October 2011 - God Often Gets a Bad Rap
God Often Gets A Bad Rap
God is easy to blame. He doesn’t fight back and allows us to blame him publically. He is regularly misrepresented by people who claim to understand him. So what is His motive for putting up with this?
The answer to this question is deep and far reaching, but an incident in Lk. 7:11ff. A widow had lost her only son (leaving her socially destitute) and upon seeing the funeral crowd, Jesus, also being acco0mpanied by a crowd, had compassion on her(and him) and raised her son from the dead.
September 2011 - "I thought SURELY you would understand!"
“I thought SURELY you would understand!”
In Luke chapter 4 Jesus experiences a great emotional pendulum swing. First he is tempted by the devil after 40 days of fasting. He was “hungry” (v.2) yet endured the temptations . Then He returned to Galilee had a terrific teaching experienced that culminated with being “praised” (v.15) Then as He wanted to make His big public announcement of His formal ministry in his home town, he was rejected and condemned to die by friends and neighbors. They wanted to kill him and “drove him” (v.29) to a cliff to be stoned.
August 2011 - A Healthy Mindset
A HEALTHY MINDSET
Read Col. 3:1-4
What is the reason God would instruct us to “set our minds on things above.” Does He want us to ignore or forget the duties and realities of this life and live in some state of numbness to our daily thoughts? Are we to only speak heavenly thoughts in heavenly “words?”
July 2011 - The "Freedom" Paradox
THE “FREEDOM” PARADOX
Read Gal. 5:1
Every good American has heard statements like “every man is entitled to live free.” That is, we somehow “deserve” to be able, for the most part, to do what we want and live the lives we choose. Some promote the idea that since we are “in Christ” and are eternally redeemed, that we are “free” do the best we can and expect God to allow us to manage our lives.
June 2011 - Dealing With Discouragement
DEALING WITH DISCOURAGEMENT
Read II Chron. 32:1-23
Everyone can be victimized by discouragement. Any day could present situations that loom large and overwhelming. What does God want us to do when we have these very “human” moments? Too often we are guilt-tripped into thinking that we are to just “get over it” or “look at how much worse others have it.”
August 2010 - It's Not Selfish
"It's selfish to have your needs met." Have you ever heard this blither? In our efforts to condemn our sinful, self-indulging, prideful, and depraved nature, we throw out the baby with the bath. I believe there is a way to address our needs, without being selfish.
Jesus' greatest commandment was to love others "as we love ourselves." He needed Peter, James and John in the Garden when He stated, "I am overwhelmed with sorrow, stay here while I pray." On the cross Jesus said "I thirst" to the people around Him.
July 2010 - Fear
One of the reasons marriages break apart is the lack of fear. Our world glorifies the phrase, "no fear" as if it is a virtue. It is common to hear, "you biggest problem is fear, just go for it, don't look back, leap then watch, etc." This philosophy has merit when properly applied, but it is easily confused with the truth. In reality, we have two types of fear. We have "objective" fear which is God given and should be acknowledged. To fear falling, choking, painful touch is normal and part of our protective system.
June 2010 - Deceipt
We possess the efficient ability to DECEIVE ourselves. Then of course, if we are deceiving ourselves, WE DON'T KNOW IT. This ability gets us into much trouble. We become "blind" to the truth about ourselves and even when pointed out, we still are not able to "get it."
May 2010 - Change
People can change. It is common for someone to tell me, "people are basically the same and change very little." This statement is first pessimistic and secondly unscriptural. the fact is the people DO change. They change all the time. We could not go through a day without changing. Just a few years ago I was using an electric typewriter (poorly) and now I am using a computer. In reality, the world has left me behind in the techno age, but I have greatly changed. Routinely I am enlightened at church by responsible exegesis and make changes.
April 2010 - Encouragement
God wants us to encourage one another. In Luke 1 the Lord goes out of His way to demonstrate how important it is to be understood and strengthened. We learn this lesson from Mary and Elizabeth.