Hebrews 1:9
“Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”
Happiness is not a destination, but the result of an action. We oftentimes think that we would be happy at a place, but once we get there we discover that the place didn’t bring us happiness. You can think that if you attended another church or moved to another place that you will be happy, but if you are not happy now you won't be happy when you move.
Song of Solomon 5:6
“I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.”
Keeping someone’s attention is the key to making sure that they get all of the required information that you wanted them to hear. One of the commands I use to train my dogs is “look”. I train them to look because I want their attention. If I have their attention, I know that we are engaged with each other. Likewise, if you have your spouse’s attention, you then can engage in a good conversation.
Esther 1:19
“If it please the king, let there go a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered, That Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she.”
If all you had to look at to view the result of Vashti’s life was the verse above, you would think that she lost in her battle for purity. I’m sure that Vashti didn't think that her throne would be taken from her when she told her husband that she would not flaunt herself in front of a bunch of drunken men. I wouldn't be surprised that she thought that doing right would cause God to defend her, but that didn't happen. If you look at the result of her action without looking at history, then you would say that she was the biggest loser, but she wasn’t.
Nehemiah 7:2
“That I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, charge over Jerusalem: for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many.”
When it came time for Nehemiah to go back to the palace, he had to find some people to put in leadership positions who would continue the work that they had started. It says in the verse above that he placed Hanani and Hananiah in charge of the palace and over the city of Jerusalem. Both places were very important as they were the center for all Israel. Those places were the places Israel looked to for direction. When you look at the qualities of these men, you find their qualities are needed in every leader.
Monday, 12/7/15 Pro 3:11,
My son, despise not the chastening of the
Lord; neither be weary of his correction. God MAY actually be picking on
you!! “Weary” implies that the
correction goes on for an extended period. What are we to do? DEAL WITH IT!!
Change!! And revel in the security that this brings.
You can listen to the FBC Christmas program and four great sermons for the week of 12/13/15 at Baptist City now!
- One Day at a Time
- The Bad Backslider is No Worse than the Good Backslider
- Gospel after the Christmas Program
- Gospel after the Christmas Program 2
Nehemiah 6:3
“And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?”
Any time you do a work for God, you will always have critics who will criticize everything you do. Nehemiah found this out when he rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem. Sanballat and Geshem did everything they could to get him to come down from the wall, but he understood that the work that he was doing wouldn't allow him to come down. He completely understood that their attempts to get him to come down were only an attempt to get him to stop building the wall, so he resolved that no matter what they said, threatened or offered that he would not come down from the wall.
You’re a Liar
Zechariah 13:3
“And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth.”
A very important principle is being taught in this verse that will keep us from compromise. God tells the children of Israel about a day when all idols will be cut off. A day when even the names of these idols will no more be remembered. God says in that day when a person gets up to prophesy the untruths of these idols and false religions that even the parents of this person will stand against them and call them a liar and will have them killed. For a parent to stand against their child is a very strong statement and a strong stand for truth.
Zechariah 4:10
“For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.”
For several years I have owned Rottweilers. We got each of these dogs when they were puppies. When you look at them as puppies, you can't imagine how big they will get, but trust me, they do get big. What used to be a little puppy that everyone thought was so cute has now grown up into a big beautiful dog. We had to keep in mind when we got the dogs that they were not always going to be small.
Proverbs 25:4
“Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer.”
Several years ago I had the privilege of going to a refinery to see the smelting process for gold. The process was very interesting to someone who had never seen how they refined gold. They took a bucket of what looked like dirt and put it on a sifter, and what remained after they shook it was the larger chunks of what looked like little rocks. They then took what remained and put it in a furnace that had extreme heat. The heat revealed the real gold. You could see the gold and the dross separate from each other so that when it came out of the fire the gold was collected to be sold and the dross was thrown away.