Sheep Food

  Have you ever wondered and asked yourself, maybe even asked God while sobbing tears of frustration ...”Why?...why do you seem to fail repeatedly when it comes to overcoming certain ‘sins’ or ‘tendencies of that old flesh nature’? Why do you always lash out in anger in certain situations? Why do certain ‘addictions’ seem to still ‘own you’? Will you ever...be able to conquer lust and various sexual compulsions? Are you forever doomed to be unforgiving and unkind and impatient? Maybe....just maybe...God has been waiting on us to reach the end of ourselves so that we might find the beginning of Him. Trust me...I’ve been in that place of frustration and defeat that I speak of. And it took me a long time to get here to this place where I’m finally able to understand a few things that I so wish I had taken the time to learn early on. Truths...that I’ve been trying to pass on to anyone and everyone who reads these posts of mine daily. In order for us to truly live in Christ......

  If you consider yourself to be a ‘believer’ and attend church regularly, I’m pretty sure that if you have never uttered this phrase yourself before, you have certainly heard someone else say it: “Well...my flesh sure got the best of me again today...you know... the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak!’” Then sheepish chuckles or laughter ensues from those who hear it; as we all understand how that happens and we can all relate. Or how about this statement: “Man that ‘ole devil has been riding my tail of late and has been after me!” The irony in that comment is we lean toward concluding, oftentimes, it’s because we’ve done something good or noble to be a blessing and the devil is just 'mad' at us. Once again, there’s a reason why God likens us to sheep. In fact, there’s a passage in Jeremiah where God said: “My people are foolish, they have not known Me. They are silly children and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil but to do good, they have no knowledg...

  When Paul wrote in Col. 3:5, admonishing us to “put to death that which belongs to your earthly nature”...do you suppose he put that in there for us to quote, analyze, and debate; or did he put that in there for us to ‘do’? I can pretty well assure you that he was not using figurative language there either when he instructed us to ‘put it to death’. And if you are a bit uncertain to what he is referring to when he mentions those members or deeds of our ‘earthly nature’, he is nice enough to include just a few of them as examples, things like sexual immorality (lust), covetousness, greed, unholy desires, anger and even 'filthy language', of all things. (8) And the reason he advises we put these things to death?....”because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience.” (6) Eph. 5:3-6 is worth highlighting as well. This is not just a ‘good suggestion’ that Paul is advising us to follow through with either. If you have ever gone into national or stat...

  Do you know why... that first generation of Israelites who God delivered from Egypt, passing through the Red Sea and the wilderness on the way to the promised land...never were able to enter  and settle in to this new place? Some might suggest it was a ‘lack of faith’. Can I just speak more directly with you here? That first group out of Egypt basically were calling God a ‘liar’ and did not believe He could do what He promised them He was indeed, going to do. It is hard to even imagine the level of audacity it takes to call God a liar. You almost have to think that verse in Heb. 6:18 was added as an exclamation point when we are told it is “impossible for God to lie”. I opened up yesterday’s message with a promise that God truly wanted to do something marvelous and transformative in in the lives of all who call upon His name. That has always been God’s desire since He created us, and then began His work of redeeming us after sin entered in to the world. God has not ch...

  God wants to do something incredibly new and powerful in your life that will be absolutely transformative and life changing. He began, once again, doing so in my own life four years ago and it only continues to get better. But there’s a ‘catch’. You have to come to Him on His terms and it will involve surrendering your entire heart and life to Him. And that involves more than going to church twice a week and reading three chapters out of your bible every day too. (And No, doubling down on those two activities in themselves won't help either) If He is going to be ‘Lord of all’, then you have to do what He instructs you. Why call Him, ‘Lord, Lord’, if we are not going to do what He says?’ (Luke 6:46). And if you think this kingdom of heaven and all this talk of ‘eternal life’ awaits everyone who ‘says Lord, Lord’, and the rest of this talk about having to ‘obey God’ is just some option for super-saints, then you’ve been lied to. “Just believe...and put your trust in Jesus”...m...

  Henry Ford is the one who is credited with revolutionizing mass production by introducing the ‘assembly line’ to the world. Anyone ever worked on an assembly line before? Seems more and more mass production is being relegated to ‘automation’ and ‘robotic’ workers. The idea behind that is to not only cut down on rising wages and costs, but also reducing ‘human error’ which can come about for various reasons. When a businessman is investing in a product he plans on mass producing, one thing he wants to make sure of is that the template or the prototype is ‘perfect’. I mean, think about it....why mass produce a car where the brakes have a flaw and only will work 50% of the time; or who creates and produces a ‘smart phone’ that has no ability to let you know when someone is calling you? That’s why they spend so much time and effort getting the ‘pattern’ right so they can then crank out a (hopefully) flawless product. And in those occasions when a flawed product does slip throu...

  Jesus was pretty straightforward with what His intentions were regarding the law that was handed down by God to Moses some 430 years after God first established covenant with Abraham. (Gal. 3:17,19). He was not there to do away with or abolish it. He came to fulfill it. (Matt. 5:17) In fact, you might say based on what we read there, He ‘doubled-down’ on it; or as I like to say repeatedly here – He ‘raised the bar’. You can clearly see this as you read on in Matt. 5:21-48 where He offers up some examples like: “You’ve heard it said you shall not murder...but I say unto you that you whoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgement”. (22). Why He even makes mention of calling someone a ‘fool’ will put you in a bad place. Or how about this one: “You’ve heard it said you shall not commit adultery but I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery in his heart.” (27-28). And if those two examples don’t have you squirmi...

  I hope you did not put your bible away after yesterday’s post; you’ll need it again today. At least those of you who came back for more. :- ) We are living in interesting and challenging times these days. I suppose every generation previously has thought the same thing about the time period they lived in as well. But that is not a need to be overly concerned or worried; that is, if you are following The Good Shepherd. He is the same yesterday, today and forever; and He never changes. (Heb. 13:8; Mal. 3:6). I pray that those who read my post yesterday did not take that as a call to ‘flee’ whatever church you’re attending these days. But you do need to be mindful of what is coming across your pulpit and holding those in leadership accountable. Even when I pastored a small congregation for 17 years, I used to remind those in attendance that they better make sure themselves that what they are hearing from the pulpit can be supported by scripture. At the end of the day, it reall...