THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB

HEBREWS 9:1-10   "An external washing, ceremonies" that's all they are, writes the author of Hebrews, UNTIL, the time of the New Order. Do some research, find out, "are there more Catholics, than Born Again Christians, in the world?"  I believe there is. If God ever slept, this idea of the New Order would have kept Him up at night with excitement. Away with religious ceremonies, away with an external washing, that does not clear or clean the conscience. The new order will be Christ coming Himself, by the Holy Spirit, to make His dwelling place in our hearts. Now our consciences can be cleansed/cleared, now we can be washed within. Now we can be clean inside and out, not just a superficial, surface change, but a true change, "if any man be in Christ, he is a New Creation". Well, the New Order has come and Praise God there are many all over the world that rejoice at being saved, being Born Again, being made a "New Creation", but yet there are l...

   I am so glad I serve the God of the New Testament. I think somewhere between Malachi and the Gospel of Matthew, the God of the Old Testament was converted. The God of the Old Testament seems like He's always judging people for their sins and angry and Jesus of course, is more like Grandpa, He's just so nice, accepting, tolerant and forgiving; almost a "pushover", but hey, that's fine with me, I'd much rather that than this angry God in the Old Testament. How could God be so different in the Old Testament as opposed  to the New Testament? It almost seems like two separate Gods; unless I begin to look closer. The first place I need to go in my research of these seemingly two separate Gods, is Golgotha. When I get up to Golgotha, I see Jesus, hanging on that cross, with a crown of thorns forced into his skull, nails driven into his hands, feet; and a side pierced with a sword and a back that has it's flesh so beaten, the flesh is just hanging and then when...

PSALM 106:2 & 106:7     The Psalmist writes, "who can list the glorious miracles of the Lord!" NLTI dare say, there are some reading this blog that might challenge that!" They would say, "list them, I'm hard pressed to think of one!      Miracles go hand in hand with opportunity. We have our lives so structured and we don't venture out in faith, we PLAY it safe. Well then don't complain you have no miracles. Peter had to step out of the boat to experience a miracle, but don't forget there was a handful of other disciples that stayed in the boat, safe and experienced no miracle! You can’t have it both ways. Christians who venture out in faith are the ones that have the "lists of miracles" to write about.   "Does God still do miracles? In your intellect you say, "yes of course", but in your heart what do you say? God does miracle, yes! Does He do miracles for you? Do you encourage others to believe in miracles and now you n...

        THE most disobeyed thought that comes to our minds, more often than we would care to admit is, "Don't do it!" How many times have you and I heard that voice and ignored it. When I am angry....I'm not listening to that voice. When I am filled with lust...I am not listening to that voice. When I am filled with "my way"....I am not listening to that voice. When "I'm tired" I'm not listening to that voice. Isn't that dangerous?! In the times when I need to listen to that voice the most, my feelings override every other faculty of the mind. Don't do it! This thought, may even be screaming to some that are reading this blog today. Everything I feel, everything I sense, everything within me (except for that thought) is urging and pressing me to doing this. I'm tired, I'm fed up. I'm tired of being broke, I’m tired of no intimacy with my spouse, I'm tired of not having enough, I'm tired....I'm tired, I'm ...

  The Psalmist is reminiscing of the "good 'ol days of old". Nostalgia..."a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact, to a former time in one's life". Beware of nostalgia, it sometimes brings to us good memories of the past but it can also create of false impression of the past and create in our minds and feelings, what never was! Nostalgia also has the ability to create a discontentment for the present, while longing for the past. A song, a smell, certain seasons & smells or deja-vu's can immediately create a sense of nostalgia. If we can appreciate them and move on, that's fine, but if it creates a longing for the past, that's not fine. Beware of nostalgia, it's a slippery slope. It can create utopia's out of what was really a nightmare chapter of our lives. When we were in that chapter of our lives, we couldn't wait to get out, now, we are reminiscing...thinking, "those were the good 'ol days..." were they r...

Hebrews 6:1-20     I go to church, I pray from time to time and on the occasion, pick up my bible. I'm not perfect, but I do abstain from most obvious and premeditated sins. I wonder, is my love for God shown by being faithful in ministry, is it shown by my generous giving, maybe....I can guess and assume on these previous virtues, but here is one that I don't have to guess about, it's plain as can be, "For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers".  There it is, in writing, "you have shown your love FOR GOD, by caring for other believers.  We lose that vital link with God when we lose our heart for other believers in the church. Every relationship hinges on common bond in that relationship. Two people connect when they have a common idea, sport, hobby or passion that they share and connect on. Many couples divorce when the children have grown and m...

  Are you enjoying your Sabbath? We work to rest. If we dismiss the Sabbath as 21st Century Christians, we show our ignorance of the Sabbath. For man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was made for man, Jesus proclaims. The author in Hebrews is alluding to the fact or point, that Heaven is our Sabbath as Christians. Retirement is very much ingrained in the culture of North American Society, it is the ultimate, earthly Sabbath. That God made the earth in six days and rested on the seventh day has been reduced to no more than a Children’s Church story. However it’s meaning and implications, ironically, is meant for Adults, not in anyway was it meant for Children. However it is good to teach our children, that there is a day of Sabbath, a day of rest, even if at times, that means boredom to the child. The Sabbath is meant for us in the same way it was meant for the land. In the 7th year the Israelites were told to give the land rest, to allow it a year of rest to replenish ...

   "But the people of  Israel  are not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me"  There's a profound truth here! People that are willing to listen to us are really people that are willing to listen to God. Many people pray and ask for a sign from God, but that's not what they need. I myself once prayed, "God if you're real, cause a falling star to fall...RIGHT NOW!” A falling star didn't fall and I continued in my sinful ways until later on I ran into a Christian who invited me out to church....several times! What if God had gave me my request that night in the park and shown me a falling star, would I have become a believer? Of course not, I would have dismissed it as mere coincidence and gone on in my sin. All we need is the people God sends our way, if we will listen to them then we will listen to God. But the opposite is also true, if we will not listen to them then we will not listen to God eit...

      I have always wondered about people who claim a peacefulness about dieing. It is not that I don't believe the accounts/stories I have heard, it is just hard to believe. In my opinion, I have always feared death and until this day there is still somewhat of a fear that lurks within. Today's reading helped me feel a little more at ease with my disposition towards death. Our text acknowledges that there is a natural, human tendency to have a fear towards death, so I am normal. Anyone who claims to have no fear of death must be someone who is not being completely honest with you or worse, with themselves. This text in Hebrews is very important concerning death.  It is written that one of the  pre-requisites  for Jesus to be our Saviour was that  He too face (taste) death .  And what was Jesus' response just seconds before he died? " Father, why have you forsaken me " (does that sound like fear?!) There was a fear ....however ...

    Do you love Angels?  Apparently, you're not the only one! The writer of Hebrews takes a whole chapter to dismantle, for the Gospel's sake, the worship of Angels. As one man famously quoted, "the more things change they more they remain the same." Here we are, a couple of thousand years later, still having to deal with this issue, of worshiping Angels, in the church.  We love Angels, they're beautiful (not sure how we know this?), they have wings, they fly and best of all, they don't judge. God, he's the boss, the mean guy! Angels, just help and do good. People who have a love affair with Angels, often are not that knowledgeable of the Bible. Angels may be beautiful and only there to help, but if you read Revelations, they judge (by God's decree) and kill worse than any villain in Hollywood. The Catholics like to worship Mary and Saints, Christians like to worship Angels. Each religion has their own demi-gods that they set up for themselves, rather ...

The scripture in Lamentations today makes me think of how ironic it is, that we so desperately want to know our future, but then again, we give no thought to our future, it's a complete contradiction of who we are. And this is who we are, as people, we constantly contradict ourselves. We say "this is what I want" but then turn around and do actions that are in complete contrast to what we said the previous day.... .  She defiled herself with immorality and gave no thought to her future. Now she lies in the gutter with no one to lift her out.   She gave NO THOUGHT to her future. All we think about is our future, but this text says, "she gave no thought to her future", so which is it? Do we think about our future or do we not think about our future. It's both! All we think about is our future "in our thoughts" but we never think about the future "in our decisions/actions"; our decisions, contradict our thoughts. If we are so concerned about...

   It's very interesting, Isaiah predicts the rise of Babylon when they are insignificant nobodies, it is hardly believable that Babylon is ever going to rise to any stage of great prominence, never mind, defeat Israel and take them all in captive to be their slaves. Yet that's exactly what happened. Now we have Jeremiah, when Babylon IS the greatest force on  the earth predicting that they will be reduced to nothing, they will be something to be laughed at and mocked, this is also hardly believable, especially as he predicts this while they are great. Yet, approx 65-70 years later, the Medes and Persians come in and completely destroy Babylon, the Great. Isaiah predicts their greatness when they are nothing and he (Jeremiah) predicts their fall when they are great. The boldness of these predictions......these prophecies will either prove him to be true a Prophet or a false prophet! History (don't even have to use the Bible) proves both these Prophecies to be 100% accurat...

    Paul in our text is breaking down Christian and ethical behavior in 4 categories. He's breaking it down for Men, Women & Children & Servants. There is variation in what he writes to all 4, but one common virtue Paul brings up in all 4 scenarios, the "only" virtue he brings up to all 4 parties is that of "Self Control". I think it is easier to understand that word if you say it backwards... Control Self , or even more specifically,  Control yourself ! Is this such a big issue with us? Do we not control ourselves? I know I control my bladder, it would be severely embarrassing to me to be with friends and have an "accident". I don't think they would look at me with much empathy but they probably would look at me with much sympathy, sympathy for what a sorry sucker I am that I cannot control my own bladder at my age. There are other areas that I am not so flawless at exercising self control. I have never, not once had a bladder accident, no...

    The heading in most Bibles for Ephesians 4 "Christian Living".  Ephesians 4 & 5 are the basic manuals for Christian etiquette. The antagonist of the Church, ironically enough, is not necessarily the Devil, though he is one, but it is also you and I.  We by nature try to drag the church down to are level, rather than rise up to the standard Christ has set before us. This constant tension between what our flesh craves for and what the Holy Spirit desires. Any Pastor on any given Sunday could preach on this text and have the altars full. "Don't be bitter, don't fight, stop lusting, stop lying, let go of the anger, don't grieve the Holy Spirit" We can so easily be reduced to our base instinct, our base nature. So often we hear Christians say, "oh, they are so lucky I'm a Christian, or I would....." This only confirms that for many of us, as Voltaire, the French philosopher and acclaimed atheist wrote, "scratch the service of a Chri...

  I would much prefer not to talk about this, I would much rather not have to deal with this, this is messy stuff. If I wanted to be involved in politics and messy stuff, then I would get involved in that. I stay clear of politics, I stay clear of conflict, I just want to be a Christian, go to church and be happy. Paul today is writing about rebuking people, setting them straight, confronting supposed Christians, challenging people who are teaching false doctrine, people rejecting the truth and coming up with lies, I just want to ask Paul, "are you trying to discourage me from The Church or encourage me?". Reading about this discourages me, reading about this reminds me of when people say, 'the reason I don't go to church is because of all the problems in the church". There really is an ugly side of ministry, isn't there?! It's been like this since the beginning of the church, apparently. So what do we do then? What we do is keep going to church, keep ser...

I was reading Proverbs today with a little trepidation. Thinking, "I hope I'm not a fool?".  What a negative discourse this is. If the first four books of the New Testament are called "The Gospels" ie: Good News, what would we call Proverbs 26?  As you are reading through this proverb, you don't get the sense that there is much hope for a fool. It's sad because I know a few fools and so do you! Not only does it pretty accurately describe a fool, it also describes or alludes as to how we may try to work with a fool and you know what, I have tried them all and true to this proverb, the results have been as stated in the scripture. Let's look at the idea of "honoring a fool". Verse 8 deals with that. You may ask "who would honor a fool?", I have!  And obviously others have too; otherwise it would not be addressed in our text. I honored a fool in hopes that in honoring them, it would encourage them to change and just like it says, it ...

 Wow, I wish I felt like that in the morning! Somebody has had way too much Java this morning. "It is good to give thanks to the lord, to sing praises to the Most High. It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning, your faithfulness in the evening, accompanied by a ten-stringed instrument, a harp, and the melody of a lyre. You thrill me,Lord, with all you have done for me! I sing for joy because of what you have done." Somebody got off to a good start this morning, was it you? We're waking up tired, very tired. We're thinking about that dead end job we have to go to everyday, wishing we would win the lottery so we could quit, oh but we don't play the lottery, great, then we'll never get out of that dead end job. We still don't know how the rent is going to get paid, who's going to be able to fix the car, how our daughter is going to get out of this crazy relationship, how you’re going to deal with your husband being laid off, etc..etc…and ...