SNOW! Very heavy snow, almost a week before Thanksgiving, very unusual.
Galatians 1:23
“But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.”
Nobody would be saved without God’s grace. According to Ephesians 2:8-9, it is by God’s grace that we are saved. Works can’t save us because we can never be good enough to earn salvation. The power of God’s grace is amazing. You see in this chapter what the power of grace can do.
2 Samuel 20:1
“And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel.”
The war with Absalom was over, and those who were going to be disloyal to David had a prime opportunity to sow their discord because Israel was divided. The verse above says that Sheba blew the trumpet in Israel and said, “We have no part in David…” This is interesting because Sheba was of the tribe of Benjamin. It is interesting to note that Saul was also of this tribe. What happened was Sheba never accepted David as his king. He refused to move on from the past, and it was at this moment that he saw an opportunity to bring the past alive. Sadly, he was only hurting himself and those who followed him because the past could no longer be revived. His refusal to live in the present kept him from enjoying the reign of the greatest king in Israel’s history.
- You Can Have Victory Over Sin Now
- Christ and Me, Like Christ and the Father
- Doubt, Despair and Fear
- The Importance of the Resurrection
Great sermons from the week of 11/15/15 are available for your listening pleasure now at Baptist City!
2 Samuel 12:22
“And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?”
Everyone will face it someday. The life of a person who you love dearly will be hanging between life and death. Your desire is that the LORD would heal them so that you can enjoy more time with them on this Earth, but the doctors don't give you much hope that they will pull through. What do you do when this happens?
The 11/15/15 FBC Hammond bulletin is up at Baptist City!
My Bible thoughts:
Sunday, 11/8/15 Ps 72:1 Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy
righteousness unto the king’s son. Do you pray for your kids to get temporary stuff, or to get spiritual treasures?? Matt 2:1, Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem...there
came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying Where is he that is born King
of the Jews? The result? Herod and “all Jerusalem” were troubled. Matt 23:37, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest
them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children
together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would
not. It’s sad but too often true: the places where you’d expect godliness
and virtue to be exalted and honored, they aren’t, and the people in that place
are spiritually hollow. They’ll face their own judgment, but God’s plan is
still to be carried out in “Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost part of the
earth.” All the Bible and all the commandments were only written for YOU to
obey, no one else.
1 Samuel 27:11
“And David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring tidings to Gath, saying, Lest they should tell on us, saying, So did David, and so will be his manner all the while he dwelleth in the country of the Philistines.”
David went through a short period in his life when he thought the only hope of staying alive was by joining the enemy. Every time he went to fight for the Philistines, he would completely destroy every person in the city. His whole reason for destroying everyone was so that nobody would “tell on us.” He was very concerned with word getting back to Israel about him fighting for the Philistines. He had hopes that one day he would be able to go back to Israel and he didn't want his actions with the Philistines to harm this from potentially happening.
1 Samuel 13:12
“Therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the LORD: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering.”
The verse above was truly the turning point of Saul’s life. Saul was a good man by God’s own admission, but good men are faced with turning points that will determine their course for the rest of one’s life. Samuel was supposed to come at an appointed time to sacrifice before Israel went off to war. Because Samuel delayed his coming without any notice, Saul presumptuously took the duties of the prophet into his own hands which was a direct contradiction to God’s Word. Certainly, Saul had some good excuses as to why he did this, but those excuses were simply the turning point of his life that turned a good man into an evil one. There are three lessons we can learn from this turning point in Saul’s life.
1 Samuel 19:1
“And Saul spake to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David.”
One of the rude awakenings I had when I went into full-time service was when I discovered that everyone would not be happy with God’s blessing on my life. I should have known better because I grew up in a preacher’s home, but for some reason I just thought that people would be happy that the LORD was working through me. It didn't take long before I found out that when God uses you that you will endure criticism and battles along the way.