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  God’s people were seduced, and led astray by the very king(s) He allowed to rise to power. (2 Kings 21:1-2,9; Dan. 2:21; Prov. 21:1). And if you think God does not operate (allow things) like that to happen anymore... you might give 2 Thess. 2:9-12 another read over. Let me give you a moment or two to ponder this. Hopefully, you read yesterday’s message as we are attempting to gain a better understanding of the link between the God of the old testament and the very same God of the new testament, whom Jesus embodied (Heb. 1:1-2; Col. 1:15). I even left you with a short reading assignment to prepare for today’s message, found in 2 Kings 21. I’m wondering if anyone made good use of the highlighter I recommended having on hand for that read? We learn in that text ...of the rise of king Manasseh who took the throne at the young age of 12, succeeding his father, Hezekiah. Manasseh’s reign lasted 55 years and we are told that from the very start...”he did much evil in the sight of th...
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  We read in Acts 17:11 that the Bereans, to whom Paul and Silas were sent to deliver the gospel message... were ‘fair-minded’...”in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” I would hope anyone reading this today knows that the ‘scriptures’ they were searching through was NOT the ‘new testament’ that we have today; rather it was the law and writings of the prophets of old that they studied in their synagogues. These would also be the same scriptures that Jesus ‘opened their understanding to’, as we learn in Luke 24:32,45. The four gospels and miscellaneous letters that make up our New Testament came about much later, under the oversight and leading of the Holy Spirit to give us our complete Bible today which consist of both New and Old Testaments. I only point this out to remind you that I am not asking anyone to just believe and take to heart what I write here daily. On the contrary...I would imp...
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  God did not send Jesus into the world to condemn anyone. The truth of the matter is- we were already ‘condemned’ because all of us had sinned (Rom. 3:23; John 3:36). Jesus came in order that we might be ‘saved’...and saved from the wrath of God that was, is, and continues to be on this world today. (John 3:17-18; Rom. 5:9; 1 Thess. 5:9) Let me also say...I am fully aware that it is beyond my power or ability to convince anyone to ‘believe’ what I am sharing here; but God has not called me to persuade anyone of anything. My only compelling I have is to share from our beloved Bibles with anyone who ‘has ears to hear’ and is willing to pick up and look these verses up for themselves ...and see what is clearly written in these pages. What anyone does with this information is between them and God.  I know if you have been reading here for any length of time...it seems I write often about God’s ‘law and wrath’. And that seems so ‘old fashioned’ and out of date. People aren’t inte...
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  I’m guessing it has to be a universal game we’ve all played at some point in our early years of childhood, and one that I currently play with my 4-year old grandsons even today. You know, the one where you try to maneuver through the rooms of your house without falling into the ‘lava’? So you crawl over chairs and sofas and place pillows strategically around on the floors so you can make your way through unscathed. I think we also included ‘quicksand’ when we were boys, but that was because our dad raised us on the early B&W Tarzan movies IYKYK. But the idea is pretty simple and clear...you take any missteps and off into the lava you go, unless someone is close by and can ‘save’ you quick enough. It all boils down (no pun intended) to knowing where to walk or where to step to avoid falling to your peril. Have you ever watched someone traverse a stream or small river and it appears they are ‘walking on water’? Truth be told- they know where to step on the rocks that lie jus...
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  “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” (Romans 6:14) Ever heard or quoted that verse before, especially when the discussion of ‘law’ comes up? It’s a great line, is it not? But have you ever wondered who that might apply to, though? Our ‘entitled ticket-boy-wonder’ was quick to quote that to the judge in my analogy from yesterday’s message, which I hope you read; and I use that example from time to time to illustrate how we have not truly understood what grace is...or how it works in the life of a true follower of Jesus. So Galatians 5:18 might bring more clarity as to who are the true recipients of this thing we call ‘grace’: “IF...IF...IF...you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” (Gal. 5:18). Please allow that to sink in, for a moment. Want to take a shot at guessing what this implies for anyone who is NOT...being led by, or following the leading of God’s Spirit? (Rom. 8:14; Luke 6:46). We are told in Romans 8:13 th...
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  For all this talk we offer up about being ‘saved by grace through faith alone’....exactly what is your understanding as to how this ‘grace’ actually works? (Eph. 2:8) Surely you don’t see it as some sort of canopy or ‘covering’ for you when you continue to ‘sin’ ...as if it was some ‘get out of jail for free card’...do you? (Rom. 6:1-2) We were actually warned long ago about those who would creep in to our circles and pervert the message of grace (Jude 1:4). So let me offer up a simple scenario that I have used here before that I believe illustrates perfectly just how we can do that...misuse, if not twist the message of God’s incredible grace. You are driving to a nearby town one afternoon, and while doing so, you get pulled over by a traffic cop who quickly lets you know that this is not going to be a ‘cheap’ stop. 15 minutes later, you get back on the road with a handful of citations, that include tickets for speeding, reckless driving, expired plates, no seat belts in use, no...
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  If Jesus made it known that unless we continue ‘walking while we have the light...so that darkness doesn’t overtake (seize/possess) us’...do you believe He was implying that we could very well be ‘overtaken by darkness’? (John 12:35) By the way, who are the ones that actually find or experience ‘cleansing by the blood of Jesus for all their sins’, according to 1 John 1:7? If a new convert asked you: “What does it mean to ‘walk in the light as He is in the light’?”, how would you answer that? Would that not be an important question to know the answer to if one hopes/desires to not be ‘overtaken by darkness’? And how would you answer – ‘what does it mean to be overtaken by darkness’? I think most of us have had experiences where we got caught up in a work project outside and lost track of time, or maybe went on a long hike or involved with some other outdoor activity and ended up in a bind because it grew dark and we didn’t have ample light to gather up our things before making ou...
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