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  “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the LORD.” (Jer. 23:1) Friends….I’m telling you…we ought not to be in a hurry to call ourselves ‘teachers/preachers’ of God’s word, and James tells us why that is in his letter- “for we who teach will be judged more strictly” (3:1) Do you know why God was not pleased with his teachers/prophets back in Jeremiah’s day? Because “the Lord’s flock was taken captive” (Jer. 13:17); and if you continue on reading chapter 23 there…it will become clear why: “they caused God’s people to err.” (13). Twice, in the first two verses in this chapter, God accuses these teachers, or ‘shepherds’ of being responsible for ‘scattering His flock of sheep’ (1-2). Do you want to know what a scattered flock of sheep looks like? Take a look at Matt. 9:35-36. You’ll probably will recall that Jesus was not real thrilled with the teachers of God’s word back in His day either, calling them a bunch of ‘vipers’ (Matt. 12:34; 23:33)....
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  I have a question for you. If you were sitting in a jail cell on death row in a highly fortified prison, and the warden himself came to you and handed you an electronic ‘key-pass’ that would open any and every door for you within that complex until you walked out the front gate, telling you that you were ‘free to go’…would you not take him up on that? If you chose not to, for whatever reasons, it might prompt the warden, or maybe a neighboring cell mate who heard the offer… to ask this question: “How can you neglect so great a salvation?” (Heb. 2:3) So how many sincere ‘Christians’ today are still imprisoned to ‘sin’, and make no effort to hide the fact they are still ‘bound’ and will most likely remain bound…’until they get to heaven’ someday? What did Jesus say about anyone who ‘commits sin’, in John 8:34? And yet once we come to ‘know the truth’…what will this ‘truth’ do for anyone who receives it? (32,36). I’ll be the first one to admit that my understanding to all this did...
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  “For [God does not overlook sin and] the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who in their wickedness suppress and stifle the truth…” (Romans 1:18 AMP) Hence…the reason Paul expressed why he had no shame or hesitation in declaring the gospel of Christ, giving this reason: “ …for it is the power of God for salvation [from His wrath and punishment] to everyone who believes…” (16) The gospel, or ‘good news’… that Jesus came preaching teaches us how we might be ‘saved from the wrath of God’, and it begins with ‘repentance’ (Mark 1:15; Matt. 4:17). You might also underline that part where it states it is the ‘power of God for salvation’, with that word ‘power’ implying a super-natural or miraculous working power. Care to guess why we might need such a ‘power’? How about in order to set us free from the power of Satan and sin? (Acts 26:18; 2 Tim. 2:25-26) I mean really…it’s pretty simple and quite profound to think we could have suc...
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  A good friend of mine shared this story with me years ago, about how he was sitting in a Sunday School class in a church that prided itself on being ‘Pro-Israel’ as well as being on the ‘right’ side of the ‘political divide’. An elderly deacon in the class chimed in with a passionate statement of support for the nation of Israel, voicing his view that “Israel can do no wrong!” There was just one minor problem with such a blanket statement made by this gentleman: nearly the entire Old Testament is a well-documented account of how Israel was constantly ‘doing wrong’, and then suffering the consequences of God’s wrath for their ‘wrong doings’. God’s ‘chosen people’ were repeatedly falling into sin and rebellion, and then ‘forgetting the Lord their God’, despite the repeated warnings that came through various prophets whom God sent to them. And 'whose' people... were often ‘destroyed for a lack of knowledge’? It was God’s people (Hosea 4:6). It’s not surprising that many people ...
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  It’s one of those passages that will stop you dead in your tracks; especially if you have ever pastored a church, taught a Sunday School class, or led a small-group Bible study. You’ll find it in Ezekiel 33, and it’s where God communicated to the prophet these words: “If the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity;; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand… So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me. ” (33:6-7) That might be why James cautioned ‘wanna-be’ teachers not to be in such a rush to do so… pointing out how “we shall receive a stricter judgment.” (James 3:1) And please let the record show that God makes it known through Ezekiel there…”As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the w...
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  So as I made the case for in yesterday’s message…we come to discover that we all have our own unique ‘story’ when it comes to how we met or encountered God for the first time; that is…assuming you have already. For others…that story remains to be written. But we can classify those stories as a ‘personal experience’; and while personal experiences can be wonderful and life changing…that is all they are- a personal experience. It is a waste of time to try and compare your story with someone else’s because God has His own unique way in meeting us where we are at, and we are told that He first has to ‘draw us’ (John 6:44); but that is no guarantee that we will respond to His drawing favorably. I do believe we have a ‘choice’ in the matter (Joshua 24:15) and we can opt to remain in darkness (John 3:19-20) if that is indeed what we ‘love more’. But ‘coming to Jesus’ is a ‘starting place’, not a final destination where we have ‘arrived’. I think the church world at large would do a gr...
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  Lots of sincere people will tell you quite candidly about ‘personal experiences’ that have had when it comes to spiritual matters in God’s kingdom. I’ve had a few myself. Personal experiences are wonderful and can offer great encouragement, confirmation, and inspiration to our faith in so many ways; but it’s important to be reminded that personal experiences are just that: ‘personal’. Where we get into trouble is when we start wanting to build or establish ‘doctrine’ around those ‘experiences’…and then that experience you had begins to supersede what God’s word has already made clear. In other words, it becomes a problem when the experience conflicts with the word…and then we choose that experience over what God’s word says. This is usually when the ‘train comes off the tracks’ and all bets are off as new ‘denominations’ and doctrines begin to take root, and we start building structures around those new doctrines or experiences. God has a way of ‘revealing’ truths to us in order...
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