Morning Devotional November 27, 2022

 

One of my favorite passages from God's Word.

1 John 4

“1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.

6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.

16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

19 We love him, because he first loved us.

20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.”

Praise ye the Lord!!!

Morning Devotional November 26, 2022

2 Corinthians 4:1-7

“1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;

2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.

6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”

It never ceases to amaze me how this time every year men, pastors, preachers, and teachers, men who preach God's Word with boldness and truth throughout the rest of the year all of a sudden begin to follow after the traditions of man. In many places we are warned of this in God's Word. Yet, whether it is to appease the crowd or to keep peace in their home/family, or simply to feed their own sinful flesh or maybe a combination of all this, these men will set aside the truth of God's Word and begin preaching a series of lies. Lies that are so easily refuted if one is willing to study God's Word.

It's almost as though these men care nothing for the recorded birth of our Lord and Savior in Matthew and Luke and prefer the fairy tales of unsaved men.

The saddest of all this is the claim that it is all for the “children”. But, is it really? We preach about telling the truth all year long then when it comes down to the earthly birth of Jesus Christ many can't even open their Bibles and read what it says in fear of being made a heretic by God Himself.

Every year those of us who boldly stand for the truth in this matter are chided and ridiculed by those who claim the name of Christ but refuse to stand on the truth. Instead, for sentimental reasons they fall back into their old life of sin and from the same pulpit in which they have preached truth all year long, are now “turned unto fables”.

Make no doubt about it, I am speaking to and of Baptist here. Why preach the very doctrines of devils our forefathers died fighting against? We think and are commonly taught that the martyrs who died throughout church history fought only against infant baptism. Find you a good Baptist History book. Read of how those men and women stood against everything Roman Catholicism forced on their people that was false doctrine. This included the Roman observation of the Christ-Mass.

If we are going to claim to be part of the Lord's Bride, then why would we preach the doctrines and traditions of those who are clearly the enemy of our Bridegroom?

If you are a Pastor or Preacher or Teacher or Missionary, the Lord has given you a ministry. “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.” “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”

Brethren, preach Christ and Him crucified. Forsake false doctrine and the traditions of the world and preach the truth of God. “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.”

Now more than ever our loved ones need to hear the truth from God's Word. And it is our job to proclaim it!!!

Praise ye the Lord!!!

Morning Devotional November 24, 2022

 

Psalm 100

“1 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

2 Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.”

We could spend a month of Sundays or more preaching from this wonderful little chapter. But, for now we will concentrate on the day before us. The Psalmest has written so much into this short chapter. Reminding us of our duty to praise and worship our Lord continuously. Not just once or twice a day, but to be in constant communion with our Heavenly Father.

Notice in verse 3 who this is written to. We, His people. Not the whole world, but the people of God.

O where would we be without His mercy!!! We should be especially thankful for His mercy on us and on our nation today. What a wicked people we are. Yes, even we the people of God are wicked. Look at our lives and how we live in this old sin filled world.

Don't forget why this day was set aside by our forefathers: “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.”

Praise ye the Lord!!!

Morning Devotional November 20, 2022

 

Psalm 100

“1 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

2 Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.”

Every year at this time our nation has what was originally intended as a season of Thanksgiving to God for the many blessings He has bestowed upon us in the previous year and for those to come in the next year.

The more wicked our society becomes, the more forgetfulness rather than thankfulness becomes the norm. As a whole, we have forgotten the mercy God has shown upon us as a nation. And not surprisingly this has crept into the Lord's Churches. We go from one demonic holy day to another this time of year with little to no recognition of the day our Founding Fathers set aside to give thanks to our Creator. Then we wonder why our nation is in such dire straits.

For many Thanksgiving Day is now known as “Turkey Day”. Filled with two of the biggest idols of our day. An overabundance of food and football. With no reverence for the One who the day was originally set aside. Yet we still pride ourselves on being “One Nation Under God”.

It was a joy to go to a Bible Conference yesterday where true Thanksgiving was observed in the preaching and the fellowship. Where will you be today? What about when it's time for the midweek service? What will you be doing on Thanksgiving Day? Praising and worshiping and giving thanks to our Heavenly Father or wrapped up in the things of the world. Waiting and planning and scheming for the Black Friday sales. Playing music and decorating for the false god of Christmas?

Our thanksgiving to God does not stop with the end of the meal or the end of the day or the end of the long weekend. God tells us over and over and over in His Word to always give thanks to Him and only to Him.

So, child of God, where will your thoughts and prayers be this year during this season of Thanksgiving to God? On things of God or the things of self and the world?

“In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

Praise ye the Lord!!!

Morning Devotional November 13, 2022

 

Jeremiah 13:8-11

“8 Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

9 Thus saith the Lord, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.

10 This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.

11 For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the Lord; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.”

This past week we saw the “Great Red Wave” of the Republican Party die out before reaching the beach. Why? Could it be because of the prideful speech and actions of God's people just days before the election? People were so sure that their candidates were going to all win landslide victories. But, it looks as though our God had other plans.

I watched a few news broadcasts and posts on social media in the days after the election. It amazes me how people who claim to be God's people have come up with every excuse possible to explain their party's downfall. Not one that I have seen has come out and admitted God is in control and it is God who planned all this from the beginning. It's as though Landmark Sovereign Grace Baptist have forgotten who is Sovereign. It's as though they have forgotten what they preach.

Why? Because, even though we say we believe in an all Sovereign God we still want things the way we want them. We still have that sin of pride dwelling within us. So much so that our wants are more important than our needs, at least in our own eyes.

Let us not forget who we are and to whom we belong. Let us not forget this world is not our home, but it is that eternal home to come in which we should have our hope. Living all eternity with our Lord and Savior should be more on our minds than this temporal life here.

Praise ye the Lord!!!

Morning Devotional November 12, 2022

 

2 Timothy 3:16-17

“16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

I would like us to look at a word this morning that I don't believe I have really never thought much about until recently. The word “Dogmatic” or “Dogmatical”.

Here is the definition according to Websters 1828 Dictionary:

“DOGMATIC, DOGMATICAL adjective

1. Pertaining to a dogma, or to settled opinion.

2. Positive; magisterial; asserting or disposed to assert with authority or with overbearing and arrogance; applied to persons; as a dogmatic schoolman or philosopher.

3. Positive; asserted with authority; authoritative; as a DOGMATICAL opinion.

4. Arrogant; overbearing in asserting and maintaining opinions.”

Over the years I have heard preachers use this word in the positive to tell how strong they believe something or use this word in the negative to tell why they may not be very strong in a certain teaching.

As God's children, we should be dogmatic in certain doctrines taught in God's Word. A few examples; We must be dogmatic on the teaching of the Gospel, the doctrines of election and predestination, the doctrine of the Lord's Church, Creation, etc. Anything God has made clear in His Word we must be and remain dogmatic about. Another words, a dogmatical opinion must be taught with authority from on High. The only way this is possible is if it is clearly taught in God's Word and is clearly understood by the man preaching the message.

However, there are doctrines or teachings we may not understand completely. These doctrines we must be careful about. These doctrines, which may not be made clear in God's Word, whether God has not opened them to us yet or in our rebellion we have refused to see the whole truth of the matter. The fact is there are times where the Lord does not reveal a certain teaching to us and so, in such cases we can not be dogmatic in our beliefs or opinions on the matter.

For example: some of the end times prophecy, what Heaven looks like, what life was like on earth between the fall of Adam and Noah, etc.

The fact of the matter is there are things mentioned in the scripture that we may never understand or know what really happened. We can guess but that is all it is, a guess.

The problem I see in all this is we have preachers who will not be dogmatic where God's Word is clear while at the same time they are dogmatic on things they have no knowledge of.

Another issue is when a preacher says he is not dogmatic about a certain teaching but continues to preach the topic as if he is dogmatic. It is like the old saying that says “if you preach something loud enough and often enough the people will begin to believe it.”. Brethren, that is dangerous. Very dangerous. If the scripture is not clear on something then why continue to bring it up? If you need Godly counsel to help understand it, that is one thing, but to continue to preach something that you, yourself are not sure about and God's Word is not openly clear about can make us out to be a false teacher.

Remember what Peter said in 2 Peter 1:20 “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.”

We will have our different opinions on matters. Certainly no two Christians are going to believe exactly the same on every single doctrine. But, there are certain doctrines we must be dogmatic about and preach with God given authority. Then there are things we may mention in passing or give our opinion about that we cannot be dogmatic about because God has not taught clearly in His Word. Those things we can study and ponder about but we must be very careful about if we preach them from the pulpit. If the scripture is silent then what right or authority do we have to be dogmatic about our opinion?

Praise ye the Lord!!!