​Numbers 21:5-9
John 3:14
John 12:32
 
God had given the Israelites the victory over Canaan and not only that but they had seen God do some miraculous things. But God allowed fiery serpents to come into the camp.  God allowed it to happen because of their disobedience and because of the things that they were doing and saying.  As a result these serpents were allowed in to the camp, and as it says, a lot of the people died.
 
These were “fiery serpents” but it wasn’t the glowing or the color of the serpent or the heat that brought the people to repentance - it was the death of the people that brought them to the point of repenting and confessing their sin.  They realized what they had done – they said to Moses “…for we have spoken against the Lord and against you….”
 
They had been complaining.  After all God had done, after all the miracles they had seen, they complained to Moses and against God.  They were out in the wilderness saying, in other words, “What did you bring us out here for? To die? We don’t have any water, we don’t have any bread, we have nothing to eat. What did you bring us out here for?”
 
We can look around us and see how blessed we are. For one thing, we’re still above ground. We should be thanking God that we’re still above ground.  As the saying goes, some folks complaining have got a loaf of bread under one arm, a pound of bologna under the other, and a jar of mayonnaise in their hand and they’re complaining, instead of making some sandwiches and eat. So many times we’re not thinking about the blessing that God has blessed us with.
 
But they recognized their sin and confessed it.  They said “Moses, we have sinned” and then they told Moses to pray to Lord that He will take away the serpents.  So Moses prayed for the people, and the Lord answered his prayer.
 
Verse 8 says: “And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.”
 
A lot of times when we go to the drug store we can see that symbol, that serpent wrapped around a pole; that’s a symbol of healing.   We can be in a foreign country, we can be in some part of Europe or somewhere but if you see that symbol you know that’s a place where you can get some medicine.
 
Now we see here Moses takes this brass and he shapes it in the form of a serpent, and places it upon a pole.  And as the Lord said everyone that looked upon it, if he was bitten, he was healed.  Also, here we see a symbol of Christ – let’s look a little further.
 
Jesus says in John 3: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life”.  His sacrifice saves us from death and gives us eternal life.  And Jesus said in John 12 “If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me”. 
 
But you see it’s something that we have to do. It was something that they had to do. They had to look up. They couldn’t be looking down around their feet – they had to look up at the serpent that Moses had placed on a pole just as God had instructed.
 
In verse 9 of Numbers 21 it says:” …if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.”  In other words, this was the antidote.  As the people looked on that serpent that Moses lifted up they were healed.  And we as Christians as we look to the cross, we can be healed.
 
Because we all have been bitten, brothers and sisters - we all have been bitten by the serpent of sin.  You might say “How did we get bitten by the serpent of sin? I didn’t see no serpent biting me!”
 
Adam was bitten by that serpent in the garden – sin!  And with that we all took on that sinful nature.  So the only way that we can get delivered or healed from that sinful nature is to look up to Jesus.  We have to look to Jesus for our healing - for our deliverance.
 
We get our healing by accepting Jesus Christ; by looking to Him. You see what happened was when they crucified him, they messed up.  When they nailed him to the cross and when they lifted Him up they messed up!  Because He said: “If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me”.  In other words all men can be healed and all men can be delivered.  At the crucifixion Jesus is being lifted up on that cross just as Moses lifted up that serpent in the wilderness.
 
So, all we have to do is look to Him. Because He is our antidote, He is our serum.
Look up! Look up to Jesus, and be healed from your sins.
~J.T. 

Deuteronomy 31:1-8
Matthew 28:19-20
Coming up to our reading in Deuteronomy there were a lot of things that had transpired. Moses was called from the burning bush and sent down to Egypt. The Israelites had been freed from slavery and crossed the Red Sea.  Moses had led them in the wilderness for 40 years.

Here Moses is at the Jordan River and he’s giving Joshua a charge to take the people across the Jordan.  In the 1st part of the chapter Moses reminds the people that he is 120 years old.  In another scripture it says that Moses’ eyes were as sharp as a young man’s eyes. Not only that but his mind was quick.  However, Moses cannot do it because God had forbidden him to go into the Promised Land.

So Moses is at the Jordan River and he’s giving Joshua the final instructions or the final charge.  Moses says to Joshua that he has brought the people to this point but Joshua will take them forward. Moses is encouraging him, saying: “Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to give them….”

You know a lot of times God will even have pastors such that they will lead a congregation only so far and then someone else takes over.  Joel Osteen pastors one of the largest churches in this country but we know that there is somebody standing in the wings, waiting to take his place. 

As it says Moses called unto Joshua and said: “…thou must go with this people….. the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”

It’s just like when Jesus commissioned the disciples; he told the disciples “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: …..and, lo, I am with you always...”

So Jesus also says “I’ll be with you”.  Moses wanted to let Joshua and the people know that God will be with them.  You see they had seen so many awesome things that God had done in the wilderness: feeding them with manna, being that pillar of fire by night, and a cloud by day.  They had seen so many things but he wanted to let them know that it doesn’t end here, God is not going to leave you. 

Moses was saying “Now I can’t go with you but I want to let you know that God is going to go before you”. That promise even goes to us. He will not fail us nor will he forsake us.  We don’t have to worry or ask “Is God with us?”  If we walk with him, if we surrender to him, talk with him, and have fellowship with him - we don’t have to worry.  He is with us.

When we repent, believe, and receive we can bank on that.  That is a promise to us that He will be with us.  Things may change, leaders may come and go but God will never leave us.  We may make mistakes but God will never desert us.
​
We don’t need to fear, we need only to be strong and courageous, because our God is with us.  He won’t fail us nor will He forsake us.  We have His Word on it.
~J.T.

2 Corinthians 5:7
This is a new year and a lot of people have made New Year’s resolutions and set all types of goals. 
 

• I’m going to pay off all of my bills – I will pay off the credit cards that I ran up over the holidays.
• I’m going to lose weight.
• I will spend more time with my family.
• I will strive to get a better job.
• I will spend more time in the Word of God.

People set these goals and many others, but will we reach those goals?
 
This is a new year; this is a new beginning, but we don’t know what lies ahead.  We can’t even see past right now.  We don’t know how this week will end, let alone how this year will end. 
 
We may not know what the future holds, but we know Who holds the future.  In order to step confidently into this New Year we must “walk by faith.”
 
Actually, stepping out on faith - that’s one of my goals, to do the things that I feel in my heart God wants me to do.  I’m talking about a faith walk, where we walk by faith and not by sight, where we trust God, sometimes in spite of what it looks like.
 
Maybe I don’t see where I’m going, and I can’t see the future, but I’m going to walk by faith.
 
As we go forth this year we need grab a hold of that verse and look at it.  Trust God with your goals, trust God with your future.
 
 I pray the Lord will help us to walk by faith.
 
~J.T.

​Genesis 1:1
Revelation 1:8
2 Corinthians 5:7
Romans 10:9
 
As a new year comes in we can recognize the end and the beginning – the end of last year and the beginning of this year.  The old year is gone, it won’t be back.  We can’t bring it back, so the things that we didn’t accomplish last year, they are gone.  By God’s grace, we face a new beginning.
 
A lot of times people start the new year setting all kinds of goals – new year’s resolutions. They want to make a change or reach a goal – it’s like you’re pushing a restart button to start all over again.  Maybe last year we didn’t accomplish it, but this year we’ll push the restart button – I’ll quit smoking, or lose weight, or pay off my bills, spend more time with family, or spend more time with God.  With this new year I have another chance to meet that goal.
 
As we enter this new year we enter with faith – we don’t know what lies ahead, but we are walking by faith as the clock turns to the new year.  It is not a coincidence that we are here right now, with this opportunity before us to press the restart button.  God knew you would be right there, right now at this appointed time.  Before you and I were born God knew that I would be before you.  He told Jeremiah, I knew you, and God knew us before we existed the way we are now.  Some people had the opportunity to push the restart button last year, but aren’t here for this new year, they have passed and gone.  Some people living today will not be here to push that restart button when next year rolls around.  We don’t know what lies ahead for us, we don’t see the future, but we walk by faith, the only way we can please God.
 
At the end of the year, we often reflect on those who have gone on – a well known singer died recently, a famous politician, the media even reported the death of an enemy of our nation – we mark their passing with the passing of the year.  Some people got off for Christmas and didn’t go back or could not go back to work after Christmas.  Job shut downs, outsourcing, not only that some physically couldn’t go back due to illness. We thank God that He is allowing us to press that restart button.  Let us walk into this new year, walking by faith.
 
A profession of faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior; this is the ultimate restart.  “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth….” When a person does that, now that is a new start – a fresh start.  The bible tells us that if any man be in Christ he is a new creature. When a person confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord – that God has raised him from the dead, the clock ticks over to a new life.  At that moment we have the opportunity to get it right.  We can get it right with Him, get it right with family, and even get it right with co-workers.
 
In this New Year, we can have a new beginning.
~J.T.