Author Archives: Tex Tonroy

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About Tex Tonroy

husband, dad, g-dad. love-Jesus youth prisoners strays orphans and widow-women. author teacher preacher counselor and coach about Life.

FORGIVENESS CEREMONY.050615

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forgive yourselfIn the Kairos program we focus a lot of attention on forgiveness.   We do it for two reasons: 1] because in the Bible Jesus devotes  a lot of attention to it; and 2] because in the prisons, there are a lot of people who really need it.

To bring this subject into focus: in Matthew 6:9-15, the Lord’s Prayer, forgiveness is a major point of the whole prayer.  In verse 12, it says, “Forgive us our trespasses (sins, debts) as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  And we usually think the prayer ends with verse 13, “And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.  For Yours is the kingdom .  .”

But that’s not really the end, because immediately, without taking a breath, Jesus adds, “If you forgive others their trespasses, then God will forgive you; but if you don’t forgive others, then He won’t forgive you.’  (Isn’t it interesting that He doesn’t make any comments about any other verses in the prayer, only about forgiveness.) Continue reading →

DELIVERANCE TO THE PRISONERS . 050515

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Abandoned Jail in TallinnIn Luke 4:16-20, is the story of when, shortly after Jesus returned from His temptation wilderness, He first appeared in the synagogue at Nazareth to announce His ministry.  It goes like this: ‘And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

In a number of places in the New Testament, Jesus says that those who believe (trust) in Him will receive the Holy Spirit (That’s Jesus’ Spirit), like John 7:39; John 20:22;  and Acts 1:8; I take these verses to mean that because you and I trust Jesus, His Spirit lives in us too, and the passage in Luke quoted above applies to us, just as it applied (applies) to Jesus.  We too are to proclaim deliverance to the prisoners.   Continue reading →

BE LIKE JESUS. 042815

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Teacher talking with students in the clasroomIn Matthew 10:24-25, Jesus said, “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.  It is enough that the student be like his teacher, and a servant be like his master.”  Like it says in Philippians 2:5, “Let this mind (this attitude) be in you that was also in Christ Jesus.”  (That’s humble and willing to serve)  I pray these verses for you and me.  I pray we can BE LIKE JESUS.  That will definitely change our lives.

JESUS, THE CENTURION AND THE SICK SERVANT. 042615  

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ColossiansIn Matthew 8:5-13, is the story of the Roman centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant, and Jesus said, “I’ll come.”  The centurion responded, “You don’t need to come; just give the order, and he’ll be healed.  I know this because I am a man under authority (I understand authority).  When I tell one of my men to do something, he does it, no questions asked.”

Jesus was totally impressed.  He said, “I tell you the truth, this man has more faith than anyone I’ve seen, even in Israel.”  Continue reading →

Hey Bud, Whatcha Lookin’ At? 042415

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" Don't judge a book by its cover " written on a blackboardIn 1 Samuel 16:7, God says to Samuel, “The Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

When I was a little kid in the 50’s, television just came to our town, there were two stations, Channel 11 and Channel 13.  Channel 11’s slogan was, “Hey Bud, Whatcha’ Lookin’ At?  Channel 11, Good Lookin’!”  In those days just having a program on at all was a fascinating prospect.  At first the TV didn’t even come on til about 5:00 PM, and stayed on only til after the 10:00 news.  How much things have changed.  It was a much simpler time, not nearly so complicated.  They had a show called “Father Knows Best” which was a family style sit-com; and in those days a lot of people thought father really did know best.  We’ve all had to make a lot of adjustments since then, just to try to keep up. Continue reading →

WATCH OUT! 042315

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Der Wolf im SchafspelzMatthew 7:15-16 says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are vicious/ferocious wolves. You will know them by what they do.”  This is Jesus talking, in the Sermon on the Mount.  He goes on to say that good trees bear good fruit, bad trees bear bad fruit, and people are the same way.  Beware means “be warned”.  Watch Out! Continue reading →

I’M SOOOO SORRY.042015

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man lawn mowing1 Samuel 15:22-23: Samuel said, “Does the Lord delight as much in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the Lord? Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay attention is better than the fat of rams.  Indeed, rebellion is like witchcraft, and stubborn arrogance is idolatry. Because you have rejected this message from the Lord, he has rejected you from being king.”

This passage comes from the story of King Saul and the prophet Samuel, when God told Saul to take his army and kill all the Amalekites; man, woman and child; and destroy all the plunder, all the stuff they captured in the battle.  Turns out, Saul did not obey. He brought back the best of the sheep and cattle supposedly to sacrifice to the Lord; and he even failed to execute Agag, the king of the Amalekites.  God was very angry, so He sent Samuel to tell Saul what was going to happen. Continue reading →

WHO IS YOUR MASTER? 041815

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Business conceptMatthew 6:24 “Jesus: No one can serve two masters. If you try, you will wind up loving the first master and hating the second, or vice versa. People try to serve both God and money—but you can’t. You must choose one or the other.” (VOICE)  The old versions, like KJV, say “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Mammon = riches)

If you can’t serve both, then you must choose.  Or as I often say, “You get to choose.”  Do you want to serve money and stuff, or do you want to serve the Creator and Ruler of the Universe? Continue reading →

Don’t Make Me Leave You. 041715

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Young smiling woman with her teen daughterRuth 1:16-17: But Ruth said [to Naomi], “Don’t force me to leave you; don’t make me go home. Where you go, I go; and where you live, I’ll live. Your people are my people, your God is my god; where you die, I’ll die, and that’s where I’ll be buried, so help me God—not even death itself is going to come between us!” The Message

You probably heard this story, about Ruth and Naomi.  Naomi was from Israel, but because there was a famine, she and her husband and two sons moved to Moab, where the two sons married, one of them to Ruth, a girl from Moab.  Continue reading →

WHERE IS YOUR TREASURE? 041615

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Coin. Coin pyramid.“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be too.”  Matt 6:19-21

Le Christ du Corcovado et la Baie de RioSo I’ve got a few questions for you: 1] Where is your heart? 2] What do you treasure?  I mean, what do you really care about?  What do you focus your attention on? When you’re not really thinking about anything in particular, what does your mind keep coming back to?  If you had three wishes, what would you wish for?  Here’s another way to say it: What do you really love, with all your heart?

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