THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB

    Who would know, that one of the most famous passages of the bible "For I know the plans I have for you,” says the lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." was spoken to a people that were exiled, captives in  Babylon . There were probably two groups of responses the day this word went out from Jeremiah. One group would have greatly resented these words, almost as if Jeremiah was patronizing them. Here they are, at rock bottom, have just been taken from Jerusalem to Babylon, their city has fallen and they are now captives in a foreign land, "and you Jeremiah are going to tell me about the goods things God has for us, is this captivity part of that great plan...get out of here Jeremiah, before we stone you!".  The other group of people would have believed Jeremiah; and taken those words as words of hope for a better future.  I wonder which group I would have been in? The classic mantra of Christians and Non-Christians,

    I'm feeling for Jeremiah, this morning! Are you? If you're not, than you're pretty cold.  The statements that God is having Jeremiah speak to these people is likely to leave him without any friends at best, and get him beat up or killed, at worse. If I spoke my mind, I would have a very hard life too. At work, at school functions, family get togethers, If we spoke our minds we would find ourselves the most hated in the neighborhood. People would talk about us. When they saw us coming they all would scatter or block us out of the conversation. We would be deemed as "haters", "insensitive", religious fanatics. My heart goes out to Jeremiah, it always has. If ever I feel sorry for myself or feel bad for any persecution I may face, I think of Jeremiah. Let me ask, does God still  ask us to speak our minds? Are we withholding more than we should? Should we be speaking out more? My guess is, the answer is yes to some of those questions. We should speak out

          I ONCE had a woman cover over to my house, she wanted to "talk with me", that's always a little nerve wrecking. So I said come on over, my wife is here and we can sit down together, with my wife. Well don't you know she wanted to tell me about her dreams and have me interpret what those dreams meant. Not only what they meant, but what " spiritual " aspect was to be applied.  This is where we get into trouble as Christians; we know as Christians that we are not just functioning in the "natural" but also in the supernatural and we have a hard time knowing where to draw the lines.  Truth is, we will never know "exactly" where to draw the lines, but the New Testament does caution us to discern and "test the spirits", to discern "Prophecy's" and judge them as to whether they be from God or " the delusions of man's own heart".     However this can also lead us down another slippery slope, where th

DON'T remind me of who I am or don't try to label me!!! We hate that, when people say, "you've always had a temper" or whatever it is they try to label on us. I'm not sure I like being labeled or told "you've always..." however sometimes it's true and cuts like a knife, but then there are times that the individual who voiced his or her opinion is completely wrong in his or her judgement. I think it's safe to say that if God himself says, "this is how you are and this is how you've always been" then it's time to listen and begin to look introspectively at ourselves. He might just be right!!! This verse would be quite a shock for any of us to hear, it is Verse 21 in Jeremiah, "I warned you when you felt secure, but you said, ‘I will not listen!’ This has been your way from your youth; you have not obeyed me.". In most cases this is where we would say, "who do you think you are, telling me...." but in th

Christians want to fight for their right to drink. Of all the battle grounds that a Christian must choose to fight on or not, this is one that Christians will fight 'till their death, their right "to drink". We all know, some Christians drink and other Christians don't.  We all know, some Christians get a good buzz and other Christians don't, some Christians get drunk and other Christians don't. Which Christian are you? Is sobriety still a Christian virtue? As we read in Thessalonians, we are reminded of who we are; we are Children of the Light, Children of the Day, Children of Sobriety.  There's nothing more embarrassing than the drunk uncle at the wedding, the drunk father or mother at the family gathering. As Christians, we of all people should be sober and practice sobriety. Drunkenness is an altered state of mind. I have not heard of too many Christians that will push for their right to smoke weed, but they are the same. Whether you are stoned or drun

   Our society is obsessed with sexual immorality. Our society is not obsessed with sex, just immoral sex. There's no headline news about any monogamous, married couples having sex; no that's boring, that's sanctioned by God.  What we like is the notty, the immoral, the illicit, affairs, sex videos, anything that defies God's moral laws; is really what our society is about. Sexual perversion is the reason for the original flood, but nobody knows or cares about that. Now sexual sin is being pushed upon the church and to be accepted as "the norm" in the church because it's so flagrant outside the church. We want to blame sexual sin on "the last days". However, if Paul is writing about the subject a few thousand years ago; and God flooded the earth because of it at least a millennia before that, then we know that sexual sin has nothing to do with "the last days" it's simply part of our fallen nature. Paul is addressing the church, chal