Sheep Food

  “They saw! ...When they saw the boldness and confidence in these untrained and ordinary men...they were astounded…and they recognized the fact…these men had been …with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13) You can’t deny or hide genuine transformation.   It’s one thing to ‘give up dipping snuff’ because you joined a church.   It’s an entirely different matter when you have been raised from the dead.   That’s how the bible describes us prior to being rescued by Jesus. (Eph 2:1-4)   We. Were. Dead.   And if you want to get technical about this, we were born dead. Hence, the need to be…’born again’. (John 3:3)   That day Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb after being dead for four days was pretty impressive. It silenced His critics…for a just a little bit. How do you argue with that kind of miraculous transformation? Oh…critics whose hearts have hardened and hold fast to form and tradition will always want to discredit a changed life...

  Yesterday, I caught a few minutes of an old friend sharing an Easter message in his church and something he mentioned just stuck with me. It had to do with the early church not feeling any need to ‘prove’ that Christ was resurrected. On the contrary, they Were the proof. He cited the verse in Acts 4:33- “And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.”   That really got me to thinking that some 2000+ years later, you and I have no need or responsibility as well to ‘prove’ that Jesus was raised from the dead, which is, after all, the entire basis of the Christian faith. If Christ was not raised from the dead, then our faith is in vain. (1 Cor 15:14)   The fact of the matter is this: We ‘believers’ are supposed to BE the proof. Because the risen Christ is supposed to be indwelling in us! I’m sure you have come across that well repeated line about ‘if you were accused of being a Christian...

  Happy Easter. He Has Risen!  And you also, like many around the country and world today, have ‘risen’ from bed and will be soon gathering with millions of other like-minded believers celebrating the most revered holiday in the Christian faith- The resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Christ.   There will be songs and sermons and altar calls all focused on the shared belief that Jesus who was crucified and laid in a tomb rose indeed from the dead. Inspiring words will be shared proclaiming this great display of God’s power and songs both old and new alike will echo through congregations large and small that will stir hearts and faith of both young and old and all those in-between.   The dark, solemn day of ‘Good Friday’ is in the rearview mirror and today is a day of celebrating which often includes eating. If it’s not a church ‘pot-luck’, then most likely you’ll join family around tables in your homes if not local eateries and restaurants....

  Years ago, early on in my ‘faith walk’, I came across this quote: “The children of Israel never had a problem hearing the voice of God or knowing what His will was. Their problem was in doing it.”   Jesus sort of brings this very point up in Luke 6:46 when He asked a group: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things I tell you.”   Here is something about me that you may not know but my family will certainly verify: I’m horrible when it comes to remembering words and lyrics to songs. I’m so bad at it that I’ve been known on multiple occasions to just ‘make up my own words’ when singing a song. Just ask my wife or any of my daughters. They’ll tell you it’s true.   But I do remember certain phrases or lines. Isn’t there an old hymn that talks about ‘trust and obey’? Yeah…that might even be the title of it, but I know I’ve heard that or sung that. I can hear the tune in my head. I do believe though that we have all been guilty ove...

  I’m not sure if I have mentioned this in any of my earlier postings…but really, it’s all about abiding. :- )   In Him. Abiding In…Him.   It’s not something that ‘just happens’ or is ‘automatic’ after one gets baptized. But it really is ‘a thing’.   And let me try putting it this way for those who are still hearing ‘laws’ and commands’ along with ‘works’ and ‘legalisms’ by an angry God- We don’t ‘have’ to abide in Him. We get to abide in Him.   It really is an invitation by our most incredible and loving God, the creator of heaven and earth who loves us in ways that we cannot fathom.   When we fail to ‘see the big picture’, then so much of what religion and ‘other gospels’ offer up can muddy the waters and bring confusion, misunderstanding, hurt and pain. I have no doubt so many people today lay spiritually shipwrecked among the rocks because of the abuse and distortion of The gospel that we were warned would come in no short s...

  If you are one who reads these postings in the morning...chances are that as you read this one today, I am airborne and inflight on my way to spend a few days with my grandsons...And their parents, of course. But I won’t lie...those two boys are the draw for me these days. ;-) It just happen to work where I was able to carve out a few days to travel west. I purchased my tickets about a month ago which secured me a place on the plane. Then, twenty-four hours prior to taking off, I was able to download my boarding pass after checking in online. So the trip was paid for, a seat on the plane was reserved and I now had in my possession my ‘entrance pass’ to board the plane. There was never any question for me where I was going and that I might not make it there.   Sitting at home in Paris with boarding pass in my possession...I could have remained giddy and excited and secure about who I was going to see 24 hours from then. But just sitting there in my house celebrati...

  Now about those ‘curses’...( I told you I was going to take this slow)   I sense a need to approach this topic in two lanes, so to speak. In one lane, I want to lay out scripture for you to study and pray about because much of this might be hard to take in; not because it’s complicated, but more so because it’s so foreign to what we have been taught over the years.   Which leads me to the ‘other lane’ of discussion as to why we’ve somehow missed out on all this truth just laying here in YOUR bible. “Other Gospels” have captured our hearts. (2 Cor. 11:2-4)   If some of this sounds vaguely familiar, there is a good reason for it. God wants us to review once again. When we allow another gospel or man-made doctrine/tradition to capture our hearts, it prevents us from hearing what God has to say. If that sounds a bit off to you, spend some time reading Mark 7 and John 8. Jesus builds quite the case for this when confronting the Pharisees for having l...