THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB

   ISAIAH speaks it out very plainly and clearly,  "I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the the way you should go, if only..."   IF ONLY....those are not the best words to hear from a parent, an authority figure and most certainly God.  " If only " is usually a pre-cursor for what could have been.  " If only " you had chosen behind door #1..."  " If only " are the words that haunt us. If nobody else speaks them to us, we often voice them to ourselves; in our thoughts we wonder..." if only " I had taken a different path,  if only  I had married someone else,  if only  I had taken a different career path,  if only  I had or hadn't moved,  if only  ..if only if only...can haunt us to our grave; unless we just decide to let Jesus take control.  The quicker, the sooner we decide to let go of the wheel and let Jesus take over, the less " if only's " we will ha...

     Are you into Astrology? I've got some bad news for you today. God is not! What we learn about God today is that He does take notice of all.  We are not going to hear about every day, He's not going to bring it up every day, but today, He chooses to "let it out" so to speak. "Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions by the month, let them save you".  God is talking about all the little things that upset him, the stupid things we do, like fashioning an idol for ourselves and them having to pin it down so it doesn't  topple over, what kind of god is that and while God is on his rant about stupid things, He brings up the topic of Astrology. I grew up Roman Catholic and every Christmas, I knew I would get my new astrology, horoscope book for the coming year, I was so excited! I read that horoscope book religiously, it was my bible. I believed in it, but God is saying today, "I believed in a lie'. What sign are you...

WHAT valid reason does any genuine Christian have to exercise any tolerance towards this  LIE  that there are other gods and salvation through them?  It can only be through ignorance or cowardice that we would succumb to such a lie. Over and over Jehovah tells us in our text, "I am the first and the last and apart from me there is no God".  And if this is not clear enough we go on to read, "....Is not this thing in my right hand  a lie ?".  So there it is!  We can squirt around the issue, we can try to be fake, tolerant or politically correct but at the end of the day, what we are supporting is A LIE!  Yes, after much discourse, God finally comes out and just calls it for what it is...A LIE.  Any other God, any Idol, any carved image of a god or anything else outside of Jehovah, Jesus Christ, Yahweh....is a LIE.   There is no room for tolerance here . We have enough of a hard time making tolerances for things that are real for ...

     "A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering  wick he will not snuff out".   This is GREAT STUFF, great poetry, but it certainly is not us! In Football, we cut the weakest players, in Marine Corps Boot camp, you weed out the weak and in the corporate world, you fire or ax the weak and move on with the strong. The weak, put them in a home, the disabled, hire someone to take care of them, confused & depressed people.....I  don't know isn't there a drug you can give them, sedate them, anything, as long as we don't have to deal with day in and day it, give me a break!! There is nothing more frustrating than a smoldering wick, especially when you really do need that light, the electricity is off, you're trying to get some help, some light and that wick is flickering, spitting out more irritation than light; you and I both know, if that wick doesn't catch on soon we may just throw the wick and the candle, in the trash, after we snuff it out! ...

FIRST DAY OF FALL!!! “Open The Eyes of my Heart Lord, I want to see you” was a pretty popular Worship song back in the day. A catchy tune it was but how many caught its true meaning or where the song was inspired from? In our reading today in Ephesians 1:18 “ I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you”.  It was a selfless prayer “I pray…for you, that YOUR heart…” Today we sing open the eyes of MY heart”.  It’s about ME.  Paul understood that the birth of a Christian, was not the end all. That while Christians are Born Again everywhere and every day, not all will make it. Some will grow crooked and others will spiritually die off. Paul understood the importance of praying for new Christians and this is what he prayed for them, “I pray that The Father GIVE YOU the Spirit of Wisdom & Revelation, so that you may KNOW HIM BETTER.  I pray that they eyes of your heart be opened that you may K...

    IF there's one thing King Hezekiah did right, was HE PRAYED.  Twice in our text today we read, in response to Hezekiah's prayers, Ch. 37 verse 21, " This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me ...."  and  Ch. 38 verse 4, " This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears ".  BECAUSE YOU HAVE PRAYED....remember those words. And it could equally be said that, because  you have NOT  prayed....that we can rightly say, events have just easily, taken a turn for the worse. We cannot pretend, just to appease our own conscience, that prayer does not impact our lives and the lives of others. This would be just short of insanity. There is to much circumstantial evidence to every point to any other verdict, than the verdict that prayer does change events and lives as we know it.  We have to accept that because we have prayed our lives are different and ...

        I WAS not around approximately 3000 years ago when this situation took place with the King of Assyria, but I sure do recognize the voice and the rhetoric, ie: " Don't trust in the Lord ".  Pastors and spiritual Leaders spend most of their time trying to convince God's people to trust in him while the individual and the masses of Christians face a bombardment of attacks, day in and day out, a voice that speaks to us in our conscience and says basically the same words the King of Assyria Spoke, which are: "don't trust in the Lord, where was He for so and so and where was He for that family, that situation and what makes you think it will be any different for you!". The enemy will remind us of the sister that was not healed of cancer, he will remind us of the family that did have to file bankruptcy, or the single mom that did lose her job and her home; then Satan will come to us and tell us, "what makes you think it will be different for you?...

 Things will change in a little more than a year, Isaiah prophesies; and the change is going to be based on our attitudes and decisions we are making today, tomorrow, next week and next month. You think it's no big deal now, but you won't think it's no big deal, a little more than a year from now.  One of the key factors that Isaiah warns us, that is going to affect us, a little more than a year from now, is going to be our complacency. "Rise up" says the Lord. Rise up you people of power. Ever sing that in church and wonder, "where are those people of power?"  Is it because we just know too much about each other or they simply are not there? Isaiah continues, "the harvest will not come and there will be no fruit, tremble you complacent. If I told you I could tell you your future and it would not be sorcery, it would be from God, just call me, get with me, my phone would be ringing constantly. Well, here it is....here's your future!  "Thank...

   The NFL (ironically) issued disciplinary action on one of it's elite players for using excessive force in disciplining his son. His contract with his team was cancelled in lieu of the criminal charges against him, for using a tree branch to discipline his son, leaving marks, bruising and swelling on his son's body. No doubt there are parents out there that are too lazy to discipline their children or worse, simply just don't care! We have to deal with these children every week at Walmart. We pray that we could just have one moment alone with this child that is screaming as if he was being tortured, only to realize it's not that he's being tortured or kidnapped, he is screaming and raving because his mom told him he can't have the candy bar he grabbed by the cash register. So we have excessive discipline to no discipline and somewhere in the middle lies the balance. God is trying to give us wisdom through Isaiah, the wisdom that discipline is good, discipline ...

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 ...

    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...