Mark 4:2 (KJV) Bible Preaching

Mark 4:2 (KJV)
And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine,

I think we tend to view doctrinal preaching as dry and difficult while we view those preachers who use stories, illustrations and personal accounts as shallow. It seems to me that good preaching, the kind Jesus did, uses stories, illustrations and personal accounts-parables, to teach doctrine. They do not have to be mutually exclusive. 

Doctrine that is dry and difficult is not good preaching or teaching
Even if it is true, if it is delivered with no passion, no fire from heaven, no personal touch from God, it is in error. 

Stories with no substance from Scripture is not good preaching 
It smacks of narcissism. It brings little glory to God and doesn’t really appear to attempt to

glorify God. It reminds me of the preacher I once heard brag that, when a missionary viewed his church’s buildings and good attendance and fine furnishings, praised God for what He had done. His response to the missionary was, “God didn’t do anything until I got here.”

Bible preaching is both personal and doctrinal. It preaches the truth straight from the Word of God but it springs from a soul that has been personally touched by this truth. 

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4400 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

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 are available at:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

Mark 4:2 (KJV) Bible Preaching

photos from pexels.com

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/M04VB. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

Jeremiah 37:19 (KJV) God’s Pleasure

Jeremiah 37:19 (KJV) 
Where are now your prophets which prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?

Notice the quick spirit of Jeremiah. Though the circumstances, in the flesh, were against him yet in the spirit he was the victor. 

• Jeremiah’s prophecies concerning Babylon had come to pass
• Those prophets’ had been proven to be false

Yet Jeremiah was the one in prison. Those false prophets seemed to be at liberty to spread yet more lies. 

This world, as was the king and the whole of Jerusalem, blinded to the truth. Though it stared them in the face, they would rather believe a lie and accuse the preachers of truth for their troubles. 

Yet the king was somewhat stirred in his heart. We never know what the heart of a man is going through. Though their face may appear hardened to the Word of God, it could be that an entirely different thing is happening behind the mask. 

• Be faithful to God’s Word. 
• Be faithful despite the hardships. 
• Be faithful regardless of the lack of fruit. 
• Be faithful unto the end. 

It is God’s pleasure we seek, not that of any in this world. 

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4400 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

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 are available at:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

Jeremiah 37:19 (KJV) God’s Pleasure

photos from pexels.com

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/M04VB. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

Jeremiah 36:3 (KJV) Maybe

Jeremiah 36:3 (KJV)
It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.

Jeremiah 36:7 (KJV)
It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the LORD hath pronounced against this people.

God used Jeremiah to pen down the words of God and to present them before the people of Judah. God’s proposition to Jeremiah was that:

• It may be they would hear and return and
• It may be they will pray to God and return 

I am certain that God knew exactly what Judah would do. 

He knew there would be some who fasted
Vs 9

He knew there would be some who feared
Vs 16

He also knew there would be some who threw it into the fire
Vs 23

God knew, but no one else did. 

• Jeremiah didn’t know
• Baruch didn’t know

It is not ours to know. We may only expect that some will want to hear the word of God. 

• Some will pray
• Some will repent 
• Some will reject it outright

We just tell it to them. If they reject it, we tell them again. If they remove it (as the king did by fire) we just bring it up again and keep on with the same message. 

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4400 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

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 are available at:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

Jeremiah 36:3 (KJV) Maybe

photos from pexels.com

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/M04VB. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

Jeremiah 35:18-19 (KJV) Follow Their Fathers

Jeremiah 35:18-19 (KJV)
And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according unto all that he hath commanded you:
Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever.

The Rechabites, according to the commentaries, were not Israelites but an ancient Gentile people with long and friendly ties to Judah. Their family had held fast to the teachings of an ancient father, Jonadab. Speculations concerning why are concern his desire to preserve high morality among them. The simple nomadic lifestyle would have been suited to the pursuit of spiritual health and less given to those tendencies to gain through greed. It would have also kept them non-threatening to Israel. 

Jeremiah was not instructed to make them drunk but to demonstrate that they would not drink the alcohol. The point of the exercise was to show Judah that they could have avoided the Babylonian trial had they just had the integrity to follow the teachings, not of an earthly father, but their Heavenly Father. 

God gave these simple Gentiles the promise that they would always have children, descendants, standing before God because they understood the value of listening to and obeying, even for generations, their old fathers. 

The newest generation of believers (including their pastors) would do well to follow the lessons of the Rechabites. 

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4400 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

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 are available at:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

Jeremiah 35:18-19 (KJV) Follow Their Fathers

photos from pexels.com

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/M04VB. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

Jeremiah 34:8-11 (KJV) Here Is A Tragic Thing

Jeremiah 34:8-11 (KJV)
This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them;
That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother.
Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go.
But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.

Here is a tragic thing. 

It is the tragic that they had enslaved one another. 
Slavery was somewhat different than we think of it today. But it was still not liberty 

It is tragic that, though they originally obeyed, they quickly returned to their old ways. 
We see it happen time and again. Someone gets excited about God, but then the old life overwhelms them. They are, in effect, slaves to their old life. In the passage’s case, they were slaves to possessing these slaves. 

It is tragic in that the slaves, once freed, could so easily be enslaved again. 
Being legally free and declared free is much different from being emotionally, spiritually and actually free. The slave had to have a place to go, a job to work and a heart to make personal choices. 

Even so there are those who come to Christ for salvation and, according to the Bible, are set free. But they never really accept it. They allow themselves to remain slaves to sin and the old life because they aren’t the willing to accept the responsibility of spiritual liberty. They aren’t willing walk with God by faith and grace. They aren’t willing to open the Bible and listen to God. They aren’t will to speak with God in prayer. They aren’t willing to get themselves up and to church. 

They have become so accustomed to letting the flesh, letting sin, letting this world dictate their life choices that they aren’t prepared to make choices for their own path with God. 

It is tragic. 

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4400 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

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 are available at:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

Jeremiah 34:8-11 (KJV) Here Is A Tragic Thing

photos from pexels.com

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/M04VB. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

Jeremiah 33:3 (KJV) Call Unto Me

Jeremiah 33:3 (KJV)
Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

This verse, a favorite of so many, becomes that much more meaningful in its context. It must not be viewed as the verse of the exceptionally blessed. Neither ought it to be seen as the promise of all our dreams. This is a promise from Almighty God. 

The writer of this verse was confined at the time in the court of the prison. His messages to the people of Jerusalem had not been well received. And it is no wonder. He’s been preaching that Jerusalem will lose to the army of Babylon, threatening them at this very moment. He’s been preaching that God sent Babylon because of their sins and that the way to be blessed of God is through surrender. No one likes his sermons. 

Jeremiah 33:4-5
For thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down by the mounts, and by the sword;
They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it isto fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in mine anger and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city.

These are not comforting words. 

• The battle with the Chaldeans will end in defeat
• The houses of Jerusalem will be filled with dead bodies and
• The God of heaven had hidden His face from them

Wow! This is terrible news! 

But the promise turns quickly, Jeremiah 33:6-8
Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.
And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.
And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me.

Wait. What? The fight is a route. Jerusalem will be captured. Their iniquities will be judged. But then God will turn this thing on its heels. 

• Their sins will be forgiven
• Their captives will be returned and
• Their homes will possess peace 

Not because they won a battle but because they surrendered. Not because they are good but because God is good

The chapter ends with a guarantee more certain than they could have ever written on their own, Jeremiah 33:25-26
Thus saith the LORD; If my covenant benot with day and night, and ifI have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;
Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, sothat I will not take anyof his seedto berulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.

If the sun ever stops rising and setting. If day and night ever stops happening, then might a person wonder if God will answer this promise. Until then, keep trusting God. 

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4400 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

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 are available at:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

Jeremiah 33:3 (KJV) Call Unto Me

photos from pexels.com

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/M04VB. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

Jeremiah 32:9-10 (KJV) Makes Sense

Jeremiah 32:9-10 (KJV)
And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle’s son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver.
And I subscribed the evidence, and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances.

It seems to me that knowing the end of this thing gives it an entirely different meaning. The illustration God uses Jeremiah to make is obvious enough; life will go on. This hardship will come to an end. Though God’s will is that Jerusalem surrender to Babylon, the Jews will return to their homelands and once again buy and sell and dwell in their homes. 

God corrects us. He directs and moves in such a way that His expected end is brought to pass. But God always loves us. His corrections never negate it. He never strays from it. He operates from the position of love and not from hatred. In times of hardness we may rest in these two truths:

• The hardness will end
• God’s Love for us has never wavered

But we know the end of Jeremiah’s story. He bought this property as an object lesson for the nation but he never realized the promise himself. Where he got the money, I do not know. But, though it effectively illustrated the message God had for his people, so far as Jeremiah was concerned, it was money thrown away. Jeremiah eventually went, against his will, to Egypt where he eventually died. 

We make too much of money, of the value of earthly things. All genuine success happens in another world. And it makes sense. No matter how successful a person may be in this life; no matter how much they might earn and how many things they may possess, they only have it briefly. They have no control over what becomes of it once they are gone. To leave this world a better place than we found it is such a trite answer to the issue of a short life. There must be more. There is more. If there is life after this, and we are convinced there is, to lose all this world’s goods for that treasure that is heavenly is the only course that makes sense. 

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4400 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

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 are available at:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

Jeremiah 32:9-10 (KJV) Makes Sense

photos from pexels.com

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/M04VB. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.