Mount of Olives Church

Numbers 4:32 "You shall assign to each man by name the items he must carry." I love reading the wonderful stories in the Old Testament. Their relevance lies in God’s message to us then, through Jesus, and now. In the wilderness, each Israelite was given an assignment. No one was left out. Every task was important. The future of the entire community depended upon each person doing the assigned job. As they traveled, some had specific responsibilities for tearing down or setting up the tent. Some were assigned to carry specific items. All the while, together, they watched out for danger. Together, following God’s commandments, they found the food and water they needed. The body of Christ operates in the same way. Each person is unique in God’s sight. Each of us is assigned individual tasks, called to fulfill specific functions, and given unique gifts and talents to accomplish these tasks. We should be humbled and grateful! This helps us understand God’s plans and purposes. Each...

Two young engineers applied for a single position at a computer company. They both had the same qualifications. In order to determine which individual to hire, the applicants were asked to take a test by the department manager. Upon completion of the test, both men missed only one of the questions. The manager went to the first applicant and said, "Thank you for your interest, but we’ve decided to give the job to the other applicant." "And why would you be doing that? We both got 9 questions correct," asked the rejected applicant. "We have based our decision not on the correct answers, but on the question you missed," said the department manager. "And just how would one incorrect answer be better than the other?" the rejected applicant inquired. "Simple," said the department manager. "Your fellow applicant put down on question #5, ‘I don’t know.’ You put down, ‘Neither do I.’" One of the very important lessons we must always r...

Alan Shepherd, the very first American astronaut in space, was asked by a reporter, just before he got into the capsule, "What is the one thing you’re depending on most in this space venture?" His answer was classic, "I’m depending on the fact that God’s laws never change." This is such an important concept. What if the rotation of the earth was inconsistent? What if gravity reversed every other day? When God made the universe, He created some universal laws which never change. These laws have never changed and they never will. These laws are dependable and predictable.  In the same way as God has instituted, the universe should always function according to these “laws”. So too, has He done the same with the moral laws He has put forth. This consistent nature of God means He will always keep His promises and His word to     us. This is what the scriptures teach as well: Numbers 23:19 NRSV God is not a human being, that he should lie, or a mortal, that he should ...

In Numbers 21, there is the story of how the children of Israel disobeyed God and were punished by snakes coming upon them and biting them. The people came to Moses and repented. And then, it says in  Numbers 21:8-9:   "And the  Lord  said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.’ So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.” God provided a way of escape. God provided a plan of salvation. I believe one of the reasons God did something like this in this way was to prepare the people for the coming of a Savior. The sacrifice of a lamb on the altar for the sins of the people are another example. The sacrifice of a Lamb prepared them for Jesus, the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”. So many of these images were constantly placed in front of the people so they would perhaps have a conscious ...