Fear Episodes

If you haven't heard Ray Comfort's sermon called "Hell's Best Kept Secret", it is worth listening to. It is a fair indictment of the use of the altar call and the sinner's prayer. Revealed by his own analysis, "80 to 90% of those making decisions for Christ were falling away from the faith that is modern evangelism with its methods was creating something like 80 to 90 backsliders with every hundred decisions for Christ." He goes on to cite this statistic: "in 294,000 decisions for Christ in just...

There is going to come a time where you question what you should be doing vs. what God can and will or will not do. Ultimately the outcome is His, so you ask yourself, what’s the point of me even trying to do something, really? Not to take the credit but to contribute in whatever way you can in the outcome. You have the motivation and the desire; you don’t want any of the credit. You just want the issue solved and you can’t just stand idly by. It is a tension worth wrestling with. Notes for The...

What if the moments that feel like your life is falling apart are actually the moments when God is closest? Most of us want spiritual growth to happen on our terms — when life is calm, predictable, and under control. But Scripture tells a very different story. Again and again, God meets people when the map has burned up: Abraham leaving everything familiar, Hagar alone in the wilderness, Mary surrendering the future she expected, Paul blinded on the road to Damascus, and the disciples walking t...

We are early in our journey tracing the trajectory of God’s direct interaction with his creation. What we’re already discovering is a very tender, very soft entry. God does not land abruptly, he lands softly and leads. Unfortunately, men don’t always listen. Still, as we track through this history, you’ll see the patience, the persistence and the love of a Father for his children. Today, we look at the first encounter between God and Moses. With a careful reading, you’ll find this encounter mor...

I think, as a rule, we tend to dismiss people who express profound interest in the spiritual, ghostly realm. Worse, we think those who claim to have had actual experiences with ghosts and spirits as “crazy”. It all gets swept under the table. I think as Christians we are missing a profound opportunity if we do that. The Bible is no stranger to the spiritual world. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this ...

As usual, Google will put things in my path that it thinks I want to see. This was no different. 3.4 million views in three weeks. The good news is that people are very interested in this. The bad news is that people will use this as their resource for knowledge. We want to address this. The name of the YouTube video is Father Chad Ripperger - Signs of the Mark of the Beast & Rise of the Antichrist We are not criticizing Father Chad Ripperger per say. We are issuing a caution regarding how yo...

Pilate knows the truth of Jesus' innocence. He has stated it three times. Yet when he issues the verdict, it is for the crucifixion of Jesus. The irony is staggering. The very word "verdict" means "to speak the truth". I'm not exactly sure how to describe Pilate. He's often depicted as ruthless. He feels more like a puppet. He's that person always concerned about what others think. In this case, he must satisfy Caesar. He must satisfy the Jewish elite. His wife is whispering in his ear things c...

As we leave Matthew 24, we leave with a warning. I'm multitasking right now in front of a YouTube video by John Barnett. If you're not familiar, he spends every waking moment in his online ministry discussing End Times. And he is REALLY GOOD at it though admittedly; I waver on dispensational theology and pretribulation rapture stuff. That said, that is is an interpretation no false prophecy and we as Christians should know the difference and not throw the baby out with the bathwater. John's teac...

Jesus didn't have a GPS, he had something better. He had ancient prophecy. And at this point in the journey, Jesus is the only one who can see the destination. The other disciples are blind and fearful. They are marching right where they think they ought not be traveling. Notes for Marching on the Roadmap Through Prophecy Episode Link: https://www.rabbitholesandmeditations.com/marching-on-the-roadmap-through-prophecy/

We hinted at this podcast in our last discussion. Up to this point in the man's history, all earthly systems have a mutually dependent relationship. No matter what the system, if that is where you place your trust, your faith, then you are engaging in idolatry. You are trusting something of earthly origin more than you're trusting in your own Creator. By contrast, your own creator, does not exist in that mutual, symbiotic relationship. You still depend on the Creator, whether you want to admit ...

What happens if man creates a system that does not depend on man? This is a more direct discussion leading to tomorrows podcast. I'll let you ponder it. No notes today, this is just a short intro. Episode link: https://www.rabbitholesandmeditations.com/creating-a-non-dependent-creation/

So, I walked into today's program preparation like every other day. But something clicked and given the context of where we are in scripture, I just didn't expect it. Earlier today, I did a study on the history leading up to the birth of Jesus. Then, on a completely unrelated part of scripture, that study became relevant. It wasn't the central theme, but it was a key component. But that was only part of it. As I'm reading, I'm watching how divine orchestration plays out. And it is there that ...

I love reading scripture quietly, slowly and intentionally and then following the hyperlinks that appear in my head! I've already told you guys; I can't shut off the spicket. I'm not good at the details but I pick up on the patterns. I can't go directly to scripture passages from memory but in this jumble of wires in my head, I can somehow connect the dots. I thank God for allowing me to make this affliction something useful and not some sort of craziness! I let my apps sort it out into somethin...

You hear this all the time, right? "I'm a Good Person". or "I have a Good Heart". or this one: "Well, I'm only human!" I have to be truthful, I've said these things! The fact is, most of us would consider ourselves to be pretty good people. Here's the thing. I used to think that every decision I made in life could be traced back to a decision leading to life or death, no matter how trivial the subject. That was just a core philosophy. That original thought was rooted in my secular lifestyl...

After Jesus has held a child up as an example of who is the greatest in the kingdom, he expands the meaning of "child" to cover all believers. You are indeed a child of God. We're reading Matthew 18:6, Matthew 18:10, Matthew 18:14, Mark 9:42 and Luke 17:1-2. There's an interesting mention of angels in Matthew 18:10 and we dig a little bit into the role of angels in our lives. The passages focus on those that would cause one of His children to stumble. That got us to ask the questions. Who makes...

What we heard in parables is now fully out in the open. Coming off the transfiguration, in the disclosure of His death and resurrection, Jesus now spells it out in plain English. What is fascinating is not the revelation itself, but how the disciples take it. They are clearly disturbed by the revelation and don't know how to process it. I think sometimes when we read the Gospels, we leave our empathy on the table and look at scripture from a purely intellectual vantage point. And of course we ha...

Jesus and the disciples are leaving a full day. They never seem to have time to rest. After the feeding of the 5000, Jesus instructs his disciples to take the boat over to their next destination. Jesus dismisses the crowd and retreats to the mountain to pray. After waiting a bit, the disciples move out without Jesus. They encounter rough waters and find themselves struggling against the waves and the wind. Jesus crosses the water on foot. This miracle cements the notion that Jesus is the Son of ...

You know, sometimes you get caught in the middle of some crisis. Your immediate thought is, "OK" how am I going to get myself out of this.". In our Red-Letter journey, today we see the disciples, experienced fishermen, in a boat with Jesus. Jesus is tired and sleeping. A storm comes up that drives these fishermen to the point of panic. We discover how the storm can be a test of faith. "How am I going to get myself out of this" is not the right response! Notes for "When the Storms Come" Epi...

We live in a stress filled world. The two keywords in that sentence are "stress" and "world". Imagine your life if you could stop worrying so much about what tomorrow brings? In today's culture that sounds like a tall order. To chill out doesn't mean you have to slow down. It really comes down to the why behind your actions? If you're doing it because you're fearful about what would happen to you if you didn't, you need to consider your misplaced fear. Anxiety can be a trigger to understanding y...