What Was the Purpose of the Burning Bush?

The following comes from Amazing Stories & Daily Devotionals

Moses led his flock into the wilderness when he saw something weird. A bush was on fire, which kept burning, but it wasn’t consumed. The bush didn’t burn out because God was in it. If your bush burns out, God isn’t in it.

Then something even more weird happened. The bush started talking to him—and even called his name! “Moses, Moses … remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground … I am the God of your father” (Ex. 3:4-6). Remember, this happened long before the tabernacle and temple were built to worship God. Moses was only standing on dirt, but the ground was holy because he was in the presence of a holy God.

 The Lord spoke through a burning bush to prove to Moses three things:

First, He knew exactly where Moses was, even in the back side of a desert.

Second, He called Moses by name, proving He knew who he was.

Third, the bush didn’t burn out, showing He had endless energy. 

Then the Lord gave Moses an assignment to accomplish. “I will send you to Pharaoh so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt (Ex. 3:10). Moses made excuses why he wasn’t capable of doing it, but the Lord assured him, “Certainly I will be with you” (Ex. 3:12). When God calls you to do something, He goes with you and gives you the ability to accomplish it. The Lord gave Moses the wisdom and strength to lead a nation of people out of Egypt and oversaw them for four decades in the wilderness.  

People burn out because they’re doing tasks that God never called them to do, or they’re doing them in their own strength. Moses’ bush never burned out. And your bush won’t burn out either, if God is in it.   

CREATION VS. EVOLUTION: How Did Stingrays Get Fossilized in Wyoming?

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Making Life Count Ministries
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The Unbaptized Arms

The following comes from my book Amazing Stories & Daily Devotionals

Ivan the Great, the tsar of Russia during the fifteen century, converted to Greek Orthodox to marry the daughter of the king of Greece. Ivan said, “If I’m going to convert, so will my soldiers.” The Greeks sent tutors to teach Ivan and 500 elite soldiers about being Greek Orthodox, and assigned 500 priests to immerse the soldiers in one mass baptism.

Thousands of people gathered to watch hundreds of soldiers in full armor, along with hundreds of priests dressed in black robes and tall hats, all standing in the Mediterranean Sea.

But there was a problem. The church prohibited soldiers from becoming church members unless they gave up their commitment to shed blood in battle. They came up with a solution where they could become church members and keep their military commitment. 

Just before the priests baptized the soldiers, each man reached to his side, withdrew his sword, and lifted it high overhead. Each soldier was totally immersed underwater—except for his fighting arm and sword. The soldiers became church members but could still fight in wars because they all had “unbaptized arms.”

Compromising is when we ignore God’s standards to get something we want. We see it all the time, especially when it comes to sexual purity. Paul writes, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality” (1 Thess. 4:3). Jesus said, “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46). When Jesus becomes the Lord of your life, you’ll do what His says. Is any part of you unbaptized? www.makinglifecount.net

BIBLE STUDY: Are There Degrees of Sin?

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Making Life Count Ministries
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Prattville, Alabama 36068-0174
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Why Did Jesus Sweat Blood in Gethsemane?

Jesus lived one day at a time, and managed His stress on an hourly basis. He stated many times that His hour had not come (John 2:4, 7:30, 8:20). 

The stress didn’t seem to affect Him until the time had arrived for Him to be betrayed. In the Garden of Gethsemane, His stress level hit its peak because His hour had come. “And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood” (Luke 22:4). Luke describes a condition called hematidrosis, where sweat and blood are mingled in extreme cases of stress.

Jesus always knew He would die for the sins of the world, but you don’t see Him sweating blood every day of His life. That’s because He handled each stressful situation as it came to Him. Stress comes from handling too many responsibilities at once. In our minds, we think about all the duties that we must accomplish, and the stress becomes overwhelming. The answer is to tackle one problem at a time.

Suppose 365 toothpicks represent responsibilities for every day in a year. If you bundle 365 toothpicks together, you won’t be able to break the bundle in half. If you put 30 toothpicks together, which represents one month’s responsibilities, you won’t be able to break them in half either. But if you unbundle the 365 toothpicks and deal with each toothpick one at a time, you’ll be able to break all 365 toothpicks. 

Jesus said, “So don’t be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time” (Matt. 6:34). That’s how God wants us to live. One day at a time. One hour at a time. One toothpick at a time.

FASCINATING VIDEO: Shocking Evidence About Shroud of Turin

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Making Life Count Ministries
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The Shroud of Turin UPDATE

The Shroud of Turin is a burial cloth containing an image of a scourged and crucified man, which many believe could be the burial cloth of Jesus. No one can explain how the image got onto the cloth, but some have speculated that when Jesus was resurrected, the burse of power transferred the image from His body to the cloth.

In 1988, carbon-14 dating of the Shroud of Turin by three separate laboratories indicated the relic should only be about 700 years old, meaning it couldn’t be the burial cloth of Christ. However, some scholars suggested textiles can easily become contaminated by bacteria and carbon-containing minerals, which would skew the results and show a younger date.

In 2022, a new scientific method known as “Wide-Angle X-ray Scattering,” or WAXS, was used to examine the relic. WAXS is said to be more accurate than C-14 because it measures the actual aging of flax cellulose and converts it to time since manufacture. It dated the Shroud at approximately 2,000 years old. The Italian scientist Dr. Liberato de Caro of Italy’s Institute of Crystallography compared the Shroud with other historical fabrics and it closely matched with a fabric from the siege of Masada in Israel, in 55-74 AD. The findings suggest the shroud originated around the time of Christ, which means it could possibly be the burial cloth of Jesus.

Computer enhanced images reveal that coins were placed over the man’s eyes and the coins were stuck by Pontius Pilate in AD 29-31! For a detailed report CLICK HERE. It was a Jewish custom to close the eyes of their deceased and the placement of coins over their eyelids was a practical way of keeping them shut. These coins prove the Shroud could not be a forgery created by someone centuries later.

Our faith is based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ and not the Shroud of Turin. But wouldn’t it be interesting if God decided to leave ANOTHER piece of evidence that Jesus rose from the dead?  Click Here to watch 6 MINUTE VIDEO ABOUT SHROUD OF TURIN

Click Here to find out how to know you’re going to heaven.

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Making Life Count Ministries
P.O. Box 680174
Prattville, Alabama 36068-0174
www.makinglifecount.net  

Making the First Move in Peacemaking

A bully approached a little boy. The boy was scared he was about to get beaten up, so he quickly drew a line in the sand. He told the bully, “Step across that line.” The bully stepped over it. With a grin on his face the little boy said, “Now we’re both on the same side!”

Jesus said, “Make friends quickly with your opponent at law, while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge …and you be thrown in prison” (Matt. 5:25). We are usually too slow in resolving conflict, which allows strained relationships to fester and creates painful consequences. Jesus said to make peace with your enemy “quickly” to prevent something worse that could happen to you.  

You might be reluctant to make the first move to reconcile, but God will bless the one who makes the first move in peacemaking. You step over the line—not to fight, but to make peace. “If possible, so far as it depends upon you, be at peace with all men” (Rom. 12:18). Many times reconciliation is not possible, but God says to make an attempt.

If your attempt fails, you can still have peace of mind because you obeyed God, even if your enemy won’t accept you. Sometimes your attempt to make peace will break down the wall of enmity. You may never be reconciled with someone refuses to work out differences. However, your attempt can ease the tensions of a strained relationship, and might even soften your enemy’s heart. 

Imagine if you were “both on the same side.” It might even bring a grin to your face.

www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com  www.makinglifecount.net

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Making Life Count Ministries
P.O. Box 680174
Prattville, Alabama 36068-0174
www.makinglifecount.net  

Would You Have Passed the Test?

When Crawford Hill was a boy, he applied for a job at a local store. Mr. Peters, the storeowner, told him to go into the attic. “You will find a long, deep box up there,” he said. “Sort through all the junk in the box and separate the things that need to be saved from the things we need to throw away."

Crawford went up the stairs into the hot attic and began sorting through the box. For the next few hours, he separated bent nails from the good ones, and kept everything that was worth salvaging. When he got to the bottom of the box, he noticed a $20 bill laying on the bottom.
 
He scooped it up and ran downstairs, holding it in the air and shouting, "Mr. Peters! Look what I found in the box!" Then he handed it to the store owner. Mr. Peters smiled because he knew he had found a boy to work in his store.
 
The old junk box was just a test. He had filled the box with nails, screws, and other items to test his faithfulness—to see if he would work in the hot attic without complaining, even though he didn't understand the purpose for the job. He planted the $20 bill at the bottom of the box to test his honesty. If he didn't report finding the money, he knew he couldn't be trusted with the cash register. Crawford passed the test. Years later Mr. Peters retired and turned his business over to Crawford to manage. (Making Today Count for Eternity, p.45-46)
 
Did you know that you are sorting through a junk box at your job? You are sorting through the box whenever you’re faced with a difficulty. God is watching to see if you'll be faithful and honest, especially when you don't understand why you are going through it. Remember, it's a test. It's only a test.
 
I hope you'll hear your Master say, "Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master." (Matt. 25:21)
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Making Life Count Ministries
P.O. Box 680174
Prattville, Alabama 36068-0174
www.makinglifecount.net  Twitter: @KentCrockett
www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com

Do You Need to Make Restitution?

A Manhattan, Kansas cable company received $300 in cash in the mail, along with an unsigned letter from a man apologizing for his actions and asking forgiveness. The letter-writer said when he was a sophomore at Kansas State University, he had pirated cable TV from an upstairs apartment.
 
He wrote, “I didn’t fully consider at the time how we were cheating your cable company out of revenues” and that he wanted to commit himself to the teachings of the Bible. The $300 was restitution for the cable TV signals he had taken without paying.
 
Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector in Israel and became rich by swindling people out of their money (Luke 19:1-10). One day he heard Jesus was coming to Jericho, so he climbed a tree to see over the crowd. Jesus looked up, called him by name and said He wanted to stay at his house. Zacchaeus told Jesus, “Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much” (Luke 19:8). Notice that Jesus did not tell him to do this. Zacchaeus decided on his own to make things right.
 
Restitution is God’s way of paying back to the rightful owner what was lost, stolen, or damaged. The restitution amount wasn’t equal to the crime, but often much more than the amount taken. The book of Exodus speaks about making restitution for a variety of situations. If a thief stole an ox and killed it, he had to pay back five times as much. If he stole a sheep, he had to pay back four times as much (Exodus 22:1).
 
If you’ve stolen something or damaged someone’s property, God will show you how much to pay. It will relieve your guilt, heal a relationship, and will be pleasing to the Lord.
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BIBLE STUDY:  Answers to Theological Questions
 
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Prattville, Alabama 36068-0174
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