Sheep Food

  We were sitting in on a history class yesterday that Paul was giving to the Corinthians in the tenth chapter of his first letter to them. Have you ever noticed that the older you get, the more you tend to appreciate history? Many students moan about having to learn history in school only to be told by their teachers that familiar quote of “Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”   One of my more favorite quotes is “The only thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history.” I like that one.   Yet, we continue to rehearse it and study it as well we should. God was kind of big on that Himself...reminding His people of the failures of their fathers in the past hoping they might learn from their mistakes. ( Deut. 32; Neh. 9; Psalm 78; Psalm 106-107). Now, back to 1 Cor. 10 where Paul is rehearsing, for the benefit of us all, how God dealt with His people in the past. ( I also cited Heb. 3-4 that goes along with this well als...

  There are times when navigating across a vast expanse of land or sea, that one way of trying to determine where you are headed is to look back and establish where you have been or came from. Think of a ‘three-point arrow diagram. You have a starting point, a mid-point (where you are at) and then projecting straight from there helps you see where you are going. Reminds me of an old quote that says “If you don’t change the direction you are headed in, you will get there.”   For all the speculating that takes place in our church world regarding what is ‘coming down the road’ regarding ‘end time events’, it never hurts to stop and be reminded as to where we have been, and how God has always operated in the past. Then it would do us well to be reminded that God never changes. (Mal. 3:6). I just can’t believe for a moment that God is standing up along some fence rail with a long piece of grass in His mouth scratching His head thinking to Himself: “Yeah...I probably was a ...

  [Better grab a pen, paper, and your bible...and spend some time with this one today]   I know - we’ve all been taught pretty much the same story and timeline about this coming ‘rapture’. Jesus is coming back and God is going to unleash this horrific nightmare of judgement and destruction on the world but....at some point prior to things getting really bad, He’s going to snatch all us ‘believers’ up and out of here to meet Him in the clouds. Then it will get really ugly down here. Or so we’ve always been told.   Where the majority of our camps get all wound up in debating is trying to pinpoint when this event may occur. We’ve all seen those ‘dispensational charts and time-lines’ where it would seem there’s going to be this intense seven year period of ‘tribulation’. Some believe this ‘catching away of the saints’ will occur just prior to the seven years period; others are convinced it will take place midway at the 3.5 year mark and the rest think it culmina...

  I mentioned the other day that God is ‘out to get you’. All of us, for that matter. Because He truly loves us and sent His Son to rescue us. Granted, most folks don’t see themselves as ‘needing to be rescued’ and that really is out of my control. But to those who do ‘see it’, and are weary of the darkness and shadow of death they find themselves in, the light He brings is a welcome sight. Trust me, I know. He came to get me, and He came to get You!   I’m reminded of those gold miners who were trapped deep in the darkness of the earth a number of years ago, down in South America, Chile, I believe. Nearly three dozen of them for sixty-nine days. It was quite the story to follow. And they all were rescued and survived. It was also quite the moment when they saw the light of day again and were greeted by rescue workers and were reunited with family and loved ones. Much joy on the day of their liberation. But that ‘party’ did not last long. You know what was next ...

  I’m pretty sure it’s happened to you. I know it has happened to me...on more than one occasion.  You just finish up chatting with someone...maybe a potential client or a possible future boss after interviewing with them. Maybe it was with a casual friend or acquaintance you crossed paths with...or even worse...you were ‘sort of flirting’ with someone that you hoped to maybe meet up with in the near future to get to know better. And when you got back in your car you glanced up in the rear view mirror - there it was...more glaring than a huge zit that pops up on prom night – it was a piece of food stuck in your teeth.   You instantly die a thousand deaths as you begin to rehearse how much you might have smiled while talking, trying to convince yourself they did not notice. But you know they did.   Yeah...it happens.   IF only....IF only you had taken a quick look in the mirror prior to that conversation...or as folks like to do today, use their...

  The more I think about it, the more this truth resonates: - God really is...out to ‘get’ you!   I mean it, He is. Funny though how wording and pre-conceived ideas can alter a phrase like that in the way we hear or perceive it.   God. Is. Out. To. Get. You.   “I came to seek and to save the lost.” – Jesus (Luke 19:10)   Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching...and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.   When He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. (Matt. 9:35-36)   God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, BUT...that the world through Him...might be saved. (John 3:17)   Have you ever read there in John 1 how Jesus was/is the Word, who became flesh and dwelt among us? Guess what God did back in the OT when He saw His ...

  “If it doesn’t fit, throw it out!” Ever heard that before? I usually hear that from my wife when cleaning out a closet where clothes I’ve had for years remain hanging.   We do that with God’s word a lot as well. Probably more often than we would care to admit.   You know the drill. We were taught a ‘doctrine’ with various scriptures to support what we believe. Then we encounter ‘new’ verses in the bible ...that don’t “fit” with what we believe. So then what? It’s much easier to remind yourself that what you already believe is truth, so why try and ‘undo’ any of that with a few verses that must mean something else. And you are no trained scholar or theologian so why bother delving off in to all that. Besides, we got things to do, games to watch , projects to work on, and money to make. Who Got Time for diving that deeply back in to the word? Just remind yourself that Jesus loves you and that you attend church regularly and that you believe Jesus is the ...

  I get it. A lot of this can be difficult to process, let alone embrace and believe. It’s taken me awhile to let so many of these verses sink in and have more 'dots connected’, so that I in turn can post with confidence such writings in a public forum like this. And it’s not like all this is some ‘theory’ of mine. I’m just pointing out all these verses that have been there all along for us to ‘see’. I have no hesitation sharing anything I read in the bible. It is, after all, the number one selling book of all time. (Or so I’ve always heard). But if you are reluctant to believe a lot of this, ask yourself this: “Why?”. Why do you not want to believe it...IF...indeed it is in your bible? I mean, we all say we believe in the virgin birth...and this story of a man name Jesus who was raised from the dead. And how many believe in this idea of all the believers being ‘whisked away’ into the heavens during the ‘rapture’? Why believe those things but not believe so many of the ot...

  Whether you are a believer or not...consider this one statement made by Jesus as recorded in John 3:36....where He first affirms the familiar promise we read in vs.16 saying those who ‘believe in the Son have everlasting life’...but it is the second part of that sentence that gets lost on people. I mean, it is the last verse in the chapter and we all know how we like to hurry up and move on to the next chapter so we can check off those boxes ‘chapters read’.   Jesus said that those “who do not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” One translation reads ‘the wrath of God hangs over them continually’.   Please note...this was a statement made by Jesus. I often hear where plenty of people out there who would not really consider themselves as ‘believers’ but still will point to and acknowledge things Jesus said and did for their own purpose and reasons. It usually has to do with not judging or citing various sins that Jesus ‘...