THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB

     WHEN we think of unbelievable stories of the bible, we think of Jonah in the belly of a whale for 3 days, we think of Joshua praying that the sun would stand in place and it did or Elijah praying that it would not rain for 3 years, but I think this story is equally unbelievable and stands just as strong (in the category of "unbelievable") as the previous stories mentioned.  It is hard to believe how cold and indifferent the heart of a human being can be towards another human being.  It is hard to believe how mankind would be more concerned about his livelihood than the welfare of another human being, but regardless of whether it is hard to believe, it is TRUE.  The unfortunate incident here is that these men lost their herd of swine (what were Jews doing with a herd of swine anyway?), but yet a life has been restored, a man that was bound by demons has been set free, free to go home a be a son to his father again, free to go home and be a father t...

One of the most common complaints, apparently for Christians, is that God does speak to us audibly, if only He would just speak to us. Having Pastored for 10 years I have learned to bite my tongue, more often than not. If I spoke my mind every time someone slipped a bit from the straight & narrow, well.......and that's me, imagine if God spoke audibly to us, imagine if God didn't bite his tongue (so to speak). In our text we read today God speaks and it's all about "house cleaning". I believe they mindset of the Israelites, whom God did often speak to was the opposite of ours. Their mindset was more, "if God isn't speaking, that's a good thing". We may look different than the Israelites, but as humans we are not much different. We fill our lives with junk, idols, compromises & false gods. We think if God was to speak it would be marvelous and loving; and I'm sure at times it would be, but other times it would be "a shake down...

"But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget The Lord your God" This is ridiculous! Who would forget someone who has done so much for them? I thought it was the opposite, I thought we had to worry about people in the Church that are not doing well, that are not prospering. Now you're  telling me that we also have to worry about those that God is prospering? I could see how someone could leave the Church who felt like God let them down or wasn't doing enough for them (as spiritually immature as that might be), but I don't think that, as our scripture says, we need "to be careful" that those that are prospering, by the hand of God.....would actually stray from God. And if that be true (which obviously it is if God has said it) then I can't help wonder....Does Christianity contain in itself it's on ingredients for its demise? In other words, if the tendency is for Christians to prosper in their ways, can the ver...

I will rarely be the one to say that, "God made a mistake", but I have to say, God made a mistake here when He instructed them to "wear them on their foreheads".  What was He thinking? Did God not think that one day, as hard as it is to believe that they might actually make boxes and put them on their foreheads? Or maybe God knew how religious they would become some day and He wanted them to look like fools, walking around with a box on their foreheads.  Fact is, all religious people look like fools to those outside the church.  They see us with all our dogmas, all our rules and regulations but then they see us, when push comes to shove, act like heathens, hateful, prejudiced, unforgiving, cheap, mean, bitter, and the list goes on.  God promised the day when His laws and precepts would be written upon our hearts. A few thousand years later, Jesus came, died and rose from the dead, with that promise now available to all (his laws written upon our hearts) but many pre...

How do you respond to correction.  Is it true that Adults, are just kids in grown up bodies?  Moses says, " But the Lord was very angry with me, because of you. he vowed that I would never cross the Jordan River into the good land the Lord your God is giving you as your special possession". If only the leaders we corrected were still willing to carry out their duties and responsibilities with dignity and honor, as Moses did in our text.  Our reaction to such a stern correction would be, "fine, I've given the past 40 years to getting these people into the Promised Land and now you're telling me I'm not going in because I lost my temper or disobeyed you one time? Well then you lead them, you tell them what they need to do or, better yet, have Joshua do it, since you see perfectly fit to have him go into the Promised Land! After all, where was Joshua when I was confronting Pharaoh, where was Joshua when I was leading these people through the desert, let Joshua ...

     Maybe I'm just in a somber mood this morning, but I was just overwhelmed with how depressing this scenario is and maybe that 's good.  I don't know how they did it? I can just imagine how many could not take this aimless wandering and left the group, went off on their own into the desert and probably died out in the wilderness.  Imagine knowing, you have no purpose but to wander in circles until you die.  They were going absolutely "nowhere", there was no final destination, no purpose, but to wander around aimlessly and die.  That's depressing!!!  This is still the curse of the unbeliever (for it was their unbelief that angered God and drove them out into the desert), whether inside the church or outside.  The curse of the "unbeliever" is still aimless wandering, purposeless living; without an end destination. If we are going to know God, we must seek God for the greatest benefit (on earth) of knowing God and that is ...

VERSE 22, "Then ALL OF YOU (that was a red flag right there) came to me and said, "let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to". I'm not so sure this sneak preview was so much about "scouting for a route", this scouting venture is purposely phrased to Moses, not to let out a hint of negativity, it's all positive. They make sure to say to Moses the "right words", they make sure not to allude in any way that this spying out the land is really to see if the rumors they have heard are true (giants in the land) and if they are, there's no way....but none of that is mentioned to Moses. I believe Moses was manipulated here. Why would God allow Moses to be manipulated? Notice Moses doesn't tell the people, "I'll seek God get back to you on this" as he usually did. Moses now is trying to be nice, he's believing the best in people, t...

I find great comfort, unfortunately at Moses' detriment, that an idea that turned out to be a " horrible" idea, was one that Moses gave his stamp of approval on. "This seemed like a good idea to me". This turns out to be a horrible idea and sends them back out into the desert for another 40 years. This coming from a man that God says He speaks face to face with. How did Moses miss God on this? Why didn't Moses override this idea and say, "we don't need spies we just need to go in and take the land as God has told us too! I'm sure Moses kicked himself for years for listening to the people and not having the discernment to snuff out this idea. "This seemed like a good idea to me". I have had those days, where I was off. Off on what I chose to say, off on what I chose to do, off on my reaction, off on my decision making and as a leader it only makes it worse. As a leader people are looking to you to make the right calls and there is very ...

     Imagine this conversation, "I have a better place, than what God has in mind, I would prefer this, no really, go ahead, this is good, trust me, I know, but God had ......I know, I know, but this will do, thank-you for offering Lord, but I'm good, really!!  That's what this group of people is saying to God. And I say, "are you kidding me?"  What is this, what can you call this, I don't even know...is it stupid, arrogant, ignorant, fearful, or all of the above and more?!  Imagine telling God, who knows what's best for us and is trying to offer us  "His" best  and we turn around and say to Him, "no thanks, this will do just fine".  I know I've tried to offer people good things I had for them and had them tell me "no thanks", I was a little insulted, but can you imagine a human being saying that to God himself.  Maybe this group was thinking "at least we won't have to fight for this, we already have it, it may n...

     WELL, poor Balaam is killed...and once again this confirms the idea in our previous reading, that God will use the wicked, but eventually He will judge them.   Balaam was the wicked one that was hired to curse Israel, but even Balaam turns around and says, " I cannot curse those whom God has not cursed " and we love that scripture, don't we! The problem is, we fail to read on because the people of Israel end up being cursed regardless, so in the end God's people are cursed. So if our aim is " not to be cursed " it is not enough to simply quote one random text from God's word but to understand the full idea of the story of Balaam.  Verse 15 to 16 goes on to tell us that Balaam could not curse them  directly or by his own  will, BUT Balaam thought of a better way to curse God's people, Balaam figured out that he could get them to  curse themselves .  "They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice a...

I wrote a mini e-book, available on smashwords.com entitled “The Reality of God”.  How important it is that we have the ever and present Reality of God in our lives. How important it was back then, but even more, how important it is today. We can discuss all day long the significant aspects to all these offerings, but one thing we can say for sure, without speculation, is that it kept God, His purposes, His reality, at the forefront of the minds of His people. It is so easy to get caught up in the business of life and become distracted and lured away, from this relationship with this invisible God. In obeying these commands to have these frequent offerings, no matter how busy they were, this had to be done and it brought them constantly back to the place God wanted them. Today, we don’t have these laws, we don’t have these constant offerings, sacrifices, rituals, so what keeps God at the forefront of our minds? When Jesus describes the seeds (the Word of God) that the sower sows in...

     WE want to bury the past, but the past cannot be buried, the past becomes part of our history. What will your history be? Well who are you  banding with ?   3  “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among Korah’s followers, who banded together against the LORD"   Why is this coming up now? Because the past, our history always comes back. Men who forget history repeat the same mistakes, this we know!  Israel has certain reference points (a history) just as we do. Korah and what happened is part of their history and will be until their death. Mahlah and her sisters are quick to mention that their father was not part of the group that " banded together " against  the Lord .  A few thoughts here,  #1 . It was not against  the Lord  that they banded, I thought it was against Moses? But when God inspires this text to be written, it is written for eternity, that they  banded not against ...

Zelophehad's daughters bring their grievance before Moses, their leader and you notice Moses doesn't send them away and accuse them of being just a bunch of malcontents, especially, they being women. "Rights, you have no rights, get out of here!" Moses did not pretend to be concerned and then come back with his own answer, as if he had prayed about it. Moses actually does bring their grievance before God and interestingly, God sides with the Zelophehad's daughters; in essence, God says, "they're right!"  What if the daughters of Zelophehad had not brought their grievance to Moses; and worse, what if Moses had not actually gone before God with their grievance?  We see in this story that God ids willing to let a lot of things slip by, unless someone speaks up. There's a fine line between fighting and contending for your rights and just being a malcontent and it is up to you and I, to discern between the two. Jabez also cries out to God, "oh Lo...

     HOW spiritual are you?  Of course nobody likes  "super spiritual"  people, but that does not mean we should not be spiritual. "Super Spiritual" people are those who try to spiritualize matters that are more practical in nature than anything else, they also try to hide their flaws and judgmentalism behind "spirituality"...., well we know all about them, but let's talk about us. We are proud that nobody would call us  "super spiritual " but would anybody call us "spiritual" ???  THE FACT IS some of us are more spiritual, more in tune with God and seem to have more of his Spirit, than others. Paul prayed, "that they may be  filled to  FULL measure  with His Spirit ".  Full meaning that any Christian can be from a quarter empty to overflowing full (just like a gas tank) with God's Spirit.  If only we had a gage like our gas tank, to show us where we are at.  A side from violations & money prob...

Balaam is a confusing character to many people. At first when we are reading about him going over to meet Balak to partner with him against Israel. However when Balaam pronounces blessing on Israel instead of cursing; Balak sends him off angry so now we think, "oh, he's a good guy". Balaam is saying good things, but he is still bad.  Later on Balaam mentions to King Balak that although he cannot curse Israel himself, Balaam suggests to King Balak that he can have the Israelites curse themselves by enticing them into sexual immorality. This turns out to be quite an effective course and thousands of Israelites die in a plague that strikes the Israelite community because of their sexual immorality between the moabite women and the men of Israel..What we can learn from this is "saying good things does not make you good", doing good things makes you good, even if you don't say a thing. We are confused about Balaam, but there really is nothing to be confused about...

A healthy dose of reality for us is to be able to see our selves in the Israelites.  I sure don't dress like them and I sure don't talk like them, but I sure act like them, how about you? First of all, they have to get angry, before they are willing to pray. It shows they know the value of prayer but only seem to pray when it benefits them; nonetheless, they pray to God. our scripture says, "The Lord heard the Israelite's request and gave them the victory". A tremendous victory it was 100% correlated to their prayer to God. You would think that would be a reference point for them of how real God is and how good He is, but as the story goes on, as it will with you and I. the journey grew long. This is where we become fickle. If only serving God was a 50 yard sprint, we would all be doing much better. However it's not a sprint, it's a long distance journey, called life! The long journey causes many of us who once had fire coming out of our finger tips, to be...

We read about this Godly couple, Zechariah and Elizabeth, both our text is clear to tell us come from a Godly/Priestly, lineage. They are described as being a Godly COUPLE , righteous in God's eyes careful to obey all his commands. There is no greater blessing to the Church than a Godly couple. More often than not, you have a devout single mom, or a married woman coming on her own, serving God faithfully, while her husband stays home or you have the couple that comes out, the husband is devout and the wife is more interested in many other things, but the rare jewel of the Church and/or the Kingdom of God, is the Zechariah and Elizabeth or the Joseph and Mary. There is nothing more powerful and influential in the Church than a Godly couple, without sounding redundant. There is the situation where a couple comes into the Church and the other simply does not have that same passion, what can you do? However, how often single men and women are Christian Singles and have the opportunity ...

     God in the Old Testament reminds me of a parent with young children.  The constantly argue and squabble and mom and/or dad spends most of those early days settling disputes amongst the children. The children learn to depend and expect that mom or dad is going to settle the dispute, make a judgment of who is right and who is wrong and then discipline the guilty party. There is immediate intervention and immediate judgment when we are young.  I liked the God of the Old Testament, how about you?  There's squabbling and fighting against Aaron and God intervenes, shows them who's right and who's wrong, who's side He is on and the matter is settled. God is continuously intervening in their lives and settling disputes as the parent(s) of young children.  My children are at a stage now where I hear the arguments and squabbling and more often than not I stay out of it, they need to start learning how to resolve conflict themselves.  There is just as m...

If there's one thing that is for sure, that is, not "if" men will rebel, but when! It's an unfortunate circumstance of life to know, that often those that we have invested in and others loved, will often come back and oppose us. Whether that's are own children, whom we've loved & sacrificed everything for and now you're watching them with rage, confronting you, cussing at you as if you are their sworn enemy, or it's people in the church you've loved and invested in, or an employee at work, one thing is for sure, men do rebel. It hurts, it hurts really bad. This is not to say we go through life with a jaundiced eye and live as a cynic, but it is just to know, men rebel and many times it has nothing to do with the one they are rebelling against. As Pastors it is very disheartening to see the men we've appointed, to see the men we've raised up, we gave responsibility; the men we invested, it hurts when they rally unto themselves another gr...

     WHY am I here is probably a common question we ask ourselves and God. Why am I here with these people, why am I here with this family, with this woman, with this man? Again, we see God acknowledging a man that has a different spirit than others. If you did not read yesterdays blog, go a head and read it. God says to Moses, "I will take the spirit that is upon you and put it on then".  And here again, God acknowledges this concept with another man; that man is  Caleb .   "But because my servant Caleb has  a different spirit  and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it."   Caleb basically serves God in the midst of a bunch of "malceontents" but yet chooses to have a different disposition, a different mind set,  a  different spirit!    A new church, a new spouse, a new job, a new city, is our answer.  We say, " I have such a great ...

One of my most annoying sayings is "he puts his pants on in the morning same way I do!". This is implying that we're all on the same level here buddy. We know that no man should claim to be better than another man, but that is different than saying "we're all on the same level".  Twice in our story today God makes a clear point, "we are not all equal".  God tells Moses take these 70 men and I will put the Spirit that is upon you and place it on them. In others, Moses had something they had not. This is an undeniable truth in God's Kingdom that we are not all function on the same level. When the Seven Sons of Sceva  try casting out Demons, the Demons say, "Jesus we know and Paul we know, but who are you!?" And the demons start beat these men to a pulp.And later on in our text when Miriam and Aaron decide to grumble and gossip about Moses, once again God makes his point clear, "with Moses I speak face to face who were you to think ...

The Devil is a master at re-writing history.  I'm not meaning to compare Hollywood to the Devil and His works, (or maybe I am) but we know when the  read introduction says,  "Based on a true story" you're in for quite a fabrication and stretch from the truth.  Was there any truth in that? Sure, 1%, the other 99% was fabricated. The Devil takes our history and re-writes it in our minds and leaves an ounce of truth so we don't completely dismiss it. Did the Israelites eat fish in Egypt, well I guess they did if they say so, but to somehow look back at Egypt as "the good 'ol days", really?!? Had Moses stopped them at the Red Sea and say, now remember, you're going to miss this place and one day look back at this place as the "good 'ol days" are you sure you want to cross with me?" ......They would have run him over! Nostalgia is a precarious place to go in our minds. Feelings and thoughts sweep through us to create a utopia out of...

HEAVEN pass away, did I read right? And perhaps if it had come from another source, then it might be debatable as to whether that statement or prediction was to be worth listening to, but I'm pretty sure (correct me if I'm wrong) that Jesus is a valid source when it comes to the subject of Heaven. How can Heaven pass away? Where am I supposed to go when I die? Where will we say people have gone to, when we do funerals? Perhaps some don't really care; maybe the thought of them playing a harp on some celestial cloud, never quite appealed to them anyway (where people get this notion I don't know). Where will the people in Heaven go to when Heaven passes away? If there's not going to be a Heaven what is my hope, after I die? Okay, perhaps I have dragged this on a little to far, especially for those that already know where I'm going with this, but I am just trying to make a point...okay, maybe two points. The first point is how we can read over very serious statement...

“If any of the people, either men or women, take the special vow of a Nazarite, setting themselves apart to the lord in a special way..." I've always been intrigued by this scripture, God almost seems cavalier about this.  Again, "if there's any.......who want to set themselves apart to the Lord in a special way..." wouldn't all Christians want to do that? Imagine someone speaking up and saying, "no, not me, I don't want to set myself apart for the Lord in a special way, I just want to coast, I just want to do the bare minimum". I am amazed at God's understanding with his people that some "do want to" and others simply "do not want to".  I get frustrated, I get angry, I want to bully people into "setting themselves up for the Lord in a special way" I want to condemn them, I want to make them feel guilty" God simply takes it in stride. Is it what He recommends...we know the answer to that is "no", ...

It's hard to believe that such a hopeless, inspiring cult/sect had any influence whatsoever in Jesus' day.  The Sadducee's were a sect of decent influence and still are today. They are better known today as Jehovah Witnesses. They still like to mess with Jesus and his disciples, making pretension to be of some common accord; when in all reality, they could not be further from what Jesus was and is. Imagine standing there, trying to go head to head, with Jesus, The Resurrection himself. Jesus quickly explains away their error in their thinking, as "ignorance of the scriptures". I do feel bad for people who are caught up in cults such as Mormonism and Jehovah Witnesses, but you will often find a common error; and that is they are ignorant of the scriptures.  The Sadducees falsely and ignorantly believed that their is no other life; that the souls ceists to exist upon death. Imagine having the nerve to approach Jesus, who came specifically to die and be raised from t...

     Well,  JESUS may have answered the question for the Pharisees, but He left a question for us...."what belongs to God?"  "You mean part of my income belongs to God?"  And if part of my income belongs to God, how much of it belongs to God. I know I am required (and I don't like it either) to give to the Government but I have a hard time believing I also have to give to God. It is one thing throwing in a five or ten dollar bill in the plate as it comes by, but to feel I have to give? What if I want to go out to eat, what if there's something I want to buy, I shouldn't feel compelled to have to give, that's legalism! Jesus said to give "unto God what belongs to God", but the only reference to that is in the Old Testament, surely Jesus is not implying that we should still be Tithing? But what else "belongs to God, but The Tithe".  I was told Tithing was Old Testament and we weren't under The Law anymore and that I only had to ...

     SOMETHING that should catch your eye in today's reading is the complete contrast in Jesus' knowledge between the situation with the colt  vs . the situation with the fig tree. The fig tree represents every day life, eating and drinking, the home we buy, the cars we drive, the places we work;   the colt  however, is part of God's grand scheme for Jesus, this is not just a hap circumstance experience, this is part of God's Sovereign will. What we eat, where we it, whom we marry, what we buy typically falls under God's Permissive will for our lives.  The difference  therefore between these two situations was  God's Sovereign will vs. his permissive will . It had already been prophesied in  Zechariah 9:9  [ The Coming of Zion’s King ] "Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and  riding on a donkey, on a colt,  the foal of a donkey."...

     I LIKE MOSES....and you can say, "yeah, you like the mouthy ones..." but the good news here is  God likes Moses too!  So I know I'm with good "peeps" here.  I mean, he must like Moses, like really like him, for one he listens to him allot and even more so, he's on the mount of transfiguration with Jesus and Elijah!! So what do I like about Moses?  His  honesty  and  frankness  with God.  Moses says ,“Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me?  12  Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth?  Wow! Talk about boldness!! Ever feel like the circumstances you are in " as a Christian " could only lead you to believe that surely God must be angry with you, what else could it be? I have asked that question of late, "God have I let you down, have I upset you?" Imagine having the audacity to tell God...

Sadly enough, the Bumper Crop Testimony was not one the Israelites were able to boast of.  In all practicality it sounded great, sounded cool, but when the moment actually came to "believe" and "have faith", a man with a household to feed, debts to be paid and looking down the road, "if we don't plant now, it would be insane to think we will have provision next year when our harvest would normally be coming in..."  In the end, they failed, they did not give the land it's rest, and they were not able to give "the Bumper Crop Testimony" and on top of that; by not giving the land it's rest, as God had told them, they depleted the land of all its resources and nutrients and they had a crop failure and had to go without.  For all their intentions, as usual, they were worse off for not having trusted and believed God.  What was wrong with God's people back then?  Well, the same thing that's wrong with us today, we just can't see...