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OCTOBER 15 "SHOULD I SPEAK MY MIND?"

    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

OCTOBER 14 "DREAMS, DREAMS...WHAT DO THEY MEAN?"

          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

OCTOBER 13 “MAYBE IT’S TIME TO CHANGE?”

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

OCTOBER 12 “SOBRIETY A CHRISTIAN VIRTUE?”

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

OCTOBER 11 "SEXUAL SIN IN THE CHURCH"

   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

OCTOBER 10 "WHAT? PAUL STOPPED BY SATAN?"

   "Satan prevented us from seeing you" these are not words, we often read from the great Apostle Paul. It reminds me of Daniel, who is told by the mighty Archangel, that the "prince of Persia" withstood him". The reality is, we don't always get what we want, simply by "name it and claim it" theology. It is mentioned in the Gospels when Jesus was crucified, "this is the hour when darkness reigns".  Satan and the principalities that work against us, do have their seasons, "their hour" and sometimes do get to put a "check mark" next to the heading of "victory" on their chart, if they keep one. How can we deny that Sept 11, 2001 was not a great victory for the Kingdom of Darkness, Osama Bin Laden and the Muslim Terrorist, it surely was "the hour where darkness reigned". Paul is a mature enough Christian to admit, "Satan stopped us" and Paul doesn't allow this loss to set him into some th

OCTOBER 9 "MAYBE BACKSLIDING ISN'T SUCH A GOOD IDEA?"

         IF you've been in the church for any number of years, you will know that "backsliding" is par for the course in the goings on,of the local assembly. There are multitudes that are in and out of the church and cannot make up their minds as to whether or not to give themselves fully to serving God or many others that have out rightly turned away and become apostates & reprobates. As a Christian we can become quite accustomed to this epidemic in the church, but it is no small thing in the eyes of God.  I have heard the scripture " God is married to the backslider " quoted many times, but here is a scripture   I HAVE NEVER  heard quoted.  It is not that I haven't heard it quoted in a few years, but rather I have not heard it quoted in 20 something years.  However, it is here, in black and white for us to read today.  Verse 7 "You keep on backsliding, so I will lay hands on you and destroy you;  I can no longer show compassion ".   Will anyb