Combating the Yeast of False Teaching - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Mathew 16:6,

"'Be careful,' Jesus said to them [his disciples]. 'Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.'"

Later in verse 12 we learn that Jesus, in the above verse, was warning his disciples to guard themselves against the faulty teachings of the religious leaders of the day, the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Today we have the same concerns. In that there are so many different denominations, sects, -isms and schisms in the body of Christ with conflicting doctrine and teachings, Jesus' words here are as important as ever.

How do we guard ourselves against faulty teachings? In that Jesus used the metaphor of "yeast" for the faulty teachings of the religious leaders of his day, we understand that faulty or false teaching has the inherent ability to grow throughout a group, infecting the group as it grows, just as yeast does in a batch of bread dough.

Paul provides us help here. "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

We can guard ourselves against the yeast of false teaching by studying the Scriptures.  Never let anyone (including me!) take you where you have not gone first in the Bible! It is the Bible that has God's stamp of authority. It is the Bible that provides us truthful teaching. It is the Bible we can go to in order to learn of God and the things of God!

The Bible can protect us from the yeast of false teaching. Open it today and discover the truth on all kinds of things!

A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Jesus Offended! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Matthew 15:12-14,

"Then the disciples came to him and asked, 'Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?' He replied, 'Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.'"

The "do-gooders" (we have all kinds of those today!) came to Jesus to complain to Jesus about his disciples not following their definition of a high and lofty lifestyle they peddled about as that which would please God. Why, yes! Of course they thought they had the market on superior religious practices. After all, were not these Pharisees and teachers of the law the "religious elites" of their day?

Jesus simply called them hypocrites to their face and quoted Isaiah 29:13 where the Lord says, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules." What an appropriate message for so many today!

Next in Matthew are the verses quoted above. The Son of God had no use for them, only scorn. When his disciples pointed out to Jesus that he had offended them, he had no concern for their snowflake feelings.

Jesus offended! In pursuit of his own agenda, the hurt feelings of others held absolutely no sway with him.

Is this how Jesus is portrayed in many churches today? Far from the milquetoast pastel-colored fuzzball I have had offered to me on so many occasions, I find the Messiah in the Scriptures to be something else altogether. The lamb of God sacrificed on the cross turns out to be the "Lion of the tribe of Judah"! Revelation 5:5.

A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.

Focus on Jesus, Not Circumstances - Ruminating in the Word of God

"The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Matthew 14:29-31,

"Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, 'Lord, save me!' Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. 'You of little faith,' he said, 'why did you doubt?'"

At one point, Jesus walked out on the water to his disciples, whom he had sent ahead of him in a boat. Seeing Jesus walking on the water, Peter yelled over to him to let him walk on the water to go out to him. Jesus said to come and Peter, ever impetuous, got out and walked on the water to Jesus.

As these things actually happened as described to us, it is simply astonishing! The Son of God violating his own laws that govern the order of his physical creation! As we all know, the law of specific gravity prevents us from walking on water. I did my quarter mile at the YMCA pool this morning and I can tell you I didn't do it by walking on the water, I had to do it the old fashioned way - by swimming!

I think many of us are well-versed in this account and are familiar with what happened. Peter allowed the storm they were fighting against in the boat to frighten him and he began to sink in the water. The Lord fished him out and asked "why did you doubt?"

It is a reminder to me that amazing things can happen when I place my faith and trust in the Lord and what it is he is doing. It is also a reminder to me that when I take my eyes off the Lord and allow the circumstances around me to begin to impinge on my trust in him, those otherwise wonderful things he brings in my life just may begin to sink. It happened to Peter and I'm quite sure I could not expect anything different.

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." Colossians 3:1-3.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.

A Storeroom of Old and New Treasure! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Matthew 13:52,

"Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old."

Following a series of parables concerning the kingdom of heaven, Jesus made this comment. The teachers of the law would have been those who taught the folks what the Scriptures had to say. From this vantage point, the Scriptures would have included only what we have in what we call the "Old Testament". Newly inspired writings would be coming shortly and so Jesus' statement here causes me to think of the importance of both the books contained in the Old Testament as well as the 26 in the New Testament.

As Paul pointed out to Timothy (in the midst of the production of the newly inspired writings of the New Testament), it is all of the books of the sacred library we call our Bible that prepare us for all we need to be in our life in Christ, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

I am reminded that all of Scripture is important. It is there, provided for us through the Holy Spirit because we need it. All sixty-six books are inspired, authoritative, and importantly, intentional - God intends us to use them to become what he wants us to  be.

Just as we would be spiritually malnourished if we only ever read the four gospels, and none of Paul's writings or the general epistles, so we would be not getting all we need if we neglected Moses' writings, or David's or the prophets of old.

Spiritual treasure is to be had in all of Scripture - Genesis through Revelation. A storeroom of treasure to appropriate to equip us for all things!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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The Artful, Skillful and Precise Master Manipulator! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Matthew 12:18-21,

"Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out,
till he has brought justice through to victory. In his name the nations will put their hope."

As Jesus was healing all who were ill in a crowd that followed him, he warned them not to tell others about him. Just previous to this Jesus had healed a man with a shrived hand publicly in a synagogue and after the Pharisees witnessed it, and went to plot how to kill Jesus, he left and went to the place where he healed those ill in the crowd. Matthew cites this as a fulfillment of Isaiah 42:1-4.

Isaiah 42 is a prophetic message about the "servant" of the Lord who will bring justice "to the nations."  The servant, of course, is Jesus and he both proclaimed justice as well as brought justice. I note that as he did so, he did it on his own terms in a very calculated way. At times he would withdraw from people, other times he intentionally brought together a crowd, as when he did so at the sermon on the mount. At times he would publicly perform miracles, as when he healed the paralyzed man brought to him on a mat, while at other times, like here, he warned those he healed not to tell others. It seems to me the part of Isaiah 42 where the servant will not be heard in the streets are these occasions like this one where Jesus tells those he healed not to tell others about him.

It is not difficult to see that Jesus was a master manipulator of people. With precision he brought about events such they would culminate in the way he wanted. He artfully engineered his own death, his sacrifice on the cross to pay the penalty for sins for all mankind with precise skill.

With Jesus, nothing "just happened". Events and people were managed and manipulated by him as he carried out the work he came to do.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Stumbling Because of Jesus - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Matthew 11:6,

"Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me."

John the baptist's disciples had gone to Jesus to verify he was the Messiah. After providing ample evidence he was, he closed his comments with the above statement.

Why would anyone possibly "stumble" because of Jesus?

Clearly, the stumbling he had in mind was the failure for anyone to achieve the singular ultimate priority this life has: to find our way from this life into eternal life. To not reach the life that awaits those who find God's favor in this age, resulting in inheriting all that will be ours in heaven, is the greatest stumble of all, the greatest failure possible in this life. There exists no greater failure, no greater stumble than this.

From the heart of God, the greatest expression of love than mankind can find is the sacrifice Jesus made of himself that we might inherit life in heaven. "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." 1 John 4:9-10.

Again I ask, why would anyone possibly "stumble" because of Jesus? He answered this question himself when Nicodemus had approached him, "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God." John 3:19-21.

Paul observes this when he referenced Isaiah 8:14 and 28:16 in Romans 9:33, "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame." There he points out that people who have hardened their hearts toward Jesus are unwilling to embrace him in faith, and do so with the mistaken notion that they can "do it on their own." And, of course, nothing could be further from the truth.

We are all sinners, incapable of being enough of a "do-gooder" to earn our way into the kingdom of heaven. If we could, why do you suppose Jesus allowed himself to be nailed to a cross?

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Degrees of Judgment - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Matthew 10:14-15,

"If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town."

The judgment of God is an horrific thing. In some passages it is called the day of the Lord, see Joel 2 and Zephaniah 1. Paul speaks of a "day when God judges people's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares." Romans 2:16.

What I find of interest is that when God's judgment comes, it comes in varying degrees. Jesus, in the above passage teaches that judgment will be worse for a town that reject his disciples' message of the kingdom of heaven than it will be for two cities that had given themselves over to pronounced debauchery and wickedness, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. See Genesis 19.

While I certainly do not know how and what these degrees of unbearability might be, it has to be frightening and horrific well beyond anything I would want to face.

This points to the grave importance that those who are exposed to the gospel message respond to it by embracing Jesus Christ in faith.

What a sobering consideration, the degrees of judgment that unbelievers face!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Laughing No Longer - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Matthew 9:23-26,

"When Jesus entered the synagogue leader's house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, he said, 'Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.' But they laughed at him. After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. News of this spread through all that region."

As Jesus was having a discussion with John the baptist's disciples about fasting, a synagogue leader came to him and said his daughter had just died. He pleaded with Jesus to come to his house and lay his hand on her to bring her back to life.

Jesus agreed and we read above what transpired.

A devastated father pleaded for the life of his daughter. In faith and desperation he ran to Jesus and the people there just laughed when he came to give her life. They simply could not believe what the synagogue ruler believed: that Jesus could restore life.

I feel this is somewhat of a simile to what we see today. For one reason or another someone from a family or group of unbelievers flees to the Savior to inherit eternal life and the others laugh. They do not see why this new convert would do such a thing. Just as the mourners at the synagogue ruler's house could not see the ability of Jesus to bring life, so unbelieving people today cannot see it either. It is a matter of faith.

The account does not press on with the following details, but you can bet the mourners were no longer laughing. In their stunned disbelief, they witnessed something they could never have seen coming.

And that, my friends, is exactly what is going to take place when Jesus comes back for his own. People who laugh and scoff at the notion that Jesus Christ brings life will be laughing no longer when they see the Son of God bring eternal life for all who fled to him in faith in this life.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Guaranteed Good Health In This Life? - Ruminating in the Word of God

"The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Matthew 8:16-17,

"When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him [Jesus], and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: 'He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.'"

When Jesus was here he healed many people. Matthew observes it was a fulfillment of Isaiah 53:4. The New International Version of the Bible translates that passage as, "Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted." Later, in verse 5 we read, "... by his wounds we are healed."

Entire denominations have developed around the belief that God loves us and so does not want to see us suffer illness, infirmity and pain in this life. The passage in Isaiah is often referenced as the basis for this doctrine.

Here is an interesting question: When Jesus was here and witnessed the pain and suffering of those with diseases and infirmities, why didn't he just eradicate all illness, pain and suffering from all mankind? More to the point, why is it that those who are given to the teaching that physical healing is provided for in this life through the atonement of Jesus Christ get the flu like the rest of us, get arthritis as they age, just like the rest of us, get cancer like the rest of us, or eventually die through the infirmities that old age eventually bring on all who survive that long?

Something appears amiss with this doctrine. Much confusion is added by those who believe this doctrine by accompanying it with the notion that if we harbor some un-confessed sin or our faith wanes a bit, this is what accounts for the apparent abrogation of this feature of the atonement.

Without going into great detail, Paul points out that as long as we are in this life, our bodies are not yet redeemed, "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." Romans 8:22-25. In verse 10 of that chapter we read, "... if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness."

Jesus healed many when he was here to communicate his love and compassion for us, as well as establish his bona fides as the Son of God, that we might place our faith in him.

James teaches us that God may heal us of illness if we pray in faith, and that prayer is effective, yet we are never taught a prayer for healing is always guaranteed. See James 5:13-16. Until the second coming of Jesus Christ, it is God's will that we all die at some point.

An illness might possibly indicate God is trying to get our attention, however, it might also indicate we were simply exposed to a virus.

Yes, healing is provided for in the atonement. However, that healing for us all does not take place in this life. It comes by way of the new resurrected bodies the faithful will receive in the resurrection.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.

The Firm Foundation - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Matthew 7:24-27,

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

Jesus likens our lives here on earth, and the decisions we make that order them to a house builder and the decisions he makes. In that we all have only one life to live (and no, there is no such thing as reincarnation, "Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many..." Hebrews 11:27-28), how important that we order this one life we have to live wisely!

Just as building a house on sand provides for no secure foundation, building our lives on anything whatsoever else than Jesus Christ results in a life devoid of enduring strength and resiliency.

Just as a builder makes his choices on how to build a house, so the Lord has given us both the freedom and the responsibility to make our own choices in how we "build" our lives. It is up to each one of us as to how we build our lives. 

Will the choices we make bring stability? Will the choices we make bring enduring resiliency? Will the choices we make us eternal life or eternal judgement? These are of the most important issues any of us will face, and the thing is, it is all in our hands. The Lord has placed them there.

How is your life coming along? Have you made those wise choices the Lord spoke of? If not, right now is not too late to begin building on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.

Hellow 16-07-2018

My Dear

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A Choice: Wise or Foolish? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Matthew 6:19-21,

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

The truth of these words from Jesus are underscored throughout the Scriptures. In very simple terms, he points out that we can invest the one life we have in one of two ways: to reap what we can in this life and all it has to offer, or to reap what could be ours in God's family for eternity.

Here is how the writer of Hebrews put it when speaking of those who chose the latter, "All these people [those who embraced God in faith as examples to us] were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."

We all have one of two alternatives to choose from in this life: a short-sighted indulgence in the pleasures of this life, or turning from the short-sighted indulgences this life has to offer to embrace the Lord and all he has to offer us in eternity as members of his family.

Foolish and shallow people will choose the pleasures this life has to offer - losing out on what eternal life has to offer. David describes what eternal life has to offer as members of God's family, "Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand." Psalm 16:9-11.

Paul puts it this way, "God 'will repay each person according to what they have done.' To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism." Romans 2:6-11.

We all have a choice to make in what we invest our lives in: store up treasures here on earth or store up treasures in heaven. Why insist on the immediate gratification of the uncertain, short-term and shallow "treasures" this life offers when we can embrace the Lord in faith and go all-in for eternal pleasures that are certain, enduring and vastly richer than anything this life has to offer?

Will we choose wisely? Or, will we choose foolishly?

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.

Got Bliss? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Matthew 5:3,

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Jesus began his sermon on the mount with the "beatitudes". His beatitudes observe the blessed or happy state a person possesses based on conditions that a person may have or observations of their life. Merriam-Webster defines the word "beatitude" as "a state of utmost bliss".

Among the conditions or observations of a person's life that Jesus points to include:

Being poor in spirit, quoted above.
Those who mourn.
The meek.
Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
The merciful.
The pure in heart.
The peacemakers.
Those persecuted because of righteousness.
Those insulted, persecuted and falsely accused because of Jesus.

In the same order, here are the blessed circumstances the above brings:

Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
They will be comforted.
They will inherit the earth.
They will be filled with righteousness.
They will be shown mercy.
They will see God.
They will be called children of God.
Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Great is their reward in the kingdom of heaven.

Breathtaking isn't it?! These happy, blissful and blessed nine circumstances of those who are observed as living the nine observations Jesus made make up these beatitudes. This is why coming to know God and living our lives for him result in something seemingly to be so rare these days that the term is rarely used anymore: joy! Joy, joyful, joyousness!

On a side note. I don't know how many times I have heard a misguided sermon given on these beatitudes that betray a lack of understanding. You probably have as well. Do-gooders and law-keepers have a mistaken notion that if we use the nine conditions or observations as a punch-list of things we need to go out and "do" during the week, then we will receive the blessed and happy state of joyful circumstances. It doesn't work that way and that is not the nature of God's work in our lives.

The way it does work is that if we embrace Jesus Christ in faith, he sends his Holy Spirit to dwell in us, and as new believers, the Spirit begins to change us from the inside out. It is this work the Holy Spirit does that brings the conditions or observations in the first list above that Jesus spoke of, which results in the blessed conditions of the second list above.

We don't simply go out and "do" the beatitudes as if they were a list of things required of us, like the ten commands God gave Moses. I am reminded of Paul's words in Romans 7:6, "We have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code."

Paul speaks of this in Galatians 5:22-24, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."

Such a remarkable thing God does in our lives that redounds to our lives marked by such bliss and happiness!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.

Invited to the Love and Intimacy Shared Within the Trinity! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Matthew 4:1,

"Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil."

Here we see the Son of God being led by the Spirit of God. I note in the previous verse, 3:17 (remember, Matthew didn't write his gospels in chapters - those were inserted into our Bibles just a few centuries ago) we see God the Father speaking, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

Within these two verses Matthew referenced all three members of the Trinity. One God represented in three persons. Not one person wearing different hats at different times, and not all the other oddball ideas so many people have had over the years. It is astonishing to me that there have been groups of people who have rejected the notion of the Trinity, in that they cannot wrap their minds around one God in three persons. I can't blame them much, as I can't wrap my mind around it either.

However, the Scriptures are clear. God presents himself, reveals himself, in Scripture as one God in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Possibly my most favorite passage that features the reality of the Trinity is found in Jesus own prayer to the Father. He speaks of a divine love and a divine intimacy that exists among the members of the Trinity, and asks the Father that we, as believers, might share in this wondrous divine love they share in among themselves.

Read the astonishing things Jesus asked for us as he appealed to the Father on our behalf, that we might share in the intimacy that exists within the Trinity:

"My [Jesus'] prayer is not for them [the disciples with him at the time] alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message [this is us!], that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—  I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." John 17:20-26.

This prayer of Jesus is just breath-taking! How astonishing the Son of God asks the Father that you and I might share in the unique love and intimacy that is shared among the members of the Trinity!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Where Are Our Religious Leaders Taking Us? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Matthew 3:7-10,

"When he [John the baptist] saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: 'You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, "We have Abraham as our father." I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.'"

These Pharisees and Sadducees were the religious leaders of the day. In Acts 23:8 we read about them, "The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees believe all these things."

From this we might categorize these two groups as the Pharisees being the more conservative and literal with the Scriptures and the Sadducees much like the churches today that have abandoned the Scriptures as representing the things of God accurately. I think you get the picture. In any event, the two groups taken together represent a spectrum of theological thought and practice.

As I say, they were the religious leaders of the day, and yet John castigates them here, as Jesus did later on. Why would there be religious leaders who bring condemnation of themselves from those sent from God himself?

Clearly, they didn't speak for the Lord. 

These religious leaders represent so much of what we see in the church today. Abandoning the truths in Scripture, many, many "religious leaders" today do not speak for God. Where God condemns homosexuality, many of today's leaders embrace it. Where the Lord has provided us a gospel message of faith many of today's leaders advocate for a message of being a "do-gooder".  Where God defines justice in Scripture, many of today's leaders have replaced that with their own version of "social justice" (in order to advance a political agenda). You get the drift.

Clearly, many, many religious leaders lead people away from God, just as they did in John's day. If you are under anyone's leadership that does not place priority on God's revelation of himself and his perspective on the things of this life, go elsewhere! Why allow someone to lead you into disfavor with God? That kind of leadership leads in a bad direction!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Angelic Contact! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Matthew 2:19-20,

"After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 'Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead.'"

Following a stay in Egypt, an angel appeared to Joseph and gave him the instruction to take Jesus and Mary back to Israel. Earlier, Joseph had been instructed by an angel to take Jesus and Mary to Egypt, and now, in much the same language, he was to return, and did so by taking them to Nazareth in Galilee.

It appears to be the same unnamed angel in both cases, as in the first angelic visit the angel told Joseph to stay in Egypt "until I tell you". Then following Herod's (who sought to kill the young Jesus) death, the angel, in fact came back to give Joseph further instruction to return to Israel.

The language in both angelic visits, as quoted by Matthew, follows the same pattern. "Get up, take the child and his mother..." In the earlier angelic visit it was "escape to Egypt" and the later visit, "go to the land of Israel".

I can't help but think of the many contacts between heavenly beings and those of us of planet earth. We read of many in both the old and new testaments. It is fascinating to me in that we appear to exist apart from any contact with the environs of heaven. But, that just isn't the case.

At times I think of the vision Jacob had of angels coming and going between heaven and earth on a stairway. We read of it in Genesis 28:12, "He [Jacob] had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it." This was no mere dream as it turns out it was a vision given him in which the Lord himself restated his promise to make a nation of Israel, give them the land Jacob was on and provide an "offspring" [Jesus Christ] that would be the blessing of all the peoples on earth.

What were these angels about that were "coming and going between heaven and earth Jacob had seen on this stairway? Were these angels dispatched from heaven with various duties to be performed, following which they returned to heaven? If so, what might those assignments have been? Were they assigned to certain individuals on earth? Were they assigned some task that impacted various nations? Or, were they simply headed for the tropics for some needed rest and recuperation (a person's curiosity can run rampant here…)?

Did Jacob witness a literal means of transport between heaven and earth represented by the stairway in Jacob's vision? Or, was it just symbolic of the interaction between heaven and earth? Did the angel that provided Joseph his instructions use this same stairway?

It is all just fascinating to me to consider as I read of these angelic contacts. Certainly the sphere of our existence extends well beyond what we typically see and hear.

It causes me to wonder what may be going on today in this regard?!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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The Savior of All Mankind - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Matthew 1:1-3,

"This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar..."

The above verses document the genealogy of Jesus. I note in the listing of generations some Gentile names. Tamar, who was married to Judah's son Er was Canaanite. When Er died, she was given his brother Onan as a husband. Eventually, after Onan died, she had children with Judah.

I note in verse 5 that Ruth, another Gentile, from Moab, is in Jesus' ancestry. Also in that verse, Rahab, an Amorite, is listed.

Jesus had non-Jewish blood in his ancestry - people whose origins being other than from Jacob and the twelve tribes that came from him.

Perhaps this is of little importance to many, but knowing Jesus had some Gentile blood running in his veins speaks to me of the reality that Jesus' blood was offered for all.

Jesus Christ is the Savior of all mankind, Jewish or not, "He [Jesus Christ] is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." 1 John 2:2.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Attempting an Alternate Reality - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Matthew 28:11-15,

"While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, 'You are to say, "His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep." If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.' So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day."

The women in the above account were Mary Magdalene and the "other Mary". They had gone to Jesus' tomb following his crucifixion and the Sabbath that followed. Jesus had sent them to tell his disciples to meet him in Galilee. As they went, some of the guards posted to the tomb to watch and insure Jesus' disciples didn't take the body, reported to the chief priests the astonishing episode they had just witnessed.

They saw an angel, whose appearance was like lightning, come down from heaven, rolled back the stone that had been placed at the opening of Jesus' tomb, and sat on it. He had then told the two Marys that Jesus was not in the tomb but had risen from death and was gone.

When these guards had gone to the chief priests and reported these things, the priests did something that, to my thinking, was insane. Confronted with the impossible, they attempted to conceal it by lying about it.

Prior to the crucifixion, They denied Jesus' claim of being the Son of God, thereby rejecting him. Having to face the news that he had been resurrected from the dead and was now out and about, you might think they would come to their senses. But, no. Taking a leap into a manufactured reality, they perpetrated a lie about it. Sure, they might have been able to mislead people in a lie (and were successful at it!). However, what the resurrection meant was that all Jesus did and said was the truthfulness of reality. Judgment is coming! One day these priests will have to stand before Jesus Christ as the judge of their eternal destinies! You might think the dawning of these realities might influence them into second thoughts about Jesus. But, as I say, no. They chose to create an "alternative reality." Unfortunately for these, alternate realities exist only in the minds of those who deceive and are deceived.

Such is the deceitfulness of sin. Clinging to their positions of authority and the accouterments attached, they preferred the darkness to light. They preferred and chose to cling to their sin instead of reconciling what they were confronted with and turn to God.

I am reminded of Jesus words to Nicodemus, "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed." John 3:19-20.

How deceitful is the heart of sinful man!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Puppets Vilifying the Master Puppeteer - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Matthew 27:40-43,

"You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!... He saved others... but he can't save himself! He's the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'"

These were the insults thrown at Jesus as he hung on that miserable cross. Passersby, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders all mocked him as he hung there.

I'm sure the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders all felt some vindication, or at least some consolation as their antagonist, Jesus Christ, was dying on that cross. Jesus had challenged these leaders of the Jews, their teachings, their lifestyles, the misuse of the positions they held. They must have felt some measure of satisfaction in the false sense that the victory of the day was theirs.

Nothing could have been further from the truth. The spiritual dark side had no idea what was transpiring on that cross! Jesus was now fulfilling the purpose for which he came: to "save his people from their sins", Matthew 1:21. He made of himself a ransom for all who would embrace him in faith and these leaders of the Jews now had become Jesus' "useful idiots" (to borrow a quote), doing his bidding by putting him to death (through the Romans). A master manipulator, a cunning tactician, with skillful precision he effected God's grand plan of the redemption of mankind.

These arrogant and corrupt politicians were merely pawns in his hands as they taunted Jesus and made sport of him. One day each and every one of these poor lost souls will have to stand in front of the very one they mocked to beg for their eternal destiny.

However, they won't be alone. All who reject Jesus Christ, all who fail to embrace him in faith will share in their fate. It not need be that way. After all, that very taking of his life on that day brought about payment for all the sins of all mankind - for all who will embrace him in faith. "Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." John 1:12-13.

Make your choice today...

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.