Acts 4:7 (KJV) The Stress of Ministry

Acts 4:7 (KJV)

And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?

I can barely imagine the stress Peter and John must have felt. They had only done a good thing. Through God’s grace, they had been used to see a crippled man healed. They had preached the Word of God so that 5000 were saved.

And for that, they put in hold overnight and brought to give an account the next day.

I can hear the words of Jesus not to give thought for the things they were to say but to let the Holy Ghost tell them what to say.[1]

Sometimes I think we know what the Holy Ghost wants us to say, but we don’t want to say it.

There is a lot of talk these days about how hard it is to be a pastor. I agree. I’ve been a pastor for almost forty years. It is hard. But I don’t think it’s healthy to focus on that.

I think much of the problem these days is because pastors spend far too much time trying to manage the “health” of the church, concerned what the “brethren” will think of us,  and far too little time sensitive to the filling of the Holy Ghost and proclaiming what He tells us to say.

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[1] Matthew 10:19 (KJV)
But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.

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.

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

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 6000 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:
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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 4:7 (KJV) The Stress of Ministry

2 Chronicles 21:12 (KJV) A Ministry of Letters

2 Chronicles 21:12 (KJV)

And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of David thy father, Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah,

It should not surprise us to see that Elijah, a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel, would have a ministry to the southern kingdom of Judah through the written word. After all, the Word of God, in its entirety, is ministered to us through the written Word.

Elijah’s letter to Jehoram is a judgment against him (he said much the same things to the king of Israel). However, I would like to point out that he extended his ministry through writing.

We have so many forms of media these days.

All of them have some legitimacy for ministry. It is a way to extend ourselves beyond our means. I believe it is relevant and appropriate so long as we do not use it to divert people away from a local church.

People tend toward that, anyway.

Ego might rationalize it as ok, so long as they keep listening to us.

Elijah did in the letter the same thing he did in person. I apply that in this way; a ministry of media ought to encourage people to do precisely what a ministry in the church would do – to be faithful to a local church and to the pastor of it.

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.

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

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 6000 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

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. 

2 Chronicles 21:12 (KJV) A Ministry of Letters

2 Chronicles 20:12 (KJV) When We Don’t Know What To Do

2 Chronicles 20:12 (KJV)

O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.

There are reasons why we may not know what to do.
Sometimes it is because we do not accept what it is we ought to do.
The nature of man doesn’t settle well with the Spirit of God. We wrestle between the two. We often do not know what to do because we do not want to do what we believe is the will of God to do.

Sometimes it is because the object before us seems to be overwhelming.
Jehoshaphat was in that place. The enemy’s forces were simply too great for him to devise a plan.

Sometimes it’s because God’s will for one is not the same as another.
God had forbidden Rehoboam from fighting against Israel but had helped his son in the same fight.

I am thankful for the children of Issachar who had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do. God has given us a way to know what we ought to do.[1]

• Through the Word of God
• Through the man of God and then
• Through the house of God

We can know what to do if we are willing to accept the resources God has provided.

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[1] 1 Chronicles 12:32 (KJV)
And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.

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.

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

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 6000 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

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. 

2 Chronicles 20:12 (KJV) When We Don’t Know What To Do

Acts 2:3 (KJV) The Good of the Whole

Acts 2:3 (KJV)

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

Forty-three years ago, my good friend Mike Riggs, the man who discipled me in the faith and the best man at my wedding, taught me to study Acts 2 through all of the “all’s” in the chapter. There are thirteen of them, I think.

He is a different word that conveys the same meaning, “each of them.”

The supernatural work of the Holy Ghost was not limited to a select group of believers.

• It wasn’t just the Apostles
• It wasn’t just the men

The “cloven tongues like as of fire…sat upon each of them.”

The Christian faith is not intended to be a matter of performer-audience or even the ministers and the ministered. Instead, the Christian faith is intended to be each Christian using the gifts the Holy Spirit of God places upon him for the good of the whole church, which then becomes the spiritual good of those outside the church.

Peter was the one who rose to speak on that Pentecostal day, but the people in town heard them all speak the wonderful works of God.

The unique thing about that church on the day of Pentecost is that it began with one hundred twenty people bound together, praying.

• Perhaps the difference today is that so many of those who profess to be Christians are not “bound together praying.”
• Perhaps the Holy Spirit of God still fills all the believers in the house.
• Perhaps the problem is that many of those visiting the house are not believers.

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.

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

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 6000 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

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 2:3 (KJV) The Good of the Whole

Acts 1:1-2 (KJV) Begun and Done

Acts 1:1-2 (KJV)

The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:

I’m looking at the words “began” and “until.”

Jesus began to do and to teach, but His ministry and His message were not well received.

At first, multitudes flocked to hear Him. But it was soon apparent that their interest was shallow and with little eternal heart.

• They liked the healings
• They liked the free food
• They liked the hope of defeating Rome

But they had little or no interest in the spiritual nature of His ministry. They were not interested in being party to His work of seeking and saving. They did not want to die to self, live to God and follow Him.

The Jewish leadership was even less interested than that. They correctly saw Jesus as in direct opposition to their agenda. In their eyes, it was either Him or them. Jesus, at all costs, must go.

So he had only begun to do and to teach when He was taken, tried, and killed.

His life was only thirty-three years. He had begun to do and to teach only three years until He was taken.

But Jesus said in John 17, “I have finished the work,” and on the cross, “It is finished.”

They did not, could not prevent Jesus from finishing what He began to do and to teach.

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.

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

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 6000 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

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 1:1-2 (KJV) Begun and Done

2 Chronicles 13:3 (KJV) Timing Is Everything

2 Chronicles 13:3 (KJV)

And Abijah set the battle in array with an army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men: Jeroboam also set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, being mighty men of valour.

Timing is everything.

God would not permit Rehoboam to fight against Israel, even though, at that time, Rehoboam had the resources to defeat them. Time passes. Rehoboam died, leaving his son, Abijah, to be king. Jeroboam’s rebellion progressed to the point where, when Israel and Jerusalem did square off in combat, Israel had Judah outnumbered two to one. 

It looked terrible for Judah.

But Jeroboam also had:

• Rebelled against the house of David
• Replaced the worship of God with idols of golden calves and
• Cast the priests of the Lord the sins of Aaron

In a turn of events that hearkens back to Gideon’s handful,[1] God gave Abijah the victory because it could never have been claimed that Abijah had won it for himself.

It will always be God’s plan for His people to prevail. However, His plan will never be for us to believe we succeeded in our strength or because we are so much better than others.

God will give us time and opportunity to be humbled. Then, in a time we think it is impossible, God will turn what we see as an inevitable loss into a remarkable victory for the glory of God.

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[1] Judges 7:2 (KJV)
And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. 

Judges 7:7 (KJV)
And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place.

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.

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

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 6000 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

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. 

2 Chronicles 13:3 (KJV) Timing Is Everything

John 20:18 (KJV) Come Early, Stay Late

John 20:18 (KJV)

Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.

Mary Magdalene came early, and saw the stone taken away.

Mary Magdalene stayed after, and saw the risen Lord.

Peter and John came, saw the empty tomb, and believed. But then they went home. It was because Mary Magdalene came early and stayed late, she had a testimony to give the disciples.

There are those who come to Church services hear the Word,  see what the Lord has done, and then leave believing.

But it’s because of those who arrive early to the meeting house and stay long after the others have gone that those others have opportunity to:

• Hear, 
• See, and 
• Believe

Mary Madalene is not heard from in the Scriptures again. She came early and stayed late and, because of that, the disciples were strengthened to change the world. 

I imagine heaven is filled with souls whose names were never recorded in this world, but who made those whose names are what they became. They are those whose rewards are greatest in heaven. Those whose names we all know have already received their reward.

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.

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

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 6000 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

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. 

John 20:18 (KJV) Come Early, Stay Late