Morning Devotional March 13, 2014

Luke 12:32

“Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

In many places in the New Testament we see small congregations of the Lord's people meeting to worship and to praise Him. Yet today the ever growing trend in the “religious world” is that the larger the “church” the more the Lord must be blessing them. But as in this verse in Luke and in several stories recorded in the book of Acts we see in the early days of Christianity, as the Apostles and other men were traveling around preaching the gospel and organizing churches that there were small groups meeting and worshiping and studying the Word of God. In most of the cases we are never told of the numbers, we just know they were small congregations.

Many of these were meeting in someones home or in some cases they were meeting out in the open at different places. But the fact is not all of the churches mentioned in the scripture were large in number like the church in Jerusalem or the church at Antioch.

This misconception of how a church is to be large in number has brought about many false professions and false conversions. All for the sake of growing the Lord's church.

Folks, the fact is our Lord never promised us the numbers would be great. He never promised us that there would be great numbers of people following after a man of God who was preaching the truth. Yet like the rest of the “religious world” many a good sound preacher/pastor has fallen into the train of thought that if the numbers are great the Lord must not be in it. What a shame! So many of God's true churches have been left without a pastor because of this very thing.

I know of men out there who would rather sit at home than to go work a small church. In several places in the four Gospels we see where Jesus often times was teaching only the twelve. We read in John 6:66 that after Jesus preached a hard hitting sermon that “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.” Leaving just the twelve with Him.

A great concern I have is that there is a large number of true Landmark Sovereign Grace Baptist churches in this nation of ours who are without a pastor and, because each congregation is small in number, many pastors and churches have written them off as being “dead”. We should be ashamed of ourselves if we honestly believe a church is dead just because the Lord has not provided them a pastor at this time our the number attending is low. It is obvious the Lord still has a work in those areas were these small churches are. Are we not to show our faith by example to the world? What greater statement of faith for a church than to continue the Lord's work even when they have no pastor or even when the numbers are down.

Remember what our Lord said in Matthew 18:20? “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

As Landmark Sovereign Grace Baptist we should be very well aware that the truths we teach and preach are not going to draw the large crowds that so many are expecting today. Yes, there are large  Landmark Sovereign Grace Baptist churches out there, but for the most part the congregations are very small.

What I have found in my travels is that most of the time those very small congregations are more loving and more compassionate to their visitors and to each other and to those other churches they fellowship with. Because of their lack of a pastor many of them are starving for fellowship and teaching. Yet I see men who refuse to go preach and teach because of the small numbers.

I also recognize that the Lord does not seem to be raising up new preachers. Yes there are some out there but there are far more churches who are in need of a pastor than there are God called men to fill the positions.

We need to be in much prayer for these small churches. Pray the Lord strengthens them spiritually. Pray the Lord gives them the man they need or that this is another sign that our Lord's coming is soon. 

Praise ye the Lord!!! 

Morning Devotional March 10, 2014

I Chronicles 16:34

“O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.”

On this first day of the work week we should be thanking the Lord for all that He has given us. Our job, a way to get to that job, our home, the means to pay for that home, our family, the means to provide food, clothing ,and shelter for that family, our friends, and let us not forget the day the Lord gave us yesterday. That glorious day of worship.

That day that many of us have off from our job to sing praises to our Lord and to listen to His Word preached. The day our Lord has set aside for us to worship Him along with His people in one of His churches. What a wonderful experience we have, what a glorious blessing our Lord has provided for us by placing us in one of His churches with people of like faith where we can all come together and worship our Heavenly Father and sing the praises of our Lord and Savior.

Yet God has His people all over this world who have no place of worship or have no one to preach to them or to teach them the wondrous Word of our Heavenly Father. I find it very sad that we here in the United States, a nation founded on Biblical principles, would have so many of the Lord's true churches that are without a man of God to preach the Word to them. The nation which for the past 200 years has sent out more missionaries around the world than any other nation has now become the nation that has the greatest need for missionaries of any nation in our world today.

Our nation, which claims to be “One Nation Under God” is starving to death for the true teachings of the Word of God. We have been so blessed by God with material things and finances that we, as a nation, have forgotten where and who we came from. The sins of our nation are great. Possibly greater than any nation since the flood of Noah's day. Speaking of Noah, did not our Lord warn us that in the days just before His coming again things would be like it was in the days of Noah? (Matt. 24:37)

Sadly in my travels the last two years I have seen very few men that the Lord has raised up to preach His Word. Fewer men of God to preach the Word and more and more churches searching for a Pastor. What can this mean? Brother and Sisters I believe this can mean only one thing. Our Lord's coming is soon!

Do we give up? Do we stop preaching and teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ because He is not sending out new pastors and teachers? No! Our Lord instructed us to work till He came. We are to work the fields of our Master until His coming to take us to that glorious home He has prepared for us.

I encourage you all to carry on the fight! Carry on with the Lord's work He has given unto you! Never surrender to the temptation of the devil by giving up! Continue to wage the war against this old world  full of sin and death! Pray that the Lord stands with you and for you in this fight!

For this is not a battle for the weak but for the strong. We must be strong in His Word and strong in the faith He has given us. As the Apostles and the first church did in Acts 4:24-31 pray for boldness to stand-up for and to speak the Word of God. Pray for the boldness of those men of God who are out there in different parts of our nation and the world, that the Lord will give them boldness to carry on with the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and with the teaching of His people no matter what the conflict may be where they are.

As men we can not fight this fight alone. Only by the Grace of God can we have the proper armor our Lord has provided for His children. 

Remember our main verse; “O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.” Give thanks unto the Lord daily! Why? Because He and He alone is the only one that deserves our praise! He and He alone is the only one who shows us true mercy for ever! He and He alone provides us with the boldness to fight the fight!

Praise Ye the Lord!!! 

Morning Devotional March 8, 2014

I Chronicles 16:23, 24, 25

“Sing unto the Lord, all the earth; shew forth from day to day his salvation. Declare his glory among the heathen; his marvellous works among all nations. For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised: he also is to be feared above all gods.”

As the children of God we are to show the world our gratitude to our Heavenly Father constantly. Here in these verses we are told to sing to our Lord and to show daily what His salvation means to us or has done for us. We are to declare His glory to even our harshest enemies. We are to proclaim His Word and His works to all the world. Why? Because our Lord, above all others, above all the false gods the world over, is the only one worthy to be praised! Praise Him in every aspect of your life. Praise when you down. Praise Him when you are up, Praise Him when the world seems to be coming down around you and there seems no way out. Praise Him! Praise Him!

 

Praise Him! Praise Him! By: Frances J. Crosby

 

1.    Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer!
Sing, O Earth, His wonderful love proclaim!
Hail Him! Hail Him! Highest archangels in glory;
Strength and honor give to His holy Name!
Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard His children,
In His arms He carries them all day long.

•       Refrain:
Praise Him! Praise Him! Tell of His excellent greatness;
Praise Him! Praise Him! Ever in joyful song!

2.    Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer!
For our sins He suffered, and bled, and died.
He our Rock, our hope of eternal salvation,
Hail Him! Hail Him! Jesus the Crucified.
Sound His praises! Jesus who bore our sorrows,
Love unbounded, wonderful, deep and strong.

3.    Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer!
Heav’nly portals loud with hosannas ring!
Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever and ever;
Crown Him! Crown Him! Prophet, and Priest, and King!
Christ is coming! over the world victorious,
Pow’r and glory unto the Lord belong.

 

Praise ye the Lord!!!

Morning Devotional March 2, 2014

Proverbs 31

Proverbs 31 is the one chapter most Christians turn to when they think of what is supposed to be the “perfect” wife or the example of the “perfect” wife. I like many of my preacher brethren have preached and taught this many times. But after going back and reading this chapter again by the encouragement of another pastor, I see where I for one have missed some very important aspects of this chapter. For one I have usually started my sermons/lessons with verse 10 and went through the end of verse 31. Now that being said, let's go back and look at verse 1.

“The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.”

Notice who this chapter is about. King Lemuel. Also notice it is him telling what he learned from his mother. A prophecy or lesson she learned from the Lord. Notice she starts by telling him not to give his strength unto women in verse 3 and that kings are not to drink wine and princes are not to drink strong drink in verse 4. Two of the things of the world that had ruined many a king in Israel. Look at the kings down through history and even the world leaders today. Women and strong drink are very much a part of their lives and at times are their down-fall.

Now to the real reason I bring up this chapter. Notice after Lemuel's mother is finished talking about strong drink she to telling him about a woman would is to be the example of a king or ruler's wife. Yes that is right, I said a king or ruler's wife. Something I think we have some many times missed here in this chapter is the fact that this story of the “perfect” wife is being told to the king by his mother. Not to the every day citizen. So many times we as Christians have taken the last 22 verses of this chapter and assumed this is God's example of the “perfect” wife. We assume this is how God wants all wives to be. But read verses 13-27. The things we see this woman seeking after, buying, and doing are the things of a woman who has great wealth. She is not poor by any means. Also notice in verse 15. She has “maidens” or servants. Another sign that she is wealthy. But also notice she does a lot of the work herself. It tells in verses 13, 16, 17, 19, 22, and 24 that she works with her hands. This was the custom of the day when this was written. Though the king's wife had servants if she was a godly woman she would not be to good to work herself. Setting an example for her children and servants.