Baptist City Blog

- Tuesday, 11/2/21  Do you love or like your brother?  Proverbs 28:23, He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue. Do you love him enough to

risk their short-term animosity because of a rebuke in order to gain their long term favor?                           James 5:2, Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. God was condemning these rich people because they simply had an abundance in storage: doing nothing but being eaten by moths and covered in corrosion. God is not against possessions, but He wants us to use what He gives us to help others. The one with the biggest piggybank does NOT win. What CAN you do with your extra? What DO you do with your extra? Don’t raise your standard of living; raise your standard of giving.

- Wednesday, 11/3/21  I wanna be fat, fatter, fattest!!  Proverbs 28:25b-26a, He that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. Who’ya gonna trust today? The One who never changes, or the one who is so often a fickle fool?                         Psalm 43:3-4, O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God. Notice the sequence: first comes an association with the Bible. Secondly, a decision to submit to it. (Before knowing the specific commandment!) Thirdly, going to the house of God. Next, the author speaks of sacrifices and death, so we are then to die to ourselves. Lastly, we are to trust Him that the second half of v4 comes true, and we can say, “I’m glad I did,” instead of, “I wish I had.”

- Thursday, 11/4/21  James 4:17, Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Very simply, let's not sin today. Do good to someone, or better yet, several someones today. Start in now: whom could you compliment or thank in the next 5 minutes? (Not me.)                           James 5:3, Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. We can choose whether our possessions witness against us or our converts and those whom we’ve discipled witness for us.

- Friday, 11/5/21  Psalm 119:2, Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. “Oh Lord, please show me how to increase my love for and my obedience to the Bible. Show me faults in my thinking toward It. Thank You for your unspeakable gift.”                             James 5:7-8, Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. God only commands us to do what we aren’t doing or what we have a hard time doing. Three times here, He commands patience. ‘Guess you and I have work to do today... The farmer has to wait until late October to see the fruits of his labor. Maybe for you and me, it’s only the middle of September.

- Saturday, 11/6/21  Psalm 119:4, Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. Many Christians pretty much ignore the Bible. Many more make their focus learning it. But, Bible doctrine is NOT for learning; it’s for living. May we pray this verse over and over so we’ll obey it more and more.                                  Proverbs 31:3, [Men], give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings. We need a revival of rock-ribbed men today. Not ogres, but leaders. Men, don’t become so touchy-feely that you have no firmness of being left. Don’t become so understanding that there is no conviction left. Don’t be so concerned with your following that you’re neither leading nor going anywhere yourself. We’ve gone too far to the wimpy side that we’ve forgotten our strong sides. Restore the godly balance. Man up, gentlemen.

- Sunday, 11/7/21  Psalm 45:2b, Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips... Psalm 45 is about Jesus, but, another party had to pour that grace into His lips. Maybe we should ask that “mystery pourer” to pour some into our mouths.                            God says He’s “no respecter of persons.,” and doesn’t say that there is an exception.  Psalm 45:7, Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. If the Father gave Jesus the blessing of a happy (& useful) anointing because of the formula in the first half of the verse...He’s no respecter of persons...He’ll give it to you and I also.

- Monday, 11/8/21  Psalm 119:9, Wherewithal shall a young man CLEANSE his way? BY TAKING heed thereto according to thy word. When working with someone to help them to change and grow, focus on them starting to do more right rather than only focusing out their wrong and urging them to quit it.                              Job 31:1, I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid? The thinking here would cause the inappropriate looking. Lesson? Stop doing the things that may not necessarily be wrong, but which would lead you a few steps closer to wrong. So many of us are stupid in our Christian lives. We’re like the fat guy who wants to lose weight, but, “in case company comes over,” he keeps a gallon of ice cream in his freezer: he (& we) set up the circumstances whereby we fall.