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  It’s the ‘little foxes that spoil the vine’...(Song of Solomon 2:15) I bet you have heard that phrase before, yes? How easy is it for us to dismiss or set aside those small, little ‘besetting sins’ (Heb. 12:1) in our life because really...they aren’t all that bad (in our eyes-Rom.10:3), especially when you compare it to ‘how you use to live’...or perhaps compared to others, right? (Luke 18:11) But heaven forbid we turn a blind eye to the sins of those evil gang members, sex-traffickers, pedophiles and axe-murderers that come across our borders. Yet... that root of bitterness or greed that you are hanging on to, or maybe that ‘critical spirit’ and sarcasm and envy you continue to struggle with...’meh...not that important given none of us are perfect’, right? And by-golly if an adulterer or homosexual shows up at our church, they best get themselves down to that altar and ‘repent’ if they plan on sticking around here; but that pride and jealousy that resides deep in your heart?.......
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  “We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” (Heb. 2:1) If God thought it wise to put warnings in His word about being careful to do as He asks of us lest we ‘drift away’...do you think He did so knowing there was a potential danger that we could actually do that - ‘drift’ away? And what does that even mean, to ‘drift away’? A simple definition for the word ‘drift’ is - ‘to be carried slowly by a current of air or water’. Did you catch the use of the word ‘slowly’, as we all know how subtle drifting can be? Have you ever been sitting in a canoe or small boat on the lake, maybe toying with some fishing gear or scrolling through your phone and you look up, only to discover that the spot you were in 30 minutes ago is much further away than you could have imagined? Or maybe dozing off on an air mattress catching some sun rays...and the same thing happens? I find it interesting how that definition uses both air and water...
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  You’re driving down a two-lane country highway and occasionally pass vehicles coming from the opposite direction. In Texas, it seemed to be the custom to give a subtle wave, maybe just raising two fingers up off the wheel to those drivers you passed.   And as most of us know...it's easy at times to get  distracted with any number of things while driving. Let’s be honest here...who has not ever had to make a quick correction when you found yourself ‘drifting’ into the other lane, thankful there was no collision with an oncoming car? And whether there is/was an oncoming 18-wheeler that you avoided missing head-on, or not... you still make the adjustment with your steering wheel because everyone in their right mind knows that driving in that other lane is extremely foolish, dangerous,(not to mention illegal) and could prove to be fatal. Can I state the obvious here and say that meeting a truck or any vehicle head-on while both are traveling at 60mph would most likely ...
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  “Take up your bed...and walk” (John 5:8). This is what Jesus told one paralyzed man who had been afflicted for 38 years. We know from what we read in all four gospels that Jesus healed countless numbers of people who were blind, deaf, paralyzed, along with healing all manners of sickness and diseases (Matt. 15:30-31). And as I mentioned the other day, there were two specific incidents where we get to listen in to the exchange of dialogue that Jesus had with these two particular lame men. The first one ...I mentioned above, and the other one is recorded in Mark 2:1-12. By all visible accounts, neither of these two men were able to walk in the manner in which they were created to walk. But that is not to say they did not want to walk like ‘normal’ people walk; they simply were unable to do this on their own. And simply ‘wanting’ or desiring or yearning to walk was not enough to make it happen. I’ve never been paralyzed but I wonder if a lame person ever lays there in bed or while ...
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  Spending your whole life learning ‘how to walk like Jesus walked’ was not the ‘long term’ plan for any Christian believer. The idea was for us to ‘take up our bed and walk’ so that we could get about ‘doing the will of God’ (1 Pet. 4:1-2) which is pretty important given it is only those who ‘do the will of the Father in heaven who shall enter the kingdom of heaven’ (Matt. 7:21) Yeah...I’ll give you a moment with that one; and reading yesterday’s message first should help some (in case you missed it). If anyone is tempted to fire back at me and ask: “So Tony, are you saying you walk like Jesus walked now?”...all I can tell you is... what I do, or fail to do is not the issue here. What does God’s word say? But let’s agree...should we not all all be able to say “Follow me as I follow Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1)? And if we are truly following Him, then we ought to be walking as He walked’ (John 10:27; 1 John 1:6-7; 2:6) Yes, we all know (using a natural example) that human babies will de...
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  Ok...I need you to hear me out on this one today as I anticipate it will be challenging to receive; so at least be willing to look up the verses and ask God to confirm if what I am sharing here is truth... or not (Acts 17:11;Mark 16:20)...and let me begin with what many might take exception to with a statement I have made in times past: Too many churches today spend more time ‘enabling’ people who sin instead of teaching them what true repentance is and then instructing them how to walk in the freedom that Christ purchased for us (Rom. 6:17-22,1-4). I mean we go out of our way to coddle, comfort, pacify, and yes...even ‘make excuses’ as to why 'believers' continue to sin. We ‘lovingly’ remind them that ‘nobody is perfect’ and we are just ‘saints who sin because we are sinners saved by grace’, capping it off with ‘Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven’. There’s just one small problem with that- it’s not biblical! (1 Cor. 5:9-13) Jesus calls us to ‘abide in Him’ if we ever ...
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  It’s critically important that I provide much scripture here for you to look up and read for yourself in these daily postings of mine. To not read them is only short-changing yourself because it is God’s word that brings cleansing and transformation into our lives; not my words (Eph. 5:26; 1 Thess. 2:13). But there are times that I do bring up personal experiences and testimonies that compliment or go along with confirming what God’s word has declared. There is nothing wrong with sharing one’s personal testimony as we see where Paul oftentimes began his preaching of the gospel by first sharing what had happened to him on that road to Damascus. But personal experiences are just that- personal. Nothing can take the place of God’s word. And I only bring that up because much of what I shared yesterday is so very real to me as I can remember quite clearly how my walk with Jesus began early on. I’ve shared snippets of that in the past and will touch on just a couple of things here t...
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