Sheep Food

  Question: When did God change? Answer: He hasn’t. (Mal.3:6; Heb. 13:8) Which means we need to come to terms with the fact that the ‘New Testament God’ we believers claim to love, know, serve, and follow...is the same God we were introduced to in the OT as our creator.(Gen. 1:26-27; Jer. 1:5). And the ‘same God’ from way back then, who warned Adam and Eve that eating from a particular tree He told them not to eat from would ‘surely’ lead to imminent death (Gen. 2:17)...is the ‘same God’ of the NT who tell us that sin still leads to death, along with other unpleasant consequences. (John 5:14; Rom. 6:23; 8:13; Luke 13:1-5) Friends...let me assure you that the sooner you are able to lay aside, if even for only a brief moment, some of your personal pre-conceived ideas and man-made doctrines, and simply examine more insight from God’s word, the sooner your understanding of the author of these scriptures… could alter your life in tremendous ways. But again, you need to ask Him to bear ...

  Just so we are all on the ‘same page’ here today when it comes to understanding who Jesus actually was...and still is - “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God...and the Word was...God... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...and we beheld His glory...” (John 1:1,14) Jesus told His disciples: “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also...he who has seen Me has seen the Father...I and My Father are one.” (John 14:7,9; 10:30) Jesus...the Christ, has definitely been around for some time, long before His earthly birth to Mary as the Savior, actually... whom we love to celebrate every Christmas. When some Pharisees questioned Him on how He could have ever seen Abraham (which He alluded to), Jesus assured them by stating plainly: “Before Abraham was, I AM”. (John 8:58) Paul enlightens us as to who that ‘Rock’ was that followed the Israelites around in the wilderness providing water...saying: “and that Rock was Christ.” (1 Cor. 10:4) We read in...

  I was driving home last week after running some errands and passed the main HQ for YouTube; yeah...the place is about a mile from our house where we live these days. It was close to 5PM and people were exiting the building to head home. I stopped at a red light and glanced over to see nearly two dozen individuals all standing out front waiting for presumed rides, or maybe the shuttle that takes them to where their cars are parked at a remote site. What caught my attention was that every single one of them were totally engaged with their phones in hand. I carefully scanned the crowd to confirm what I was witnessing and nobody was talking to anyone else beside them. Their attention was all held by that hand-sized device that we are all too familiar with. And can I just tell you that scene has haunted me ever since, not to mention brought great ‘conviction’. I get it...I’m sure it was the end of day and there were text messages to respond to, emails to glance at, maybe rides to...

  Assuming here that you are familiar with the ‘Midnight Ride of Paul Revere’...(the actual event and not Longfellow’s poem)... I have to wonder if American history would have been altered in any way... had he not made that famous ride at midnight...warning the sleeping colonist at Concord and Lexington of the coming invasion by British troops. My hunch is the war still would have ensued, but just gotten off to a slower start after suffering probable losses in those two townships. But he did indeed begin that ride at night which awoke the colonists to take up arms so they could defend themselves against the invading enemy. Anyone see where I am going here with this, especially after reading yesterday’s post? I’m a bit concerned that while many professing ‘believers’ today...may hear much talk of the approaching ‘Day of the Lord’ (1 Thess. 5:2-4)...is it possible that they might not be totally up to speed as to what is going to actually going to take place...and happen during this...

  Quick confession here before you read through a few Bible verses that I have typed out for you today, and I strongly encourage you to read them through, slowly . For years, whenever I picked up a Christian-themed book to read, I had this ‘habit’ of pouring over the words of the author, even underlining certain statements and points they may have made; but when I came across a portion of scripture in that book (usually in italics) ...for some reason, I would just ‘skim over’ the actual word of God...and continue on ‘drinking in’ what the author was saying. Please don’t make that mistake when reading here today (or on any day for that matter). My words are just that...’my words’. It is God’s Word...that is powerful and ready to do a work inside of your heart if...you will allow it. (Heb . 4:12; 1 Thess. 2:13; Eph. 5:26; Luke 8:11-12). And as you are reading these, ask yourself: “What did these writers seem to know ...that so many in the church world today... not seem to ‘get’?” .....

  “The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. They did not keep the covenant of God; They refused to walk in His law ...” (Ps. 78:9-10) They ‘turned back in the day of battle’. Sounds like some other folks we read about in John 6:66 and 2 Tim. 4:10...when it comes to ‘turning back’, or maybe even ‘falling away from the faith’. Imagine going into a war, or battle zone...having all the training, weapons, and protective armor you could possibly need...and then laying it aside while carrying on with your personal business as if it was just a Saturday walk in the park. The chances of you ending up in ‘body bag’ would be high...I would imagine. Allow me to share some personal history here for a moment with you. I was born in 1960, here in the United States into a ‘military’ family as my dad served for 30 years in the Army. I grew up traveling from one military base to another the first 18 years of my life, five of them were spent in Euro...

  If a close friend or a beloved family member handed you the keys to their car before you went in a restaurant for dinner, concerned that they might ‘drink too much’, could you in good faith hand those keys back to them at the end of the evening if it became apparent they had drank way too much and were in no condition to drive? I think (or hope) I know the answer to that question that most of us would give. So now I have to ask... how many sincere ‘believers’ today have continued to remain in ‘captivity’ to various sins...and yes...perhaps, even... ’unclean spirits’... because they were taught to believe they would always remain... ‘a sinner saved by grace...and would continue to always sin on this side of heaven’? Has it dawned on you yet that ‘sin’ is what ‘gives place...to the devil’? (Eph. 4:27) We have seen over the past week how these ‘spirits’ can affect the way we think and blind us from the truth of God’s word; truth I might add...that was sent to set us free. (John 8:32...

  [You might want to read yesterday’s message before you take this one on today.] We are examining what the Bible has to say about unclean spirits and the varying ways in which they operate and manifest . I mentioned in closing the other day, asking if we were aware that demon spirits had most likely ‘infiltrated’ many, if not the majority of churches today. That really should not surprise us because Jesus warned us to beware of ‘false teachers’ who would come to us “in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves” (Matt. 7:15). I’m pretty sure he was not suggesting these teachers had hairy, 4-legged dog-like animals inside them. Paul would later warn the believers at Ephesus to ‘take heed to yourselves and the flock’...and that after he departed from them, ‘savage wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock’ (Acts 20:28-29). Again...I think we are safe to conclude he’s not warning of four-legged predators being on the loose. If you take a quick look at 2 Cor. 11, w...