Baptist City Blog

Tuesday, 6/12/19  Ezra 9:1, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands...  Different millennium; same sin. Each of us needs to see if we look like, talk like, joke like a church person,...or like those around us. Standards still need to be upheld in 2019.

                          Psalm 120:2, Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue. “Deliver my soul,” not my body or life. Too often we let things bother us. How’s your soul this morning? God said we’d have problems; God said people would hate us for His sake; God said He came not to bring peace but a sword. Let the lying lips roll off your back like water off of a duck. This takes practice and is hard to do.

- Wednesday, 6/13/19  Are you really a child of God? A brother or sister of Christ?  Luke 8:21, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.  Doing is essential. Reading the Bible is good; going to church is vital; but implementing His word in our lives is Christianity.                                 Matthew 9:38, Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. God is VERY focused on the harvest of souls.  ¹Are you trying to reap sinners for the Master? Actively?  ²Are you praying for others to enter the harvest?  ³Are you willing to forsake your house/home/close by family for His agenda?  4Would you be willing for one of your (grand)children to actively enter the harvest?

- Thursday, 6/14/19  Psalm 119:9, Wherewithal (how) shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. PRIMARILY, we get clean by doing the positive, NOT by not doing the negative. Are you willing to be clean? Are you doing?                           Just between you and me: honestly, would you be considered a pretty decent Christian? Do you love the Bible? Here’s the next step to take:  Psalm 119:47, And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved. AFTER loving the Word of God, we are to DELIGHT in it...like we delight in a party, a vacation, a bonus. Bottom line: we can never allow ourselves to grow complacent, or feel that we’re even close to “good enough.”

- Friday, 6/14/19  Job 1:22, In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. If Job didn’t sin despite all of his calamities, we don’t have to either. Quit making excuses and simply do right.                                 Matthew 12:20, A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. Let us not be guilty of quenching out the last gasp of life from a broken soul. Do they look like they’ve been through Hell? They probably have. OK...fan the little spiritual spark. Win them to Christ, or back to Christ. Moses was used after murder. David was used after adultery, drunkenness, and murder. John Mark was used after quitting on the church. Peter was used after denying the Lord. The one whose path you’ve crossed...maybe there’s a Pentecost in their future...if we don’t deem them worthless.

- Saturday, 6/15/19  Matthew 8:3, And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Praise God that He touches the unclean person first and then cleanses him. We don’t have to get better before we come to Christ. Go touch someone today.                                  Psalm 119:33, Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end. Long term understanding and persistent living (i.e. a changed life) comes from understanding the “Why’s” behind the “What’s.” Yes, at first, blind obedience may need to be taught, but explain why God wants thus-n-so.

- Sunday, 6/16/19  Psalm 119:37, Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way. Our eyes are usually our biggest enemy and the first thing assailed with temptation. Achan saw, coveted, and took. Will you pray this prayer and fight your most sensitive organs?                            Psalm 48:5, God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Just a reminder that all of our troubles that SSOOOO concern us don’t worry Him a bit. We’re on the winning side. He went up with a trumpet and He’ll return with one too. Stay faithful and do right today; try to encourage someone today; try to enlist someone this week to come with us when the trumpet sounds.

- Monday, 6/17/19  Matthew 15:8, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. A deep soul searching question that each of us needs to often ask ourselves: “Does God have my heart or just my mouth and body?” (Or neither?)                                 Genesis 22:2, And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. Bible stories are not just historical records for our enjoyment: they are examples of what God might ask of us. He might come to us today and demand we sacrifice something MOST precious to us: a job, a relationship, a hobby. He might come and demand that we surrender a child to go to a far off mission field, or that we leave America and go to the ends of the earth to tell others of Him. Abraham left the next day... What is it that He’s been asking from you? Your tithe? An offering? A few hours a week for soul winning? Another church service regularly? More private time with Him? Stopping some questionable (in His mind) activity? Quit dodging Him: when we see Him, we’ll chide ourselves harshly for holding on to this silly world.