Sheep Food

  I know if you attend seminary or any school that trains and prepares aspiring Christian believers to enter the ministry, you will have classes that educate you on how to ‘properly’ prepare and deliver sermons (Homiletics). There seems to be one ‘formula’ that many preachers have adapted which includes using ‘3 points’ that you hope the listener takes home with them, not to mention ‘take to heart’. Oftentimes, those three points will all begin with the same letter, to make it easier to remember, I suppose. I’d be curious to ask any instructor who teaches such a class if they have ever tried to break down the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ that Jesus gave in Matthew 5-7, to see if it could it be nicely packaged in 3 points. I’m sure some have probably tried to do so and could even present how Jesus used this ‘method’. But whether we are analyzing a ‘Ted Talk’, an important political speech, or this famous sermon that Jesus delivered, one thing does seem to be constant, and it is the ‘wrap...

  “There’s smoke on you!” I heard someone make that statement sometime back as they were summing up in somewhat of 'dramatic' fashion what Jesus was basically saying to the world when He came to ‘save’ us. “There’s smoke on you and you better let me save you from what is going to eventually destroy you.” It's hard to say how that statement might ‘land’ in a mixed crowd of people who hear it, but if you take the time to ‘unpack’ that statement, you begin to see the truth in it, and the desire Jesus has to truly ‘save’ us from ‘perishing’. So for those who are willing to take a little time today to just examine...what our beloved Bible has to say, you might consider the following passages that I will lay out for you here now. And please pray for God to give you understanding and revelation in your heart, because He is the only One who can cause His word to take root and work in you. And take your time with each one of these... This...is what the Bible has to say: God’s ‘wrat...

  “...and when you have returned to Me, Peter...strengthen your brethren...” -Jesus (Luke 22:32) I mentioned yesterday how hard it is for me to read this exchange that Jesus had with Peter, and not be moved to tears by it. It really hits close to home, for me, personally; and I would imagine it does so for others...who have ‘been there’ themselves. In case you are not familiar with this interaction between the two, it took place shortly before Jesus was arrested. Peter had been feeling pretty confident and determined to not let anything happen to Jesus, and that he was ready to ‘lay down his life’ for Him if need be. Peter was, after all...(in his own eyes at least), Jesus’s ‘right hand man’, sword at his side and ready to go that extra mile. Ever been there? This is when Jesus informs Peter that He had received a request from ‘Satan’, asking to ‘sift Peter as wheat’ (31). That revealed dialogue in itself is interesting for several reasons that we won’t spend much time on today,...

  If you think, for even a moment that you, or anyone else can somehow find, experience, and enter in to this ‘abundant life’ that Jesus came to offer us (John 10:10) outside of taking up your own cross...you are sorely mistaken, if not deceived. There simply are no...’shortcuts’. “Then He (Jesus) said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24) This is the lesson, or the ‘takeaway’ we should glean when we listen in to those parting words Jesus had for Peter, which we have been studying the past two days. And it was all packaged in that one penetrating question that Jesus asked Peter, three times in a row: “Peter...Do. You. Love. Me?” Now....insert your name there in place of Peter’s. Do you love Jesus? “IF...you love Me, you will keep and obey My commandments.” – Jesus (John 14:15-Amp) Ca...

  I have a soundtrack in my music collection of children’s ‘church’ songs that the boys (my twin grandsons) love to listen to; they call them the ‘God Songs’. One of them tells the story how ‘Peter, James, and John in the sailboat...’fished all night and caught no fishes’. This of course taken from the story I mentioned in yesterday’s message as we were taking some time to see what we could draw and learn from in Peter’s 'stumbles'. I hear it often. In fact... it was mentioned in a sermon I heard this past weekend...how people ‘find comfort’ in realizing that even someone like Peter, who walked close with Jesus for three years...still...had his epic moment when he denied knowing Jesus, when it mattered most. Somehow...we convince ourselves that we too...will continue to have epic failures and fall short...and disappoint God by falling back into sin. Friends...nothing could be more misconstrued and misunderstood... if that is your take-away from what happened to Peter. We sur...

  Peter...Peter...Peter. Everyone always wants to point to Peter and make the case that even Peter...who spent three years walking as close to Jesus as anyone could ever hope to do... and he still fell flat on his face in the end and denied knowing Jesus in his most epic failure that left him broken and ashamed. (Luke 22:55-62) Could someone please tell me why it’s ...‘that Peter’ we always want to look to and draw from... when we fall flat on our faces and ‘fail God’? Because clearly...something happened to Peter on the Day of Pentecost that forever changed him until he was put to death for boldly proclaiming the gospel of our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ. This is why I have said on more than one occasion that the modern day ‘church’ has become the biggest ‘enabler’ for ‘sinners’, because we continue to console and comfort ‘sin’ as we remind and ‘indoctrinate’ sinners that they will always be ‘sinners’ and fall short and fail God. Now that’s not to suggest we should be ‘casting s...

  “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.” “He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” “ But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” (1 John 2:3-6) Did that say: 'He who says he abides in Him...ought himself also...to walk just as He (Jesus) walked...'? So...how’s that been working out for you? You have your good days, maybe those few good moments spread far and few and in-between, you say? Two steps forward and then three steps back? Story of your life, right? I mean, nobody’s perfect and God sure doesn’t expect us to be ‘perfect’ so why beat yourself up over and over and just accept His love and grace...they tell us. And yet, Jesus said: “You shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Not my words.... His words (Matt. 5:48). But wha...

  In the days leading up to the arrest of Jesus that would in turn, lead to His death on the cross, His disciples met with Him on the Mount of Olives and inquired of Him asking: ”Lord...tell us what it will be like at the end of the age prior to your coming.” (Matt. 24:3) And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you, for many...will come in My name...and will deceive many.” (4-5) Have you ever stopped to consider how often we are warned throughout the NT to ‘be not deceived...brethren’? The answer is probably more than you might guess. “Many...will come in My name...” Jesus told them. That warning in itself could be reason enough for many half-hearted skeptics to use as an excuse to not ‘turn to Jesus’, citing there are ‘so many out there today’ who have ‘come in His name’...so how are you supposed to know ‘which one’ to follow? I get it, and I was there one time myself. It can sure be easy to take that circular path of ‘philosophical debate’, like Pont...

  Learning to follow Jesus and surrendering to His Lordship was not intended to be like a trip to Disneyland. And it certainly was not designed to be ‘easy on the flesh’. Jesus was pretty upfront with that when people inquired as to what He was asking of them. (Luke 14:26-22; 9:23) He made it quite clear what this ‘narrow path’ would be like (Matt. 7:14; Luke 13:24). And still...the invitation remains open to all...”Follow Me”. There were times when people did not like hearing what Jesus had to say, and they made the choice to turn and walk away (John 6:66), even admitting that what they were hearing was ‘hard’ to listen to (John 6:60). When Jesus asked those closest to Him: “Do you want to also go away?” (65), Peter’s rhetorical question in response was spot on: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (68). But learning to do what He asks for anyone who does turn to Him...is not an ‘option’; never has been and never will be. Yes...it’s that serious! (...

  It’s kind of an interesting admission on the part of Jesus that He shared there in John 16:12 with His closest followers. I’d be curious to know if you have it marked in your Bible. He told them: “I still have many things to say to you...but you cannot bear them now.” Who here likes to be teased with such ‘hidden info’ when told...”I know things but I can’t tell you now because you wouldn’t be able to handle it!”? Paul said something similar in his first letter to the Corinthians (3:1-2) when he told them that he was unable to speak to them as ‘spiritual people’ ...but as ‘babies...because they were still carnal’. He goes on...I had to feed you ‘milk, and not solid food...because you were in no place to receive it; and even now...you are still not able because you are carnal’. He then lists some examples of the carnal ‘fruit’ they were bearing, like envy and strife and petty divisions that existed among them (3). And for those who want to make this about: “Yeah, but see, they ...

  For the life of me, I cannot imagine a plausible scenario in which I found myself riding some form of public transportation out here, be it a city bus, or the subway and then out of nowhere, blurt out loud to everyone within earshot: “Hey...God talks to me!” How nutty would that be? If I was sitting in on a college level class at some public university, maybe a philosophy class or even upper level science class, and the professor randomly asked the room full of 200+ students....”So, anyone here thinks God ‘talks’ to them?”, I might be reluctant to raise my hand, for several reasons. And even when I am in the company of other likeminded ‘believers’, whether a church setting, a small group gathering, or even sharing with any of you who read here regularly, you would be hard pressed to find many instances where I am constantly stating: “Well God told me this and God told me that and then the other day God was talking to me and shared this with me...etc...etc.” There is good reason ...

  “The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me...These things you should do...(put into practice) and the God of peace will be with you.” – Paul (Phil. 4:9) You might scroll back a few verses and just read a few...of those ‘things’, beginning at vs. 4, where we are admonished to ‘rejoice in the Lord...always’...and to “let your gentleness be known to all men since the Lord is at hand”...(4-5). And make note of that promise in vs. 7...if we do what is encouraged there in vs. 6: how ‘the peace of God which surpasses all understanding...will guard/keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”. From what I read, hear, and even see these days...there seems to be a genuine shortage of ‘peace of mind’ that eludes so many people; and yes...that would include many who grace our church pews weekly. I know I quote Hosea 4:6 here often, that statement where God said ‘His people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge...”, but have you ever read His assessment of the peo...