Are you right with God? Are you on speaking terms with Him? Do you sense His presence and leading in your life? Will you be with Him someday? The answer to these and many more questions can and should be a resounding YES! Why you ask? Because God has gone to the farthest degree to make it possible! He wants your answers to be yes because He created you, He loves you and wants the best for you!

All we need do is look back in Bible history to see the extreme ends to which God went through to help His people be “Right With Him”. To accomplish this for the Isreal nation He gave detailed and strict instructions to Moses to pass on to the Priests of Israel to follow in their wilderness journey.

Their worship was performed at the Tabernacle where they gathered around it in the wilderness. The Lord appeared to them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. All twelve tribes camped around the worship center. It was the center of their lives.

The Priests followed God’s commandments and an elaborate system of rituals and animal sacrifices on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis. Blood was shed and poured out at their altars and in front of the Lord in the Holy of Holys once a year inside the Tabernacle. Why you might ask? The main goal was to keep the people “Right with Him”.

We read fifteen times in the book of Numbers & Leviticus Moses where God uses the phrase “Right with the Lord”.

This phrase “Right with the Lord” appears 10 times in Leviticus chapter four alone, and showed He was very intense and intent on the people being one with Him. At the end of one of the instructions for sacrifice it summarizes:

“Thru this process the priest will purify the people making them right with the Lord and they will be forgiven.” (Leviticus 4:20)

From this verse we can glean the purpose of their worship.

1. Purify the People

2. Re-establish a Right Relationship with God

3. Grant Forgiveness for their sins

Centuries later these same purposes were fulfilled “Once For All” for “All People” by Jesus ministry on earth which culminated by His death on a cruel Cross.

By Jesus coming to Earth and living a sinless life and then willingly offering himself as a pure sinless sacrifice He did away with the entire previous system! No more rules and regulations, no more endless sacrifices of animals. Just a personal step of Faith to trust in Jesus. You know the verse, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) This is the Gospel or “Good News” in a nutshell.

Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Have you trusted in Him? If not, do it today! For then, and only then will you be “Right with God”!

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The 3 year anniversary of my brother Larry going to be with the Lord is this week. He was better known as “Laramie” in our family and he loved nicknames! My oldest brother Warren was called Butch & Pooch but Laramie called him Poochbone! My great grandmother addressed my birthday card to “Brain Wolfe” hence, my older brothers Laramie & Pooch nicknamed me “Brain” from that time forward. Then they came home from school one day and started calling my twin brother Bruce “Smith”, just because they had a classmate named Bruce Smith! Yes, we still call him Smith today! Our little brother Frederick’s name was of course shortened to Fred, but they also called him “Freeedrick” which later transformed to “Fled” for some unknown reason! Yep, you guessed it, he’s Fled today! Our youngest brother Steven’s nickname was more conventional as “Stevie” which I don’t think has any story attached to it. Though as an adult “Stevie” has mostly been dropped for Steven instead.

God liked giving people nicknames, or name changes as it were. He changed Abram to Abraham, Jacob to Israel, Jeshua to Joshua and in the New Testament Jesus changed Simon Barjona to Peter. Their name changes were’nt for fun though, they were very serious and were tied to His plans for BIG things to take place in their lives and the life of His Church. After Jesus launched His Church in the Book of Acts another categorical name change took place. Those who put their faith and trust in Him began to be called “Christians” first as a derrogatory name by the faithless leaders of their time, but eventually as a powerful name of the true Christ Followers who would turn the world upside down as they took the Gospel message to the ends of the earth!

My brother Laramie calling me Brainiac was an endearing term to me. Not that I’m a real brainiac, but it felt like a demonstration of appreciation and brotherly love which I will treasure for the rest of my life. As an Evangelist who had a strong passion for souls he would often leave an encouraging, or sometimes lighthearted comment on my blogs, especially those in which I gave the Gospel message. Twenty eight days before his departure to heaven he left his last comment on my blog “Trees and Me” (see link below). I truly miss his fellowship, big brother advice, encouragement and of course being called “Brainiac”! I wonder what new nicknames he’s coming up with now!

Larry’s Story

Trees and Me

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