Acts 9:2 (KJV) Turning Point

Acts 9:2 (KJV)

And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

 

Ephesians 3:1 (KJV)

For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,

Colossians 4:3 (KJV)

Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds:

 

Wow! What a turnaround! Saul of Tarsus once sought the authority of the priests to imprison Christians, but on his journey to Damascus, he encountered the High Priest, Jesus Christ.

 

Years later, now known as Paul the Apostle, he found himself in bonds. Though imprisoned by men, what truly mattered were the bonds that connected him to Jesus Christ.

 

“A man is no fool to give up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose” – Jim Elliot. For Paul, what he had lost meant nothing compared to what he had gained – the excellence of knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection.[1]

 

The whole world experiences some form of bondage. We all yearn for freedom:

·       Freedom from oppression

·       Freedom from fear

·       Freedom from toil

·       Freedom from government

 

God offers humanity the highest form of freedom – freedom from sin, and with it, freedom from death.[2]

 

#FromBondageToFreedom #PaulsTransformation #FreedomInChrist #PowerOfResurrection #SeekingTrueFreedom

Turning Point: The Power of Redemption

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[1] Philippians 3:7-10 (KJV)

But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

[2] 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 (KJV)

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

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Acts 9:2 (KJV) Turning Point

Hosea 10:13 (KJV) A Recipe for Downfall

Hosea 10:13 (KJV)

Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.

 

“Because”

 

Notice the progression of events in this passage.

·       Ye have plowed wickedness (because)

·       Ye have reaped iniquity (because)

·       Ye have eaten the fruit of lies (because)

·       Thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.

 

The text describes in a nutshell the whole curse of mankind. When Eve and then Adam ate of the "fruit of lies," a terrible evil came upon them; they became as gods, knowing good and evil. The corrupt nature has at its roots a false sense of trust. Corrupt man believes he can trust himself, his wisdom, his intellect, the combined education of his kind.

 

It is to our own downfall that we trust in our way. It is to our great harm that we believe we can rely on the culmination of human experience. We plow wickedness, reap iniquity, and eat the fruit of lies because we believe ourselves over God.

 

We live today in one of the lowest points in human history.[1] Sin is rampant. Evil is more pronounced than it has been perhaps in 400 years. We have learned more, achieved more, and traveled farther than at any other time in recorded history. But we have lost our way morally, socially, and spiritually. The ruling class fails to see the problem because they lean too heavily on their mighty men.

 

But the fruit of lies leaves a man empty.

 

The righteousness of Christ fills, satisfies, and, in the end, leads to eternal life.

 

#FruitOfLies #TrustInGod #PlowWickedness #ReapIniquity #RighteousnessOfChrist

A Recipe for Downfall: The Fruit of Lies

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[1] Spiritually and morally speaking. The fruit of lies has been influential, leading many, especially in the unbelieving world, to believe that we have reached an all-time high. They often cite advances in science, medicine, and technology as evidence, and some claim progress in ethics and social issues. However, this perspective is skewed by the "fruit of lies," leading them to see acceptance of alternate lifestyles, etc. as advancement. In contrast, believers uphold the Word of God as their standard and disagree with these assertions of progress.

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Hosea 10:13 (KJV) A Recipe for Downfall

Acts 8:40 (KJV) Family First

Acts 8:40 (KJV)
But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.
 
Here is a fascinating passage. After serving in the town of Samaria, establishing what appears to have been a solid work, the Holy Spirit of God moved Philip to head into the desert where he met and led the Ethiopian eunuch to a saving knowledge of Christ.
 

The desert, not being commodious to live in, Philip began an itinerant ministry starting first at Azotus, and preaching in all the cities between it and Caesarea on his way. How long he was in these cities we are not told. Experience has taught me that stopping to preach one message isn’t really preaching “in all the cities.” It’s possible, I suppose, that he stopped in each city, preached, and if there was little response, moved on. It’s more likely he stayed in each of these cities long enough to either have established a beachhead for future ministry or else to have determined that God’s Spirit had not worked there as of yet.
 
At any rate, he preached in every city “till he came to Caesarea.” Adam Clarke writes,
“It is likely that his itinerant mission ended here; though he continued occasionally to perform the work of an evangelist, and to bring up his family in the knowledge and fear of God, which is the most imperious duty that any master of a family can be called on to perform, and which it is impossible for any man to accomplish by substitute…”
 
While Clarke steps into what I consider to be heresy in his phrase following this,[1] I appreciate and find instruction here. He sees the most important duty as bringing up his family in the knowledge and fear of God. Far too many in the Lord’s work have lost sight of this.
 
It is a wise man who, while burdened for and busy about the work of world missions, evangelism, and church planting, recognizes that place where God wants him to plant his roots and bring up his family.

 

#PhilipAndTheEunuch #DesertMinistry #FamilyFaith #RootedinFaith #ItinerantMinistry

Family First: Following the Spirit

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[1] “...and which none can neglect without endangering his own salvation.” A man’s most important work is to provide for his family. This is especially true of providing for them spiritually. But salvation cannot be endangered by any means. Many may people have a false profession of faith. Caring for their family won’t cure that problem. Those who are genuinely saved should know the responsibility toward the family. I believe many in the ministry a generation or two ago were taught that reaching the world was equal to or more important than the family. Believing that lie would not have caused them to lose their salvation.

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Acts 8:40 (KJV) Family First

Hosea 4:13 (KJV) Lost in the Shadows

Hosea 4:13 (KJV)

They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.

 

This chapter is scathing to say the least, 

Hosea 4:11-12 (KJV)

Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.

My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.

 

God doesn't accuse; He knows it to be fact that they are drunken, involved in whoredom, erring, and seeking counsel from others beside Him. There is nothing in this passage to suggest any good of the people. So, when the text says, “They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good,” I take this to be negative as well. Various commentaries suggest they like the shadows because it hides their evil deeds. Sin likes darkness. Sinners cover their sins. They have no intention of quitting the sin, but neither are they comfortable being exposed.

 

I see another application among those who follow a path of worship different from the Bible. There are those who claim to worship God but want to do it in the most comfortable way possible. Not like the Anabaptists, who refused the shelter of Rome under the shadow of the Catholic Church. Not like those faithful believers who were brutally slaughtered because they would not yoke with the Protestants. Not like those who lost their lives because they owned a Bible, rejected infant baptism, and worshiped in secret conventicles.[1]

 

These today look for places of worship where the music pleases their ears rather than God’s, where the atmosphere seems more like a Saturday night sock-hop than a worship service, where the message, if there is one, is more about themselves than about the Lord, and where sin is minimized, and man’s potential is the focus. The shadow of today’s spiritual whoremongers may look more like a church building than a tree, but it is no less true that they are attracted to it because “the shadow thereof is good.”

 

#SpiritualWhoredom #FalseWorship #SinfulShadows #TrueWorshipVsFalse #GodlyWorship

Lost in the Shadows: The Deceptive Allure of Comfortable Worship

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[1] Early Baptist Churches in England (pre-1600's) were called “conventicles” which means “an illegal place of worship.

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Hosea 4:13 (KJV) Lost in the Shadows

Hosea 1:11 (KJV) From Rejection to Reconciliation

Hosea 1:11 (KJV)

Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

 

The Bible is not a harsh and mean book. It is honest and real. It is earnest and caring. It has the work of the policeman "to protect and to serve." It reflects, of course, the heart of it's author, Almighty God. It does not whitewash and cover the problem, it exposes sin so sin may be corrected.

 

The book of Hosea, and in fact, the first chapter of Hosea is a reflection of the heart of God. The sinner and the hypersensitive might see it as mean spirited.

Hosea 1:9 (KJV)

Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.

 

But while this was the present reality, it is not the final word of God. Hosea functions like a roadmap.[1] It takes the reader from the place they were, "...ye are not my people." to where God will one day have them, "Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together..."

 

And that is exactly the plan of God,

·       For the Bible

·       For the future and

·       For you and me

 

The Bible serves to take us from where we are "dead in trespasses and sins"[2] to where God would have us "for by grace are ye saved."[3] And from the place of salvation to be seated, "together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."[4]

 

The Bible is no harsh book. God is not mean spirited and monstrous. But sin is monstrous, and this world is harsh. God is our Rescuer, Deliverer and Saviour. He is our Hero. It is true blindness to reject Christ for the world.

 

#GodsHeart #RedemptionRoad #SinExposed #DivineRescue #GraceAndMercy

From Rejection to Reconciliation: Finding Hope in the Heart of God

 

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[1] Chapter one appears in my opinion to be a summary of the book as a whole.

[2] Ephesians 2:1 (KJV)

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

[3] Ephesians 2:8 (KJV)

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

[4] Ephesians 2:6 (KJV)

And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Hosea 1:11 (KJV) From Rejection to Reconciliation