THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB

    HEAVEN pass away, did I read right? And perhaps if it had come from another source, then it might be debatable as to whether that statement or prediction was to be worth listening to, but I'm pretty sure (correct me if I'm wrong) that Jesus is a valid source when it comes to the subject of Heaven. How can Heaven pass away? Where am I supposed to go when I die? Where will we say people have gone to, when we do funerals? Perhaps some don't really care; maybe the thought of them playing a harp on some celestial cloud, never quite appealed to them anyway (where people get this notion I don't know). Where will the people in Heaven go to when Heaven passes away? If there's not going to be a Heaven what is my hope, after I die? Okay, perhaps I have dragged this on a little to far, especially for those that already know where I'm going with this, but I am just trying to make a point...okay, maybe two points. The first point is how we can read over very serious state...

  If any of the people, either men or women, take the special vow of a Nazarite, setting themselves apart to the lord in a special way..." I've always been intrigued by this scripture, God almost seems cavalier about this. Again, "if there's any.......who want to set themselves apart to the Lord in a special way..." wouldn't all Christians want to do that? Imagine someone speaking up and saying, "no, not me, I don't want to set myself apart for the Lord in a special way, I just want to coast, I just want to do the bare minimum". I am amazed at God's understanding with his people that some "do want to" and others simply "do not want to". I get frustrated, I get angry, I want to bully people into "setting themselves up for the Lord in a special way" I want to condemn them, I want to make them feel guilty" God simply takes it in stride. Is it what He recommends...we know the answer to that is "no", T...

    How are we ever going to make advancements in our personal lives and in The Church, until we learn, work IS NOT a dirty four letter word? Question: "Well, how much am I going to get paid if I help?"  Ans:  Nothing!  Are you really going to ask God that question?  It's like the son whose Father has spent his life feeding him, clothing him, driving him to Football, taking him out of town, paying for his summer vacations, paying for his school and one day, the father's car is broke down and he needs some help from his son, whose driver's license he paid for, whose car he bought for him, and the son turns around and tells him he'll drive him around for errands, but ONLY if he gives him gas money.  The audacity of the son.   This is where most Christians are in their relationship with God, full of nerve and audacity.  Thanklessness, not Thankfulness. God has no qualms, no hesitation about asking us to work for Him; do we have hesitation i...

         Well,  JESUS may have answered the question for the Pharisees, but He left a question for us...."what belongs to God?"  "You mean part of my income belongs to God?"  And if part of my income belongs to God, how much of it belongs to God. I know I am required (and I don't like it either) to give to the Government but I have a hard time believing I also have to give to God. It is one thing throwing in a five or ten dollar bill in the plate as it comes by, but to feel I have to give? What if I want to go out to eat, what if there's something I want to buy, I shouldn't feel compelled to have to give, that's legalism! Jesus said to give "unto God what belongs to God", but the only reference to that is in the Old Testament, surely Jesus is not implying that we should still be Tithing? But what else "belongs to God, but The Tithe".  I was told Tithing was Old Testament and we weren't under The Law anymore and that I only had...

         SOMETHING that should catch your eye in today's reading is the complete contrast in Jesus' knowledge between the situation with the colt  vs . the situation with the fig tree. The fig tree represents everyday life, eating and drinking, the home we buy, the cars we drive, the places we work;   the colt  however, is part of God's grand scheme for Jesus, this is not just a hap circumstance experience, this is part of God's Sovereign will. What we eat, where we eat, whom we marry, what we buy typically falls under God's Permissive will for our lives.  The difference  therefore between these two situations was  God's Sovereign will vs. his permissive will . It had already been prophesied in  Zechariah 9:9  [ The Coming of Zion’s King ] "Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and  riding on a donkey, on a colt,  the foal...

         These men are a mess, and to think they are men that have been with Jesus for 3 years. They have the boldness to approach Jesus and say, "hey, we need you to do something for us".  Jesus must have thought, "how peculiar this is, I wonder what it is that they want me to do for them? Maybe pray for them that they be filled with my Spirit, maybe teach them a greater understanding of some parables I've spoke, maybe go pray for a sick family member, who knows? Okay, boys, watcha got?       And their reply, "we want to be seated to the right and to the left of you, in your glory".  Jesus has only one response, or two..."you don't know what you're asking" [that's for sure] and the next, "can you drink the cup I will drink of?"  Without hesitation they answer, "we can!"   Really?  You are willing to have your back ripped open, your beard pulled out, a crown of thorns crushed into your skull, beat to a pulp and c...