Leviti-huh?

I had the honor of visiting 3D last night for a message on Leviticus.

Why Leviticus? Short answer - it's part of God's Word and 3D believes in honoring God and His Word. Huzzah!!!

Longer answer - if you step back and look at the larger message and don't get lost in the details, Leviticus gives a very clear picture of a Holy God who demands payment for sin. God wanted His people to be in good standing with Him and with each other. So He gave them what are actually very practical ways to do that.

For example (bonus blog-only tidbit!), many of the Levitical laws concerning general cleanliness created a culture that was much more resistant to disease - thousands of years before germs and bacteria and viruses were discovered! During the Black Plague, Jews were wrongly accused of poisoning Christians with the plauge because many of the Jewish communities were much less affected - simply because they followed what are now considered basic hygenic principles.

Jesus takes the Levitical laws and challenges Christians to go deeper - to not just maintain outward cleanliness or holiness but to look within and deal with thoughts, emotions, and feelings and let a Holy God sanctify what is not right. And because Jesus knew we would fail to perfectly meet the outward -let alone the inward- requirements of the Law, He became the perfect once for all sacrifice to reconcile us to God.

The Flood

So this past Wednesday Cathy talked to us about The Flood. If you haven't read the story feel free to do so, it's in Genesis chapter 6 and 7. If you don't have a bible check out this link and you can read from here.

In this passage you'll see how God had seen all the wickedness in the heart's of the people and decided He was going to wipe them from the face of the Earth. Noah, one He knew to be a righteous man, was given instructions by God to build an ark. [a type of huge boat] so that his family and animals would be saved when God sent the rain.

When it was all over, God had made a promise to Noah, that He wouldn't ever flood the Earth again. Read about it here

Hint: God put this in the sky as a covenant and we can still see this even today. Can you figure out what it is??

Farewell...

I know it has been a long while since any of us have updated the 3D site... I apologize. I'm hoping that we will be more consistent in updating. In the meantime though I'll try to keep this short.

Mike, our wonderful and amazing 3D leader had his last week with us tonight. We had cake and ice cream in his honor!! He will be dearly missed... Continue to keep him in prayer as he will be working more full-time with his other job, that God would use him mightly even there. Unfortunately we won't be able to see him every Wednesday but for those of you who do attend TCC, he will be there so be sure to say "Hey!!"

Thank you Mike for serving so faithfully over the last few years!! If you ever wonder whether or not you've left an imprint or legacy behind, you definitely have!! We will miss you... God's blessings be on you always~

From all of us 3Ders and Leaders~

The Holy Spirit

Before Jesus left His disciples to Heaven [Where He is preparing a place for us even now] He said that unless he left them, the Holy Spirit wouldn't be able to come and guide them. He assured them that this "helper" or "advocate" would be with them always, teaching them and guiding them in their ministries. To help them share the gospel with those who need to hear about God's amazing Love and share with them about His gift of eternal life.

We also have the Holy Spirit with us when we've accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. When we do this there are times when we may feel convicted that what we are doing is wrong, or even feel an urge to speak to someone who maybe most times we don't even know. We shouldn't ignore this warnings or convictions to either stop what we are doing, or to speak and share with someone the greatest gift.

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Winter Retreat!!

For those of you who will be going on the winter retreat with us next weekend [Feb 18-20] Its coming up pretty quick. We are excited to be able to go have fun and get to know you all even better, but most important and even more exciting than that, it will be amazing to see everyone grow closer to God. There are going to be lots of fun stuffs to keep everyone pretty occupied so looking forward to it!! I suppose we'll hafta start packing pretty soon, or if yer already packed, then yer more on top of it than I am!!

Blessings~