Sheep Food

  “If ...the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” I don’t know where you will find in scripture, a more powerful and strategically placed use of that two letter word ‘if’...than right there in Romans 8:11. The word “if” hints at a question, something that is uncertain and not clearly established yet. And are you ready for this? The question of ‘if’ is not directed here at the fact of whether Christ was raised from the dead...or not. What is being called into question...is whether or not that ‘same Spirit’ dwells in us. Take a moment with that one, if you would please. I’m guessing that is why we are encouraged to: “examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail the test.” (2 Cor. 13:5) Can I speak some truth here, in love...with you today? ...

  Jesus said a lot of hard things. In fact, more often than not, He would say things that caused people to take offense, or it would confuse them and yes...even drive ‘many’ away where they no longer walked with Him. (John 6:60,66) And even at the risk of being misunderstood by those who were closest to Him, He still said things that were hard for people to grasp, let alone accept and embrace. Fortunately for some of those followers, who in those moments just didn’t ‘see it’, when asked if they too wanted to walk away, it was Simon Peter who looked at Jesus and replied: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68). So Jesus kept on saying those hard things. And He meant what He said too. I worry that many fail to believe that, that Jesus meant what He said, because if we did believe all those things...we would ‘do’ them. What was it that Paul told Titus, that many would ‘profess to know Jesus, but by their actions ( or inactions) they would deny...

  If you read yesterday’s message and even began to ‘take it to heart’, then perhaps the words of Peter might begin to make more sense to you now, when he writes: “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you...” (1 Pet. 4:12).  These 'trials' have a way of exposing, or 'revealing' what is in our hearts (Luke 6:45), hearts, we  should all be reminded of... that are in need of being 'purified' because they are defiled. (Jer. 17:9; 2 Cor. 7:1; Mark 7:21-23; Matt. 5:8; 1 John 3:3) Earlier in that letter, Peter spoke to the various ‘trials’ the believers were going through, suggesting their faith was being ‘tested by fire’ as a part of a purifying process, much like what gold goes through (1:6-7). Or how about when James writes: “ My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect ...

  When Adam and Eve broke the one command that God gave them (Gen. 2:17), and ate from that one tree, their ‘eyes were opened’ and both were overtaken with shame and fear, especially when they heard the voice of God calling for them in the garden. So they tried to hide themselves in their nakedness by sewing fig leaves together and then hid among the other trees or shrubbery. (Gen. 3:6-10). When God asked them what they were doing, they replied, saying they were hiding because they were  afraid and naked. That’s when God inquired: “Who told you that you were naked?” (11). Clearly, it wasn’t God who told them that. Do you think it is possible that the same ‘serpent of old, the devil...who deceives the whole world’ (Rev. 12:9)...and who presumably told Adam and Eve they were naked...could also be deceiving countless people today, telling them that they are ‘fully clothed... in God’s righteousness’ ...simply because they verbally acknowledge they ‘believe in Jesus’? Oh...the iro...

  If/when Jesus... is not truly Lord (or King) of our lives, we have a tendency to ‘do what is right in our own eyes’; and this has been a pattern or rut humanity has fallen into for a long time. (Judges 21:25) Have you ever been around a construction project where precise measuring was absolutely necessary, and you hear these random phrases like “I’ll just eyeball it”, or...”That looks close enough for me!”? My favorite was “It’s good enough for government work”, which always gave me pause. Yeah...you’d be surprised how often we do that with our Bibles when it comes to preaching the gospel; why do you think we have so many varied denominations (and their assorted doctrines) out there that can confuse the heck out of believers and non-believers alike? In his letter to the Romans, Paul was expressing his concerns for his fellow brethren (the Jews), and he acknowledges that they did indeed have a ‘zeal for God....but not according to knowledge” (10:2). He flat out declares they wer...

  “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Pet. 4:17) That...is one of those NT verses you may hear quoted from time to time for ‘dramatic effect’ in a sermon...but then we move on to other things and fail to give serious consideration as to what Peter was trying to convey there. I mean just that somber inference to those who don’t ‘obey the gospel of God’...what does ‘obedience’ have to do with any of this much talked about ‘faith alone’ we hear about all the time? (Luke 6:46; Heb. 5:9; 2 Thess. 1:8). “Obey....the gospel?” How many of you were taught early on that just meant to ‘really believe in your heart’...and that you would be ‘fine’; no need to worry!? What is there to ‘obey’ besides ‘accept and believe in your heart that Jesus is the Son of God’? Well, for starters, the demons ‘believe’ and they tremble. (James 2:19) Or perhaps you are in the sc...