Have you ever wondered where the idea of blood sacrifice for atonement came from?

I must admit that was one thing I could never really wrap my mind around, but it did not concern me enough to go looking for an answer. I understood the concept and how the sacrificial system of the old testament was replaced when God made the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus, His Son, to atone for our sin, but none of that explained how the sacrifice of animals was introduced.

A few days ago I had one of those AHA! moments, when something I had read in my bible many times before, took on the status of “golden nugget” as a deeper meaning surfaced. I am always amazed as my study of scripture continues to reveal deeper and deeper layers of understanding. With this new “golden nugget” came a revelation that Jesus was NOT the first blood sacrifice God made on behalf of mankind.

When we discuss the subject of blood sacrifice we tend to focus on the sacrifices the children of Israel made to God. The blood sacrifice of Issac God demanded to test the faith of Abraham, the ram God provided asthe substitution, the paschal lambs whose blood sacrifice protected the Hebrew slaves as the angel of death took the firstborn of Egypt, and the many blood sacrifices made upon the altar of the original Temple of Solomon and the second Temple that was destroyed in 70 AD.

To find the first mention blood sacrifice, we must go all the way back to Genesis. Read Post »

I sat down to do some research on  how much American church goers give to support their churches when I ran across this article that really made me think.

Summit Church to Close After 131 Years

By ROWENA PLETT

“Oct. 10 will be a sad day for the remaining parishioners who have faithfully attended Summit United Methodist Church of rural Florence all of their lives. The final worship service will be conducted at 10 a.m. by the Rev. David Ragland of Peabody.  Located in Summit Township, the Summit church began as a United Brethren Church. It subsequently became part of the United Brethren Evangelical Church and then the United Methodist Church.

Early records have been lost, and the congregation’s numbers have dwindled considerably as families moved away and the children of those who stayed did likewise. A look at the register on the wall reveals an attendance of nine people this past Sunday and an average of 14 during the past year. Loyal members dug deep into their pockets to keep the church going, but it finally became too much. “We can’t afford to pay the bills anymore,” LaVonne Ammeter said.

Ragland has been ministering to the church congregation for more than four years. He is planning to give a sermon titled, “One Last Time,” based on Jesus’ last meeting with his disciples. He will talk about the church’s closing but will emphasize that the church of Christ continues to march on. “This church has fulfilled the purpose God called it to,” he will tell parishioners.”

Will something like that be written about your church or mine a few years from now?  The truth is that many small churches have been struggling for more than a few years and are losing rather than gaining ground. Read Post »

As we mature in our walk with God, we strive to understand the call he has placed on our lives.

What is it that God has truly called us to do?  For me, when looking back it seems to make more sense… my personal history, my personal search, and God lifting me up and out at the perfect moment to serve His purpose and reveal the call.  Yes, He saved me, and even after I committed my life to Him, he allowed me to sit on the bench for a dozen or so years while He prepared me to become an ever growing disciple and begin to better understand the call He was placing upon me.

Before I knew Jesus, my life was a mess because of things I had chosen without His guidance.  After I knew Jesus, as I sat on the sidelines waiting for the call, I experienced a new way of having my life turned into a mess.  This time it was due to circumstance and the actions of another.  For a long time I struggled with the conflict of honoring God by remaining in a dysfunctional marriage, or abandoning that marriage, which had become abusive.  Had it not been for a perfect combination of unpleasant events, I would not have been ready when God nudged me toward the call.  It was time for Him to rescue me and put me back in the game, His game His way.

So how did the call happen?

  Read Post »

This past Saturday my church partnered with Stop Hunger Now

with the goal of packaging 10,000 nutritious meals for distribution to some of the world’s most vulnerable people.  What an amazing experience it was!  Stop Hunger Now has developed a process of bringing raw materials and volunteers together to accomplish the “moving of the mountain” of hunger in a way that energizes a spirit of service among the participants.

In the weeks leading up to the big day we promoted the event in our neighborhood and raised the necessary funds to pay for the food we would be packaging.  We had hoped to have about 50 volunteers for the event.  When we gathered in the fellowship hall at Forest Hills United Methodist Church just before 10:00 am, we had over 100 volunteers!  Groups had come from Temple Terrace UMC, Lake Magdalene UMC, First UMC of Lutz, Saint Timothy Catholic Church, Lake Carroll Baptist Church, Oak Grove UMC, and neighbors from all around us.

Robert Samuels, the Stop Hunger Now program manager for Orlando, FL instructed us in forming teams to perform the necessary steps and we went to work.  It was like a perfectly orchestrated symphony of human effort striving toward a goal that was larger than life. Read Post »

I try to keep the content on Wisdom Blog upbeat, but sometimes we need to take a long hard look at the world around us and stand up for what is right and just.

This video stands as a shining example of leadership in a world gone insane over so called political correctness and tolerance.

  If we hide our heads in the sand thinking “it could never happen in America”, we are deluding ourselves and our complacency will cause this land of opportunity to become a nation enslaved.

Wake up and listen!

Today I was pleasantly surprised with a gift of music in a most unusual place.

I had gone for a haircut and pedicure at Hair Perfections as I do like clockwork every 5 weeks, but today was different.  As I was walking from Yvette’s  nail station over to Carols station I saw a young girl walking toward the door with a giant purple hard shell case.  As she opened the door I had to ask, “Is that a cello?”  Tegan quickly answered “yes”.

After a quick trip to the shampoo bowl, I settled into the chair in a plastic cape.  Carol dropped a bag of Fritos in my lap and fired up the clippers as the usual salon chatter continued… it seems  Tegan  was playing a recital that afternoon, and we all asked if she would play.  I never expected she would, but she was all fired up.  She just pulled out the cello, sat down on a chair and began to play.

It was a beautiful gift of music that this charming 15 year old girl shared with us.

Carol just froze with her clippers in the air, a little hair may have even floated into the frito bag, but we didn’t care!  We all turned toward Tegan and listened as this gifted teen closed her eyes and revealed the beauty of her soul with a spine tingling performance right there in the salon.

I wish I had a recording of this!

It was so unexpected, so passionate, and so warm, I just had to share.  Mark my words, this girl is one to watch.  I let her know she would be getting her first blog review.  What I did not say, is that someday when she is a famous musician known all over the world, I will be saying I knew her when, and pointing back to this blog post as my proof.

It just made me feel right with the world!  I had come into the salon feeling the stress of  a family matter I had taken a pretty harsh stand on, and it was as if God Himself had reached out with a gift to soothe my soul.

Thank you Tegan, for a beautiful gift of music!

Blessings & Adventure,

Lynn “lynnibug” Rios

I have learned that the word Christian means different things to different observers.

The reason for this is that many who profess to be Christian do not reflect the true meaning of the word.  If you have followed my blog for any time at all, you know that I am not fond of denominations or any other kind of label we put on a group of people because people are individuals, and will align themselves with the doctrine of a group to different degrees, anywhere from cool,  to tepid,  to red hot fanatical.

The question “What is a Christian?” for me, first requires an exploration of the meaning of the word “Christian” and an assessment of  whether or not the doctrine is aligned with the meaning of the word.

In a sense, I am seeking to define what a Christian should be based on a pure definition.  So let’s look at the root word “Christ” and the suffix “ian”. Christ, according to the bible, is the Son of God who willingly came to join us in the flesh to reveal to us a living and loving God, and to be sacrificed  on our behalf.  The suffix”ian” or “an” indicates that someone or something belongs to a certain group. Thus, an Indian would be a resident of or someone who was born in India, a Faustian philosophy is one promoted by the character Faust, or one that reflects what Faust believed.  A Christian, then,  is a believer in or a follower of Christ, and a Christian philosophy would reflect what Christ believed.  More simply put, to be a Christian is to strive to be like Christ.  To be like Christ, we must first come to know Him.

Stop and think for a moment about the people you know.  We have acquaintances – people we know a little bit about, friends – people we know more about, family – people we have known all or most of our lives, spouses – people we are very intimate with.  The church is filled with the same degrees of relationship with Christ.  To some He is just an acquaintance, to others a friend,  but to succeed as Christians in becoming the bride of Christ as described in scripture, we will need to achieve a wide spread level of intimacy with Christ.

I recently studied a book by Richard Stearns titled “The Hole in Our Gospel“, which explores what Christ called the Church to be and do, and how the Church has fallen far short of that mark.  If we want to call ourselves Christians, the Truth is we need to raise the bar back up to where Christ set it.  If we are to achieve a level of intimacy with Him, it will be done His way, not ours. Read Post »

The reality of freedom, freedom won and freedom lost, has become for me an issue of passion.

I watched an amazing video documentary the other day about the hopes, dreams, and reality of youth and young adults in Cuba. It was an eye opening presentation of a generation that longs for the very freedoms we are allowing to slip away.  As I watched, I could not help but compare their passion for freedom in a rigid political system, to our alarming trend towards allowing, or even worse encouraging a more socialist posture.

In Cuba, “jobs” are government jobs, the pay is not enough to live on, and the rations the government supplies each month, last for only 2 weeks.  Young married couples must often live with relatives due to a shortage of housing, and for them, simple privacy is a rare luxury.  Promising students study hard to earn advanced degrees, and even with the skills and knowledge they have worked so hard to acquire, they have no hope that it will secure them a brighter future.  Only loyalty to the revolution offers one a chance at material success.

But young Cubans are no longer buying into the excuses the aging regime makes for their circumstances.  They have hopes and dreams of a better life, and they believe that Cuba has the resources to build a better future, if only they had the freedom to use them.  Sadly, those who speak out are subjected to censorship, beatings, and all manner of restrictions that will make an example of them, and deter others from being so bold.

If only our young people understood the value of the freedom we have enjoyed in this country.

If only they understood that there are decisions the government should not have the power to make for us. Read Post »