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  If you claim to ‘have no sin’, then you ‘deceive yourself and the truth is not in you’. That’s what the Bible teaches and you’ll find it there in 1 John 1:8. But that is not to suggest that a follower of Jesus will continue to practice sin simply because they are a ‘flawed human being’ or, as we like to say in our church circles…” a sinner saved by grace”. I still remember the first time I heard someone make the statement: “I’m a saint who sins.” They had a hard time coming to terms with several passages I shared that stated “those who abide in Jesus no longer sin.” (1 John 3:6,9; 5:18). Let me be clear here: We were ALL sinners at one time, and to suggest otherwise is to call God a ‘liar’ (1 John 1:10; Rom. 6:23). But that doesn’t mean you continue to sin after you repent and come to Jesus with a surrendered heart in order that He might cleanse you with His truth (and blood) and set you free from all sin (John 8:32-36; 1 John 1:7). But…But…But…IF….you do stumble and sin along ...
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  What dog owner has never had to remove a tick from their beloved pet? Whether you do it yourself or have someone else with a stronger stomach do it…you probably know that those pesky arachnids (in the spider family) just don’t leave on their own. If you ever had a dog run off into the woods and stay awhile, chance are if/when they returned, they were in great need of a long cleansing bath. You might even use some of that expensive dog shampoo that promises to get rid of ticks and fleas as well, but you probably also know that after you have them bathed and dried off…you will most likely still need to comb through their hair and ears, leg crevices and all… to remove numerous stubborn ticks that did not come off in the bath. IYKYK This might be an odd illustration to use for today’s lesson, and I don’t believe I’ve ever made this comparison before, but there is no shortage of God’s people, whom He likens as ‘sheep gone astray’…that might be in serious need of having some ‘spiritua...
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  One last thought to pass on regarding my message yesterday where we touched on the tragic story and ongoing trial of Lindsay Clancy, who could very well hear the jury’s verdict sometime this week. The labor & delivery nurse, and mother of three children, whom she admits to taking their lives… entered a plea of ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’. In simple terms, to be labeled ‘insane’ suggests a person is, or was not…in their ‘right mind’. You may recall my recent lesson where we looked at the account found in Mark’s gospel when Jesus encountered a man who was in serious need of some ‘deliverance’, a term we associate with being freed from ‘unclean’ or ‘demon’ spirits. The man was sorely afflicted and in great torment as we learn that he could not be controlled or contained. He was known by the townspeople to run through graveyards at night, crying out, along with cutting himself with stones (Mark 5:2-5). In modern day terms, some people would label him as a ‘cutter’, amo...
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  Over the past five years…I’ve done well to avoid wading into addressing ‘current events’, for the most part, when writing and then sharing my daily blog lessons here on social media. Every now and then (and it’s rare)…I might feel compelled to point out something that strikes me as worth using as an object lesson; but by the grace of God I feel confident that I have kept these message ‘word centered’ and have avoided getting entangled with ‘news events’, and the cares of this life which can easily capture people’s fancy on any given day (Mark 4:19). But today will be one of those exceptions. The reason I am going down this path in my lesson this morning is because both examples seem to ‘fit’ with a narrative that I’ve been addressing the past few days, and have been over these last several years. Take what you want from today’s message, but I do believe that many ‘natural’ events that pop up in our daily news cycles can oftentimes serve as a reminder, or better yet…a ‘reflection...
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  I am not one who claims to have a continuous flow of ‘spiritual dreams’ where I believe God is ‘speaking to me’; but I have had a couple of notable ones over the years where that seemed to be the case; and that is ‘scriptural’ in case you are wondering (Acts 2:17). Yet I am an active dreamer, meaning something always seems to be going on in my head when I sleep, but seldom do they ever make sense or bear worth repeating to anyone because of that. But I did wake up the other morning after dreaming about a particular Bible verse, of all things. When I say I was dreaming about a ‘verse’, it really was a particular passage with reference and all, and it just kept boring into my subconscious as if to drive a point home, and when I finally woke up, I could not get it off my mind, so naturally I went to spend some time looking it over. It’s a verse I have cited here numerous times before and it is John 3:36. “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believ...
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  It’s called ‘taking possession of the land’, and it is what God wanted that first generation of Israelites to do after He delivered them from slavery in Egypt centuries ago under the leadership of Moses. You now the story…the plagues, the great escape, the crossing of the Red Sea and then a short passage through the wilderness where God delivered the 10 Commandments to them. It was never a final destination for them to inhabit this inhospitable land, it was merely a ‘testing ground’ on their way to a better place (Deut. 8:2). The problem was…the people failed the test in multiple ways, capping it off by refusing to go in and to take possession of the land God had for them; a land I might remind you that was fertile and fruitful, flowing with ‘milk and honey’. But the people just didn’t think it was remotely possible that life could be that good, or that they could take the necessary actions to ‘overcome the enemy’ and live as conquerors which God had promised them would happen...
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  Jesus said, on more than one occasion…to “go and sin no more.” (John 5:14; 8:11). He was just kidding, right? I mean…seriously…Jesus had to know how impossible that would be for flawed humans like us, right? Something must have been lost in the language translations over time. News Flash: If you study this out in the Greek…’no more’…actually means…’no more’. I’m pretty sure God meant that, regardless of what we have been taught. (Romans 3:4) As we discussed yesterday, we are feeling ‘led’ to begin our house cleaning by going through the house and picking up all the opened/unopened mail, junk mail, miscellaneous papers laying around, newspapers, receipts, etc. So grab a paper sack or wastebasket and let’s just deal with this one aspect of all the house clutter, once and for all. You can start with whichever room you want, but let’s make sure to go through the whole house; then we can cross that chore off the list. Now for the sake of our lesson here, let’s presume this particu...
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