THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB

   “after these things the Lord appointed other seventy-two; and sent them two and two “ There was much wisdom in sending them this way, even as he had given Solomon the same wisdom. “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up.” It was done obviously that they might help one another, so they could sustain and comfort one another in the persecutions and trials they were about to face. Jesus set the example here, with these men; of the importance of a Christian counterpart, a friend, with someone we could confide in and help each other. This would be key to the success of the mission of these 70 men. Every Christian, needs such a friend. Every Christian needs to seek someone in whom they can unload themselves too. Someone who can be their friend. Yes, I know, our mindset is “no need for that, no time for that.” I was reading also in chronicles and found interesting this verse… Ahithophel was the kin...

  How can you tell if what a prophet speaks is from God?" Here we are waiting for some great Revelation from God, but yet in our daily reading today, April 1st, we learn that it is actually quite simple. "If what the prophet speaks does not come true, then he did not speak my words". Very simple. Common sense right? So why would someone speak what is not of God? Well, the 1st and most obvious reason is, they are deliberately doing so, evil men, being guided by an evil spirit. The 2nd reason would be because they prophecy out of "the inclinations of their own hearts", as stated in another verse in the bible. They are not evil, but the words they are speaking are what they think and what they feel or perceive about the situation and/or person. And quite frankly, they are hit and miss on their words, depending on their discernment. Very few people actually speak directly from God. And the few that do you will see that 100% of what they speak, comes true, it's ...

       How many times does the Psalmist tell us, "I cried out...." and he goes on to write, "your word unfolded to me". This is what our generation would call " ol' school Christianity". Today's Christian tries to get by by joining themselves to some fancy mega Church, with a dynamic motivational speaker and a dynamic, moving worship concert. They leave that place, Sunday morning, somewhat moved, somewhat enlightened as one who has just attended some kind of seminar, but as the week presses on and they tune in to their favorite T.V. programs, movies, work & other activities, they find themselves in that same place, mentally, emotionally and for sure, spiritually and the cycle goes on. In between is...divorces, child custody battles, drama, alcoholism, abusive relationships, verbal and some times physical....and this becomes what we know to be "the church" today. The reality is, there is only one kind of Christianity. and it's the ...

  HEARD someone (it was actually my sister) recently say, "you mean a Christian that actually has money and is not poor and broke like the rest of us!" Many Christians, if we would be honest would utter that same phrase. Why are so many of God's people poor and broke? Did you read today's reading? Are there not some guidelines here? Verse 15:3 "However, there need be no poor people among you...  if only you fully obey the LORD your God" So we can only conclude by this that we as Christians must not be obeying God. "Obey Him in what?", you ask. "Tithes"....NO! God getting most Christians to Tithe is like trying to squeeze juice out of a grape, no it's above and beyond the Tithe that Jehovah is speaking about. Verse 7  "If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. Rather, be open handed and freely lend them whatever ...

   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 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 and be a son to his father again, free to go home and be a father to his sons, free to go home and li...

    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...