Baptist City Blog

- Tuesday, 12/20/16  Pro 16:9, A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps. Quit looking at your goal and start looking at your immediate tasks.                        Ps 2:11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.  Don’t ever lose the fear factor toward God. Fear is the baseball backstop that keeps the ball from going too far out of play when things go wrong.

 

- Wednesday, 12/21/16  Ps 19:8, The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. This verse is a statement of fact: so if I am not rejoicing, then it probably means that I’m short-circuiting the process. Check yourself and your attitude toward the Word: getting a little casual??                                  Ps 65:5b-c, ...O God of our salvation; who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea... Getting a little full of yourself? Proud? Remember that your God is SSOOOOO big as to be 100% aware of all believers all around the world, and He is the same to them as He is to you. He’s not an “American God”...He’s God...period. Maybe we shouldn’t be so much an “American Christian” but just a Christian...serving every other person on God’s green earth, and trying to evangelize any who might listen. We’re citizens of two kingdoms, but God’s is the higher kingdom and He’s the higher King: be sure to walk more proudly under “the banner of the Cross” than you do under the red, white, and blue.

 

- Thursday, 12/22/16  Ps 62:5-6, My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defense; I shall not be moved. Actively and repeatedly (& vocally) remind yourself that God is enough for you.                         “I wanna be like Jesus!” Really? Good. Luke 9:23, And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me. “Deny,” “take,” and “follow.” Denial is never enjoyable nor easy to the flesh. The Cross was undeserved negatives so as to help others. Following Him will often mean being actively hated by the world’s people while loving their souls and trying to convince them Who He is. Are you truly in...in deed and not just in word?

 

- Friday, 12/23/16  Though the journey is dark and scary...don’t bail on God. Ps 66:12, Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy spot. Wait for it...                              Pro 19:3, The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the Lord. Boy! If this verse doesn’t describe me to a “T” (too often.) “Perverteth”: to wrench, throw out: like a wrestler. “Fretteth”: to boil up, be angry. Another thing to be aware of and to confess.

 

- Saturday, 12/24/16  Pro 19:22b, ...a poor man is better than a liar. Better to be without substance than to be without character. Do you REALLY believe that?                                   Est 5:13, Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate. We (me) are WAAAY more like Haman WAAAY more often than we’d like to admit. Do you let a few negatives, even legit and/or big ones, carry more weight and garner more of your emotional attention than the multitude of blessings that you have?

 

- Sunday, 12/25/16  Isa 48:18, O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! Then had my peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea. Obedience to God’s commandments produces inner peace and practical holiness...in case you’re in need of some.                                  Job 1:7, And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence cometh thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. Satan is still “going” and “walking” and “seeking whom he may devour”...in case you’re tempted to let down your guard. Yes, he even works on Christmas.

 

- Monday, 12/26/16  Isa 50:10a, Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? This is a rhetorical question with the obvious answer of “No one.” So, if you feel you’re in darkness, there’s a reason.                             Pro 22:2, The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of them all. Whether we admit it, we are consumed with money and possessions. One day, they truly will mean less than nothing, and your relationship to God and His word will mean everything. What are you doing to prepare for that day? Are you more ready for that day than you were a year ago? See v3: A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself: but the simple pass on and are punished.

 

 

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- Pro 19:15, Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep, and an idle soul shall suffer hunger. Lying around, addition to sleep, and poverty accompany laziness.

 

- Pro 18:19a, A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are life the bars of a castle. Life is too short and right relationships with a brother in the Lord are too valuable and important to allow differences to linger. We need to be peacemakers at all costs.

 

- Acts 19:20, So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. If the churches of Jesus Christ will purge sin, heresy, and error out of the pulpit, they can have this.

 

- Isa 16:9, Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else! I am God and there is none like me. Amen and Amen!!!

 

- Acts 20:31, Therefore watch, and remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn everyone night and day with tears. Bro. Hyles, for over 40 years with tears and much criticism, taught and warned us. We need to dig out his messages and hear and heed them.

 

- Ps 62:22, Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work. The full mercies of God toward us has to do with our work, and how honoring it is to Him. We should never forget, and must remind ourselves often.

 

- Acts 21:4b, ...who said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem. Paul, like most men greatly used of God, was a stubborn, focused man who even refused to heed the warnings of the Holy Spirit. It’s what made him used by God!