Matthew 10 - Be Wise as Serpents!

Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. Matthew 10:16

As Jesus amazes the multitudes with signs and wonders, including the opening of blind eyes and the loosing of the stilled tongue, the scribes and Pharisees mock and scoff, claiming He is performing miracles in the name of Beelzebub (the devil). Nevertheless, Jesus' heart melted with compassion over the multitudes, who He saw as sheep without a shepherd. He instructed His disciples to pray that more laborers be sent out to the bring in the harvest of human souls for the kingdom.

In Chapter 10, we see a tough, straight-talking Jesus who makes it very clear that His disciples will suffer much in sharing the Gospel with Israel. However, He also told them they would be fully provided for and protected in doing what was required. He exhorted them to be as wise as serpents but to be as gentle as doves, and that as He was demonized, mocked and scoffed, they, too, would be treated in a similar manner. He warned them that a servant is not above His master. Many of us today who step out and share God's word with the world have suffered this type of persecution.

Jesus also gave a warning touching the End Times (the period leading up to 70 AD and the destruction of the temple system and the city of Jerusalem). He warned them that they would be beaten, perhaps killed, betrayed by family, that they would basically lose their worldly life in finding their true life, which is the life of the spirit of God. Jesus makes no bones about the fact that those who refuse to leave worldly desires and pressures, perhaps even from family, are not worthy of being His disciples; those who refuse to acknowledge Him will not be acknowledged by Him before the heavenly Father. Essentially, Christianity is a commitment to be 100% sold out to Jesus. This is a black and white issue - there are no shades of gray!

Make the decision today and move forward IN Christ Jesus!

Matthew 9 - Blind Eyes are Opened!

And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. Matthew 9:28-29.

After Jesus raised Jarius' daughter from her deathbed, He was followed home by two blind men who recognized Him as the Son of David. Jesus seemingly ignored them until He went inside the house where He was staying and then asked them if they truly believed He was able to heal them. I don't think Jesus was questioning their belief regarding His power, but rather His desire to use that power to heal them. Could His power actually open the eyes of the blind?

This is a very important question that many of us Christians need to ask ourselves regarding our perspective of the Savior. Do we really and truly believe that He is able and willing to heal us, deliver us, set us free, open our spiritual eyes to the wonders of God, or whatever our request may be? Even raise a loved one from the dead?

These men answered "yes" and then Jesus opened their eyes - a picture of the post 30 AD believer whose spiritual eyes would be opened based solely on the preaching of the Word. He told them that they were healed in accordance with their faith - a very important spiritual truth for us to remember. 

When these men were sent away, a mute man was delivered of a demon and his tongue was loosed. The multitudes were astonished at these events and marveled at all Jesus was doing in Israel.

The beauty of recognizing Jesus as Messiah (the Son of David) is that we become born again, and our spiritual eyes are opened just as these blind men's eyes were opened in the natural. While natural sight is wonderful, spiritual sight is far and above more important than anything we can see in the natural realm. 

As new creations IN Christ, God gives us eyes to see and a tongue to confess the wonderful things He is doing on this earth. Praise Him for such a glorious gift!

Colossians 2 - Completeness IN Him

For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. Colossians 2:9-10

Join us as we continue to look at the Apostle Paul's words to the Colossian church.

Just like today, there was much false teaching in the first century church that tarnished the pure Gospel of Grace given by the Lord Jesus Christ to Paul. As a result, he was vigilant in encouraging the believers to hold fast to the sound doctrine and truth that they had originally heard and come to believe. Most of us Christians know that this takes diligence and discipline, especially when surrounded by negative circumstances and negative people!

Paul tells us that Christ is the fullness of the Godhead bodily AND that we are complete IN Him! Just meditate on that a while and let it change you from the inside out! This takes spiritual eyes and ears to fathom!

There are so many more wonderful truths shared in this magnificent letter. Read it and be blessed!

The Book of Ruth - Part 7

And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem: And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give thee of this young woman. Ruth 4:11-12

We finish up with Chapter 4 where Boaz redeems Naomi and the Moabitess, Ruth, in a public, formal, legal setting before the elders of Israel. Great rejoicing ensues and a blessing is declared over Boaz's house and Ruth's womb. She is compared to Leah and Rachel, the wives of Jacob who bore the sons of Israel, and Tamar, another righteous woman mentioned in the lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ruth is a picture of the Gentile Church who has been redeemed by the heavenly Boaz, Jesus Christ. This is a wonderful time of spiritual rejoicing in that the sinful, heathen man can now be grafted into the family of God.

Read this amazing book in the Old Testament and be blessed!

The Book of Ruth - Part 6

Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it. Ruth 4:5-6

Starting in Chapter 4 of Ruth, we see that Boaz makes a formal, legal request of the unnamed kinsman redeemer (representing the Law) who has first place to redeem Naomi and Ruth.

It is important that this procedure be made in a public setting, at the city gates, in front of the elders of the community. Interestingly enough, there are 10 elders invited to sit with the potential kinsman redeemers to witness what will transpire (10 Commandments)!

The same is true for what the Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross. What happened in the spiritual realm while He took on sin, the curse, and death is not dissimilar to what happened with Boaz when he formally redeemed Ruth, the Moabitess widow. Only He could do what the Law could not do. He formally and legally fulfilled the Law, set it aside, and rendered God's courtroom closed! Sin, the Law, and the Old Covenant requirements are obsolete!

Listen and learn more about what was done for you on the day of Crucifixion and Resurrection by the Lord Jesus Christ!

The Book of Ruth - Part 3

And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. Ruth 2:11-12

Our study of Ruth 2 continues. We see that Boaz called Ruth "daughter" and promised her a "full reward" because she left her parents and home country to come be a part of a people (Israel) she had not known before.


The same is true for us when we accept the gift of salvation and become a child of God, part of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. By leaving this wicked world system and becoming born again into a new kingdom, we also receive a full reward. God is our reward! We are joint heirs with Jesus!

The Book of Ruth - Part 1

And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me. Ruth 1:16-17

Join us as we look at the story of one of my favorite patriarchs of the Bible, the Moabitess, Ruth. Despite her nasty ancestry and past, she is King David's great grandmother and in the line of the Lord Jesus Christ! The message is that there is no one exempt from God's plan of redemption, Anyone can come forward and receive the free gift of salvation!

The Father's Secret Place in Psalms 91

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Psalms 91: 1-2

Have you ever had one of those days where you wonder where the heavenly father is? Has He taken a vacation and abandoned you? Why on earth are these things happening to me? Where is my protector and confidant?

Well, He's still here! He never leaves us nor forsakes us. At times like this, I go to Psalms 91 and meditate on His wonderful promises of protection and safety. His Word has final authority over our lives. We must force ourselves to look past our circumstances and believe God's Word!

The Promises of Psalms 23

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
Psalms 23

The Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, provides for us, protects us, leads and guides us in all things. Suffering may exist, as well as trials and tribulations and persecutions from the enemy, but He is with us, to guide us and comfort us in these last days!

Live Free From the Law of Sin & Death

For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 7:22-25a

The Apostle Paul teaches us from the Book of Romans that the law of sin and death reigns in our mortal bodies so that the good that we want to do we can't seem to do! We seem to keep on sinning no matter how hard we try! How frustrating!

But the cure has been given in the person of Jesus Christ! He is the answer. When we get born again IN HIM, we come under a different law, the law of spirit and life! Now, there is no more condemnation and shame. We now live a life of liberty and freedom!

Be Freed From a Guilty Conscience!

For the law having a shadow of good things to come, andnot the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. Hebrews 10:1-2  Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews 10:22

The heavenly father does not want you to have a guilty conscience but to have a purged, clear conscience before Him. Come boldly to Him and get the help you need and the revelation to spiritually see all you are IN Him!

As we look at Romans 6, we see that the old sinner man died on the cross with Jesus and has been raised up with Him as a new creation! Sin no longer has mastery over us. That's very good news indeed!