Matthew 27:3-4 (KJV) The Grace and Mercy of God

Matthew 27:3-4 (KJV)
Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.

Can you imagine a worse sin? Judas had betrayed Jesus Christ. He must not have thought it would be this big of a deal. He must have thought they would just punish Him and let Him go. He must not have thought Pilate would allow them to crucify Jesus. He must have thought Jesus would say something to get Himself out of the mess. 

Whatever he thought, he was wrong. His sin had betrayed not only innocent blood but the innocent blood. And he repented. He returned to the men he had betrayed Jesus too. He offered to return the money, wanting somehow to reverse the damage his sin had done. The others cared nothing for it. They had no compassion for his saddened heart. They had no desire to have the money back. They had what they wanted. They had Jesus. 

The sorry truth is that all sin is just like that. All sin is a betrayal of Christ Who died for that sin. All sin has consequences and all sin has consequences we will not wish to pay. All sin is irreversible, it cannot be undone. 

I am thankful that no sin has to end as Judas’ did. Judas’ real trouble was that he forgot the grace and the mercy of God. 

We get ourselves in the most trouble when we forget the same. 

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 4700 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

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Matthew 27:3-4 (KJV) The Grace and Mercy of God

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1 Samuel 10:7 (KJV) And God’s Response?

1 Samuel 10:7 (KJV)
And let it be, when these signs are come unto thee, that thou do as occasion serve thee; for God is with thee.

Though the people had rejected God and insisted upon a king, God in mercy was with that king. 

What a merciful and gracious God is ours! We so often choose our own way. We, in a show of vain dependence, claim to love Him while at the same time choosing the way of the world. We call ourselves by His name. We happily believe that He calls us His children. Still, we follow the world as often or more than we follow Him. 

And God’s response? 

He blesses us. He gifts us. He goes with us, He loves us and He so frequently uses us. 

Saul was not the man God had to lead them. If they had trusted the Lord, He would have provided so much better. The same is true in our case. 

But I am glad that God is with us even when we do not wait on Him as we should. 

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 4700 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.

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1 Samuel 10:7 (KJV) And God’s Response?

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1 Samuel 7:6 (KJV) Water Means Life

1 Samuel 7:6 (KJV)
And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured it out before the LORD, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against the LORD. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh.

The sacrifice of water seems so counter-intuitive to me.

• It is free of charge
• It is generally available
• It is common 

But recently our well pump went out and I was reminded of how necessary water is.

They drew the water, no doubt from a well someone had dug. There was the effort, resources, and financial investment placed in giving the well. Someone before them had gone before and provided this blessing. 

Water is essential for life. 
They say we can go only three days without it. 

Springs of water is used to typify the Holy Spirit 
Without Him, we are incapable of understanding the Bible, empowered prayer, efficient service or effective prayer.

Water means joy, refreshing, calmness, and peace of soul.
To pour water out in sacrifice then, was a potent emblem of the need of Almighty 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 4700 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.

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My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
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1 Samuel 7:6 (KJV) Water Means Life

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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.

Matthew 25:31-32 (KJV) May Our Lord Save Many

Matthew 25:31-32 (KJV)
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

I see the parables of Matthew 25 like this;
The virgins
Preparation for the Lord’s return. I believe it to be prior to the rapture and refer to our age. 

The talents
Christian life. I believe this to be still prior to the rapture and speak of our service to Christ today. 

The sheep and goats
This is not a parable but an event. It takes place after the Great Tribulation period, when Jesus comes to set up his kingdom. It is a terrible time for the lost. 

May our Lord save many, many more from this day. 

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 4700 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.

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My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
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Matthew 25:31-32 (KJV) May Our Lord Save Many

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1 Samuel 5:7 (KJV) Your Choice

1 Samuel 5:7 (KJV)
And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us: for his hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our god.

What an interesting thing. After witnessing and acknowledging, that the God of the Jews was more powerful than them or their god, the Philistine’s response was to remove the God of the Jews. 

• They did not repent before Him
• They did not embrace Him as their own
• They did not quit their trust in Dagon 

They drove away the true and living God. (Consider, if God had wanted, He could have prevented even that. God does not force Himself upon any man.)

This truth was demonstrated in the years Jesus walked upon the earth. There were so many undeniable proofs that He is God. There were so many opportunities for the people to acknowledge that His gospel was far superior to the man-made traditions of the Jews. Yet they chose to drive Him away in crucifixion. (God could have prevented Christ’s death. Even here He did not force Himself upon them.)

And now we are witnessing a widespread abandonment of Jesus Christ. We have centuries of evidence that mankind does better when following the Lord. Even with the errors of some professing believers, still, Christianity has markedly improved the status of men. Today, however, people label Christ as the terrorist. They drive Him away in favor of alternate lifestyles, gender mutilation, communist policies and the sacrifice of untold millions of babies. 

God could prevent all of this. The fact is, He will not force Himself on men. But that is not forever. One day, left to their own devices, men will have turned themselves reprobate. In that day, the Lord will return, not as a Lamb but as a Lion. He will then assume authority, slay the wicked one and rule with a rod of iron. 

It would be best if men submit to Him before that day.

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 4700 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.

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My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
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1 Samuel 5:7 (KJV) Your Choice

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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.

1 Samuel 3:20 (KJV)A New Thing

1 Samuel 3:20 (KJV)
And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the LORD.

Gill says Dan is the northernmost of the Promised Land and Beersheba is southernmost. The whole of Israel knew that God had raised up a prophet in Samuel. 

Samuel was a new thing. He was both a man of God and a judge of Israel. 

After Samuel, Tabernacle worship continued but the role of the High priest, at least so far as the Word of God is concerned, takes on a dimmer light. We see the priests and the high priest throughout the Old Testament and into the Gospels, but they are frequently seen in a negative manner and never with great influence. 

After Samuel, we will see a transition to a king for political leadership and prophets for spiritual. Thus, in Samuel, we find the separation of church and state. 

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 4700 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.

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1 Samuel 3:20 (KJV)A New Thing

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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.

1 Samuel 2:27 (KJV) A Man of God

1 Samuel 2:27 (KJV)
And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh’s house?

Exactly who this man of God was, we must be content not to know until we reach eternity. What is apparent is the difference between religion and a relationship with God. 

I take it that men of God were rare but not unheard of in those days. There was one mentioned in the account of Deborah. 

The priesthood – religion – was not wrong. It had its place and still does. 

James 1:27 (KJV)
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. 

If religion is the action of a Christian, then our relationship with the Lord is the life that moves the action. Religion without life is death. Life without action is meaningless. 

There always seem to be few who are men of God, who possess the life of God in them and thus are moved to action on behalf of 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 4700 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 are available at:
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My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

1 Samuel 2:27 (KJV) A Man of God

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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.

Ruth 4:15 (KJV) A Perfect Answer

Ruth 4:15 (KJV)
And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him.

Matthew 10:37
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

I am a husband, a father, and a grandfather. I cannot imagine much that would be more painful than losing a child. I cannot imagine much that could possibly replace one of my children, much less be better than seven sons. But this one does it. 

Seven is the number of perfection. The child, born to Ruth and Boaz, and credited to Naomi, became the grandfather of King David and, more importantly, in the line of Jesus Christ. He really is the perfect replacement for Naomi’s son. 

I wonder how many times a prayer like that of those praying a blessing upon this baby, Obed, had been prayed? How many times someone had prayed for an answer more perfect than anyone could imagine? Sometimes it seems like our prayers are not answered. That’s never the case. God answers our prayers in ways we could never have guessed. And the best ones await us in eternity. 

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 4700 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 are available at:
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My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

Ruth 4:15 (KJV) A Perfect Answer

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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.