Posts

Image
  Today’s message is kind of a tricky one, where I find myself ‘walking a thin-line’ not wanting to cause anyone unneeded anxiety or self-doubting, but also want to admonish sincere believers to ‘take heed’ and make sure your heart and mind is ‘fixed on Jesus’ and ‘things above’, not on things of the earth. (Col. 3:1-2). The subject matter today has to do with true peace vs. ‘false’ peace. Those who profess to be true followers of Jesus have not only been called to walk in this peace, but we are exhorted to ‘pursue’ it (Heb. 12:14). Peace is a ‘pathway’ to which Jesus leads us down; that is…if we are truly following Him. (Luke 1:79; Isa. 55:12). We talked about this yesterday and can I just tell you that the best way to maintain walking in ‘His’ peace…is to keep your mind stayed on Him because those who do…are promised to have ‘perfect peace’. (Isa. 26:3). Where this can get dicey is when people are convinced they do indeed possess or have this ‘peace’…when in reality it is not;...
Post a Comment
Read more
Image
  We were talking about the ‘way of peace’, yesterday, and how the Bible states few of us know about it (Rom. 3:17). It is the ‘way of peace’ that Jesus came to lead and guide us in’ (Luke 1:79). This should not come as a surprise to anyone who is familiar with that beloved 23rd Psalm. Surely you are familiar with it: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul, He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” (1-3). That sure sounds like a place of ‘peace’ to me, does it not to you? You might underline that word ‘lead’ which is used twice there, because that is a very important key to maintaining this ‘walk of peace’. If you are going to claim Him as your ‘shepherd’... be sure to acquaint yourself with John 10:27 because that is where Jesus makes it known that ‘His sheep hear His voice, and He knows them…and they follow Him.” You might also jot down Romans 8:14 bec...
Post a Comment
Read more
Image
  In Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth, he exhorted the believers there to do something for their own good; and I suspect that if he told many modern day churches today to do this…it would offend more than a few folks, who might respond with a bristling “How dare you!”. What was his advice he gave…? “Test and evaluate yourselves to see whether you are in the faith and living your lives as [committed] believers. Examine yourselves [not me]! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves [by an ongoing experience] that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test and are rejected as counterfeit?” (2 Cor. 13:5 AMP) So, if you were to heed his counsel…where would you begin? What ‘checklist’ would be your ‘go to’ to start the self-exam? As I mentioned yesterday, there are plenty of sincere believers today who are suffering needlessly and are presumably ‘holding on to their faith…barely’ because they don’t seem to be thriving and living this ‘abundant life’ that ...
Post a Comment
Read more
Image
  Back in 1975…well-known PGA golfer Lee Trevino was struck by lightning while playing a tournament in Illinois. Being the funny guy he was, and a crowd favorite, a story evolved suggesting that at some point leading up to that incident, he had quipped that if you ever get caught in a lightning storm…”wave a 1-iron because even God has trouble hitting it.” I’ll leave it to you to sort the truth from fiction from that urban legend, but I only bring that story up to say this: That is not the way God’s ‘wrath’ works (usually). Let’s be honest though…how dumb would it be to ‘tempt God’ in such a way? (1 Cor. 10:9) We’ve been spending some time delving off into scripture in both the OT and the NT to gain a better understanding as to what this subject of God’s ‘wrath’ is all about. I continue to make the case that our lack of understanding and knowledge of it has led to much needless suffering for so many people, especially those who claim to be a part of God’s household, or ‘family o...
Post a Comment
Read more
Image
  John the Baptist asked the religious leaders of his day, many, if not most of who were clearly ‘blinded’ to the things of God (Matt. 23:24; 15:14)…”Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (Matt. 3:7). We are told in John’s gospel that anyone who is not a follower/believer in Jesus…that the ‘wrath of God remains, or abides on them’ (3:36 & Acts 26:18). And Paul would later declare in Romans 1:18- ‘the wrath of God is [being] revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men…”. Friends, I would submit to you that many sincere professing believers today have a deficient understanding as to what the ‘wrath of God’ is, why it’s here and how it is relevant to all who are on the earth today. And if/when you ask a professing believer who claims to be ‘saved’…what exactly they are ‘saved from’…few seem to be able to tell you off the top of their heads that it is the ‘wrath of God’ that Jesus came to ‘save us’ from, according to Romans 5:9. In fact most m...
Post a Comment
Read more
Image
  “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)....
Post a Comment
Read more
Image
  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...
Post a Comment
Read more