Pastor at Maranatha Baptist Church in Bethany, OK
Oklahoma City, OK
Joined November 2012
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Esther was willing to risk everything to help her people. Her words in Esther 4:16 challenge us to examine the limits we place on serving God.
oldpathsjournal.com/post/wha…
If I were to ask the average believer if they felt that they were for God and with Him, they would no doubt say that they were. However, the Scriptures are very clear about defining whether a person is with God or not. God says in Luke 11:23, “He that is not with me is against me.” Now, what does that mean? The answer is found in Matthew 11:29 when it says, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” You are with God ONLY if you are in the yoke with Him.
So, a person says, “I'm with God,” but does not go to church regularly. The fact that you won't go to church regularly defines whether you're with God. You say you are with God, but don't read His Word daily, pray daily, or even serve in the church. How can you say that you are with God when you're not even willing to serve in the church? The yoke is not to sit and do nothing. The yoke is to sit and serve.
Part of this verse that defines whether you're with God or not says in the second part, “He that gathereth not with me scattereth.” In other words, in the yoke, we go after the harvest of men. So, if you are not gathering souls for the harvest through soul winning, then I seriously doubt you can say that you are with God. The whole purpose of Christ coming was to reach the lost. Luke 19:10 teaches us, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” So, if you are not actively soul winning, you are not with Christ.
My friend, you can say you are with Christ, but if you're not in His yoke trying to reach the harvest, you are not with Him but against Him. I would hate to think that my Christian life is nothing more than being saved and that I am on the opponent's side, fighting against Christ, because I'm not gathering with Him.
Always understand this: if you are not gathering, you are scattering, which means if you're not gathering, you are not with Christ but against Him. Let me challenge you not to be against Christ. Christ has done so much for you that the least you can do is gather with Him. You can use all your little clichés about how spiritual you are, but if you're not gathering the lost in the harvest and seeing them saved, you are not with Christ.
Please pray for the family of Bill Tiger. God took Him to Heaven yesterday. He will be greatly missed. Funeral arrangements will be announced when they are available.
Silencing Your Critics teapawt.net/i/broadcasts/2aWLPlnzJ…
Criticism can tempt you to leave the work God has called you to do. Nehemiah 6:16 offers a better response: stay on the wall, keep building, and let the finished work speak.
oldpathsjournal.com/post/sil…
You cannot expect God to do something great in your life if you're not willing to attempt something great by faith
If I were to ask you, “Do you want counsel from God?” I could guarantee that you would absolutely say yes, because we all know that God is the source of all wisdom. God knows what is best for us because He can see not only our past and our present, but He can also see our future.
However, God has already given us His counsel. One piece of advice that God gives us in the book of Isaiah is when He says that His counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. So, here are the two pieces of advice that God gives to us.
First, be faithful. This is a great piece of advice because faithful people will do what they are supposed to do, even when they don't feel like doing it. Isn't it sad that we say we want God's advice, and yet we find ourselves not being faithful on the job, to church, toward daily Bible reading, in our walk with God, and some even to their spouse?
Faithfulness is not really a hard thing. Faithfulness is simply showing up. Anybody can show up. If a dog can be faithful to its owner, then I would certainly think that I am better than a dog and that I could be faithful to my God. So, you want God's advice? His advice is to be faithful.
Secondly, God says that truth is His advice. In other words, always be truthful. This would change everyone's life if they always did what was truthful, because truth always leads to the right conclusion. If you live a lie, you will find the heartache of the lies that you have lived. If you tell a lie, when it is discovered, you will find that it will damage relationships and your ability to influence people. Anybody can be truthful because it is a choice simply not to lie.
So, my question to you is, are you following God's advice? If you cannot follow these two things, why would you follow anything else? And why should God give you any more advice if you won't follow this?
My challenge to you today is this: follow these two pieces of advice from God. Be faithful in all that you do and be truthful in all that you do, and you will find that these two pieces of advice will help you in most areas of your life.
We Seek Your God as Ye Do teapawt.net/i/broadcasts/2onbMBqeq…
From Ezra 4:2, consider why biblical convictions, spiritual direction, and keeping the Gospel central must guide the partnerships you choose
oldpathsjournal.com/post/we-…
Many people are asking, what happened with this past election? How is it that people who love communism and people who truly hate our way of living in America can be elected to public office? I believe the answer is found in Isaiah 6:8. The Lord said, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah then said, “Here am I; send me.”
I believe this verse gives us several reasons why our nation is in dire need right now, not just because of this election, but because of what has been happening for a few decades now.
Before you cast stones at me, I want you to listen to what I'm saying. I am not against missions because missions is in the Bible. However, I believe what has happened in America is that we have stopped starting churches in our nation, churches in every small town will influence people, and churches throughout the big cities will influence people; which will turn our nation back to God.
About two decades ago, a preacher who is no longer in the ministry, by the way, said, “We don't need any more churches in America. We need to go reach the world.” Now, that sounded spiritual, but that is one of the dumbest statements I have ever heard. When you look at the Great Commission, three of the areas that God commanded us to go to are on our own continent, and only one is to the uttermost part of the earth. Now, I am for reaching all of them, but if we don't reach our nation by starting churches, then we are done.
However, you can't start churches if we don't have people answering the call. Again, we have preachers who have made the call so difficult that young men don't even know what it means to have the call of God on their lives. I'm always amazed at how we make the call of God so difficult, yet we allow young people to think that they can go do whatever they want without the call of God on their lives.
Let me make this very clear: If God has to call you to preach, then He also has to call you to be a plumber, a banker, or a business owner. God's calling is what you are supposed to do with your life, the very purpose for which God put you on this earth.
We are losing this nation because our youth conferences no longer have the great call to reach our nation. We are losing our nation because preachers are no longer putting the emphasis on going into full-time service. We are losing this nation because parents are not longer emphasizing with their children the importance of serving God full-time. We are losing this nation because young people are not answering that call, but rather want to pursue worldly affairs.
If we are going to save this nation, we have got to get back to what made us a great nation, and that is starting churches all over this nation that believe like we do. I can tell you this: Every church you start will influence people.
If you want to change America, it is not going to be through getting involved in the political world. It is going to be through winning people to Christ, and as you win people to Christ, you will influence voters to vote the right people into office.
Please understand, I'm not against missions, and I am not against God's people being educated about the politicians who are running for office; I'm simply trying to point out that we've got to get back to making the call of God something worthy of doing. We've got to get back to making young people understand that God still accepts volunteers, volunteers who will go and start churches to get His cause proclaimed throughout the world, and especially in our own nation.
This my friend, is one of the great reasons of what just happened, the other is the lack of emphasis on soul winning, but that is for another day.
From Luke 2:51–52, learn why submitting to authority, building where you are, and gathering wisdom prepare you for the work God has ahead.
oldpathsjournal.com/post/be-…
A great policy to follow is to be slow to speak. Just because you are thinking something does not mean you have to say it
Be Patient, Your Time Will Come teapawt.net/i/broadcasts/2BlMAKmWe…
Meet Jacob. Last night as I was closing down my book table at the meeting that I was preaching as Jacob and his grandmother walked by and purchased a book. I began to talk to Jacob and I asked what church he went to and he told me he didn't go to church. He told me that as a child he was a JW and that he stopped long ago. I asked him if he knew if he would go to Heaven, and he told me he didn't. I stopped and shared the Gospel with him and last night he accepted Christ as his personal Saviour. Never assume people are saved they just may be ready to accept Christ if you listen to the Holy Spirit. #divineappointments
Discernment seems to be a thing of the past. Discernment is the ability to look at something and know whether it is good or bad. God says that a wise man’s heart discerneth both time and judgment. In other words, there are two things required for discernment.
First, time is necessary for discernment. You cannot rush into a decision and make the right decision. Too many are quick to make decisions only to regret those decisions later. My friend, you have your whole life ahead of you, and taking the time to make the right decision is critical to decision-making. It is better to slow down with your decisions than to be quick and make the wrong decision.
Second, judgment is a part of discernment. Judgment is the ability to make decisions based on the facts. One reason you need time to make decisions is that you need time to find out the facts. Once you see the facts, you have a better chance of making the right decisions. However, judgment is making a decision. Some know what to do, but they don’t do it.
Discernment is critical to making right decisions. If you want a blessed future, learn to develop your discernment with time and judgment. You will never regret being discerning with your decisions because that will keep you from much heartache in the future.
How to Get to Higher Places teapawt.net/i/broadcasts/2XyJVpzVg…
From Psalm 18:33, consider how faithful routines and the courage to take another step of faith can help you keep growing in your Christian life
oldpathsjournal.com/post/how…
