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and such were some of you (1 Corinthians 6.11) I was just getting to the good part of the story yesterday when I ran out of space. So, let’s look again. Do you tend to judge people by their appearance and your expectations? If you do be warned, you are wrong! Look what happened to me. One time I was at the church in the middle of a construction project. My Brazilian coworker and I were working on something that was of "the utmost importance" at the moment. As I stood there giving some instructions into the room walked a "beggar man" and his, pierced ear, slob of a son. Of all the gall! I mean, these guys didn't wait at the gate like "normal" beggars. They actually opened that gate and walked right into the church and began peddling their wares to my coworker. The dad had an arm-load of whatever he was selling. This guy was clearly a looser. His five-o-clock shadow was grungy. His eyes bloodshot and his breath... well I didn't get THAT close. His ...

And such were some of you ... 1 Corinthians 6.11 I love the above passage. Paul writes to a church populated by ex drug dealers, prostitutes, homosexuals and thieves as if they were now all saints! That is because the WERE! They were all transformed by the saving blood of the Lord Jesus Christ! In the middle of this chapter of reprimands Paul stops to look over the congregation in his minds eye and sees precious souls that had been rescued from the edge of the abyss. Each one has a preposterous story, an incredible story, a love story. Each had come to know God’s saving grace and had been transformed. If you had been with Paul at the beginning of the Corinth church plant would you have been excited about the prospects? Would you have even wanted to be on Paul's team? Would you have been able to sell this ministry opt as valid to your supporting churches? Maybe. Paul writes to this problematic group to express his love, concern and to give some much needed instruction. As he dic...

"You no good lily livered low down snake!" I can see him now. I can't remember his name but I can see him. He's a filthy old cowboy with a five day shadow of graying stubble hugging his haggard jaw. Crow's feet frame his squinting eyes. Wretched and crooked teeth, those he has, line his gaping lips. And a Texas drawl spews from his mouth with every word. He looks as if he hasn't had a bath in months if ever. And there he is slamming his rival with degrading and brutal language. Imagine being cut to the quick by this cowpoke. How low can one get? It is extreme humiliation. Yet in Ezekiel 16 Sovereign LORD calls Israel to task with these words, " How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman ." Whoa, talk about brutal language! However, Israel deserves every word. God goes on to say in the following verses that Israel is unlike all other prostitutes in that her "lovers...

we know that an idol is nothing in the world (1 Corinthians 8.4) Yesterday I related my recent Macumba sacrifice clay pot stealing episode and my ensuing sickness. Are the two incidents related? I seriously doubt it. Here are my three reasons why. 1. Idols are Nothings! 2. God is Everything! 3. God cares for me! 1. Idols are nothing! - Notice what Paul tells the Corinthian believers in 1 Corinthians 8: 4 As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. 5 For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) 6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. The word nothing that Paul uses 18 times in 1 Corinthians alone means… nothing . By that I don’t mean that it means nothing it mean...

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost (1Corinthians 6:19) About a month and a half ago I was making one of two trips homes from an activity and I used a back road to do it. It was getting dark but I noticed something on a rutted corner of the lonely dirt road I was traveling. I whipped on by but glanced as I did. There it was! A Macumba sacrifice. There seem to be two type of sacrifices offered by Macumba adherents, a red one and a white one. In the red one you will often see a chicken with its throat slit and its blood mixed with water in a clay bowl. Along with the chicken may be food items, cigarettes, red wine and other trinkets to please the spirits. The red offering is bad. It means that someone has cursed someone or something. The one I saw a month ago was a white one. White ones are “good” magic. This one had white wine, cigarettes, and some cornmeal in a small clay bowl. I think that there were some white roses there too. I like clay pots, bowel...

And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. (Isaiah 2:19) The EQ in VA and DC has left everyone shaken. Throughout my life I've paid attention to Richter scale reports. Usually I've regarded the 7.0 and higher to be huge tremors. The quake that hit Japan just last year for example was a horrific 9.0. You remember scenes from that unforgettable tragedy. The quake that devastated Haiti lasted mere seconds and was only a 7.0 quake. There is always talk about the shifting of tectonic plates and edging faults. Californians are all too familiar with the San Andrea fault and the constant threat of the west coast slipping into the Pacific. However, it hit me like an earthquake just after I saw video of the DC/ VA quake, God will not need tectonic plates, faults or any other such thing to bring the house down. DC shook slightly for seconds and now ...

Ezekiel 13.1-3 We ended our last look at this passage with a question about how to interpret Bible messages in this day of seeming multiple interpretations. With all religions, denominations and churches having a corner on the truth how is one to tell the difference? We’ve looked at the first two and a half principles: 1. Pray asking God for understanding before each message . 2. Listen carefully and take notes. 3. Make sure that the Bible is used and that illustrations are biblically supported . We ended the last devotional with these questions: So, what if that happens today? What if the preacher uses the Bible to support his false teaching? How will I know that he is using the Bible in a wrong way? See steps 1 and 2 above. If you are in one of our services and you hear something that you don’t understand or think is not biblical what should you do? Actually, in our church, we want you to question us. That’s right! We want you to come to us with your questions. Come to me and say...