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  When John wrapped up his first letter cautioning believers everywhere to ‘keep themselves from idols’ (1 John 5:21), he did so for a good reason; he knew how easy it is for our hearts to chase after other things. That seems to have always been a problem for God’s people, our ‘hearts always going astray’ (Heb. 3:10). Jesus Himself pointed out how we might be proficient at ‘honoring God with our lips’…but then accusing us of possessing hearts that are ‘far from Him’ (Matt. 15:8) It can happen to new converts just as easily as it can happen to ‘seasoned saints’. God sure has His hands full constantly trying to get us ‘back in our-His lane’ …lest we drift and perish (Heb. 2:1; Luke 13:3,5). I shared this week of a couple of instances where He had to do that with me, and continues to do so even today: Be careful and alert…and guard your heart!. We are fully aware of an ‘enemy’ who roams about like a roaring lion seeking to devour’ (1 Pet. 5:8). We are ‘not ignorant of his devices...
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  (As promised - my ‘sort-of funny’ story about peanut butter cookies which I left off with in yesterday’s message) During my first year at Bible College many years ago…newly married and ready to take on the world, anxious to deliver the gospel for God’s kingdom…I got a part-time job driving a school bus for one of the local districts in town. And as my nature has always been, I enjoy bantering with kids and having fun with them. There was one particular afternoon where I was dropping off the last group of kids at their homes when someone asked me what my favorite kind of cookie was. I didn’t even have to think about it and popped off immediately…”Peanut Butter cookies with a chocolate Hershey Kiss planted right in the middle of them!” I also remember, quite vividly, adding the statement: “I love those cookies sooo much…that if they are not to be found in heaven…I’m not so sure I even want to go there!” I felt a ‘twinge’ immediately after hearing those words roll off my lips. Bu...
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  “Little children (believers, dear ones), guard yourselves from idols—[false teachings, moral compromises, and anything that would take God’s place in your heart].” (1 John 5:21- Amp.) That was how John ended his first epistle with a simple plea of warning: “Keep yourselves from idols”. An ‘idol’…in short is simply a ‘false god’, by definition, which I find to be interesting. We see that warning woven throughout the letters of the NT, with Paul making it clear that “no idolater…has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” (Eph. 5:5) with the added promise that the ‘wrath of God comes’…upon idolaters (Col. 3:5-6; 1 Cor. 6:9-10; Rev. 21:8; 22:15)  Have you ever found yourself reading through passages like those and thought to yourself: “Gosh…this sounds so serious”? There’s a good reason why – - It is serious, to God! Do you remember growing up and your parents sat you down on those rare occasions to have a ‘crucial conversation’ with you, wanting to instill some ...
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  “The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity.” (Luke 8:14 NLT) We know that Jesus used parables, or ‘word picture stories’ to talk about God’s kingdom to the masses of people who came to hear Him speak. One of the more widely known parables He shared is the ‘Parable of the Sower’, and is found in 3 of the 4 gospels. I should also point out that while there was much truth to be learned from these parables, Jesus only ‘revealed’ these truths to those closest to Him, His ‘disciples’. This is no small point either (Luke 8:10). So after Jesus shared this simple illustration with the multitude in Luke 8:4-8, His disciples came to Him inquiring as to what the story meant; and He was happy to explain it to them. The story itself tells how a man went out to sow some seed, and the seed fell on various types of soil, which aff...
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  “Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.” (1 Tim. 6:17 NLT) God richly gives us all we need…for our enjoyment… Have you ever heard anyone make the statement: “If it’s fun…it must be sin!” ? Yeah…that makes me chuckle too; and just so you know…that’s not a verse in the Bible. I don’t know who needs to hear this…but God is not ‘anti-enjoyment’, nor is He opposed to you having ‘fun’ and enjoying richly…a life lived to the fullest. He just wants to make sure you know that HE…is to be the source of that enjoyment and abundant life. That is, after all what He came to bring those who turn to Him with all their hearts (John 10:10). As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, God is not opposed to you ‘having things’. He just doesn’t want those ‘things to have you’, because then it becomes a problem for us, and a big one at that. Would you take ...
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  At the risk of offending a lot of well meaning, sincere folks who profess to be Christian, can I just tell you that if your personal ‘walk of faith’ has been characterized more...by ‘bumpy roads, tire blow-outs, nightmare-ish detours and flat out engine failures’…there’s a good chance that you missed the very first and most critical requirement of what it means to become a ‘Christian’. And that would be the need for a total surrender of your life to Jesus, up front. That is, after all…what it means (or is supposed to mean) when we ‘give our heart’ to Him. Failure to do so can lead to far more struggles and heartache than what God ever had planned for us. Christianity simply does not work when we insist on remaining in the ‘driver’s seat’. Living a surrendered life to God is not ‘hard’. WE…make it hard. Yeah, read that statement again. It’s only ‘hard’ when we say we have ‘given our lives’ to Him, but then refuse to surrender to Him….and hold on to ‘flesh’ (Luke 6:46). I can ...
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  You and I were created by God, and He has made known to us the mystery of His will and purposes through Christ, according to His good pleasure…and not the other way around. (Eph. 1:9; Rev. 4:11). The sooner we come to a place of realization that we exist to please Him, instead of pleasing ourselves…which comes about by aligning our lives and purposes with His will, the sooner we begin to walk in His peace and come to know His goodness and love. This is called walking in covenant with Him, and reaping the blessing that come with being a child of God. Clearly…not everyone will subscribe to this mindset nor surrender to this way of living. (John 1:11; 3:19-21) Have you ever been accused of being a ‘people pleaser’? You probably know what that is all about. Or have you ever known people who ‘lived to please themselves’? That doesn’t sound like any better of a reputation to have, to me at least. But then we read in the Bible about a man named Enoch…”who had this testimony, that he ...
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