Sheep Food

  If you are looking for ‘reasons’ and explanations to some of life’s harder questions, here’s one right off the pages of your Bible: “For this reason...many...are weak...and sick among you...and many...’sleep’ (have died). (1 Cor. 11:30) [I would strongly advise you go back and read the previous two days posts if you have not done so before going any further with this one.] I know it’s easier to bury our heads in the sand and just tell ourselves it is not for us to question God ...so all we can do is simply ‘trust Him’. Sounds so noble and pious. But what if we have been deceived and suffered needlessly, mostly due in part to a lack... of knowledge’? (Hosea 4:6) Yep...we are ‘going there’ with a subject matter that I have felt like was coming for some time but I was not about to venture down this lane unless I knew...that I knew...what I knew; and then felt the assurance of the Lord telling me it ‘was time’. Let me remind you once again that I am not here to convince you of ...

  Today’s message (and the next few) is going to be a bit challenging for some, if not many, to read and process; so let's take it nice and slow. I just want you to know upfront I am aware of this and am prayerfully wading in to a subject matter that can be troublesome and confusing to many. It has to do with ‘suffering’…and even addressing the ‘why’ aspect as to why many people do suffer, including ‘good Christian people’. God suggested that it often times has to do with a ‘lack of knowledge’. (Hosea 4:6) I will tell you upfront that we all have experienced, as humans, suffering in various forms and to varying degrees. I have had my own share of them, and usually, more often than not, they have been self-inflicted. But I’ve been around long enough now to know that in comparison to others, I have come nowhere close in experiencing what many people have had to face and endure; so in some ways, I feel highly unqualified to approach such a topic. Yet, this is the direction I feel c...

  It is important for anyone who calls themselves a ‘believer’ to realize, or at least acknowledge… that just because various verses we come across in our Bible don’t always ‘fit’ with how we believe or have been taught, it does not render those passages any less significant or invalid. We should also agree that just because we come across scripture that makes us feel uneasy or uncomfortable, it does not give us license to eliminate, remove, dilute, or explain away what they have to say. And pretending they are not in there does not make them ‘go away’ either. Oh, and one other thing I should mention here. I hear this phrase used a lot when sincere, or maybe newer converts come across some of those passages, and then seek clarification from someone who is ‘far more versed and educated’ than them when it comes to such matters. When presented with one of those troublesome passages we oftentimes just don’t know what to do with, like 1 John 3:6-9, you will hear this in response…(as ...

  [Just offering up a personal 'opinion piece' here today. Hope to resume my daily blog lessons tomorrow] I don’t know that since I started posting my daily blogs some two and a half years ago, that have I once ever ‘weighed in’ on current events of the day. If I have, it slipped my mind. But today I feel compelled to offer up just a snippet of thought on this hot-button topic that is sucking the oxygen out of the rooms on social media platforms and the internet. Anyone heard of Harrison Butker, the kicker for the K.C. Chiefs… who you would think the secular world (or media at least) has identified as the ‘Anti-Christ’? It is not the content of his now infamous speech he made at a commencement exercise at a Catholic college that I want to address or comment on; rather it is the response by many in the ‘church world’ that I offer up a word of advice (unsolicited of course), if not caution. I address this to those who profess to be ‘believers’ and/or ‘followers’ of Christ and H...

  Peter and John were heading up to the temple one afternoon when they came across a lame beggar who sat daily in front of one of the gates begging for alms. (Acts 3:1-2) What transpired was most likely not on anyone’s ‘radar’ that day but God’s. The man extended his hand hoping to receive something from the two disciples and in turn, what he received no doubt exceeded his wildest dreams and expectations. Peter tells the man that he has no money…but…”What I do have I give to you…in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” (3:5-6) What followed was pretty amazing and you can read for yourself if you are interested. But it is that statement by Peter that truly bores deep into my heart that reminds me, personally, as it yells from the pages: We can’t give to others what we don’t have ourselves! The miraculous healing of that lame beggar that ensued got the attention of the crowd, which included the religious establishment of the day. Can I just tell you now that they...

  If only it was that ‘simple’. And yet, in other ways, it is. We’ve just had it backwards, or at least I did… as I have learned over the past few years. I also have come to realize that I can’t make anyone ‘see it’ or ‘get it’, let alone understand all this unless the Holy Spirit is working in the hearts of those who take the time to read, study, and consider for themselves. I’m talking about this ‘abiding thing’, again. In my post yesterday, it was short and pretty much nothing but about 12-15 verses straight off the pages of our Bibles. Most of them were penned by John and they all had to do with how obvious the fruit will be in those who are the true followers of Jesus. They will manifest the same kind of love that Jesus did. By their fruit, you will know them. The fruit test does not lie. By this will all men know you are My disciples…if you have love for one another. I even listed that portion of text from 1 Cor. 13 that give specific examples as to what that ‘God kind...

  This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (Jn 15:12) By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. (Jn. 14:35) By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. (Jn. 15:8) You cannot bear this kind of fruit unless you abide in Me. (Jn. 15:4-5) Every tree that does not bear this kind of good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (Matt. 7:19) Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ in in you? Unless indeed you fail the test? (2 Cor. 13:5) By their fruit you will know them. (Matt. 7:20) Love is patient and endures with serenity; love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag or boast and is not proud or arrogant. Love is never rude or self-seeking. Love is not easily angered nor does it keep record of wrongs…love bears all things and remains steadfast even during diff...