Baptist City Blog

Proverbs 25:4

Several years ago I had the privilege of going to a refinery to see the smelting process for gold. The process was very interesting to someone who had never seen how they refined gold. They took a bucket of what looked like dirt and put it on a sifter, and what remained after they shook it was the larger chunks of what looked like little rocks. They then took what remained and put it in a furnace that had extreme heat. The heat revealed the real gold. You could see the gold and the dross separate from each other so that when it came out of the fire the gold was collected to be sold and the dross was thrown away.

Ezra 5:1

Every time I read this passage of Scripture, my heart is stirred because of the power that preaching had on the rebuilding of the temple. Most of my life has been about traveling and preaching in churches to help stir God’s people for revival. It is very evident that preaching was the key to the building of the temple and the wall. When you read the Book of Ezra, you see there were four results of preaching that you need in your life if you are going to live the successful Christian life.

Proverbs 23:15

Every parent’s desire and concern for their child is that they turn out to be a wise person. Parents hope that their children are listening to their instruction and look for signs that they understand what they were taught. Trying to discern if your child has a wise heart is easily perceived if you know what you are looking for.

2 Chronicles 31:20

If I told you that I have a guide that it would always help you to make the right decisions, you would do anything to get your hands on that guide if you had a heart for God. There are many Christians who want to do right, but they face situations where they oftentimes don't know what to do. The verse above is that guide. You can see that there were three prerequisites that Hezekiah followed in determining his actions.

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2 Chronicles 23:11

Before they ever put the crown on Joash’s head, several levels of protection had to be set up to protect him from Athaliah who wanted him dead. Jehoiada the priest understood that it was God’s will for Joash to keep the throne in Judah, so he risked his life and set up several levels of protection to keep this young child safe until the time that he was capable of ruling on the throne of Judah.

2 Chronicles 15:3

Many of the troubles experienced in life are self-inflicted. Yes, we have troubles that come because of others, but many of our troubles could be averted if we didn't inflict them upon ourselves. The amazing part about self-inflicted troubles is that they are all a result of bad decisions. If we avoided bad decisions, we could avoid self-inflicted troubles.

2 Chronicles 10:4

Everything has a pattern or mold that is used to replicate what was originally produced. When I was a young boy, I remember taking a mold that made plaster ornaments and pouring the ingredients into it. It was important that we took care of those molds because they were the pattern by which we made the ornaments we desired. If we broke the mold, we no longer were able to replicate what we wanted.

2 Chronicles 6:9

In a world that is so concerned with building a legacy, it is sad that very few people are concerned with building a spiritual legacy. I am not talking about a legacy where others talk about you after you are gone, but building a legacy where your children carry on how you lived for God and do greater works for Him after you are gone. If there is any type of legacy you should try to build, it should be a spiritual legacy.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-13

Throughout time, there has always been two extremes taken regarding honoring people. There is one extreme that doesn't want to honor any person because they believe all honor goes to God. They are right to the degree that God deserves the credit for everything, but to never honor people goes against scriptural principles.

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