THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB

    "Return to your first love" it's the sermon older Christians hate to hear. It's like men listening to a sermon on lust "oh here we go again", they think to themselves. Lust is the Achilles heel of every man (though hopefully triumphant) and "go back to your first love" is the sermon that can be preached any Sunday, and most older converts will be convicted! Because we do stray in our relationships, the fire does dwindle in our relationships and whether we want to hear it or not it is true and needs to be said. We do need to return to our first love, it's not a cliché, but true! We are no longer the "down and out" person we were when we first came to Christ. We are now married, have kids, have sports on week-ends, have good jobs and life is good, for the most part and oh yeah...did I mention, Jesus!  Jesus.... sure, he's good, church is alright, however I don't think I'm gonna make it this Sunday my son has a soccer gam...

   I know that the Christian Life is not the perfect life. That if I expect my life to be ever so bliss because I’m a Christian is wrong. However, I still cannot get away from the scripture that continuously tells me, “my life should be blessed because I fear the Lord and obey him. So while I should make room in my theology or life, for hard times, I must also understand that it isn’t my lot in life to be miserable and beaten down. In both Psalms and Proverbs today we are told that “ how joyful are those who fear the Lord, how joyful and prosperous they will be, may you live to enjoy your grandchildren” then in Proverbs we read, “whoever obeys the law is joyful” it is almost a duplicate of what we read in Psalm 128. And so I get it, I get it, my life isn’t going to be perfect, I know, I’ve been told enough times, through radio talk shows to sermons, books and from friends. I got that part, it’s been made loud and clear. It’s almost the strategy they use in “sales”. Set ex...

         I SIMPLY don't understand Eternal Security and I understand it even less after reading today's passage in Jude. The author provides a clear cut case against eternal security. He writes, "let me remind you". I think part of the problem is we forget and probably worse, most Christians just don't read The Bible, seems like an oxymoron if I've ever heard one, but it's true. If you were to try to have a debate over this subject and say, "well you know what it says in the book of Jude (as I have many times) about this" many "self-professed" Christians/back-slidden Baptists, would give you that stare...."hmmm, Jude, I think I've heard of that book, I'm not quite sure where it is...is that old testament?" And for those that have read the book of Jude and read the arguments of the author they would simply say, "well, that's because they were never really saved". However the author deals with that in Jude....

    The reason we have conflict in the church is because some people are just jerks. Surely it has nothing to do with us! It's always the other person that has the issues, it's always the other person who is causing the conflict. It's always the other persons conceit and arrogance that has caused us not to like him. He's this and she's that and if they weren't like that we wouldn't have such problems. If the Pastor wasn't so .........than I could submit to him, I would even like him. If my ministry leader wasn't so headstrong, then I could get along with him/her. But c'mon, how can you have a problem with the Apostle of Love? If there's anybody in the church you could expect not to have any relationship problems with, it would be the Apostle John, (known as the disciple of Love) the disciple whom Jesus loved the most. However that's not the case is it?! Somebody in the church had major issues with John. " I wrote to the church, but D...

HOSEA 4:1-5:15     It's horrible to read about the moral decline of Israel. Was Israel really this bad? As we read about the moral decline of Israel, it's hard not to think about the moral decline of America. We see that the name and title the Priests wear, has no bearing on their behavior. They are just as lewd and immoral as the rest of the people, if not worse. What happens when we lose are relationship with God and just become religious, is exactly this. No longer does the name we bear, have any effect on how we live or conduct ourselves. For the most part, Americans have lost their relationship with God, but are still a religious people. And so we have a Nation of self-professing religious people, whose conduct is rated R. America is still pretty religious, some States are more religious than others, ie: Texas, Alabama and the whole midwest, but you will not find moral conduct that is being curved or tamed by people in these States as opposed to other States. Al...

HOSEA 1:1-3:5        Selling sex for money is as old as the bible itself. I wonder who the first woman was who thought, “I need money, why don’t I sell sex”. As old as this practice is, it’s amazing that we are still not comfortable with the idea. Nobody is proudly and anxiously bringing his prostitute girlfriend home for the Holidays. “Mom, Dad, I want you to meet my new girlfriend, she’s a very successful prostitute in our downtown area and I love her and thought it was time you meet her”, how well would that go off in front of the family at Christmas?       Most women have never technically sold sex for money and most men have never technically paid a prostitute for sex. I have seen talk shows where a woman was presenting herself as a “dignified woman”. She explains about her role in prostitution and how it is a means of paying her way through University, where of course she’s studying to be a Doctor or Lawyer. The talk show’s agenda is to pres...

1 JOHN 4:1-21     Whoever Loves is born of God” John writes, he sure did create some conflict when he wrote that. Surely we cannot presume that to mean that whoever loves his wife, his children, his horses, his dog Rover, his family…is born of God? Surely that does not mean that the loving Buddhist and Muslim, are born or God? Surely he’s not implying that the atheist who loves his family is born of God? Surely he does not mean that the man who loves his male lover, is born of God? What is John talking about, “whoever loves is born of God, are you kidding me? We can only understand this to mean that whoever loves  “partakes” in the divine nature of God  because, as John writes, “God is Love”. In other words, when the atheist loves, who claims there is no God, he/she is actually partaking in the nature of the one he says doesn’t exist. Those that hate God, but yet love their families, ironically hate the one who gives them the ability to love and enjoy their families....

1JOHN 3:7-24     I’m sure glad John wrote this (the brother of love) and not me because I would be accused of being the “brother of hate”. John is vehemently attacking “hypocrisy” in his writing. To think…..I thought this was just a problem in the bible belt of America or in the Deep South; people claiming “to know Jesus, Praise Jesus, Hallelujah!!” But yet live like The Devil. We preach that “Christianity is a relationship with Jesus, not a religion”, but the problem is; as we venture out across America, we find that in many states and cities across America, Christianity is just another religion to most people. Growing up on the east coast, as a Roman Catholic, we were faithful church attendees on Sundays, but lived pretty sinful lives throughout the rest of the week. Everyone in my family was immoral, everyone in my family drank & cussed, but yet on Sundays there we were in church trying to act (at least the adults) as pious as we could. That’s why as a teenage...

DANIEL 9:1-11:1  Daniel is one of the greatest prophets for end times that ever lived. Over 2000 years later, we still have no prophet, no man that has ever given us more accurate detail about end times, the coming of Christ and the 7 year tribulation. What gives Daniel even more authority is that Jesus himself, tells us to reference to Daniel’s book for End Times “prophecy”. Daniel’s math and prophecies can seem too complex to even begin to digest, but if we take the time we find out they are amazingly accurate. In a simple, “End Times Prophecy for Dummies” let’s break down his numbers. Daniel references the time period for the completion of Israel ’s judgment for their rebellion as 70 x 7, which equals 490 years. Daniel also goes on to predict another prophecy about the “anointed one” “Christ” to come and then be killed, seemingly accomplishing nothing. The dates Daniel gives for the Anointed One are 7 sets of 7 (7x7) = [ 49 ] + 62 sets of 7 (62 x 7) = [ 434 ] . So 49 + 434 = 483...

    Daniel is trafficking in two worlds, as we must. He’s getting all this revelation from God, but yet he must get up and go to work; and to make things worse, serve a heathen king. Daniel is sick in bed, probably mental anguish; eventually he gets up and goes to work. It is hard trafficking in what seems like two worlds, at times. I remember my wife coming into the room one Monday morning as I lay in bed. “You’re not going to work?”, she asked. I said, “no”. “What’s wrong, are you sick?” I said, “yes,....mentally sick!”. There’s nothing wrong or deceitful about taking a sick day over mental sickness. Some how we associate sick days with just the body, but the mind gets sick too! Mental anguish and grief is just as handicapping, if not more, than being a work with a wicked cold. However, like a cold, we must recover and get back on our feet. Daniel is out for a few days, but eventually he gets back to work, but yet the heavy revelation is still pressing upon his min...