Sheep Food

  How?  “How”, Paul asks in his letter to the Romans 6:2.   “How shall we...who died to sin live any longer in it?”   He goes on....”Knowing this- that our old man was crucified with Him, (as in put to death) that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” (vs.6)   Do you recall what Jesus said ‘most assuredly’ in John 8:34? He said “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” Then he adds this little caveat – “a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.” (35). It would appear Jesus Himself draws a line of distinction here between a ‘slave’ and a ‘son’.   It is also fair to make the assumption that if one is a ‘slave’, then they have a ‘master’. Jesus also taught that one cannot have ‘two masters’, for he will either love the one and hate the other, or vice versa. Kind of like either a tree will either bear good fruit or bad fruit but it won’t bear both. Those ‘lines in...

  Shall we dive back in to this talk about ‘spirits and all’? I mean, I know Halloween is still weeks away, right? I just have one favor though to ask as you read through this today. Please keep in mind that what I’m presenting here to you is scripture after scripture that you can read in your own bible. I have days when I’m studying all this where I feel like a young lad who is seeing a lot of this for the first time, and I want to just look up and ask people: “Did you know our bibles say all this?”   Given the fact that the majority of folks tend to remain ‘carnally minded’, this idea of a ‘spiritual’ world where actual ‘spirits’ exist and operate in and through people’s lives is a bit…’out there’. I get it. We all do. But just because we might choose to not believe in them does not negate the reality that they exist.   I bet you have heard ‘non-believing-types’ refer to some tormented person they knew of and make reference to that person’s ‘demons’ they wr...

  God made us as spiritual beings. We each have our own ‘soul’, which most understand to be our mind, our intellect and will, our emotions, and even personality. And God made, from the dust, a physical body for us to live in. Call it our ‘house’ or ‘tent’. Interestingly, it was not in God’s design-plan for us to ‘die’. But, just like when you purchase a new auto or large appliance, the owner’s manual often makes mention that if you operate the device contrary to suggested manufacturer’s specifications, that bad things will most likely occur. God included that warning for us as well. (Gen. 2:17)  Adam and Even did just that. They were deceived in to believing that God did not really mean what He said. And by a ‘serpent’ of all things. (Gen. 3:1-6; Rev. 12:9) As a result, the world was changed as sin and death entered in and was passed down to all mankind. (Rom. 5:12)   Not fair, you say? Well…you are entitled to believe as you may, but our actions have conseq...

  “When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.” (Matt. 3:16)   Jesus ‘saw’ the Spirit of God descend ‘like a dove’ upon Him. (The ‘Spirit’ is NOT a dove. It was simply described as coming down ‘like a dove’)   We don’t really see or read where anyone ever truly ‘sees the Spirit’, but we can sure see the effects of the ‘Spirit’ when it moves on or in people’s lives. Jesus eluded to this when explaining the ‘new birth’ to Nicodemus in John 3:8. He likened it to the ‘wind’. We don’t actually ‘see the wind’ but we can see its effect when it blows through the trees, for example.   You did know we were eventually going to get around to exploring and examining ‘spiritual’ things, yes? As in studying what many would consider to be an intangible subject which some folks are not real comfortable talking about. And f...

  There are plenty of reasons as to why this Christian ‘walk’ stalls for so many people…and if we are honest with ourselves, we would admit at best, that something is lacking. There’s that sense deep within that there has to be more but we just can’t put our finger on it so we just keeping ‘being faithful’ to what we have always known.   I would submit that one reason may be that we’ve never truly understood this separation of two natures…spiritual and carnal.   Multiple verses speak to the fact that as born again believers, we are ‘not of this world’. We are admonished to ‘not love this world’ and that ‘all that is in this world is passing away.’ Jesus made it clear that His Kingdom was ‘not of this world’. (John 18:36) James wrote that ‘friendship with this world was spiritual adultery’. (4:4) Paul notes that our ‘citizenship is in heaven’ (Phil 3:20)   Peter referred to us as ‘strangers and pilgrims’ (those merely passing through) and how we ought...

  There is a fascinating story in 2 Kings 6 where the king of Syria was planning to make war against Israel but he needed to deal with Elijah, the prophet first. Elijah happened to be in Dothan with his protégé , Elisha, when the king’s troops came down and surrounded the city. Elisha had arose early that morning and saw the surrounding army with horses and chariots and was alarmed and went to notify Elijah, asking ‘what shall we do?’. (15)   Elijah assured him there was no need to fear and that God’s army far outnumbered the enemy. Then he prayed and asked God to “open the eyes that he may see. (17). Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”   The main ‘take-away’ from this story for us today, is to remind us there is just so much more taking place ‘out there’ than we would dare to believe, unseen to the natural eye. But we’ve been blinded to it by the ‘god...

  I know this opening statement is going to just sound a bit outlandish and almost unbelievable. But today’s post is going to fit under that category of – “Did you know what your bible has to say about this potentially uncomfortable topic?” All I can do is share verses and ask you to examine for yourself. (Acts 17:11) Whether you chose to believe it or not is up to you.   Satan...demon spirits...the ‘powers of darkness’ have permission or license to ‘move in’ or/and ‘attack’ and devour wherever they see sin. It is through the sins of the flesh nature that opens the door for the ‘thief to come in and to steal, kill, and destroy’. Don’t worry...I’ll offer up plenty of scripture for study to support this.   But honestly, when we begin to see this from God’s perspective, and not man-made doctrines and traditions...more and more of the bible begins to make sense.   When Paul wrote: “Give no place to the devil”, (Eph. 4:27) he knew exactly what gives place...