Fall Creek Christian Church

“Moses heard all the families standing in the doorways of their tents whining, and the Lord became extremely angry. Moses was also very aggravated." Numbers  11:10 When our children were very young, we established our home as a "No Whining Zone". Violators were immediately removed from the rest of the family and placed into the whining chair in the corner of the next room. When they were done whining, they could return to the family. At no time did we ever acknowledge them when they were whining much less give in to them ... straight to the whiner's chair.    The problem of whining, as we see in our verse for the day, did not originate with my family. God's people were also infected with the virus. God refused to put up with up it. His discipline was swift and severe. Whining is simply unacceptable. It reveals an ungrateful and self-centered attitude that ultimately ruins a person. Love moves swiftly to address it.  As adults, we become more subtle at whining. W...

“But Moses told the people, 'Don't be afraid. Just stand where you are and watch the Lord rescue you. The Egyptians that you see today will never be seen again. The Lord himself will fight for you. You won't have to lift a finger in your defense!'" Exodus  14:13-14 "What? ... Where in the world did that come from?" False accusations are troubling to us aren't they. As we all have, I've heard some whoppers over the years. One ministry friend was arrested at a park during his prayer and Bible study time because someone accused him of being a flasher. All charges were dropped as fraudulent, but still. When I've been attacked, my knee jerk is to want to strike back and defend myself. What about you? The people of Israel were in trouble. An attack was imminent. As a recently freed nation of slaves, they were in no position to fight. So they did what came natural ... panic! God led them to this very real position of helplessness to teach them to tur...

“(It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road.) In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them." Deuteronomy 1:2-3 I could have had her on a leash. I could have picked her up before I crossed the street. I could have done a hundred things differently in that moment. If I would have, one of my worst childhood memories never would have happened. Life is given to us in a series of moments. Once passed, the moments cannot be rewound. There are no do-overs or reset buttons. We live. We chose. We experience the outcomes of those choices, both positive and negative.  The people of Israel were no different. God had led them out the bondage of Egypt. They were standing at the entrance of their divinely appointed land. God said, "Go!" They said, "No!" Forty years later they returned with none of the nay-sayers in tow. In one moment, they...

"The Israelite foremen realized they were in trouble when they were told, 'You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day.'  When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them, and they said, 'May the Lord look upon you and judge you! You have made us a stench to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.'"   Ex. 5:19-21 On more than one occasion in my life, as a child and as an adult, I've made every effort to do exactly what I was supposed to do only to find myself experiencing negative consequences.  I expected affirmation.  I received criticism.  I anticipated forward progress only to experience crash and burn.  "What is this all about!?", I asked myself.  I was following the directions, sticking to the plan and then ... Wham! The verses today reveal Moses and Aaron standing in those same pair of shoes.  They told Pharaoh exactly what God told them to say. They pe...

“The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: The Israelites are to camp around the Tent of Meeting some distance from it, each man under his standard with the banners of his family." Numbers 2:1-2 On many occasions, I have enjoyed the wonder of a canoe ride down a beautiful river. The sights, the smells and the sounds of God's creation provide a soul refreshing moment of connection and contemplation. To maximize the moments in a canoe, one must remember one simple rule: Keep your weight in the center. A sudden shift to the side can quickly turn a canoe trip into a scuba dive. It's very telling to me that God would have Moses organize the people around the Tent of Meeting. The place where God revealed himself was the bulls-eye for the nation. If the peoples' hearts were in keeping with their campsite, all was good. They were centered. They would enjoy a great adventure of exploration and discovery. However, if they moved off center, shipwreck awaited. As a hus...

"At that time, his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, 'Once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.'  The words, 'once more' indicate the removing of what can be shaken -- that is, created things -- so that what cannot be shaken may remain.  Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our 'God is a consuming fire.'"      Hebrews 12:26-29    Unshaken I have a family of amusement park junkies.  It is simply not possible to satisfy their thirst for wild rides.  The faster, the twistier, the crazier, the better.  Their favorite time of the day is right about closing time when the crowd has thinned out enough for them to ride the rides over and over and over again.  Me ... not so much.  Motion sickness has relegated me to the cheering fan lea...