Sheep Food

  I’m not sure how you did with yesterday’s message, the one about the need to ‘examine ourselves’…but after I posted it I could hear an accusatory voice whisper to me “You’re making this too hard on people.” And it wasn’t God speaking to me. I was then reminded of that passage in John 6, where after Jesus had shared some deep truths with those in His audience, we are told that “many of His disciples, when they heard this said, ‘this is a hard saying, who can accept it’?” (60). These weren’t just peripheral followers waiting for the next miracle of fishes and loaves to fill their bellies either. They were ‘disciples’, or as many folks today would call them: ‘saved folks’. And Jesus knew in Himself that what He was telling them was not being well received (61). But He didn’t modify or dilute or back off from His message so as to appease the disgruntled group who were now second guessing what they had signed on for with this ‘following Jesus’ journey. Jesus was not one to tell pe...

  So you read yesterday’s message and found yourself asking what the condition of your own ‘pump’ was in; and that’s not a bad thing to do. (2 Cor. 13:5) There are probably different ways of having it checked out, but let me share with you a statement I have heard on more than one occasion by people who I would tell you are ‘sincere believers’; and this might be a legitimate ‘marker’ of something being amiss in your own pump (spiritual heart). Over these past six years, this journey I have been on has had multiple markers, or what I would call ‘defining moments’, where tremendous lessons of truth were impressed upon me. I could write a book on those moments alone. But along the way, I’ve had many interesting conversations with multiple believers as I have tried to share with them what happened to me, and what I have come to discover from God’s word. This is the statement I have heard roll off the lips of those individuals: “I believe abiding in Jesus is important, but if I’m bein...

  “They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways.” – God (Heb. 3:10; Ps. 95:10) Who might be ‘they’ He speaks of there? That would be ‘His people’ who often find themselves in unfortunate predicaments due to ‘bad intel’ (Hosea 4:6) There’s an interesting statement recorded in Deut. 2:3, where God told Moses: “You’ve been circling this mountain long enough; it’s time to turn northward.” You know…40 years is a long time to wander in a place that was never intended to be your place of settlement; especially in a land or region that was as inhospitable as the wilderness, the place Moses led God’s people through after their deliverance from the land of Egypt where they had lived as slaves for hundreds of years. If that 'circling the same mountain'... doesn’t describe the walk of many sincere Christians today who have continued to battle with sins (and their consequences) that ‘war against their soul’, I don’t know what does. Years ago, we owned an ’87 GM...

  Allow me to once again to refer to a quote by C.S. Lewis, where he writes: "There are two equal and opposite errors into which our (human) race can fall into when it comes to devils/demons. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.” I do not go about from day to day with my mind affixed on ‘unclean spirits’. Nor is my day consumed with trying to keep a list of rules and commands in order to ‘not sin’. Abiding in Jesus is not like walking down a sidewalk as you try to avoid stepping on a crack (not wanting to break your mother’s back-IYKY). Children of God have been called to ‘abide in Him’, and to walk in His peace, not to mention 'as He walked' (1 John 2:6). Can I tell you how much easier it is to just have your mind set on Him, and things above? (John 15:1-5; Col. 3:2; Luke 1:79; Col. 4:7; Isa. 26:3; Matt. 11:28-30). And ‘if’ you sin…He’ll let you know about it; trust me - You lose that...

  It is one of the more profound questions found in our Bibles, and it is directed to ‘Christians’: “If we are dead to sin, how can we go on sinning?” (Rom. 6:2 CEV) The emphasis there should be on that first, 2-letter word ‘if’. Can I just tell you upfront that Romans 6 is one of those chapters that has an incredible amount of ‘truth’ buried beneath the surface there, and is one of those chapters that if you will spend time going over it repeatedly until it ‘clicks’…it can be life changing. (Luke 24:32,45) Paul is laying the groundwork there with the hopes we will come to see that every one of us can be set free and walk in the newness of life…’having died to sin’, and that the ‘body of sin might be done away with’…once and for all. He talks about how we are ‘no longer slaves to sin…having been set free from sin’ and that we ‘were’ at one time ‘slaves to sin’. So the question remains then…’why do so many continue to ‘sin’? And if one does, what did Jesus say that makes them, i...

  Two common mistakes that Christians tend to make when it comes to sharing our faith and explaining the gospel is this: We can easily complicate simple truths, or we try to over-simplify complex truths. It happens all the time. Having stated that…I want to share some thoughts here today that I have shared in the past; but the last thing I want to do is oversimplify a valuable lesson and come across like I’m presenting a ‘How To’ manual on how we actually ‘put to death…the deeds of the flesh’. I’m not here to offer ‘spiritual formulas’; rather…share more scripture and liberating truths that I have come to not only learn myself…but even more importantly…experienced myself. Truth be told…I can honestly say now that I’ve been around ‘long enough’ to have learned a few things…and seen even more. I will also say that you will never hear me profess that I have it ‘all figured out’; but gosh…what little I have come to learn has been life transforming for me. Something else I have witness...

  Here’s a *News Flash* for all those who may have not read the rest of the ‘memo’: God did not just send Jesus to pay off our ‘debt of sin’ by forgiving us of our sins; He came to set all men free from sin where they could actually ‘go and sin no more’ (John 5:14; 8:11; 1 John 5:18). I mean really…what’s the point in sending a plumber and clean-up crew to remove all the standing sewage that has spilled into your yard…if the broken pipe that lead to the stinking mess is not repaired? Yeah…go read that one more time, aloud. That passage in John’s gospel that ‘sparked’ these blog posts nearly five years ago is quite an indictment made by Jesus: “I tell you most assuredly: whoever commits sin is a slave to sin” (8:34). That’s the same passage where He was promising those in His audience that they could know the truth and the truth would set them free (32). And what was the first thing out of the mouths/hearts of those who heard this? “Oh…we’ve never been in bondage to anyone, so ho...

  “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...