Baptist City Blog

- Tuesday, 4/3/18  Psalm 119:60, I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments. Any delay in obedience usually is spent in disobedience. We’ve all held on to pet sins and finally let them go, and then wondered, “What was the big deal about that?” The same is true about the issue God most recently talked to you about.  
                             Proverbs 24:16, For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief. God says that the ultimate measure of a person is not in how many times they fall, but in how many times they rise up again. Do you tend to use God’s measuring stick more often or man’s? Are you better at it than before?

 

- Wednesday, 4/4/18  Galatians 5:13, For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. Christian liberty has nothing to do with the freedom to please myself: it’s all about the freedom to love others. Are you free? Love...and love some more.                           Galatians 5:14, For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. None of us, in thinking of how to please ourselves, thinks, “How much do I HAVE to do? How little could I get away with?” No, we give every leeway to ourselves, and allow for ten benefits of doubt. We are quick to accept justifications or explanations for wrongdoing and are usually doubly quick to extend great mercy to ourselves. So...that shows how I am to love those who’ve done wrong against me. ‘Got anyone you have been shortchanging in the love department?

 

- Thursday, 4/5/18  Psalm 119:129, Thy testimonies are wonderful: therefore doth my soul keep them. If obedience to God is somewhat of a burden to you, check your attitude toward His word. Is It “wonderful” (full of wonders) to you? Is it truly a miracle that you can touch? Will It transform you?                                    Stage 4: Disconnecting ourselves from the tether line to God.  Stage 3: Bitterness (infected anger.)  Stage 2: Holding a grudge (festering offended pride/wanting revenge.)  Stage 1: Unforgiveness for a real or imagined offense (“I didn’t deserve THAT.”)  You WILL get to Stage 4...STOP IT NOW!!!  Genesis 27:41, And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.

 

- Friday, 4/6/18  Ephesians 5:25-26, Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. Summary: v25, Husbands make her happy, and (v26) He’ll make her holy.                              Ephesians 5:8, For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: The Christian life is not complex; it’s hard, but not complex. Walk as a Christian.  “But how?” you ask...  V9 says, (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Very simply, do good, be righteous, and speak and live the truth. So, today, in your shoes, walk as [a child] of light.

 

- Saturday, 4/7/18  Your hurt may be another's fault but your vengeful (& sinful) response to that hurt is on you. Psalm 137:9, Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. Your anger/hurt may be legitimate and understandable, but somewhere I read that we are to love our enemies.                                Has it died? Are you heartbroken over that death?  The resurrection of Christ conquered death. Are you willing to allow God to resurrect your life, or that particular aspect of your life that has died? I’m referring to your marriage, the relationship with your kids, the hope of ever being used by God again, the chance for holiness and usefulness. The power of the resurrection is available to all of us...the question is, Will you allow it to flow? Will you pull away the dams of doubt, pride, anger, vengeance, self-pity, arrogance, the desire to be proven right? In short, will you lay aside yourself, your agenda, and...yes, your sin so that God can work? Philippians 3:10, That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Mark 6:5-6, And he COULD there DO NO mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marvelled because of their unbelief.

 

- Sunday, 4/8/18  John 21:3, Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. More than sinful, I believe these men were discouraged over their failures. How did the Lord act (and how should we act)? Sweet, encouraging words, and new tasks to accomplish. Failure doesn’t have to be final.                                    Psalm 127:1, Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. The Lord can do things without us, but chooses not to. In everything, we have a part: here, He doesn’t condemn laboring or waking and watching. But, without man’s obedience to the given task, He won’t build the house or keep the city. Are you guilty of depending “too much” on Him and obeying too little?

 

- Monday, 4/9/18  John 5:40, And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. I wonder how often we do not come to Him that we may have the “life more abundantly” that He offers. And do we encourage and teach sinners that He’s offering them life eternal? Are you a soul winner?                                   Psalm 126:1-2, When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.  Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them. When God fixes a situation, it usually is an AMAZING solution...as compared to our scheming and finagling. Lesson: “Pray for it; and, wait for it...”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

- Pr 3:18, She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is everyone that retaineth her. The source of true happiness, contentment, and fulfillment can only be found in the daily pursuit of godly wisdom found only in His word.

 

- Job 23:10, For he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. God doesn’t have any accidents or ‘oops’ in our lives. Every event has a purpose, and He has the finished product in mind. In short, He knows what He’s doing.

 

- Mark 10:44, And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. Our Lord is looking for helpers and servants, not leades and chiefs.

 

- Ps 136:1, O give thanks unto the Lord: for his mercy endureth for ever. PTL for His never ending mercy! We must never forget it or take it for granted.

 

- Pro 5:1, My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding. Dads must teach their sons moral purity and the dangers of immorality.

 

- Mark 10:51, And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord that I might receive my sight. There is a whole world of lost sinners who are spiritually blind! Will we bring them to Jesus or drive them away?

 

- Ps 135:18, They that make them are like unto them: so is everyone that trusteth in them. Idolaters are as senseless as their idols.

 

- Ps 138:2b, For thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. We need to treat His word the same way that He does.

 

- Ps 139:2, Thou knowest mine downsitting and mine uprising: thou understandest my thought afar off. He sees and knows all that we say, think, or do.

 

- "Launch out into the deep." There's a huge misunderstanding as to what this means. It doesn't mean to get more experience. It doesn't mean to go to college. It doesn't mean to study more Bible. It doesn't mean to fast and pray. It was a simple instruction to "obey." Those disciples were master fishermen. They had experience. They had exhausted every resource they possessed. Miracles don't come by way of intelligence, but obedience. When our Lord says, "Launch out into the deep" don't complicate it.  Just obey.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

- God has not loved you more, nor less than He loves you right now. All that changes is our understanding of the love of our Father. The things of this world do not change His love for us, but they help keep us ignorant of His great love.

 

- “The guys who fear becoming fathers don’t understand that fathering is not something perfect men do, but something that perfects the men.”  -Frank Pittman

 

- "The more God loves you, and the more you love God, the more expensive will you find it to sin. An ordinary sinner sins cheaply: the child of God sins very dearly." ~Spurgeon

 

- When God's people get too busy for Him, before long the busyness loses its value.  Keep God in the busyness, for when the busyness is gone, you'll still have God!  STOP!! ReRead that slowly and think on it.

 

- Sometimes love goes unrecognized. And it will keep going until it is recognized; but if not, it will keep on going.

 

- If you once believed, but now you don't, then who led you the first time and who led you the second time?

 

- Children observe their parent's inconsistencies and will use them later in life to support their own inconsistent lifestyle. And it's a powerful argument.

 

- When I listen to how someone speaks of others to me I am hearing how they will be speaking about me to others.

 

- Grace is not best revealed when I treat others well. It is best revealed when others treat me wrong.

 

- Our greatest strength should be our ability to admit our weaknesses to God.

 

- Heaven will reunite our broken relationships and we will spend eternity wondering what on earth our problem was.

 

- I used to beg God for his presence. Now I ask him to make me aware of his presence.

 

- A new twist on an old saying, If you can't say something nice...shut up and get right with God.

 

- I've got news. God expects you to be human...flawed...scared at times...confused at others. He does not wish you were someone else or feel like giving up on you. He is not looking His nose down on you or rolling His eyes at your foolishness. He is your perfect, loving heavenly Father. He loves you just as you are even as He is making you all He wants you to be. Relax. God is not petty like us.

 

- Sometimes I say something I wish I hadn't. But there are also times when I don't say something I wish I had. So the lesson is don't just think before you speak, but think before you don't speak as well.

 

- I will sin today, so I am determined to extend to others who stumble before me the same mercy that I will need.

 

- Whenever we feel God has given up on us it is not God who has given up. It is that we feel defeated and wrongly assigned our feelings to God. He doesn't give up on his children.

 

- If you ask, "Why me?" when trials come, then you ought to ask, "Why me?" when blessings come as well.