THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB

   We think, "what could be easier than a miracle?" Truth be known, God's people often think an "easier way" is just to send the problem away! An easier way would be to think logically, foresee the problem and then counter it with a solution. In our eyes, anything is easier than to have to wait on Jesus and hope he does " a miracle". The disciples foresee the problem that is coming and the miracle they are going to need to feed all these people. A miracle however, requires faith, a miracle brings with it anxiety and stress, a miracle, that's hard on us, why not just send them away before we get stuck having to BELIEVE God for A Miracle. The disciples approach Jesus and suggest sending the people away....and what does Jesus say, "you feed them!" The very thing they were trying to avoid, Jesus makes them face. We are trying to avoid having to believe Jesus for a miracle, Jesus is trying to place us in situations where "we have to belie...

   Sometimes I wonder who is more miserable, the atheist or the rebellious, religious person. I will choose the rebellious religious person over the atheist any day! In our reading today we read about the brothers of Joseph still tormented in their minds for the sin they committed against their brother. Everything negative that happens in their lives is attributed to "God getting them back". This is how the religious person lives, they know enough religion to drive them crazy. They know enough to realize that they are not living right and because of that, everything negative that happens is of course God getting them back. At least the Atheist convinces himself (or tries) that there is no God and therefore bad events in life are either bad luck, bad karma or just life. If Joseph was 13 when he was sold into slavery by his brothers and now Joseph is 30 yrs old ruling in Egypt, that is 17 yrs (is my math right???) since their great sin. Imagine 17 yrs of every time somethin...

  There's a two step process here with Joseph. Joseph names his first son Manasseh "God has made me forget all my toil and all my Father's house". Joseph was devout to God, but that can lead us to believe that Joseph was above bad situations affecting him. And now we see that is not true, Joseph was hurt and affected by what went on back home. Second, he names his second son Ephraim, "God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction". The land of my affliction, once again Joseph admits that it has been a rough and miserable time in Egypt, but yet we would never gather that by his attitude and faithfulness to God. Joseph brings up another key point that we should not miss and that is; that in the midst of our place, land, city or circumstance of affliction, if we keep our hearts right in our land of affliction we can say and testify as Joseph, "God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction". Something beautiful can be born (figuratively...

  We've heard it before I'm sure, but it is worth repeating...."if God was with Joseph why is he in jail, if God was with Joseph why was he falsely accused in the 1st place". I remember visiting a church from another fellowship one time when I was on deployment in the Marine Corps. After service we had a fellowship and it was brought to my attention that the man that had preached that night was not their Pastor, apparently their Pastor was in Jail! He was in jail for some trumped up charges for sexual abuse. The church members were confident that their Pastor would be vindicated and all charges dropped. I kept my mouth shut, but I thought, "helloooooo....dummies, if he was innocent why would God have even allowed it to go that far, they are in for a rude awakening when they find out he's guilty". In my mind, God would never allow something like that to prevail against one of his sons or daughters, but was I wrong? Joseph is in jail, falsely accused of ra...

   It's hard to find much fault in Joseph. He is one of the stellar examples of Godliness, in the Bible. But here, in Joseph's youth, we see some flaws or perhaps naivety. It makes you wonder what would have prompted Joseph to share these dreams with his brothers; dreams that depicted his brothers would one day be serving him. Joseph already knew that his brothers were not all that favorable towards him, how could he think for one moment, that sharing these dreams would help matters? And we know, as he should have known, but apparently didn't or didn't care; that it would only make matters worse between them. And not only does Joseph do this once, but twice! Perhaps Joseph felt some animosity of his own, towards his brothers. What other reason would Joseph tell his brothers that he had a dream and they were bowing down to him? Our text tells us that "even his father scolded him, "what kind of dream is this, will we be bowing down to you?", his father asks...

    We know that the 1st altar is built on man's own initiation. It's interesting to see God now using a good thing. He tells Jacob go back to Bethel and build an Altar there. God understands "altars" are a good thing! A modern day name for an altar, a secular name for an altar is...."memorial". A memorial is a secular altar. It is a lesson, a remembrance in life that we never want to forget. However life's lessons should have God involved...I digress, so God encourages Jacob to go back, back to the place God met him. This proves that there are times in a believers life that their faith is dimming, struggling  and puttering away and God says, these altars, they are a good thing, go back to them. Build them and remember where I have met you and what I have done for you in the past and let that memorial, spiritual reference point, ALTAR, encourage you into the future. Notice verse 16 "Then they moved on from Bethel".   God brought Jacob back here...

   Not the results you anticipated or wanted? Oh well, to bad!  If you and I were God we would manipulate results to be what we wanted them to be. We would never look bad and everything we did would succeed. Every outreach would yield incredible results and everyone would always respond to our preaching. Nobody would tell us "no" and certainly nobody would "reject" us. But here is God in the flesh and he allows himself to be rejected. Jesus gives his very best outreach and the response is slim to nothing! Clearly not the “anticipated” results Jesus had wanted, but yet, He lets them be what they are.  I wouldn't do that, I wouldn't accept minimal results, at the cost of all my efforts, plus it makes me look bad, so add that in the mix. It is clear that Jesus is not at all thrilled about the results of his evangelistic efforts in Capernaum and Bethsaida. Jesus even performed miracles, yet they do not respond.  My ego would not have been able to handle this. ...

  Jacob finally ventures out after twenty years. Jacob goes on a tirade and just lets it all out on Laban, this man that has practically ruined his life. Twenty years of Jacob’s life went by under Laban. It’s hard to believe isn’t it?  Or maybe not! How easily we can be in a rut and how easily we can allow 5, 10, 15 years of our lives to slip by. I think the lesson learned here is we need to be wise who we allow ourselves to associate with. We know the quagmire can be that as Christians we are reaching out to anyone and can find ourselves in some dysfunctional relationships due to that, but we must separate the ministry of outreach from our personnel lives or we will be of no use to anyone. There is a difference between those I am reaching out to help as apposed to those that I “purposely” surround myself with in friendship and fellowship. We don’t pick who we reach out too, but we should pick very carefully who we associate ourselves with. I've seen many people that were...

   When we are naïve and foolish, we find ourselves drawn in to arguments and dramas, where we are actually fighting and arguing, over an issue, that is really, not the issue. Selfishness is not the issue with Leah, although, at first glance, it would appear that way. Rachel could have stood there and argued with Leah about how she's selfish, she's always been selfish and that's the issue and until Leah learns not to be selfish....However, that would solve nothing because the issue is not "selfishness". Leah is not withholding the mandrakes from Rachel because she's selfish. They could stand there and argue all day, as some do, about an issue, that is not the issue. Often times there is a much deeper issue than what is being argued about on a surface level. Rachel could have won the argument and Leah surrendered the mandrakes over to her sister, but the issue would not have been solved. The reason, we find out later, that Leah won't share the mandrakes wit...

    God sees Leah in her distress, He sees that she is not loved and because of that He opens up her womb that she may have children.  God does this for one, because He cares and also, to win her love. God so wants to be loved by us.  Unfortunately all Leah can think about is Jacob. The first thing she thinks of once she becomes pregnant, is NOT, "how gracious is my God and how I love him so"; instead, Leah just thinks about Jacob and how perhaps Jacob will now love her. It's ironic how she's hurt because she so loves Jacob, but yet Jacob does not love her back with the same love and yet she does the very same thing towards God. Every blessing God gives her she only thinks about how she can use it to win Jacob's heart, totally ignoring the fact that God is wanting that love. We so long to be fulfilled by a relationship, a career or something else and we are completely blind to the God that has been there for us, seen us, blessed us, when nobody else saw or ...

    This is the hope we must have for our children. Isaac, a rugged man, "I am my own man,  I am not  going to follow in my dad's footsteps"...long story short, he ends up re digging the wells of his father; and even more significant gives them  the same names!  This is the turning point and break thru in Isaac's life. You will notice it is just a little later, after this decision to re-dig his father's wells and give them the same names, that God appears to him and says,  "I am the God of your father Abraham."  This is our hope, that God reveals himself to our children. We will not intellectually convert them, we will not even convert them by our perfect example. We cannot provide them a perfect example because we are flawed and if they are looking for a reason not to serve God they will just wait for us to slip and then use that as their excuse and we will feel condemned. We need to be intellectually sound concerning matters of the bible an...

     "When he heard this he bowed down to the ground and worshiped the Lord"   Venturing out for God is what keeps us worshiping the Lord. As scary and uncertain as this venture was for this servant, it reinvigorated his relationship with God. Who knows if back at home he was sliding into spiritual lethargy and just becoming more religious than anything.  The less we venture out for God, the more distant we grow from Him and the closer we get to becoming religious. When we venture out for God and leave the comfort zone is when we see the hand of God at work and that is so vital and healthy in our relationship with the Lord. This servant was amazed to see the providential hand of God directing him right to this woman, a complete impossibility in the natural realm, but a complete possibility with God. I want you, quickly, off the top of your head to name 5 Christians you personally know, that are venturing out for God right now! Hard isn't it? Now I want you ...

   People in the church function on two completely different spheres. There are those that walk in faith and confidence in God and there's always those, I call them the "what ifs" that always have the contingency, back up plan in case God fails. Abraham with all the faith in God that he will come through for him, as He has many times before begins to lay out his plan, to His servant. Abraham is barely finish with his proposal and the servant is already countering with a "what if" plan. Ever met the "what if" brother or sister in your church?! You will also find that their back up plans are always stupid and normally don’t factor in God whatsoever, neither God’s plan nor His will. The servant, the what if guy says, "what if the woman is unwilling to come......shall I take your son back to the country you came from?" it's like...are you serious? You know what the problem with people is who come up with "what if" plans........they ...

   Our Old Testament reading in Genesis today,  gives us insight into what we may already know, and that is that there's grace for us when we sin in ignorance. Honestly, as long as I was a sinner I really did think I was Heaven bound, I knew I was not the best, but surely my sins were not ones that would cause be to be hell bound, but when it was revealed to me that I was a sinner and that my sins were not minor in the eyes of God, then I was faced with a decision, continue in my sin with full knowledge or repent and stop. Well, needless to say, I stopped! Thank God there is Grace for us when we sin in ignorance, but unfortunately, most often, that is not the case, more often than not it is premeditated sin, willful disobedience, just as the child who knows the rules and intentionally breaks them. Even the courts have lesser sentences for crimes of passion than premeditated murder. Even a secular Judge will rule that a person deserves a higher punishment for pur...

    I love it when the world takes ideas and thoughts from the bible and secularizes them, actually I hate it, it really bothers me! “Don’t Worry Be Happy” was a song composed and sang by Bobby Mcferrin in 1988. It became the first acapella song to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100, a position it held for two weeks. The song’s title was taken from a famous quotation by Meher Baba. But we know, Meher Boba, whether he knows it or not got the thought from Jesus, as we saw in our reading today. However, the true saying was not simply, "Don't worry, be happy", but Don't worry, put your faith in me (Jesus) and be happy or "worry not". The World takes this saying, takes Jesus out and re-phrases it to simply say, "Don't worry be happy". And so the song takes to the airwaves and becomes a huge hit; people started singing, "yeah, don't worry, be happy", but the song quickly faded as people's problems and lives quickly over took ...

    It’s interesting how this all ends up being Abram’s fault. Sarai approaches Abram in her frustration, blames God “He has kept me from having children” now go and sleep with my Egyptian maidservant, Hagar! Abram is simply just trying to keep the peace, Abram is just trying to say, “yes dear, just stop yelling and get a grip on yourself”. Abram does the deed and now his wife looks at him and blames him.  Abram is caught in the middle, he now has a son through this woman (half Egyptian!), Abram now has a bond with this woman, but of course he’s not going to mention any of that to Sarai, so he just says, “do with her what you want” and you know that hurts him to say that, but right now he has a mess on his hands that is way too big for him to handle. Yes, it’s interesting how Sarai ends up blaming all of this on Abram.  And you know what, she’s right! But no, you just said, Sarai is the one that was frustrated, Sarai was the one who told him …” But Abram sh...

   I couldn't help but think as Abram victoriously rescues his nephew Lot, that Lot is only going to go back to the slime. How often have we risked our lives, "so to speak" to rescue family members and or friends only to see them go back. So what do we do? Keep doing right! Was recently talking to a man who took in a 13 year old for a couple of years and was nothing short of a father to him. Now that teen has gone off to be with some other family members and does not even call. This man was telling me how much it hurts. We can have one experience like Lot, where we risk our lives for nothing; and then make a decision not to help anyone anymore!  But as I told this man, I will tell you, "we don't necessarily do it for them or the the accolades we will get, we do it because it was the right thing to do at the time. It's who we are that matters, not who they are. You can also be sure that no matter what the other person does with our help, God honors our labors ...

If you were on a flight and your destination was Hawaii (sounds real good right now) and your Airline stopped in Chicago and announced over the speakers, “this is it, your final destination” you would argue, “no, my final destination is Hawaii” and they responded, “true, but this is good enough, please disembark we have new passengers coming on, Thank-you for flying with us”.  If this happened to you, I think you would be irate. The final destination was  Hawaii , what kind of nerve do they have, I will have a lawsuit against this company, I will get a hold of every newspaper…”  Religious people have all sort of little clichés they use and nuances, one of them is “Jesus is my co-pilot” which always starts an argument amongst religious folks, over the internet stratosphere, that sounds something like this, “what’s wrong with you, Jesus is not your co-pilot, He is the Pilot!!!” to which a bunch of people applaud and say “Amen, Amen!”  However, if you’ve lived for God f...

  It's interesting that in the book of Psalms we read about the wisdom of " not sinning by allowing anger to rule over you". There is a huge gap between the writing of the Psalms and the murder that was committed by Cain, by doing this very act, "allowing anger to rule over him". In chronological time, the gap is huge, but for us reading The one Year Bible it's just a couple of days. How fitting that just a couple of days after we read a verse that can give us the wisdom in not committing the same sin that we just read about a couple of days prior. Through out the year this is a common occurrence, that the wisdom of one book lends or compliments another. I wonder if when the Psalmist wrote the Psalm we read today if he ever knew it would be placed next to the horrible murder that Cain committed, which obviously the Psalmist was familiar with. It was very much part of their history. The answer is obviously "no" the Psalmist did not know, but God did...

        When we have the opportunity to read about the confrontation between the devil and Jesus; and what manor of temptation the devil is going to tempt Jesus with, we are thinking...."this should be good!" Oddly enough, if we'll be honest, this scenario falls kind of flat. It is definitely hurting in the area of action and drama. The temptations do not seem at all, "overtly spectacular!"      3 Temptations the devil throws at Jesus. These 3 are going to be, or should be "The Devil's best". The first one is for Jesus to tempt God or put God to the test by throwing himself off the cliff. The 2nd is to yield to evil for power and the 3rd is to satisfy the craving of his flesh. These, I don't find, to be out of the ordinary temptations, they are actually, pretty common temptations. We see people every day, tempt God, yield to evil to gain power and we see people give in every day to the cravings of the flesh. Perhaps our temptations, like Jesus...

    It’s hard to believe the first sin was so innocent. The eating of forbidden fruit, I mean, really!? Compare that to what we deal with today in society. We are dealing with human trafficking, the Holocaust, Genocides, rape, murder, etc…etc….How did we get here? Well, if we continue to read, we discover that there is a progressive element to sin. The first sin seems innocent in itself, “eating forbidden fruit, in essence, the first sin is disobedience, the second sin is anger/jealousy, the third sin is rebellion, the fourth sin is lying, the fifth sin is murder and the sixth sin is a repeat of the fourth sin.  We learn that there is a progressive state towards sin and once we embark on one sin there’s no telling where it will lead us. One place we know for sure it will lead us, is “away from God”. The culmination of Cain’s progressive venture on sin is…… “Cain left the Lord’s presence”. You can be sure, everyone who goes away from the Lord is dealing with some...

God gave us the calendar year, days and months to help us process life, in Lamentations 3:22 we have the promise "because of his great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning." Of course God could not have inspired that to be written had He not created "the morning". Today, on the 1st day of the year we read, " and God said, let there be light and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day and he called the darkness, night and then there was morning, the FIRST DAY!”   I can just  imagine that! The first day ever, what that must have been like!! (dialogue) "whats that, Lord,  that you've done?", asked Michael, the great archangel. "I've just created a day!, says the Lord. "what's a day?", asked Michael. "what's a day, that's a good question Michael; how do I put this........a day is a bite s...