Archive / February, 2012

Guilty of Good Works

Matthew 28:11-15 Every Verse Counts I’m finally coming up on the final few verses in the gospel of Matthew after spending the past year reading/studying in this book. There are a couple of reasons why it’s taken so long to plow through only twenty eight chapters, the first being the undeniable truth that ALL Scripture is God breathed, and therefore NONE of it should be dismissed, skimmed over, thought irrelevant, or taken lightly. I mean, if God is responsible for every last word/story in the Bible (which 2 Tim.3:16 gives him credit) then everything is in there for a TIMELESS purpose, right? 1 Peter 1:25 says “the word of the Lord remains forever“, so that tells us that it was written for all the ages, and nothing in it is out of date. I personally don’t want to miss the message God is speaking through each and every verse because […]

Get Your Fear in Order – 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 […]

Breaking News: 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, […]

Fear and Great Joy in The Resurrection

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ – Matthew 28:1-10 The Empty Tomb In the cool of the early morning, before the sunrise, two women quickly made their way to the graveyard clutching a parcel of spices prepared for the body of their beloved Teacher and friend. Their hearts pounded with fear as they thought of the battle hardened Roman soldiers who stood guard at the tomb, and of the impossible mountain that sealed the entrance to where He lay. All the others were in hiding, fearful of the wrath of the ones who had crucified their Leader, yet these women’s love and desire to serve Him even in His death was greater than their fear for their lives. As they approached the tomb, the morning still shrouded in darkness, a bolt of lightning cut through the sky and an earthquake trembled the ground beneath them. When all was settled they saw the […]

The Pharisees, Leavened Bread and Jesus

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 […]

The Lamb, the Curtain, and the Cross

Jonah It’s interesting how most of the stories in the Old Testament have been deemed children’s stories by the world and the church alike. Of course, those of us in the church would say that we absolutely believe that those stories are true, but honestly when you think of the Story of Jonah (a.k.a. “Jonah and the Whale”) do you see something like this, In actuality, can you envision sinking down into the dark depths of the ocean after being cast overboard into the most violent storm imaginable, and seaweed coiling around your head, unable to breathe, and hearing the sound of a massive fish (maybe a whale) descending upon you with an open mouth? What happened to Jonah was significant for his time but also was ordained by God as an illustration of what would happen to Jesus. Jesus was buried in the earth for three days (just as […]

Deceptive Traps

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 […]

The Agonizing Will of God and our Sanctification

When Pain Paves the Way for Salvation: Several years ago I sat and wept as I listened to Pastor Bill Wilson of Metro Ministries share his testimony, and the stories of the many children they serve through his “Sunday School church” in Brooklyn, New York and around the world. As a child, Bill Wilson was abandoned by his mother on the streets of New York. One day, as they walked down the street together, she instructed him to sit down on the curb and wait for her to return. He sat and waited for three days and she never came back. A Christian man noticed Bill alone and stopped to find out if he was okay. He picked him up, brought him home, and paid his way to a Christian summer camp where Bill heard the gospel and was saved by God’s grace. He now runs Metro Ministries which serves […]

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

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 […]