Picky Eaters

Do you have any picky eaters in your house? How about in your church? Instead of devouring God's Word they pick and choose what verses they want to consume and leave the rest on their plate.

"For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." - 2 Timothy 4:3

Picky eaters don't want to taste the perceived yuckiness on their plates. Picky eaters in the church don't want to adhere the verses they don't like. and therefore ignore them . . . yet still professing faith in Christ.

"Inconvenient Truths" I heard someone once call them and that's just about right. We want to follow God's rules but then we come across those verses that rub us the wrong way so we just ignore them.

Being a picky eater when you are a kid is forgivable. Not so with Christians who pick and choose which verses they like.

"The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." - Isaiah 29:13

There are "gay-affirming" churches. There are Christians who will vote for abortion. Why? God's Word is pretty clear in those areas.

There is a list of "seven abominations" to the Lord in Proverbs 6. Number 3 is "hands that shed innocent blood." Abortion is the law in our country. Do you think the fact that abortions are legal makes God angry? I'll wait.

We are ALL picky eaters of some sort. Are we picky about anything that goes against God's word? Perhaps we should pick up our fork, swallow hard and do what is right in God's eyes.

Moms and dads might punish their picky eaters. God punishes those who only obey parts of the law. His punishment is eternal. However God has provided a way out for all of the above. His name is Jesus. He is the president of the Clean Your Plate Club.

Nothingness

Have you ever felt worthless or unappreciated? Like everyone has left you and you don't have one single friend to help you out in your time of need?

Job felt that way. The Bible says he was "the richest man in the land." He must have had a lot of friends, right? Only three people came to comfort him after he had lost everything he had.

Do you have any go-to friends in your life? I have a few. They are a gift from God. True friends are those that come running when your life is crumbling around you. They are the ones who love you when they have nothing to gain by doing so.

I saw something on Facebook the other day, so you know it's true, right? Lol! It said, "Never refuse to do something for someone because God may be answering that person's prayer through you."

I never thought about it that way. We pray that God might use us in some way but then, when it actually happens, it's always a surprise to us. God uses anybody and everybody when He wants to accomplish His will in someone's life.

Our pastor gave a sermon yesterday using the example of Job and how Job loved God even when he had nothing.

"Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you [g]considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and [h]shuns evil?”

9 So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have You not [i]made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse[j] You to Your face!” - Job 1:8-11

Do we love God and others only in our abundance? Do we stop loving when something we love it taken away?

My mom once told me about how she prayed to God to save her father from cancer but then her father died anyway. She quit believing in God because He refused to save her dad. She didn't love God in her nothingness.

We need to exhibit a never-ending, unquenchable love for God and for others. That's the kind of love Jesus spoke about when He told us the greatest commandment. That's the kind of love He has for us.

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” - Mark 12:30-31

There are no qualifiers in that command. We are to love others ALWAYS! In time of abundance and in times of draught.

God answers prayers through us and our brothers and sisters in Christ. Don't be surprised when God answers someone's prayers through you!

Degrees of Prayer

Sometimes when we pray our prayers are not as meaningful as at other times. Why is that? We are praying to the same God. The only thing that changes is us. Us and our heart at the moment we pray.

Don't get me wrong. God still hears ALL of the prayers of His children. But I think there is a tendency for God to act on those prayers of our that are really deep, impassioned, powerful prayers.

There is more to prayer that just words. Our hearts must be prayerful too. I wonder . . . is it possible to pray with just our hearts and nothing else?

Hezekiah was on his death bed. God sent the prophet Isaiah to him to inform Hezekiah that we was about to die.

"In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”

2Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3“Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: 5“Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you." - 2 Kings 20:1-5

What changed God's mind? I think it was the depth, the degree of Hezekiah's prayer. I'm sure Hezekiah had prayed before during his illness but that final word from Isaiah, that Hezekiah wouldn't be getting any better, changed the intensity of Hezekiah's next prayer. The prayer that changed God's mind.

Do you weep when you pray? Usually I don't. But sometimes I do. This passage from 2nd Kings shows us how effective, fervent prayer has an impact on God's answer to that prayer. We must pray expectantly, hopefully, humbly and passionately. We also must be prepared for God's answer, whatever answer He has for us. Thy will be done.

Causality

Most of life's problems can be broken down by simple cause and effect analysis. The key question in any such analysis is "Why?" Why did I eat an entire bag of potato chips? Cause: I was hungry. Effect: I ate, I gained weight, I am no longer hungry, I am sick.

Take this same causality analysis into the political arena for example. Donald Trump wins the 2016 election. Why? Because the majority of people were so sick of politicians that they were willing to take a chance. Effect: Republicans control 2/3 of all power at the national level. Trump fills all vacancies in the Supreme Court and Federal Courts. In doing so, the majority of the U.S. Supreme Court changes from Liberal appointees to Conservative appointees.

Each of these things has it's own cause and effect.

There is one more "cause" that I left out in the above Trump cause and effect analysis. God. Did God cause Trump to win to accomplish a desired effect for the Supreme Court? Who knows but it IS possible because God holds people's hearts in the palm of His almighty hands.

"See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. 15As has just been said:

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”

16Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? 18And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? 19So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief." - Hebrews 3:12-19

Cause and effect. What is the cause of the decisions we make? Are we like the Israelites who sinned and died in the desert? Cause: Disobedience. Effect: Death. Or are we like those who made it to the promised land. Cause: Obedience. Effect: Blessings, milk and honey.

What is the cause of our faith? Is it our OWN beliefs that guide us? Or is our faith based on Godly decisions, based on the truth found in His Word? What will be the effect of the decisions we make today?

We say that we chose to believe in Christ. Or was it God leading us to an inescapable conclusion. Either way we have been caused to believe. The effect is eternal life. Cause and effect.

Cause and Effect - The Matrix

Temporary

Death sounds kind of final, doesn't it? In sports we play SUDDEN death. I guess that's opposed to some kind of lingering death, like most of our current sports teams are showing us right now. But is death really the end?

Some religions tell us that when we die we come back as some kind of animal, like a cow or a goat. Gee, that sounds like fun but is it true? Hindus believe that it is.

Atheists believe that when we die, that's it. There is no afterlife. That sounds frightfully boring as well. But are they right? All religions offer some type of afterlife. DO they all lead to the same God? Do they ALL lead to heaven?

Has anyone ever died and lived to tell about it? Well, Jesus did. What did he have to say about the subject? John 3:16 is the typical answer here.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall have eternal life." - John 3:16

Jesus also said this . . .

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." - Matthew 7:14

"I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture." - John 10:9

Jesus is the Son of the Living God. He cannot lie. It is not in His nature. He has told us here that HE is the only way to heaven. The apostle Paul said this about our temporary "tents" that we call bodies.

"For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands." - 2 Corinthians 5:1

There are many gods being worshipped by millions of people. Those gods cannot all be truthfully God because they are all exclusive. As our earthly "tents" wear out and come to an end, where will we be after that? An animal walking through the streets in Mumbai? Or walking down the golden streets in heaven, living in an eternal home in heaven, as Jesus told us? You know, the one who cannot lie.

Are All Religions The Same? - Ravi Zacharias

Liberty

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Do those words sound familiar to you? They should. They are from the United States Declaration of Independence.

"Liberty" is defined as "the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views."

We declared in 1776 that life is a God-given right. So is liberty. Happiness is NOT a right but pursuing it is. If life is a promised right, why are abortions allowed? Hold that thought.

Unalienable means "unable to be taken away from or given away by the possessor." Life is an unalienable right.

There is so much talk focused around our two presidential candidates these days. Each one is trying to convince us that they possess the best way forward. To me I see only one candidate who has acknowledged the right to life for ALL life.

This is not a political post. It is a spiritual one. The killing of babies in the womb is am abomination to God. It doesn't matter what party a candidate is. If they are pro-abortion, they are anti-God.

I am reading through the Book of Jeremiah right now. This is what God spoke to Jeremiah in chapter one.

“I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.” - Jeremiah 1:5

And this is from another prophet - Ezekiel. He relayed this message from God.

“ ‘And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough? 21You slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols. 22In all your detestable practices and your prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, kicking about in your blood.

23“ ‘Woe! Woe to you, declares the Sovereign Lord." - Ezekiel 16:20-23

The idols we sacrifice to these days are not gods but we sacrifice to them every day: convenience, pride, self-centeredness, greed, selfishness.

What LIBERTY does the unborn child have in the eyes of an unloving mother or father? None. And yet the hideous act of abortion is championed by politicians, disguised as "women's healthcare", all to obtain power. Greed. Self-centeredness.

Patrick Henry once said, "Give me liberty, or give me death." Brave words. It's sad that the unborn of this nation aren't given the chance to speak those brave words for themselves. They are simply given death.

Perhaps we should take a step back from politics and look at what God has done in the Supreme Court. He has placed a pro-life president in office who has already put two pro-life justices on the bench with a third on the way. God is pro-life. He wishes that "none should perish."

Whether Trump is a one-term or a two-terms president is up to God, not man. God has already been  working behind the scenes to save the lives of millions of His children. And for that we must thank Him and praise Him. 

In my opinion.

Amen.

Dreams

Do you have dreams? I'm not talking about the dreams we have while we're sleeping. I'm talking about the things we'd like to see happen in our lives.

The perfect marriage, a big, beautiful house, an RV, motor cycle or boat. All these things can be the focus of dreams.

As we age our dreams change. Circumstances sometimes don't allow us to fulfill our dreams. Our spouse might leave us and take the house or a job night come to an end and we will no longer be able to afford the things we dreamed of.

As we mature our dreams can change as well. We begin to think about others more -  less materialistic things. What are your dreams today? What dreams do you have for your children? Your grandchildren?

Perhaps it will be that they live in a virus-free work or where people aren't so opinionated. It might be that we dream of a time when we are more loving or that everyone has enough food to eat. We could also dream of a world with less violence and sin.

There is one dream that would accomplish many of these dreams all at once if it came true today. What if we dreamed of a world in which everyone knew Jesus? Think about it. Everyone loving each other and obeying His commands.

There would be no more hunger. If Jesus was real in our lives we would feed everyone. We would cloth everyone. There would be no more orphans wandering our streets. There would be no more sex trafficking, No more pornography. No more sin. God would bless His children.

That time is coming. But for now all we can do is dream. Dream of that day when we can all live together in peace and harmony. Perhaps today will be the day that dream comes true. We came dream, can't we?

"'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams." - Acts 2:17

Dreams - Van Halen (and the Blue Angels)

The Sacrifice

When we think about the word sacrifice we think about giving up something. Usually we're trying to accomplish something else when we sacrifice something. If we want to lose weight for example, maybe we give up doughnuts or a second helping of stuffing. Ain't no gain without some pain.

God demanded lots of sacrifices throughout the Old Testament. The Book of Leviticus is filled with them. Sacrifices usually involved animals - bulls, goats, lambs, doves, rams, etc. The common thread that runs through those animal sacrifices is their blood. Why?

"For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul." - Leviticus 17:11

Blood is required for sacrifice. Somehow giving up doughnuts no longer seems like it should be called a sacrifice. If blood is required for a sacrifice, have you or I ever truly sacrificed anything at all?

What kind of sacrifice does God want from us then? Here's a verse that will provide an answer.

"You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 17My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise." - Psalm 51:16-17

God requires blood to cover our sins but God does not desire our sacrifices or offerings. He wants a repentant heart. So where is the blood in that? Blood is required! Where is it?

The blood that God required was shed on the cross. God Himself provided the required blood sacrifice. The sacrifice . . . was Jesus!

How does that make you feel? Someone died so that you might live. If that doesn't give you a broken and contrite heart, nothing can.

"When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, 15the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. 16I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower us with inner strength through his Spirit. 17Then Christ will make his home in our hearts as we trust in him. Our roots will grow down into God’s love and keep us strong. 18And may we have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is." - Ephesians 3:14-18

The sacrifice God wants from us is our sinful life. But even if we offer it, it is an unworthy sacrifice. Why? Because we are not spotless like the required lamb in Leviticus. But Jesus is spotless, sinless. And God has said that if we place our faith in Jesus our sins will be forgiven. We will become spotless because Jesus was spotless. It's that simple, and that amazing.

Let us fall to our knees in prayers of thanksgiving. God has provided the sacrifice. All we have to do is repent and believe.

Who We Are

A weekend visit from our granddaughter assures my wife and I of two things. One, we will be tired come Monday morning and two, we will be watching Moana at least once!

This time through the Disney classic I was struck by the words of Moana's grandmother. As she was telling Moana about their ancestors she said, "We have forgotten who we are."

Just like Moana's ancestors, We The People seem to have forgotten exactly who WE are. We are Americans. We're not Africans, Romans, Germans, Britons, Mexicans or The French. We are citizens of the United States of America.

The initial shipment of Americans were Christians - Puritans to be exactly. We called them pilgrims. It was their descendants that wrote the Constitution and Declaration of Independence.

"We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way." - Isaiah 53:6

We all seem like sheep these days who have wandered off and forgotten about our Shepherd.

If we are believers in Jesus Christ we should KNOW who, and whose, we are. We are Christians and we are His.

Jesus told us that "If we love Him we should obey his commands." (John 14:15). Well? DO we love Him? Are we obeying?

Are we against murder? Even of the unborn? Are we followers of Jesus? Even though we spend more time on the phone than reading our Bible? Whose are we? Are we sure?

In the movie, Moana finds out that her ancestors were once voyagers but had forgotten who they were. As believers in Jesus, may our ancestors not say the same about us.

Grandma Tala Tells The Story - Moana

The Blessing - John Waller

Redeem The Time

Do you have one of those friends who you can talk to about anything? Maybe it's your spouse or someone at work or church. We all need someone to talk with, especially these days.

This entire story is based off a single text from one of those special friends. The conversation went like this.

"Did you watch the latest Behold Israel?"

"No. What's it about?"

"Important movement by Iran."

That was enough to get me out of my recliner and open up YouTube. I watched the show (see link at bottom) which features Amir Tsarfati, a Jewish-born Christian. He reports on current events happening in the Middle East in addition to spreading the Gospel.

While our U.S. news coverage is all about the election and Coronavirus, Amir and Behold Israel brings a Middle-Eastern perspective to the news.

Amir is reporting that something is brewing in Iran and it's not good. I won't go into all the details but let me just say that Biblical end time events seem to be happening with increasing intensity these days.

At the end of Amir's talk he told his audience about a passage from Ephesians that kept going through his mind. Here it is.

"For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9(for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 11And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. 12For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. 13But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. 14Therefore He says:

“Awake, you who sleep,

Arise from the dead,

And Christ will give you light.”

15See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16redeeming the time, because the days are evil." - Ephesians 5:8-16

We can all agree that the days we are living in are quite dark in nature. The west coast is on fire, the protests and riots, wars and rumors of wars. In the passage above the Apostle Paul describes a dark time such as the one we are going through right now.

You and I used to "walk in darkness" before we knew Jesus. Now, as Paul says, we are "children of the light." Fast forward to verse 16. What are we, the children of the light, supposed to be doing in this dark time?

"Walk circumspectly" (careful to consider all circumstances), "not as fools but as wise," and we should be "redeeming the time." What does redeeming the time mean for a Christian? Basically it means we only have so much time on this earth. We need to be about God's business, not ours. The time is short. Make the most of it for God's glory and not our own.

Are we doing that? Are we redeeming the time? Are we talking to others about Christ? We should be. We need to be found doing God's work when He returns. Which may be any time. So, let's get busy!

Behold Israel - Amir Tsarfati

The Choice

We all make choices in life. We ourselves were the result a choice made before we were even born. Our mom and dad chose to have us, whether they knew it or not. They also then chose to keep us or abandon us. Tough choices.

Eventually we grow up and begin to make our own choices. College? Trade school? Some of our choices however have not been so good. You know what your bad choices have been. Do you regret them?

Life is filled with choices. Our choices determine our future and the future of generations to come. So why do we take life's choices so casually? Good question.

Sometimes our lives can be changed for ever by the choices that others make. Someone drinks too much and gets behind the wheel of a car. Suddenly there is a collision and someone is dead. A poor choice just became all to real.

The most important choice we can make in this life has to do with Jesus. Maybe He's not important in your life right now. He will be one day though, whether you want Him to be or not. The chance to make a choice for Jesus expires when we do. After that it's too late.

Take the example of an airplane. You can be on an airplane that suddenly develops engine trouble and is going to crash. You heard the stewardess tell everyone about available parachutes. You know that the parachute can save your life but at some point you are going to have to make the choice to put the parachute on. Just knowing that "Jesus saves" is not enough. You must put Him on. You must be IN Christ. The Bible says we must "put of our old self" (Ephesians 4:22) and put on Christ.

Have you made that choice about Jesus yet? It's easy to do. All those bad choices you've made? Ask God to forgive you for them. Seek God's forgiveness with humility and sincerity. If you do that He has promised to forgive and forget ALL of your sins, as far as the east is from the west. Then ask Him to become the Lord of your life. Learn from Him. Follow Him. Put Him on.

The choice is up to you. It's all yours. There are two roads you can go down. One leads to eternal life. The other leads to death. Like I said, your choice. Your consequences.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16

The choice . . . is yours.

Camouflage

My wife and I were heading home from vacation yesterday when I glanced to the side at an automobile dealership. That's when I saw this guy parked right on the end of a line of new cars.

Clever. VERY clever. I never even saw him until I was right there. Lucky for me I was going the speed limit. He was in full view yet, because he was in with a bunch of other cars, I could barely detect the difference.

There is a lesson to be learned here. He is using something most hunter's use during hunting season - camouflage. Camouflage is defined as using painted, clothing or some other covering to make you bland in with your surroundings.

There are many things camouflage can be used for. Politicians use it, for example, to get themselves elected. They will tell you what you want to hear and then, if elected, they will do whatever they want to do. Political camouflage.

Have you ever heard the term Camouflage Christians? What would you think those area? It's someone who goes to church, pretends to pray, acts very religious and even says all the right words. But in actuality, they are anything but. Jesus spoke about them in His day and how to recognize them.

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them." - Matthew 7:15-20

We can recognize the police officer is we examine his car closely enough or, if we are speeding, he will recognize us! The camouflaged Christian will not bear good fruit. Many "Christians will vote for someone who supports abortion and/or gay marriage. Even though these things are clearly against God's will.

Beware of camouflaged Christians. They are everywhere. Even in the pulpit. They will use any means to deceive you. For example, politicians like to kiss babies prior to elections. Some politicians; however, support the killing babies. We need to pay attention to their fruit. Jesus says this:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but (only) the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ - Matthew 7:21-23

Take off the camouflage, repent, believe, do God's will, and you will be saved. It's really rather clear.