Baptist City Blog

- Tuesday, 5/24/22 Proverbs 18:12, Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility. God speaks of sowing and reaping, not

tripping and falling. The consequences of our actions (positively or negatively) may seemingly be slow to come, but they are sure to come.                               Haggai 1:2, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. Have you ever felt pricked to do something for God, and then the thought came, “No, I shouldn’t do that now because of... I’ll do that later”? May I say that that thought of postponement is NOT from God. He may redirect us to do something else, but will rarely, if ever, tell us not to do something right now. Those thoughts of “I’ll do that for Him later...” either come from our selfish, lazy hearts or from Satan. He wants service today. So, in what areas have you “thought better of”? No, do that deed today; give that money this week; forgive that offender immediately; take that bus route this month; teach that class this year. We’re not promised tomorrow, so all of God’s commandments are for today.

- Wednesday, 5/25/22  Psalm 123:2, Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters...so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until that he have mercy upon us. Let that word “until” be a comfort to you. It means God knows your situation. It means God controls it. It means God has a time frame to end it in His mind. It means there is a purpose. Wait on God...UNTIL.                             Proverbs 19:1, Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity, than he that is perverse in his lips, and is a fool. “Integrity” is contrasted with “perversity” and “foolishness.” Questions for each of us: do we live (“walketh”) what we believe? Do you believe in prayer? Soul winning/Heaven/Hell? Do you believe God loves you? Does He love each one at work? Would He save each? Is the Bible His Word and is it relevant in our lives today? Are we supposed to be getting more holy?

- Thursday, 5/26/22  Proverbs 19:19, A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment: for if thou deliver him, yet thou must do it again. Sometimes being the right kind of friend means letting your friend suffer for his actions and not bailing him out over and over. Letting him endure the consequences may teach him.                                  Psalm 126:2-3a, Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them. The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad. Our mouths are to actively witness for God (relating what He’s done for us in the past & present) so as to enable us to actively witness for Christ (and tell what He would do for others in the future, i.e. save them.)

- Friday, 5/27/22  Proverbs 21:27, The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind? HOW we do what we do is almost as important as WHAT we do.                             Psalm 139:17, How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! Valuable, precious thoughts, and a large amount of them. He thinks on us like a fiancé thinks of his girl when she is away for a week. Y-O-U are VERY loved today. (BTW, shouldn’t we think of other Christians like He does? Quit with emphasizing their negatives.)

- Saturday, 5/28/22  Luke 2:25, And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. Oh that, in the first sentence someone would use to introduce me, that it would be said that the Holy Spirit is on me.                         (This sentence has to be read with a fully awake mind.) 2 Peter 2:18, For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. The verse holds a warning for good Christians (those who’ve escaped from the wrong crowd). When the unjust speak their vain words, those words are a lure to us because of our inherent fleshly lusts, and because of our wantonness (unbridled desires: again, those are in your heart and mine). Bottom line? Be very careful to whom you lend your ears.

- Sunday, 5/29/22  Genesis 16:1, Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. We must be aware that life is no friend to holiness. Either our own flesh will take normal, wholesome, everyday situations and twist them toward sinfulness, or Satan will. Realize you walk a perilous path: you are your enemy from within, and the world and the devil are from without.                                Genesis 18:20, And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous... The primary sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was NOT perversion. You and I are guilty of many of the same things that they were guilty of and for which the Lord severely judged them. (See Ezekiel 16:49-50. Perverse sexual activity was the 6^th thing mentioned in the list.)

- Monday, 5/30/22  Genesis 18:32, And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure 10 shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for 10's sake. If you love America, you’ve GOT to win souls. God’ll spare our country if we get enough people saved and living righteously.                                    2 Timothy 4:7, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.  Bro. Hyles’ sermon title from 1/25/98, “You can win the fight without winning every round.”  He said he had 2 purposes for preaching it:  first to encourage those who’ve gotten knocked down, and then to shut up the Pharisees who are judging after only half the fight. If you’re in the former category: get up. If you’re in the latter category: shut up.