March 2018 Week 2: Goats TUESDAY | Page 3

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Good day and welcome to

= your Kingdom Connection Devotional for March- Week 2! In honor of the Texas Rodeo, the theme for this month is Christ's Kingdom Livestock. Last week we looked 5 aspects of sheep and on this week we are studying the behavior of the goat.

We began with an End-Time passage prophesied by Christ on how those who called Him "Lord" separated into goats and sheep. While the Bible doesn't identify the goat with Satan, himself, as it does the dragon, or the serpent, goats and the "spirit" of a goat should be considered when taking a self-assessment of how we are in Christ's Kingdom. The Apostle Paul tells us to judge ourselves in I Corinthians 11:31. And on this week we will discuss 3 behaviors that goats possess which make them operate contrary to the sheep and we will begin with their intelligence.

No study on sheep is going to disclose that sheep are smart animals. In fact you are likely to read that they are dumb. Now for the sake of the prideful, we can keep in mind that "dumb" is relative. Yet there are studies that give goats credit for being smart. Hopefully I have you considering is being a "smart" a sin? And that's a very good and a very important question for EVERY believer.

While we find a scripture that encourages us to "be stupid" or "don't learn" nor "follow blindly" we do have scripture that warns us about our intelligence.

I'll never forget the first time I read the phrase

"everyone did what was right

in his own eyes"

It made me wonder did they do:

1) good things or bad things

2) wise things or foolish things

3) kind things or self-centered things

4) vulnerable things or protective things

5) nice things or mean things

"Right in his own eyes" can be ANYTHING. When WE get to establish what is

right, we can rest assured 2 things:

1) Someone is going to disagree with it

2) It is to OUR benefit.... LOL

But in any case when we think something is right, it's because we think it's a good idea- at least for us personally. "Situational" ethics is a highly employed tool used by BELIEVERS!

The deal is, God never instructs us to use our mind. He never instructs us to think for ourselves. He never wrote, " I gave you 5 senses- USE THEM!!" even though we are made in HIS image.

BEING wise was

never His or else the

The Tree of the

Knowledge of Good &

Evil would have never been off limits. Eve desired to become WISE and Adam was in love.... God says this about our intelligence:

1. Lean NOT to Your Own Understanding

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

6 in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5&6

2. Renew Your MInd

Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2

Romans 12:2