Sheep Food

  My dad served in the military for 30 years as a dentist. He kinda had a thing about us brushing our teeth regularly as kids. I still remember the slide projector he would bring home occasionally, setting up the carousel of slides he brought from work. They were color images on slides that he would project up on the screen of some of the most horrific mouths of mangled, rotten teeth you had ever seen. All he would tell us was they were pictures of people’s mouths who did not brush well after eating. We would usually spend extra time in the bathrooms on those nights brushing our teeth with a renewed fervency and dedication.   I remember my first science fair project in 7th grade had to do with tooth decay explaining how plaque contributed to the erosion of the enamel on our teeth. It’s really not that complicated. Plaque is a sticky substance of film with bacteria that forms on our teeth and becomes a habitation for more bacteria to begin eating away at the hard sh...

  I came across this quote years ago that really resonated with me at the time. I’ve used it as a ‘tag line-signature’ in my emails ever since. It reads:   “You can get by on charm for about 15 minutes. After that, you better know something.”   When I first read that, it struck a nerve in me as I felt like around that time, God was conveying to me in only the way He can through His word that we can tend to be big on symbolism, yet often come up short on substance.   In other words, we can ‘talk a good game’, but don’t always carry through with what we say we will. Jesus described it this way: “These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.” He was quoting Isaiah there, in Matt. 15:8.   Paul would later write speaking of a day when many would profess to know Him, but by their actions they would deny Him. (Tit. 1:16)   Folks can be so moved by shedding tears at an altar after a convicting sermon, or excit...

  He’s coming back.   No, I’m not talking about Jesus. That’s a given...He promised He would return, and it would seem that every generation since His first departure has believed they would be around to see His second coming. Rest assured, whenever that may happen, His second return is eminent; but as He told us, no man knows the hour or the day. (Matt. 24:36). My concern is that we tend to get more preoccupied with looking for and trying to figure out just when that will happen, than we do with ‘getting ready’ to meet Him when He does indeed return.  Getting ‘ready’ you say? Well you prayed the ‘sinners prayer’, so of course you are ready; it’s a ‘done deal’, is it not? That’s what we have been taught and tell ourselves all the time. And yet...how often do we read in scripture, these passages that suggest there is something we ought to be doing until that blessed day comes when He does return? You know, passages like ‘Not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord’ will e...

  There’s good reason why so many sincere church members have struggled for years, and fallen short in overcoming various sins and addictions and compulsions in their lives. Be it envy, bitterness, lust, anger, greed, pride, etc., just like the Israelites faced hostile enemies in the land, so do we; and if we fall short in overcoming them, then they will overcome us. And it is not ‘flesh and blood’ that you have struggled with, but ‘principalities and powers of darkness and spiritual wickedness’ (Eph. 6:12)   Think of the OT stories where God delivered His people from their slavery in Egypt and led them through the wilderness into the promised land...as a set of ‘spiritual blueprints’...for what His ultimate plan was for us today.   If you would allow the Holy Spirit to bear witness to this in your own spirit, you might find a few ‘lights coming on’ and ‘dots getting connected’ so as to better understand what this walk of faith with Jesus is all about.  ...

  I said it yesterday and I’ll say it again today as it bears worth repeating:   If you are honest enough to admit that you just don’t always ‘want’...to abide in or with Jesus, then it is a pretty good indicator that you are holding on to something in your heart that you are not willing to give up.   And therein lies the reason why this Christian faith has not really ‘worked’ for you the way you thought, or were led to believe, it would.   When people came to Jesus inquiring...asking...seeking...the way to inherit this ‘eternal life’ He came preaching, are you aware of what His response to them was? He pointed them to the law. “What’s written in the law? What is your reading of it?” (Luke 10:25-26). When the young rich ruler came asking about eternal life and what good thing must he do to obtain it, Jesus told him to “keep the commandments”. (Matt. 19:17). To which the young man then asked: “Which ones?” (18)   That really is kind of a si...

  If you are truly a born-again-believing child of God, ... why would you NOT...want to abide in Him... As in all the time?   Would you pause and consider that one for a moment please?   Can we just lay aside all the religious jargon and pretentious talk today and have an honest heart ‘discussion’ as to what is the biggest hinderance for ‘believers’ when it comes to truly abiding in Jesus as He strongly suggest, advises, and requires- that we do abide in Him? (John 15:1-8)   Over the past year, I’ve heard a few interesting comments made by people that I could so identify with and relate to, as I’m sure you will as well. It was almost an admission of sorts, or a confession when they simply stated: “I don’t always want ...to abide in Him.”   I get that. I mean, I totally understand what is being said here, as do you I am guessing.   Which then leads me back to my original question...of “Why? Why would we not want to abide in and w...

  When you read through the Old Testament and the history of God’s creation and the relationship He established with His people, you begin to see how history often repeats itself; usually because we fail to learn from history.   At the close of the first book, Genesis, and then the start of the next book, Exodus, we see where God’s people had been blessed and were multiplying. But then, over time, ‘life happened’. And next thing you know, they are in bondage, serving another ‘king’ as slaves and their lives seemed far from being blessed. In fact, we read where they began to groan under the oppression and bondage they found themselves in. (Ex.2:23)   And God heard their groaning as their cry came up before Him and He remembered His covenant with Abraham...and Isaac, and with Jacob. (24). So God moved on their behalf and sent Moses to deliver them and lead them out of that life of darkness and misery. God had a better place for them where they could know Him and...