Sheep Food

  Those who are followers of Jesus have been instructed (commanded actually) to deal with their ‘old man’…or their sinful flesh nature in the most severe way: as in put it to death! (Col. 3:5-9) We were not advised to consider ‘dialing it down, putting it on a leash, or in a cage’. We were told it ‘must die’…and stay dead. And those who truly belong to Jesus and hear His voice and follow Him (John 10:27)…have done this very thing. They 'have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Gal. 5:24). Did you notice that is written as ‘past tense’? We are told by Jesus that ‘not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of His Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. 7:21). We also learn in scripture that it is those who are ‘led by His Spirit’ that are the true ‘children of God’ (Rom. 8:14). We learn that those who ‘walk in the Spirit will NOT fulfill the lusts of the flesh (nature), since they are contrary to one another (Gal. 5...

  “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” – Jesus (Matt. 7:21) “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified (put to death) the flesh with its passions and desires.” – Paul (Gal. 5:24) Try as you may (and many have)…you just can’t conveniently toss those statements aside as if they ‘don’t apply to us today’. They were written down in our Bibles for a purpose; and if for no other reason…hopefully to get our attention and prompt us to dive deeper into God’s word to gain more clarification and understanding. Do you know what I have come to learn over the years? When people are taught to believe a false doctrine… it has this eerie effect on sincere believers where they can be quick to dismiss other scriptures that don’t ‘fit’ with what they have been taught to believe. Remember - most deception will have a thread of truth interwoven through it…which is what makes false teachings so deceptive. ...

  If you’ve been around church teachings for any length of time, you probably are familiar with the words of lament that Paul expressed in Romans 7, talking about how he agrees that God’s law is good, but also recognizes that within his own self (his flesh)… there is ‘no good thing’. We read in those passages (13-21) how he seems to ‘want to do good…but he does not’, and that the ‘evil he doesn’t want to do…he does’…because of the ‘indwelling sin that is in him.’ I only say we are familiar with those words because that is how many people are made to feel better about themselves and their ongoing sin problem…because if Paul continued to live as a ‘sinner’, who were we to think we could do any better? There’s just one problem with that ‘spin’ on scripture- Paul was NOT suggesting that we will continue to live as sinners ‘saved by grace’ as many presume, or that he did himself. Paul was merely expressing rather well, the conflict we all find ourselves in when we hear ‘the law’, an...

  There really is no getting around the fact that God seems to lay down some pretty lofty and demanding expectations for us to comply with…if we have any hopes or longing to spend eternity with Him. I would even call them ‘unrealistic requirements’. I mean, really…listen to some of these familiar phrases we have read in scripture: “Go and sin no more.” (John 5:14; 8:11). “Be Holy in all your conduct, for I am holy…” (1 Pet. 1:15-16) “Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matt.5:48) “I give you this commandment to love others as I have loved you.” (John 15:12; 13:34) And let’s not forget those reminders that despite whatever impressive ‘works for God’ we may do and accomplish over the span of our lives, if we have not been perfected in His love, then all of our works are for ‘naught’, and profit us nothing. If we learn nothing else from Matt. 7:21-23 and 1 Cor. 13:1-8, it should be this. Didn’t Jesus say in multiple places that we cannot be His disciple unless we are w...

  If we don’t understand the significance and relevance of God’s laws, or are ignorant of them, then we really can’t have a clear understanding as to what ‘sin’ is. (1 John 3:4). If our understanding is limited as to what sin is… then we won’t understand what God’s judgements are all about. (John 5:14; Rom. 6:23). Failure to recognize God’s judgments on sin would be the primary reason there is an absence of the ‘fear of God’ these days. (Rom. 3:18) And where there is no healthy ‘fear of God’, then we are truly lacking in knowledge; because the ‘fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge’ (Prov. 1:7). Which then leads me back to the question you should know this answer by heart to- ‘Why are God’s people destroyed’, according to Hosea 4:6? Welcome back to my ongoing study where I am reviewing the three main components of an outline that focuses on three areas of truths found in our Bibles that unfortunately…many sincere believers are lacking an understanding in these days. The p...

  It’s rather pointless to have laws if you are not going to enforce them, right? I’m thinking now, in terms of traffic laws and criminal laws and such that helps a society function in a way that keeps some form of order. Otherwise…it would only be a matter of time before civilization would just deteriorate into utter chaos and anarchy. Guess what? God already thought that through, when it came to His law… and He has taken care of that. Granted, His timetable might not always coincide with ours, given that His ways are not like our ways…but make no mistake about it…and ‘be not deceived’… ‘your sin shall surely find you’. (Num. 32:23; Gal. 6:7-8; Eph. 5:5-6; Rom. 8:13). And if…we ‘fail to repent, we shall all likewise perish.’ (Luke 13:1-5). His words, not mine. I mentioned the other day that Deut. 28 is a rather enlightening chapter to read, because God spells out all the blessings His people can expect to receive and walk in IF…they ‘diligently obey the voice of the Lord…to obs...

  You can choose to disregard or dismiss the laws of gravity, telling yourself that you don’t believe they exist today, if you want. But surely you realize that just because you scoff and refuse to accept that the laws of gravity exists…does not nullify or cancel that law which Isaac Newton explained in the late 1600’s. Step off the roof of your house, and then get back to me if/when you can so we can discuss further. I would submit to you for further study that God’s law is far more relevant today than any of us professing believers would dare to admit, let alone believe. And just like with previous generations that we read about in our beloved Bibles, we are seeing history repeat itself, again, in the fact that God’s law…’has been lost’. Our failure to understand why and how God’s law still stands today, is probably the number one reason why there is an absence of the ‘fear of God’ which Paul wrote about in Romans 3:17-18. If you are like most NT ‘Christians’, you probably sh...

  There’s an old saying you probably have heard that suggests: ‘What you don’t know can’t hurt you’. That has to rank up there with other pieces of silly ‘wise advice’ passed down through the years…like that one that encourages us to ‘follow your heart’. I personally scoff at such ‘wisdom’ because I compare those ways of thinking in light of what God’s word teaches us. For one, we are told that our hearts are ‘defiled’ and ‘deceptively wicked’ (Mark 7:20-23; Jer. 17:9), so ‘trusting one’s heart’ is a recipe for disaster. And second, would you let a 2-year old play on the rooftop of your house without them having a basic understanding as to how gravity works? So ‘not knowing’ can lead to painful, if not deadly lessons. Hence, a passage I quote regularly here how ‘God’s people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge’. (Hosea 4:6) In yesterday’s message, I left you with a very brief ‘outline’ of study that I have been making the case here for these past five years …that is begging f...

  “….I’m so glad that Jesus set me free…singing ‘glory halleluiah…Jesus set me free!” We ‘believers’ do a pretty impressive job singing about how Jesus ‘set us free’; but walking in that ‘freedom’…meh…not so much. And that’s by our own admission. I’m not here to point the finger of blame at anyone for this confusing contradiction, but I have a pretty good feeling that if Moses was to walk in to most churches today, we might hear him repeat a familiar phrase of the past, when he stood before Pharaoh and spoke on God’s behalf, declaring: “Let My people go!” (Ex. 5:1). But this time he’d be speaking to the preachers behind the pulpits. And when Moses stood before the Pharaoh like that back then, that would not be the last time God would express displeasure towards leaders that kept His people in bondage. The prophet Jeremiah recorded these words of warning: “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!”, says the Lord…(Jer. 23:1-2). You really should spend ...

  “Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” (John 8:34) What are we supposed to do with that statement, especially in the context that most all ‘Christians’ will candidly admit that despite their ‘conversion to Christ’…they still continue to sin on a regular basis? And please try hard not to be offended or get defensive and remind me that ‘nobody is perfect’, or that ‘no one can live a sinless life’. I only say that because that tends to be our ‘default setting’ when the conversation of ‘sin’ comes up amongst ourselves. Those who may be in ministry or at least more acquainted with scripture and various church doctrines are quick to toss out intimidating phrases of warning, like “Oh, they are into that ‘sinless perfection’ teaching, best to stay away from that.” It never ceases to amaze me how simply quoting a Bible verse, or two…can stir up all kinds of things in people. It used to confuse me when I first witnessed such things t...

  Talking about house foundation work (which we discussed yesterday), I used this illustration one time and asked a friend how they might respond to this troubling scenario. You are about to move into your ‘forever-dream’ home that you just had built, and on the day you sign all the papers finalizing the title work, your contractor takes you aside and lets you know he saved you a bunch of money on the construction. Curious, you ask him ‘how’, and he then informs you that he didn’t use a single piece of steel rebar in your foundation-slab work. I hope you realize this would be no small factor, by any stretch of the imagination. Funny thing about facing such a predicament like this… is that the consequences of this unimaginable dilemma might not show up right away. And as tempting as it might be to not want to face and confront this truth…just ‘throwing some extra dirt’ around the foundation of your new home…won’t fix anything. This is a classic case where borrowing that famous li...

  I have made the statement over the years, that ‘home ownership is overrated’. And when I say that in a ‘tongue and cheek’ manner, it’s usually after I had to do some kind of expensive work on our place that was demanding attention or repair, which as you know …can add up quickly. Yes, there can be advantages to owning your own place, but never forget that it comes with a cost. IYKYK I would also have to say after owning our own place for 20+ years back in Texas, based on personal experience…of all the things a homeowner might have to deal with over a span of time, the most dreaded news you would want hear is: “you have foundation problems”. Thank you, Texas clay soil. Again, IYKYK (If you know, you know) That’s probably why one of the more time consuming and costly aspects of building a new home (which we did) involves the ground/slab foundation work. Let’s be honest here – if/when you have that opportunity to build your first home, you are anxious to see it go up and watch a...