2 Chronicles 15:3 (KJV) Doing Without

2 Chronicles 15:3 (KJV)

Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.

Israel was the northern kingdom. The Lord was giving to Asa, the king of Judah, the southern kingdom, a contrast. Through the prophet God judged the condition of that northern group

• They were without God
• They were without the teaching priest
• They were without the law (of God)

I imagine the king of Israel would have protested that. I imagine most of the people of Israel would have protested. 

But it was the truth. It was why God had not blessed Israel. And it was why the king of Israel had to build a city to prevent his people from defecting. 

Israel, the northern kingdom, bluffed their way through centuries. They appeared to be large and robust. But they were cursed. I think it compares to, say, Communist Russia and those other nations behind the iron curtain. They attempted to present a strong front, but their citizens wanted out, and, eventually, their system failed. 

Will the same happen to Communist China?

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

For this and, more than 5300 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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2 Chronicles 15:3 (KJV) Doing Without

Acts 6:14 (KJV) Fake News

Acts 6:14 (KJV)

For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.

This was a false report and gives us some indication of the subtlety of the liar.

Stephen, I am sure, was an honest representative of the message of Jesus Christ.

The message never was that Jesus would destroy Jerusalem. 
The Bible’s message is that He will rule from Jerusalem for one thousand years. After that time, God will destroy the heavens and earth and create a new heaven and earth, complete with a new Jerusalem. So, to report that they preached Jesus would destroy Jerusalem without including that He also said he would rebuild it better is disingenuous. 

The message was not that Jesus would change the customs which Moses delivered
The message was that Jesus had fulfilled the law of Moses and had come to set in order what had gotten lost over years of abuse and misinterpretation of the Word of God Moses had delivered to them.

The false witness hears only what he wants to hear, twists his report to say something entirely different than the original, and presents his report with the motive affecting the response and do not honestly report the facts.

We see this false witness practiced daily in modern journalism.

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

For this and, more than 5300 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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Acts 6:14 (KJV) Fake News

2 Chronicles 12:8 (KJV) The Difference in Service

2 Chronicles 12:8 (KJV)

Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.

God told them that they would be servants to Egypt so they would know God’s service. 

At first, I thought about how we learn to serve the Lord through faithful service in some other endeavor. I believe there is value in that. 

• A man who has served in the military, for instance, is generally a disciplined person and can put that discipline to service for the Lord. 
• Some people have been successful in business and have put the principles they have learned in the world of industry to good use in the service of the Lord.

Upon study, I came to see that this is not the lesson of the passage.

God said he would put them under service in Egypt so they would learn the difference between the hard toil of the world and the light service of the Lord. When they followed the Lord, 

• He gave them a government of His leading
• He delivered them from their enemies
• He provided for grace and blessing

Even after the rebellion of the northern kingdoms, Judah did marvelously – so long as they served the Lord. They would learn that was not the case under Egypt. Very quickly, Egypt had their golden shields. Rehoboam replaced them with brass, but it was not the same.

Life serving the Lord can seem lonely in that most of the world is heading in a completely different direction. But life serving the world is burdensome and heavy. 

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

For this and, more than 5300 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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2 Chronicles 12:8 (KJV) The Difference in Service

Acts 4:17 (KJV) Empty Threats

Acts 4:17 (KJV)

But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.

I often think that they meant, “let us threaten them right away.” What they meant was, “Let us strictly, severely, seriously threaten them.” It’s the difference between straight and strait. 

Here’s the thing, they had already admitted that they had no power against the power of the Apostles. So their threats, as serious as they tried to make them sound, were empty, vain, meaningless. 

Later they would include a beating with their threats, and later still, they would behead one of them. Eventually, all of the apostles would lose their lives for preaching the Gospel. However, the threats were still empty. They could not stop the spread of the name of Jesus. 

Satan has been much more effective when he stopped threatening and introduced a gospel message with less consequence. 

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

For this and, more than 5300 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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Acts 4:17 (KJV) Empty Threats

Acts 3:19 (KJV) Repent and Be Converted

Acts 3:19 (KJV)

Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

The target audience was the Jewish population in the temple on that day. 
More importantly and more specifically, they were lost souls. They were religious people, but they were not saved. 

Peter’s message to this unsaved group was “repent and be converted.” 
That informs me that repentance is part of the gospel message. Repentance is necessary for salvation. It is not a work that supplants faith; it is the very evidence of that faith. No repentance, no faith. No repentance, no conversion. 

This also informs me that saving faith is converting faith. When one changes his mind about the Lord and about himself, it transforms him. 

No repentance, no conversion. 

No conversion, no faith.

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

For this and, more than 5300 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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Acts 3:19 (KJV) Repent and Be Converted 

2 Chronicles 7:16 (KJV) Mine Eyes and Mine Heart

2 Chronicles 7:16 (KJV)

For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.

Solomon had completed the temple and dedicated it to the Lord. He had asked God to bless it and to answer the prayers of those who asked them, either in the house of God or toward it. God answered in the affirmative. 

The New Testament equivalent is the local Baptist church. It is this that Christ loves and gave Himself. Each church is as unique as the body of believers who assemble there, but it is God’s plan to work through these local churches 

He has chosen this, and therefore He promises:
To sanctify it
It is separated from the world as His. 

To watch it 
His eyes are never far from the body assembled in this place 

To love it
His heart is here. 

May we, who claim to be His children, sanctify it, watch over it, and love it with God. 

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

For this and, more than 5300 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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2 Chronicles 7:16 (KJV) Mine Eyes and Mine Heart

2 Chronicles 6:34-35 (KJV) The Place and The House

2 Chronicles 6:34-35 (KJV)

If thy people go out to war against their enemies by the way that thou shalt send them, and they pray unto thee toward this city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name;
Then hear thou from the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

It is a subtle but interesting distinction Solomon made between Jerusalem, the place God had chosen, and the house that he had built for God 

Solomon made a series of requests that all relate to the house of the Lord in some way, and all conclude with, “Then hear thou from the heavens.”

That, I think, is the definition of repentance. It is to face the place that God has chosen and to look toward the house where He is worshipped. 

I see in the two the realities of local church worship. 
First, this is the plan of God 
In that, the local church is perfect. It is the perfect place for a Christian to grow into the image of Christ. 

Second, it contains the human touch

And so, it is not perfectly perfect. When one wishes, he can list a myriad of imperfections in any local congregation. Solomon recognized that. He still asked God to answer the prayers of those who looked toward and longed after the house of God. 

I do not suggest we be blind toward what is not right in our church. However, I would beg believers to love it anyway for Jesus’ sake and the good of themselves and their families. 

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

For this and, more than 5300 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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2 Chronicles 6:34-35 (KJV) The Place and The House

John 21:5 (KJV) From Whence Comes Our Product

John 21:5 (KJV)

Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No.

It’s encouraging to know that Jesus is as interested in our productivity as we could ever be. He does not rebuke them for going fishing. He merely teaches them from whence our meat comes. 

On their own, they took nothing 

They had labored all night in a trade that at least a quarter of them had experience and skill. Yet, they had caught nothing. Skill, experience, long hours, hard work – these are not the answer for meat. 

On His own, Jesus had meat in the fire
God does not need us to produce. Put this thought away from you. It is an evil that will lead to far worse evils. God can do everything.[1]

With God, they caught a multitude of fishes
And lost none of them. God uses us not because He needs us but because we need to be productive. It is for our benefit. 

When we surrender to Him, we will accomplish far more and experience far fewer losses along the way.

---

[1] Job 42:2 (KJV)
I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.

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

For this and, more than 5300 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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John 21:5 (KJV) From Whence Comes Our Product

2 Chronicles 3:3 (KJV) Wise Leadership

2 Chronicles 3:3 (KJV)

Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was threescore cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.

We’re told that the construction began in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign. Consider:

• He was an experienced sovereign by this time
• He had God give wisdom
• He was a powerful leader in his own right

No one could have made him build the Temple. No one alive could have required him to follow any instructions. His father, David, was long since in the grave. 

Yet Solomon built according to the instructions he was given. 

No wise leader abandons the instructions he has been provided. Only a fool ever comes to the place where he will not learn from others, even from those who no longer have authority over them. 

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

For this and, more than 5300 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:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

2 Chronicles 3:3 (KJV) Wise Leadership