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  When Jesus gathered with His disciples on the Mount of Olives, they asked Him privately if He might share with them how one could know when the ‘end of the age’ would come and what might be some evident ‘signs’ leading up to His return. (Matt. 24:3) And what a ‘sermon’ of a response Jesus gave them. It would appear that it spans two chapters if you read 24 and 25 straight through. Jesus touches on so many points in His response, but it’s always the first statement out of His mouth that always gets my attention: “Take heed that no one deceives you, for many will come in My name…and will deceive many.” (Matt. 24:4-5). (Paul alludes to this fact as well in 2 Cor. 11:3-4 and Gal. 1:6-9) Jesus goes on to point out of a great divide that will arise between ‘nations’, a word derived from a Greek word that we get the word ‘ethnic’. He continues on… warning how ‘you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake’ (9). But it’s the next verse that I’d like to launch from for today’s le...
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  This idea that God desires, wants, and yes…even ‘requires’ that we come to Him with our ‘whole heart’… really is ‘a thing’ with Him. Seriously, He really meant that! Jesus agreed that loving God with ‘all our heart’ was the single most important and ‘greatest commandment’. (Matt. 22:36-38) When asked what one ‘must do’ in order to receive or inherit ‘eternal life’, Jesus told the lawyer who quizzed Him…”love the Lord your God with all your heart…” (Luke 10:25-28) When a rich, young ruler came to Him asking a similar question, Jesus again…pointed to the ‘law’, as in ‘keep the commandments and you will enter into life’, the young man pressed Jesus asking ‘which ones?’ (Matt. 19:16-18). We soon discover that this ‘seeker’ makes the same mistake that many of us have been guilty of doing over the span of our lives and just automatically ‘assume we’re good with God’. But wait…a more probing conversation ensues and reveals something that was not apparent at first. This young man was a...
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  Based on what I’ve always heard and thought to be true, and then later ‘confirmed’ by a simple internet ‘search’, tapping in to the National Cancer Institute, a person's body can ‘harbor cancer cells that remain dormant for months, years, and even decades without developing into a tumor causing detectable illness’. (.gov) These ‘sleeping’ cells are clinically known as ‘cancer cell dormancy’. The article also includes this statement: “What causes disseminated cancer cells to enter, and then to leave, a dormant state is not known.” The same could be said about other dreaded diseases out there today that we know are often times passed down through family lines. I’ve personally known families who agonized over whether to have their children tested to see if they were ‘predisposed’, or had the particular cells, given there were no known cures for that particular disease. If you would please, take a moment and read through this passage found in Deut. 28:58-63. However you want to ...
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  This idea of ‘unfortunate things’ being passed down through family lines is nothing new to us. Have you not read or heard where there are increasing numbers of young women who are undergoing double mastectomies because they have learned that breast cancer runs in their families, and they are ‘predisposed’ to developing it as well, having certain genetic factors in place? Were you aware that many victims of sexual abuse at the hands of a parent ... later find out their abuser was a victim themselves? Surely you've heard how alcoholism or drug addiction runs through family lines? And why do adoptive children go to great efforts at times to trace down their biological parents? Usually it has to do with wanting to know the medical history of their blood family, if for no other reasons. Do you suffer from depression or anxiety attacks...with painful memories as you watched a parent go through something similar? Maybe your ‘anger issues’ were always ‘jokingly attributed’ to a pare...
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  “The apple doesn’t fall far from the apple tree.” Have you ever heard that saying before? Or perhaps it was something similar regarding how someone was a ‘chip off the old block’? Both phrases refer to someone who closely resembles their parent in character, behavior, or appearance. It highlights the idea that children inherit traits from their parents, whether they be physical features, personality traits, or talents, etc. The Bible leads us to understand that other ‘traits’ can be inherited as well, as in the ‘not so good ones’...like sin and death. (Romans 5:12) But I want to direct our attention to what is revealed in the 2nd commandment, which is first made known in Exodus 20:4, and then later in Deut. 5:9. It’s the commandment that warns God’s people to not engage with creating or carving out images or likenesses of anything that might take God’s place of rightful worship, which was the first commandment. We could obviously spend more time examining just what that might en...
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  “He who has ears to hear...let him hear...” It was a phrase Jesus used on multiple occasions which could be interpreted as a ‘call to action’. Jesus was urging His listeners to pay close attention and deeply understand the spiritual meaning behind what He was teaching. Can I just remind any and all who might be reading here today...that if there is any ‘deeper’ truths to be ‘revealed’, grasped, and understood...it will be the Holy Spirit who is doing the ‘revealing’. I would also add here that it seems to only be the ones whom Jesus has their whole hearts...that have ‘deeper enlightenments’ revealed to them. I know...sounds a tad lofty and elite, but all I can do is point you to what the Bible says – (Matt. 13:11; 16:17; Luke 24:32,45; John 5:39-40; Acts 16:14). So if you perceive to be receiving any spiritual insights from what you have been learning lately...be sure it goes to your heart, and not your head. Just saying... I have to remind myself regularly as to who my perc...
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  “Notice how God is both kind and severe. He is very hard on those who disobey, but very good to you if you continue to love and trust him. But if you don’t, you too will be cut off.” (Rom. 11:22 TLB) Yeah....that really is there in our Bible, so if you want to take a moment and go underline it, I’ll wait for you here. It has been said that you can often find ditches on ‘both sides of the road’, which speaks volumes to me when it comes to how we teach what we believe the Bible says regarding our faith and walk with Christ. If we’re not careful, we can end up in either ditch, sometimes simply because we overcompensated in trying to avoid the ditch on the left, we ended up in the one on the right; if that makes sense? So take that verse from Romans we began with here, that speaks to ‘two sides’ or two ‘natures’ of God, where He is both loving and good, but can also be ‘severe’ or harsh. If one spends an unhealthy amount of time placing emphasis on one nature or the other, you can ...
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