1 Corinthians 3:20 (KJV) They are Useless

1 Corinthians 3:20 (KJV)
And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

When considered literally, this passage flies in the face of the wisdom our world clings to even today. The wise men of the time would have been the philosophers: Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, etc. Though they had lived hundreds of years previous, it was their thoughts that ruled the Hellenized mind. 

Nothing has really changed. Though philosophy, the thoughts of the wise, has developed past Aristotle, it is built upon his thoughts. The arguments of logic, wisdom, etc, they are all, according to God, empty and useless; vain. 

• Their ideas on logic are useless
• Their concepts of wisdom are useless
• Their development of logic are useless
• Their methods are argument are useless

God knows all that they think, and God knows it to be useless. 

Are you a Christian? 

Can you accept this?

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.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

For this and more than 4800 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.

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1 Corinthians 3:20 (KJV) They are Useless

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1 Corinthians 2:5 (KJV) Where Faith Stands

1 Corinthians 2:5 (KJV)
That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

It seems to me that churches, and their pastors, are in constant tension with the premise of this passage. 

On the one hand, we want the faith of those under our ministry to stand. 
We see it as our responsibility, our calling, the thing that the church and the Lord expect us to accomplish. At the end of the day, we want their faith to stand. 

On the other hand, we wish their faith to stand not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God
Here’s the rub. We can’t manufacture the power of God. We can’t guarantee that each individual will experience it. We can only control what we do, not what God does. Therefore, we convince ourselves that the wisdom of man is the power of God. 

• Some program, activity, ministry. 
• Some special way to preach. 
• Some particular evangelist, school or conference. 

These things might help the faith of our church to stand and therefore must be the power of God. We seek the power of God in the wisdom of men and therefore never find it. 

Paul said that this power is not found in enticing words but in simple demonstration of what the power of God has done in our own lives. 

May each of us have a faith that stands in the power of God alone.

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.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

For this and more than 4800 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 Corinthians 2:5 (KJV) Where Faith Stands

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Ezra 9:13 (KJV) Less Than We Deserve

Ezra 9:13 (KJV)
And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this;

It seems to me that the repentant heart, the one God is most likely to revive, is that which is described right here. 

Ezra confessed that their evil deeds and trespasses were such that God had punished them less than they deserved. 

• He was thankful for the blessings of God. 
• He was grateful for the mercies bestowed and 
• He was certainly not bitter for the punishment they received

One of Satan’s most successful tactics today is the “Go ahead, you deserve it.” mantra. By that the world means that we deserve all the good things; even those we have not worked for, even those we cannot afford. This flies in the face of Biblical truth. According to the Word of God, and I am certain our hearts confirm it as true,

• We deserve judgment
• We deserve rebuke 
• We deserve correction 
• We deserve ultimately hell 

Rather than being upset at correction and judgment, even harsh ones, the repentant heart realizes that they received less than they deserved. The repentant heart, thanks God for mercy, learns from the correction and seeks restoration and blessings from 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.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

For this and more than 4800 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:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

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

Ezra 9:13 (KJV) Less Than We Deserve

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1 Corinthians 1:27 (KJV) God Hath Chosen

1 Corinthians 1:27 (KJV)
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

I’m focusing on those words, “But God hath chosen…”

It is very apparent from the context of both this epistle and the one following that not everyone in this church approved of God’s choice. No matter what they believed about Paul, God had chosen him. No matter what they thought of his ministry, preaching or message, God had chosen him. This truth must be made forefront. God hath chosen 

• Not the will of the church
• Not the decision of his adversaries 

God hath chosen. 

May we ever surrender to the will 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.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

For this and more than 4800 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:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

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

1 Corinthians 1:27 (KJV) God Hath Chosen

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Ezra 7:1-6 (KJV) Families

Ezra 7:1-6 (KJV)
Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,
The son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub,
The son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth,
The son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki,
The son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest:
This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.

This Ezra

Surely there were plenty of people named Ezra in those days, just as there are today. This Ezra was a specific one. His roots traced back to Aaron, the original chief priest and the father of that family. 

Ezra was not the chief priest. The children of Israel had been in Babylon for seventy years. Their religious system was suspended, and the chief priest would need to be reinstalled. When it did happen, it wasn’t Ezra. 

But Ezra was a ready scribe, a student of the Word of God well prepared in it. 

God grant us lines of families that, for generations and despite difficult circumstances, trust you, live for you and are ready for whatever you call them to. 

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.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

For this and more than 4800 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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http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

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

Ezra 7:1-6 (KJV) Families

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Romans 15:1-3 (KJV) Make Us Great

Romans 15:1-3 (KJV)
We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.
For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.

One of the most challenging things of membership in a local church is that of bearing the infirmities of the week. It is not ours to assemble a team of strong and healthy believers into a church. It is ours to:

• Embrace those members God places in the church 
• Seek to help them grow in the Lord and then
• Accept the limitations that they necessarily cause the body. 

Moses asked God not to replace the rebellious children of God. Instead, he walked alongside them those forty years, ministering to them, suffering with them and sometimes because of them. He prayed for them and led them. Then he died short of the Promised Land with them. 

Christ didn’t become one of the world’s elite and didn’t call them either. He worked with and ate with common people, publicans, and sinners. He was executed beside two malefactors and was buried in a borrowed tomb. 

Greatness is found in caring for the weak and not pleasing ourselves. 

Lord, make us great!

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.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

For this and more than 4800 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:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

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

Romans 15:1-3 (KJV) Make Us Great

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Romans 14:4 (KJV) Who Art Thou?

Romans 14:4 (KJV)
Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.

Years ago, a preacher friend of mine and I, went to receive advice from another man of God. My friend and I were seeking the will of the Lord about a thing and my friend desired some other voices on the subject. I will never forget the opening remarks of the man of God we went to see. He said that he had learned long ago that he could not know the will of God for another man.

Though I do remember the outcome of the thing my friend and I were praying about, I do not recall the man of God’s actual advice. I am not sure he even gave any. 

What I learned was this. Even as a man of God, even as a preacher, I cannot know and therefore cannot judge another servant of the Lord. I may counsel, pray and even warn. But I am not the judge to decide the will of God for another man. 

It’s a dangerous thing whenever a Christian presumes to know the will of God for someone else. 

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.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

For this and more than 4800 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:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

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

Romans 14:4 (KJV) Who Art Thou?

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Romans 13:12 (KJV) What To Do

Romans 13:12 (KJV)
The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

The night isn’t all spent, it is far spent. The day is not here, it is at hand. “Now is our salvation nearer, than when we believed.”

No man knows exactly how much of this night is spent. We know that it is more spent than saved and that the day is nearer at hand than when we began. We also know what the biblical response is,

To cast off the works of darkness
Those things that are contrary to holiness righteousness and to the Lord. Those things that are evil, vile and wicked. Those things that are rebellious and opposed to the faith. Those things, however so slight men have made them, that are of the flesh and not of the Spirit. 

To put on the armor of light
We have a list of that armor In Ephesians 6:

• Truth 
• Righteousness 
• The gospel of peace
• Faith
• Salvation 
• The Word of God and
• Prayer

To practice these, to put them on day by day, to cast off like so much trash, the other. These are the things an alert Christian will seek to do.

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.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

For this and more than 4800 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:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

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

Romans 13:12 (KJV) What To Do

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