THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB

       I'm so confused..are you?  They worshiped the Lord (well that's good) BUT, they also served their own gods...."      At least there's a "but" in between, but that's a big  butt..... I mean, which is it, did they serve God or not? I'm confused.  Confusion, that's what we get when we try to serve God along with our own gods along the way.  Confusion, is what you get when you try to serve God along with your own religion.  The world looks on and they are confused. The world ought to be able to look at an individual and either see a sinner or a saint, Christian or Heathen, which one is it? Choose, make a decision and then let it be clear what you are. I am confused by this.....they worshiped the Lord...BUT they also served their own gods. This confuses me just as much as our duplicate lives confuses the world that looks on at us in the church. And to add to the confusion  Verse 34  says,  "They neither...

 Always be very Leary about an individual who stresses to you that their Christian life is private, it is between them and God. Every Christian must possess both a private and a public life with Jesus Christ. Jesus woke up early in the morning, privately, to pray with the Father. The rest of his day was very public. Even his sufferings were not in private. And of course his death and crucifixion was very public. Jesus could have been slain in private and He would have still died for our sins, The Father could have orchestrated his death a private death, but God orchestrated Jesus' death to be public. We want our Christianity to be private and we want it not to have to "cost us" anything. Our text from the book of Acts today gives us a lesson in making our Christian life and profession...PUBLIC. The word "publicly" is specifically used in verse 19. "A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly ." Now let...

 I'm sure any title with "racism" in it is not going to surprise anyone, but what is surprising is the racism I am writing about is between Jews.  Jews fighting Jews.  How it must have broken God's heart to see this war between Judah & Israel. A civil war between God's people. Racism, it's a hot topic today's media onslaught. America had it's own civil war, Ireland has had it's own sort of civil war, the Protestants killing the Catholics and vice-versa. What we can learn about racism is it goes deeper than skin color. Today's headlines focus' on skin color, it's the blacks against the whites, but these are naive people. What they don't realize is racism goes deeper than skin color. Racism is basically about anyone who is "not us", "not in our group". As I mentioned, Ireland for years had whites killing whites, same skin color, but yet still racism. I grew up in Montreal and we had racism. It was blacks that w...

      You can find some comfort today, in reading about God's inspired description of Joash. We read at the beginning of Joash,  2  Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the years Jehoiada the priest instructed him. " 2  Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the years Jehoiada the priest instructed him ." However, as we go on to read about Joash we find out that his life was not so stellar after all. Immediately after that verse we read..." 3  The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there."   And it doesn't stop there, further on we read...  " 17  About this time Hazael king of Aram went up and attacked Gath and captured it. Then he turned to attack Jerusalem.  18  But Joash king of Judah took all the sacred objects dedicated by his predecessors—Jehoshaphat, Jehoram and Ahaziah, the kings of Judah—and the gifts he himself had dedica...

     Although, we didn't read about  David today, perse, we did read his Psalm, Psalm 144.  We get a glimpse of where some of his gratitude comes from in the Psalm, “Praise the Lord, who is my rock, He trains my hands for war and gives my fingers skill for battle.”  How many times did David go into battle for  Israel , risking his life but yet God supernaturally enabled him. A life of leisure, a life where we just live in our “comfort zone” may be a little better for our blood pressure, but it is not something that is going to cause exuberant Praise to come out of your mouth on Sunday mornings. As a matter of a fact, you may be one of the individuals that yawns during Praise & Worship on Sunday mornings. You may say, “I’m into the Word, just give me the Word, we can skip all that Praise non-sense and just get to the good stuff”. David would have disagreed with you; and David was a man’s man, but yet David had exuberant Praise in him, that just had ...

 I think we all know this Shunammite woman. She exists in every church.  She is that woman of extraordinary faith in God to move on her behalf; and you know what, He does! The Shunammite woman believes God has given her the son she has and when he is taken away, she goes back to God, or at least her source to God and demands him back and Elisha raises her son from the dead. I believe her reasoning here, in our text is the same. She believes God is the source of all she has and she is right; therefore the land she had, that she has lost, was from God and she is believing God to give her that land back just like He gave her back her son.  The only problem is, with her son, she had Elisha to go to, in this case who does she have? This is a woman who acts in faith, not logic. Logic would says, “she doesn't have a snow ball’s chance in Hell” of getting that land back, but with God all things are possible to them that believe. Her job as a believer is to motion forward and allo...

 I remember many years ago Pastoring in a Church where there was some minor issues, that were quickly escalating to major issues. My options were to ignore it or confront it. I looked at the parties involved and what I saw was a group of men that were strongly opinionated, but also mature and strong in their faith. So based on that, I chose the option of confronting, head on. We all met at every Christian’s church outside of church, ie; Starbucks and just brought out all the gossip and rumblings. The situation was fragile and could have easily escalated out of my control, but it didn't! I believe that when you are dealing with two or more mature Christians, solid in their faith, you should be able to bring up any issue, discuss any matter and still be able to have a civil conversation or even a civil argument; and not all leave hating each other and wanting to leave the church and/or ministry. If ever you have one of these meetings and things do not go well, it is because you were ...

 The Word of God declares, “two are better than one”. There are many reasons why two are better than one and here in our story, we have a perfect illustration of how that works. What happens is this woman’s son from Shunem dies. We are not sure what happened, let’s say it’s a tumor or brain aneurysm, he screams out his head is hurting; next thing you know the child is dead. We have a wife and husband in this story. The husband accepts, perhaps, to simply “take the hit”, as I’m sure this hurt. The wife resolves something completely different. While the husband accepts the death, the wife will not. She has resolved to contend for this miracle (the boy) that God gave her. When she is saddling up to head out, the husband thinks she is going to see the man of God for some religious ceremony. Little does she know she is going to fight for the life of her son. This is why two are better than one in a home, in raising children and even when there are no children. It brings a great help and...

      I can't tell you how many times this principle has been applied in my life & circumstances. The good that I did for others, as God moved upon my heart, has ALWAYS come back to do me better good than I did in helping others.  All this woman has done is use the wealth God has given her to build a room for Elisha to stay in and has taken the time to feed him when passing through town. And we do give credit where credit is do, she could have easily made excuses for not doing so, but she didn't. However, look what she gets in return! Never in her wildest dreams did she ever imagine, that by simply doing good to this obvious servant and man of God, that she would reap a son in return.  And not only does she reap a son, but when her son dies years later, that same man, Elisha, restores her son to life. That same man, Elisha, years later, is the cause of this woman having her property restored to her. The dividends, the retribution that is recompense...

      You probably would never quote a New Testament Christian saying, " 22  I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies."   and then shortly thereafter also asking God to .... 23   Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  24  See if there is any offensive way in me..,"   This is almost comical to a new testament Christian, that somewhat would come out and speak about his hatred for another and then in the following sentence ask God, "to search him to see if there is any offensive way in him....HELLO! We would say..."are you stupid?"  Hatred....this is what we try to conceal from God, is our hatred for others. Why would we openly admit it to God and then ask God to search us, as if we were as pure as the driven snow. Are Christians today confused about who they are and what they should feel? Are we trying "to be Christian" or is it more that we "simply are"....Christian....

 One thing you'll notice about the stories in The Bible, is the negative is often mixed in with the good. This is the reality of The Church and the Christian Faith.  It's not 100% victories. Some areas we lose in and other areas we win in. Some places we take a loss, other places we gain. Some are great victories to go home and rejoice over, some are serious defeats and we go home and lick our wounds. If you are going to be involved in evangelism, this will be par for the course, if you do not engage in evangelism, you don't have a clue of what I'm talking about. In Antioch they are evangelizing and many believe and convert, I can imagine they are rejoicing, until another group comes along, rejects their message AND stirs up a mob against them, this is not so pleasant. And so they leave. Then we read at the beginning of the next chapter, "The same thing happened at Iconium. "A great number believed....but another group rebelled and poisoned the minds of those ...

 "And Barnabas and Saul returned from  Jerusalem , when they had fulfilled their ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was Mark."  We talk and write a lot of about the genuine vs. the disingenuous Christian.  But where our metal is really tested is in "Ministry". So many Christians avoid ministry and I have heard every excuse their is why "I'm not going to get involved in ministry". And there's always a grain of truth in some of the reasons I hear, but at the heart of it, is a reluctance to be put through the refiners fire. Nothing refines a Christian like ministry. You want to see what a man or woman of God is really made up of, put them in ministry with other people . That will test any man, any woman's worth. How do we know Barnabas and Saul (Paul) are spiritual? Ans: They fulfilled their ministry !!! Not enough can be said for that. It was hard, it was more work than they thought, it was full of people problems, demonically oppos...

      Elijah finally lets it slip that he is human after all. He has been on quite an impressive run of Faith. He closes the heavens from rain for 3 years, he is fed by the ravens, then goes to Zarephath and challenges the widow to feed him with her last morsel of food and proclaims to her that she will not run out; then he, by himself, stands on Mt. Carmel and boldly challenges the prophets of Baal to a dual, soaks the altar with water and believes God to consume it with Fire and consume his sacrifice, which God does. My faith probably would have failed when I arrived in Zarephath, only to find that the person God told me would provide for me is worse off than I. However, Elijah is not me.  Elijah is a serious man of faith, seems almost super human, but finally we see that his spiritual armor, like yours and mine, is penetrable after all.  When Elijah hears that Jezebel has put a hit on his life, this sends him in to a downward spiritual roll. Wh...

      I have been in this situation more than once! I have learned over the years be careful about coming all humble to your leader, asking them what you should do and then walk away and don't listen because you think the advice they gave you is crazy.  You walk away wondering, "why did I even ask, that's the last time....he's crazy if he thinks I'm going to do that". Obadiah runs into somewhere he really admires, Elijah! However, once his excitement wears off, Obadiah is wishing he had not run into Elijah! What can I do for you, anything my leader.  Elijah asks him to go get Ahab and tell Ahab he wants to meet with him.  Obadiah is outraged at the position Elijah is putting him in. "Why are you asking me to do this, you want me killed?".  And of course we know that Elijah wants Obadiah killed, right?  Well obviously "no", Obadiah is a good man and Elijah knows that, but sometimes it does seem like our leaders don't care about us, they ...

   There's a number of interesting thoughts on this passage.  # 1, Elijah is suffering at his own hand, what I mean by that, is he is the one that pronounced there would be no rain, this has caused a drought, which has caused a famine which has not only left the people without food or drink, but ALSO HIM.  However, we see that God is supernaturally providing for him. God tells Elijah to go to Zarephath and there I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.  But if God has directed her then why does she seem somewhat unwilling? If God had told us this, we would have asked and then when we had received the response that Elijah received, [  12  “As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”  ] This is not the response we are expecting from...

 Sometimes the people that have been giving the most, been given the most gracious opportunity, fail the worse. Handing over to someone something they have not worked or fought for is normally a recipe for failure. This is the problem with "well to do, good deed programs" that build houses for the poor any hand the houses over to these people for free, no investment, no sacrifice, no cost to them and most will run those houses into the ground, just like Jeroboam runs his Kingdom into the ground. Jeroboam receives one of the sternest rebukes that any King ever receives from God. Jeroboam was given one of the greatest opportunities of any man in the Bible. He is in no way in the lineage of David's family, but yet God, for some reason, when He decides to rip the Kingdom away from the House of David, chooses this man to hand it over to him. You would think that Jeroboam would have taken this opportunity and turned it into a long lasting Dynasty for his family, but he does the...

 "If only God did more", we may not speak those words, but we do think them.  Well, we can't accuse God of not doing enough in this story.  First He sends a prophet, a man of God, to speak. Result? His words are rejected. (Words aren't enough, how about a miracle, some demonstration of God's power, that's what people need to see).  Okay, so next we get our demonstration of God's power.  Jeroboam stretches his hand out to the guards to have the man of God seized and his hand shrivels up! (People need to see that God is merciful, that's what people need, people see God as mean). Okay, well next we have Jeroboam crying out to God, to the man of God, please have mercy, please heal me.  So, the man of God prays to God and God immediately heals Jeroboam's hand. God has done everything in this situation that we would desire Him to do. He gives a powerful word, 3 great miracles, the altar is split (wow!), hand shrivels up, then God's merciful, He heals...

 I believe Tom Cruise, the actor, on his 3rd marriage [at the time] (and many women in-between) has uttered those words on Oprah. Celebrity status, wealth & good looks are a recipe for disaster. One survey & research suggested that most men "don't cheat" simply because they don't have the opportunity. They don't have striking good looks, don't have money & power, don't have much that is going to have women drawn to them, soliciting them or making sexual advances. So these men don't cheat, at least not physically, but they probably still often cheat, in their minds. Find me a man with good looks, power and wealth and I'll find you a man with some infidelity in his background. "Solomon loved many foreign women", are text tells us. I'm sure he did. Solomon had a Harem full of super models, it was unrestrained lust and sexual indulgence. He was a man who had no governor on his heart. He was able to get the most beautiful women...

   People who want what we got, but don’t have what we got are a dangerous and crazy species. It’s a long standing issue in Christian circles and my guess is it will never go away until the Church is raptured. Until then, we will have to put up with heretics, Apostates, hypocrites and hirelings within the Church of Jesus Christ. Peter, you and I would deem this as completely ridiculous that someone would think he could buy what we have and what God is doing through our lives, but to them it is perfectly normal. This is what happens when people come into the Church but do not convert. There is only one approach with people like this and that is the approach that Peter takes, it is a direct, confrontational approach. We would never deal with a sincere church member like this, no matter how much they are struggling, this would not be the method, ie:  “repent of your wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps He will forgive your evil thoughts, for we can see you are full of bi...

 Proverbs is the book of Wisdom, even more important, the Book of God's Wisdom.  The book of God's Wisdom, I should read that! But how many do? The Wisdom of God...."sometimes, less is better, if it brings you peace and quietness in your home".  More couples divorce over finances than infidelity or any other issue in marriage. Financial problems bring strife in a home like nothing else. I will never forget as a young Christian visiting a couple's house in our church that were long time pillars in that church. I was in the house, actually the garage, with their son and I could hear the mom and dad fighting like cats and dogs over money issues. It ruined by blissful outlook that I had towards the new church I had become a part of.  I thought, "when I'm married, I will never fight over finances with my wife".  I would like to tell you I fulfilled that promise to myself, but I would be lieing!"  I could buy billboards all across the USA and put the ...

 A little disobedience can’t hurt, right? Well then, let’s remove that scripture in Proverbs that God put in there that says, “ a little fly spoils all the ointment”. As we are busy reading about all the good things Solomon is doing “for the Lord”, …..the building of the Temple, the making of all the Holy Artifacts that will be used for worship and sacrifices for generations to come; there, mixed in the middle of all that, we read “he also built similar living quarters for Pharaoh’s daughter… whom he had married ”.  In the middle of all that good, surely there is room for a little faux-pas? Surely the Lord will overlook my one little transgression in the midst of all this good I’m doing.  Solomon was not the last person to ever think like that.  Many of God’s people think like that, not just Solomon. If Solomon was waiting for a sign, a bad omen to convince him he had done wrong, he didn’t get one. He didn’t’ get struck with lightning, the ground did not open up and ...

       As Stephen recounts Israel's history, the story of Moses is definitely one to learn from.  At 40 years old Moses feels he is called to be  Israel's deliverer . He fights and defends the Israelite against the Egyptian and the key phrase in this text is   " 25  Moses thought that his  own people would realize that God was using him  to rescue them, but they did not."   Moses didn't do this on some kind of ego trip or selfish ambition, it clearly states "they would realize  God was using him " Moses is attributing what he is doing as a "call from God".  How many men & women have set out on a quest for God and have fallen flat on their faces? Surely Moses falls flat on his face... ." 27  But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?  28  Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?  29  When Mos...

  Well I could learn a lesson here from the early Apostles and from a church that we read "was growing in numbers daily".  Churches today are not growing in numbers daily, but shrinking in numbers daily! Why? Because for all the work we do to get them in, it seems like once they are in we are satisfied with that and do not serve them. Everything that comes out of their mouths is "whining" and we don't want to hear it, we don't want to deal with, we just want numbers, not problems here.  Add to our numbers but don't add to our problems. Sound like your church? Sound like you? In my own opinion and probably the opinion of 99.999% of those that have read this story would consider these woman a bunch of whiners. I don't know how the disciples thought about them and I'm glad we are not told, we are simply told that they took the matter seriously and took care of the situation, rectified the matter, made them feel like their concerns were valued by the...

 I am quite a fan of David, even in the midst of his atrocities. I understand that we cannot just let sin go by, restitution for sin must be made, one way or another, but I still find it interesting that David goes after Joab and demands that Solomon not let his grey hair go down to the grave in peace, for the innocent blood that he (Joab) shed. It just seems a bit odd to me....think back with me years before, when Joab opened the letter, written by David, carried by the hand of Uriah himself, requesting Joab send Uriah to the front of the battle lines so Uriah would be killed. This was nothing less than cold blooded murder of an innocent man to cover up for David's impregnating Uriah's wife, while Uriah was out at war! This is the kind of drama and horror not even reality T.V. or movies can match. Not only is this a heinous sin, but David involves Joab in this murderous act. Joab must always live with this secret, that he was part of the murder of an innocent man, a good man. ...

 Opportunities to do wrong never stop knocking on your door. How long do I have to resist, how long do I need to keep saying “no”? I've been resisting temptation for so long, how much longer? Well, for the man and/or woman that finally gives in, the answer is…. “not long enough”.  For the man who finally gives in to the seductress at work, ruins his marriage and turns his kids against him, the answer will be, “it wasn't long enough”.  For the young girl who had vowed to God to maintain her purity, but one night, alone with her boyfriend, gives in to his advances, the answer for her will be, “not long enough”. Joab has been faithful to David for a long, long time but the bible says, “although Joab did not go after Absalom, he did go after Adonijah.  Joab resisted the temptation to defect and go with Absalom, the King’s son, when Absalom lead a rebellion, although I’m sure Joab was tempted, but yet resisted. Years go by and Joab has another opportunity to do wrong, thi...

 “For they are but sheep” Why does David refer to the people as “sheep”.  If they are sheep, what is he? By calling them sheep David is making a distinction between himself and them. In other words, “they are sheep” and “I am not”, so bring the affliction on me”.  So if David is not a sheep, what is he inferring, to God? And of course you already know the answer to that, David is inferring that he is a Shepherd and they are but sheep. Jesus looked over  Israel  and was grieved for the people, for they were lost sheep without a shepherd.  Jesus is also inferring that He is not a sheep, but a Shepherd.  Moses also made a distinction between himself and the people of  Israel . Moses was the Shepherd and the Israelites were the sheep that constantly went astray.  Isaiah writes, “all of us like sheep have gone astray”.  Amos made a distinction between himself and the people, he was a shepherd and they were sheep.  All 3 men, Moses, David...

      There are those that know neither the woes of defeat neither the joy of victory, they just dwell in a perpetual state of mediocrity . Who could be more qualified to write the words that are written in our text; other than David himself.   "with your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall...He trains my hands for battle....you armed me with strength for battle"   Ever wonder how David went into battle after battle and was never killed, not only was he never killed, he was never injured, not only was he never injured but he killed thousands in the process.  A warrior for God is either going to feel God's supernatural, sustaining Grace or he is going to feel abandoned. He will either kill or be killed himself in the process. David not only fought amongst warriors, he fought against barbaric, at times, demon possessed men, yet in all of his fights he was never killed, but he killed many. If I sound redundant...

      The bad guy isn't always the bad guy, sometimes he's the good guy.  It's easy to read this story today and read it dismissing David as the calloused killer, insensitive to the lives that he is affecting by having these innocent people murdered. These parents and citizens must be filled with hatred and animosity towards David. I seriously doubt that this is easy for David to do and the text does make mention to his sparing Mephibosheth from the slaughter. David is simply trying to help Israel, Saul is the culprit and the reason behind why David must to, what to many is, a senseless slaughter of innocent lives. David inquiries to God why the famine (which is also leading to the death of innocent lives) and God's response to David is, “ It is on account of Saul  and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death.” Saul is long gone now, and David is left with the mess left behind by the previous King. A true leader is one that has the c...

     I may be overstating something here, but there are few scriptures, if any where Jesus compares his love to him, based on whether or not you do something. I thought only my wife did this (lol), but apparently not. Jesus says, "Peter, do you love me....then __________" and at this point we should all have open ears. Recently I ran into a Christian from another church and I asked him what he was up to and his answer to me was, "just luving Jesus man....just luving Jesus..." and he said it with this glazed look in his eyes. As I left that encounter I thought...."wow, that guy really loves Jesus...I think?" Rarely do I walk around with a glazed look in my eye telling people, "I'm just loving Jesus". Do I love Jesus? If it's based off of sentiment and a glazed look in my eye, I might have to say...no! However, if I base it off of what Jesus says love is for him, than I could say..."yes!". There are few things in Christendom that ...