Sunday,
1/25/15 Jonah 1 He went down to Joppa...went down into [the ship]....was gone down into the
sides of the ship...[they] cast him forth [down] into the sea...then he
went under the sea in the whale’s belly. Sin will take you farther down than
you had planned or desired. It never runs the course you imagined. 2
Pet 1:5 ...giving all diligence, add to
your faith... Don’t be content and complacent: put more on your plate. Add
in more Bible, another service, more soul-winning, more holiness, more
dedication, more humility, more forgiveness and forbearance. Grow, change,
modify, improve. Luke 23:16 I will
therefore chastise him, and release him. Pilate found “no fault” in Christ,
but was going to scourge Him and release Him. At worst, Pilate was willing to
punish a citizen whom he knew was innocent. At best, he took the
unsubstantiated accusations of Jesus’ enemies as truth. However, before
condemning Pilate, how just are your methods of determining guilt in your kids,
spouse, employees, boss, pastors?
Monday, 1/26/15 1 Kings 2:2 I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself
a man. 1Your time in the spotlight is coming. (Will you be
ready?) 2You’ll then have to prove what you are. 3Your
success or failure will be your own doing.
4You can take what
has come your way, but it’ll be hard. Jon 2:7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered
the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee... Dear friend running from the
“ol’ time religion” when you remember God (and you will)...will you be humble
enough to return to Him? Remember, God can “play hard ball” in regards to
bringing you to your knees. He is patient and forbearing, but He does have a
limit when it comes to rebellion. Luke
24:38 And he said unto them, Why are ye
troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Imagine the mindset of
the disciples: they’d just lost their Leader, the One Whom they thought was God
in the flesh; they felt like they’d wasted the last 3 years of their lives; now
His body was missing; they may be fugitives; they were societal outcasts...
Lesson: when you are emotionally troubled, be wary of “thoughts and questions
arising in your hearts;” doubtful questions about your spouse or family; doubts
about your God and faith; doubts about yourself. Phil 4:8 ...think on these things.
Tuesday,
1/27/15 Mark 8:18 Having eyes, see ye not? And having ears, hear ye not? And do ye not
remember? Some people’s problem is that they don’t see what’s going on
around them. Some don’t hear what the Lord says. Many of us simply don’t
remember how good God’s been in the past and what He did before, so we fret about
now. Ps 33:20
Our soul waiteth for the Lord: he is our
help and our shield. If God is our shield, why doesn’t He protect us from
bad things? 1We never know if a certain circumstance truly is
bad. 2He gets glory when His kids handle hard times in a way
that’s different from the way that Satan’s kids do. 3This
is a sin-cursed world, and sin is by choice: we are in the midst of it now, but
He’ll remove us soon. Learn patience. 4Unfortunately, problems are
often necessary to drive us to Him. 5Some character lessons are
only learned through struggles.
Wednesday,
1/28/15 Ps 108:1-3 O God, my heart is fixed. We don’t need “New Year’s Resolutions.”
We need “New Year’s Fixations.” Notice what David will do. I will sing
and give praise, even with my glory. Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will
awake early. I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: and I will sing
praises unto thee among the nations. Mark
4:7, 19 And some fell among thorns, and
the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And the cares of
this world...choke the word... Some thorns we allow and some just happen.
For example, if you’re injured and miss church for several weeks, it is easy to
become lazy about getting back to a full regimen of services. Or, those with a
new baby often have to split attendance because of illness. Be cautious that
the setbacks of life don’t set you back permanently. You may not see a seed
sprouting and starting to take root, but you can kill it when it first pops out
of the ground. Don’t let the little sprout become a mighty bush or tree before
trying to eradicate it.
Thursday,
1/29/15 Pro
26:22 The words of a talebearer are as
wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. Remember
that what you say can hurt someone deeply...though they may never show it on
the outside. Do you have to say it? Is it true? Is it edifying? John 1:21
And they asked [John the Baptist], What
then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. But in Matt 17:12-13 Jesus
said John was Elijah. So John taught erroneously. 1 Peter 1:11 teaches that the
prophets searched their own writings trying to decipher what they wrote. If
they weren’t sure what the exact meaning of what they wrote was, then they
probably taught some errors.
Lessons: 1No man knows all of the truth of the Bible. 2Some
of what you know is possibly wrong. 3No man teaches the Bible
100% accurately. 4All of us can learn more, so we must diligently search the scriptures, and study to show [ourselves] approved. 5Realize
your pastor or SS teacher may be wrong, and live by Acts 17:11: listen to and
receive the lesson, but search and confirm.
6We all (including
Pastors and SS teachers) need to have the teachable spirit of Apollos in Act
18:26 when he let 2 blue-collar church members correct his teaching.
Friday,
Pro 27:6 Faithful
are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Do
you have any scars from “friendly wounds”?
Have you ever caused any such scars? Ps
38:1 O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath:
neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. OT saints were as saved as we
are; David wrote about imputed righteousness, yet he was afraid of God’s “bad”
side. Perhaps we are emphasizing too much the eternal, justified, forgiven side
of our relationship with God, and forgetting that the Lord “scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”
Loose living on this side of the grave does have temporal, not eternal,
consequences from our Heavenly Parent.
Saturday, 1/31/15 Ps 39:1 I
said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep
my mouth with a bridle... One deemed worthy of writing Scriptures, a) had a
loose-tongue problem, and b) was humble enough to work on his faults. How about
you? Ps
38: “The Negative Consequences of Unconfessed Sin in a Believer” 38:1-2 God’s wrath, displeasure, chastening,
rebuke. V3, 5, 7, 10 Physical
ailments. V4, 6, 8-9, 17 Emotional
ailments. V11-12 Relational ailments.
V21-22 A lack of spiritual assurances.
Quit holding onto and cherishing your sin...it’s not worth the price
you’re paying. Confess and forsake them.
Thoughts from some others
Pro
28:12 Happy is the man that feareth
always: but he that hardeneth his heart shal fall into mischief. We’d
better run scared and keep our hearts right if we would avoid trouble.
Ps
106:44 Nevertheless he regarded their
affliction, when he heard their cry. No matter how bad it gets or the
cause, when we cry out to Him, He hears us.
Luke
6:31 And as ye would that men should do
to you, do ye also to them likewise. What a great admonition and principle
to live by. It would prevent a lot of problems in our daily living and
interaction with people.
Ps
101:3a I will set no wicked thing before
mine eyes. If we don’t see it, we won’t think about it or find ourselves
doing it. I fear we see far too many things as God’s children that pulls our
minds in a direction that is far from holy and pure.
Ps
102:26 They shall perish, but thou shalt
endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment, as a vesture shalt thou
change them, and they shall be changed. What a promise!! We may get old,
but, bless God, the day is coming when we will be changed and will get a new
body and a new place of residence!
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Contact me at baptistcity@gmail.com for information on subscribing to the weekly email or daily text messages from Terry.