Sheep Food

  Welcome back. (You might want to read yesterday’s post before wading off in to this one)   On Thursday, I referred you to the passage in Revelation 12 that summarized how Satan and his minions all ended up here on earth. Time frames are unclear but we do know he was on the scene when Adam and Eve first showed up and got tricked or deceived into eating off the wrong tree back in that garden (Gen 3).   A tree of fruit, I might remind you, that God had made very clear to them eating off of would bring certain ‘death’. (Gen 2:16) Might jot down Romans 8:13 as well and take a peek.   What is it about us that leans towards learning life lessons the hard way?   If for some unknown reason, you erect a high-voltage electric fence around your property and it is clearly marked as to what it is…and you stress to your teenage neighbors or even own kids that they would do well to avoid this electric charged fence and not touch it…are you the bad guy if they indeed go and find out for themselves

  I want to encourage you today to have a pen/paper handy to take down some scripture references so you can look these up later in your bible…and even mark them. You are going to find this interesting…and helpful, I hope.   I have to admit I find it liberating to be free of the responsibility to ‘make anyone see or believe’ anything I share here. What I do feel the compelling to do though is to bring to your attention some verses in your bible that perhaps you have seen…but maybe have not Really seen.  What you do with it is simply between you and God.  I want to begin today with looking at verse in the OT that I refer to regularly. And it’s for good reason that I do and would like to re-examine it again today. It’s found in Hosea 4:6:   “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”  Now in this passage … God is speaking through His prophet.   Whose people did He say were being ‘destroyed’?   His pe

  If you have not experienced it yourself, chances are you know someone who has.   A marriage sadly ends in divorce where children are involved. One of the parental units gains custody and then tragically, fueled by hurt, anger and bitterness, they begin a pattern of ‘poisoning the well’ in their children’s hearts and minds regarding their knowledge and understanding of the ‘other parental unit’.   An old classmate of mine shared with me a few years ago how he had a chance to rebuild a broken relationship with an adult daughter who was finally beginning to discover that he was not the evil person her mother had made him out to be.   Yes…that ‘root of bitterness can truly defile many’. (Heb 12:15)   I cannot imagine how challenging that would be to have to ‘unlearn’ so many unfortunate lies and misconceptions of a parental figure when another perspective had been engrained in you over so many years.   Do you think that it is possible that has happened to people regarding their view o

  “It’s the little foxes that ruin the vineyards (or spoil the vines)” (Song of Solomon 2:15)  That’s an interesting line found woven into the OT story that depicts the growing love between a king and his soon to be bride. Many have looked to this book for insight not only for the human marriage relationship, but also as a foreshadowing to the deep love Christ has for His church and soon to be bride.   Perhaps you have heard that phrase before but never even associated it with the bible?   It’s the little things…the bring erosion and decay to a relationship. We always seem to become fixated on the ‘big sins’. I think most would agree though that if/when neglected, those ‘little sins’ over time do the job quite effectively.   Which brings me back to where I left off yesterday. We’ve been talking about truly abiding in Christ…walking on this ‘path of peace’ and making the case that this was meant to be a full time walk and just not those occasional ‘goose bump teary eyed’ moments

  “I have this against you…you have left your first love…”   Leave it to God to get straight to the heart of a matter. Unlike us humans that oftentimes will tap dance around root conflicts in a relationship.   Jesus was speaking to multiple churches in the first few chapters of Revelation. Seven of them to be exact. And the first one was the church at Ephesus.  He began commending them on a few points but then dropped that line on them speaking to the seriousness of this condition and the consequences if they did not repent and change. “You left your first love…” (Rev 2:4)   I would submit to anyone reading today that this is the number one reason why we don’t truly walk in His peace or on that ‘path of peace’ I shared about yesterday.  I did debate making yesterday’s a two-parter as there is so much to address here. And I’m not talking about ‘experiencing moments of peace’ on occasions.   I mean walking in it. Continuously.   As I pointed out in scripture yesterday, it was God wh

  That Gift of Peace I wrote about yesterday…it really is ‘a thing’.   I would imagine many of us have experienced it …at times. We know it exists. We read about it, we hear about it and we probably have witnessed ‘seeing it’ on others we have known in times past who might have been going through a very difficult season in life. You could tell they were ‘walking’ in it.   In fact, I’d be willing to bet you have at times seen that ‘on others’ and wished in your own heart you could experience that kind of peace.   I have some good news for you today…You can. Just keep reading. ;-)   May I tell you again…that there is more to this ‘peace thing’ than maybe we have thought since it was God’s plan and design for us to ‘live in it’ all the time.   That was how He wanted to lead and guide us in this life.   For real.   There are so many bible verses that speak to this.   “He will guide our feet into the way or path of peace.” (Luke 1:79)   A verse I shared yesterday was God’s declaration t

  For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And His name shall be called…Prince of Peace… Isa 9:6   I have a question or two for you this Christmas morning… How would you adequately describe to a blind person…what color…is? Or what words could you write out for a deaf person to read that might explain what music is?   I could make the case that something else as equally challenging would be to explain to someone what the ‘peace of God’ is.   If you have ever tried to explain to a young child who might ask what it feels like to ‘fall in love’…the only way I know to respond is…” You will know it when it happens to you.”   Which is how I would probably try to answer if asked to describe the ‘peace of God’.   This I know…HIs peace is probably one of the greatest gifts Jesus came to bring us.  And while opening gifts this morning is the norm for so many, can I just tell you that no gift is as loved and appreciated as the one that supplies that which was lacking in your life.   G

  You are standing before Jesus and hear these words come from His mouth: “What do you want Me to do for you?”  This is your moment…how do you respond?  It certainly is a question many have been hearing the past month from friends and family alike as the days have led up to this weekend: “What do you want for Christmas?”   It seems to be the one time of the year that so many are presented with a seemingly ‘blank check’. I can remember as a kid having to take turns with my brothers to flip through the toy section of a Sears catalog making a ‘list’ of all those wonderful toys that shone from the pages. Now don’t get me wrong…it’s not like our parents promised us that we’d get whatever we asked for, but as kids, there was the sense that wishes could come true at this special time of year.   We read in the Gospel of Mark of an incident where Jesus was coming into Jericho followed by a great multitude of people. Sitting alongside the road was a blind man named Bartimaeus. And as wa

  "And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." (Lu 2:10)  Make no mistake about it…when God clothed Himself in humanity and made His entrance into our world over 2000 years ago, it was just not good news…it was VERY good news.  And get this…it was very good news for ‘ALL people’. That sounds pretty all-inclusive…which is who the gospel is for…’whomsoever’.   “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned.” (Matt 4:16)   If you had been hiking in some caves and lost your way and could not find your way out and the situation had grown perilous…serious enough that your absence had sparked a search party to go in looking for you…seeing the light…would be very great news.   If you were sitting on death row and the darkness of the hour of your execution grew near, and a pardon was handed down to stop your execution, th

  “You will know them by their fruit.”   “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.”   “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”   “Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”   “Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs?  “Out of the same mouth proceed blessings and cursings. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? No spring yields both salt water and fresh water.”   “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”   “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.”   “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”   (Matt 7:16-20; 12:34-37; James 3:10-12)   Do these passages have your attention yet? They should! They sound serious.   John the Baptist was kind of a serious guy too.   He is recorded as sa

  [I’ll give you a moment to digest this image I posted. It’s a ‘re-make/update’ of one a friend of mine had done years ago and it turned out to be easier and quicker to use myself as the ‘subject’ so I created my own graphic.]. You’re going to want to read this one all the way through today. I began this week talking about ‘miracle births. Might be worth your time to go review the past two days if you missed those.   Now you may know this - - or not…but we were born into this world with a defective nature. A nature that made us incapable of living out the life God intended for us to live. We were originally made in His likeness and image and character (Gen 1:26).   But sin happened… and changed all that. So we ended up manifesting the likeness and character of the one who tempted Adam and Eve to begin with… which was how sin entered the world and then was passed down to us today. (Romans 5:12)   Scripture is pretty clear as well that we are not ‘all God’s children’. In fact, John w

  “Let it be to me according to your word”.   That was Mary’s response when the angel told her what was about to go down as God was on the move.  My post yesterday centered around a miracle birth.  We all know that any new birth…begins with a seed …being planted. And then you wait.  That can be the hard part for many folks.   I remember when our oldest daughter called and announced that she was ‘with child’ (singular when we first got word). We were stunned and then overjoyed. My wife, however, who is a labor/delivery nurse then spent months suppressing a lot of anxiety as she knows all too well from her line of work…all that can ‘go wrong’ during a pregnancy.  Interestingly, Paul voiced similar concerns when he wrote to the Galatians. He expressed sensing ‘birth pains’ or ‘laboring’…”until Christ is formed in you.” (4:19) I suspect he had the same concerns on his mind as my wife did for our daughter.   He knew all that can ‘interfere’ or hinder what God desires to do. Perhaps he

  “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isa 7:14)  You have to wonder if that prophesy Isaiah penned raised any eyebrows at the time the words were spoken which was over 700 years prior to it coming to pass.  A ‘virgin shall conceive’…  One of those unique attributes that God possesses…is He is not an attention seeker. When He says He is going to do something, He sets it in motion, it happens and He just moves on…whether people want to believe Him or not. He is confident that the ones who are supposed to ‘get the message’ …will.  And as subtle and as ‘off the radar’ as God can be oftentimes, He also knows how to herald in good news in style. Just ask the shepherds who were watching their flocks by night when God wanted to get the word out nine months after the virgin conceived, that His Son had arrived. He sent a choir of angels to let them know. It’s all a part of the ‘Christmas