B.E.S.T. Shabbat

“Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous ; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God . By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. ” (1 John 3:7-10) To listen to the audio-only version click below  Giving Opportunity Message   Last chapter, we began looking at the deliverance that comes from righteousness. In Hebrew, righteousness is the word, Tzadak composed of the 3 letters, tzade, dalet, and kuf. The composite word picture is of the seed of God, His spoken creative word, that we open our heart to through the gates of our h...

“Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” (Mark 4:18-19) To listen to the audio-only version click below  Giving Opportunity Message   Communication is the heart of a covenant marriage. The parable of the sower speaks to us about the different ways in which we listen. The first heart condition is what allows Satan to snatch away the seed, the communication, through offense. The second heart condition is the shallow nature of the cultural concepts of what true relationships are about. The superficial joy vanishes when we realize that love is sometimes tough and requires sacrifice. The third condition of heart is the entangled heart. This is heart that is surrounded with a protection of thorns. Thorns are a protection nature uses to defend the flowers or the fruit. Those of us who live or ...

"In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also." Joh 14:2-3 (NAS95) A dwelling place has been prepared for us. Having recently changed the dwelling place for our family, I am acutely aware of the process. God truly chose and prepared our beautiful new home in Prescott Valley. Yet, as beautiful and well-appointed as the house was and is, it wasn’t until Lisa began to decorate it with the unique design elements that represent us, that the house began to become our home. The artwork, pictures, furnishings all carry stories that express who we are. When the Lord tells us that in the Father’s house that there are many dwelling places and that He goes ahead of us and prepares them for us, I imagine a remarkably similar process of turning a house into a home. The decoratio...

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But desire fulfilled is a tree of life. (Pro 13:12 NASB) A healthy heart is a successful heart. There are many keys to the health of the heart, but I want to suggest that one of the master keys is hope. Along with love and faith, our heart is transformed by hope. These 3 are the abiding doorways. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1Co 13:13 NASB) Click here to listen to " Hope the Key to Destiny "   The key to a fruitful heart is one that knows how to abide. "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are...