Baptist City Blog

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The Work of Pride

Psalm 10:4

"The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts."

When you study the Scriptures, pride seems to be the sin that God hates the most. Pride was the sin that caused Lucifer to be thrown out of Heaven. Pride is the sin that causes a person to be destroyed. Pride is the sin that will cause God to judge a nation. 

In Psalm 10, we find the work of pride. The first work of pride is making life all about you. God says in Psalm 10:2, "The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined." You will notice that pride caused this person to not help the poor. Why? The reason is because they were wrapped up in themselves. A person who makes everything about them and what they want is filled with pride. Nothing should be about what we want, but it should be about what God wants.

The second work of pride is not seeking God. Notice in the verse above, the wicked would not seek God because of their pride. In other words, God calls it wicked to not seek Him. In fact, God says the only reason why you would not seek Him is because you are filled with pride. Pride is the only reason why someone would not seek God in everything that they do.

Let me ask you, are your works filled with pride? For instance, do you seek God in all of your daily affairs? Before you go anywhere, do you ask God to help you as you go through your day? Before you make any decision, do you ask God to help you make that decision? Before you start your day at work, do you ask God to help you as you work? Whenever you perform your ministries at church, do you ask God to help you no matter how big or small the task may seem? When you spend time with your family, do you ask God to help you have a good time with your family? As you rear your children, do you ask God to help you rear them? When you work with your personal finances, do you ask God to help you as you purchase items and pay bills?

If you don't ask God to help you before you do anything, then the work of pride has filled your heart. For you to have enough confidence in yourself that you think you don't need to ask God to help you is nothing more than pride. Pride causes a person to believe that they can do something without God's help.

The result of humbling yourself before God will be that you will seek Him greatly. God says in 2 Chronicles 33:12, "And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers," You will notice that when Manasseh humbled himself that he sought the LORD. When a person is humble, they will seek God in everything that they do.

Christian, be careful about being so filled with pride that you think you can do something without God's help. No matter how small the task may seem, you need God's help to do that task. Starting right now, be sure you ask God to help you before you do anything so that pride will not have a place in your heart.

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Done Suddenly

2 Chronicles 29:36

"And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly."

One of the reasons why Hezekiah was able to get all of Judah to serve the LORD was because he suddenly organized the worship service. Yes, Hezekiah cleaned up the temple and followed the advice of the prophet, but the main reason the people of Judah got involved was because of the haste of serving God.

Many people fail to serve the LORD because they fail to suddenly get involved. God says in the verse above, "...for the thing was done suddenly." The word "suddenly" means, "without premeditation; unexpectedly; hastily." Each of these definitions properly describes what it takes if you are going to serve God, but not just serve Him in a small way, but serve Him in a great way.

When it comes to serving God, don't think about whether you should serve Him. I often hear people tell me that they need to think about it before they do it. When it comes to taking on new tasks in your service to God you should take time to think about it, but when it comes to serving God in general, you should suddenly serve Him. If you take your time to think about whether you should serve God, you will end up not doing it. You will come up with many excuses as to why you can't do it; just do it. For instance, don't think about whether you should witness to someone, just suddenly start witnessing to them. Don't think about whether you should pay your tithe; suddenly pay your tithe. The more you think about whether you should do something for God, the more time you have to come up with excuses.

When it comes to serving God, don't wait to serve Him. One of the reasons many people never serve God is because they wait till later in life to serve Him. Years ago I almost waited to go into full-time service because of an opportunity to do something I always wanted to do. The reason I am able to do for God what I am doing is because I didn't wait to serve Him. I surrendered my dreams for God's purpose for my life, and that is why I have accomplished through God what I have. If you wait till later to serve God, you will never do it. Now is the time to serve the LORD. Stop waiting to serve God until you have tried everything else, suddenly serve Him.

When it comes to serving God, don't slowly serve Him. The word "suddenly" means "hastily." In other words, serve the LORD with passion. Get some haste about your service towards God. Get some emotion in your service towards God. Get an urgency about your service towards God. Too many Christians are not urgent about serving God. Our time is short, and we don't have time to wait and slowly serve the LORD. In these days in which we live Christians need to have an urgency about what they do for God.

You will notice that the result of Hezekiah and the people serving the LORD suddenly was that they rejoiced. When you suddenly serve God, you will find that you will have plenty about which to rejoice. As is often said, jump in, the water's fine. I beg you to decide right now to suddenly serve the LORD.

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He's Preaching About You

2 Chronicles 18:7

"And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he never prophesied good unto me, but always evil: the same is Micaiah the son of Imla. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so."

Have you ever felt that the preacher is always preaching about you? In the verse above, Ahab felt that the Prophet Micaiah always preached against him. When Jehoshaphat asked if there was a prophet who could give them advice on whether they should go to war, the first prophet Ahab thought about was Micaiah. The only problem was that Ahab did not like this prophet because he always preached against his wicked lifestyle.

It is good when you feel that a preacher is always preaching to you. I know this may sound strange, but it is good because that means God is not done working with you. If God never speaks to your heart through the preaching, then you should be concerned. Furthermore, most likely the preacher does not have you in mind when he is preaching. You need to understand that there are many people to whom the preacher is preaching, and it is only the Holy Spirit of God Who is directly pointing out to you your sin through the sermon.

When someone feels the preacher is preaching about them, they usually respond by getting mad. When you get mad at the preacher, you are in essence getting mad at God. It was not the preacher who chose to preach that sermon, but it was God Who told the preacher to preach that sermon. Too many people feel the preacher has it out for them. From my experience, I don't know of any preacher who preaches a sermon directly at one person. If he does this, then he won't have a congregation for very long. Though there is probably an exception to this, you must realize that the preacher is probably not trying to point you out, but he is probably trying to help you become the Christian God wants you to become.

Instead of getting mad at the preacher, you should change the area in your life about which he is preaching. If what the preacher is preaching is truth that is found in the Word of God, then your response should be to change your life so that you no longer are convicted when he preaches on that subject. Even if the preacher was preaching at you, if what he was preaching was truth, then changing your life to live right will keep the preacher from having that opportunity again.

Your attitude towards preaching reveals the spirituality of your heart. If you get mad at preaching, then you are revealing that your heart is not right with God. If you humbly accept the preaching as God speaking to you, then you are revealing that you have a tender heart that desires to do what God wants you to do. What is your attitude towards preaching? Do you feel that you are always being pointed out? Then change what you're doing so that it doesn't happen again.

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Waxing Great

2 Chronicles 17:12

"And Jehoshaphat waxed great exceedingly; and he built in Judah castles, and cities of store."

When studying the life of the kings, there are many lessons that can be learned on how a country should be ran. However, many will read the lessons from the personal life of the king's and think that these lessons do not apply to their personal life. This is not true at all. Whatever will make a kingdom strong will also make your personal life strong.

God said in the verse above, "And Jehoshaphat waxed great exceedingly;..." Jehoshaphat on the whole was a good man who followed the same principles that made King David strong. The Scriptures said that there was a fear of God in Jehoshaphat's kingdom. A nation that will not fear God will be a nation that God will eventually destroy. A nation will not follow the commandment of God without a fear of God. The Scriptures also say that Jehoshaphat built Judah. He wasn't concerned about building other nations as much as he was concerned about building his own nation. One of the problems of America is that the leaders are more concerned about every other nation than they are in building their own nation. Furthermore, you will find in verse 13 that Jehoshaphat made sure that his economy and military defense were strong. A solid economy and strong defense will help in the building of a nation. These four areas are what caused Jehoshaphat to wax great in his kingdom. Any leader who will strengthen these four areas will become a great leader of their nation.

However, the same can be applied to your personal life. If you want to wax great as a Christian, then you first need to have a fear of God. I am not talking about the type of fear that would cause you to tremble every minute of the day, but I am talking about the type of fear that causes you to respect what God's power can do for you and to you. If you obey God's commandments, then God's power will help you in your daily life. If you disobey God's commandments, then that same power will be used to punish you. A healthy fear of God is necessary in building a strong life, family, church and nation.

Likewise, you will never wax great until you start focusing on building. God is a builder! As a Christian you need to be focused on building your family and the lives of others. You need to be involved in your church ministries so that you can build your family and the lives of others. Nobody has ever become a great Christian who focused on themselves. A great Christian is one who uses their energies to build others.

Moreover, being strong financially will help you to becoming a great Christian. This does not mean that you need to be wealthy to be a strong Christian, but it means that you need to be financially stable. It will be hard to build lives when you are concerned with your financial woes. Work hard at keeping your finances stable so that you can focus on building lives.

Last, a strong defense is important to being a strong Christian. There are a few ways you are going to build a strong defense. First, you need to spend time studying the Scriptures. It is only through God's Word that you will overcome temptation. Second, you need to spend time with God in prayer on a daily basis. Prayer is what will give you God's power and wisdom to overcome Satan. Last, you need to have good personal standards. Standards will help you to stay separated from the world. You'll never become a strong Christian by hobnobbing with the world.

There is a need for great Christians in this present day. There are too many good people, but good people don't change the world, only great Christians will do that. You will never wax great as a Christian until you follow the four steps that made Jehoshaphat wax great in his kingdom.

The FBC Hammond bulletin for 07/03/2011 is now up at www.baptist-city.com.

Click here to read the Old Paths Journal.

Principles of Employment

1 Chronicles 19:7

"So they hired thirty and two thousand chariots, and the king of Maachah and his people; who came and pitched before Medeba. And the children of Ammon gathered themselves together from their cities, and came to battle."

One of the mistakes that people commonly make is accepting employment at the wrong place, or accepting a promotion out of God's will. Often when I preach meetings in a church I will ask a pastor where someone is, only to hear that they accepted a job that took them out of church. Then, a few years later I hear the awful report how that person's life is destroyed, and it all started with accepting the wrong employment or position.

In the verse above, the Syrians made a big mistake by accepting a job from the Ammonites to fight against David and Israel. David wanted to show kindness to Hanun because his father was kind to David. Instead of accepting the kind acts from David, Hanun treated David's servants who delivered the gifts in a bad way. Knowing that he made a mistake, Hanun hired the Syrians to help fight David and Israel only to find that they were fighting against the LORD. The Syrians mistake was that they accepted a job that was against the will of God, and this decision caused them to lose many people in battle.

When accepting a position of employment, one of the first things you must settle in your heart is that money isn't always the issue. Though many times we look at how much money we are going to make on a job, you must realize that money isn't the only determining factor on whether you should accept a new job. Yes, money is an important issue, but there are other factors to consider before you accept a new job.

One of the things you must consider besides money is whether this new job will cause you to do wrong. For instance, years ago I had the opportunity to have a job while I was in Bible college that would have easily paid my monthly bills. The only requirement was that I must be willing to handle alcoholic beverages. I had always been taught that you don't touch or handle any alcoholic beverage. I rejected the job because I knew it would cause me to do wrong. Any time you take a job, you need to find out what the job entails to be sure it won't cause you to do something wrong.

Something else you need to consider is will this job take you away from the will of God. For instance, will this job take you out of church? Will you have to work during church services? If you will, then you should not accept the job. Furthermore, if a promotion on the job would cause you to have to move to an area where there is not a good church, then you should not accept that promotion. Anything that would pull you away from the will of God is not right. Moreover, if you are called into full-time service, and a job would keep you from doing what God has called you to do, then you should not take the job.

Where you work can highly determine your degree of service to God. Many people have backslid because they accepted a job that pulled them away from God. Yes, you have to have a job to pay your bills, but always remember that if you will put God first, then He will send the job your way that will best meet your financial needs and will keep you available to serve Him. Trust God and follow His commands in the area of your employment and you will find God's placement for your employment needs will be the best and the most rewarding.