Casting Pearls- Denial...

We start in Mark 14:66-72 where Peter, who has followed Jesus to the courtyard of Caiaphus the chief priest and was behind their faux arrest and trial of Jesus. Peter, who has followed with Jesus as He was led to the courtyard, stood outside the door to the courtyard. Peter was seen by the servant girl that stood by the gate and she said in “are you not one of His disciples?”. Peter quickly denied it, then went over to stand with the officers of the guard and the servants at a fire of coals they had made. 

Then we go to where Peter is again accused of being with Jesus by the servants and officers standing around the fire with him. Peter denies this as well. Shortly afterwards a servant who is related to the guard that Peter’s sword had cut off the mans ear, accuses Peter of being a friend of Jesus, again Peter denies Jesus though this time with cursing and swearing. Soon after that a cock crows and reminds Peter of the prophesy Jesus had made, and he saw Jesus being led away from the courtyard and when Jesus looked at him, Peter ran away in tears for what he had done.

Now, There are four different words in the Greek language that are translated as love, the one we most commonly think of is Agape love, which is a deep love for someone that loves them even though they don’t deserve to be loved by us. The person may even be mean to us, but we still love them. This type of love is the type most commonly associated with Jesus or God. 

The second type is eros, or physical love between people, this kind is never mentioned in the New Testament.  The third type of love is phillia which is a mental love or an affection due to friendship or family status. This type is found in the New Testament. The fourth kind is storg, which is better translated as affection, however it is a natural affection like someone would have for the family dog or pet of some kind. 

After all that Peter had seen and been told by the others, and  having denied and betrayed Jesus that way, and having lost to death the only one who could have been the messiah. Peter was very dejected. He was really upset at how his Lord had been betrayed by Judas and the Priests, and put to death, as well as how he had denied Jesus just to save himself. Jesus rose again from the grave on that sunday, the first day of the week, and after that, the disciples and the followers of Jesus, met together to honor the first day of the week, Sunday, and they fellow-shipped. That is where the sunday worship service came from. 

Having seen Jesus a few times and being told by Him that a helper would come in His place, Peter was thinking Jesus would not be back for some time. Getting bored with waiting, he and the other disciples decided to go fishing. After being out fishing all night, which was the best time to catch something, the disciples had decided to give up and come in. when they approached the shore, they saw a man cooking a fish and some bread on a fire. Just as Jesus had done when Peter had first been called, the man called out for the disciples to try casting the net on the right side of the ship. The net was so full of fish they couldn’t pull it up. Peter then asked John if he thought it might be the Messiah Jesus. Hearing from John that he also thought it was Jesus, Peter didn’t wait for the boat to get to shore, and jumped in and swam to the shore.

Jesus was waiting for them with a fish and some bread he offered them, then they cooked some of the fish they had caught and Jesus ate with them. This was the third time Jesus had shown Himself to them, and he ate some fish and bread with them. Once they had dined, Jesus asked Peter, “do you Love(agape)me? 

Peter said back”Yes Lord you know I Love(phillas) you”. once again Jesus asked Peter, “Do you Love(agape)me?”, and once again Peter answered Yes Lord, you know I Love(phillas) you” and a third time Jesus asked, Do you Love(Phillas)me? and Peter answered again “Lord you know that I Love(Phillas)you. After each question, Jesus said to Peter, “Go feed my sheep” 

For the three times Peter had denied Jesus, Jesus had restored him to good standing by telling him three times to go feed Jesus’ sheep, and asking him three times if he loved Him. Then the Lord Jesus told Peter the way in which he would die in service to the Lord. Peter knew from what Jesus told him that he would suffer for Christ and he gladly went ahead and worshiped Jesus openly. 

Casting Pearls- Golden Rule

We all know what the Golden Rule says. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. But few have thought the same rule extends to God too. He did for us as He would have us do for Him. How many of us are willing to give our lives for our children, or our spouses? Our mothers or fathers, our granddads or grandmas? All of us can think of someone that we would try to lay our lives down to save. Why don’t we feel the same way toward the One who laid down His life for us?

The Bible says in John 13:34 Jesus said “ A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another; as I have Loved you, that you also love one another”. Jesus was telling us that as He was willing to lay down His life for us, we should be willing to lay down our lives for each other.We can all think of someone we would be willing to lay our lives down for, but we can also think of someone we wouldn’t help. Someone we wouldn’t give a bucket of water, if they were on fire. Can we love them too? Are we willing to lay our lives down for them? This command goes a lot further than we think. 

There are many different words for love in the Greek language. The one used here is Agape, meaning without reserve or reason. To love someone not because they deserve it but just because you want too. God loved all of us not because of anything we did. God loved us just because He wanted to love His children, Just because, you might say. We are God’s children because through Jesus we have been made Holy and been able to be adopted into the family of The Lord. I am unworthy, but I AM made me worthy with His Sons blood. The Lord loved us so deeply that He was willing to give up His own son for us so we would be acceptable in God’s sight.

As Christians we are called to show the same love to those around us. Now as a good Father, The Lord has to discipline His children sometimes, or show ‘tough love’ as we call it today. This is still in keeping with God’s commandment. We only need to remember the verse 2 Timothy 4:2 which exhorts us to “ preach the word; be instant in season; out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.” So we need to be ready, both when we prepare, and when we don’t, to let others know what is right, what is acceptable behavior, what is right for them to be involved in, and teach them to recognize these things themselves, but to do so in a loving and gentile manner, as in 1 Peter 3:15 where the Bible says to “ sanctify  The Lord God in your hearts; and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.” 

We all should be ready to lovingly rebuke and witness the reasons why we have a hope in Jesus. “My hope lies in nothing less, than Jesus love and righteousness.” There is a reason, for us all to hope, and we are called, as Christians, to tell the world  that they can have that hope too. This fulfills the Great Commission from Jesus, to go out and tell the world about Him.

Casting Pearls- In the Beginning Part 2

After six days god decided to take the Seventh day off and rest, God even commanded Adam to take the Seventh Day off to rest from whatever work he was doing. This became a regular thing for Adam and Eve to do. So on the Seventh Day, God and everyone rested and did nothing.

Now to go into more depth of how Adam and Eve were made, the next chapter of Genesis delves deeper into the facts surrounding God’s creation. In Genesis 2:5-6 the Bible explained how God had caused the mist from the seas and the land itself to water the plants so it never had to rain. The dust of the ground was gathered together by God to make the form of Man and then God breathed life into the dust and named the first man Adam, A garden was made by God with all the trees and plants in it that were good for food to Adam, and God placed Adam in it to care for it. In the middle of the garden were two trees, one the tree of life, the other the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam was warned by God that there was only one rule, never eat from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He was warned that the day you eat of it, you will surely cease to exist. Now, that was a very scary thought to Adam, so he had a heathy fear of that tree. 

At some time after Adam had been created, God had all the animals pass before Adam, and had Adam name them. The names we call them are based on these names Adam gave them. After a time God made Adam a helpmate to give him some company and help in caring for the Garden of Eden, when God was not around. SO Genesis says in verse 21 that God caused Adam to go into a deep sleep so he wouldn’t feel anything, and took a rib out of Adam. From that rib, God created a helper for Adam, and Adam named her Eve. She is of the opposite sex to Adam so when they joined together they might reproduce and replenish the earth as God had told them. 

Adam said in verse 23 that she was from him, flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone. To this day, man has one less rib than woman to help us remember that we need something to make us whole.We as men need a helpmate to make us whole in our life. Now, this is not to say that man has to have a woman to be whole. It is better for a man if he can be alone and have no yearnings for a mate. If a man does not have to take into account how an action will affect someone other than just himself, it will be easier for him to do things.If he has a mate, then he must take into account how she will be affected as well, when making a decision. 

In the third chapter of Genesis, we see the fall from goodness and innocence of men. The devil, another word for Lucifer, was allowed into the Garden by inhabiting the serpent. Even back then, Lucifer knew how to use another persons body by taking it over and possessing it. The serpent was just another animal allowed in the garden with Adam and Eve. It was fitting that Lucifer possessed a serpent because as the Bible says, it was more cunning or subtle than any of the other beasts of the field. 

This is also where some people are at odds as to how the serpent was used by Lucifer or if he was used by one of the Demons, Fallen angels that fell with Lucifer, and was used by him or actually did this alone. I believe that he was possessed by a demon and used by the demon. Unfortunately the Serpent received the blame for doing wrong, maybe so God could put him in the place he wanted him in the first place.

If we were approached by an animal that spoke to us we would immediately know that something was wrong, but as I said, Adam and Eve were both newly created and innocent. The serpent approached the woman, as the man had a direct relationship with God and would be harder to fool. The serpent, Satan, misrepresented how God had told them not to eat from the tree of Knowledge of good and evil and after Eve told him what God had told Adam, Which she did not repeat correctly, though only one person had come between her and God, since she added to what He said, that God said not even to touch it. This was to show us that even with only one person between the original speaker and us the saying can and will change. 

Satan, as the serpent, told Eve that if she ate of that tree, she would not die that same day, he told her that God wanted to keep Adam and Eve from becoming as intelligent as God by not letting them eat from that tree. Eve’s pride and selfishness had her go ahead and as she saw that the fruit if that tree looked good, she picked and ate. After Eve ate of the tree, she offered it to Adam, who was right there the whole time and he ate it as well. 

Some people try to blame the woman for the original sin of man, but as we see in Genesis 3:6 Adam was right there with her, heard all the serpent had to say and never objected to any of it. Satan took advantage of the innocence of Adam and Eve and had them sin against God by eating of the tree. 

God was all knowing so he knew what had happened, but wanted Adam to admit it himself so as to see if Adam was truly repentant of his sin. God came to walk with Adam as He normally did in the cool part of the day, and called to Adam when he didn’t appear. Adam finally came out and admitted to God that he knew he was naked and when God said so you have sinned and eaten of the tree I said not to eat from, Adam started to blame God for giving him the woman and that he was only doing what she did. 

This is why there is a order that God instituted like umbrellas of different sizes. The largest is held by God, the next largest is held by the man, next largest is the woman’s and the smallest is the children’s. The children will be sheltered from this world as long as they stay beneath their parent’s umbrellas. The woman and her children will both stay safe from the rain of sin in this world as long as they reside under the husband. They will all stay safe from the sin in this world by staying under the shelter of the umbrella of God. This is the natural organization of things.

God had to punish sin, so He went down the list of who had done wrong. When God asked the woman what had happened, she blamed everything on the serpent. God started with the serpent, He said to the serpent, that he would have to move around on his stomach and be right where the dirt of the earth would get in its mouth all it’s days. The Lord went on and said, that he would make the serpent to be at odds with the woman and her offspring all their days. He said the serpent would bruise her heal and her offspring would bruise the serpent’s head. Showing how the man and the serpent would be at odds for all time. There are many people who say, still today, that the only good snake is a dead snake.

God then went on to the Woman and said that from now on she would have troubles with discomfort in carrying and bearing children. It was also at this time that God made  the husband to be the head over the woman, not because she needed someone to lead her, but because the man,Adam, should have known better than to have let her fall for the lies the serpent told her. He was to be her protection from the sin in this world. 

The man Adam actually received the worst of all punishments though, he was made to toil in the ground and hunt wild animals, as well as deal with serpents nipping at his heels, and a woman that he had to protect and provide for. God cursed the earth to make thorns and thistles come up wherever the man planted vegetables to come up and that he would have to struggle hard to make food for them to eat.God then killed some of the animals to fashion garments of skin for them to wear, and thereby the  first man brought death into the world. 

The serpent, or Satan, twisted the truth, or spun the story to make it appear how he wanted it to so he would be telling the truth while still lying. When satan told Eve that if she ate the fruit, she would not die that same day, he was telling the truth from her point of view. She and Adam did not die that day as Eve saw days. A day to God is as a thousand years the scriptures say in Psalms and in 2 Peter. 

Casting Pearls- In the Beginning

This is my belief as to the beginning of things and how this world was made. It is not in any way supposed to replace the Bible as the word of God, or make anything in it to be of no affect. It is purely a idea of mine as to how the beginning of the Earth happened. It does follow along with the creation story of Genesis in the Bible and is influenced by the leading of the Holy Spirit Though in no way do I claim to be writing words inspired by God. This is merely a story that gives the reader the imaginings of the author as to how we all came to be.

There was a time, before time began, when the world was not yet formed. Heaven was the center of the universe, because the universe did not yet exist. All was good and God was in control of everything. In the middle of all this a war began, a struggle between what was known and what was unknown, between good and evil. 

God was a very good ruler and was very good to the angels He created. He gave them great abilities and powers in the kingdom He controlled, and He made them have almost anything they could imagine. Their imaginations didn’t have all that much to imagine because their lack of knowledge of things outside of the Heaven God had created for them to live in. All they really knew was the Heaven that was their home and each other. God had created three angels that He put all other angel under the control of, these were Michael, Gabriel, and Lucifer, they were in control of one third of the angels each. 

When God had something for the angels to do, one of the three were given the order and in turn passed the order on to the angels under them to complete it. This was the order in which things were done prior to the great uprising. The head of the three angels God had put in control of the other angels was Lucifer, he was known as the Angel of Light, since he was almost as powerful as God Himself. Lucifer was just under the God of Light who is the Light of Eternity Himself. Lucifer rose up against God and proclaimed himself to be as powerful as God. Lucifer was so impressed with his own beauty and power, that he thought himself equal with his creator God. 

When Lucifer rose up in rebellion against the God of all Creation, he ordered the third of the angels he controlled to help him to take over heaven. When they  joined up with Lucifer in rebellion against God, they wrote their own future. When God and His other angels along with Michael and Gabriel, defeated the uprising, the Lord our God cast Lucifer and his third of the angels he controlled out of Heaven. The worst punishment God could think of at the time was to put them in a place that was the antithesis to what they were. Since Lucifer was the Angel of Light, God put him and his angels in a place that was dark and void of anything. 

  God had to create a place that was dark and void of anything to place The angels and Lucifer in. For a time it stayed that way, then one day God decided to do something good with the evil place He had created. He decided to make it a wonderful place that would be good and have creations in it that ,as the angels, had free will to worship and make God their Lord. God then began the creation of Earth.

God came upon the face of the Dark and void place He had created and said, “ Let there be Light” , and there was light in the darkness. The brilliant light of God’s own presence made the light out of the darkness that prevailed until then. Where light is, no darkness can be. But God divided the darkness from His light to keep Lucifer in his place of void and darkness. God saw that the thing he had created was now in light and the light was good. That was the First Day of God’s creation.

Then God said let the void and darkness have a form within it, and God then made a separation of the form from the darkness surrounding it. That was the Second Day of God’s creation of the place in which we are. 

God called the area around the Form He had created, the Heavens. Then on the next day God divided the area of the form He had created into waters and dry land, and the dry land God called Earth, and the waters God called the seas, and God saw all that He had done so far and it was all good on the face of the evil that was the place Lucifer had been cast from Heaven. 

God then made grass and trees and all kinds of plants to grow on the land He had created all sorts of plants and made them where they could have seeds and reproduce, and God saw all He had created, and said it was good on the face of the darkness God had made to cast Lucifer and his followers into. This was the Third Day of God’s creation.

  The next thing God did was make lights in the heavens around the form of Earth and made them give light on the Earth for pat of the time and light at night too, as He created two great lights, one brighter than the other, one to shine during the day and one to shine at night. All around the Earth in the void, God created other lights to shine. These man later called stars, as they were like unto the bright light that shined on the Earth. God saw all He had made and it was good.This was the Forth Day.

God then began to create the creatures in the sea, the Plankton, amoebas and the whales and all the creatures in between in size. God also made all sorts of birds in the air above the water and God saw that all these animals were good and made them where they could procreate. and God had them procreate and fill the Earth with their kind. Then God made all the animals and all other things that move upon the Land and made them to procreate and fill the land with their kind as well. God saw all the things He had created and that it was good. This was the Fifth Day. 

God then said to Himself, “ Let US make Man in OUR own image”. When God referred to Himself as US and OUR He was referring to the Triune nature of God as three in one. There is also much controversy over what God meant by IN OUR OWN IMAGE, it was not to say that we in any way look like God. We have his image in our being a triune being as well, we are made up of BODY,SOUL, and SPIRIT. While God is made up of THE FATHER GOD, THE SON, and THE HOLY SPIRIT. So, God created man in His own image and then he created woman to go along with man. God told them to replenish the Earth and control it. God gave man control over all that He had created here in the void. We were given dominion over the Earth and all that were in it. God saw all that He had made and it was all VERY GOOD.  That made up the Sixth Day of creation

                There is no evidence as to how long the time was between the creation of Man on the Sixth Day of creation and the fall of man due to sin. The only time we can track is from the fall of man until now. As i said in another blog, it is stated in 2 Peter and in Psalms that a day to God is as a Thousand years and we are approximately 6 to almost 7 thousand years since the fall of man in eden. We can be sure if things follow the seventh day of rest that God prescribes, that we are coming up on a time that God and we can rest from the attacks of satan. This would go along with the thousand year reign of Christ on earth before we see the new heaven and new earth. We as christians will be with Jesus as He reigns.

Casting Pearls - Religion or Relationship?

                          Today the people overwhelmingly claim to be Christian. Approximately 87% of Americans claim to be Christian, yet how many claim a religion and not a relationship with Christ? Most of these people are claiming they are part of the Christian religion, not that they have a personal relationship with Jesus. They believe in the lie the world tells that they only have to believe Jesus was the messiah and they will be saved. To be Saved is much more complicated than that. 

                          Satan believes that Jesus was the Messiah and is more than willing to say so, we are called to go further than that. Jesus wants us to have a relationship with Him. If you know a boy or girl that you are interested in you will strive to spend as much time with them as possible. Even missing out on things you would normally do so you can spend time with them. Well, to spend time with Jesus all you have to do is read His Word. The Bible says in John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word(Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God". So from this verse alone we know that Jesus is thew Word of the Bible and to spend time with Jesus and hear what He has to say to you, all you need do is read His Words in the Bible.

                          Most people today don't want to give up their supposedly valuable time to spend a few minutes with Jesus each day. If these people want the blessings that God promises in His Word, They will want to have s personal relationship with Jesus. Many people say, "Not yet" or "I'll get around to it, we have a lot of time" . These people are fooling themselves, there is not much time to get right with the Lord, the signs we were told by Jesus, Matthew, Mark, John, Paul, Peter, James, and all the New Testament writers, given the words to write by God Himself, are all coming true around us and the time of Jesus' return is near. With all the hints we have that Jesus is coming back soon, there is nothing that tells us the exact date of His return. 

                          God does not tell us the exact date, because if we were to know, we would just wait until the day of His return to straighten up our lives. To have a relationship with Jesus, we are commanded by God to clean up and straighten up our lives now so we will be ready at His return. We should desire to tell more people about Jesus, and convince them to be saved, so even more will make it to Heaven at Jesus' return. 

                         We are given a choice, Love this world, our life here, the things we have, and people we have relationships with, or, Love Jesus, and receive the things of this world, the People we have relationships with, and all the good things of this life. You see, you have nothing to lose, and everything to gain by giving your life and your heart to Jesus, and everything to gain.

Casting Pearls- Dribbling a Football

How often do we go through life and question if God is really interested in the things happening to us. We struggle through a family member dying or a divorce, or a injury or sickness, or something like that, and we want to ask God why are you doing this, or God why are you allowing this. Our problems are nothing new in the experience of man.  The depression we feel as we are feeling left out of the plan for our own lives  seems too great to bear. We ask Why?. 

Living for Jesus is like dribbling a football, if your lucky the ball will bounce right back up to you. Maybe it will continue too for a time or two but eventually it will bounce off in some other direction that we weren't planning for it to go. Our lives are just the same, we travel along making plans for where we will go with this education or that training, and wherever we turn, something new could influence us to head off in a completely new direction. The direction we head in may be a good one or a bad one. 

If we look in Matthew Chapter 11:2 we will see just the situation we are dreading happen to someone that we don’t think deserves it. In 11:2  we see John The Baptist in prison, being held by Herod The King of Galilee. John had heard of the works of Jesus the man he thought to be the Messiah. He had been held for some time and even though he had heard, even in prison about Jesus, he was beginning to doubt as he was not released from prison, even though he had come as a forerunner of the Messiah, Jesus. He had starved himself in fasting, had eaten only wild honey and locusts, had lived in the wilderness and never had a home as such. After all he had done for Jesus the Messiah, could he not be released from jail? Or was Jesus really the one that was the Messiah? 

John had all these doubts and wanted to make sure Jesus remembered him and his struggle. So, John sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus, ‘Are you really the Messiah, or should we look for another?’. How often in our lives do we get so caught up in ourselves and our situations that we question our own beliefs? 

Jesus simply said to the disciples to go and tell John what you have “seen” and heard, we see in verse 4. Jesus went on talking in verse 5&6, and said, “the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk,the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.”. The most important part is the last, to not be offended in Jesus.

As followers of Jesus, we are to expect troubles and trials and suffering, but whatever we have to face, we should never be offended by Jesus. The troubles of the world will come and then will go, and nothing in this world can have any lasting effect on us but the saving knowledge of Jesus. It is only through Jesus and our faith in Him that we will have eternal life. The world can have and destroy if it wants, this mortal body. Because my immortal soul will then be with Jesus in Heaven. The ultimate reward that is greater than anything we could ever receive here. That is where John the Baptist would be rewarded for his sacrifices for the Lord. Jesus went on to talk about John in 11:11&12, Jesus said that John the Baptist was a great man here on earth, but even the least important that was already in Heaven was greater than he would be here. No amount of praise by men could ever be equal to the praise that even the least worthy in Heaven would receive. 

We might have to face trials and troubles or sicknesses here in  this body, but the greatest praise will come when we are allowed to go to Heaven. There is no comparison here on earth. Whatever we have to go through, it will be for God’s glory in the end. Even the least of the people mentioned in the Bible, was alive, and lived their life so that we, as Christians, could read about them and learn from them the things which God would have us understand. 

Casting Pearls - Is the church in trouble?

                        The church in America today must make a important decision as to which way we choose to go. Are we to join with those who wish to be more modern and embrace the culture in which we live? Or are we to hold to the Rock of the truth in God's Word and stand by it no matter wither or not it conforms to modern thinking? We, as a Church, (a called together group of believers) must decide which way we are to face. The danger we face is that if we face the wrong way we will be the ones who say to Jesus when we get to Heaven, I did this and this for you, and Jesus will say to us away from me, I knew you.  I know which group I want to be in so in all things, in our modern world, we must hold them up to the mirror of God's Word.
                         Many in this world want to say that the books of the bible were written by men, and were only relevant in the time in which they were written. However, if you look closely, the original Hebrew, Greek,and Arabic in which the books were written can be translated to speak to even todays problems and prophesy of today. The Church has already had many converts to the modern way of thinking. In the issue of homosexuality alone the United Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church of the USA, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, and even part of the Episcopal Church of America has already allowed homosexual ministers to lead their Churches. The Episcopal Church of America has had a split in Churches that agreed to this new doctrine. Apparently the Roman Catholic Church of Rome is not far behind them as just the other day the Pope himself called for them to be more inclusive in who they allowed in to their church. The Church of Jesus would fall, "as a deck of cards", he put it when he called for all Churches to be more open in their feelings toward homosexuality, abortion, and contraception.
                         The Word given to us by God has not changed, nor been reinterpreted to allow the ideas of men. The things we wish to include are only things brought to us by the lord of this world and are meant to cause us to split and become ineffective in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In
2 Kings 23:7 the King of Judah, Josiah, had found homes of the 'sodomites', otherwise known as Homosexuals today, built right beside the temple of God, and tore them down, and later in the same chapter, in verse 11 and 14 he destroyed the chariots of the sun worshipers and their alters, because the sun worshipers and others had used them to sacrifice their own children, to Molech the sun and fire god, as we do today with the unborn children,  in abortion, on the alter of our own convenience. We would rather sacrifice our own children than be inconvenienced by their lives.
                        For all those who believe they will not be held accountable for these children, they are only fooling themselves. Just as the Church in biblical times was corrupted by false gods coming in to confuse the teachings of the Priests, so the world is trying to bring in false teachings and false gods to make the teachings of the Church be ignored or changed to what their followers would have. The truth remains the same, we must test all things by God's Word, to see if truth is in them.
                        In John 14: 6 Jesus states something that was as true then as it is today in the world's modern interpretation, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me". There is only one way to the Father, through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, No other way is allowed. Those of us saved by Jesus' Grace know no condemnation under the Law of God, the ten commandments, etc., but those who are still living in the world, and are still part of the world's order, are still condemned under the law. The only, and most simple way to get out of the condemnation is to believe on Jesus and make Him Lord of your life. It is so simple that it seems impossible, but it means also giving up all the things the world promises and provides. Many people can't give up the things of this world for the next. The Lord Jesus promises that if we are willing to give up the things of this world, that we will find ourselves greatly blessed while we are still here since God owns everything around us and can bless those who he wishes.
                        As the called together believers of Jesus in this world we must try all things we hear and see in this world by the Holy Scriptures in the Bible. If it does not match up with the commands of God then we are to stay away from them. If it does match up we are to follow it as long as it continues to match up. Many people claim that Jesus was too loving to condemn anyone, and while this is true, Jesus made a way for all who were condemned to be saved, Follow Him and make Him Lord of your Life. There is no other way.

Casting Pearls- Reasons

There is a reason that I find myself writing these articles, I feel the urgent need to communicate the Gospel of Jesus to a lost and dying world that needs to find Jesus before it is too late. I am  unsure as to how my articles might find their way into the hands of someone who needs their encouragement, but how is up to God. The why is still up to me. It is the same in our lives, we are given tasks by the Lord and others, if we do them we will receive a reward, if we don’t we get left out. I feel the urgency to do all I can to influence the people toward Christ before it becomes too late.

The signs of the times continue to come faster and faster as we drop lower and lower in our evil and contemptuous ways. The world around us grows darker and darker as we go. As with a tunnel, there is a light up ahead. I am attempting to help people keep moving toward the light, and not stop where they are and give up. One of the tricks that Satan uses is depression. We can become discouraged and depressed by the things around us. Instead, I am encouraged by the fact that it shows we don’t have long to suffer in this world. Some might say that I am suicidal and want to die, while it is true that I find the idea of dying and getting to be with Jesus appealing, I do not wish to hasten that happening. If my time comes, then I will not be afraid as it is no longer the great unknown. 

  Many people think that when you die, thats it, you are finished right there. I believe that it is only the beginning of the great forever. We have the right to choose where we will spend forever. Personally I  believe that there is only one way to Heaven, Though faith in Jesus Christ and His blood being shed for us. If we profess Him before others, as I am doing here, and have faith in Him to save, He will. What gets me is that it is a free gift out there for all to accept, but many don’t want to accept it because the world has taught them that if they do, they will have to give up too much of what they have. The thing is that what we have, is going to stay here when we die. One of my favorite quotes is, ‘You have never seen a moving van in a funeral procession, have you?’.

The world is simply some dust that the Lord once formed into something and all things we have, including the computer I’m using right now, and the one you are on is made from the same dust. It has been formed together by our hands, but is still just dust. All the things that we fight over are nothing more than dust, the money, the oil, the land, the many various things we fight and have wars over are nothing more than the dust of the earth. The only thing in them that is truly important is the life of a person. That is why I feel led to tell people about the only way they can save themselves. When we have a war over one of these things, we endanger the people involved, over dust!

We can continue fighting over things, foolishly, or we can recognize things for what they are, DIRT. Is dirt more important than someone's life? NO. We suffer and struggle in our lives collecting and preserving dirt! We fight and have wars protecting and preserving the rights we have to our dirt! When we we realize that there is no dirt that is worth fighting for. 

Some people may say, ‘ we are fighting for ideas, not just dirt.’ The thing is these ideas will not trump the one Ideal of Jesus. The one Ideal of eternal life. The one Ideal of the one true God. When you leave this place, what ideas will you take with you? What ideas will you make so important that another person won’t change them to what they believe? In Genesis 3:3 Adam had told Eve not to eat of the tree of Knowledge. When Eve was talking with the serpent, she told him they were not to eat of that tree, much less even touch it. God never said that anywhere in the scriptures. Eve just changed the idea to her beliefs. Are your ideas more important than God’s

That is the biggest problem with the world around us, we have made IT more important than God Himself. We have twisted and changed God’s words into what we believe instead of the ideas that God put forth to man.  Test everything you hear and see against the word of the Lord and the truth will come out eventually. 

Casting Pearls- Do you not understand?

          The Bible is filled with many things that will help us throughout life to live it as victoriously and safely as the Lord would have us to do. The problem comes when we fail to do the things which God has attempted to teach us. If we face troubles and trials in this life, the problem is not that God hasn't been taking care of us, it is that we have not been living according to God’s commands. The problem could be ours, or of those who we keep around us. The only way we will know is to read the Bible and learn the truth from God’s Word. 

          As we struggle through this life, we can attempt to live it by what we think is right, or we can live it by what God tells us is right. Should we trust the judgement of someone who has only been around for a few seconds, or trust in someone who has millions of years of experience? Many times in the New Testament, Jesus told the disciples parables, or stories, to explain to them some fact or reason for something. Many times Jesus had to ask them, “Do you not understand” and then have to explain the parable. Many times Jesus just left them to ponder on the meaning of the parable, and went on to the next thing He was going to say. This was because Jesus did not need for them to understand at that moment. The true meaning would be revealed to them with pondering and revelation through the Holy Spirit. 

Today, the parables and stories in the bible are related to us in much the same way. It is only through study, and pondering over these things, and revelation from the Holy Spirit that we will receive understanding of what God is trying to tell us. We have to find the answer to the true meaning of everything we read in the Bible from the Author of the Bible, The Lord. That is why we need to study, Ponder, and seek revelation from the Holy Spirit. 

Casting Pearls- Is God Mean?

                      God has been accused by many of being a murderous and violent God. Much of the Bible would seem to back up that claim. Only in the writings of the New Testament do we see God referred to as a God of Love not of violence. God has not changed, only the covenant between God and man has changed. We see if we look at the beginning in Genesis 1: 31 that God saw everything He had made and it was VERY GOOD. There is no record of the time between then and when Satan came into the Garden of Eden and tempted Eve and Adam to eat of the Tree of Knowledge, but we know that he did. from that point, because of the sin of man, death came into the world.

                     First, Adam and Eve began dying and from that point neither of them, or anyone else, lived more than a thousand years. that leads us to the scripture found in Psalms 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8 that explains that to God a day is as a Thousand Years. It also brings us to the first death in God’s creation, in Genesis 3:21. God had to Kill some animals to make Adam and Eve coats of skins to wear. That later led to more death. The original coats that God made them wore out and became smelly from their own sweat and body emanations and I’m sure, they had to kill again to keep themselves in clothes.

                    From there it was not very far down for them to go and kill another human as we see in Genesis 4:8. The debauchery of man continued from there to spiral downward. As time went on, man continued to disobey the commands of God and death became more and more widespread. When God made a covenant between Himself and Abraham, He instituted the death and sacrifice of an animal to be the death that would take away the sins we had and make us clean again in the eyes of God. The sin that was passed down to us from Adam and Eve, could only lead to death, so it could only be delayed by death.

                     Afterwards, the descendants of Abraham, the Israelites, would again and again disobey God’s commands and intermarry with the other nations who worshiped false gods, against God’s will. God’s judgement would be brought down against these other peoples, and also against Israel, after great delays in God’s judgement futility hoping that the Israelites and the other nations would turn away from the error of their ways. God instead of showing how condemning He was, showed us time and again how forgiving He was. God kept everyone from the result of their sins as long as He possibly could. 

                    During all this time God tried to help us to keep from killing by showing us how to use plants instead of animals for covering or nakedness and protecting ourselves from the elements. Our sin, however, called for death to delay the consequences. As humans, we were the ones who created this problem, and God was the only one who could help us find a way out of the problem with sin that we created.

                    God finally made a New Covenant with man through the sacrifice that was above all before, His Son, Jesus Christ. The covenant God made with us is spelled out for us in the New Testament. It is summed up in John 3:16-17. Where God’s own son tells us that He came to be that sacrifice as the only human that never sinned and was clean enough for God to accept as a sacrifice for us, because God loved all of us so much, that He was willing to let His own son become the ‘scape goat’ that would take on ALL the sins of man and bring forgiveness to us all. As the verses say, Jesus came not to condemn the world, but that through Him it might find a way to be saved from itself. 

                   

                   All that we need do now is to accept the free gift that God has offered us. Death was brought to earth by mans sin. That sin must be covered up by the forgiving blood of Jesus Christ for us to be able to commune again with God as Adam did. Ultimately, WE are the ones that are the reason for the death and evil in the world, and God has done more than we could ever ask, in giving His own Son to be the sacrifice through His own death for the sin WE brought into this world. All we need do is accept the FREE gift god has offered us. 

Casting Pearls - Father or Daddy?

                       The most often used phrase when praying or talking with or about God is 'Our Father' this is showing respect for our Father God. However, there is another vein of thought about this. The New Testament was mostly written in Greek, but there is a smattering of other languages in it. There is a little of Hebrew, and a small about of Arabic. The most important thing that was written in Arabic was a small word 'ABBA' that was used by Jesus in the Garden of Gethesemene, when He was praying that His Father would remove the cup of wrath and death that He had to drink. Jesus used the word again in Luke 11:2 when He was teaching the disciples how to pray. The main reason for the use of this word was Jesus wanting to show the disciples His personal relationship with God His Father.
                       Jesus used this word for God and Paul used it again in Galatians 4:3-7,  particularly verse 6, in which he was stating our relationship as believers in Jesus, is the same as Jesus Himself since we are now adopted by the Father God as sons and daughters. ABBA is more descriptive than any other word in Greek for our relationship with God because Greek has only the word Yashua which means Father the Arabic word ABBA as Jesus and Paul used it means Daddy. We are adopted into the family of God as joint heirs with Jesus in the world to come. As adopted children of The Lord, we should feel comfortable in thinking of God as our Daddy.
                     I still have problems personally with calling The Lord my Daddy, but from what paul tells us in verse 6, God wants us too. The thing is that we need to be as comfortable with God's Love for us, as God is with Jesus' love for Him. We have Jesus as the Holy Spirit living inside our hearts, and if we are giving Jesus and the Holy Spirit control over us and our reactions, we will be showing the world around us God's Love. If we ever want to live in the peace that God wants to give us, we will learn to let the Holy Spirit have control.
                    The original Greek or the Hebrew that the New Testament was written in had no word that gave the same meaning of Daddy, and as adopted children of God we should be comfortable in thinking of God as our Dad. As a father myself, I am under the realization that my son sees me as a representation of God in his life, and I want to be as much like God as possible for my son to grow up seeing God as a Good Loving, and at the same time strict and willing to punish if you go to far, person just like me. In fact my son was the main reason that I turned my life around and began making the effort to be a better person for him to see God our Father, in me.

Casting Pearls - Never Forget....

                     On this day, 9/11/2013 as Americans we remember the Sacrifice made and the price paid by the people on the planes and those we lost in the Trade Center. As Christians we should honor those who paid with their lives and have since paid with their lives in the wars stemming from this action. there is no way we can express the true regret and loss we feel. There is nothing we can do, the memorials, the statues, the ceremonies, all add up to nothing in comparison. All of those people involved have laid down their lives in one way or another for ours.
                    While we remember the sacrifices made by those people, much greater than these was the sacrifice that Jesus and the Lord our Father made for us all. Everyone knows the verse in John 3:16, but few remember the next verse, John 3:17, that says, "For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world, through Him might be saved." Jesus told us this to let His disciples, and us in future generations know that whatever we face, the Lord has come to save us, not to condemn us. We can never live up to Jesus' example but we don't have too. Jesus came not to condemn us but to save us.
                     As the tribulation as described in Revelation, Daniel and Jeremiah, as well as elsewhere in God's Word, draws near we will face greater troubles and persecutions. The true Christians will face great troubles for their beliefs. It will separate those who are professing Christians from those who are possessing Christians, and really have the saving grace of God in their hearts. Each of us has the choice to make if we are going to truly follow Jesus or not.
                    In Daniel 7:25-27 the saints (followers of Christ) will be persecuted and tried by the great ruler, but those who stand firm will be given to these Saints(followers of Christ) and the great ruler will be tried and judged by the court, and found guilty. No matter what we may have to face in the days to come, the Lord is with us and we can call on the Lord's strength to see us through whatever may come. In Phillipians 4:13 the Bible states that 'we can do ALL things through Christ, who strengthens us.'
                    All we need do is to call on God to grant us to face the troubles to come and no matter what, we will overcome. Wether the strength of God is needed to face a loss or a trial, God gives us the strength to overcome and be victorious. All we need do is praise Him, even in the midst of the storms of life, praise God and God will provide you the strength to face up to whatever may come. This is why we can face up to the troubles that come and remember the troubles we have come through to remind us that even at what we thought was our worst, God was with us and carried us through.

Casting Pearls - Manna or Mammon?

                          If we look in the fifteenth chapter of Exodus we will find the Children of Israel contending with Moses over provision for food then water while they were in the desert after leaving the bondage they were in while in Egypt. They conveniently forgot all that God had done for them up to that point, the ten plagues, the dividing of the waters of the red sea, they seemed to think God had done all this just to turn around and forget them. God brought them out of Egypt to take them to the promised land and prosper them. Through their actions, and lack of belief, they turned an eleven day journey, as most people could have done it, into one that took them forty years.
                          Forty years was what was accepted at the time as what made up the normal generation. I believe in part God wanted the Children of Israel to take that long so the generation that entered the Promised Land would be raised to depend on God for their provision each day. Due to the Children of Israel's doubts and fears when they arrived at the Promised land, they were prevented from going in, and had to wander in the desert forty more years. Very few of the people were left who even remembered the exile in Egypt by that time. In fact Moses himself would die before entering the Promised Land, due to his getting angry and not waiting for God.
                         Back to chapter 15, we find the Children of Israel having just come from the miracle of God parting the Red sea for them to cross, and its closing back up to destroy the army of Pharaoh. The people rejoiced at what God had done for them in one breath, and then turned against Moses and God with the next. They were thankful for what God had provided, yet almost immediately they began to think only of themselves and want Moses and God to provide food and water for them in the desert. God heard the Children of Israel murmuring and told Moses that he would provide them meat to eat in the evening, and bread in the morning.
                          That evening quail covered the camp, and the people had quail for the evening meal, and the next morning, after the dew had dried up a 'round thing' was left covering the ground which looked reminiscent of coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. The people of Israel called the bread, Manna and as instructed by God and Moses, they were to gather up only what they needed for the day, and no more. This was a test from God, to see if their own greed and laziness would cause them to not follow His directions. The people who gathered more than they were supposed to and tried to save it up for the next day found it going bad and having worms in it.
                        This was to teach the Children of Israel that God would provide for them each day the needs they had for food, and any attempt they made to hoard up more, would only result in loss.  People are in much the same position today. We try to hoard up things for our future, and only watch whatever we have wasting away by the world we live in.
                        I recently learned that retirement accounts were being taken over by the governments of Poland and Greece, and the same thing was being discussed here in America. The Governments were saying that the money was only given to us to use for a time and all money ultimately belonged to them. We try to pass on things to the next generation, but things and money are nothing but creations of man and have no real value except what we put on them. Life and memories and knowledge are the only things we can really pass on to the next generation.
                       The Israelites continued to murmur against Moses and God in spite of God's provision and that is ultimately why an eleven day journey took eighty years total. We should do our best not to be as hard headed as the Children of Israel, and learn before we waste our entire lives trying to hoard and pass on the fleeting things of this world. God says to trust Him to provide your needs our faith in God's provision, will be counted for us as righteousness, as the Bible says about Abraham in Romans 4:3. The more we murmur against the Lord and fight His control and provision for our lives, the longer we will wander in the desert, or wilderness of our lives.

Casting Pearls - Repent or repented?

                    As Christians we are called to repent and turn away from sin. The problem comes when we repent after the sin and not before it. The original greek that the Bible was written in uses two words that can be translated as repent, but have a vastly different meaning. First we have the verse; Acts 17:30 where the Bible says for all men to repent, (Metnoeo) in the original Greek, which is a verb, meaning to turn away and keep from continuing in the sins you had previously been engaged. God was understanding that we had trouble turning away from the evil and "winked" at our sin. We are called to repent and change our direction, away from the evil, in the opposite direction. The day is coming, very soon, that the Lord will return to judge the world in righteousness by the one and only Jesus Christ who God has made our attorney (representative) and judge over us in spirit.
                    We have God's assurance, that Jesus will have the right to represent us and judge us as Jesus had conquered death and the grave to be our sacrifice and our Savior from the evil all around us.(verse 31) Though some may mock, and call us foolish for believing that Jesus was raised from the dead for our sakes, we will be victorious over the evil that surrounds us if we hold on to Jesus. The problem comes when we repent because of the sin, and not from the sin. In Corinthians 7:10 the Bible tells us that we must fully repent and not just have "Godly sorrow' which is the other meaning of repent, to mentally feel sorrow because "we were caught in our sin" by God and mentally feel sorrow and repentance.
                    The World wants us to feel sorry if we have done anything wrong, and try not to do it again. (verse 11) Attempting to be a Godly sort and not truly repenting and turning away from our sins to become a "new creature in Christ". the word for repent in verse 10 is, (Metemelome) which is a noun meaning to be "be sorry we got caught", what we need is TRUE repentance. the first repent implies that we have a different view of the evil now that we have arrived at the evil that the sin brought us too. the second repentance, which is what we are called to have, is the implication that we would have a different view of the evil if we were turned away from it.
                   Are we to stand and wallow in the sin, or move steadily away from it ? The choice is really our to make, it is a mental choice we must make. It is truly the difference between eternal death and salvation to eternal life. we must mentally make the choice to turn away and not just feel sorry for our sin. Change your ways, and change your life, by changing your heading.

Casting Pearls - Who is First?

  In Matthew 5:33 Jesus is in the middle of the sermon on the mount. Jesus had started by teaching His disciples, with others listening in. They listened and the crowd grew, until Jesus was talking to more than just His disciples and close followers. and that is why in verse 33 he began talking with everyone, He told them all to 'seek ye first' the Kingdom of the Lord. Is God and the things of God first in our lives?
                              The people were listening intently to His teaching. Jesus told them to seek first the things of God. God should always be FIRST in everything we do. Is our spouse first? Are our children first? Are our things first? We need to put God first in our lives. If we have anything in our lives before God, we are asking for The Lord not to work in our lives. This I believe is the most important thing Jesus said in His teaching.
                              Jesus also said in verse 22-23 that our eyes are the light of the body. The eye, if clear, will let plenty of the light of God in and illuminate the way. But, in verse 23 the Bible states, if the eye is not clear or evil, then the whole body will be full of darkness, and leave plenty of room for satan to play with us. So, the darkness of this world will blind us to the light of the things of God. If our eyes can't see then our entire perspective is thrown off.
                              To give you an example, there was a great swimmer who had swum the English Channel and was attempting to swim the 26 miles from Catalina Island off the coast of California to the coastline of California. When she tried it was a foggy day and she swam for a long time before signaling for the boat shadowing her to pick her up. She said she had to give up because it was just too foggy. She was only about a mile away from shore when she gave up.
                              Later she tried again and made it the whole way despite it being a foggier day than before. when asked how she had done it despite it being foggier, she said she had a picture in her mind of how the coastline would look and each stroke she took brought her closer to that picture. Just as she had done, we need to imagine what Heaven will be like, keep that picture in our minds, and know that each step we take in this life brings us closer to where we are going. -John Abney

Casting Pearls - Tough Love

                            Today in the world we live in Christians are supposed to be sweet and loving and let the people just run over them and do as they please. the Church has tried to appease the masses just to appeal to more people. It is high time that we began showing the world some tough love in the things that God has specifically told us in His word He finds an 'abomination' to Him.
                            We have a great example in Jesus himself who as Jesus Himself said in Matthew 10:34 "Think not that I come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword." The world wants us to accept Homosexuality and killing through Abortion, and other sins( I only mention the major ones ). The Church needs to stand up for God, and what God has told us in His Word, and be willing to accept the hate of men for our stand. If the world will not accept the morals that God has put forward as the fence around that we should not cross, then the world will face the consequences from God for not residing inside that fence.
                           The world has already seen the results of homosexuality, in AIDs. The world is finding out the results of Abortion, through the lack of new inventions that could end up saving us from ourselves, and the psychological and physical  damage done to  women who have done this. Jesus, continually was at odds with the Pharasees, who eventually brought about His death, for their twists and perversions of the law and making their own rules, which they had ingrained in the peoples lives deep enough to make them as important as the Ten Commandments from God.
                            In one case in Mark 7:2-16 where the Pharasees saw the disciples eating some bread without washing their hands first. They tried to catch Jesus allowing them to do this against their rules of cleanliness. Jesus answered them saying" Well hath Esaias (isaiah) prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." The rules made by the Pharasees were held to be as important to the pharasees as the Laws of God. The pharasees, however, had made some of their rules to circumvent God's own Commandments.
                            For instance, in verses 10-14, Jesus explained how the pharasees had circumvented the commandment of God to honour your father and mother by calling their wealth 'corban' or dedicated only to the Lord. By doing so, they were still able to control and spend it for their wants and needs, but since it was now The Lords, they did not have to use it to care for their aging parents. In this way the Pharasees had made the Law of God of no effect.

                          As the Church( a called out assembly of like believers), we are called to be the LIGHT and SALT in this world. First in Matthew 5:13 we are called to be the salt of the earth, salt in that time was used as a preservative, and was needed to prevent mold or corruption from destroying and causing decay. Just like salt, we are called to preserve the good things of the world, and keep the corruption or mold and decay from coming into our lives.  Next we are called to be Light of the world in verse 14. Where Light is darkness cannot come in. When we see a window, light comes out to expose that which is in the dark, the dark does not come in. The light of our belief in God is meant to shine and expose the darkness in the world.
                         The world and the lord of this world Satan, want us to be afraid of the things that Satan can do to us. We need to have faith in God to let Him have control over our lives and realize that all Satan can do is cause damage to this physical body, God Himself will guard our souls from the evil around us and if Satan was to kill us it would only hasten our being with God.
                         We see from Paul in Ephesians 6:11-18, that God through Paul has told us to put on the WHOLE armour of God. We don't fight against people and their evils, but we fight against the wickedness of Satan in this world. This wickedness can only affect our physical bodies, not our souls. We need to put on this armour first thing every day, so we will be prepared to face the evil of the world and have protection from God to face it and stand firm.(see verse 13) In verse 13 Paul tells us 'having done all, to stand." so if we have put on our armour as we should, we have nothing to fear. We just need to stand firm and weather the storms coming our way.
                          You may say, how can I have that kind of faith in God to protect me from the storms? The truth is that we all are going to worry and fear sometimes, God will give us the strength to weather the storms of life if we are willing to only believe. In Phillipians 4:13 the Bible says I can do All things through Christ which strengtheneth me. All we have to do is trust God to give us the strength to face whatever comes our way.

Casting Pearls - Trash or not?

As Christians we must be discerning about the things we must face in this world around us. I believe that Oswald Chambers had the best analogy of how we should look at the things we face in this world. A man named Jeff was being served breakfast and began drinking some of the milk given him. The waiter asked him, "do you know what that is?' Jeff answered it is Milk. The waiter said "it is a fluid expelled  from a cow, just like urine or something like that" Jeff quickly changed to eating some of his egg, and the waiter again said "do you know where that came from?" and the waiter went on to explain how the egg came out of the same place on a chicken that the poop came out. The man was disgusted by all this but realized that we must know what things are for us to eat and use and what are waste. just as with food, in this world we must be discerning as  to what is natural and what is good only as trash. Throughout this world we face these choices every day. In the case of Food or in the case of literature, or in the case of tv shows. We must decide what of these things are meant for trash and which are good for us. We are bombarded in life with the things the Devil would have us allow to dirty up our lives. The most important thing we can do is to hold up everything around us to the Holy light of God. The things of darkness will be revealed and the things of God will be seen as well.

Casting Pearls - Opportunity Missed

                     In Luke 22: 54-71 As Jesus warned him, Peter denied that he knew Jesus not once, not twice but three times and missed a golden opportunity to witness to others about what Christ had taught him. All was done due to Peter's fear that if he was found to be with Jesus, he would have to face the same retribution that Jesus was facing at that very moment. He might even have to fight for his own life. How often does our own fear of retribution by those of the world, keep us from speaking out when we see wrongdoing? Are we willing to lay down our lives for God? do we trust God to protect us when we do something to witness for Him?Every time that brother Chuck goes to the Jail in Calhoun County, he puts his life and health in the Lord's hands and trusts God that there won't be a riot or jail break while he is there.
                      Verse 54, the guards grabbed Jesus and began to lead Him ti Caiaphas the High Priest's house, Peter and the other disciples followed from far off. We should not let a distance come between us and God. When we allow distance between us and God we are more easily led astray by the evil in this world.  When they arrived in verse 55, instead of going into the courtyard with Jesus, and John, Peter sat down to warm himself by the fire the guards and followers of the priests had kindled in the outer courtyard. Sometimes we seek comfort in the things of the world instead of standing apart as the peculiar people that Jesus said we are to be.
                      The first accusation came in verse 56, where a maid, who just happened to be there by the fire as well, saw Peter and said "this man was also with Him", to which Peter quickly denied, In verse 57. Afterwards, Peter just stayed there for a while until  another person spoke up and said,"Thou art also one of them" to which Peter said "Man I am not". For a second time Peter had missed a chance to tell others about Jesus, and be a witness to others of Jesus' love.
                     After the second time some time passed, about an hour, then in verse 59, a third time a man confidently said, "Of truth, this fellow also was with Him ; for he is a Galilean." to which Peter quickly and vehemently denied using curses. As Peter did this, a cock began to crow and Peter remembered how Jesus had told him that "before the time the cock crowed thou shalt deny me thrice." and Peter saw Jesus looking his way and was very ashamed and ran away to weep bitterly. This was just as the priests had finished with their trumped up trial of Jesus, and were about to take Jesus to Pilate. The man who accused Peter was from all accounts someone who had followed them up on the mount of Olives and had probably seen Peter cut off the guard Malchus' ear. The situation had humbled the once proud and arrogant Peter and showed him that even he, as strong as he was, could fall away from the master Jesus, when self preservation kicked in and made him lie and deny Jesus as his master, rather than face the possible hatred of others.
                     How often do we run away from opportunities to be a witness for Jesus in our lives rather than face up to the possible anger of others? We see opportunities come and go almost every day to speak with others about Jesus and be a witness for Him to the world.Through this blog I hope to reach others that need to hear about the love of God. A great speaker I'm not, but maybe through these columns I can find someone who needs to hear of Jesus and what He did for us, and how He is risen to show us that He has power over the grave. Jesus was the sacrifice that paid our sin debt and none other will ever be needed.

Casting Pearls- Reading God's Word

                        As we read through God's Word, we often come on verses we already know from previous teachings, or preaching. More often than not we only remember the part of the verse that directly affects us. That is our selfish sin nature, We need to overcome our natural selfishness and read not only the part of the verse that we think applies to us, but also the surrounding verses so we can understand better the true meaning of the verse.
                        An example of this is in Romans 6:23 where the Bible says in the first part of the verse; 'For the wages of sin is death' , many people stop there but the second part of the verse is even more important to our salvation than the first. The Bible goes on to say 'but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord' . Furthermore, the previous verse states; ' But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end end everlasting life.' , Meaning that we are free from the wages of sin, and are bearing fruit now that will be holy and bring others into Heaven, and lead us to the final reward of eternal life.
                       How often we stop before completing the task God has given us because it seems more than our little mind can comprehend. Or limit the work of the Holy Spirit, by not exploring further into the Word of God. The Holy Spirit is of God and can only be limited by our not allowing Him to go as far as He might. (I speak of the Holy Spirit as a Him, Only for esthetic reasons) The Lord can do awesome things that seem to us as foolishness. In 1 Corinthians 1: 25, the Bible says that 'Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.' and in verse 27, it says; 'But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;'.
                       In our weakness we can show the world God's strength, and in our foolishness we find the true power of God. Some thought it foolish for Joshua to attack Jericho with the Ark of the covenant and horns. Some thought Gideon foolish to attack the Midianite army of thousands with only three hundred men some lamps and some horns, Some thought David foolish to go against Goliath with only a sling and five smooth stones, I could go on citing examples but these are enough. It is when we seem foolish to the world around us and put our faith in God to deliver us, that God's true Strength is revealed. We can do nothing on our own, it is God's Strength that allows us to succeed.
                      Suffice it to say that the only limit to God's abilities is our own mind. If we have faith that God will do it, and are in God's will in our lives, it will happen! Nothing is to great for God to accomplish. Nothing is to big for God to overcome.