Pastor Tom's Journal

Be prepared. Live by faith. Faith is made up of: 1. Assumptions 2. Actions 3. Activation Read at https://medium.com/@tomsims/be-ready-and-live-by-faith-fbd398348c60?sk=8589c7be4fd7257be8833e095b33ce34 If you are a Medium member, help me make a penny: https://medium.com/@tomsims/be-ready-and-live-by-faith-fbd398348c60 Here is a synopsis: https://fb.watch/BoFyYZIpvt/ Subscribe to the Bible Chat podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D6KDtEhh2A&list=PLOiYPMCf1trxsROSMB1v6jodqpDK2uKgo

Photo by  Iñaki del Olmo  on  Unsplash Bad Laws and Good Laws What is the difference between a good law and a bad law?   No, this is not the setup for a joke.  A bad law oppresses people.  Bad laws put unnecessary burdens on people.  Bad laws prey upon widows, orphans, and the poor.  Good laws, by contrast, help those who bad laws hurt.  That is the difference according to Isaiah's prophetic word.  Isaiah 10:1-4 Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches? Nothing will remain but to cringe among the captives or fall among the slain. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.   To share from YouTu...

Do You Have Eyes in Your Head? Then, you are wise. “The wise have eyes in their head, but fools walk in darkness.” What is the principal difference between wise people and foolish people? It is perception. Of course, once something is perceived, it must be processed, but the processing functions are often crippled by lack of critical and attentive. perceiving. “Eyes in our head” indicates that we are paying attention. We are receiving information. We are seeing. listening, and noticing. We are asking questions and hearing answers. We are looking around, looking up, and looking within. We are double-checking. We are open. We are reasonable. We are sensitive. Fools walk in darkness, but God gives light. Walk in the light as Christ is in the light. Ecclesiastes 2:1–17 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition I said to myself, “Come now, I will make a test of pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But again, this also was vanity. I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of p...

Are you wealthy? Whatever your answer, the follow question is: Are you sure? Consider what the scriptures have to say. Speaking of wealth, if you cannot afford a Medium subscription, use this free link for my friends: https://medium.com/@tomsims/how-to-get-rich-and-how-not-to-7282cc2c901c?sk=f300f05bd093986d880a28df0b32db7b If you are a subscriber, I would not mind making a penny and would appreciate you using this link (You are already paying your $5 a month as I am): https://medium.com/@tomsims/how-to-get-rich-and-how-not-to-7282cc2c901c If you are on Facebook. you can watch this video on: https://fb.watch/BfoM6DBOVL/

Staring at the stars and gasping at the wonder of our own miniature stature, even as there is a universe inside of us. We sigh. Friend link if you are not a Medium member. It is free! - https://medium.com/@tomsims/how-big-is-big-e64c396c9e9d?sk=daccf84cb2aba8a744d2fc0ffc6a110a Member link. If you are a Medium member, use this link and help me make a penny. - https://medium.com/@tomsims/how-big-is-big-e64c396c9e9d How big is big? How vast is the sum of countless unknowns? How incalculable is this universe we call home? How small we are!

Ephesians 4:17-24 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer walk as the gentiles walk, in the futility of their minds;  they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart.  They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.  That is not the way you learned Christ!  For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus,  to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts,  and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,  and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

  I hear people say that it is hard to forgive. They say it is hard to love one’s enemies and pray for them. I do not agree. It is actually quite easy. It can be easy if we are submitting to God’s love. That is where the struggle come – submitting. Once that is accomplished, everything else is a cakewalk. --------------------------------------- Don't despair if you are not a Medium member. Here is a free friend link because we are friends: https://medium.com/@tomsims/submitting-is-the-hard-part-loving-is-easy-21a6ce4b2f5e?sk=bda3ce049fb182700daead55f1fb9640 If you are a member, help me make a penny, also, because we are friends. https://medium.com/@tomsims/submitting-is-the-hard-part-loving-is-easy-21a6ce4b2f5e

Call it poetic justice or slapstick comedy, but it is dead serious with the emphasis on "dead." When we throw too many darts, they boomerang. God is not necessarily singling us out; it is simply the divine law of sowing and reaping. Haman ended up on the gallows he built for Mordecai. It is not a pretty story, but it is life and a good warning to us not to throw stones or to be vindictive.

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God." No Rinky-Dink Clause   Colossians 2:16-3:1 I will call this Paul's "No Rinky Dink Clause."  Paul is up against a version of Christian teaching that is seeking synthesis with a form of aestheticism that he is saying robs the believer of their liberty in Christ and puts the emphasis of faith in the wrong place. He counters it with this instruction: Set your hearts on things above. That is where Christ is and Christ is seated at God's right hand. If we adjust our focus, it will solve a lot of our religious problems: Look upward!

Do I need therapy, or do I need to write more? Or do I need both? Or do I need coaching to help me write more? Or all three? You decide, but whatever you do, if you are a writer, start writing and sharing what you write.

A Prayer from the Gut for Equity! Do you indeed decree righteousness, you rulers?  do you judge the peoples with equity? No; you devise evil in your hearts, and your hands deal out violence in the land. A righteous man is praying, and he is not pulling any punches. He is praying from the gut. He is praying from his heart. He is praying with disgust. He is praying to a righteous God. He is praying with a sense that he is aligned with the heart of God. It is a heart of righteousness. It is a heart that desires equity. The psalmist is convinced that God's concerns are for righteousness justice equity and peace. It is to that end he prays. He prays for those things and he prays against wicked rulers. A link for Medium Members. Thank You! - https://medium.com/@tomsims/a-prayer-from-the-gut-break-them-557cded12828 Free Friend Link: https://medium.com/@tomsims/a-prayer-from-the-gut-break-them-557cded12828?sk=c5944c30a5f20a189ffb6421f6d04595

  Post Truth? Or is it just a lack of artistic imagination? Or is it just too ethereal?

Teach Us to Pray. Gospel: Luke 11:1-13 Hosea 1:2-10 Psalm 85 Genesis 18:20-32 Psalm 138 Colossians 2:6-1 Broken by Rebellion Based in Reality -  Around us, within us, and beyond us Bonded in Relationship https://lintr.ee/tomsims Photo by Milada Vigerova on  Unsplash Teach Us to Pray. Gospel: Luke 11:1–13 Hosea 1:2–10 Psalm 85 Genesis 18:20–32 Psalm 138 Colossians 2:6–1  Prayer Broken by Rebellion Based in Reality -  Around us, within us, and beyond us Bonded in Relationship Photo by Jack Sharp on  Unsplash Summary of Message We focused on the theme of prayer, exploring its significance and how it is taught and practiced according to biblical teachings. We began with the disciples’ request to Jesus to teach them how to pray, similar to how John taught his disciples. We highlighted the importance of understanding prayer through various scriptures, including Luke 11:13, Hosea, Psalms, Genesis, and Colossians, emphasizing the relationship between prayer, rebellion...

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Mordecai, a Defiant Resister There is something in us that wants to be on the winning side. There is another drive that sometimes competes. That is the desire to be rightfully aligned with God. That is, in other words, our conscience, Alignment with God's kingdom and will is a basis for hope that we can have both realized. However, sometimes, we must proceed without hope and with only the conviction that we are taking the stand that is right and righteous. There have always been edicts from systems that have raised issues and choices of conscience. These edicts have been presented as nonnegotiable, and lack of compliance has come with negative consequences. There have always been those who have resisted based upon conscience. Mordecai, the Jew, could not and would not offer worship to a human being. Nor could he pledge his loyalty to an imposter or a pretender. This was a matter of conscience for him. Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor. So, torn between conflicting nonn...