THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB

   Are you being led by an imperfect leader? If you are, then welcome to the rest of The Church of Jesus Christ; for we are all being led by an imperfect leader. The heart of a leader is what matters, not his perfect tract record in decision making. David asks his spiritual leader/adviser what he thinks about his desire to build God a house to dwell in. Nathan responds, "whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you". The problem is that most of us rely to much upon our leaders and not enough on God. Our relationship with our leader is much stronger than our relationship with God and this is a ticking bomb waiting to explode. On the other hand, others are "super spiritual" and they believe all they need is a relationship with God and they have no relationship with their Pastor. They avoid spiritual leadership and refuse to give them any recognition, "he puts his pants on in the morning the same way I do" is often the mantra of the...

         JESUS is going to be leaving his disciples, I'm sure that brought allot of thoughts to his mind about what was best to address with his disciples.  In Jesus' absence, what would need to be addressed? With this going through his mind, this is what Jesus comes up with. " a new command I am giving you, "love one another" by this men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another".  What would be one of the major concerns in Jesus' absence, according to Jesus, that these men would bicker, fight and devour one another; without him there to be the peacemaker. Pastor's spend half their time trying to convince congregation members not to kill each other. Paul writes in his epistles, "stop devouring one another". No doubt, Jesus' foremost concern, concerning his leaving the disciples is that He will no longer be around to be the peacemaker. Who will keep these men from ripping each other apart....hmmm....hey guys, listen, ...

       This is a sad story (in the O.T.) about two leaders who do not have their heads screwed on straight. It leads to the senseless death of many; and if that's not bad enough, the drama continues years after this horrible incident. Years later when Abner decides to come over to David's camp, Joab is incensed and plots to murder Abner, to revenge the death of his brother, who was killed by Abner, in self defense....to much drama! Take note, when there is to much drama amongst God's people, this is a clear sign of a lack of relationship with God. David is the only one who mourns the death of this innocent man.  He makes sure to let everyone know he had nothing to do with this vengeful killing of Abner, by Joab and his men.  David has to live a life by which he is surrounded by other Israelites, all Jews by birth but yet none, or very few of the men around him have a relationship with God.  They all know the sacraments, sacrifices and ri...

      The Voice was for you! “the wow effect” is normally for the crowd that you don’t want to be identified with. Jesus is quick to tell them, “the whole voice thing, that was for you…not for me”.  We would say, “You mean that’s not the way it normally is? God’s not always talking to you in an audible voice?”  Jesus’ answer would be, “no, that’s  Hollywood ”. There is no greater paradox than God himself, his workings and his dealings with humanity. Although there is no more Supernatural Being or experience in the Universe, God’s dealing with us, from the outside looking in, may seem unimpressive to the unsuspecting eye. We listen for “the audible voice”, we look for the “paranormal” but we get nothing. This is what attracts many people into the occult, is the “paranormal”, to them a spiritual experience must include “voices”, “objects moving”. In other words, “if you’re a supernatural being, if you’re not just like us, prove it!” With this in mind, now let...

    Without trying to be "melodramatic" this is a Life Changing event for David.  David is set to go to war against Israel. However, in God's Grace, Mercy and Providence He prevents David from making probably the worse decision of his life (aside from Bathsheba & Uriah).  It is a "Pivotal Moment" in David's life and God is behind it all orchestrating. God is the Master Orchestrator! Not only does David not go to war against Israel, but when he returns to Ziklag he finds that Ziklag has been raided and his family and the family of his men are taken captive. The scripture indicates that his own men are getting ready to turn on David and stone him. At this moment David decides to seek God, the God  of Israel, that is! The scripture says, "David encouraged himself in the Lord, at Ziklag!"  Had David gone to fight in the battle against Israel, he would never have been back at Ziklag, desperate, seeking his God and getting reconciled/right with the ...

         I just finished remarking in my mind, about how spiritual and in tune David is with God until I begin to read the next paragraph and then I'm forced to take it back. One thing that cannot be overemphasized about David is how truly righteous he is and what an awesome man of God he is.  That being said, he, like us, seems to flip flop back n forth between two opinions. In this paragraph he is on a roll,   9  But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed and be guiltless?  10  As surely as the LORD lives,” he said, “the LORD himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish ."   David is right on the money here, not just on his convictions but also on his hunch about Saul's future. Saul will perish in battle, by the hand of the Lord. His convictions are right on, he's premonitions are right on, He's right on, he's in tune wi...