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Get Your Fear in Order – Fear of the Lord

Fear of the Lord

Opening Thoughts: First off I wanted to take just a brief moment to admonish you all to dive into your Bibles. I can think of no greater treasure that we have been given on this side of eternity, outside of  salvation through Christ Himself, than God's Word. How many people are currently busy running around trying to hear a word from God by way of prophecy or teachers? Yet, much of the time they can't be bothered to even crack open their Bibles. Let us study to show ourselves approved. Don't just take my word for it, if you're not already doing it, please get in there yourself and study. God's will for your life is revealed in its pages. Main Text: Luke 12:4-7 ESV ... “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is … [Read more...]

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Breaking News: Secret Sin Exposed!

Secret Sin Exposed

Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out on the Day When All Secret Sin is Revealed Caught By Surprise : Have you ever heard the term "Like a Deer in Headlights"? It refers to a situation when someone is so caught off guard by something and they are literally stunned, almost frozen in position.  A few years ago I read a title in the newspaper that said "Alaska stripper turned soccer mom guilty of murder". The story started in 1996 when a woman who used to be an exotic dancer was being pursued romantically by three men. One of the men gave her a life insurance policy for one Million dollars as an engagement gift, so if anything was to ever happen to him she would be taken care of. The two were engaged until a short time later when the fiancée was mysteriously found shot to death. Two men were eventually tagged as the killers and were arrested, tried and sentenced to life in prison. Meanwhile the woman had gone on to marry a doctor, get some degrees of her own, and have kids. She … [Read more...]

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The Pharisees, Leavened Bread and Jesus

leaven of the pharisees

Luke 12:1-4 - The Pharisees and Leavened Bread Opening Thoughts: You know that smell of delicious home-made bread, the smell that can make a full person hungry all over again? I remember when I was a kid and my mom would pull a fresh batch of bread out of the oven, all golden brown on the top, once us kids caught a whiff of it the begging began. Mom usually had plans for it, but that didn't matter to us we wanted it while it was still hot, I can almost taste it now. Turns out that the stuff that makes it all soft and fluffy is called yeast and consequently it isn't that good for you. In fact as I learned a few years ago, there's a type of yeast (candida) that grows very quickly in your stomach when a person is on antibiotics, or for people who feed on a lot of simple sugar. This type of yeast spreads instantaneously in the right environment, which can make you quite ill without even realizing it. Sometimes the symptoms are hard to detect, but over long periods of time as … [Read more...]

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Deceptive Traps

Deceptive Traps-Luke-11

Pharisees and Scribes set Traps for Jesus - Luke 11:53-54 Opening Thoughts: After several months in Luke 11 I am finally closing this chapter. The Bible is so packed with information that is so easily missed if we simply treat it like some type of daily duty, spending 30 minutes slamming through our four chapters, simply to make it through our "Bible in a Year" program. I'm not entirely dissin' the Bible in a year idea, but if we are not stewardly with our time spent in God's Word, we incur the risk of coming to false conclusions, getting caught in traps set for us, and ultimately we take the chance of misunderstanding the Gospel all together. Instead we can end up mistaking it for more of a self help guide for "your best life now road map, with a twist of  see you at the top because I'm a kingdom child" attitude, rather than a "first shall be last, cross bearing, self denying, suffering servant of all, who is grateful that God has delivered us from blindness, restored our … [Read more...]

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Woe to You Scribes Part 3 – The Scribes Prescribe the Wrong Key

The Scribes and the Key of Knowledge

Luke 11:52 - The Scribes and the Key of Knowledge The Wrong Key: Recently I locked myself out of an office space and when I went to retrieve the key they gave me something that resembled a rats nest wrapped around a ring. There were literally a couple dozen keys on there. Since the building owners hadn't used the internal keys for a couple of years it was my job was to go upstairs and try every single key in the door. Long story short, I tried all the keys and not a single one worked. What's even worse than having keys that won't fit into the key slot, is finding one that seems to fit but when you turn it the door won't open. Regardless of whether it fits in the door or not, if it doesn't open it you either have the wrong key or wrong door.  In Luke 11:52 we find ourselves listening to Jesus as he rebukes the Scribes one last time. This rebuke was for taking away the only key that would open the door to everlasting life. Let's read... Luke 11:52 ESV .. Woe to you … [Read more...]

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Woe to the Scribes Part 2 – Killed the Prophets and Apostles

They Killed the Prophets

Luke 11:47-51 - Jesus Rebukes the Scribes Opening Thoughts: I want to open up tonight by talking about the "180 Movie", I find that it goes hand in hand with my text. First of all if you have not watched 180movie.com I encourage you to do so as soon as you're through reading this post. In 180 Movie Ray Comfort interviews several people in regard to the holocaust. One question he asks people is "Do you think that Hitler was a bad guy or a good guy?" Most of the people answered "bad guy", after all it's not rocket science to agree with that statement right? Most of the people interviewed saw the holocaust as horrific and felt that even the common people who were brainwashed by Hitler into thinking Jews were not humans were just as guilty as he was. Many of them said that if they had been there and had been asked to bulldoze a pile of corpses into a mass grave at gun point, knowing there were still several of them who were alive in the pile, they would have never done it. … [Read more...]

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Woe to You Scribes Part 1 – Practice What You Preach

Practice What You Preach

Come to Me, All You Who Are Weary and Burdened Opening Thoughts: Why are roses triple the price on Valentine's Day, and why are hotels double the price on special holidays? I'm pretty sure it's because there is an increased need for these products and services in which retailers see an opportunity to cash in on the demand during those times. Those weary family's need a place to rest on their long  journey  home for Christmas, and that husband cannot go home without flowers in hand. Even without the price hike on a room a hotel may already be a financial burden for a travelling family on a budget, yet retailers take advantage of these times when legitimate needs are increased at an exponential rate and they add to the weight of an already heavy burden. In this post we will examine how this similarly relates to the Pharisees and Scribes (Lawyers) and how they added to and made the already tough, but necessary burdens of the law more difficult to bear. Main Text: Luke … [Read more...]

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Jesus Hates False Religion and Even Called People Names

Jesus Hates False Religion - I Hate Religion - Unmarked Graves - White Washed Tombs

Woe to You Pharisees Part 3 - Unmarked Graves and White-washed Tombs Opening Thoughts: When I was in high school someone played a trick on me, they grabbed a quarter and placed it on a white piece of paper, then they took a pencil and drew around the quarter with the pencil making a nice quarter size circle. They then told me that I was to place the quarter in one of my eye sockets and squeeze down on it to hold it there, while at the same time looking at the paper with my other eye, and with my face over the circle I was to try and drop the quarter into the hole perfectly. I was told it could be done and there were people out there who had been able to do it. Of course each time I tried I missed the circle and every time I missed the circle the guy playing the trick on me would take the quarter and draw another circle on the page. After several dozen circles and the same amount of tries I gave up stating that it was an impossibility. I doubted in my mind that anyone had ever done it … [Read more...]

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Fools and Their Traditions

traditions

Hand Washing Rituals - Luke 11:37-41 Opening Thoughts: I'm going to start tonight by saying that Danae and I appreciate all of you that have been reading our material and posting your wonderful comments. It is encouraging to hear someone say, "What you wrote really spoke to me and has caused me to study the Word more". What we hope not to hear is, "This is great, now I can just read your blogs and forget about reading my Bible!" Isn't this what has actually happened in much of our church culture these days? We read books, articles, blogs, Twitter updates, Facebook Status updates and more, yet so many people don't actually read their own Bibles. In many ways we've become more like cult followers rather than Christian Disciples. We have people read our Bibles to us and shed their opinions, then we can either agree or disagree according to how we feel! This isn't good! There is a huge danger in that we get so removed from what the Bible says that we start basing our Christianity on … [Read more...]

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Woe to You Pharisees Part 1 – Tithing

Tithing-Mechanical Worship

Luke 11:41 - Woe to You Opening Thoughts: Have you ever been in the situation where you have been invited over to someones house for dinner and there is ongoing friction between you? Is it hard to enjoy yourself or even keep your cool for that matter? Let's see what Jesus does. For those of you who are reading in for the first time I will set a bit of a background to the text. Jesus was invited to one of the Pharisees homes to eat. However He quickly stirred up a hornets nest when he failed to follow the traditions of men by way of ceremonial hand washing. Jesus purposely stirred things up so that He could point out areas of hypocrisy, how's that for a meal with Jesus? Once the ice has been broken Jesus begins to pronounce woes on them along with revealing their sin. Luke 11:42 ESV - “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. Tithes: Tithing is one … [Read more...]