iii. “Sorry, sickly man, a mass of mortalities, a map of miseries, a mixture or compound of dirt and sin . . . And yet God is mindful of him.” (Trapp)
iv. “David’s question can be asked with many nuances. In Psalm 144:3f it mocks the arrogance of the rebel; in Job 7:17 it is a sufferer’s plea for respite; in Job 25:6 it shudders at human sin. But here it has no tinge of pessimism; only astonishment that thou are mindful and thou dost care.” (Kidner)
And the son of man that You should visit him: Indeed, using the poetic method of repetition, David repeated the idea in a stronger way. Son of man is a title that emphasizes the “humanness” of man, and we might say that visit him is yet stronger than are mindful of him.
i. David was confident that God not only carefully thought about man, but that He had some kind of personal connection and contact with men (that You visit him). He thinks about us and acts in our life.
ii. “The contrast between the stately splendor of the moon and the stars, and man – Enosh – frail man – and the son of man Ben-Adam – of apparently earthly origin. The contrasts are graphic.” (Morgan)
My Final Thoughts On This- The immediate context speaks of the comparative smallness of man compared to the greatness of God, and yet God is interested in man. I don’t believe that David was writing a direct statement about Jesus.
Ezekiel was also called “son of man” by God (93 times), as was Daniel.
It is to be noted, however, that Jesus was identified as “son of man” 88 times in the New Testament. When used of Jesus, whether prophetically in the Old Testament, or in real time (Jesus’ time), the title carried the significance of describing the Messiah of Israel.
As David Guzik mentioned the term “son of man” emphasizes the humanness of the one being spoken to or about. ”Son of Man” simply emphasizes the humanity of Jesus, who was both God and men. The passage in Psalm 8:4 doesn’t seem to speak of Jesus directly, or that God would “visit” him. The “son of man” spoken of in Psalm 8:4 seems to speak of humanity in general.
Good question!
By pastorbillwalden
Mark 14:3-9 3And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head. 4But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, “Why was this fragrant oil wasted? 5For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they criticized her sharply. 
6But Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me. 7For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. 8She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial. 9Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”
Many who love Jesus give of themselves to Him.
They give time, money, talents, material possessions.
They forsake personal gain, high paying careers, and upward mobility.
Some would say that they give too much.
Parents may encourage their child to go to college and prepare for a good career, rather than go to Bible college and prepare for a life of godly service.
They would never tell their child to not be a Christian; they would just tell them to have a “balanced” life, and be sure to have a good career first. They may suggest that their child not get too fanatical about their Christian faith. They would emphasize that it’s a tough world out there, so their child needs to “look out for #1″.
There are many other examples of how people that give their lives to Jesus are warned or corrected by others who are around Jesus. The disciples were with Jesus all the time, had seen the miracles, and heard Him teach, but they thought that what this was did was “a waste”. They justified their opinion by saying that some good social act could have been done instead. Helping the poor is important, but it wasn’t more important at that moment.
They made the mistake that so many Christians make: they miss the best and suggest the good. They are committed, but not too committed. They worship and serve, to a point. They give, but are careful to not go beyond what is reasonable. They try to be “reasonable” in their Christian life, and are careful to maintain a “balance”.
I never read about keeping a balance. I read about being led by the Holy Spirit.
Like the woman who poured out the costly ointment, some Christians pour out their lives to God.
Like the woman, they are told that what they have done is extravagant and extreme.
Jesus had a different opinion, and defended her.
Be careful about how you judge such things.
By pastorbillwalden
Joe Christian: “Pastor Bill, I can’t believe these things are happening to me. What did I do to deserve all this?” 
Me: “Joe, in your case, I don’t think you did anything to deserve all this.” (I know Joe’s case) “Joe, you remember that Jesus said, ‘In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.?’ (John 16:33) “Jesus told us that we would have hard times in life, sometimes for no apparent reason. Remember Joe, we live in a world full of sin, and it’s not the world that God designed. It’s a fallen world.”
Joe: “But I thought that God wouldn’t give me more than I could handle. It feels like too much”.
Me: “Joe, God never said He wouldn’t give you more than you could handle. We have confused the meaning of 1 Corinthians 10:13. He allows many things to come into our lives that we can’t handle. That’s why we need Him.”
“Joe, that verse says, ‘No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.’”
“Joe, let’s break it down…”
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By pastorbillwalden
Hebrews 5:7, 8 (Jesus)…who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, 8though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.
Jesus hated the thought of the cross. His humanity recoiled from the suffering and death that He knew He was called to physically endure. He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane that there might be another way whereby humanity might be saved. There would be no other way.
Moreover, the thought of being made a sin offering compounded the horror of the physical suffering with the addition of broken fellowship with the Father. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Yet, it has been suggested that Jesus faced something worse than death, and that was the challenge of disobedience. The cross would be the greatest challenge of Jesus obeying His Father. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus was heard by the One who could save Him from death, yet He was still called to the cross.
What then, was the Father’s answer to the Son? In what way did the Father answer the Son?
The Father sent an angel to strengthen Jesus in the Garden. The victory of the cross was won in the Garden, as the Father strengthened the Son, Who resolved to NOT disobey the Father regarding the cross. The Father’s answer to the Son’s prayer was that he helped the Son to obey. The Son struggled to obey the Father’s will, but in the end, He did.
Jesus wasn’t saved from death, He was saved for death.
John Piper has the following thoughts…
“And when verse 7b says that he was praying and crying “to the One able to save Him from death,” does that mean that he was mainly praying for deliverance from physical death? Was that the main aim of his praying in the days of his flesh? I don’t think so, because verse 7 says “he was heard.” I think that means God gave him what he asked for, and verse 8 describes the effect of that answered prayer: he learned obedience. Jesus was praying for obedience—for persevering purity.
In other words, Jesus knew that there was a death worse than death. Much worse. Physical death is bad enough and he desired that there be another way to do the Father’s will than to die on the cross. But far more horrible than dying on the cross was the impurity of unbelief and disobedience. That was the great and horrible threat. So he prayed all his life against that, and he was heard by his Father and, instead of caving in to sin, he learned obedience from what he suffered.”
Jesus, Our Great Savior…
By pastorbillwalden
Mark 4:21-25 Also He said to them, “Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lampstand? 22For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light. 23If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. 25For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”
In Mark 4, we see Jesus teaching what are known as “The Kingdom Parables”. They were illustrations about different aspects of the Kingdom of God.
In the middle of that section, Jesus instructs His listeners to “listen well”.
Here’s my understanding of what He said to them.
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By pastorbillwalden
Mark 4:18, 19 Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, 19and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
Jesus often taught the masses by way of parable, which is an earthly story that illustrates a heavenly truth. The parable of The Sower was one such parable.
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