Happy New Year! It's amazing to think that we are already a decade into the new millennium! My wife and I came full circle this week as we ushered in the New Year by attending a retreat at Camp Berea, the teen camp where we met about ten years ago. It's amazing what can happen in a decade! As we enter 2010, I pray that God draws you and your family closer to Him this year! May you have many opportunities to serve Him and see Him at work in your life! Now, on another note...

A common criticism of the Bible is that it is full of "blatant contradictions". Many who oppose the scriptures claim that it is an outdated book that is full of historical mistakes and inherent errors. For example, one of the gospels may record a story about Jesus in a certain way, while another gospel records the same story but adds or omits certain details. However, there is one major problem with this method of criticizing the Bible: It doesn't work! The Bible is wonderfully harmonious in it's history, prophecy, and details. Those who claim that the Bible is full of contradictions really don't have a leg to stand on.

Unfortunately, as believers we can be a bit jumpy about this criticism. When we see someone exposing an alleged contradiction we tend to respond poorly. Usually we either boycott that person or teaching (anyone remember "The Davinci Code"?) or we panic and run from the attack. By doing this, we give up opportunities to be a witness and defend our faith. That's why I'm starting this series in my blog post. I think it's important that we not only know the Bible, but know why we believe it. I'll post different facts from time to time under the title "Cool Consistencies". This posts will serve the purpose of focusing on some really cool ways that they Bible is consistent and accurate.

Here's the consistency for today. I ran in to this one last week while doing my personal Bible reading and couldn't wait to share it!

I just started doing a personal study on the gospel of Mark. After reading the section about John the Baptist being the forerunner of Jesus, my study guide asked me this question about John: John's clothing was similar to that of Elijah, what is the significance of this? I had never really thought about this before but when I tracked it down I found a cool correlation between John and Elijah.

In Mark 1:6 we have a description of the way John dressed. The Bible tells us that he wore a robe made of camel's hair (which by the way, would be extra hairy looking, keep this in mind) and had a leather belt around his waist. He also lived out in the wilderness and was one of the first people to "go organic" by eating only locusts and honey. Okay, so John was an eccentric guy who lived in the woods...big deal. Well actually, yeah, it is a big deal!

Back in Malachi 4:5-6 God promises to send a prophet that will lead people to repentance before the Lord comes. He refers to this prophet as "Elijah". In other words, "I will send a guy just like Elijah that will come and warn you that it's time to repent!" So the people would be on the lookout for this prophet who was going to be the forerunner of the Messiah. Here is where it really gets cool.

In 2 Kings 1 a bunch of guys run into this crazy man in the wilderness who claims to give them a message from God. They go back to the king and describe this man. This is what they describe to the king: "A hairy man wearing a leather belt around his waist". When the king hears this description he says, "Oh, that's Elijah you're talking about!" Elijah's look and clothing were enough for the king to instantly recognize who his men were talking about!

So let's bring this together: Elijah dressed in a unique way so that he would be unmistakable as a prophet of God. God promises that before the Messiah comes he will send a prophet that is just like Elijah. John the Baptist shows up on the scene and he is dressed exactly the same way that Elijah used to dress. You do the math! It's like God is pointing a neon sign to John the Baptist saying "This guy is the prophet I promised! You'd better listen to him!" He even went to the extreme of having John dress exactly like Elijah so that when people looked at him they would think of the Old Testament prophet!

I found this correlation between Elijah and John the Baptist to be fascinating. Even in the seemingly mundane area of clothing, God's word is completely consistent. John had to act and dress like Elijah so that people would recognize him to be the prophet God promised. Either God knew what he was doing or John did some research and perpetrated a scam. What do you think?

Have you ever been accused of being weak because you need religion? Have you ever been told that going to church and believing in God is just a crutch for people who can't deal with their lives? Well, next time that happens, go ahead and tell your accuser that they are right! Jesus is a crutch! Let me explain...

Listen to what Jesus said in Mark 2:17: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance". When do you need a crutch? When you've broken something or you are hurt in a major way. Every single one of us is broken in some way because of sin and we need Jesus to heal our brokenness!

We can see the effects of sin in every area of our lives. Broken relationships. Physical illnesses. Emotional trauma. Those who deny these things aren't living in reality. Perhaps they are just oblivious or maybe they have created their own little worlds, denying that any pain exists. But most of us agree that pain is real and interact with it in some form quite often.

But the good news of the gospel is that God has a solution for the problem of sin! As we put our trust in Him, the Lord can help heal us from the pain we have been experiencing. He can work to restore relationships, heal us from sickness, and give us true joy. And in those times when he doesn't choose to keep us from pain, we can lean on Him and know that he has a purpose. Just the fact of knowing that God has a plan can be enough to help us through some pretty tough trials!

Those who criticize us for following the Lord usually deny their own brokenness and need for healing. But pretending that you don't have an injury does not make it go away! They may try to hide their pain by having fun or living for success or acceptance, but eventually their brokenness will be revealed.

So is Jesus a crutch? Absolutely! He is the only reason that I can be healed from my brokenness and live a joyful and blessed life! And I would much rather have Jesus carry me than try to stand on a broken leg!

Before I began dating Charlene, I never used the text messaging function on my cell phone. It was just a nuisance. I could never type very quickly and I couldn't figure out how to send the message once I had composed it. The only time I even attempted it was in response to messages from my teens in youth group. Since they knew I rarely texted, this only happened on isolated occasions. Now I rarely go one day without texting my wife to see how her day is going or to respond to a message she sends me.

I was also a bit late to the whole "Facebook" party. My youth group kids would tell me that I should get a profile, but I reasoned that having a myspace page and using email was good enough. Now most of my online communication with friends is exclusively through Facebook. Usually if I tell Ira I will "email" him, it is implied that I actually mean sending him a message on Facebook. Many times we plan appointments and meetings without ever picking up the phone. We simply "Facebook" each other until the details are figured out.

I recently opened a "twitter" account. My first reaction was "what is the point of this?" but I'm going to stick with it because I have learned that new ways of connecting with people can be very beneficial and fun.

I think the same can be said about our relationship with God. Many times we can get stuck in a routine in the way we connect with the Lord. We can tend to think that the only way to relate to Him is by spending hours reading the Bible and praying, or maybe by going to church. While those things can be very beneficial, I think we also need to realize that there are a ton of ways that we can relate to God! He wants to connect with us in everyday life in the same way that I desire to see how my wife is doing by sending her a quick text message!

King David used Music to connect to God. Have you ever heard a song that really ministered to you and made you think about God in a new or different light? I know sometimes a certain song has really spoken to me and I have used it to meditate on a certain truth about the Lord.

Sometimes being out in creation has drawn me closer into God's presence. Last Spring I went on a hike in Camden with a couple of friends. We were amazed to be able to look in one direction and see Mt. Washington 107 miles away, then look in the opposite direction and see Acadia National Park about 80 miles away! What an amazing testimony to God's creative power!

I'm really into movies and my wife can attest to the fact that I am constantly seeing spiritual parallels in the movies we watch. Those of you who have heard me preach know that I like to use movie clips from time to time to help illustrate this point. If we are paying attention, many times we can find spiritual truth in media, even if it was not what the producers of the media originally intended!

These are just a few of the ways that I have found myself connecting with God in some unexpected areas. I'm sure there are many, many more because each person is unique and connects to different things. God is intently desiring for us to connect with him each day! We can do that in a thousand different ways if we are paying attention. The question is: Are you connected?

Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take whatever pleases him and offer it up. Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. O king, Araunah gives all this to the king." Araunah also said to him, "May the Lord your God accept you." But the king replied, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." (2 Samuel 24:22-24)

For my personal Bible reading I've been going through 1 and 2 Samuel. As I was finishing up with 2 Samuel the other day, these verses really struck me.

Basically, David needed to repent after conducting his sinful census. In His pride, he had wanted to number all the mighty fighting men in his ranks so he could pat himself on the back. He was advised against it, but went through with the census nonetheless. Afterward, the Lord appeared to David and gave him his choice of 3 punishments. The punishment he received ended up being a severe plague on the Land. Realizing that he needed to repent he went to this man Araunah searching for a place to build an altar to the Lord. That's where we picked up the story in the verses above.

What stood out to me here was David's response when Araunah offered to give him everything for free. David basically says, "I need to pay you for this because I'm not going to sacrifice something cheap to the Lord". David understood that a sacrifice that didn't cost him anything was really not a sacrifice at all, but simply a token gesture. It would have been convenient, cheap, and meaningless.

I think there is an important challenge in this passage for us: Are we really giving the Lord our best or only what is convenient?

As believers, God has called us to fully surrender our lives to Him. That includes everything. Our family, our hobbies, our house, our talents. That can be pretty costly! And I fear that too many times, rather than giving the Lord a quality sacrifice, we scrounge around for something we aren't really using anyway and lay it before him as an offering. "Here you go Lord, you can have my old Cassette player..."

The problem is, sacrifices like that are really not sacrifices at all! And when we don't give God our best, it shows that we aren't taking His sacrifice seriously! He gave us absolutely everything He had when He sent Jesus to die a brutal death in our place. Shouldn't that motivate us to dig deep and give our all!

David understood that in order for His sacrifice to be valid, it had to cost him something. What about us? Are we giving the Lord our best, even though it costs us? Or are we satisfied with cheap sacrifices that we will never miss? Think about it.

"See all around, now the nations
bow down to sing. The only
sound is the praises to Christ,
our King. Slowly the names from
the book are read. I know the
King, so there’s no need to dread."

These lyrics come from one of my favorite songs called "No More Night". (An awesome performance of it can be seen here) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDQijZ0OpaU

The song is all about heaven and how amazing it will be to spend eternity with Jesus. As I was listening to it this morning I was reminded of a simple yet profound truth found in this line: "I know the King, so there's no need to dread".

The reason I can be certain that I will be with Jesus some day is that I know Him personally! He is my friend and I have no doubt he will recognize me when I enter his presence!

We've all had the experience of entering a situation where we don't know anyone. Maybe it's the first day on a new job, moving to a new area, or soliciting a stranger for help. Those instances can be disconcerting because we wonder whether those around us will accept us, like us, etc.

Contrast that feeling to hanging out with a good friend. When I go over to the Hall household, I don't worry about being an outsider. I'm "uncle Nate" to the kids, Ira is my brother and friend, and Sarah is an adopted sister. I know that when I enter that house I will be recognized, loved, and accepted. That's a wonderful feeling!

How much greater will it be when I step into the presence of Jesus! He is my best friend right now. I talk to Him and relate to Him on a daily basis. So I don't have to worry that he won't recognize me in heaven! It will simply be the completion and continuation of an already existing friendship. Talk about eternal security!

So what about you? Do you know Him? Are you looking forward to the day when you can continue your friendship with Jesus in an even closer way?