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LIQUIDTHINKING IS: Stephen Zedler Jimmy Doyle Andy Mullins Current Sountrack
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Sunday, October 02, 2005
 The Gospel of the Kingdom of God is the only Gospel Thanks to Tom Mohn for his words this morning, and to the God who gave them to him The Bronze Snake: Numbers 21 4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, [c] to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!" 6 Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people. 8 The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived. The Lord gave the Israelites a gift... one that was meant to direct them to him. Yet, in typically human fashion, the Israelites get distracted. I wonder what happened to that snake. Hezekiah King of Judah: 2 Kings 18 1 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Abijah [a] daughter of Zechariah. 3 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done. 4 He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called [b] Nehushtan. [c] ) The gift that was meant to exalt God above everything else became exalted. The people began worshipping the gift rather than the gift-giver. How we cling to Nehushtan. How our churches are filled with it. So many things that God gave us to enjoy and to point to him we have taken and turned into our gods. Healing, singing, knowledge, community, reform... we are guilty of making them all Nehushtan. God smashes Nehushtan and begs us to come back to him and trust him alone. More later.
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Jimmy Doyle is a dad, husband,
teacher, friend, and other things. Currently he's just trying to figure out what it means to follow Christ and be in community with others. He enjoys having conversations with fellow pilgrims on the journey.
Stephen Zedler has a wife and three kids who he loves very much. He has been called by God to study and teach history, particularly U.S.
history. He also believes that God has called him to reform the way children are educated in America.