Matt. 12, 13

Sad to say, we cohabit this earth with bad people. Jesus described them as weeds sown among good seed in a field. He also likened them to bad fish which were discarded by fishermen when they collected their nets. Of course, God knows the difference and will pronounce judgement upon evildoers in the end.

And yet, Christ sent us out as sheep among wolves and simply instructed us to love everyone and treat them fairly. When He prepares for His final judgement, He will separate the wheat from the chaff once and for all. His children will enter into eternal life with Him. The others will, sadly, be eternally damned.

It’s good to be SAVED.

Matt. 11

Possibly the greatest description of our loving Shepherd, Christ Jesus, is found at the end of chapter 11. “Come unto Me … I will give you REST.”

You experience rest when the job is done and you are tired. You experience rest when you KNOW you are truly safe. You experience rest when all is right between you and your superiors. You can rest at the end of a race or trial.

Christ IS our rest. He said HE would give true rest to our souls. This is a distinguishing difference between worldly folks and Children of the Kingdom. We are at rest. We are not consumed with our own strivings to be acceptable to God. Through the blood of Christ which did all the heavy lifting, our Heavenly Father sees us as completely righteous.

Matthew 9, 10

When Jesus described events and moods of the last days, He instructed His disciples to “Stand firm to the end.”

There is nothing firmer than the Word of God. When we stand upon His Word, applying it to every portion of our daily living, we are positioned to endure anything. Church affiliations, educational accomplishment, financial independence, political favor … all will fail us, but God’s Word will NEVER FAIL.

Study it EVERYDAY.

Matt. 8

Christ was found asleep in the disciples’ boat when a storm came upon them. They woke Him up, and He merely ended the weather turbulence with His Word. Amazing!

Christ’s Word can be applied to any storm you’re going through. You may think He’s asleep in your boat … He doesn’t get anxious like you do … but He’s THERE, ready to bring His power to whatever challenge you may have.

I have a little storm I’m dealing with. My pulmonary embolism (blood clot in lungs). I didn’t realize how truly serious it was until doing some reading on it. Jesus is in my boat resting. I trust Him to get me to the other side of the lake.

Matt. 5-7

The Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) is the greatest concentration of Christ’s teachings in the Bible. Because it is, we are wise to read it often. I am making a personal resolution to do so.

HEALTH UPDATE: I’m home from the hospital and ready to get in gear. I’m sorry I missed publishing. I felt “unplugged.”

It was discovered that I am probably inclined to blood clotting for the rest of my life. So, I am on a drug called Eliquis from here out. Also, I have virtually been off sugar, and my eating will change dramatically. More exercise is essential. Pray God’s grace in my life to make these changes.

Matthew 4

I am presently in a bed in the Newnan Piedmont hospital. A CT Scan revealed that I have blood clots in both sides of my lungs. There’s a large one in the left side near the heart. This is dangerous. I’m at peace, because Christ is with me.

if Jesus was here, what would He do? Chapter 4 indicates that He healed all manner of diseases. When they came to him, he healed them.

I can imagine Christ walking through the hospital and stopping at every bed in every room. “What is your affliction?” “Rise and be healed in My name.”

Actually, He is here. His power is in me. I can ask iim His mighty name. I’m believing for some miracles tonight.

Matt. 3

We don’t have record of Christ baptizing anyone in water (like John) but John said Jesus would baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire. What does that entail?

Baptize means to dip, to plunge. Christ’s baptism is more a spiritual one and less a physical one. Jesus always goes for the heart of man. When His Holy Spirit baptizes us, our heart and life are changed. The fire probably refers to the refinement and purification process that God’s Spirit conducts in our lives. Also, cloven tongues of fire appeared on the heads of the seekers on the day of Pentecost.

In Acts 1, Jesus referred to this baptism when He instructed His Disciples to go to Jerusalem and tarry or wait for this special baptism. Wait they did, and received a visitation from God like no other. Peter presided over this outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit. This is known as the Pentecostal experience.

I have experienced it just like Acts 2. I hope you will likewise seek to be baptized in the Holy Ghost. The early Church was empowered to be witnesses of Christ’s Gospel. God’s power will fill your life just as Joel prophesied.

Matthew 2

Some months ago the news told us that the Star of Bethlehem was to make a short appearance in our sky. I took a photo of it which I will share below. Whether or not it was THE star, it was very intriguing and stirred up interest in Matthew’s account of the Wise Men’s journey to find the Baby that was prophesied.

God has at His disposal the entire universe to communicate His Message. We are told of signs in the sun, moon, and stars in the last days. Only God can arrange this phenomena. Gratefully, He explains Himself in His Word.

Of course, Christ Jesus is worthy of such a demonstration of God’s control over the heavens. We can tell our children the story of the Star at Christmas. Show them this picture that Grandpa Dean took of the star.

I BELIEVE! It’s the prominent one just over the left side of my neighbor’s roof.

Matthew 1

We see in the genealogy of Jesus that Christ had an imperfect bloodline. Ruth was a Moabite. Solomon was the offspring of a woman David committed adultery with. Yet, it pleased God to bring forth the Messiah from an imperfect background and suspicious bloodline.

What about you? Does your family’s past have shadows of disrepute? Like Jesus, you are the beginning of something special God wants to do.

(My cousin, Alan Demos, has discovered that we are descendants of Robert Barker who was the king’s printer in England, and printed the first King James Bible.)

Malachi 3, 4

When reading the text of chapter 3, one is either relieved to be tithing and thereby escaping the consequences of not tithing, or worried about incurring God’s displeasure because they spent HIS MONEY on themselves.

Patty and I resolved this question in the beginning of our marriage. WE TITHE, no questions asked! God has faithfully met all our needs. His blessing far exceeds what we deserve. God can bless in ways you can’t purchase with dollars and cents. His favor we see upon our family is testament enough for us. We encourage every Christian to automatically give the FIRST ten percent (at least) to their church, the storehouse. Our over 51 years of marriage has proven God the be the greatest giver.