Sunday,
2/8/15 Obad
3 The pride of thine heart hath deceived
thee... Not only is our heart’s chief characteristic deceitfulness
(Jer17:9), but our inherent pride likewise deceives us further. Do NOT trust
your heart: it is corrupt, bent on evil, deceitful, and full of wickedness. “If
it feels right”...RUN!!!! Pro
6:23 For the commandment is a lamp; and
the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life; to keep thee
from the evil... God’s laws and restrictions are good, beneficial, given in
love, and useful. They are NOT restrictive, senseless, punitive, or arbitrary
as many people claim. Disobedience to the Bible is a heart issue not a logical,
calculated one. Fall in love with the Lawgiver and His laws are simple and
relatively easy. We serve a wonderful God and a loving Father...Daddy does know
best.
Monday, 2/9/15 Ps 119:33 Teach
me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end.
David asked for the reason behind the commandment, and it’s OK to ask for that,
AFTER you’ve already started to obey. Also leaders, giving the reasons
eventually will increase obedience. Gen
3:6 And when [Eve] saw that the tree was
good for food... Eve trusted her
senses and was deceived. Gen 27:22 And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father;
and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the
hands of Esau. Isaac trusted his feelings and was deceived. Pro 16:25 There
is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of
death. This man trusted his own logic and was deceived. You and I must
trust the only incorruptible source of spiritual truth available: the blessed
Holy Bible!!! So called “good people” don’t go to Heaven, because there are no
“good people.” You’re as wicked as the Devil and I’m worse. No, “good people”
don’t go to Heaven though it seems like they should: “born again” people go to
Heaven. Lots of sins “feel right,” but God despises them. Illicit premarital
and extramarital sex can be justified and enjoyed, but it’s still a sin. Many
religions make the practitioners “feel” holy and close to God...and He is angry
and they are damned. Sin must be paid
for, and the penalty is death. Either we must die ourselves, or trust the
substitutionary sacrifice of Calvary. And each individual must trust Jesus
alone and solely...not Jesus + good works, or, + church membership, or, +
sincere effort. No, to do that is to say that His death was insufficient: we
must finish the deal by our deeds, making us our own saviours...and that is
blasphemy!!! This thought applies to everyone, but it is specifically directed
to my siblings, my nieces & nephews, my siblings-in-laws and my nursing
school peers: message me if you’re not
10,000% sure that you’ve been born again the way God said it and meant it. To
be wrong here would be an eternal mistake.
Tuesday,
2/10/15 Ps
119:50 This is my comfort in my
affliction: for thy word hath quickened me. Regardless of your problem
(health, financial, death of a loved one, crushing time demands, fatigue,
depression, fill in the blank___) let salvation comfort you. Remember what you
have, what you’ll get after death, and what you’ll never face. Acts
17:2-3 And Paul...went in unto them,
and...reasoned with them out of the scriptures, opening and alleging that
Christ must needs have
suffered and risen again from the dead... He MUST have suffered? Why in the
world would Jesus have to go
through all that He did if salvation hinged on getting baptized? Why the blood
and torture if Communion was the ticket? Why death if we simply have to be
sincere and try hard? My Catholic friends and relatives, my Mormon friends, all
my nursing school friends: salvation isn’t in your church or mine; it’s not in
being sweet and turning over a new leaf; it’s not in sincere effort; it’s not
in fulfilling some heavenly requirement to the best of your ability. No, it is
in acknowledging your sinfulness, acknowledging that you deserve punishment for
those sins, acknowledging the Christ, God incarnate, lived, died, and rose
again to pay the death penalty for your sins, and then simply relying upon Him
alone to get you to Heaven; not Him plus anything else. Much of the “everything
else” are things that we’re to do after we trust Him alone for salvation; but
to do them in order to get salvation is to demean, dishonor, and dismiss the
price He paid on the Cross. Message me today if you’re not sure you’re going to
Heaven according to God’s plain plan of salvation.
Wednesday,
2/11/15 Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked: who can
know it? (The word “know” refers to seeing, perceiving, or understanding).
God operates on a logical, thought-full plane: Come now, and let us reason together saith the Lord. A feelings
based religion is dangerous, deceitful, and ungodly. Ps
119:41 Let thy mercies come also unto me,
O Lord, even thy salvation, according to thy word. Salvation from sin’s
penalty and mercy is “according to the Word of God,” not according to our
feelings or thoughts. All of mankind must come the way of the Word. There are
no exceptions, no religious substitutes, no alternatives.
Thursday,
2/12/15 Ps 51:6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts. What do you
put/have in your deep, inner self? Truth? Gossip? Sit-coms? Lewdness? Godly
philosophies? Worldly wisdom? And what comes out from there? (Hint: Garbage
in-Garbage out!!) John
12:34 We have heard out of the law that
Christ abideth forever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up?
who is this Son of man? These people either didn’t listen very well, were
dismissive of doctrine that didn’t match their preconceived notions, or they
were subject to bad teaching, but the lesson for us today is that each of us is
responsible for
what the Bible says: not for what someone said it says. Study to shew thyself approved...
You’ve got it in black and white: read it. Search the scriptures... YOU will face God alone and YOU will be
held to account for what He says.
Friday, 2/13/15 Pro
10:9 He that walketh uprightly walketh
surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known. In context, the
first half of the verse means being upright puts you on stable footing whereas
the one who allows himself to go out of bounds falls on the ice and goes viral
on YouTube! Heb
12:14 Follow (pursue after) ...holiness, without which no man shall see
the Lord. Eternally, this means that unless your sin record is as spotless
as Jesus’, you will not go to Heaven. (Is it, at this moment?) Practically,
cleaning up your life allows you to see God working and keeps you from getting
bitter or disillusioned because of problems, injustices, or persecutions.
Saturday, 2/14/15 God
commands us to “forget not” 5 things:
Deut 8:11 The Lord and His word; Deut
9:7 our failures toward God; Ps 103:2
His benefits toward us; Pro 3:1 the laws
of our father and Father; Heb 13:16 to
do good and share. James
2:18b ...shew me thy faith without thy
works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. If you had to, what good
deeds could you point to in your life that would convince someone that you’re
saved? “What do ye more than others?”
What actions has your church attendance and Bible reading produced in the last
month?
Thoughts from some others
Ps
118:7 the Lord taketh my part with them
that help me: therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. We
need to be very careful how we treat God’s people. He takes notice, and it will
come back to bite us both personally and as a nation!
Ps
119:16 I will delight myself in thy
statutes: I will not forget thy word. To read It is one thing; to delight
in it and remember It is quite another.
Acts
16:20 And brought them to the magistrates
saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city. When our
faith and convictions interfere with economics and business of the world, we
can expect trouble, personal attack, and even physical abuse.
1 Sam
29:7 Wherefore now return and go in peace,
that thou displease not the lords of the Philistines. It’s good that the
heathen leaders had more sense than David did here. When we run with the wrong
crowd, we can end up fighting the wrong enemy.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Contact me at baptistcity@gmail.com for information on subscribing to the weekly email or daily text messages from Terry.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Contact me at baptistcity@gmail.com for information on subscribing to the weekly email or daily text messages from Terry.