asacredrebel

Are you willing?

Today I read for part of my devotion Acts 5:1-11, the story of Ananias and Sapphira and how they sold their land and withheld some form the disciples. I was struck by this as always. Why would God do this to these two people?Ananias did not eve say a word to Peter and was struckContinue reading “Are you willing?”

If or Since

I just read Matthew 4:1-11. This is an interesting passage about the Devil tempting Jesus. However Dr. Richard Carlson and Dr. Mark Vital Hoffman taught me a few things in seminary which do not come across in our English translations of this text which impact its meaning and how we should live greatly. The littlestContinue reading “If or Since”

What is holding you back?

We hear this and I think instantly of seat belt laws. In Ohio there are signs that ask “What is holding you back?” and they have an image of a seat belt, but I wonder this in a different way. I read a devotional this morning about being generous, and the woman Elijah encountered duringContinue reading “What is holding you back?”

Fear

I just read a great article by Dr. John C. Maxwell on fear. He ends it with a quote of Eleanor Rossevelt, “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. IContinue reading “Fear”

Spoiled?

Are we spoiled?Or do we maybe just take our world and technology for granted. I mean look around at the wonderful things we get upset about if we do not have it. Television for one. I know I complained about the switch to DTV because we lost all of our channels except 27. We evenContinue reading “Spoiled?”

Sin and lashing out…

I find it amazing the way we let things take over our lives. Sin is that very thing that makes us turn in on ourselves and look at things in a way that God did not intend for them to be. Over the past 2 days I have had to reload my laptop twice. OnceContinue reading “Sin and lashing out…”

Accentuate the Positive

I have been thinking about Jesus saying, “I am the light of the world” in John chapter 8. This comes between the story of the woman caught in adultery and the healing of the blind man. Jesus says that he is the light of the world, and if you walk in the light there willContinue reading “Accentuate the Positive”

Looking the wrong way?

Are we going about this the wrong way. We will not let people into the assembly until they fix this or that behavior…We are very quick to point out what is wrong in the others life and not dwell on our own sin…Jesus spent time with those that the Pharisees did not see as peopleContinue reading “Looking the wrong way?”

Why do we say what we say…

I have started reading The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren. He says on page 33 “Or else he was a teacher whose words would be quoted to condemn people our church or denomination didn’t approve of.” He is of course speaking of Jesus here, and I can see what McLaren means about usingContinue reading “Why do we say what we say…”

What is the opposite of love?

It seems there is a lot in this world that pulls us away from love. But what is the opposite of love? As one of my friends said to me recently the easy answer for this question is hate, but that is not truly the opposite of Love. He said the opposite of love isContinue reading “What is the opposite of love?”