Sheep Food

  We are not told of the circumstances that led up to their meeting together, but it’s not rocket science. Two people, a man and a woman, not married to each other, ended up in bed together. Safe to say they were, as the old song goes...’looking for love in all the wrong places’. Who knows what needs they were struggling to fulfill. Maybe it was just a drunken moment of careless passion. It really does not matter. It happened and much to their horror, at the most inopportune time, the door of their sin came crashing in.   Uninvited and clearly with impure motives, in came some ‘church folks’. And they only seemed interested in the woman who was ‘caught in the very act’. (John 8:4). Who knows how dis-shelved she must have looked, and whether she had few, if any clothes about her. I’m guessing they got something wrapped about her though...clearly they had to have some dignity and principals by which they lived.   And what a noble group of church folks they we...

  Think about this: Why would God Not... be willing, or even remotely interested, in helping us to overcome various sins that we, for the most part, would admit we are enslaved to? I mean, Jesus did teach that whoever commits sin is a slave to sin. (John 8:34)   Would it not make sense that He had some plan to empower us to overcome all the temptations and the devices the enemy sets before us...given He’s the one to commands us to ‘go and sin no more’? (John 5:14)   Do we not read that Jesus was ‘tempted in all points as we are, yet was without sin’? (Heb. 4:15)   Does it not tell us that “For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted?” (Heb. 2:18)   Are we not encouraged to come with confidence and boldness before His throne of grace so we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in our time of need?” (Heb. 4:16)   Seems I read in John 15:1-8 that we are to abide in Him...and if we do...

  Is it any wonder after all the influence of those Disney movies we grew up with, and then made sure our kids watched them as well, that we can tend to look at and treat the bible and the Lord through a similar set of fantasy lenses?  I’m thinking of the story Aladdin now, and his ‘magic’ lamp. Certainly you are familiar with it and how he stumbles across this oil lamp, and after rubbing it (to dust off if I remember correctly) out comes this magic ‘genie’ who is now promising to grant him three wishes in return for releasing him from that cramped lamp after all those years confined ...by come curse I believe.   The lamp in the various movies and cartoons often resembled an old time ‘oil lamp’ that is similar to the one I used as a picture today. What is interesting to note is how we read in Psalm 119 where the writer declares that God’s word is a ‘lamp to my feet and a light to my path’.(105) Then, we read in the parable of the ten virgins that Jesus taught, the ...

  Jesus shared a parable talking about how the kingdom of heaven was like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out a call to those who had been invited. (Matt. 22:2-3) We then begin to read an assortment of reasons as to why so many, who apparently had an invitation in hand already, chose not to come. Yes, you read that correctly. They had their ‘ticket’. They simply had multiple reasons for not coming to this huge event. There is another wedding that will take place in the future that scripture speaks to as well; one in which I hope you are familiar with?   I would encourage you to read through the rest of the parable but I did want to point out the very first indictment made regarding all those who did not come and refused the invite. We are told there in vs. 3 - “they were not willing to come.”   In the very next chapter of that same gospel, we read where Jesus was looking over His beloved city of Jerusalem, which I might remind you...

  Let’s see if we can agree as to what Jesus did NOT advise, suggest, encourage, or instruct us to do after we began this walk of faith with Him.   Jesus did not say it would be a good idea if we stayed in touch with Him from time to time...giving us a wink reminding us we ‘knew where to find Him if we needed Him’.   Jesus did not give us some address and hint that we might think about dropping in a couple of time a week to visit.   And I certainly don’t recall ever signing some card, getting my ‘ticket punched’ and then handed a map on how to get to the big party event He was planning for all of us to attend in the far off future.   Jesus said “Abide in Me.” (John 15:4)   He then expounds upon this advice using illustrations the disciples would fully understand, as well should we. He’s the main vine and we are branches rooted in that vine, Him. We are to live in Him and Him in us. To ‘abide’ is to dwell, to remain, to continue o...

  Why would our spiritual adversary rise up and come against so vehemently, this message that Christ truly came to set us free?   Probably for similar reasons the slave owners of Texas kept their slaves in bondage two years after the fact a that proclamation had been signed by the President freeing all enslaved people. (yesterday's post is worth reading if you missed it)  When we have been taught, misled, and indoctrinated our whole life to believe otherwise, I know firsthand how hard it is to embrace this truth that Christ made it possible that we might be truly set free. I think the paradox here in trying to come to terms with how this ‘works’...is the notion that we can walk in freedom almost immediately...yet at the same time, it is a process in which we learn to walk in the freedom that Christ has paid for. Please hear me out if you would...   We call it a ‘walk’ or ‘walk of faith’. Salvation is…a ‘walk’ that has a beginning and an end. We speak in...

  I wish I had a time-travel machine...just for today. No, I would not take you back to the pilgrims celebrating the first Thanksgiving....but Happy Thanksgiving anyway. :- )   I would set the target dial to the summer of 1865, around the end of June and the location would be just outside of the Galveston, TX area. Why then and there you ask? Because just a week or two earlier, federal troops sent by President Grant came into Galveston to free up the rest of those being held as slaves.   Apparently, many slave owners in this state failed to send the memo out to all their slaves that they had been set free by the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation issued by then President Abraham Lincoln. Oh...one small detail here...that document had been signed TWO YEARS previously. Not sure how that slipped the attention of slave owners here in the great Lone Star State...but it did.   And why ...would I want to show up in that region then? Because I woul...

  I’m guessing many of you have probably experienced this at some point in your life when you were out in public somewhere and saw somebody’s kid(s) act out in a manner that would have brought swift response from your parents had you done something similar at that age.   Or maybe sitting at a table eating out and your kids witness it and then cut their eyes at each other thinking what would have happened to them had they done that with you sitting there. We see quite the variety of ‘parenting styles’ out there today for sure. And this is not about ‘judging’ them, but there is no sin in ‘noticing’ things. Jesus taught that is how we will ‘know a tree’...by the fruit it produces. (Matt. 7:20)   There are plenty of people today who claim to be a ‘child of God’. And while this discussion could turn quickly here wanting to argue as to who are we to judge who is and is not a true child of God, you cannot ignore many of the things Jesus taught us regarding this subje...

  That was quite a plate-full I left you with yesterday...and still, there is much more to explore here in the word. We were talking about floods. Might be good to review yesterday’s post before jumping in here today in case you missed it.   I made the point earlier that this whole account or story of the Israelites going in to take possession of this new land God had promised them, was not, as many believe, a ‘type or picture of heaven’. Despite all those heartwarming songs and sayings about ‘crossing over the Jordan into Glory Land’, one can quickly conclude this is an inaccurate foreshadowing of heaven because what is on this land - God wants removed! There were tribes and nations of evil people who God says are doing wicked and detestable things. There won’t be any of that in heaven. Period.   What this story is a ‘blueprint’ of, is this walk of faith or ‘salvation’, and how in the same way Joshua led the people in to take possession of this land that Go...