Baptist City Blog

Tuesday, 11/22/16  Mal 3:1a, Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. Pastors, SS teachers, parents: remember that those are God’s people that you speak to; they’re not yours. And, remember that your job is to point them to Christ and not to yourself.  
                              Mal 3:7-8, Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me...in tithes and offerings.  Why does God go immediately to money when the subject of returning to Him arises? Because He needs the cash? No, to see if your heart is truly returning, because where the money goes, our hearts go. So...have you really come back to God? Paid your back tithes PLUS the 20% penalty for withholding it?

 

Wednesday, 11/23/16  Ps 143:10a, Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God. Most (you?) don’t want to even know what God wants; some (you?) are desirous to know His will (thru Bible, church, preaching); and a few (you?) want to learn His will so as to DO His will.                                Influence is a gift from God: don’t abuse it. 1 Sam 3:19b, 12:4, [The Lord] did let none of [Samuel’s] words fall to the ground. And they said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken ought of any man’s hand. If we’d worry about and work on living holy 100x more than we do instead of fretting about influence, we’d have more.

 

Thursday, 11/24/16  Pro 20:22, Say not thou, I will recompense evil, but wait on the Lord, and he shall save thee. A simple and direct commandment. Now, do it at work, on the highway, and in your home.                         Ps 69:3, I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God. Ever felt abandoned by God? Been there. V13: But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time. But He is still there despite our fickleness, and always will be. Doubt Him, fuss at Him,...and keep coming back to Him.

 

Friday, 11/25/16  In 1 Sam 13:12b, Saul said, I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering. (This was a priest’s job, not a king’s.) There’s never a legitimate excuse to do wrongly. Do what YOU are supposed to do.                               Matt 24:12, And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. As we treat one another in destructive, self-centered ways, we create emotional wounds that make us afraid to trust and to love. Be aware of doing that on your part; and be tolerant of others doing it to you. There’s no temptation taken you but such that you can bear it...so you CAN trust again; you CAN love again...but, it’s all centered on YOU CAN FORGIVE AGAIN.

 

Saturday, 11/26/16  Matt 7:1, Judge not, that ye be not judged. Identifying what someone did is not judging: that is merely observation. It is when we assume to know WHY a person did what they did that we enter into judgment.                                Jer 6:16, Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. What directs your daily life? Convenience? Fads? Pop psychology? Sit coms? Or “Thus saith the Lord”? If we don’t purposefully choose it, it doesn’t. If we don’t frequently make course corrections (repentance), it doesn’t. If we aren’t made to feel “old fashioned” and “silly” occasionally by those around us, it probably doesn’t. Also, notice what is the end result of obeying God, of thus saith the Lord: peace and rest internally.

 

Sunday, 11/27/16  Ps 132:14, God says, [Zion] is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it. Zion is the city of God, Heaven. God “has desired” to live with us forever!! We’re not barely tolerated; we’re intensely desired!! Whoopee!!                                    Ps 71:18, Now when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come. Seniors (and middle-aged ones), are you actively passing on your wisdom to the next generation? You’ll have to adapt your teaching style to their modern ways, but they need to know what you know.

 

Monday, 11/28/16  Heb 2:15, And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. In dealing with people, keep in mind that one of the chief reasons behind their sinful choices is a fear of death, and they attempt to calm that fear through distractions (i.e. sins).                              Matt 6:21, For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. I was challenged by an assistant pastor re: some comments I made about a man about whom I said I had no use for. So, to ensure that my heart becomes right toward him, I have started praying for him. Sometimes, you need to give of your substance to someone/thing; sometimes you need to give of your time; sometimes you need to give of your will. (Those are our 3 treasures.) But affection follows our investment. About what or whom should you care more? Give to them: put some of your treasure into them.

 

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- Ps 37:24, Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. Good men do fall, but they need not stay down or quit. God can and will still use them.

 

- Ps 39:7, And now, what wait I for My hope is in thee. The question that every child of God asks. The only real hope we have is in HIM.

 

- Ps 40:2, He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. This verse ought to cause every born again child of God to praise the Lord and have a spell! O how blessed we are, and how thankful we need to be.

 

- Ps 41:1, Blessed is he that considereth the poor; the Lord will deliver him in times of trouble. God puts the poor and needy in our path for our benefit and for theirs.

 

- Ps 44:1, We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old. If we refuse to hear, teach, preach, and learn from the history of God’s protection and blessings of the past, we are destined to repeat failures and defeats.

 

- Pro 26:24, He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him. We must be very careful whom we listen to and whom we associate with as they can create prejudice, and hatred toward another by gossip, fostered by an unholy, deceitful heart.

 

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- You might be a good parent if you get as upset over your kids making a bad decision in life as you did when a ref made a bad call against them in a game.

 

- Martin Luther King Jr., “We must develop and maintain a capacity to forgive. People who are devoid of the capacity to forgive are devoid of the capacity to love.

 

- Your head cannot properly hear until your heart listens.

 

- The degree to which I am blessed staggers me, but the degree to which I acknowledge and take those blessings for granted humbles me.