Sheep Food

  One last thought to pass on regarding my message yesterday where we touched on the tragic story and ongoing trial of Lindsay Clancy, who could very well hear the jury’s verdict sometime this week. The labor & delivery nurse, and mother of three children, whom she admits to taking their lives… entered a plea of ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’. In simple terms, to be labeled ‘insane’ suggests a person is, or was not…in their ‘right mind’. You may recall my recent lesson where we looked at the account found in Mark’s gospel when Jesus encountered a man who was in serious need of some ‘deliverance’, a term we associate with being freed from ‘unclean’ or ‘demon’ spirits. The man was sorely afflicted and in great torment as we learn that he could not be controlled or contained. He was known by the townspeople to run through graveyards at night, crying out, along with cutting himself with stones (Mark 5:2-5). In modern day terms, some people would label him as a ‘cutter’, amo...

  Over the past five years…I’ve done well to avoid wading into addressing ‘current events’, for the most part, when writing and then sharing my daily blog lessons here on social media. Every now and then (and it’s rare)…I might feel compelled to point out something that strikes me as worth using as an object lesson; but by the grace of God I feel confident that I have kept these message ‘word centered’ and have avoided getting entangled with ‘news events’, and the cares of this life which can easily capture people’s fancy on any given day (Mark 4:19). But today will be one of those exceptions. The reason I am going down this path in my lesson this morning is because both examples seem to ‘fit’ with a narrative that I’ve been addressing the past few days, and have been over these last several years. Take what you want from today’s message, but I do believe that many ‘natural’ events that pop up in our daily news cycles can oftentimes serve as a reminder, or better yet…a ‘reflection...

  I am not one who claims to have a continuous flow of ‘spiritual dreams’ where I believe God is ‘speaking to me’; but I have had a couple of notable ones over the years where that seemed to be the case; and that is ‘scriptural’ in case you are wondering (Acts 2:17). Yet I am an active dreamer, meaning something always seems to be going on in my head when I sleep, but seldom do they ever make sense or bear worth repeating to anyone because of that. But I did wake up the other morning after dreaming about a particular Bible verse, of all things. When I say I was dreaming about a ‘verse’, it really was a particular passage with reference and all, and it just kept boring into my subconscious as if to drive a point home, and when I finally woke up, I could not get it off my mind, so naturally I went to spend some time looking it over. It’s a verse I have cited here numerous times before and it is John 3:36. “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believ...

  It’s called ‘taking possession of the land’, and it is what God wanted that first generation of Israelites to do after He delivered them from slavery in Egypt centuries ago under the leadership of Moses. You now the story…the plagues, the great escape, the crossing of the Red Sea and then a short passage through the wilderness where God delivered the 10 Commandments to them. It was never a final destination for them to inhabit this inhospitable land, it was merely a ‘testing ground’ on their way to a better place (Deut. 8:2). The problem was…the people failed the test in multiple ways, capping it off by refusing to go in and to take possession of the land God had for them; a land I might remind you that was fertile and fruitful, flowing with ‘milk and honey’. But the people just didn’t think it was remotely possible that life could be that good, or that they could take the necessary actions to ‘overcome the enemy’ and live as conquerors which God had promised them would happen...

  Jesus said, on more than one occasion…to “go and sin no more.” (John 5:14; 8:11). He was just kidding, right? I mean…seriously…Jesus had to know how impossible that would be for flawed humans like us, right? Something must have been lost in the language translations over time. News Flash: If you study this out in the Greek…’no more’…actually means…’no more’. I’m pretty sure God meant that, regardless of what we have been taught. (Romans 3:4) As we discussed yesterday, we are feeling ‘led’ to begin our house cleaning by going through the house and picking up all the opened/unopened mail, junk mail, miscellaneous papers laying around, newspapers, receipts, etc. So grab a paper sack or wastebasket and let’s just deal with this one aspect of all the house clutter, once and for all. You can start with whichever room you want, but let’s make sure to go through the whole house; then we can cross that chore off the list. Now for the sake of our lesson here, let’s presume this particu...

  “Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Gal. 5:24). If we’re being honest here, that verse alone ought to give us all pause, as we take a long look into the mirror and ‘examine ourselves’ which we are admonished to do in 2 Cor. 13:5. Welcome back to Part II on ‘how to clean house’, taught by yours truly…which only confirms that God still ‘uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise’. Just a bit of irony here that I’m giving tips on how to ‘clean up clutter’ in your home. If you don't believe me, ask my wife. ;- ) But on a more serious note, we are looking at how the Holy Spirit first begins to move in our lives after we have had a genuine ‘come to Jesus moment’ where we come to terms with our true wretched condition as ‘sinners’ …which brought us to a place of genuine repentance in search of a Savior; who we find of course…in Jesus. He even invites us to come to Him so we can find peace and rest for our souls. (Matt. 11...

  It was a statement made years ago that stopped me in my tracks and hit a nerve when I heard another preacher comment: “Jesus spent the first 30 years of His life…preparing for 3 years of ministry…and somewhere along the way we got smart and figured we could train a man in 3 years to go out and minister for 30 years.” I’m just gonna leave that there and you can make what you want with it. I only share it because it speaks to this tendency we have to want to hurry up and rush new converts into 'ministry' so they can ‘fulfill their destiny in God’. I wonder if the real motive there is to hurry up and get people ‘plugged in’ to our local churches and keep them busy so they’ll keep coming back. That is, after all…how you ‘grow a church’ is it not?  And I don't say that to sound overly cynical or critical either. Changing lanes here for a brief moment, but I have to wonder if the reason so many marriages fail out there is because we didn’t recognize what we ‘signed on for’ wh...

  As you have probably heard, there are some folks out there who claim to be the masters of deal making. And as you probably know already, making deals is all about making compromises as you negotiate the small, and not so small… details. Can I just tell you that when we speak about ‘coming to Jesus’, there are no deals to be made, no negotiating petty details, nor do any of us have any leverage to use when it comes to receiving this eternal life that Jesus spoke about. God is the one who lays down the conditions, and we either accept them or we take our toys and go home…and perish. Yes, that sounds cold and harsh, but ‘unless we repent, we will all likewise perish’. (Luke 13:1-5) Let’s be honest here…if you were afloat at sea for weeks in a small dingy, dying of thirst and starvation, and one lone sailing vessel comes by inviting you to board their craft…what ‘negotiating’ needs to take place before you board and are rescued? Yet, how many people today have been led to believe ...

  “Come to Me…all you who are weary and heavily burdened….and I will give you rest…take My yoke upon you and learn from Me…for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls…” - Jesus (Matt. 11:28-29) “When a person turns to the Lord…the veil of darkness/blindness is taken away” (2 Cor. 3:16). “But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” – Jesus (John 5:40)  "How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” – Jesus (Matt. 23:37) Now behold, one came to Jesus seeking eternal life…But when the young man heard what Jesus had to say, he turned and went away sorrowful… (Matt. 19:16,22) That last passage I listed there is from the story of the rich young ruler, found in 3 of the 4 gospels. In Mark’s account, it actually reads that this man ‘came running…and knelt before Jesus…’ (Mark 10:17). I find that interesting because in the story we looked at yesterday detail...

  So you want me to tell you again how you can really know if/when the ‘peace of God’ comes on you? That’s an easy one: You will know it! I don’t mean to toss out trite phrases to questions like that, but I’m telling you the truth. There’s something about God’s peace being ushered in to our lives, whatever the circumstances…and all of a sudden, the clouds dissipate, the darkness flees, and there is clarity of mind and thought; not to mention a racing heart being stilled and at rest. And once you find yourself enveloped by it, you should make it your goal to never lose or leave that place again; seriously! “The Lord blesses His people with peace.” (Ps. 29:11); and He also ‘grants peace to our borders’ (Ps. 147:14). Not only are we exhorted to ‘pursue peace’ …but we are supposed to continue walking in it, given that is how the Holy Spirit leads and guides us. (Heb. 12:14; Luke 1:79; Col. 3:15). If you remember from yesterday’s message, we touched on that incident in Mark’s gospel ...

  It’s one thing to hear and recognize God’s voice; but it’s another thing altogether to respond to His voice and actually follow His leading. (John 10:27; Heb.3:7-11,15; 4:7). Why bother calling Him ‘Lord’…if we are not going to do what He says? (Luke 6:46). Now I don’t want to come across sounding like I’m suggesting that hearing audible voices in our heads is supposed to be some daily, ongoing experience in our walk of faith; but I’m not going to say that doesn’t or can’t happen either. Both Enoch and Noah had such a testimony that “they walked with God”. I just know I’m not at ‘that place’ yet, myself, but I sure hear Him a lot more these days than what I did in previous years. Some people will stop talking to you when you don’t appear to be listening. Hello? But this idea that we can truly be ‘led by God’s Spirit’ is very attainable for anyone who claims or desires to be a ‘follower’ of Jesus. And yes, I have some very definable moments where I know that I know that I know…...

  Today’s message is kind of a tricky one, where I find myself ‘walking a thin-line’ not wanting to cause anyone unneeded anxiety or self-doubting, but also want to admonish sincere believers to ‘take heed’ and make sure your heart and mind is ‘fixed on Jesus’ and ‘things above’, not on things of the earth. (Col. 3:1-2). The subject matter today has to do with true peace vs. ‘false’ peace. Those who profess to be true followers of Jesus have not only been called to walk in this peace, but we are exhorted to ‘pursue’ it (Heb. 12:14). Peace is a ‘pathway’ to which Jesus leads us down; that is…if we are truly following Him. (Luke 1:79; Isa. 55:12). We talked about this yesterday and can I just tell you that the best way to maintain walking in ‘His’ peace…is to keep your mind stayed on Him because those who do…are promised to have ‘perfect peace’. (Isa. 26:3). Where this can get dicey is when people are convinced they do indeed possess or have this ‘peace’…when in reality it is not;...