Baptist City Blog

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.

Monday, 11/9/15  Judas Iscariot did something right!! Matt 27:4, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. When you confess a sin, ¹name it, and ²don’t justify your actions.           Ps 47:1, O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph. Regardless of how bad things seem for you now, we can shout because we’ve already triumphed!! We’ve won the game!! Imagine a football team up by the score of 47-3 in the 4^th quarter…there’s no more doubt…now it’s just surviving the last few plays…maybe a few more bruises…but the VICTORY IS NOT IN DOUBT!!!!

Tuesday, 11/10/15  Pastor, SS teacher, Christian school teacher: sure sometimes people don’t listen because of a rebellious or wicked heart, but sometimes it’s because of a burdened, broken heart. Ex 6:9, and Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.         Pro 5:1, My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding.” What good is wisdom and understanding to me? V2, That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge. To teach us to be discrete and when to shut our mouths!! (For a mouth to “keep knowledge” the brain must have the knowledge!) Quit telling all you know: someone may ask you a question! And dead sure quit telling more than you know, (i.e. gossip, supposition, innuendo, etc.)

Wednesday, 11/11/15  Ps 75:1, Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare. As I read this, this thought came: Am I brave enough to sincerely as the Holy Spirit whether I thank more often than I gripe?           Psalm 137 is a sad song. Because of sin, God had the Babylonian armies destroy Jerusalem and the Temple, kill most of the Jewish people, and enslave the rest. Ps 137 is the song of the enslaved after arriving in Babylon. And they still didn’t get it: they are lamenting their town and homes, and not the neglected relationship with God which caused them to lose their things. They focused on the result and not the cause. Dear Friend, you and I must focus on the disease and not on the symptoms. The problem is neglecting God and His will and His ways...it’s SIN that is our problem, not the consequences of sin (i.e. divorce, sadness, bitterness, contention, etc.)

Thursday, 11/12/15  Ps 138:1 I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee. Does your relationship with God show itself before the gods at school or work? Do your peers know you’re saved? Would your behavior and demeanor enhance or detract from them getting saved?           2 Chron 15:9 And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. Tender hearted people will flock to someone who has God all over him.

Friday, 11/13/15  Ps 138:3, In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenest me with strength in my soul. God solves many of our problems/answers our prayers, not by changing or eliminating bad or uncomfortable circumstances, but by giving us the wherewithal to deal with them.                   2 John 1, The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth... A reminder that biblical Christianity elevates and dignifies womanhood. False religions put women down to the level of “breeding machine,” “sex toy,” and “unworthy of consideration.” The Bible elevates womanhood to its most exalted position.

Saturday, 11/14/15  Rev 1:8, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. “It ain’t over ‘til the...” Lord says it is!! Your life, your usefulness, your chance to be used, your chance to be holy...when He sings...THEN it’s over!! (See Phil 1:6.)               How dirty are you? Very, I hope. Mark 4:3,  Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow... Better to be dirty than rocky, or thorny, or bird-seed-y...just sayin’...

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- There are no perfect parents and there are no perfect children, but there are many perfect moments along the way.

- Knowing God is far more than an intellectual pursuit. Knowing God is relational. It is volitional. It is emotional.

- No matter how much God has of your heart, He always wants more. He is never satisfied. God desires all of you! Why? ‪Love.

- Never choose good when better is also on the menu.

- It is not scientific doubt, not atheism, not pantheism, not agnosticism, that in our day and in this land is likely to quench the light of the gospel. It is a proud, sensuous, selfish, luxurious, church-going, hollow-hearted prosperity.

- Promises are easily made, hard to fulfill, and a picture of the depth of character.

- A good marriage is not one where we give our spouse everything they want, but where we give them everything we have.

- And gradually, though no one remembers exactly how it happened, the unthinkable becomes tolerable. And then acceptable. And then legal. And then applaudable.

- Somehow we have equated Bible literacy with spirituality. WRONG!

- The irony is that while God doesn’t need us but still wants us, we desperately need God but don’t really want Him most of the time.

- Church is not a substitute for God. But neither will God substitute the church.

- Sin increases our need for prayer but sadly it decreases our desire for it.

- We live in a world where people flaunt their unrighteous deeds. WAIT. My righteousness is like filthy rags, so I guess I better not flaunt my "righteous" deeds either.

- Jesus let himself be murdered for his followers. Mohammed asks his followers to murder for him. ‪

- Nicodemus, at first, was a believer in the dark. Later, he became a believer in the light. That is a process in which every believer must pass. Private faith is cowardice. Public faith is conviction. When a believer takes the step from private worship to public witness it is as a boy stepping into manhood.

 

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- Ps 31:16, Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies. The only hope we have when all turn on us is God’s face and mercy!

- Ps 55:6, And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! For then would I fly away, and be at rest. No matter the cause or how spiritual and successful a person may be, the attacks one faces hurt, and makes us want to run away and escape from it all.

- Ps 56:11, In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.  Praise the Lord that man cannot get our soul and can only hurt the body.

- It's practically impossible to have a positive influence on anyone when we have evil, iniquity, and/or unconfessed, or ongoing, sin in our heart. Acts 7:26-28, And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another? But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? Wilt thou kill me, as thou didest the Egyptian yesterday?

- Bible thoughts! Ps 39:7, And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee. What is it that we want so desperately in life? A new car, job, house, peace and happiness? God is the author of all those things!

- Do you have anxiety??! If so, David gives us a very simply formula of what to do. Have hope in and praise God! In fact, he gives it three times - almost word for word - in the Psalms. Ps 42:11, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

- I don’t suppose there are too many Bible characters that are singled out as not caring for the poor. There is at least one, though: This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief…” John 12:6. Of whom does this speak? None less than the traitor, Judas Iscariot. I don’t know about you, but I would rather not have anything in common with a man that scripture says would have been better off if he had not been born. Yet, if I do not love and remember the poor, then Judas and I are on the same page in at least important area. Not good. Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble, Ps 41:1. Just a thought...

- I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, Ezekiel 6:9. I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love, Rev 2:4. The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart.

- Bible thoughts! Ps 10:1, Why standest thou afar off, O Lord ? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble? The question here shouldn't be why did God not come through for me, but why do I not continually come through for God? He's so very deserving of our utmost attention and unfailing devotion!

- The early Church was an unstoppable force. It grew and prospered with no marketing, little planning, and no properties. There were no church-growth seminars or leadership conferences. Just the power of God upon a group of devoted followers of Jesus. And lots of prayer, preaching, and persecution.

- Acts 12:5, Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. This caused me to reexamine how much, or how long, I pray for people when they're in need of it.