wheat1200

5/14/21 Treasures in Hedges

I really like finding golf balls; ever since I was a child, living on a golf course in Palm Springs, finding a golf ball was always like finding a little treasure.  Even now, it's the same.  We live next to a golf course with a hedge of laurel between us and the fairway.  I'll often walk along the hedge and find anywhere from 5 to 15 golf balls and here, they're almost always bright new shiny ones because this is an exclusive, private course where the members can afford to always use brand new balls.  If I wanted to bother, I could easily find 100-150 balls each month but I've already got so many hundreds of golf balls in my basement, stacked in egg cartons, and we give them away as gifts to other golfers.   

Inside the laurel hedge is where I find most of the balls.  Many balls end up out in the open on our side of the hedge, but one of our neighbors also hunts for them so I try find them first but even if I don't, I'll still find plenty inside the hedge because, if you've ever tried to pass through a laurel hedge, without a gap in it, you know that it's close to impossible.  Laurel grows thick and heavy; thankfully, laurel doesn't have thorns but there are blackberry vines growing throughout the hedge which makes it very difficult to enter into its interior.  But... none of that can stop me in my quest for the next golf ball... especially if it is one of the florescent colored ones... just like finding Easter eggs... I can't help myself.

'Why should any of this interest you,' you ask... it's about the hedge.

4/18/21 The Only Way to Know God.

 

We know that the Lord Jesus will come for us, His true Church, at any moment but when you suddenly stand before Him... will you know Him intimately or will He be somewhat a stranger to you?  To Jeremiah, God said: 'Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.  And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, says the Lord,' Jeremiah 29:12  He would only be found by the one who sought Him with all their heart.

What does that even mean, to seek God with your whole heart?  Most obviously, it means that we are not covering over sin in our heart, holding on to some sin that so easily entangles us:

4/11/21  But I denied Jesus...                                                 

Jesus said, 'Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God. 9 But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.' Luke 12:8

And: 'Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.' Matthew 10:33

Many believers live in fear that Jesus was speaking of them when He said this; they fear because they can remember times when they were silent, from fear, and did not speak the name of Jesus Christ.  Or, they actually said something, again, out of fear that was, in effect, denying the Lord Jesus Christ.

Rejoice in the Lord, Always!                                                                        

Paul wrote: 'Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.' Philippians 3:1

Have you ever noticed... God commands us to rejoice in Him!  Paul knew that the joy in his salvation was key to his walk in the Lord and his walk through this World.  Our choice to rejoice, to have joy, is coupled with our choice to be thankful, to thank God in everything... not just the things we happen to believe are good things.  In fact, everything that God brings into our lives is for our good.

'Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever... Let those who fear the Lord

4/9/21 Why is this so difficult? 

Many today, and I do mean many... hate the truth of the Rapture, that the Lord Jesus Christ will remove His Bride, the true Church, before the terrible times of the Tribulation.

I won't go into the many proof texts in Scripture, that is not my point in this short post.  But I do want to address the first lie that 'they' always put forth in attempting to refute the truth of God's Word.  They always say, 'The Rapture is found nowhere in the Bible... nowhere!'  That is their first lie.

Let's look at the two areas of Scripture where the Rapture is... not just alluded to but actually stated... one refers to the Church while the other refers to one of the Apostles. 

  1. 4/3/21 Tom's Blog - China is on the move.
  2. 4/1/21 Tom's Blog - Weeds and Sin