Will God Find Nothing?

In Psalm 17:3 David proclaims his innocence before God: “You have tried my heart; You have visited me by night; You have tested me and You find nothing; I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.” David (or perhaps as is so often the case in Psalms, the Messiah, the ultimate “Son of David” whom he represents) is confident that he is blameless when God examines him. Can we say the same thing?

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Brother Against Brother

II Kings 13:12 summarizes the reign of Joash the King of Israel by describing “all that he did and his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah …”. What a sad summary of a legacy …

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“The Little Condo on the Prairie” (August 5, 2014)

What’s it like to live in a pastor’s family? You don’t have to guess — just read it here in “The Little Condo.” No names have been changed … 🙂

DRIVERS ED
It’s hard when you are riding along in the car while your child with his newly acquired learner’s permit is driving — especially when you see the need for a stop coming and it doesn’t seem like he is braking in time.
After several animated “conversations” Cheryl & I tried to stop telling Michael about how he needed to put the brakes on at every intersection — but as we approached each stop we would grimace and push our feet on the imaginary “brake” on the floorboard, all of our muscles tensed.
After one particularly excruciating stop, neither of us said anything for a few seconds, until Cheryl finally said quietly: “At least we’re getting a good ab workout …”. Continue reading

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God’s Not In Our “Box”!

II Kings 14 tells a story which is hard for many of us to put in our “box”, theologically speaking. It relates how Jeroboam II came to reign over the northern tribes of Israel. Jeroboam was named for the infamous king who split Israel from Judah, and whose deviant religious practices influenced generations to come. Jeroboam lived “down” to his namesake! 14:24 says “He did evil in the sight of the Lord.” But it is the story of the prosperity of his reign which is difficult to deal with.

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“Are You A Disciple?” Luke 9:23 Sermon

(Preached at First Baptist, Pauls Valley, OK 8-03-14)

In Matthew 28, Jesus gave His Great Commission to go and “make disciples.” The most important business of the church is to make disciples. But what does it mean to be a disciple? It means more than raising your hand, or going forward and filling out a card, or being baptized, or being a member of a church. It is a commitment of your life to Jesus to be His follower. Jesus tells us something of the kind of commitment He requires of His followers in Luke 9:23:

“And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.'”

I. To Be A Disciple Means to Deny Your SELF

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The Secret of Confidence

If Christians would train themselves to apply Psalm 16:8, it would give them the ability to overcome every fear and anxiety, and bring God’s power to bear on every situation in their lives: “I have set the LORD continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”

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“Until Now”!

II Kings 13:23 describes God’s treatment of the people of Israel who had rebelled against Him for years. It says that “YHWH was gracious to them … and would not destroy them or cast them from His presence until now.” There is an important lesson in those last two words, “until now.”

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What Is Your Legacy?

In II Kings 13, the Bible tells of two of the kings of Israel, Jehoahaz and Jehoash. Neither of these kings was godly. It is of note that they are both described in their relationship to Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the first ruler of the northern kingdom. Verse 2 says that Jehoahaz “followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat”, and verse 11 says that Jehoash “did not turn away from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.”

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“Eschatou”, not “Eschatology”

Many of God’s people are fond of dwelling on the “end times”, otherwise known as “eschatology”, from the Greek word “eschatos”, which means “end.” But this obsession is unhealthy and was rebuked by Jesus when He addressed His disciples in Acts 1. He gave them — and us — another focus instead:

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Do They See You Trust God?

Jehoash, the king of Judah, had been used by God to bring reform & revival to the land. But it did not appear that he finished well. II Kings 13:17 says that the King of Aram set his face to invade Jerusalem, and verse 18 says: “Jehoash king of Judah took all the sacred things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own sacred things and all the gold that was found among the treasures of the house of YHWH and of the king’s house, and sent them to Hazael king of Aram. Then he went away from Jerusalem.”

One is left wondering about the actions that Jehoash took. Continue reading

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