Ecclesiastes 12:10

     Li Fuyan had been having the same headache on and on for the past four years. He’d tried every treatment imaginable to ease his throbbing headaches but nothing made much of a dent. It had all started after a failed robbery where he was attacked with a knife. The blade gave him lacerations on the right side of his jaw but he was able to escape with his life. Doctors finally decided to do an X-ray of his skull to see if there were any issues. Turns out the blade hadn’t just nicked his face. A rusty four-inch knife blade had been lodged in his skull the whole time. Once it was removed his headache went away.     This is similar to how sin treats us. Often, we struggle with a sinful temptation and maybe we feel like we escape the damage. However, if the desire finds a way in our hearts, it beings to corrupt. Some other struggles may seem unrelated but it’s really desire growing into lust. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his ow...

  For years I heard some passionate debates about whether or not Jesus made intoxicating wine.  I think the real issue isn’t really a curiosity on the alcoholic content but rather if this situation would create a loophole for his followers to imbibe. Some want to find an excuse to indulge their physical desire.  It isn’t just this passage however that gets twisted.   The effects of alcohol, and other such drugs, have a biblical purpose to be used to provide relief of physical suffering and for medicinal purposes (Proverbs 31:6, 1 st Timothy 5:23).  Folks however want to have the effect without the purpose. The use is a justification rather than a legitimate reason.  But God’s people are not to be controlled by a substance but rather by the Spirit (Ephesians 5:8).   It’s sad because in the debate we often lose that principle.  I’ve seen some of the most adamant teetotalers that take pain medicine like it’s going out of style. ...

   Let's take a look at Jude 1:15-16: to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."    Here Jude brings the hammer down on the ungodly.  They will be convicted for their deeds, judged for their way and punished for the harsh things they have done.      Now when he rails against the ungodly, who do you have in mind? Murders? Rapist? Drug Dealers? It has to be the worst people in society, the dregs of the human race. After all, think about how many times he calls them ungodly?      So who does Jude have in mind?    Well he tells us exactly in verse 16, “ These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage”.    What? Complaining? Nitpicking...

  In scriptures, the closest human thing we have to the immovable object was Samson. In battle after battle, nothing could stop him. Not a lion [i] .  Not thirty men [ii] . Not a thousand men [iii] No matter what man came after him, Samson could take them all. But a woman, well that was a different story.   Samson had always had trouble letting the lust of his eyes make his decisions, (Judges 14:1-3; 16:1-3) and it happened again with Delilah. He fell for a woman that cared more for money than for him. So time and time again she attempted to seduce the secret of his strength from him. And he would give her a story. Then lo and behold, his enemies would attack him that exact same way.   You would think he would be smart enough to figure out what was going on and leave her. Maybe he was. Maybe he just didn't care. He was strong enough to get out of whatever trouble would come.   But the day finally came that broke him. It wa...