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  “Be filled with the Spirit.” (Eph. 5:18) That’s pretty good advice from Paul, especially if you have any sincere intentions of following Jesus and being conformed to His image and likeness; not to mention overcoming the devil, sin, and the flesh as you bear fruit showing yourself to be a child of God. (Rom. 8:14; 29) We do tend to hear though, more talk and teaching about being ‘filled’ with God’s Spirit than we do being ‘led’ by it. Go figure. What’s the point in receiving’ something that special and important if we don’t know how to make use of it? Going around claiming to ‘have’ something without bearing the proper fruit or evidence of it seems to border on spiritual pride, if not downright deception. Years ago, I heard a preacher say half-jokingly and half seriously that he had challenges trying to get people to volunteer around his church. It is hard to grow a thriving church without plenty of support which usually comes in the form of members stepping up to volunteer to...
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  Few of us, if any...enjoy being called out in front of others and ‘corrected’. Whether it’s a parent who does the calling out, a boss, a teacher, or a coach, we would prefer they do it in private to spare our pride/ego. So imagine how Martha must have felt when it was Jesus doing the reprimanding in front of her sister, and the disciples who were with Jesus at that time, and in her own home at that. Then to think it was recorded in the gospel of Luke for all of human history who would follow to hear about it as well. But there it is for us to see and learn from. (Luke 10:38-42) Ever feel like you are being made an ‘example’...for others to learn from? Maybe we would do well to take a few notes from what happened to Martha, especially if you are one who is prone to always jumping up ready to ‘get busy serving’...instead of taking your cue from Mary who chose the more important thing in that moment. You’re probably familiar with the story that is recorded for us in Luke’s gospe...
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  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. (James 4:8) What a beautiful promise that is, but be sure to read that promise in context, vs.6-10. I know...it can be a bit of a paradox here when it comes to this ‘drawing near to God’. James encourages us to do this...yet we are told by Jesus that “no one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44); so which is it? If the first thing that comes to mind is some rash or accusatory conclusion that the Bible is just a bunch of ‘contradictions’ ...and you want to toss that out as an ‘excuse’...then maybe your heart is being revealed here, and you were just looking for a reason to keep living life as you see fit. You wouldn’t be the first person to do this. Plenty of folks just like living in darkness more...and won’t come to the light. (John 3:19-21; Acts 26:18). I also know that ‘God’s eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are ‘perfect’ towards ...
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  To hear some folks explain it, you would think that God’s ‘grace’ is something akin to a pair of ‘rose colored glasses’ that God wears when He looks down on us in our sinful state, but instead of seeing our wretched sinfulness, He sees the ‘finished work of Jesus on the cross’, and therefore withholds judgment on us; that is...if we have ‘accepted Christ as our personal lord and savior’. No wonder God likens us as ‘sheep’, adding that His people are ‘destroyed for a lack of knowledge’ (Hosea 4:6). And it was for good reason that Paul expressed serious concerns for us NT ‘believers’ that we could be easily deceived as Eve was by the serpent...and end up following ‘another Jesus’ while receiving ‘another gospel and spirit’ (2 Cor. 11:3-4). I asked the other day how you might explain ‘grace’ to a young child where they could understand it. How’s that coming up with an explanation going for you? May I offer some assistance which I’m happy to do? I sure didn’t come up with this on ...
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  I’m not sure that I personally know people, other ‘believers’ per say, who honestly think that because they are a ‘Christian’ and are ‘saved by grace’...that they in turn can continue to go out and willfully sin, yet have no worries or concerns because ‘God’s grace has their backs’. But that’s not to say that such people don’t exist today. We read in the book of Jude where certain people would ‘creep in unnoticed’ and introduce heresies to suggest such a thing, twisting the message of grace as a license to sin (1:4). Yes, Paul was good to explain that while ‘sin might abound, grace does much more abound’ (Rom. 5:20-21), but he quickly nips the lingering next question in the bud by clarifying this does not mean we can continue to sin and expect grace to cover us (Rom. 6:1). He even asks a rather profound question: “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Rom. 6:2). He goes on to explain in that same chapter why that is an absurd thought given the fact we have been ...
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  Can you imagine the confusion...the frustration, the anger and eventual rejection a child might experience if raised by parents who place unreasonable demands and near impossible expectations upon them to live up to ...in order to gain their love and approval? Suppose a child with severe learning challenges, and who struggles to read is punished because they don’t bring home ‘straight A’s’. How many dads out there have wanted their sons or daughters to excel in any variety of sports at skill levels few ever achieve? Or what's a young man who is only 5’3” do if he was told that he better learn to ‘slam dunk’ a basketball if he had any hopes of continuing to live at home and be provided for during his high school years?  I know...crazy extreme examples here I’m using; but how about one more? A father wants his child to be able to ‘fly’ and forces him to ‘flap his arms’ before pushing him off the roof of his house. What kind of a sick parent places such demands on their chil...
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  George Carlin was a well-known comedian back in the ‘70’s who did a piece on the "7 Dirty Words you cannot say on TV"; and to hear many professing 'Christians' chime in these days, you might wonder if they think George should have included an 8th word, ‘obey’. When and how did the word ‘o-b-e-y’ become such an inappropriate word to be taken seriously by all those ‘believers’ who claim to be ‘saved by faith through grace, and not of works, lest anyone should boast’? (Eph. 2:8-9). To hear some explain it, obedience equates with ‘legalism’ which automatically throws you into the category of Pharisees and other ‘religions’ where the multitudes think they can ‘save themselves’ by their ‘good deeds and works’. God made it known through Samuel long ago: “Does the Lord have as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than a sacrifice, And to pay attention is better than the fat of rams.” (1 Sam. 15:22) Wh...
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