Psalm 39

I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me. I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue, LORD, make me to know my end, and the measure of my days, what it is, that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them. And now, LORD, what wait I for? my hope is in thee. Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish. I was dumb, I opened not my mouth: because thou didst it. Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thy hand. When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah. Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. O spare me that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.

Isaiah 40

verses. 10,11 Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work is before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. and shall gently lead those that are with young.
verse.18 To whom then will ye liken God? or to what likeness will ye compare unto him?
verse 25 To whom then shall ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.
verses 28-31 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary and they shall walk, and not faint.

It always amazes me to compare the three elements of, God's strength, our weakness, and his care for us.
Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised.

If you Believe, can you tell me why?

Recently I had an opportunity to attend a baptist heritage conference. Dr. Ted Alexander was speaking about our forgotten baptist heritage. What he told us about baptist history was 90% new to me! I who claimed to be a baptist, could only have hoped, at best, to give a vague explanation of why I was a baptist. Looking further into what I believed, I found that this was the case in many areas of my "faith". While on many subjects I was firmly convinced of what I believed, I could not comfortably explain this faith to an unbeliever. Sure, I could give some generic answer to a question here, and there, and then feel smug until they asked for a real, genuine and specific answer. Then I had to "hem and haw" and beg God to forgive me for my lazy study habits.  If I correctly interpret I Peter 3:15, we are commanded to be ready to tell why we believe what we believe. If I do not do this, I am not simply making a choice not to do "extra study", I am in direct violation of God's word. I have been challenged and convicted to study to not only know better what I believe, but also to be able share why, with others. I would hate to someday stand before my God, and find out that I had turned men away from the gospel with my lack of care about my faith. We have a glorious Saviour, who in his love has given us his written word, that our frail minds may better know Him and how to show, in some small way, our thanks for so great a salvation. How can we be so hardened to such matchless grace, as to neglect the study of so precious a book? Let us pray for, and encourage one another to study diligently the Holy word of the Lord who loved us, and gave himself for us.    

Peter's Denial

In John 13:36-38, we have Peter's avowal that he would willingly lay down his life for Christ's sake. And of course, we also have the familiar words of Christ, "the cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice". From here we may go to the latter part of John 18. In verse 17 we have the first denial, Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's disciples? He saith, I am not.
The second denial is found in verse 25, And Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. They said therefore unto him, Art not thou also one of his disciples? He denied it and said, I am not. Continuing on into verses 26 and 27, we find the third predicted denial, One of the servants of the high priest, being his kinsman who's ear Peter cut off, saith, did not I see thee in the garden with him? Peter then denied again: and immediately the cock crew. After we read this sad account of a saint failing his Lord in the hour of trial, what application can we make to our own lives? Many times we can come down on Peter pretty hard and say, "He was wrong!" And he was. We might say, "He was weak!" And he was. We could continue on down the list saying, "He was more concerned about his physical fate than he was about his faith." "He did not love God enough", "He loved this present world", "He should have stepped up and confessed his Lord before them and counted it an honor to die with Christ". And all of this is true. However, I am reminded of the words of Christ in John chapter 8 and verse 7,  He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. I have thought, what would be the three main points in which we deny our Lord? You may have a different list than I, but here is the list that I came up with, and I am at least sure that these are very important areas that we tend to view more lightly than we ought.

1. We deny him in our Faith.
 When trouble comes our way, we worry and fret as if this was a trial new to the world, forgetting that there is no temptation that we can experience but that which is common to man. Also overlooking the fact that we are to count it all joy, because the trying of our faith works patience.
 
2. We deny him in our Love.
Many times we forget that we are to, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. We want to "move under the radar" in our christian lives. Let me tell you, you won't sneak into heaven! There isn't a back door for the timid saints! We want the best of both worlds, and there isn't such a thing because there isn't another "best". The only best is God's world, as he designed it and with the guidelines that he has laid down in his word. Violate this and not only do you not have the best of both worlds, but you don't have any best because you have refused to take God's very best for your life. Stop loving the world! It is spiritual adultery! Love the Lord your God, with ALL your heart, soul, mind, and strength.                
3. We deny him in our Giving.
And don't think that this means tithing. Tithing is wonderful but, if you give 10% it should only be 10% of your total giving. Everything you have has been given by God, so you should use it all for his glory. I don't mean physically placing your entire paycheck in the offering plate every month, because that wouldn't be enough! Live for God. I love the third verse of O Zion Haste, Give of thy son's to bear the message glorious! Give of thy wealth to speed them on their way. Pour out thy soul for them in prayer victorious, and all thou spendest Jesus will repay!
Glory to God! If you are as much of a "Peter" as I, then let us Love, Believe, and Serve our Lord, who loved us and gave himself for us! How can we who have so little be less willing to give all that we have for a loving Lord and Saviour, than one who had all and willingly gave everything for sinners?    

The Philippines

Our trip to the Philippines was absolutely amazing! It was used by God to change a lot of things in my life. It has really changed the way I look at, missions, evangelism, money/ giving, and "bearing one another's  burdens". Missions, because I now realize that "missions" is a life style, not a job. Evangelism, because now see that it takes priority over so many things that we spend so much time on. Money, because now I see the impact that individual giving has on ministries worldwide. Bearing one another's burdens, because now I realize that supporting missionaries requires much more than writing a check every month and praying for them hopefully about as often. 

I thank God for allowing me such an opportunity. It was wonderful to see how God is working in other countries.

The Philippines

God has richly blessed me with an opportunity to travel to the Phillipines. To be quite honest I did not expect a lot from this trip, however, God has blessed beyond imagination. We have seen some souls profess Christ, and hope to see many more if the Lord see fit to draw them. I think I have learned more on this trip than any prior trip that I have taken. One item I would like to mention is, poverty. I never before had seen real poverty first hand. I saw people living on bamboo platforms constructed under a bridge who literally had less to call their own than I throw away. I nearly cried to see the children running around in the litter thrown from the bridge. It has made an impression on me that will never be lost. Those people were precious souls that our savior died to redeem. I thank God so much for the Palotes family, who did not pass these lost sheep by, and do not leave them to wander in the paths of iniquity, but, invite them to church faithfully, and seek to win them to the the loving arms of our wonderful Saviour. May God bless them richly for this humble service. There are many more things I would love to share with you, but time constrains me. Upon my return to the states, I will, Lord willing, share a more complete report with you. Meanwhile, please pray for us! Pray that God would see fit to work in spite of us, and that he would draw some of these precious souls to himself.

Contentment

I Timothy 6:6-12
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
We see here a warning not to labour for that which is temporal, but, for that which is eternal. He never says, be not rich. He does however say, they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare. "They that will be rich" merely refers to those that desire, or seek to be rich. He goes on to say in verses 17-19 Charge them that are rich that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
This brings to mind the verse, For where your treasure is, there shall your heart be also. We are reminded that while we must eat of the earth by the sweat of our brows, we cannot afford to lose sight of the eternal. It would surely be a vain life to labour for the extent of one's days on this earth, and never once think to lay up for ourselves treasure in heaven. Let not the greed of our society creep into our hearts and turn our faces from the glory of the Almighty. He is enough. Be content in his service.

An Observation

I find it interesting that the book of Job doesn't end with an advertisement for Job's new book, 7 Easy Steps to Know God. What do you think?