Author: Tim Ehrhardt

I'm just a common ordinary pastor, chaplain, father, grandfather, and dog owner who loves the smell of a genuine leather Bible and the aroma of its message. I'm on a quest to track down the best Bibles, how to best read and use them, and to discover the encouragement inside.

Exodus 40:16-38

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            “No matter where the people traveled, the LORD was with them.”  This last verse of Exodus perfectly summarizes not only the message of this biblical book but of the entire Bible.  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and formed man and woman as the apex of his creative work.  Humans alone bear the stamp of God’s image and likeness.  People were created to be with God.  But humanity took their own path apart from God and fell into sin and disobedience.  From that point forward God has been on a massive mission to restore, reconcile, and reclaim his lost humanity so that they can be together again.
 
            God chose Abraham and set apart his descendants, the Hebrews, to be his people and be a kingdom of priests in order to reverse the curse.  God gave laws and commandments to communicate his presence with his people.  For the Jews, God was like a pillar of cloud, a sentinel watching over them.  In the fullness of time, when it was ripe for the promised Savior to come, God sent his Son, the Lord Jesus who is called “Immanuel” which means “God with us.”
 
            Jesus lived a holy life, died a cruel death on our behalf to bring forgiveness of sins, rose from death, ascended to heaven, and now watches over us, interceding for us.  But that is not all; until he comes again God’s Holy Spirit has been sent to be the continuing presence of Jesus on this earth.  The Spirit is with God’s people.
 
            No matter where the Christian goes, no matter what happens, no matter the place or the situation, God is with him/her.  Nothing can separate God from his people.  There are no guarantees in life that things will turn out well, or that all will go our way.  But we have the abiding promise that God is with us because he has gone to the greatest lengths possible to make it happen.  And God’s presence is what makes all the difference.
 

 

            Ever-present God, there is nowhere in which you are not.  Thank you for your continuing presence.  Enable me to always live in awareness of this reality so that my life might confidently follow you anytime and anywhere; through Jesus Christ, my Lord, in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

John 1:14-18

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            This is an astounding passage of Scripture!  These are verses to not quickly read through; this is a theologically rich, lovingly beautiful, and missionally sensitive piece of Holy Scripture.  The high and holy God has chosen to come and show himself to us in the person of Jesus.  We know God through Christ.  We learn about what God is like through Jesus.  God has condescended to us, communicated to us through means we can understand and discern, through the Lord Jesus.  To capture this earth-shattering truth, here are just a few translations of verse fourteen:
 
The Word became
a human being
and lived here with us.
We saw his true glory,
the glory of the only Son
of the Father.
From him all the kindness
and all the truth of God
have come down to us. (Contemporary English Version)
 
The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish. (The Message)
 
            The sort of God that Christians worship and serve is an over-the-top gracious and generous God who has gone to the most incredible lengths possible to restore lost humanity.  Since God has bridged the great chasm between heaven and earth, the very least we can do is walk across the room and develop a new relationship with someone who needs Jesus.  God’s loving initiative can become our own motivation.  Sit and soak with this wonderful verse today and let it seep deep into your soul… and let it shape how you live your life.
 

 

            Gracious God, how can I say “thanks” for all you have done through your Son, the Lord Jesus?  Here is my life; do with it what you will.  Amen.

Change without Compromise

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
The church is called to conform not to the world, but to the reality of new life in Jesus (Romans 12:1-2).  God himself has said, “I am making everything new” (Revelation 21:5).  God is doing the work of transformation.  God is doing an extreme makeover, brain edition.  In other words, if you have never changed your mind about anything in the church, then you will not be able to discern God’s will because we are called to transformation.
 
            The church is called to change its methods and means of delivering God’s truth without altering the message itself.  The church needs to be a clear reflection of who God is and what he does.  This means the church must be relevant.  It must communicate God’s truth and hope in the language of the culture it is situated.  If I say to you:  “The sacerdotal implications of infralapsarianism are holistic yet interdependent in scope and complexity,” I am speaking the language of professional scholastic theologians.  But if I say to you: “A clear explanation of God’s truth is important for our deliverance from sin,” then you understand what I am saying.
 
            Yet, this is how many people feel about the church, as if we are speaking in some secret code with secret practices.  Being irrelevant is really the compromise to truth.  Followers of Jesus are Ambassadors for Christ.  An ambassador’s job is to learn the language and culture of the nation to which he/she is assigned so that they can represent their country well.  An ambassador does not need to adopt the values of the other country, but the ambassador does need to relate to the other country in ways that are relevant and understandable.
 
            Truth never changes.  But the delivery of truth does and should change.  When I was a kid, I lived on an Iowa farm.  Every year we had a huge garden full of sweet corn, rhubarb, asparagus, strawberries, potatoes, tomatoes, radishes, carrots, peas, and every kind of vegetable under the sun.  Beginning as young as age four it was my job to water that big garden every day twice a day.  We had an old well with a hand pump.  It typically took eight to ten pumps to get the water up and several more pumps to fill the bucket.  It took a lot of buckets to water the garden.  I was so small that I literally had to jump on top of the pump and use all my weight to make it work.
 
            I did this every summer for years.  Then one year my Dad had a new well dug.  A new pump was put in and I did not need to hand pump water into buckets anymore.  In fact, I could get a hose out, hook it up to the new pump, use a sprinkler and sit in the sun and just watch the delivery of the water to the plants.  Praise the Lord!
 
            The water didn’t change.  It was still the same life-giving water that the garden needed.  But the delivery changed.  It would be ludicrous if I would have said to my Dad, “Dad, I’m a pump guy.  If hand pumping water into buckets was good enough for you and for my grandparents, then it’s good enough for me.  I don’t know how this new pump works, but I’m against it.  In fact, this newfangled well and pump is evil.  If anybody uses it they’re going to hell.  I’m not touching it.”
 
            Here is a crucial question that every church and Christian must ask today:  If the church is really concerned about getting God’s truth and Christ’s gospel of grace to people, then what is the best delivery system available today? 
 

 

            When the church does not do everything in its power to communicate God’s truth to people in a relevant way, then that church is not following in the way of Jesus.  Therefore, the focus in decision-making within the church is to determine the best delivery system for the water of eternal life.  So, when it comes to the environment, the music style, and the language, we must be relevant.  We use these things to deliver truth so that people might connect with Jesus and have their thinking renovated, their minds cleaned, and their lives improved to the glory of God.

Psalm 97

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment


             In the wake of Ascension Day we are to be overwhelmed with the tremendous majesty of King Jesus.  Today’s psalm portrays the Lord as a very big God whose presence alone impacts the world in cataclysmic glory. God is large and in charge.  Nothing moves God; but God moves mountains.  This is no wimpy deity who needs his creatures to sustain him and his memory.  But all God’s creation is dependent upon him for life, sustenance, and flourishing.
             It is such a view of God that deeply impacts humanity.  When people catch just a glimpse of God’s glory it causes pagans to be ashamed of their useless idol worship, and brings forth humble celebration from the penitent.  The sheer dearth of these dual responses to God in today’s Western world ought to clue us to the reality that we are not seeing God for who he really is:  the great and glorious king who is so immense and so concerned for justice that just a snort of his nostrils could lay complete waste to the earth.
The conclusion to the matter is to “Love the LORD and hate evil!….  You are the LORD’s people!  So celebrate and praise the only God.”  Today is a day to make a simple choice to celebrate and praise God in some simple ways:  
Ø  Acknowledge Him in both the big and in the small things of life;
Ø  Include God’s message of grace in your everyday conversations – we don’t have to be preachy, just real;
Ø  Praise Him in public as well as in private;
Ø  Pray simple heartfelt prayers to Him whether it is eloquent or not because He just wants to hear the voice He has given us;
Ø  Be generous toward others through forgiveness and actual physical help;
Ø  Study His word because it honors Him to do so;
Ø  Express gratitude with a predetermined mindset to find things that God has put in your life to be thankful for;
Ø  Count your blessings today and again tomorrow so that it eventually becomes a spiritual habit; and,
Ø  Sing with the joyful noise God gives you.
Mighty God, you are worthy of all the praise, honor, and glory I can give you.  May my life be a simple offering to you, so that your kingdom comes not only in my own life but impacts the lives of others; through Jesus, my King.  Amen.