The Small Branch

  This morning I was reading in Luke chapter 7, about Simon the Pharisee and the “sinful woman” and it hit me.   I have been struggling with pride my whole life, most of us do, I guess, but the last year or so it has been more and more obvious to me.   Have you ever noticed how much more we see our sin as we get to know the Father better?   Anyway, it hit me that I am, in many ways, a Pharisee.   I often think that my idea of how things should be is actually the way things should be.   As I was answering the questions in my study book, it became clear.   Simon was looking at the outside of a person, only her past actions, her clothes, her situation, etc.   How many times do I do that?   I was raised in a Christian home, but it was also clear that being a “successful, upper middle class American” was equally important and people were definitely judged by that standard.   I have worked in a private Christian school where students were ma...

  Psalms 119:9-16 How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word. With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me stray from Your commandments. Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You. Blessed are You, O Yahweh; Teach me Your statutes. With my lips I have recounted All the judgments of Your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, As much as in all riches. I will muse upon Your precepts And look upon Your ways. I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word. I was looking at statistics on Bible reading today after someone I was talking to made a comment about the small percentage of people who read their Bible.  The statistics I saw all said only around 10% of Christians (or Americans, depending on the survey) read their Bibles daily.  On top of that, it seems that more and more people see the Bible as just another book.  Wow!  I’ve only posted the f...

How blessed are those whose way is blameless, Who walk in the law of Yahweh. How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, They seek Him with all their heart. They also do not work unrighteousness; They walk in His ways. You have commanded us , To keep Your precepts diligently.   Oh may my ways be established To keep Your statutes!   Then I shall not be ashamed When I look upon all Your commandments. I shall give thanks to You with uprightness of heart, When I learn Your righteous judgments. I shall keep Your statutes; Do not forsake me utterly!

The dictionary defines a prepper as , “a person who believes a catastrophic disaster or emergency is likely to occur in the future and makes active preparations for it, typically by stockpiling food, ammunition , and other supplies. "there's no agreement among preppers about what disaster is most imminent”.” So, basically, preppers are preparing for something that might happen in ways that might help.  But what about something that is a sure thing?  Do we prepare for that?  Unfortunately, most do not.  Jesus coming again to judge the world is a SURE THING.  It will DEFINITELY happen.  And repenting and believing in Jesus is the only thing that will save us.  And not believing something will happen doesn’t make it not happen. We need to prepare for the sure thing and not be anxious about tomorrow (Matthew 6:25-34).  Sure, some common sense preparedness is a good idea.  Look at COVID.  Everything shut down, so we needed to hav...

  As I have struggled through some difficult things in the past year or so (and continue to struggle), I have often sought the council people I consider to be godly and wise.   While I have gotten some help from them, I have noticed something that makes me ponder.   I have heard a lot of phrases like, “I can’t believe a God of righteousness would do that,”   “Logically, it has to be this way,”   “I don’t think . . . ,”   “I feel . . . ,” and more.   Some of these phrases have come out of my own mouth.   Lately, I have been rethinking them, though.   Does it really matter what I think, feel, or reason to be true?  I’m not sure it does.  What really matters is what God thinks, feels, and reasons to be true.  And we find that in His Word.  That means that, if we believe something, we had better be able to back it up with Scripture.  It also means that if we believe something, even if we have believed it and been tau...

 Here's a question:  if you have a toddler and he is trying to climb into the fireplace while there is a fire burning in it, is it more loving to let him climb into the fire because he wants to and you want him to be happy OR is it more loving to snatch him away from it and paddle his behind so that he knows not to do that again?   Why do we think God should respond to us "climbing into the flames" of our sin any differently?   And why do we respond to others' sin by excusing it, claiming that we are being loving?  Be loving.  Speak truth.

 There is often a big difference between being religious and truly loving Jesus.  There have been people throughout history that were "religious" but had nothing to do with the One True God.  Acts 19 talks about religious people who worship Artemis.  They joined in a riot where the whole crowd simply shouted "Great is Artemis of  the Ephesians!" (see verses 28 and 34).  But notice verse 32: "So then, some were shouting one thing and some another, for the assembly was in confusion and the majority did not know for what reason they had come together. " (emphasis mine).  Mob mentality.  How many "religious" people are caught up in mob mentality?  There are psychologist devoted to studying this phenomenon.  Basically, people go along with the mob whether they understand what the mob is fighting for or not.  God does not call us to have a mob mentality.  He wants us to know  Him.  He wants us to know  what we believe ...

 In Acts 17:16-34, Paul is in Athens, a city "full of idols" (v. 16).  We are told that the Athenians had so many idols that they even had one "TO AN UNKNOWN GOD."  Verse 21 gives us further insight: "Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new."  Even after Paul tells them about Creator God, the one True God, and Jesus Christ, they just want to hear him again.  Very few believed.  You see, the Athenians had a mishmash of beliefs and, because of their love of talking and debating new ideas, they just kept adding to the mishmash.  It makes me think of paint colors.  When you see a pretty new color, if you choose to add it to all of the other colors, all you end up with is a really ugly brown.  You have lost all the other colors.  Mixing ideas together doesn't always end up with great thought.  It certainly doesn't end up with noble-mindedness. ...

 What is nobility?  The dictionary defines nobility as the quality of being noble in character, mind, birth, or rank.  Noble means belonging to a class of aristocracy or having fine personal qualities or morals.  Basically, nobility means that you are somehow "above" those around you.   Acts 17:11 says, "Now these were more noble-minded  than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so."  The Bereans were considered to think like nobility because they searched the Scriptures checking what they were taught against Truth.  These men and women were "above" others in their thinking because they were thinking for themselves and thinking about Scripture.  They didn't trust anyone when it came to what they needed to learn.  They trusted in the Word of God and therefore made sure that those they were listening too measured up to the standard of God's W...

 "Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?"  Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."  Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?""  John 18:37-38a "What is truth?"  We think this is a question only of our relativistic time, but Pilate asked that question 2000 years ago.  People have been asking that question since there were people.  In Psalm 119, we are told "Your law is truth" (verse 140), "Your commandments are truth" (verse 151), and "The sum of Your word is truth" (verse 160).  This tells us that God's Word is truth.  John tells us that "the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)  If God's Word is truth and His Word became fles...

 I wanted to add to what we started in the previous post.  If you are wondering if you can be used by God with your past, the genealogy of Jesus is a great place to look.  Noah imbibed too much (Genesis 9:21).  Abraham lied about his wife to save his own skin, possibly sacrificing her, not once, but twice (Genesis 12:11-13 and Genesis 20:2).  Rahab was a prostitute (Joshua 2:1).  Ruth was a Moabite, a hated race (Ruth 1:4).  David was an adulterer and a murderer (2 Samuel 11).  Solomon was a task master and loved too many women (1 Kings 11:3 and 12:4).  The point is, even though these men and women were totally human and made huge mistakes, God still used them to bring the Savior of the world to earth.  You see, it isn't about us.  It isn't about our skills, talents, "goodness", or mistakes.  Everything in life is all about God.  So the question isn't if we have done too much to be lovable and used of God.  The questi...

 Have you ever thought that?  Said it?  Turned your back on God because you believed it?  Looked for life in other places because you were sure you had blown it too badly?  Today I want to look at one example that might help put some of those lies to rest. Acts 7:23-24 says, " When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites.    He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. "  So Moses is a murderer.  He was defending someone else, but still, he killed someone.   But then Stephen continues in verses 35-38, " This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.   He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years i...

 In John 9:41, Jesus says, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say 'We see,' your sin remains."  Jesus is talking to the Pharisees, who have been questioning Him about healing a blind man on the Sabbath.  He is trying to make them see the importance of true sight.  Are we as blind as they?   Jesus tells us, as do Paul and the other authors who have written parts of the New Testament, that we are saved by faith.  We must believe in Him.  But, in order to believe, we must be able to see.  We must be able to see our own sin.  Our own need.  If we are blind to our sin, we will be too blind to believe.  If we don't realize we are blind, we won't have the faith we need to be healed.  We need the Lord to open our eyes to see ourselves as we are and to see Him as He is.  We are sinful, dark, lost.  He is perfect, pure, holy.  The contrast is so great that, when we can see it we are brought to our kne...

This morning I was pulling weeds and had the very frustrating experience of not being able to get them up from the roots.  I was feeling pretty lazy, so I just pulled what I could.  That often meant just getting the above ground parts.  The Holy Spirit whispered a lesson to me in this.  We can't just clean up the sin on the outside.  We need to be cleaning up on the inside, pulling out the roots of our sin.  RC Sproul talks about this in The Holiness of God .  He mentions the Pharisees' need to look good on the outside, while perpetuating their misunderstanding of the Law that addresses the inside.  Moses talks about this in Deuteronomy.  He makes a covenant with the people and all those who come after them, warning them to serve the Lord only.  Verse 18 of chapter 29 says,  "so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of th...

 Do you ever have doubts?  About God, I mean.  Do you ever wonder if He is really there or if He really cares?  Do you ever wonder if He really does have your best interests at heart?  I have been looking at two stories of doubt recently.  One ended well.  The other did not.   Let's start with Eve.  In Genesis 3, Satan tempts Eve to dwell on her doubts to start her down a road to destruction.  He begins by asking her "did God really say . . ."  Here, he is opening the door to doubts.  How does Eve handle it?  She first defends God, but then she adds a twist to the command.  God told her not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16-17), but He didn't say she shouldn't touch it (Genesis 3:3).  Eve makes a classic error in judgement.  When trying to deal with the doubts presented to her, she tries to justify herself and talk herself into believing, all while feeding the doubt...

Last week, President Obama made a startling announcement.  He has formally announced that our country no longer believes in right and wrong, but only in social trends at the whim of the people.  The United States has been heading down this road for many years, but to hear it come directly from the President is most unsettling.  The issue here is not truly gay marriage, but truth.  There are two truths which we must uphold for this issue.  First, homosexuality is sin.  It is defined as such by God Almighty in the Bible.  Of course, like all sin, we are called to love others into repentance, not force with hate and oppression.  But sin is still sin.  Secondly, according to our Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and numerous other sources, the United States of America was founded as a Christian nation.  While we do not persecute people of other faiths, we do hold fast to our Christian principles.  This should be evident in ou...