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  When God made it known to Adam and Eve early on that ‘in the day that you eat off that one tree in the garden...you shall surely die...’ (Gen. 2:17) ...who was the first one on the scene to cast doubt on what God said and then actually twisted it around to say just the opposite in order to deceive Eve? It was the ‘crafty serpent’ who appeared asking: “Did God really say this...?’ (Gen. 3:1). Then, after some subtle twisting of what God said, the serpent flat out told Eve...’you shall surely not die!’ (2-4). Yes, that would be the same ‘serpent’ John wrote about in Revelation 12:7-9, who was cast down from heaven, a.k.a. ‘Satan’ and the ‘Devil...who deceives the whole earth’. So when both Adam and Eve ate off that tree, we are told: “the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked...” (Gen. 3:7). Prior to this ‘incident’, they knew no shame (Gen. 2:25), but now ...when they heard God’s voice as He walked through the cool of the day there in the garden, they...
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  One of the many things we can give God credit for...is the fact that when He begins to deal with ‘sin and sinners’, He usually starts with His own people first. Before He pours out His wrath on all those ‘wordily sinners’, He first begins by calling out the sin in His own ‘camp’ (Joshua 7). When Israel continued to rebel against God’s law, they crossed a threshold and suffered the consequences for it, as the prophets of old warned would happen (Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel). God brought Babylon in to destroy the city and the temple before the people were taken into ‘captivity’ for 70 years. (Did you catch yesterday’s message, by chance?). Then, after those 70 years passed, God called His people out of Babylon because next on the list was Babylon itself who was going to suffer God’s wrath (Jer. 50-51). Interesting historical side note here- but less than 5% of those exiles in Babylon heeded God’s call to ‘come out’. I only share that because we read in Revelation 18:1-5 where Go...
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  I’ve said it before and will say it again: God is not out to ‘get you’; But He did send Jesus to ‘get you’. (John 3:17-18) ...And what is so troublesome is many in the ‘church’ today...still don’t ‘get it’. “But if you will not hear it, My soul will weep in secret for your pride; My eyes will weep bitterly And run down with tears, Because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.” (Jer. 13:17) Who...did Jeremiah say was ‘taken captive’? In the book of Isaiah, we read in chapter 5... a sobering passage that reveals how God deals with His ‘vineyard’, when He came looking for ‘good fruit’ but found only bad fruit (5:2-4). It says that God was going to ‘take away its hedge, and it shall be burned and trampled down’ (5). Then, in verse 7 we are told who this ‘vineyard’ represents – the ‘house of Israel’, which is oftentimes, a picture or ‘type’ of the church (God’s chosen people). Would you now please read vs. 13 aloud as we learn who are ‘taken into captivity’. Does your Bible say...
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  God’s assessment of mankind: “They don’t know where to find peace... They have no fear of God at all.” (Rom. 3:17-19- NLT) So why do you suppose there is ‘no fear of God’ today? The answer is rather simple, or so I would think- the law has been lost, just as it was in the days of Josiah (2 Kings 21-23) When we are not taught the law of God, we can’t understand what ‘sin’ is. When we fail to understand what sin is, then we cannot comprehend God’s judgments. Where there is no understanding of judgment, then why would anyone grasp the concept of the ‘fear of God’? (would you allow a toddler to approach a cliffside if they have no concept of the ‘law of gravity’?) The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge. (Prov. 1:7) “My people...are destroyed for a lack of knowledge...” (Hosea 4:6) “Therefore My people...have gone into captivity because they have no knowledge.” (Isa 5:13) “Come...and I will teach you the fear of the Lord” (Ps. 34:11) “Obviously, the law applies to those to ...
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  A few quotes made by Jesus- “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” “...How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Mark 2:17; John 5:6; John 5:40; Matt. 23:37) At the ‘end of the day’...as we like to say, when we’ve laid aside all the commentaries and devotionals and turned off all the devices that funnel countless voices into our heads; and when we have nothing else to add to our theological debates in an attempt to narrow the divide of our doctrinal differences, there really are only...
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  “...And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” (Acts 11:26) I’ve been saying this for years, that we in the ‘church’ would probably do well to let others (those on the outside)..refer to us as ‘Christians’ ('Christ-like')...instead of us publicly making that proclamation. And it has nothing to do with being ‘ashamed’ to make such an admission either. If we are a true follower of Jesus...we shouldn’t have to tell anyone; they will know! “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” – Jesus (John 13:35) If you didn’t catch yesterday’s message, I beg you...please stop here and go read it now? I believe I mentioned recently in one of my previous posts that the boys (my twin grandsons) are at that age now where they want to do everything...’by myself’!. “I can do this Papa...I don’t need your help!”. And so I’m learning patience as I step back and wait a little bit...until they come to me and ask for my assistance, which ...
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  I was ‘scrolling’ the other day through Instagram and came upon this reel that stopped me in my tracks. It’s shared from a secular point of view, but please...take your time with this and read through the transcript I've posted here:  (caution- 'steel-toed slippers' advised) -- We love to believe we are ‘good people’ because we’re kind to strangers. You can be kind to animals and kind to the delivery person who drops packages off at your house. You can be kind to every stranger who crosses your path. But the real test of character isn’t how you treat the barista or the cashier at the store. It’s how you speak to the people who live with the real you. Kindness to strangers is not the measure of our character. Kindness at home is the real test. Strangers don’t carry your history. Strangers don’t activate your wounds. Strangers don’t mirror the parts of you that you still haven’t dealt with or maybe have avoided for years. Your spouse does. Your kids do. Your home does. A...
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