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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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  Some of you reading here today may have some faint memories of ‘back in the day’, high school most likely...where you were attending an unchaperoned party at someone’s house, and it was late in the evening where a lot of questionable and/or ‘inappropriate activity’ was taking place. And the reason most of the lights in the house were off was NOT... because anyone was trying to conserve energy. Occasionally, for one reason or another, someone might inadvertently flip the blinding overhead light switch on in the room where everyone was huddled up, and the response was usually loud and immediate. Can I just tell you it was never applause and vocal celebration that followed? Light...and darkness have always had a complicated relationship, and pretty much for one reason- they can’t dwell together. When we read the opening verses in chapter 1 of Genesis, we learn this at the very beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth. It is stated that the earth, which was without for...
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  Have you ever noticed how easy it is for us to grow weary of, if not immune to the abundance of ‘warnings’ that we tend to be inundated with these days? I think one reason we see so many warning labels every time we purchase something, be it tools, toys, or food items...is because companies who make and sell these items have to protect themselves from frivolous lawsuits, being the litigious society we have come to be. “Don’t eat these Tide-pods!”. And do we really need to be forewarned that when you buy ‘hot’ coffee from McDonalds...(or anywhere else for that matter)...that the water in the coffee is going to be....hot? But here we are. I also suspect that when the pandemic struck six years ago, that might have been ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’, as we like to say, when it comes to being ‘done with all the warnings’; ‘masks, vaccines, and social distancing, anyone? (too soon?) I only bring this up because if you are a student of, or even a regular/casual reader of t...
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  Have you ever been driving in the car with someone after you had a spicy meal, maybe heavy on the garlic or onions...and out of nowhere you can feel it rising up within you...a fully loaded ‘silent burp’. You do your best to muffle it but there is no containing or holding back the horrific ‘scent’ it delivers as it wafts across your tongue and lips and begins to fill the car. I have actually rolled my window down at times and tried to exhale that odor as if it was a puff of smoke from a cigarette...and with little success. Breath mints or chewing gum do little to mask what is clearly there. Do you know why that is? Because it was in you...and it came out of you; and if you want to alleviate that problem, you best lay off the spicy foods, at least if you are going to be in an enclosed room or car with someone shortly after...and you are prone to burping. The same could be said about ‘sin’ and those ‘evident deeds of the flesh nature’. Jesus spoke to this in Mark 7:18-23, even...
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  God’s plan for His people, after He set them free and led them out of Egypt... was never to have them settle down and to live in the ‘wilderness’. The wilderness was simply a place they were going to pass through on the way to the promised land. Most historians and students of this account agree that the journey from the Red Sea to Canaan land should have taken, at best...11-14 days. But as you probably know, they wandered for 40 years, with nearly all of that first generation dying out there (Heb. 3:17; 1 Cor. 10:5). I would submit to you that even today, there are way too many people who profess the name of Christ...who live far short of the desired place God has for them (Hosea 4:6). Do you even know what the purpose for the ‘wilderness’ was? Take a look at Deut. 8:2 – “And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or ...
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  It has been a part of my personal testimony regarding how I first came to Jesus, which I have always delighted in sharing with anyone who was curious to hear, because it demonstrates the manner in how the Holy Spirit begins to lovingly deal with us after we have committed to yield our hearts/lives to the Lord. I was barely twenty years old living out in Arizona trying to make sense of a very confusing world at that time in my life, desperately in need of direction...but unsure where to find it. ‘Trusting my gut’ seemed like a risky dice roll when it came to mapping out my life and I was needing something a little more reassuring. Hence, my being ‘ripe and ready’ to consider drawing close to God and seeking His guidance. I remember thinking to myself at the time, having been ‘raised in church’ yet void of a serious relationship with God other than having a generic ‘belief’ in Him...that if I could not trust Jesus with my life...then who could I trust? So it was in the early spr...
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