Baptist City Blog

- Tuesday, 7/3/18  Revelation 2:4, Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. “First love” is the sappy, giggly, can’t-wait-to-hear-from-you type of love. It’s tremendously fun, and it leads into a deeper love. Do you get sappy and giggly with how good God was to save you and how good He is to keep you? How about with your spouse? Kids? Friends? Go fall in love all over again with everyone.
                               Psalm 42:5, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. All of us (including Jesus) go through crushing, horrible valleys. We doubt if God cares; we feel abandoned; we’re sure we’ll die in the dark pit and no one will know, let alone care. Been there...recently. Here’s the key: when your soul (mind, emotions, and will) are crushed, keep your spirit flickering. HOPE...that the sun will rise; HOPE that God’ll change His actions; HOPE that you’ll learn whatever lesson that you’re to learn, and God’s hand of judgment will become a hand of blessing. You KNOW life is cyclical: HOPE in cycles. Your spirit KNOWS God is faithful: don’t let your emotions totally convince you He’s not. All nights end...mine has; yours will. HOPE.

 

- Wednesday, 7/4/18  Deuteronomy 31:27, For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the Lord; and how much more after my death? Does your behavior change in the absence of your leader (boss, pastor, parent, spouse), and how much?                                Deuteronomy 28:2, And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. “Come on thee” means to “overtake; catch up to.”  “Overtake” means “to tackle.” With promises like these, we’re so foolish to not obey more, and more readily.

 

- Thursday, 7/5/18  Deuteronomy 30:19, I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live. The choice is set before us anew this morning. What say ye?                                    Matthew 11:3, And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? You and I must ask ourselves if we are still looking for another to provide us with security, purpose, fulfillment, peace, etc. His record is true: trust and obey at home, on the road, with relationships, with goals, with ALL OF LIFE...do it today.

 

- Friday, 7/6/18  “God! What is on Your agenda for me today?”  1 Timothy 6:11-12a, But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith...  “My child: You are to Flee, Follow, and Fight.”                                    Psalm 4:7, Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased. God’s products are superior to the world’s. The world’s have more flash and bang, but the Lord’s are more permanent: like lighting gasoline (big bang, flash, noisy, uncontrollable, and probably destructive) vs. lighting a pile of coal: more useful, longer-lasting, less deadly.) The world DOES offer pleasures...albeit with regret. Choose wisely.

 

- Saturday, 7/7/18  Acts 1:1b-2a, ...of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up... Jesus’ example to us was to work until the day He went to Heaven. We’ll never accomplish enough to quit; we’ll never “put in our time and qualify for retirement.” Keep on serving, soul winning, and seeking the lost.                                    Plants need water, soil, and sun, right? Matthew 13:6, And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. That which should have been for this plant’s benefit, killed it. Problems, struggles, routine are to help us, as is church (which involves other sinful believers, i.e. demanding patience, and forgiveness and compassion from us and hopefully, but not always, to us), but without a good devoted root system, it’ll hurt. How’s your roots?

 

- Sunday, 7/8/18  Daniel 9:9, To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him. At your worst (right after a sin) the Devil whispers that there’s no hope. Jesus remembers our weak frame. When we want Him least, He’s available the most.                             2 Thessalonians 2:12, That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.  Hosea 4:1, ...the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land,  because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.  The truth is still the truth even if no one believes it, and a lie is still a lie even if everyone believes it.

 

- Monday, 7/9/18  Stability and security are two things that most of us strive to achieve and treasure when we possess them. However, they are a hindrance to your spiritual vitality. Psalm 55:19b, Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God.                               “What did I do to deserve this??”  Psalm 11:2, For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart. (Notice: no provocation is mentioned.) It may not be anything that you have done, it may simply we what you are. Expect the wicked to act this way and react rightly.

 

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- God's Grace is not given to change my circumstances. It is given so that I might glory in them instead.

 

- God loves me just as I am not just as I should be, but He sees me just as I should be not just as I am.

 

- Contending is an action. Contentiousness is an attitude. There is a huge difference.

 

- If you want to throw my sins in my face you will first have to... travel as far as the east is from the west to find them.  Then, you’ll have to lift them off the body of my Saviour who bore them for me. Then, you’ll have to wash off the blood of Christ which covers them.  Oh, and good luck with all that.

 

- Whoever badly hurt you was probably badly hurt by another, so you can either start a pattern of forgiveness or continue one of bitterness.

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- Raising boys demands self-control, because self-control is the most important thing you can teach a boy. They have to learn by example.

 

- If you are unable to recognize daily little blessings from God. Don't expect any big ones. You've missed it altogether.

 

- It's not fasting and prayer for deliverance from the hogpen that you need....just go home.

 

- If you feel like you are always struggling in your Christian walk you are not alone and there is nothing wrong with you. You are supposed to struggle, wrestle, fight, press and endure. That is not a weakness in you. That is the life in the flesh when we try to walk in the Spirit. You only ought to worry when you quit struggling. A world class athlete doesn't one day quit struggling and everything is easy. It remains a struggle for as long as they want to be competitive. Satan wants to make you feel guilty because you are struggling as though it ought not be. He is lying. Struggle with a clear conscious but by all means keep on struggling. Press on!

 

- I'm sorry is not a good eulogy. Apologize before it is too late.

 

- Everything that happens to me is FOR my growth, FOR God's good and FOR others to see his grace through my responses.

 

- The silent treatment is the result of assuming that the other person should know and understand how they hurt us, and it violates the very teaching of Scripture as to how deal with being offended by another. Most of the time it is used because we don't want to admit how petty the matter that upset us really is.