Monday, April 21, 2014
Blessings,
Gramps
Monday, April 21, 2014
Blessings,
Gramps
Monday, April 28, 2014
And a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak; for she was saying to herself, "If I only touch His garment, I will get well." But Jesus turning and seeing her said, "Daughter, "take courage; your faith has made you well." At once the woman was made well" (Matthew 9:20 - 22).Hey Gang: As a little squeezer, our Sunday School used to have contest memorizing Bible verses and the winner would get a prize. Being a lazy type I always looked for the short verses like "Jesus saves", "Jesus Wept" and "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God". But I readily admit I did not have a clue what ‘faith’ was. In my tenure in the church the word ‘faith’ was used quite frequently but I do not recall anyone sitting me down and saying, “This is what faith is all about” and it is a very essential ingredient in your walk with the Lord.
And then one day, as I was doing a word study on the word faith, a brilliant thought crossed my dome of intellect, "Faith is an action word". As I read and reread all the accounts where Jesus did miraculous healings, in each miracle faith rewarded was preceded with faith demonstrated! In other words, I learned that faith was an action word. In all the faith healings performed by Jesus there was a prerequisite - they had to believe with all their heart that Jesus could do what they were asking Him to do.
Do you remember the story of the paralytic? Due to the huge crowd that surrounded Jesus, the four men who carried him could not get close to Jesus. Time to pack it in and wait for another day, right? Wrong! They were determined that they would get their friend into the hands of the healer, so they went up on the roof, cut a hole in the thatching and let down the paralytic down into Jesus’ presence. Seeing their faith, Jesus responded: "Your sins are forgiven, take up your pallet and go home". (Mark 2:3-5).
How about the blind man who was
sitting by the road when he heard commotion and learned that Jesus was passing
by. His response,” Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me".
He was told to keep quiet, to which he cried all the more! Jesus said,
bring him to me. Jesus then asked the man what he wanted Him to do. The
man responded, “I want to be able to see.” Jesus said to him, "Receive
your sight, your faith has made you well" (Lu. 18:35-43).
Blessings,
Gramps
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
"For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah, For as in those day before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark and they did not understand until, the flood came and took them all away, so will the coming of the Son of Man be" (Matthew 24:37-39).Okay, I can buy that. But his
next statement was the one that made me put down my book and pay
attention. He said, “After hearing all the controversy, I went into the
closet and dug out the Bible my mother gave me when I was a little squeezer and
read the story for myself. And then I read it again and a third
time. But I did not stop there, I wanted to find out the context of the
story and why ‘if there is a God’ (the seed is planted), He would see the need
to wipe out most of His creation?
This one rang my bell this
morning. I am teaching on End Times and
plan to go with a group to the ARK model in September!
Friday, March 7, 2014
Hey Gang: Did you ever literally have another person’s life in your hands? Where a mis-spoken word could lead to their demise? I have. As an air traffic controller, on any given shift of work I held more than a hundred aircraft filled with people in my hands; one missed communication could have placed one, or more, of these aircraft in a life- threatening position.
A call soon corrected the problem and the aircraft was safely vectored to his home base. The pilot thought he was following the instructions that would lead him to safety, but without immediate corrective action, the T33 would have soon run out of fuel and fallen far short of his Rehoboth (home base). Do you see the analogy painted here? We may think we are following the right path when, in reality, we are slipping further away from the Lord.
Blessings.
Gramps
PS So very important today when we
hears voices on the Media, so much other communication. phones full of blogs, etc. – It is important to check it all with Gods
Word and direction.
Monday, March 10, 2014
Soooo my young friends, when it feels that God has you in His shaker turn to Isaiah 25:1 and shout to the heavens, “O Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; For You have worked wonders, Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness". Having a tough time? Find someone that is worse off than you and bless them.
Blessings,
Gramps
Monday, March 17, 2014
A holy man was having a conversation
with God, one day, and asked Him to show him heaven and hell. God led the
Holy man to two doors. The holy man opened one of the doors and then
looked in. In the middle of the room was a large round table which a
fantastic pot of stew that made the holy man's mouth water.
Friday, February 28, 2014
Friday, February 21, 2014 What's Happening, Man? 3
Can you find Israel between Jordan & Syria?
“O
God, do not remain quiet: Do not be silent and¸ O God do not be still.
For behold, Your enemies make an uproar; And those who have You have exalted
themselves. They make shrewd plans against Your people, And conspire together against Your treasured
ones. They have said, “Come, and let us wipe them out as a
nation”.
Hey Gang: The people of Israel have been under constant harassment since the birth of the nation in 1948 with wars, on-going terrorist attacks and, boycotts of their products across the world. It seems everyone in the world thinks Israel’s business is their business and can dictate to them how they/Israel should accommodate the desires of the US & UN!
“It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples, all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.” (Zech 12:3).
I tend to think Zechariah 12:2 might answer that question, “Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around, and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah.”
Gramps
Wednesday, February 19, 2014 Hey, Man, What's Happening? Part 2
“When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the things which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you shall not be afraid of him” (Deut. 18:22).
Hey Gang: Now hear this – now hear this – now hear this – I do not claim to be a prophet of God and have shied away from presenting what I believe is happening prophetically in our world. I tend to leave the prophetic driving to those I believe God has blessed with the gift of prophecy. But I sense in the last several months, that God is prodding me to share thoughts about what is happening in our world that lines up with God alerting His children to the signs of His releasing His Son to return to earth and collect His children.
That does not mean that I do not spend a third of my Bible study time in the prophetic Scriptures. It is my sincere opinion that since one third of the Bible is prophecy, I should spend at least one third of my Bible study time in seeking out those truths presented by Jesus, the Apostles and Prophets of old. But, I also warn those who become top heavy in studying prophecy that time with the rest of the writers of the Scriptures is essential to gain a balanced spiritual perspective.
With that disclaimer
clearly understood, I will honor Abba Father by sharing what I believe He has
made clear to me in the past several months and even years.
Jesus, in the Olivet Discourse, laid out a very clear message for His children
on the Signs of Christ Return. Note: He began with a warning, “See
to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am
the Christ’ and will mislead many” (Matt. 24:4b- 5).
One does not have to be a rocket scientist to realize deception is running rampant, not only in the pagan world, but also among many who avow they are believers in Christ and followers of the King of kings. But, as my good friend and mentor Jessie, pounded into my mind and heart – “if it ain’t in the Word and taken literally, it will probably lead you down the prime-rose path.”
It has almost become
common place for self-proclaimed gurus who, claim they have the inside path to
knowing, and announce to the world the exact time that Jesus will return.
Unfortunately there are many who do not heed what Jesus warned, “Don’t be
deceived.”
The world is filled with deception today. You can find just about anything you want to believe. At this time there are three rapidly growing blasphemies that are very deceptive. One I call the Oprah Wintry blasphemy: she avows that there is more than one road to God. Perhaps the verse “Jesus is the way, truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6). Is missing from her Bible.
Perhaps the blasphemy that is causing the most upheaval in our world is Replacement Theology: the belief that God no long loves Israel and has replaced Israel with the church. This misunderstanding of the mega references pertaining to God’s eternal love of Israel, in my humble opinion, has caused a rapid growth in the fulfillment of Zechariah 12:2 “Behold I am going to make Jerusalem, a cup that causes reeling to all the people around”.
The third blasphemy is perhaps the most damaging to the salvation message. Simply, it states: to “believe” is enough; as long as you ‘believe’ you are home free, no matter what you do or not do in this lifetime. One might get the idea it is a license to sin. BE ADVISED: Satan and his "Demons also believe in God and shudder." (James 2:19)
Soooo, now, let me ask you a question. If you were living in Israel and each day know that you are totally surrounded by 170,000 missiles designed to cover every inch of Israel, would you be a wee bit nervous? .
Blessings,
Gramps
PS
As I try to select Gramps thought from 10 years back – I am the one most
blessed. The introductory One I left omitted but will post # 3 either mid-week
or next Sunday. Stay tuned you might
think you are reading today’s paper!!
Monday, February 18, 2013
I am not predicting End Time, but our spiritual enemy seems to be hard at work.
Gramps