THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB

We tend to read the bible and think about what is written, but we don't think about "who wrote it". This is very nice and comforting read, in Psalms 61, "listen to my cry.....I cry to you for help when my heart is overwhelmed..." I'm sure many women read this in their affliction and find comfort that they are not alone. And they are not alone, they are in great company; and who is their company, DAVID. King David, the Warrior, Conqueror!    Women are finding great comfort in reading, poetic metaphors, not written by Ruth, Rebecca, Mary, Esther or any other woman, but by David. If today we found these writings in a private journal of a man, we thought to be a man's man, we would ex-communicate him.The only problem is, we cannot find more of a man's man, in the bible, than David. Today, we have this persona, that men do not cry and are not overwhelmed. So then why do they drink so much? Why are they so violent, so abusive? Why are they so unfaithful? W

    In the financial world, we monitor our investments and if the return is not what we anticipated or if we suffer to many losses, we pull our money out and reinvest in something else with greater dividends. Only in The Kingdom of God do we continue to invest, on what often is not yielding the returns we would want. Only in the Kingdom of God would we continue to invest where we continually take losses. Paul is writing this letter to the Galatians, trying to save a major loss, from a major investment he has made.  Paul himself quotes "the Lord's investment in me was not in vain!".  Paul understands investment and that there should be a return on investment. Paul has greatly invested in this Church, he writes, " Oh foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ's death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. How foolish can you be".   He's frustrated, he's vexed, after al

         NO matter how far we think we have come as a Christian, if God is at work in your life (and I hope He is), He will always be faithful, from time to time, to remind you that you have not yet arrived.  Paul just a few verses prior has just referred to Peter twice and mentions God working through Peter's ministry and mentions Peter  as one of " those reputed to be pillars ".  In another text he refers to Peter as a "super apostle". NO doubt, Peter is  THE MAN !  For all the shame Peter had to endure when he forsook Christ, he has definitely made up for it with all the recognition, authority, influence and power he now holds. However, even with all that going for Peter, he is still a flawed vessel.  He is still a man who at times allows others to dictate his actions rather than Christ. He is still a man who cares what others think of him.  He is still a man who struggles with prejudices and dealing with inconsistencies in his walk with Christ. Does this sou

    The Great Apostle Paul would not have been deemed so great among us 21st Century Christians. We would have distanced ourselves from him and his ministry. We would have been quick to say, "he's not one of us", he's with the church down the street, but yet God thought quite the opposite. We love the "Politically Correct Jesus". We love the Jesus that gets along with everybody, the Jesus that's the Peacemaker, non-confrontational, non-controversial. Who is this Paul that Curses People? Curse people? In another Text Paul says (paraphrased by me) "I hope when you're circumcising yourselves you go ahead and cut the whole thing off and castrate yourselves". We read about Paul in another text where he "Curses a man, blind!". "Cursed be any man, or even Angel that preaches another gospel, again I say, cursed be him". I would assume that someone preaching another Gospel might be considered an enemy, didn't Jesus say, "

    EVER wonder, why...if the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit, that such confrontational talk would be penned for eternity in God's word. I would almost consider some of the paragraphs in 2 Corinthians to be for "private consumption" wouldn't you? Is this not the kind of drama we try to hide from new converts & new church members?  Don't we want people to only know about the bliss and wonderful experience of the Church? The Apostle Paul is really getting down in our text today! He is "calling them out"!  In essence he is saying, "hey I'm saved, why don't you check yourself! Unless you fail the test!"  Is this what the situation between Paul and the Corinthian Church has succumbed to?  Well, if that's the case you can never accuse God of trying to hide the imperfections of the Church. I think it is best that God doesn't hide the imperfections of the Church, for our own sake!  We will all one day find ourselves in a churc

   We read today, Jehovah Witnesses' favorite scripture. Now if you're not familiar with the Cult of Jehovah Witness or their false doctrines, this means nothing to you (although you will be familiar with them after today). Their favorite scripture they put on the front of the "Watch Tower" magazine is the one quoted from Isaiah, in our reading today. "The Lion lying down with the lamb and the child will play in the midst of them" (paraphrased by me). Don't you want that? That's what we believe! "Don't you want to be part of us?", they ask? The only problem is, Jehovah Witnesses believe only 144,000 will make it on the new earth? 144,000? And their prophets believe the 144,000 are already chosen, so what hope does that leave for us? It's too bad when a Cult takes a scripture and makes false claims about it, it can ruin it for the rest of us. We can become disenchanted towards that scripture because it becomes associated with false t

     Sometimes it's easy to think these "prophet guys" are just rambling on about....who knows what? We have to get out a Matthew Henry Commentary just to find out what it is they're actually speaking/writing about. Well, in the midst of our reading today, in Isaiah, there's something even the simplest of us, can understand.You don't have to be a theologian to have read and understand that Isaiah is talking about Jesus. "Unto us a child is born and He shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" and if you notice, a little before that text, Isaiah also mentions "Galilee, by the sea" this we know would be where Jesus would launch his ministry and we know "Micah the prophet"  prophesied the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. It is hard to believe how many Jews today, and at that time, that failed to see the prophecies, through their own Jewish Prophets, that Jesus was truly the Messiah they

    Isaiah is Definitely seeing things that we will never see, at least on this side of eternity.  I was encouraged to read that in God's presence Isaiah did see something that I can say, I also saw!  What is it that we both saw? We both saw that we are sinful men of  unclean lips among a sinful people. Not, often, but I have had a few opportunities, in the past few years, to speak in front of some rather large crowds (larger than I'm used to at least)  God's presence was there, words were given, a picture drawn before them (metaphorically speaking) and what was heard and what was seen?  To the surprise of many, .....not much. I have been in the presence of much, much smaller crowds and yet have seen more eyes and ears opened. The Lord says, "they listen carefully, but do not understand, Watch closely, but learn nothing. Harden the hearts of these people.....they will not see with their eyes nor hear with their ears, nor understand with their hearts and turn to me for

         WE have often heard, "don't lose your Faith" but how about don't lose your mind!  Is your faith in your heart or is it in your mind? Good question isn't it?  In Romans we read,  "for it is with the heart that you believe but with the mouth you confess" . However, that being said, Paul, the same author of the book of Romans, here writes,  "... your minds  may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ".   So while we may believe in our hearts, the battle will be waged in our minds. Yes we must guard our hearts with all diligence, for out of our hearts springs the issues of life.  However, I believe what is happening in our hearts eventually drips into our minds. Paul is saying that it is "our minds" that are led astray, not the heart. I have lost more friends who's minds have wandered more than anything else.  There is the occasion that someone's heart just turns cold towards God because of a t

         IF you were hoping to find words of love, comfort and encouragement today in your One Year reading, you may want to look again...TOMORROW. You will not find much of that in today's reading.   If you were to have picked up the One Year Bible for the first time today, you would quickly put it down and think to yourself, "wow, this God sure is an angry and threatening God".  And of course in some people's unrealistic eyes, God should never be angry. The question is...."is God angry, does God need anger management classes?" According to Isaiah, Jehovah is very ticked off.  Paul seems like an angry and frustrated man in the Corinthian Letter and again in Psalms, God seems to be angry and threatening. What is going on here???      You ever have days when anybody who crosses your path that day is going to feel your wrath? Is it new wrath they are going to feel that day or is it anger that you have been storing up for some time? I have to admit some days I

     WE'VE all met or heard of those people that "swear" they will never return to church because when they did visit, all the preacher talked about was money and giving.  "That's all the church wants, is your money," they cry out. If we falsely look at the church as simply a religious institution that teaches nice religious platitudes to make us feel better about ourselves and teaches nice principles such as "The Golden Rule" then maybe money should be left out.  However, if the church is an institution whereby God chooses to work through to help his people, to prosper them, to give them a future and a hope, then money better be a subject and a recurring subject, at that, because money is one of the areas that people struggle in more than anything else.  Any survey will tell you that couples (inside & outside the church) fight mostly about... money! The #1 cause of divorce is Money, not infidelity.  We have money problems and the church is the

    The Song of Solomon is quite some sultry poetry, for the Bible, or for any other book, for that matter. While there's much that we could analyse from this book, I will leave that to you! But one theme, that does keep arising, in the book, is " don't awaken love before it's time! ".  It reminds me of the warning to Jack, in "Jack and the Bean Stock" don't awaken the giant!  Eventually Jack awakens the giant and Jack cannot put the giant back to sleep afterwards. The moral of the story, is that some things in life, once awakened, cannot be put back to sleep. We are sexual creatures and once sexuality has been awakened in us, it will not be put down. This is one of the greatest violations of sexual molestation, sexuality has been " awakened before it's time " and children that are molested are now altered and changed, from that day forth. However, it's not always sexual molestation that awakens someones sexuality too early, it coul

   Heard this lady say, after bitter divorce proceedings, "and I gave the best years of my life to that bum!" She is probably right and what can you say? ....Better luck next time??? I can tell you, nobody will ever turn to God and say, "I gave you the best years of my life and...".  What is the greatest lie that has been perpetuated to the human race? Ans: serve God when you're older. In other words, give the best years of your life to some woman, some man, some sinful pleasure and then live to regret it. If only every 15-25 year old would read Ecclesiastes 11.  Solomon emphasizes youth in our chapter today and is not shy to write that are youthful years truly are the best years of our lives; contrary to many trying to hype up the senior years. "young man it's wonderful to be young! Enjoy every minute of it".  It's sad to think that our 15-25 year olds are giving the best years of their lives to drugs, violence, immorality, basically sin, the

    "Godly sorrow leads to repentance and leaves no regret."  It's interesting that there are different types of sorrow. "Godly sorrow" as opposed to what? I guess...."ungodly sorrow".  As the saying goes, "are you sorry for what you did or sorry you got caught?"  Both will bring sorrow, no doubt! What is the sorrow you are feeling? What are you feeling sorrow for? The sorrow that comes from God and is accepted by the individual with a right attitude and/or heart, will leave that person, better off.  Ungodly sorrow can ruin and destroy, it can send you into depression, the pit of despair or worse, even cause someone to take their life. We can conclude then, that not all sorrow is good for the soul and not all sorrow produces the same results. Sorrow and guilt from God, will bring forth something better, condemnation, which comes from the enemy is not to bring you to repentance but to crush you. Sometimes we have to ask ourselves, is this guil

 WE are a people that looks "for signs" and try to base our assumptions on that.  If we have problems with weather and a flat tire on a road trip, only Christians begin to wonder, "should I have taken this road trip?" The unreligious person will just deal with the bad weather, fix to flat tire and move on.  We determine "the will of God" the same way.  When everything is out of joint and going wrong, we begin to think, "maybe this isn't the will of God?".  Is the "Will of God" always smooth and everything goes right; nothing goes wrong".  In our text today we read " For when we came into Macedonia, this body of ours had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn-conflicts on the outside, fears within. "       HOWEVER in the Book of Acts we had read this original story, how Paul describes to us the dream he had in which the Angel was calling him, beckoning him to go to Macedonia. Paul was going to another city, to Bit

 We have really digressed from Paul's admonition here to "live in such a way that no one will stumble because of us and no one will find fault with our ministry".  Today, starting at the top with Pastors and working our way down, we have totally let this scripture fall by the waste side and our famous line "nobody is perfect, get off my case". Paul admits he's not perfect in Philippians, Paul never claims to be perfect. Being perfect is not the issue. It's about thinking before you act, thinking before "you tweet" thinking before you speak, thinking before you "post". It's about THINKING, thinking of others, thinking of how your actions will cause others to stumble, even though you may receive forgiveness from God....what about the collateral damage? What do you do about that....answer is nothing! Today we have preachers unleashing tirades of profanity on the blogosphere, we have Pastor's divorcing their wives and marrying som

God asks a very good question, " would you condemn me, to justify yourself " For how many thousands of years have we been doing this already! "I can't believe in a God that would allow children to starve in Africa, sorry!"  Meanwhile, that same person has children he has never cared to father nor provide a $1.00 to the woman he impregnated, to help raise that child and keep that child out of poverty; we have a woman has a child she has aborted because it was convenient, immorality is rampant in our lives, but none of that matters, "because I can't believe in a God who would allow 3000 people to perish in the Twin Towers back in Sept 11, 2001"     " Would you condemn me, to justify yourself? " God is asking YOU that question, today!  It's actually a rhetorical question.  In Job 41:11 God follows up on this thought, " Who has a claim against me, that I must pay? "  The reason these two questions are being posed is for the obvi