THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB

   It is strange reading about Esau, at the end of the Year, at the end of the Bible. But God saw fit to bring up him name, one last time. Esau is the sad story, that never gets better. Wouldn't make for a nice movie where everyone likes a happy ending. I think the problem with watching movies and always having a happy ending is we begin to identify life like that. It will work out, it will end well, it's all good. Well, that may be Hollywood, and that may make a much better movie, but in real life, some stories, some lives are tragic saga's and sad endings. Isaac has two boys, Esau and Jacob. Esau comes from a good family, Esau has great opportunity, but something is in Esau, that is not right and he does not seem to do right, or chose right. He is like Cain whom God confronts and tells him, "if you will do right will you not be accepted as well?" Sometimes we make decisions that are going to set us in a certain direction and put us on a course we may not want to...

         WHY is everything about being Victorious, about overcoming? 21 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne." Is there not a place anywhere for the fainthearted, is there not a place anywhere for the man who wants to quit, for the man who is going to lose? Apparently, not even Heaven, of all places has a place for the loser or the quitter. Why does Jesus have to remind us that it will not be those that simply said a prayer one day, long time ago, that will inherit the Kingdom of God, but only those that overcome and are victorious?      When my son was in middle-school, I was coaching his football team and my son was the quarterback. The only teams that moved on for the prize were the teams that were victorious. Why couldn't those that lost move on? We, my team, were not victorious. I stood on the field and watched before my own eyes, my...

    Kudos to the Church in Thyatira. If I was the Pastor of that church I would frame these words from Jesus and hang them in the Church foyer for everyone, especially visitors to read, “I have seen your love, your faith, you service and patient endurance. And I can see your constant improvement in all these things”. Of course I would leave out the next part, “ But I have this one complaint against you, you are permitting that woman Jezebel….to teach them to commit sexual sin”. We know that “Love” is the primary objective, the primary goal of a church. The church in Thyatira seems to have reached this high and lofty goal. I think we can agree, there’s a few churches today that are seriously lacking in love. It’s unfortunate that the very objective that the Thyatira church has strived to be, now brings with it a serious fault. They have tried so hard to be “the love church” that in doing so they have completely avoided any kind of behavior that might be taken as “unlo...

    "Return to your first love" it's the sermon older Christians hate to hear. It's like men listening to a sermon on lust "oh here we go again", they think to themselves. Lust is the Achilles heel of every man (though hopefully triumphant) and "go back to your first love" is the sermon that can be preached any Sunday, and most older converts will be convicted! Because we do stray in our relationships, the fire does dwindle in our relationships and whether we want to hear it or not it is true and needs to be said. We do need to return to our first love, it's not a cliché, but true! We are no longer the "down and out" person we were when we first came to Christ. We are now married, have kids, have sports on week-ends, have good jobs and life is good, for the most part and oh yeah...did I mention, Jesus!  Jesus.... sure, he's good, church is alright, however I don't think I'm gonna make it this Sunday my son has a soccer gam...

   I know that the Christian Life is not the perfect life. That if I expect my life to be ever so bliss because I’m a Christian is wrong. However, I still cannot get away from the scripture that continuously tells me, “my life should be blessed because I fear the Lord and obey him. So while I should make room in my theology or life, for hard times, I must also understand that it isn’t my lot in life to be miserable and beaten down. In both Psalms and Proverbs today we are told that “ how joyful are those who fear the Lord, how joyful and prosperous they will be, may you live to enjoy your grandchildren” then in Proverbs we read, “whoever obeys the law is joyful” it is almost a duplicate of what we read in Psalm 128. And so I get it, I get it, my life isn’t going to be perfect, I know, I’ve been told enough times, through radio talk shows to sermons, books and from friends. I got that part, it’s been made loud and clear. It’s almost the strategy they use in “sales”. Set ex...

         I SIMPLY don't understand Eternal Security and I understand it even less after reading today's passage in Jude. The author provides a clear cut case against eternal security. He writes, "let me remind you". I think part of the problem is we forget and probably worse, most Christians just don't read The Bible, seems like an oxymoron if I've ever heard one, but it's true. If you were to try to have a debate over this subject and say, "well you know what it says in the book of Jude (as I have many times) about this" many "self-professed" Christians/back-slidden Baptists, would give you that stare...."hmmm, Jude, I think I've heard of that book, I'm not quite sure where it is...is that old testament?" And for those that have read the book of Jude and read the arguments of the author they would simply say, "well, that's because they were never really saved". However the author deals with that in Jude....