Sheep Food

  Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to take a number of road trips where some of them included traversing various high mountain passes with insane curves and turns that will test your driving skills...and bravery. I found this to be especially true on those roads where there is no guardrail separating your vehicle from the steep cliff drop offs. Can I just tell you that you don’t want to be the passenger looking out the window on such drives. IYKYK Yet, oddly enough, if you are driving those roads and some fog, or even darkness prevents you from seeing the reality that awaits you should you make one unplanned, reckless or careless swerve, it can produce almost a deceptive and false security since you can’t see the potential danger that lingers. Does that make sense? But when the fog lifts or the darkness fades because of the morning light that dawns...and you begin to see clearly, then your driving takes on a whole new approach and mindset. Trust me on that one. A little ...

  I’ve been wanting to write this post now for some time, and today is that day. It has to do with a subject matter which I have spent much time addressing here and it focuses on the importance of ‘abiding in Jesus’. I sense there are some folks out there who by now, after hanging with me here for some time, have maybe recognized that despite their years of ‘faithful church service’ and ‘sincere belief in Jesus’... just may have come to a place where they could admit...that abiding in Jesus really is a ‘thing’ that has eluded them for a host of reasons. (2 Cor. 13:5) And you might even be asking: “Ok...so how do I start, and do this consistently, this ‘abiding thing’?” Please allow me say upfront that what happened to me nearly 5 years ago that forever changed my life and the trajectory of my walk of faith, had nothing to do with beginning a personal study on what it means to abide in Jesus; far from it. I often refer to my personal ‘awakening’ as a ‘burning-bush-moment’ that wa...

  I have a question for anyone out there who has a hard time agreeing with and believing this message I share regarding the freedom from sin that Christ has called us to walk in... successfully. Perhaps it seems like some ‘new strange teaching’ to you, which I can understand why. Or maybe you are struggling to accept it based on your own personal experiences and repeated...’sinful failures’. And if that is the case, my question for you is this: What sin have you failed to overcome in your life... that has proven to be a stronger match for the power that lies in both His name and His shed blood? I’ll give you a moment with that one. Is it possible that just maybe you have been reluctant to truly repent and turn from that sin ... because you might be loving it and wanting to hold on to it a little bit longer as you tell yourself: “God understands...and besides...you are still ‘saved’ so it really is not that serious”? Friend, I’m not here to cast stones at you nor judge you; on t...

  I remember quite well a conversation I had with a young woman one day as we were discussing scriptures that clearly imply those who abide in Jesus no longer continue to practice sin. I had just finished sharing some of those familiar passages like 1 John 2:6; 3:6-9; 5:18; 1 Pet. 4:1-2; Matt. 5:48; John 5:14 & 8:11. She looked at me with such an incredulous expression and just flat out said: “We can’t live in this life without sinning! That’s impossible.” And this was someone who had grown up in a Christian home and was ‘raised on the Bible’. I remember being taken back by her refusal to even consider what God had to say about the matter and honestly had no idea what to say in response. I remember driving home later as I prayed ...asking God...’what spirit am I coming up against here, Lord, where people who claim to love you... refuse to believe what Your word has so clearly declared?” His response was quick and concise: “The same spirit that first generation of My people wh...

  “Don’t be or act like them!” Ever heard that expression before...or maybe you even pointed out some inappropriate behavior you saw in others and told your kids- “we don’t act like that!” Yeah, that’s nothing new. In fact, Paul spends a great amount of time pointing to a generation of Israelites as really bad examples, and then admonishes Christian believers to ‘’don’t be like them!”. 1 Cor. 10:1-13 and Hebrews 3 would be a great read for you today if you have time. Paul even gets very specific there with those Corinthians with a sobering reminder as to how God was not pleased at all with that first group of folks who were delivered from slavery out of Egypt. You know the story...how God raised up and then sent Moses to deliver them, led them out by His miraculous power through the Red Sea, and then promised them a glorious future in a land He had set aside for them where He wanted to bless them in ways they could have never imagined. Yeah...that group. Guess what...they never...

  The longer you have traveled around in various church circles, the more likely you have heard this statement made and probably have been guilty of doing it yourself. It can come across as sounding so ‘humble’, as if we are pleasing God by our transparent honesty. And it usually comes out this way when a ‘seasoned saint’, or your long time Sunday school teacher, or even a preacher says...”I’m just a lowly, wretched sinner who fails God all the time. Don’t look at me, I’m nothing but a mess of a flawed human who is a recipient of His loving grace”, etc...etc. Can I just tell you honestly, that God is not the least bit impressed with that admission? In fact, He takes great exception to it because when we claim to remain... as wretched sinners who are imperfect humans that continue to fail God, it is a direct indictment on ‘His workmanship' that He supposedly began in us when we first 'came' to Him. (Eph. 2:10; Phil. 1:6; Rom. 8:29) And please don’t bring up all those OT ch...

  I want to pick up today where I left off yesterday and tackle a subject that could be titled- ‘spiritual adultery’. I think you will find this interesting and worth giving some prayerful thought and consideration to; and as always...ask the Holy Spirit to confirm any truth that may be discovered here. James holds back no punches in his letter to the ‘brethren’ when he takes on the double-mindedness and hypocrisy that existed in the churches. He points out this tendency to ‘bless God’ in one breath and then ‘curse men’ with the same tongue, scolding them by saying “these things ought not to be so!” (3:10-12). His message is as clear as the one Jesus taught...good and bad fruit should not be coming from the same tree. ( Matt. 7:17-18) As we read further on into chapter 4, James flat out calls them ‘adulteresses’ because of their love and friendship with the ‘world’. (4:4). Can I tell you that having a love and appreciation for God’s magnificent creation is not the point of focus h...

  There are two reasons why I continue to circle back and ‘beat that same old drum’ over and over in regards to dealing with this ‘old man’, this ‘carnal nature’ that is supposed...to have been put to death’. (Gal. 5:24; Rom. 6:6). Well, actually there are 3 reasons with the first being the fact that God’s Spirit continues to compel me to go over this again and again. Second of all, Paul makes it clear in his writings that if we continue to live according to the flesh (nature), we will ‘die’. (Rom. 8:13). In Galatians, he cites a lengthy list of what those ‘fleshly traits’ manifest as, and then wraps up by reminding us that ‘those who continue to practice such things will NOT...inherit the kingdom of God’. (5:19-21). And to clear up any confusion there on this matter, he tells us exactly what ‘those who belong to Christ’ have done – they have ‘put to death the flesh with its passions and desires’. (5:24). You might take a quick peek at Colossians 3:5-10 and Romans 1:28-32 if you h...

  When you lose a loved one or a close friend, after the funeral is over you don’t ever see that person again. I shouldn’t have to say this but the reason is... they died, ...and were buried, and they ‘are no more’ (in this lifetime). You will miss them, you will hold on to dear memories of them, you may even have very ‘vivid dreams’ of them from time to time. But you won’t run in to them again; and if you do, then something quite eerie is unfolding that should not be happening. That’s what ‘zombie’ and ‘vampire’ movies are all about. For a host of reasons, many in the ‘church’ world have failed to make a similar connection with this truth in regards to someone else who ‘allegedly died’, and I’m not talking about Jesus, either. I’m taking about our “old man”. Could you take a minute and read Romans 6:1-8? As usual, I will wait here for you. :- ) Now what I am sharing with you here today may offend and even anger some folks, but for others, this should be wonderful news...IF......

  No one that I’m aware of has ever accused James of ‘sugar-coating’ his letter. We believers are admonished to ‘speak the truth in love’, but that does not mean truth won’t ‘hurt’ at times, when we hear it. And James delivers some ‘truth bombs’ that should make us all squirm, if not duck for cover. He opens up his letter reminding us that encountering various trials and tests was not a matter of ‘if’, but ‘when’ they occur. (James 1:2-4). And the purpose of these encounters is so “patience will have its perfect work in us so that we may be ‘perfect and complete’.”(Matt. 5:48 ring a bell?) . Oh, ‘news-flash’ here: this ‘perfecting’ process does not automatically happen on Day 1 after we ‘accept Christ as savior’. The primary benefit of these ‘tests’ is to expose what is in our hearts so when that ‘old man’ surfaces, we can identify, confess, and then repent of it, once and for all as we ‘put it to death’. That is what children of God do who are ‘led by the Spirit’. (Rom. 8:13-...

  Yep...I brought this graphic back today as a ‘refresher’. It’s been awhile...look familiar? :- ) So you were taught that “Christians are not perfect, just forgiven”; or maybe we are just ‘saints who sin’; but just not as bad or as often as we ‘use to’. And the reason being...’we are human with a carnal nature’ ....a nature, mind you... that we will always contend with on this side of heaven, right? Well, there’s just one problem with that faulty theology - scripture teaches just the opposite. Yeah...it happens, which is why Paul warned us by giving a ‘heads up’ that we would be exposed to a plethora of ‘other gospels’ that would lead us astray, just as Eve was. Why, we might even end up receiving ‘another spirit’ and/or following ‘another Jesus’. (2 Cor. 11:3-4). And should we fail to maintain a ‘love for the truth’ we could end up ‘believing a lie’ (that God actually sends) and in the end...we will perish. (2 Thess. 2:9-12; Luke 13:3,5; 2 Pet. 3:9) I am going on my 4th year n...

  Why? Why do we do this continually? Why do we tell new coverts (and one another for that matter) that even though they have been ‘born again’, they will 'continue to be sinners...saved by grace’ who will always practice sin on ‘this side of heaven’?  Doesn't sound much like a 'new creation' to me. (2 Cor. 5:17) Do we do that because we...continue to fall and stumble ourselves, and practice sin? If so, when did our own ‘personal failings’ become God’s standard? (Matt. 5:48; Rom. 10:2-3) And suppose you are ‘helping’ a new ‘born again believer’ to grow in their faith, a friend of yours perhaps, and they come to you and ask for you to explain what John wrote in his first letter: “We know whoever is born of God no longer sins...” (5:18); ... how do you white-wash and explain that one away? Maybe they launched off on a study of their own in John’s gospel, 15:1-8...about the need to ‘abide in Jesus’ and then they stumbled across 1 John 3:6 that says “whoever abides in Hi...

  Jesus did not heal every single person when He was here. Case and point - that lame man we read about in Acts 3 was a ‘regular’ there at the temple in Jerusalem and Jesus would have had to passed by him on multiple occasions. And yet we read in Acts 10:38 how Jesus went about doing good...’healing all who were oppressed by the devil’. So did Jesus ‘sin’ because He did not heal that beggar? Of course not; He knew that at some future point in time, Peter and John would be used by God to heal him which would open up an opportunity for the gospel to be proclaimed. God really does know what He is doing. And Jesus knew that as well, which is why He was committed to doing only...what the Father told Him to do. (John 14:31) And those who are abiding in Christ ‘ought themselves to be walking just as He walked’. (1 John 2:6) We were talking yesterday about those ‘sins of omission’ that many are convinced we ‘commit’ all the time when we fail to do something 'good'.(James 4:17) Today...

  You’ve probably heard, if not used, the expression: ‘big sin and little sin’. My first exposure to such a concept was introduced in the church I was raised in but with more impressive terms: ‘mortal sin’ and ‘venial sin’. Basically, committing a mortal sin was our ticket to hell but those pesky ‘venial sins’...were what most of us were guilty of doing and not all that serious. Yes...we should work on doing better with those, but they posed no eternal consequences. Others have been brought up hearing terms like ‘sins of commission’ and ‘sins of omission’. That one always makes me smile because it just dooms us all... because of all the good things we fail to do is where we supposedly fail and fall short. And then there is all that ‘sinning’ that happens because of all those ‘bad thoughts’ that land on our noggin. Sigh...is it any wonder why God likened us to sheep and lamented how His people are ‘destroyed for a lack of knowledge’? (Hosea 4:6; Isa. 53:6) So let’s see if maybe ...

  IF...you are abiding in Jesus, you will not continue to practice sin. And can someone tell me where in the Bible does it suggest that ‘abiding’ is some kind of ‘holy option for super-saints’? I know that makes our flesh, if not ‘other things’ ...bristle within us, but I don’t know how else to say it; and mind you, these are not my words, but His. We know that whoever is born of God does not sin. (1 John 5:18; 2:6; 3:6,9; 1 Pet. 4:1-2; Rom. 6:2,7,18,22) The problem with this assessment is that it does not ‘fit’ with most, if not all of the many man-made doctrines being taught today. I know that sends up ‘red flags’ for many of you; really...I get it. It would have for me too, years ago. And this leads to even a bigger problem when we refuse to acknowledge and believe what God’s word says, because if we are not truly abiding in Him, then we can produce ZERO fruit. Again, His words, not mine. (John 15:4-5). And you should know by now what problem that in turn, leads to- because fru...

  It’s like many verses we skim over in our Bibles...where you read it, don’t give it much thought and then just keep reading so we can feel good about ‘checking off another chapter read’ for the day. This one is found in Romans 10:1-3. Paul was talking about Jews who had yet to come to Christ. He mentions how they ‘have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge’. (2). He then explains how they are “ignorant of God’s righteousness...while seeking to establish their own righteousness... and have not submitted to the righteousness of God”. (3). In other words, being ‘sincere....but sincerely wrong’ is not a ‘new thing’. In my post yesterday, we touched on that ‘other component’ that is mentioned there in Matt. 6:33 where not only are we admonished to ‘seek first...the kingdom of God’ (if we want to be assured of God’s divine provision) but we are also to be seeking first....”HIS righteousness’...as opposed to what ‘we think’ is some standard of righteousness. And there is a l...

  I’m pretty sure most of us have done this at one time or another, and probably on more than one occasion. You know...where you are trying out a new recipe for the first time, or maybe assembling a new piece of ‘simple’ furniture, or a grill, etc. And towards the end of the process you realize you missed a key part or ingredient back at the start which leaves you frustrated and feeling like a fool. It happens, right? We can do that when reading our Bibles as well...where you come across a particular verse that you thought...you knew by heart, and then much later, something jumps off the page that you swear you have ‘never seen before’. Funny how that happens. Those ‘oversights’ can be painful and costly in some situations; others, maybe not so much. So you left out adding the cinnamon to those homemade cinnamon rolls...nobody dies from that. One verse in particular comes to mind for me, personally. It’s found in Matt. 6:33 and one that really stood out to me early on in my f...

  When encouraged to ‘examine ourselves...to see if we are in the faith and test to see if Jesus Christ is in us...’ (2 Cor. 13:5), what litmus test do you use? Is there even one we can refer to like we had in school when we had to grade our quizzes that can give us some idea as to ‘how we are doing so far’? And by the way, there was a reason the teacher always had us swap papers so we were not grading our own exam. I have repeatedly made the case here that much of the ‘church world’ has focused on the wrong question by always wanting to ask: ‘are we... saved’? The real question that needs to be evaluated is: “Are we abiding in Christ”? So... when presented with that specific question, what mental process do you go through to assess that? I would imagine depending on what denomination you were raised in, you probably have a checklist you run down quickly. You know, things like: “Yes...I’m abiding in Jesus because....” “I was baptized as an infant and attend service weekly.” ...

  There is no telling how many countless people have been led or instructed to pray that they might ‘receive and/or accept Christ as Savior’, and then immediately afterwards are told, if not promised, they are ‘now a child of God’. I mean, we read in John 1:12 that “as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become ... children of God’. And yet, we somehow forget about teaching them what Romans 8:14 brings to the table- “for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these... are the children of God”. So...what does it mean to be ‘led by the Spirit’? How would you explain that to a new convert? This would not strike me as being some trivial option for a believer, does it to you? And this is where we probably get all kinds of personal antidotes and opinions. Maybe we should go back to see what the word has to say since we are promised by Jesus, who IS...the Word...that He was going to send a ‘Helper’ to lead and guide us. (John 14:16-18; 16:13). It might help if we ha...