Morning Devotional October 26, 2016

Acts 17:22-31

“Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.”

In our society today we see many alters “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD”. Our nation has fallen so far from following God that many have not even heard of Him and many are so afraid of what they don't know of Him that they are on a crusade to remove every mention of Him from public view. But little do they realize nor do they understand that you cannot simply remove the names of God and His Son Jesus Christ from public view. How silly to think man the creation can remove God the Creator from His own creation. The very evidence of God is all around us. Man has tried to remove God from the story of the creation by inventing evolution and the big bang theory. Man has tried to remove God from the miraculous birth of a child by murdering the child in the womb and claiming he controls life and death. And man has even tried to remove God from His people by polluting religion.

Where does it stop? O praise God their day is coming!!! With all the atrocities man has inflicted on the true people of God and all the attempts to stamp out the name of the very Creator of all things they have done nothing more than shown He is alive and is control!!!

Child of God, I challenge you. Proclaim the name of God and His Son with every opportunity that arises. Proclaim His Gospel to a lost and dying world. Let them know who this “UNKNOWN GOD” is they seem to want to destroy.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!!

Praise ye the Lord!!!

Morning Devotional October 22, 2016

Acts 15:18

“Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.”

O child of God what a glorious thought that we serve the all knowing God!!! O what a blessing to know that nothing ever happens that He did not know was going to happen and has prepared us, many times unknowingly to us, for whatever it is.

Whether it is trials and persecutions or it what we consider as blessings and happiness. Even what we see in our world today as one big mess, God knew about it from the beginning. All that has happened down through history, our Heavenly Father planned and permitted to happen. Man nor fallen angels nor even the god of this world, satan, could have orchestrated things the way they have come about.

Praise God He is in control and He will get the glory for all!!! Even the acts of this evil present world are proof that God is in control. We see the situations in our own lives and the lives of our loved ones, family and friends and yet God knew from the beginning it was going to be so. And for those of us that are His, we the Great Comforter Jesus spoke of and His Apostoles wrote of and taught. The very Holy Spirit of God to guide us and give us comfort. All the time knowing before it happens what we will go through in this live. Preparing us all the way by teaching us from God's Word.

O what a love our Heavenly Father has for His children!!! O what a Savior we have!!! O what a Great Comforter we have within us!!!

Praise ye the Lord!!!

Morning Devotional October 21, 2016

1 Peter 1:6-9

“Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.”

O dear Christian, praise God for the trying of our faith!!! Praise God that He loves us so much that He would send trials in our life to strengthen our faith in Him!!!

Brother and Sister if you are going through trials today, look to our Heavenly Father. Pray without ceasing. Give Him the glory for His grace and mercy through these trials that He sends to strengthen our faith and that build patience. Count it an honor to be so loved by our Heavenly Father that He would draw us closer to Him through trials.

Praise ye the Lord!!!

Morning Devotional October 15, 2016

Acts 3:19-21
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”



O what a glorious Savior we have!!! O how glorious is His gospel!!! Friend if you are not saved today and the Holy Spirit of God is convicting you of your sin, REPENT of that life of sin!!! Follow that conviction. Be CONVERTED!!! O what a blessing you are missing!!! O what a Savior His is!!! O what love hath no man than this that He would lay down His life for His friends!!!
O child of God, rejoice in the fact that all our sins are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. Pray without ceasing. Give God the glory for all things. Even the trials we go through. Praise the Lord for His continued goodness. Even though we deserved eternal hell He chose us before the world began to be His sons and daughters forever!!! O what love He has bestowed upon us!!!



Praise ye the Lord!!!

Morning Devotional October 8, 2016

Acts 3:12-26

“And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.”

Praise ye the Lord!!!

Morning Devotional October 5, 2016

Luke 1:46-55

“And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. He hath helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy; As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.”

In these verse we see Mary, the mother of Jesus, talking with her cousin Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. Elizabeth is about 6 months pregnant with John and Mary has recently found out that she is pregnant with Jesus. Both pregnancies were miracles of God. Elizabeth because of her age and being barren all of her life and Mary because she was a virgin and had not been with a man.

Notice as Mary speaks. Who does she give the glory to for what has been placed on her? Does she take credit for her faithfulness to God? Does she brag about being the mother of the Messiah? No!!! She starts off praising God!!! “My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.”

No self gratification at all in her words. No self glory. No self praise. All of her words are praising God the Father. She understands and is humbled by the fact that God chose her to bare His Son, her Savior and the Savior of His people. Yet so many will give Mary more glory and place her higher even than God Himself. Songs have been written about her. Images of worship to her have been made by the hands of man. Whole religious ceremonies praise her. Holy days set aside to give her glory for being the mother of Jesus.

But Mary, never sought this glory. She never asked for praise. God never told us to worship her.

I encourage you to study the words of Mary. As a child of God, she followed the commandments of God and praised Him and gave Him the glory for all. As should we. Follow the commandments of God. Give Him and only Him the glory and praise for all in our lives. Only He is worthy of our praise and glory!!!

Praise ye the Lord!!!

Sermon on Prayer

This is a sermon I preached at Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Mansfield, Ohio Oct. 02, 2016. The pastor there is Bro. David Green. He is Pastor Hobbs' grandson. Bro. David and I have been friends for many years now. 

Bro. Steve

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02fg0wd6xPc&feature=em-subs_digest