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  If you’ve had it ingrained into your thinking all your life that you will always be a ‘sinner’ (one who continues to sin and henceforth...remain a slave to sin -John 8:34) yet...are ’saved by grace’, then why would you think that it was even remotely possible that we could ever ‘go and sin no more’ and be free of sin? And yet, scripture clearly teaches that whoever abides in Jesus... no longer sins. (1 John 3:6,9; 5:18) Or maybe it’s just those ‘big sins’ you will no longer commit...you know...like murdering and adultery and beating your spouse and robbing banks, etc. But those ‘little ones’ that we do all the time because...well...’you know...this flesh nature that we imperfect, flawed humans have...’ But what we fail to see is the effects that sin (even those ‘little ones’) has on us over time. It begins to harden our hearts and sear our conscience. (Heb. 3:13; 1 Tim. 4:2; Matt. 24:12). We seem to ignore those warnings about ‘giving heed to the things we have heard lest we dr...
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  Haven’t we all at some point in time sat through a dazzling sales presentation where you are enlightened to all the amazing things this product can do for you; but you also know...there is a ‘bottom line’ coming so you begin to build up some form of defense in the back of your mind to prepare you for when you hear what this product (that you can’t live without)...will ‘cost you’. Oh...the lessons we learn over the years. IYKYK Today, there is no shortage of preachers and pulpits that will fill your mind and heart with a false hope with so many wonderful things that God can...and desires to do in your life (which is true)...but then they try to convince you that it is all a ‘free gift’ and will ‘cost you nothing’...because...”Jesus paid the price!” And this...is where the road to eternal life separates and takes that narrow path that Jesus spoke of, even adding that only ‘few’ will walk it. (Matt. 7:13-14) You can believe what you want to believe, as most of us eventually will do...
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  “IF...you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7) Wow! What a promise; and...what a ‘condition’ that comes attached to that promise; “IF...you abide in Me”. Anyone else ever come across that verse...and zero in on that promise while just ‘assuming’ you were abiding in Jesus because you joined a church, sang on the worship team, read your Bible, and simply viewed yourself as a ‘Christian’? Ever wonder how all those folks in Matt. 7:22 could have ‘missed the mark so badly and be told that God ‘never knew them’? (Matt. 7:23). Yeah...you are not alone. In fact...after multiple ‘failed attempts’ to see that ‘promise of answered prayer’ fall seemingly on 'deaf ears', it requires you to begin adjusting your personal ‘theology’ and then come to the conclusion that God really does not ‘work like that anymore. Then, as our lives begin to slowly unravel, erode, or fall apart, we just sing our hymns louder as we ...
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  I keep being drawn back to this passage found in Luke’s gospel.... “Now as He (Jesus) drew near, He saw the city (Jerusalem) and wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:41-44) If all you ‘see’ in this passage, is an agonizing warning that Jesus made to God’s beloved city as to what would happen in 70 A.D. when Roman forces would come in and destroy the temple and raze much of the city, then you are not seeing an even deeper message of a ‘prophetic’ warning that lies in here. Yes, this ‘historical’ event would indeed take place, and there was in fact significant l...
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  (May I invite you to first go read the last 2 paragraphs of yesterday’s message before starting this one, which will explain the ‘meme inset’ I used today. No offense intended) If you are sitting in a church today that teaches, in addition to the fact... not only have you ‘been a sinner’ (which we ALL were – Rom..3:23; Eph. 2:1-3)... but continue... to be a ‘sinner’ ...and will ‘always be...a sinner...saved by grace’...since you will 'always sin'...you are sitting in a church teaching false doctrine. I don’t know how else to say that any plainer. And if reading that offends, or even angers you, you might give pause and ask yourself why that is. If you were on death row in prison, and the warden came to you informing you that you had been given a full pardon and you were now free to walk out, would you be offended? Do you think the slaves who were freed in Texas some two years later after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed...were mad to be told they were no longer slaves...
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  Over the past, almost 5 ½ years since the Lord brought me back from the 'dead', calling me out of my own ‘tomb of darkness’, (my own personal ‘Lazarus’ experience), there have been multiple ‘defining moments’ where I know that I know that I know...I heard God speak to my heart and teach me things I pray I never forget. Yes...I’ve been back in His classroom these past 5 years and have had much to learn. You have no idea. One of those defining moments occurred out here in California, just days after our twin grandsons were born. I’m pretty sure that within weeks of hearing that our oldest was pregnant with twins (our first and only grandchildren) my wife was ready to pack up and move west. I on the other hand was adamant- that was not going to happen! But admittedly, I did begin praying that God would put it on the heart of the kids to move out our way to Texas where we could be closely involved with watching the boys grow up. But after they were born, I had several days to ...
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  As parents, there are many times when we ‘say’ the reason we reached a decision to do something in particular...was based on ‘the kids’. Doing what the kids wanted or needed at the time was the determining factor as to why we chose one thing over another. It might be as simple as deciding on what restaurant we went to, or which TV show we chose to watch one evening. Other choices carried much more weight...like maybe choosing to work out marital differences and ‘staying together...for the kids’. Why there is a growing part of the population today where couples are making the decision to ‘not have kids’...because...they don’t want to bring children into a world where so much darkness and evil and hate exists. So, in a twisted way of thinking I suppose...they’re still ‘doing it for the kids’. As you probably know already, it can be easy for many parents to justify the long hours they may put in on their jobs/professions to earn the money they do because...as we like to say...’we...
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