Sheep Food

  “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness… and every disease… among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.” (Matt. 9:35-36) That portion of text gets me every time. The mission of Jesus was simple, and His message was clear and direct. He came to help hurting people, wanting to heal them and set them free. And He never held back when it came to teaching them why they were hurting, and who had them bound. “Repent…and follow Me.” That was the condensed version. Like Paul, Jesus did not come with the enticing words of men’s wisdom and intellect; rather He was anointed by God with the Holy Spirit and power in order to heal all who were oppressed by the devil (Acts 10:38). Paul echoed this sentiment when he made it clear that he too…did not come with excellence of s...

  About those ‘paradigms’ we talked about yesterday…here’s a pretty common one that many sincere ‘believers’ subscribe to: “I’m a sinner saved by grace.” Would you align yourself with that statement, or not? Or maybe you have just always been led to believe that ‘Christians’ are simply ‘saints who sin’. After all…Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven, right?  The assumption here, of course, is that one who views or sees themself remaining 'as a sinner' must continue to live as a 'sinner'...because they continue to sin?  Maybe not as 'bad' or as 'often' as they 'once did'...but still... If that is your paradigm, or set of ‘spiritual lenses’ you have always viewed this Christian life through…what would it take to get you to take a ‘second look’ and maybe reconsider that a ‘paradigm shift’ might be needed in our churches today? And it really wouldn’t require some heavenly sign from above to get our attention…since it’s already laid out in our...

  In the Book of James, the reader is challenged towards the end of the 5th chapter with a series of questions along with a ‘remedy’ to their pressing problems. I’m paraphrasing here, so I’d encourage you to read the passage in its full context (5:13-16) Is anyone among you…suffering? Is anyone among you…sick? Here’s a suggestion- why not try confessing your sins to one another…and pray for one another…that you may be healed. In fact, you might even just call for the elders of your church assembly and let them pray over you, even anointing you with some oil in the name of the Lord. And guess what? That prayer offered in faith will raise you up. And if that person has committed sins, they will be forgiven, provided they confess and repent of them (implied). In John’s gospel, we read about a man who had been an invalid for 38 years. Jesus came upon him, asked him if he wanted to be made well, and then healed his body instantly, where he was able to get up and walk. (John 5:1-9). It...

  “IF you love Me…keep My commandments.” – Jesus (John 14:15) “Blessed is the man…whose delight is in the law of the Lord. And in His law he mediates day and night.” (Ps. 1:1-2) “Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters.” -Paul. (1 Cor. 7:19). Can I just tell you that if one is truly following the leading of God’s Spirit…that is what they are doing? (Rom. 8:13-14, 4; 1 John 2:3-4; 5:2-3) If you’ve been reading here the past week or so, we’ve actually been touching on the first 3 commandments, even though that was not my intent or original plan. The first commandment, as you probably know... highlights the need of recognizing there is only One God and He is the One worthy of our worship above all others. The second commandment introduced us to this idea that God was a ‘jealous God’ and was known for ‘visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him…but s...

  When Jesus gathered with His disciples on the Mount of Olives, they asked Him privately if He might share with them how one could know when the ‘end of the age’ would come and what might be some evident ‘signs’ leading up to His return. (Matt. 24:3) And what a ‘sermon’ of a response Jesus gave them. It would appear that it spans two chapters if you read 24 and 25 straight through. Jesus touches on so many points in His response, but it’s always the first statement out of His mouth that always gets my attention: “Take heed that no one deceives you, for many will come in My name…and will deceive many.” (Matt. 24:4-5). (Paul alludes to this fact as well in 2 Cor. 11:3-4 and Gal. 1:6-9) Jesus goes on to point out of a great divide that will arise between ‘nations’, a word derived from a Greek word that we get the word ‘ethnic’. He continues on… warning how ‘you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake’ (9). But it’s the next verse that I’d like to launch from for today’s le...

  This idea that God desires, wants, and yes…even ‘requires’ that we come to Him with our ‘whole heart’… really is ‘a thing’ with Him. Seriously, He really meant that! Jesus agreed that loving God with ‘all our heart’ was the single most important and ‘greatest commandment’. (Matt. 22:36-38) When asked what one ‘must do’ in order to receive or inherit ‘eternal life’, Jesus told the lawyer who quizzed Him…”love the Lord your God with all your heart…” (Luke 10:25-28) When a rich, young ruler came to Him asking a similar question, Jesus again…pointed to the ‘law’, as in ‘keep the commandments and you will enter into life’, the young man pressed Jesus asking ‘which ones?’ (Matt. 19:16-18). We soon discover that this ‘seeker’ makes the same mistake that many of us have been guilty of doing over the span of our lives and just automatically ‘assume we’re good with God’. But wait…a more probing conversation ensues and reveals something that was not apparent at first. This young man was a...

  Based on what I’ve always heard and thought to be true, and then later ‘confirmed’ by a simple internet ‘search’, tapping in to the National Cancer Institute, a person's body can ‘harbor cancer cells that remain dormant for months, years, and even decades without developing into a tumor causing detectable illness’. (.gov) These ‘sleeping’ cells are clinically known as ‘cancer cell dormancy’. The article also includes this statement: “What causes disseminated cancer cells to enter, and then to leave, a dormant state is not known.” The same could be said about other dreaded diseases out there today that we know are often times passed down through family lines. I’ve personally known families who agonized over whether to have their children tested to see if they were ‘predisposed’, or had the particular cells, given there were no known cures for that particular disease. If you would please, take a moment and read through this passage found in Deut. 28:58-63. However you want to ...

  This idea of ‘unfortunate things’ being passed down through family lines is nothing new to us. Have you not read or heard where there are increasing numbers of young women who are undergoing double mastectomies because they have learned that breast cancer runs in their families, and they are ‘predisposed’ to developing it as well, having certain genetic factors in place? Were you aware that many victims of sexual abuse at the hands of a parent ... later find out their abuser was a victim themselves? Surely you've heard how alcoholism or drug addiction runs through family lines? And why do adoptive children go to great efforts at times to trace down their biological parents? Usually it has to do with wanting to know the medical history of their blood family, if for no other reasons. Do you suffer from depression or anxiety attacks...with painful memories as you watched a parent go through something similar? Maybe your ‘anger issues’ were always ‘jokingly attributed’ to a pare...

  “The apple doesn’t fall far from the apple tree.” Have you ever heard that saying before? Or perhaps it was something similar regarding how someone was a ‘chip off the old block’? Both phrases refer to someone who closely resembles their parent in character, behavior, or appearance. It highlights the idea that children inherit traits from their parents, whether they be physical features, personality traits, or talents, etc. The Bible leads us to understand that other ‘traits’ can be inherited as well, as in the ‘not so good ones’...like sin and death. (Romans 5:12) But I want to direct our attention to what is revealed in the 2nd commandment, which is first made known in Exodus 20:4, and then later in Deut. 5:9. It’s the commandment that warns God’s people to not engage with creating or carving out images or likenesses of anything that might take God’s place of rightful worship, which was the first commandment. We could obviously spend more time examining just what that might en...

  “He who has ears to hear...let him hear...” It was a phrase Jesus used on multiple occasions which could be interpreted as a ‘call to action’. Jesus was urging His listeners to pay close attention and deeply understand the spiritual meaning behind what He was teaching. Can I just remind any and all who might be reading here today...that if there is any ‘deeper’ truths to be ‘revealed’, grasped, and understood...it will be the Holy Spirit who is doing the ‘revealing’. I would also add here that it seems to only be the ones whom Jesus has their whole hearts...that have ‘deeper enlightenments’ revealed to them. I know...sounds a tad lofty and elite, but all I can do is point you to what the Bible says – (Matt. 13:11; 16:17; Luke 24:32,45; John 5:39-40; Acts 16:14). So if you perceive to be receiving any spiritual insights from what you have been learning lately...be sure it goes to your heart, and not your head. Just saying... I have to remind myself regularly as to who my perc...

  “Notice how God is both kind and severe. He is very hard on those who disobey, but very good to you if you continue to love and trust him. But if you don’t, you too will be cut off.” (Rom. 11:22 TLB) Yeah....that really is there in our Bible, so if you want to take a moment and go underline it, I’ll wait for you here. It has been said that you can often find ditches on ‘both sides of the road’, which speaks volumes to me when it comes to how we teach what we believe the Bible says regarding our faith and walk with Christ. If we’re not careful, we can end up in either ditch, sometimes simply because we overcompensated in trying to avoid the ditch on the left, we ended up in the one on the right; if that makes sense? So take that verse from Romans we began with here, that speaks to ‘two sides’ or two ‘natures’ of God, where He is both loving and good, but can also be ‘severe’ or harsh. If one spends an unhealthy amount of time placing emphasis on one nature or the other, you can ...

  Picking up where I left off yesterday, (yes, that’s a hint you might want to read it first)...we are admonished to consider, to think upon, and to take in the ramifications that God Almighty is indeed, a truly loving and merciful God, whose goodness knows no bounds. But in the same breath, we are also reminded to not neglect the fact that God can also be quite ‘severe’, and to overlook this fact would be to our own peril (Romans 11:22). And when we are guilty of emphasizing one aspect of God’s nature in our teachings at the expense of neglecting the other aspect, we then falsely misrepresent Him. The reason God takes great exception to this mistake of giving a false portrayal of Him is because it tends to drive people away from Him (or to ‘other gods’)...and if there was ever a time when a lost and hurting world needed to know Him in all of His glory and goodness, and truth... that time is now. I have stated before that the gospel of Jesus Christ was delivered to us intending to...