Baptist City Blog

- Tuesday, 2/14/17  Proverbs 11:2, When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom. If God never shows you anything out of the Bible, check your pride level. “Lowly” means humble or humiliated. Maybe and awareness of, and confessing of, pride needs to happen.  
       John 6:67-68, Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. This is still a pertinent question today. “Eternal” often refers to the quality of life, not the length. His word is the key to our happiness in the here and now as well as the by-n-by. Don’t go away from His word for the cheap thrills of the world, the flesh, or the Devil. Living the Christian life is to be a happy experience, not something to be “endured” and “put up with.” Is your Christianity a happy one? Would an unsaved observer of your daily demeanor wonder what makes you so much happier and able to deal with life’s difficulties than they are? (Ooooh!!! Convicting question!!) (Just FYI, as with almost all my posts, these are things about which the Holy Spirit rocked my boat first...)                Are you an active soul winner? Are you going through (lots of unexplained) problems? John 15:2, Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. If you’re not a soul winner, the first half of the verse is for you. If you are a soul winner, the second half might explain your “troubles.”  Being “taken away” and “pruned” look/feel the same, but have different purposes.

 

- Wednesday, 2/15/17  Matthew 14:27-28, Jesus spake unto them, saying, ...it is I; be not afraid.  And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. I was very convicted here: how often do we put an “if” into the Word of God? Jesus said it was Him, and Peter said, “IF...”                Downward steps into sin for a believer: 1 Timothy 4:1-2, Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.  ¹Being saved. (To depart from the faith, we must’ve been in it. We generally don’t get as upset over the lost acting “less than holy” as we do the saved.)  ²Being spoken to by a “seducing spirit.” This could come in the guise of a friend (“Amnon had a friend...”) or a talk show or a “good book” written by an “expert.” It could even come from sincere counsel from someone who has been seduced.  “Seducing” means that they’re sneaky, so it’s no surprise or great shame to be taken by them.  ³(“Doctrines of devils”) Learning some “new truths” or methods that may make sense or feel good, but aren’t scriptural; and if teaching is not from the Bible, it’s from a bad source: a corrupt human heart or a devil.  ⁴“Speaking lies”: to yourself and/or to others. Repeating a falsehood so often that you actually believe it.  ⁵“Hypocrisy.” Casting all the blame onto another or focusing solely on the other while not acknowledging your own shortcomings. ALL of us have sinned and have sin.  ⁶Seared conscience...past normal spiritual feelings/senses. Great damage has occurred and yet, without repentance. Only God can reach the person now, and He may have to really rock their world.

 

- Thursday, 2/16/17  Luke 19:8, Zacchaeus stood, and said...Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. Damaged interpersonal relationships are helped when the offender gets to Christ. Pray for your enemies.              Matthew 7:1-4, Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.  ¹First, I guess that I never realized or connected that this famous verse on “not judging” was connected to the verses about the beam and the sliver.  ²V3, “beholdest” simply means to look at, whereas “considerest” means to be fully aware of. One of the sins involved here is a degree of emphasis. It’s not necessarily wrong to point out the sliver in another’s eye. But to focus my attention on your (small) problem when I am not more aware of my (big) one is the essence of the wrongful judging.  ³We must be more ready and willing to deal with and clear our own faults before focusing our attention on another’s.  ⁴It’s OK to see the mote in another’s and offer to get it out if we first deal with (or are dealing with) our own beams.  ⁵Even a person with a beam can help get the “mote” person to the eye doctor. So, if you know that someone has a sin problem, pray for them to get Christ’s help on it.  ⁶A proper scriptural philosophy to live by is that my faults are ALWAYS beams and the faults of others are ALWAYS slivers. Oftentimes (or usually), we make sin in our lives to be minor (and usually inadvertent) and the ones in others’ lives to be major (and usually malicious).

 

- Friday, 2/17/17  1 John 3:4, Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. Even sins against us are, first and foremost, sins against God. Our rights were given us by God, so our “victimhood” is secondary to His. It’s not all about us.           Matthew 7:11, If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts... The Sermon on the Mount was given to “disciples.”  Jesus said that the inherent nature of the disciples was “evil.” Lessons: Don’t get too full of yourself, and don’t get too down on other believers (spouse, kids, pastors) around you.

 

- Saturday, 2/18/17  Matthew 7:15, Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. All of us have a discrepancy between our inward, true self and our public self. Examine how big a gap that is in yourself, and ask if the gap is growing or shrinking.           Psalm 25:4, Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day. Notice that the psalmist prayed to be led first and then taught. It’s an oft-repeated truth in the Bible: God expects obedience before He’ll give the rationales behind the commandment. We want it the opposite way. Obedience gives us the right to ask for enlightenment, but it doesn’t give Him the obligation to give it. See John 7:17.

 

- Sunday, 2/19/17  Psalm 25:7, Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O Lord. We all are glad that the Lord doesn’t remember our past (confessed and forgiven) offenses; shouldn’t we be like that for our loved ones?                 Psalm 25:10, All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies. The more we obey, the easier it is to do so. (Our flesh will never want to, but it becomes habitual.) Like any habit, early on, it’s a burden and a struggle, but it will become our routine if done enough.

 

- Monday, 2/20/17  Ezekiel 6:10, And they shall know that I am the Lord, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them. This phrase is used about 63x in Ezekiel. “Dear Lord, please don’t ever let me get to the place where You have to play rough for me to know Whom You are.”            Proverbs 13:10, Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.The implication is that pride will keep us from getting (good) advice, and hence, wisdom. Do take advice, or do you get “up in arms” if someone tries to give it to you? Do you always have a response as to why what they say won’t work or isn’t applicable to your situation?

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- Matt 8:3, And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Our Lord is still willing and able to miraculously cleanse and heal the soul of the vilest sinner who, by faith, comes to Him with such a request.

 

- Pro 15:3, The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. When will we ever learn that we cannot hide from God?

 

- Ps 118:1, O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever. We need to remind ourselves, and do this, often.

 

- Matt 8:13, And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way, and as thou hast believed, so be it. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour. How many would be saved and how many miracles could we have if we really believed our Lord could and would do it?

 

- Ps 9:10, With my whole heart have I sought thee; let me not wander from thy commandments. Whole-hearted pursuit of God and our daily heart’s cry to Him for adherence to the truths in His word is the only way we can ever achieve a Christ-like life.

 

- Pro 12:5, The thoughts of the righteous are right, but the counsels of the wicked are deceit. Before we take advice, counsel, and instruction from a man, we need to know what and how he thinks. One’s talk may not match his thoughts. That’s how cults got started.

 

- Ps 11:32, I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart. Our daily prayer to have a heart for and run quickly to God’s word.

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- Critics see the dirt in my past, but not the seeds God planted in that dirt.