Reflections
Greetings and blessings to all of you. Jesus spoke in parables or divine truths to those who are seeking after Him. Parables required more explanation and are rich in meaning. In the Parable of the Sower (Mark 4) Jesus made it clear that the seed represents the Word of God. The field is the world. The farmer is Jesus. The four soils represent the heart of four kinds of people and/or the congregation. Pastors understand this as they teach/preach; but we also must understand this concept when we minister to our family members and others so we will not get discouraged and give up talking and or p...
(Read More)Greetings and blessings to all of you. It has been said “that all sin is deceitful, but pride is especially sneaky.” Think of OT people such as David, Samson and the Israelites; we think to ourselves, “What is the matter with them? Why did they act so stupid? How gullible and foolish these guys were.” And in the NT we read about the Pharisees who knew God but refuse to know Jesus. Herod allowed himself to be acknowledged as “ A god” and it cost him his life (Acts 12:21-23) Our Bible warns us about pride. In Proverbs 3:7 the Word tells us “Be not wise i...
(Read More)Greetings and blessings to all of you. In Psalm 16:1 the Word says, “Keep me safe, O God for in you I take refuge”. We all need “a refuge” from a place of danger not only in our flawed world but in our own minds. Negative moods such as discouragement is a powerful destructive force. We can look at what caused my sadness or frustration and begin blaming or we can focus on our response. While it is a natural response to be angry, sad, despondent in a difficult situation we have the spiritual power the Holy Spirit power to choose a different response. For example, Jesus ch...
(Read More)Greetings and blessings to all of you. In Isaiah 43:19 the Word says, “for I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in dry wasteland.” God wants us to change. God wants us to live in a mindset of repentance. God’s purpose in creation and redemption is to have his children conformed to the image of his Son. In Romans 8:29 “for those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son…” Our attitude for this change should be welcomed...
(Read More)Greetings and blessings to all of you. It’s difficult not to fret about the evil in our world. Even if you did not look at the news ...you know it’s there. David had to run from his enemies who wanted to kill him. But he was able to say during that awful period in his life “Trust in the Lord and do good dwell in the land and enjoy safe pastures. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37: 3-4) The sin we have now is no worse now than in the other generations. It only seems so because we now have the ability to transmit inform...
(Read More)Greetings and blessings to all of you. Once again, we will be celebrating the 4th of July. It is a federal holiday that we should celebrate with joy and gratitude. Why? Because our forefathers were determined to establish a free and democratic system of government and the Declaration of Independence (together with our Constitution and the Bill of Rights). They fought for this with their lives. George Washington said, “it is impossible to govern rightly without God and the Bible.” Thomas Jefferson asked this question,” Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we ha...
(Read More)Greetings and blessings to all of you. There is a troubling issue that is going on in our culture that is affecting the Body of Christ. They are killing “The Truth”. There is an erosion of our foundation that is no longer resting on a Biblical worldview. Question: Is pride still one of the seven deadly sins? America has dedicated an entire month to pride -a sin which is absolutely abhorrent to God. Lev. 18:22 “do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.” In Rom. 1:24-27 “therefore God gave them over in their sinful desires of their hearts t...
(Read More)Greetings and blessings to all of you. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus the Son addressed God as Abba in his agonizing prayer just before His assignment to die a horrible death on the cross for us. That is an affectionate word in Aramaic for “father” similar to “Papa” in English. You may think that God should not be called that…God should remain in our minds exalted larger than life who demands the highest respect; God is to be spoken of in a hushed reverence rather than as if He was a member of the family. But it was very appropriate for Jesus to address the F...
(Read More)Greetings and blessings to all of you. Are you curious about the “End Times”? Are we living in the End Times? End times is a general term that embraces a broad spectrum of events that will take place in the last days. Another word we can use is Escha-tology which is the study of last things or of the end times or the second coming of Christ. This includes the Rapture, the Judgement Seat of Christ (for Christians), the seven-year tribulation and (all events included in that period such as the emergence of the antichrist and Armageddon), the Second Coming of Christ, Christ 1000-year ...
(Read More)Greetings and blessings to all of you. In the book of Psalm 51:17 it says, “the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken spirit and contrite heart…. these O God you will not despise.” Have God used a hardship that you have faced to help your faith grow stronger? What about a broken heart either from a relationship that is no more…or a death of someone dear to you; or an economic crisis? How has God used that to build godly character in you? Did you know that God wants us to be conformed to His image? In Romans 8:29 “for those whom he foreknew he also pred...
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