Who's Your Daddy?????

This Sunday is Father's Day, but what do you do if your father is deceased? If you are a Christian the answer is simple... look to your Heavenly Father. God is the Father of all who accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior.

For those who have an earthly father the Bible has a few things to say to you. Both in the Old Testament in the book of Deuteronomy and in the New Testament in the Epistle to the Ephesians, the Bible promises that if we honor our father and mother that it will go well with us and that we may live long.

Deuteronomy 5:16 "Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.”

Ephesians 6:2-3 "Honor your father and mother"—which is the first commandment with a promise— "that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."[

I believe this is even more true if we honor our Heavenly Father. Honoring God will make things go well with us as we invite and authorize God's protective hedge to be put around us. Isaiah chapter 5:1-6 talks about what can happen if we dishonor God as it relates to the hedge of protection.

The Song of the Vineyard
1 I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.
2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones
and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only bad fruit.

3 "Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.

4 What more could have been done for my vineyard
than I have done for it?
When I looked for good grapes,
why did it yield only bad?

5 Now I will tell you
what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
and it will be destroyed;
I will break down its wall,
and it will be trampled.

6 I will make it a wasteland,
neither pruned nor cultivated,
and briers and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds
not to rain on it."

The Bible is very clear from cover to cover. When we honor and obey God, it will go well with us, God will be pleased and we will receive a blessing. When we dishonor God, we invite God's anger upon us whereby removing the hedge of protection from around us.

I urge you to use the Father's Day to reflect on how well you honor God The Father. We all fall short in this area and need to repent and ask God to forgive us of our dishonor towards Him. This will help restore a close fellowship and "it will go well with us".

What Notion Is Our Nation

The more things change, the more they stay the same. 2000 years ago, the "government" realized that if they did not control Jesus, His teachings, and His followers that they would lose their power over the people. This is seen in scripture, John 11:48 "If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” True, this verse references the Romans, but you could just as easily apply it today and substitute the word Romans with "The People".

 The Federal Government thrives on 2 conditions that they count on from its citizens: ignorance and apathy. As Born Again Believers in Christ, we should not be either of those. Yet, it is far too prevalent. Over time we have allowed our government to make legal, and acceptable, removal of God from the classroom, the teaching of Evolution over Creationism, abortion, and gay marriage just to name a few.

 I list removal of God from the classroom first because this is how the degeneration gets started. Removing God and the Bible from the classroom opened the door to teach the idea of Darwin and the Theory of Evolution. Without Biblical truth to stand on, many children will be persuaded and believe this idea of evolution . If they believe there is a God, they obtain a skewed vision of God as being some vicious dictator who just wants to tell everyone else what to do in order to make everyone miserable and ruin their lives (wait, I digress... for a second I thought I was describing our government).

The Government is smart.. they realize what Proverbs 22:6 said long ago "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."   The Government knows that if a child is endoctrinated with their ideas that the child will retain those ideas into adulthood. Each idea builds to another. Teaching of evolution over creation, devalues life which opens up the door for acceptance of abortion because after all it's not a created baby in there, it is just a mess of tissue.

The Government is also smart in knowing that if it can keep the people away from God and His teachings that the people will become desensitized to what was going on around them, which creates a state of apathy. They know that if the people look to God for their strength and answers to their problems (not Government) , that it will take the power that they thrive on away from them and turn it back to God (and God's people).

 So two question remains  .. are we still a Christian Nation and does anyone still care?

Jew Interrupted, The 70 weeks of Daniel

There is still some confusion as to dispensations, the rapture, the Tribulation Period, etc. If we look at the prophecy from the book of Daniel it should be crystal clear that the rapture will take place BEFORE the Tribulation period and it should also be crystal clear that God is not finished with the Jews as a nation. The scripture reference is Daniel 9:24-27

24 Seventy weeks (or 490 Years) are determined upon your people (the Jews) and upon your holy city (Jerusalem), to finish the transgression (the rejection of Christ), and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and sixty two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
26 And after sixty two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end war and desolations are determined.
27 And he (antichrist) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week (7 years): and in the middle of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Let's breakdown this incredible passage of scripture so it will make sense. I'll let each topic start with the letter "P" for easier remembrance. The first P is the Period. Verse 24 says the Period is 490 years. God is going to deal with the Jewish nation for a period of 490 years. How do we get 490 years from 70 weeks? It literally means 70 7's or 70 times 7. Look at Genesis 29 verses 20 & 27 "And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her. Fulfill her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which you shall serve with me yet seven other years." You see how the Bible uses the term "week" to mean 7 years. We say a week is 7 days but in Bible times it can also mean 7 years.

When did the 490 years start? Verse 25 says it began at the command to restore and re-build the Jerusalem. When did that take place? Nehemiah 2:1 "In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes.." skipping down to verses 17 & 18:

Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me. They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.

Now what does this mean in simple terms? When was the decree to rebuild given in terms we can understand?

Artaxerxes Longimanus ascended to the throne of the Medo-Persian empire in July 465 B.C. (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1990 ed.). The twentieth year of his reign would have begun in July 446 B.C. The decree occurred approximately nine months later in the month of Nisan (March/April on our calendar). By Hebrew tradition when the day of the month is not specifically stated (as in Artaxerxes decree), it is given to be the first day of that month. Consequently, the very day of Artaxerxes' decree was the first day of the Hebrew month Nisan in 445 B.C. The first day of Nisan in 445 B.C. corresponds to the 14th day of March. These dates were confirmed through astronomical calculations at the British Royal Observatory and reported by Sir Robert Anderson (Robert Anderson, "The Coming Prince", Kregel. Reprinted in 1984.).

So, the Period began on March 14th, 445 B.C.

Not only the Period, but look at the People. Verse 24 says "Your People". Who were Daniel's people? The Jews. This prophecy and everything in it, is Jew only, us Gentiles are not involved.

Now, the Place... again verse 24 says "Your Holy city"... Jerusalem.

Next, the Purpose. What are the purposes? verse 24 says "to finish THE transgression". Not A transgression, but THE transgression. What is the Jews biggest transgression? Rejection of her Messiah. Not only the transgression, but to make and end of sin and to make reconciliation of iniquity. There can be no reconciliation until the sins are dealt with and the sins can't be dealt as long as Messiah is rejected.

The next purpose is to bring everlasting righteousness. Look at Romans 10:3 "For they (The Jews) being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." In contrast, Jeremiah 23:5-6 states "Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS."

The next purpose is to seal up the vision and prophecy. The Old Testament prophets had no clue about a church age that was to come, no mention of grace, etc. In several of his epistles, Paul uses the word "mystery" in reference to the Gospel and that is exactly what it was. It was hidden and unknown to the Jews. Romans 11:25
"For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in."


The final purpose is to Anoint the Most Holy. Some say the most Holy is the temple and some say it is Jesus Himself. When either is Anointed, what a glorious day that will be.

Ok, now lets move to the Program... back to our timeline and count. God's clock starts to count from March 14th 445 B.C. so let's see how the count goes.

The Commencement of the Count
Verse 25 says that the finished restoration of the city would take 7 weeks (49 years).

The Coming of The Christ
verse 26 says after 62 weeks (434 years) Christ will be cut off. If we take the 49 years for the city to be re-built and add in the 434 years for Christ to be cut off we get 483 years (or 173,880 days). Remember, in Bible prophecy a prophetic year is 360 days, not 365 like we have. That is why in the book of Revelation it talks about 1,260 days of great tribulation as being 3 1/2 years. When did Jesus start his public ministry. Luke 3:1 tells us it started in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Cesar. We have records of the reign of Tiberius Caesar and we know the 15th year of his reign was 29 A.D. Three Passovers later Jesus would make His triumphant entry into Jerusalem. It took place on April 6, 32 A.D. If we count 173,880 days from March 14th 445 B.C. we come to April 6, 32 A.D. Jesus came on the exact day that the prophet Daniel foretold in Daniel 9.

The Crucifixion of The Christ
Not only did Daniel foretell the coming of Jesus Christ but he foretold the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Look again at Daniel 9:26 "And after sixty two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself." To be cut off is to be crucified. However, He is not going to die for what He did. Isaiah 53:8 "He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken."

The Collapse of the City
Verse 26
"and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end war and desolations are determined." Daniel prophesied the destruction of the city. It happened in 70 A.D. when the Roman general, Titus, and his armies layed siege to Jerusalem. He gave an order that the Temple was not to be destroyed but it inadvertently caught on fire and was destroyed. In fact, not 1 stone was left on top of another just as Jesus has said in Luke 21:6 "As for these things which you behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."

The Calling of The Church
Verse 26 "war and desolations". We are living in this time of war and desolations right now that Daniel spoke about. With the crucifixion of Christ, God has called "time out" on the Jews as a nation. Individual Jews can still be saved if they come to Christ, but God has changed from dealing with the Jews as a nation to now dealing with the Gentiles. It is the dispensation of Grace known as the Church Age. Now, when will the Church Age end? I don't know and you don't know. Only God knows the day and time. But one day, the last person will be saved in this Dispensation, the trumpet will sound, and Jesus will come for His bride, the church. We will be raptured out before the tribulation period is to begin. There are several examples in the Bible that show this. Enoch, was caught up or raptured as he was walking along just before the flood came. Lot, as backslidden as he was, was called out of Sodom. In fact, the angel told Lot that he could not take action against Sodom until Lot was out of there. (Genesis 19:21-22) "And [the angel] said to him, See, I have yielded to your entreaty concerning this thing also; I will not destroy this city of which you have spoken. Make haste and take refuge there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar [little]."

1 Thessalonians 1:10 "And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come." The wrath to come is the Great Tribulation. We are told to wait for Jesus, not to brace ourselves for the Great Tribulation. Also, in the book of Revelation, after addressing the churches in chapter 3, John is "caught up" and the church is mentioned no more.

Also, the Great Tribulation is part of the 490 years determined upon the Jewish nation. We (as Gentiles) are not a part of this. Now the unsaved Gentiles will unfortunately have to go through it, but not those who have trusted Christ.

These examples (and others I could mention) are proof positive that the Rapture will take place "before" the Great Tribulation period.

Completion of the Count
Ok, the Church has been taken out and now God starts the clock ticking again on the Jewish people. Only 483 of the 490 years has been completed. The final 7 years or final "week" must now take place. This is when the anti christ will come on the scene. He will make a covenant with Israel for one week. The temple will be re-built so that the ceremonial sacrifices may start again.

Look at verse 27: And he (antichrist) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week (7 years): and in the middle of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Then, in the middle of that week, he (the anti christ) will break the covenant with Israel and cause the sacrifices to cease. He will then sit in the temple declaring himself to be God and the Jewish people will fall all over themselves to worship him. Jesus told of this in John 5:43 "I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him."

Also look in Matthew 24:4-5
"And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that you be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet."

Now look at verses 15-21
"When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoever reads, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that nurse in those days! But pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be."

The most important thing though is that if you, as a Gentile, have not trusted Christ as your personal Savior, then you will not be in the Rapture when it occurs and if you are not already in the grave, you will go through this horrible tribulation period.

Good Friday?

As we approach what most call Easter Sunday (I call it Resurrection Day myself) it is helpful to look into the tradition of "Good Friday" and why it is a scriptual error. Below is a great article on the subject.

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GOOD FRIDAY?

Have you ever wondered how Jesus Christ could be crucified on Friday and be resurrected on Sunday after being buried for three days? Well, that's impossible! You cannot squeeze three days between Friday and Sunday. By no stretch of the imagination is it possible to stretch the period from Friday evening to Sunday morning into "three days and three nights".

We believe that Jesus Christ died on a Wednesday. We do not believe that Jesus died on Friday. Let's turn to Matthew 12:40, and notice Christ's own prophecy pertaining to His death, burial, and resurrection. "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:40)." "Three days and three nights" means seventy-two hours. Jesus defined the length of a day in John 11:9. Our Lord said, "Are there not twelve hours in a day?" Well, if there are twelve hours in a day, then there are twelve hours in a night. And therefore, three days and three nights would be 72 hours. Anything less than 72 hours would not fulfill the prophecy of Jonah or the words of Jesus Christ.

Perhaps you're wondering why the vast majority of Christians accept the Friday-to-Sunday burial of Christ if it is wrong? The only answer that can be given is tradition. "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ (Colossians 2:8)." This is a tradition not taught in the Bible. Ash Wednesday and Lent also are not in the Bible. Even the word Easter is pagan, and it is not found in the Bible. In the King James Version the word "Easter" does occur in Acts 12:4, but is a mistranslation. The word Easter comes from the word Ish-tar and is the same as Astaroth, a pagan deity. We celebrate the resurrection of Christ again from the dead.

In order to explain the Good Friday tradition, the proponents say that Christ was buried during parts of three days and nights. That is Christ was buried for part of Friday, part of Saturday, and a part of Sunday.

Sometimes people ask, "Didn't the Jews count part of a day a whole day or part of a night as a whole night?" Whenever you have the expression "day and night" mentioned together in the Hebrew Scriptures, it always means a full day and a full night. For example, "And the evening and the morning were the first day (Genesis 1:8)"; "And the evening and morning were the second day (Genesis 1:13)"; "And the evening and morning were the third day (Genesis 1:13)"; and so on. Other examples are Esther 4:16; 5:1; II Samuel 30:12-13 and Jonah 1:17, where you will find the expression "three days and three nights," and in every instance it means full days and full nights--not part of a day and part of a night.

Let's see what the scriptures teach us as we look at an example in the life of Christ. The Scripture says, "And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered (Matthew 4:2)." Jesus fasted forty days and forty nights. If we say, as some do, that "three days and three nights" does not mean "three days and three nights", then we must also say that "forty days and forty nights" does not mean "forty days and forty nights". Where do we stop? Do we say that we really can't be sure about anything? Of course not! We believe the Bible to be literal.

Part of the confusion has come from verses like John 19:31. This verse says, "The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day (for that Sabbath day was an high day), besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away." The Sabbath in John 19:31 is not the regular Saturday Sabbath. It was the Passover Sabbath, which occurred on Thursday of the crucifixion week. Note that John 19:31 says, "For that Sabbath day was an high day." If it were talking of the Saturday Sabbath, then Christ would have been crucified on Friday. All the feast days God gave to Israel were considered Sabbaths though they did not fall on Saturday. Jesus was crucified on the preparation (Wednesday) of the Sabbath (Passover Sabbath) which was Thursday.

Now at what time of the day did Jesus die? It was around three in the afternoon on Wednesday. "And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: And having said thus, he gave up the ghost (Luke 23:44-46)." When it says the ninth hour, it means the ninth hour since the break of day. In other words, it was three o'clock in the afternoon. Jesus was taken away from the cross and hurriedly buried the same afternoon before sundown or 6:00 P.M.

Now remember that the Jewish day always begins at sundown or at about 6:00 P.M. Our day begins at midnight, but the Jewish day began at sunset. In Leviticus 23:32, the Lord said, "From even unto even shall you celebrate your sabbath.

If you count 72 hours from late Wednesday afternoon at around 6:00 P.M., then Jesus would have been in the tomb until late Saturday afternoon at around 6:00 P.M.

So, a Sunday morning resurrection is not what the Bible teaches. We believe that Jesus was resurrected on Saturday evening at about 6:00 P.M. Jesus was placed in the tomb at around 6:00 P.M. on Wednesday. Seventy-two hours later would be at around 6:00 P.M. on Saturday, exactly when the first day began (Sunday).

When the women arrived at the tomb early Sunday morning, Jesus was already gone. The Gospel is summed up in I Corinthians 15:3-4, "...Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." Those who arrived early Sunday morning simply discovered an empty tomb. The angel said, "He is not here, for He is risen (Luke 24:6)."

One objection to a Wednesday crucifixion is found in Luke 24:21, which says, "But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done." This conversation takes place on Sunday, the day of resurrection. The answer is found in the word "since." Counting from this verse, Sunday is the third day, Saturday the second day, Friday is the first day SINCE the Passover. The Thursday Passover (Jewish reckoning) had its night on what we would call Wednesday night and twilight of that night, meaning between 3:00 P.M. and 6:00 P.M., is when Christ was crucified. The twilight of Thursday afternoon would have counted as the twilight of Friday night which began at 6:00 P.M. by Jewish reckoning. So we see there is no conflict.

The real issue is not really what day was Christ crucified on, but the need to be careful Bible students, lest we miss what the Bible teaches about how to be saved. We know that nothing could wash away our sins but the blood of Jesus Christ.

Don't Be A Fool On April Fool's Day

What A Fool Believes

In 1979 the Doobie Brothers had a #1 hit with a song titled “What A Fool Believes”. What made this come to my mind? The message this past Sunday talked about the parable of the 10 Virgins where 5 were wise and 5 were foolish. It is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 25, verses 1:13

1"At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 "At midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!'
7 "Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.'
9 " 'No,' they replied, 'there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.'
10 "But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
11 "Later the others also came. 'Sir! Sir!' they said. 'Open the door for us!'
12 "But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I don't know you.'
13 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”

Upon first appearances, I thought the 5 virgins who did not have their oil ready were called foolish because they did not have their oil ready. However, God revealed to me that the reason they did not have their oil ready was because they were foolish. So I decided to search the scriptures for references to foolish people and this is what I discovered.

The idea of foolish in Biblical terms can be found at its core in Psalm 14:1

The fool says in his heart,
"There is no God."
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.

So Point #1 foolish people do not believe there is a God.

The next scriptural reference comes from Proverbs 1:7
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Fear of the Lord is not being afraid of God. It is giving honor, respect, and worship to God. When people do this, they qualify themselves to receive wisdom and understanding from God speaking to them. Conversely, a foolish person thinks they are wise in their own eyes and they despise it when someone tries to correct and instruct them in the wisdom of God. They are like the alcoholic that does not think they have a drinking problem.

So Point #2 foolish people do not even know they are foolish. This is why I believe that in order to get someone saved, we must first clearly show them that they are lost.


The next reference I found was in Luke 11:39-41

39 Then the Lord said to him, "Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give what is inside the dish to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.”

Jesus is talking to the Pharisees. The Pharisees were the strict, religious people who thought their own self righteousness was sufficient to get them to Heaven. They knew there was a God, but they were too foolish to recognize Jesus (as God) when they saw Him in the flesh.

So, Point #3 foolish people do not believe that Jesus was God incarnate.


The next scriptural reference comes from 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

“18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. 20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

To the unsaved world (in Biblical times they were called Greeks or Gentiles) the preaching of salvation only coming from belief (total trust) in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus is foolish. This reinforces point #3. If they do not believe that Jesus was God incarnate, it follows that they will think that the preaching of such a message is foolish. But God takes pleasure in turning man’s so called wisdom into something foolish.

So Point #4 is that foolish people who think they are wise in their own eyes will not hear the preaching of the Gospel that will be able to save them.


There are two scriptures that are closely tied together that speak of reproof and stubbornness of the fool. The first is Proverbs29:1
“He, that being often reproved hardens his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.”

The other is Romans 1:21-25

“21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
23 And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four footed beasts, and creeping things. 24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves: 25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was fitting. 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not proper.”

These two verses speak of people who are acutely aware that there is a God, they are even spoke to about it many times by others who want them to come to Christ, but after all of that they ignore the warnings. Once that happens, God turns them over to their own devices and let’s them destroy themselves.

So Point #5 only a fool ignores steady, Godly reproof and in doing so seals their own fate to eternal damnation.

I decided to make 5 points since there were 5 foolish virgins. Remember, they were not foolish just because they did not have their oil ready. They did not have their oil ready because they were foolish to begin with.

Let's look back at the initial scripture in Matthew. Near the end Jesus says "I never knew you." He did not say that He knew them at one time but now He no longer did. This is important. Remember, the first point? A fool doesn't believe there is a God. Since these virgins were foolish, it meant that they did not truly believe that the bridegroom (Jesus) was God. If they had, they certainly would have had the oil of the Holy Spirit in them and in their lamps.

So to recap the 5 points:

1) Foolish people do not believe there is a God
2) Foolish people do not even realize they are foolish
3) Foolish people do not believe that Jesus was God incarnate
4) Foolish people who think they are wise, will not hear the numerous calls for them to come to Jesus
5) Foolish people who willingly, constantly ignore the reproof from Godly people become so hard-hearted that they seal their own fate of destruction and eternal damnation.

We need to pray for the fools we know in our lives that they will have a repentant spirit, open their ears, open their hearts and receive the message that they are given over and over again before it is too late and they cross God's deadline where they will be turned over to their reprobate minds.

Helpful Hints To Better Understand The Bible

I talk to many people in church and out of church who say they either don't read the bible at all or they read it very little. The primary reason I hear is not lack of time, it is lack of understanding. Many have said they try to read the Bible and give up shortly after they start because they don't get anything out of it and they don't understand what they read. I know, because I used to be one of those people. My Bible had more dust on it than a TV screen in the same room with a fireplace that hasn't seen Windex in a month.

I'd like to share some things I have learned about getting more out of reading the Bible and hopefully these will be helpful. I found from personal experience that once I understood the Bible more, I wanted to read it more. By reading it more, I understood it more, etc.

The scripture reference I'd like to use is in James 1:21-25

"21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror:
24 For he beholds himself, and goes his way, and straightway forgets what manner of man he was.
25 But whosover looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed."

When looking at scripture it is important to know who is writing, who is being written to and why. James (a Jew) is writing to his fellow Jewish believers telling them how to be saved, but we can certainly still learn from it. Now you may say, hold it. What do you mean James is writing to fellow believers telling them how to be saved? If they are believers they are already saved. Well, yes they are. However, salvation comes in 3 tenses... past, present and future. You may ask what's the difference. I'll see if I can explain it and let the answer begin with the letter "P" for easier recall.

Past Tense Salvation - This happened the instant you trusted Jesus Christ as you Savior. You will never have to die and go to Hell because Jesus paid the price for you. Past tense salvation means you no longer are under the Penalty of sin.


Present Tense Salvation speaks of being saved from the Power of Sin. Look at the end of verse 21 "... which is able to save your soul." The greek word for soul is 'Psuche'.. which roughly speaking is your mind, emotion and will. James is telling us how to keep our mind, emotion and will in check and in line with God.


Future Tense Salvation comes when Jesus returns and we are changed into a new sinless creation. This is being saved from the Possibility of Sin. Once Jesus comes back and we are changed in a twinkling of an eye, we will be perfect and there will be no sin in us or even the possibility of sin in us because there is no sin in a Holy Heaven. What a time to look forward to.


Ok you say, that's nice and all but how does that help me better understand the Bible? Well this passage in James gives 4 ways to better receive God's Word when you read it. Instead of the letter "P", I am going to let each of these begin with the letter "R".

1) We should welcome the Word with a Repentant Spirit

Look again at verse 21 "Lay apart all filthiness and superfluidity of naughtiness." The word translated here as filthy is "rhuparia" and it is closely related to the term used for ear wax. James is telling us to get the spiritual wax out of our ears. How do our ears get this spiritual ear wax and how do we get rid of it? This wax comes from unconfessed sin in our lives. That's why it is important to repent of the sins you recognize or "come clean" before you attempt to hear from God through His word. Another analogy could be having spiritual weeds. Remember the parable about the sower. God's word is seed and any farmer knows before you plant the seed, you have to weed the garden. If we expect to hear from God, we have to do a self examination and come clean with or repent of those sins which hurt our fellowship with God. That is why the first step to better understanding the Bible is to approach the Bible with a Repentant Spirit.

2) We Should Welcome the Word with a Receptive Spirit. Look again at verse 21 "... receive with Meekness.." What is meekness? Meekness is not weakness. It is power under control. We can not dig into the Bible and treat it like a math or science book and try to draw truth out. Notice the word "receive". There are two words in the Greek for receive. One is "Lombano" which means to grasp, to reach out and take for youself. James does not use that meaning here because we can non just snatch truth out of the Word of God. James uses the other word for receive and it is "Decomai" which means to welcome, to openly receive as you would receive a guest in your home. We must come to the Word of God with a receptive, meek spirit and ask God to show us the truths He would have us to see. God is under no obligation to show anyone His truths if they don't first come to the Word with a repentant spirit.

So the next time we sit down to study the Bible we need to ask ourselves, are we meek? First question is are we clean, second question is are we meek and the two go hand in hand. If we are not meek we are not even going to admit when we are not clean.

3) We must welcome the Word with a Responsive Spirit. Look now at verses 22-23... "be doers of the Word and not hearers only." We can be clean and meek but if we are not obedient to what we read, God is not going to reveal any new truths to us. There a couple of scriptures that address this.

Matthew 7:26-27 "And every one that hears these sayings of mine, and does them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it."

Luke 11:28 " blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it."

If we want a blessing, if we want to build our faith on a strong foundation, we need to be obedient to what we read. Once we do that, God will then trust us and reveal more truths to us.

Here is a practical example of what I mean. Suppose you had a young child and you assigned them certain household duties to perform in order to earn an allowance. The more difficult the job, the more allowance they would earn. You assign them to clean their room. They don't do it. Then later, when there is a new video game out that they want to get and need extra money, they come to you and ask if they can mow the lawn with the new fancy riding mower that even you have to read the manual to figure out how to operate. What would your reaction be? Would you say sure? Not hardly. What you would probably say is "why should I teach you how to operate this complicated mower when you didn't even do the simple task of cleaning your room?"

The Best way to understand the parts of the Bible that we don't understand is to obey the parts we do understand.

4) We must Welcome the Word with a Reflective Spirit. Look at verses 23-24: "For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror: For he beholds himself, and goes his way, and straightway forgets what manner of man he was."

So many of us are guilty of reading the Bible with a cavalier, casual glance. We are much like the person who looks at themselves briefly in the mirror and soon forgets what they see. Many times we read the Bible and may come across an interesting new truth but later on forget what it was. It is a good idea to have a pen and notebook with us when we read. Much like in a classroom, doing this shows God we are expecting to hear from Him and are ready to write down and meditate on what is revealed to us.

The Bible is not like any other book. We read other books, the Bible reads us. We see ourselves when we read the Bible that is why James uses the metaphor of a mirror. The Bible will reveal things in us that we need to address. Shortcomings that many times we don't want to face up to. You know the expression that says "mirrors don't lie." Well, just like the mirror, the Word of God doesn't lie and we may even discover things about ourselves that make us uncomfortable but we need to hear. This is also where the meek spirit comes into play. We must be willing to accept what we see about ourselves and not turn away from it.

We all like to receive a blessing don't we? Look at verse 25 again "But whosoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed."

This verse tells us that if we look into God's Word, continue in it, meditate and remember what we read, and are then obedient to what we read that we shall be "blessed indeed."

The Next time we sit down to read the Bible we need to think about the 4 "R's".... Repentant Spirit, Receptive Spirit, Responsive Spirit, and Reflective Spirit. I believe if we follow this pattern that the Bible will begin to come alive to us and not only will we understand more of what we do read, we will actually want to read more of it more often. Let's keep those dust bunnies off our Bibles and truly experience what God would have us to from His Word.

Right On The Money or Worry Free Living

We are wrapping up the series on "Managing God's Money" and I have some take aways from it and the subject in general.

First, and nothing else will work if this is not your belief, we must realize that it is not our money, but God's money. As such, we are not "owners" we are "stewards". Given this fact, every decision we make concerning money is no longer a financial decision but a Spiritual decision.

The scripture reference is a well known one from the Gospel of Matthew 6:33 but it is normally not a good idea to just pull 1 verse alone without prior verses to set the context (especially since verse 33 starts with the word "but").

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Let's take a detailed look at these verses. The word "worry" is mentioned 6 times in this passage of scripture. This chapter is more about worry than money, but God knew that the largest source of our worry would be about money and material things. God knows that we in our human nature are natural "worry warts" or else He would have not been so emphatic in telling us not to worry. If you want to be technical, worry is actually mentioned 7 times, not 6, if you count the phrase "you of little faith" as another way of saying "worrier". We should be warriors for Christ, not worriers for ourselves. God can not use a worrier to do His will and work that He wants done on the earth; He will only use warriors. How does one become a warrior and not a worrier? Stay tuned for the answer.

Let's tighten the focus on verse 33 since that is the popular verse. Look at the first few words... "seek", "first" and "kingdom". Seek doesn't mean looking around hoping to find something (like those old seek and find puzzle books where we used to look for hidden words). The word seek here is talking about a deliberate pursuit. The way a thirsty man seeks out something cold to drink or the way a hungry man seeks out food. This is why in the beatitudes, Jesus says "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness". This is not something we are going to be able to obtain through osmosis, hearing a sermon, or having someone else bring it to us. We have to make the conscious effort to pursue it on our own with all we have. (kind of reminds you of the 1st commandment doesn't it?)

So we see what seek is and how important it is. Now go to the other word.. first. This speaks of priority. As followers of Christ, God doesn't just want a place in our lives or even to be a priority... He wants and demands preeminence. Jesus said in Luke 9:62 "“No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” And why does He demand this? To be mean? Of course not. He demands this so that we do not become self sufficient, but God sufficient.

OK, on to Kingdom. What is the Kingdom? In this context it is not a literal geographical place. It is referring to a rule or reign. The Kingdom then is allowing God to be the dictator of your life.. the sole ruler. Who heads a kingdom? The King. What is the requirement of those living in the kingdom? To do what the king says. What is the obligation of the king? To take care of the needs of those in the kingdom. When we "seek first the kingdom" what we are doing is putting every area of our life (not just financial, but everything) in the King's hands and trusting Him to meet all our needs. Notice I said needs, not wants. God is smart enough not to always give us what we want, but He will always give us what we need.

Again, this goes back trust. You can not trust and worry at the same time. If you are worrying, then you really haven't fully trusted. It amazes me sometimes how people will trust God for their eternity but they don't trust Him to provide to pay a certain bill, keep them in good health or for basic transportation. As an aside, the word trust in the Greek is "pisteuo". Unfortunately, in most bibles the Greek word pisteuo is inaccurately translated "believe" instead of trust. Many people believe in God (make a mental ascent that there is a God), but for salvation we have to believe,trust, pisteuo that Christ's death, burial and resurrection is sufficient to pay our sin debt. This is known as the Gospel.

This then leads me back to my earlier statement that every decision we make concerning money is a Spiritual decision, not a financial one. If we parade every decision through the lens of two things then the decisions become quite clear and easy to make. The two tests are: 1) is this spending decision beneficial to the kingdom? and 2) is it adding to my righteousness.

So how do we know what is righteous for the kingdom? We have to know the King? We have to not just know about the King, but KNOW the King. How do we know that we know the King? Two tell tale signs will let you know if you really know the King and can act as your Spiritual thermometer to take your Spiritual temperature. They are the calendar and check book. We can look at each of these and know if we are or are not connecting and really knowing the God we claim to love and trust in.

The calendar. How do we spend our time? How much of our time is set aside to spend time with God, fellowship with others, and serve God? Sadly, most of us come up short in this area. God gives each and every one of us the same 24 hours to do with what we please. There is no saying "I wish I had as much time as this other person does". The fact is, we make time for the things that are most important in our lives. I believe that if we want to really connect with God and know Him, we must spend time DAILY in His word and His presence. This is not optional. We must also spend time with other believers in fellowship.. not just on Sunday mornings but in bible study groups, home groups, prayer groups, etc. Finally, we must take time to serve. It can be helping someone with a need, teaching someone God's word so they can understand it, or visiting someone in a hospital or prison. (see Matthew 25) If we were to keep a balance sheet of how we spend each day, we would probably be shocked to see how little time we give to God.

The checkbook. There is an old expression that goes "put your money where your mouth is" but I prefer (and so does Jesus) to express it this way "put your money where your heart is". (see Matthew 6:21) If we are to connect and know God we must give back a portion of what He has so richly given us. This can be tithing at your local church, giving to missions, etc. If we decide to keep all that God has given us to ourselves and not give (the tithe for example), we are saying that we do not trust God to take care of us using the remaining 90%. This makes no sense if you think about it. We are telling God, "God, I trust you to raise me from the dead, but I don't trust you to pay the light bill so I need to hoard all I have just in case".

OK, so how does one become a "warrior" for God instead of a "worrier" for self? The key is not in the word warrior or worrier but in the words that follow... God and self. If we truly seek the Kingdom, we put the perfect "God" on the throne of our lives, trust Him with everything we have, which frees us up to be a mighty warrior to serve Him and provides joy unspeakable in our lives. If we put "self" on the throne, then we are trusting in our imperfect selves which can only lead to worry, mental breakdown, misery and, at best, lack of joy.

Will you be a warrior or a worrier? The choice is yours.