Dear Family and Friends,
Manna! The word means: “What is it?”
Imagine getting up every morning for 40 years and thinking: “It’s time to gather the daily ration of ‘What is it?’ Imagine.
Last Sunday we began a new series on ‘Fresh Manna’. Manna was God’s daily provision for His people, Israel, from the time He redeemed them out of slavery until they entered the promised land. Here is how it worked:
- Each day (six of seven) God called each person to gather his/her own manna.
- They didn’t understand what Man-Na was at first, yet it still nourished them and still tasted sweet.
- Some gathered more, some less, yet each received what they needed for nourishment.
- Fresh manna was required daily (except Sabbath): yesterday’s manna didn’t keep till today.
- By noon the manna had disappeared. God definitely wanted His manna gathered early.
- God supplied daily manna for the whole journey until the day they crossed over into the promised land.
- Jesus Christ is the true Bread of Life (John 6:48-51), the eternal reality behind the symbol of the manna.
In fact, all the Old Testament sacrifices, feasts, sacred days, sacred places and divine provisions find their fulfillment in Him (see Colossians 2:16-17).This Sunday we’ll launch out to explore how the whole Bible, Old and New Testament, is the unfolding “Revelation of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:1). Our goal is to make the Bible understandable; and to create a deeper hunger and greater joy for gathering our own fresh manna. Do a friend a favor: invite them to the feast.
One big Update:
2008-2009 is the “build our Home Base” stretch for Damascus Road. Our mission mandate from Jesus is to be filled with the Holy Spirit and then be witnesses to the risen Christ “in Jerusalem [our own neighborhoods and towns], Judea and Samaria [our region] and to the ends of the earth [Honduras, India and Africa for now]. And to do that well for generations, we are building together a gathering and going out “Light on a Hill”—our congregational home.
This is the time and we are the people. Great thanks to all of you who played your part in following God’s heart to our future as faithful tithe-plus “ring-bearers” and contributors We just finished a year where our congregation and other friends funded over one million dollars for ministries (including 20% for missions) AND another one million for our new facility. It has been amazing (truly) to watch the challenges and God-provisions in the lives of the singles, couples and families who stepped up and created this testimony in a congregation of around 600 souls: men, women and children.
Remember, since Jesus rose from the dead no physical building is the temple of God. We are His temple through the Holy Spirit. Each person, every family in Christ, is called to be a Light on a hill for Him, wherever we live, wherever we go. That is our central reality. Now, in this season, as a living temple, our front-burner call is to build our home-base, as the place where we can fuel our life together in worship, fellowship and discipleship. The land is ours. Let’s go up and possess it! I love an adventure—and this is an unfolding one.
This Sunday we will also bless and send out our very first Africa-mission team: Craig Mason, Kay LaBare and Bob McIntyre. They will minister to, and do on-site evaluations of two mission centers focused on rescuing AIDS orphans, one in South Africa and one in Mozambique. The ground work has been carefully laid with strong local leadership and now a dream that has burned hot will take its next big step. Please pray right now for Craig, Kay and Bob.
See you Sunday.
