Sheep Food

  So what do you consider to be your ‘north star’? You know...that ‘fixed point’ in your life that helps you navigate where you are going. It’s that one ‘constant’ that you can always rely on to help you find your bearings. Centuries ago, long before GPS devices were a ‘thing’, ship captains relied solely on their navigators and their trustworthy instruments that helped them traverse those vast oceans in their search for new lands. And it was universally known that Polaris, (the North Star) was always a fixed point that never moved. The image I used today (I did not take that) is what is known as star trails where a photographer sets up a camera on a tripod and shoots a series of long exposures. But they first focus in on the north star which will not ‘move’ as the earth rotates. But all the other stars do (seemingly) which creates the circular motion of that movement. Kind of neat, is it not? For the Christian believer who professes a faith in Christ Jesus as their Lord, t...

  What happens if...a person’s life was built on a lie? It is not that uncommon of a storyline to be woven in to novels or movies, be it fiction or non-fiction. Someone grows up convinced of one thing only to discover years later when the truth came out that the “facts” were entirely different. I mean, it has happened. Take for example when babies are ‘swapped’ at birth, be it on purpose or accidentally, and decades later they find out the ‘truth’. That would be quite a bit to take in, no doubt. Anyone know someone personally whose life has ‘hit a speed-bump’ after taking one of those popular DNA/Ancestry test kits? We could use a host of examples to build such a storyline that could encompass so many different scenarios. But I’m more interested in focusing on one particular ‘storyline’ here today. And many....if not most who may come across this post...will not appreciate this. I get it. But I’m going to present it anyway...and if there is any truth to be gleaned, it will ...

  It’s a good thing to be set free. And, it’s even a better thing...to stay free. Unfortunately, that is not the happy ending story for many who at one point in their lives did come to Jesus and began a walk with Him. All that joy and happiness and freedom they tasted early on and basked in...is a distant, dusty memory. But by golly...they sure remain faithful to that church they have attended all these years. No doubt, they keep paying tithes and devote countless hours of time and energy to serving that local body. Now that’s not to say that being committed and involved to a local church body is a bad thing either. But if at best, you have been reduced to walking in a ‘form of godliness’...honoring Him with your lips but your heart has waxed hard and grown cold...and you are devoid of experiencing the power and freedom Jesus came to bring...well...that’s another story. And not a good one either. And it doesn’t have to be this way. God tells us that His people...His ‘flock’...c...

  I’m not asking anyone to believe all this “information” that I share here daily with you in these ‘studies’ or ‘devotionals’ or whatever you want to call them. I’m just asking that you would be willing to examine them for yourself to see if what I am sharing here is true or not. That’s what they did in the early days of the church when they heard ‘new’ teachings. (Acts 17:11) And it’s not that what I’m sharing here is ‘new’, either. I only say that because what I do here, for the most part is just bring so much scripture to our attention that seems to have been ‘lost’ or ‘hidden’. At best, we may have read many of these verses before and are somewhat ‘familiar’ with them but maybe they never really made much sense to us because they just did not ‘fit’ with the way we had always seen and believed. And that poses a problem. There are two things man tends to do with scripture, with the help of an unseen ‘entity’. We either tend to over simplify God’s word, reducing it to a few ...

  Welcome back. :- ). Did you happen to pass anyone yesterday who was out and about wearing a cloak of ‘wrath’ by chance? Probably not as obvious to see as one might think. (Yesterday’s post) We’ve been studying this concept of what it means to be ‘saved’ and what we are actually ‘saved’ from which is in fact, the ‘wrath of God’...whatever that is ,that remains on those who are not true believers of Jesus. (Rom. 5:9; John 3:36) John wrote there in his gospel at the close of chapter 3: “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life.” (36) Those who do not believe the Son...shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides or remains on him.” (same verse) When Jesus speaks about this new ‘life’ He came to offer, He is obviously speaking to another layer or aspect of ‘life’ given all those He came to were ‘living’ as in breathing, had heartbeats, etc. We are told in Ephesians 2:1 that prior to coming to Christ, we were ‘dead in our sins and trespasses’. Which leads us to conclud...

  God did not send His Son, Jesus, into the world...to condemn us. His words, not mine. (John 3:17) Let that sink in for a moment, if you would please. It was quite the opposite, in fact. God sent Jesus into the world so that through Him, the world might be ‘saved’. (same verse) Hence, that expression I like to use occasionally where I say: ‘God is not out to get you; God is out...to get you.’ .....[go ahead, give it another minute...I’ll wait]. ;-) Has it ever occurred to you that sometimes maybe we find ourselves asking the ‘wrong’ question? For example: as much as that term about getting ‘saved’ is tossed around in our church world lingo, do we really address the question as to what it is...we are being ‘saved’ from? I mean, really...we like to debate over our church ‘recipes’ on ‘how to get saved’ and ‘stay saved’ and why we can never be ‘unsaved’, etc. But how do you respond if/when the question comes up as to what we are saved from? Are we ‘saved’ from...hell? Sin? Or...

  God is not bipolar. Nor is He a manic-depressive. But if you have never been ‘introduced’ to the God of the Old Testament’ and you dabble some reading back in those pages, one might be misled to think otherwise. All that wrath and judgement and curses and destruction...my goodness- Who’s got time for all that these days? We need a ‘God’ and a ‘religion’ that is uplifting and makes people feel good about themselves and offers them light and hope in a dark and dreary world, right? That would seem to be the common theme we hear ‘preached’ so often. Yet, why do we not seem to understand why there is so much ‘darkness and dreariness’ in the world today to begin with? Well, He has an answer to that if we’d just take the time to come to Him and allow Him to explain. Oh, by the way, God is not some lonely deity sitting amongst the angels in heaven wishing humans would come to see Him more often at their local church like an older relative who spends countless hours a day in a nursing...