Posts

Image
  Clearly...not everyone in the world bought, or buys in...to the message of the kingdom Jesus came preaching, even though His message was for the whole world (John 1:10-12; 3:16; Acts 17:30). And even at that...many who started out following Him, decided the path was too steep and demanded too much of them, so they turned and walked away...no longer following Him (John 6:60-66). That is still happening today. (2 Thess. 2:3; 1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Tim.4:3-4) But to those who did ‘receive Him...to them He gave the opportunity, the right or capacity to ‘become...children of God’ (John 1:12). The first important nugget of truth we should glean from that passage is this: We are not all children of God! You might look at John 8:42-44 and 1 John 3:10 for further reference. Care to guess who the true ‘children of God’ are? If you read that verse I ended on yesterday, you should know already: “Those who are led by His Spirit” (Rom. 8:14). And if you did read yesterday’s message, it focused on wh...
Post a Comment
Read more
Image
  Lots of people in the world have no problem acknowledging that Jesus most likely lived on the earth, and will concede He was a great prophet and/or teacher who had many good things to say. And you will find no shortage of people today who profess to ‘believe in Him’, having no qualms admitting they believe He did indeed die on a cross and was raised from the dead three days later. These would be the same people who claim to ‘know’ Him and yes, even ‘love’ Him. Interestingly, Paul spoke of those whose minds and consciences had been ‘defiled’, and while they might ‘profess to know God’...they would actually ‘deny Him...by their actions’. (Titus 1:15-16). Has you ever wondered how we do that, how we ‘deny Him’? I’m always amused when I see a post on social media by people who will make mention of that scripture where Jesus talked about how if anyone ‘denies Him before men, He will deny them before His Father in heaven’ (Matt. 10:33); and then they promptly ‘go on record’ with a pu...
Post a Comment
Read more
Image
  “Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour...resist him...” (1 Peter 5:8 - Amp) “Do not give the devil (the enemy) and opportunity or any opening...” (Eph. 4:27) “Forgive one another...lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices/schemes” (2 Cor.2:10-11) ... If there is anything beneficial that can be gleaned from witnessing this ‘conflict’ in the Middle East unfold before us, it should be a stark reminder of how serious ‘warfare’ actually is... And yet, while sitting back in the comfort of my leather recliner as I was doing last night, flipping through various news reels giving updates as I watched dramatic video clips of bombs and ensuing destruction...I was reminded how the graphic reality of what happens in war can be easily lost on us. I turned the TV off and went to our bedroom and crawled ...
Post a Comment
Read more
Image
  You’re probably familiar with that story found in Luke 15, told by Jesus, of the ‘prodigal son’. A certain man had two sons, and the younger of the two got it in his head that he needed/wanted/deserved his inheritance up front; so his father gave it to him. And off he went traveling to a ‘far country’ where he ‘wasted all that he had.’ When famine struck, he found himself in a desperate place and ended up feeding pigs for a citizen of the country whom he hired himself out to. (11-15) It was only a matter of time before this young prodigal ‘came to his senses’, confronted his sins and foolishness and with a broken and humble heart...he resolved to return to his father and confess his sins to him, hoping...that he might at least be welcomed back as a ‘servant’, since he saw himself as no longer ‘worthy to be a son’ (Luke 15:17-19). Let’s pause here for a moment as I interject something for you to consider: Probably one of the dumbest, silliest, and most fruitless conversations (...
Post a Comment
Read more
Image
  True, genuine ‘repentance’...will always produce legitimate ‘fruit’, which is the result of a transformed heart that has made a ‘change in direction’ and begins to follow Jesus. Repentance is not just ‘feeling sorrow’ or ‘feeling bad’ for ‘messing up all the time’ or for being a ‘wretched sinner’. Paul describes that as ‘worldly sorrow’ which is lacking, and will never produce any kind of ‘life’ that we were all in need of finding (John 10:10). “For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.” (2 Cor. 7:10-NLT) In yesterday’s message (which I hope you read) I left off asking you from what are we actually ‘repenting’ of, or from; and since we know that to repent means ‘to turn’, and have a ‘new way of thinking’...what is it that we are ‘turning from’? If you said ‘sin’ (anything related to the 'flesh nature' Gal...
Post a Comment
Read more
Image
  Jesus began His earthly ministry shortly after undergoing a ‘test’ to make sure His heart was totally surrendered to the Father, as we read about in Luke 4:1-14. Only after He ‘passed that test’...did He receive ‘power’ to begin the work His Father had for Him. (Acts 10:38). And do you recall what His first ‘message’ was? “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matt. 4:17; Mark 1:15). This was then followed up with “follow Me” (4:19). It was not long after that His disciples then “went out and preached that people should repent” (Mark 6:12). You would be hard pressed to find a subject or topic that was preached more in the New Testament than the message of ‘repentance’. It was the message that defined the ministry of John the Baptist who came preaching: “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, ... And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down an...
Post a Comment
Read more
Image
  “IF...any person is ‘in Christ’, they are a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Cor. 5:17). The key operative word there is...’IF’. Friends.... we need to have an honest, but uncomfortable discussion here... We’ve all heard that expression about putting lipstick on a pig; and how it still remains to be a ‘pig’, no matter how nice you ‘dress it up’. I would submit to you that we have a full blown crisis in the modern day ‘church’ world, which should come as a surprise to no one who is familiar with Paul’s warning found in 2 Tim. 3:1-7. You might go look at that now, and notice that the list of carnal fruit he is describing...is aimed at those who have an outward ‘form of godliness...but deny the power’[ of God to transform them]. They are ‘always learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth’ (5,7). Let me be clear here: because of the fall in the garden (Rom. 5:12) the ‘spiritual DNA’ of all of humanity was ‘corrupted’...
Post a Comment
Read more