Sheep Food

  “Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour.” – Peter (1 Peter 5:8 -AMP) If this notorious ‘villain’ we read about so much in scripture is not... a literal entity, but more of a product of ‘figurative language’...you have to ask yourself if maybe the writers of the NT were guilty of ‘overkill’ in referring to him as often as they do...and usually with somber warnings when writing about him. [Figurative language] – “is the use of words in ways that deviate from their literal definitions to add creative, emotional, or vivid meaning to writing and speech. Key types include metaphors, similes, personification, and hyperbole. It is used to enhance, emphasize, or clarify, making descriptions more engaging and imaginative.” From Strong’s Concordance: The Devil, ‘Satan’- [diabolos] – a traducer, especially Satan; (A traducer – a person who...

  Like for many of you, my own ‘journey of faith’ and ‘coming to Jesus’, which began at the age of 20, for me...is personal and unique in its own way. While I was ‘raised in church’, or should I say I attended church weekly, I can’t say that I was ever really taught or indoctrinated to believe a particular tenet of beliefs that aligned with the particular denomination I was brought up in (Roman Catholic). It was just what I was ‘raised’ in. And while I heard various stories referred to and read from the Bible in those church services, I did not grow up reading the Bible, nor did I own one for myself. I may have glanced at one on occasion or two that we had in the house, but for the most part it was irrelevant to me. As you also might know...there is no shortage of church denominations out there to choose from, or ‘flavors’ as I like to describe them at times, and the one I landed or got ‘planted’ in during that first year of my faith walk was unique in many ways. Aren’t they al...

  Fruit Matters....in the most serious way. You might want to look up these verses as I suspect they are underlined by now if you have been reading here for any length of time - (Matt. 3:10; 7:17-20; Luke 13:6-9) “And by their fruit...you will know them.” - Jesus "But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Gal. 5:22-23- Amp) Have you discovered yet...that we don’t (nor can we) produce this fruit on our own; rather it is the byproduct of abiding in Jesus. There is no other way...outside of abiding in Him. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; fo...

  [Do yourself a favor and fight that urge to 'skim over' these verses I shared here for you.  Take your time and read them...let them sink in] “Another parable Jesus put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” (Matt. 13:24-...

  In case you did not make it through my whole message yesterday, I ended with this paragraph: So what is it...with all the widespread deception that seems to be in abundant supply during these ‘last days’...which seems to be coming in like a ‘flood’? How many of you have been overwhelmed with the ‘back and forth’ that stems from all the political unrest surrounding various tragic events that are taking place of late. You see a handful of videos here, then read other commentaries there, and you don’t even know what to make of it all or who to believe. It almost makes you want to throw your hands up in the air...and then bury your head in the sand and scream out: “No More!”. What if I told you this wave of deception and lies was no accident, and actually part of a larger ‘scheme or design? If we’re just talking about ‘current events’...you have to admit- it’s been overwhelming of late, and downright depressing, regardless of which side of the fence you want to take and argue. An...

  Why? Why should a person think they are ‘saved’...if they are not surrendered to the Lordship of Christ? Did Jesus not pose that question to some when He asked: “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord’...and not do the things I say?” (Luke 6:46) Did someone tell you that you could easily sign on for the ‘convenient plan of salvation’ where you just acknowledge with your lips, and ‘say you believe in your heart...that Jesus is the Son of God’, as you “accept Him in your heart as your personal Savior” so you could go to heaven when you die? Is that really ‘a thing’...where one can have ‘Christ as Savior without making Him Lord’ of their lives? And may I ask...’who told you that’? (Gen. 3:11) What do you think Jesus meant when He declared: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’...shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of My Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. 7:21)? Don’t you think there has to be more to ‘doing the will of God’...than just ‘saying you believ...