Sheep Food

  Jesus knew how to ask thought provoking questions.   For example: “When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8)  Sooo…. What does ‘faith’ look like? If Jesus is going to be ‘looking’ for it, can we assume it’s something that can be ‘seen’?  How many times do we read in the gospels where ‘Jesus saw their faith’?  Once while in a boat that got caught in a storm, the disciples began to panic and Jesus asked them “Where is your faith?”  We’ve all heard those verses about ‘the just shall live by faith’ and ‘we are saved by faith’. James writes that ‘faith without works/action is dead’.  And for centuries the church world has argued and debated and split up over this theological issue in trying to explain or define what saving faith, really is.  There are so many modified and reworked ‘recipes’ out there on how and what a person must do to be ‘saved’. I’m not about to join the club as if I have a new recipe to c...

  (Take some time with this one today and as always, please pray for leading and discernment)   Have you ever assembled a piece of furniture at home or maybe a gas grill or lawnmower and this happens: you do your best to follow the instructions that comes in four languages. You then lay out all the parts and make use of the flimsy tools they provide and just when you finish with a sense of accomplishment over completing the herculean task, you see about a half dozen odd looking parts laying on the floor that somehow did not make it in to your assembly.   Granted those who struggle with OCD tendencies may dismantle the whole project and start over to make sure all the parts get in.   Me….? I’m gonna try and see if it functions to my specifications before I go back to the drawing board.   Do you think it’s possible that we have been doing that with biblical doctrines for years? We take a bunch of scriptures and assemble a set of beliefs that w...

  We don’t know how old he was when he had his encounter with Jesus. What we are told in John 9 though was that he had been blind since birth.   And when Jesus was passing through with his disciples, they saw him and they asked if his blindness was due to his sin or his parent’s sin.  It was not an offensive question…like it would be today.   But Jesus clarified explaining that it was neither his nor his parent’s sin that brought this on but rather so ‘the works of God should be revealed in him.’ (vs 3)   Imagine sitting there in the daily, mundane, routine of blind darkness, minding your own business, and Jesus out of nowhere steps in to your life and ‘turns on the light’ so you can see. I think that is pretty exciting. Not everyone in that community did though.   When the Pharisees caught wind of it, they wanted an explanation. He was questioned by them and his parents were interrogated as well. He stumbled to find the words to expla...

  God first captured my heart when I was a young 20-year-old kid who was trying to find his way in this world. I had very few commitments at the time and was ‘ripe for the picking’ as I like to say.  I have shared my conversion story multiple times over the years as God certainly made Himself very real to me in multiple ways at the beginning. And one of the earlier bible verses that made a deep impact on me as if He was trying to point me on the path the led to life was in Matt 6.   “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (31-32)   I also want to make mention of another verse that has really stood out to me of late. It is in Galatians 3. I have reflected back on those early days in my walk as a new be...

  What is the ‘will of God’, and why is it important for us to know?   Allow me to address the second question first.   John writes in his first letter that ‘the world is passing away and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. (2:17)   Jesus Himself offered up this very sobering warning that probably does not get addressed enough: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” (Matt 7:21)   Can we pause here for a moment and let those words just sink in…   And dare we read the next two lines… “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you ; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”   So now that the answer to the second question is clear, I would think, maybe ...

  “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”   It’s what the rich young ruler asked Jesus when he was inquiring as to what he needed to do to be ‘saved’. (Matt 19)   ‘Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter…’what shall we do?”   It’s what those who were gathered and heard Peter and others preaching the gospel on the Day of Pentecost asked knowing they too needed to ‘do’ something to bring peace to their convicted hearts. (Acts 2)   And then there was the Phillipian jailer who witnessed the earthquake and the ensuing opening of prison doors and chains being loosed in the prison where Paul and Silas had been held. (Acts 16)   “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” he asked them.   It’s a question that has been asked, analyzed, dissected, argued over and split churches for generations.   And the answers vary depending on whom you ask. We have close to 400 ...

  [This may be a ‘2-cup of coffee morning lesson. Please pray right now and ask the Holy Spirit to lead and confirm that which is truth and that which is not…enjoy]   Know that the Lord, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves, we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. - Ps100:3   “…My eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive. – Jer 13:17   Amazing, is it not…how clear the Word is and makes so much sense when we really start to see it laid out before us like this? We can get all theological and lofty all day long talking about symbolism and poetic language and Greek and Hebrew origins and culture and history.   But there it is right in front of you. God’s people are taken captive. And it breaks His heart because time and time again, He warned us. Do this, and you will live. Do that, and you will surely die. And that voice from the darkness has never stopped...