Matthew 6:30 (KJV) Don’t Hide Your Candle

Matthew 6:30 (KJV)

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

As in our day, there were at least two parties paying attention to the message Jesus preached.

The one in fact had added to their own stature
They had planned, manipulated, and worked their way into positions of, in their eyes, high achievement.[1] They demonstrated their advanced stature by eating fine foods and wearing fine clothes. On one plane it would be very easy to say that the Sermon on the Mount did not apply to them. They had, in fact, beaten this Messianic system.

The other is a group of people who became followers of Christ

While in their economy it might be argued that they could have never climbed their way into a better position. In our economy we often argue that everyone can improve their stature with thought, education, and hard work. What if the way to understand this is that it is not the ultimate goal of God for us to improve our stature in this way? We ought to work hard, there is no doubt. But what if we are to leave the thought, the planning the will of it in the hands of the Lord?

There is too much flesh in our world today. The ungodly would have always had it that way. The problem is that this very same flesh occupies the average pew in the house of the Lord.

This world is an evil place. By participating in it we add to the evil. Jesus told us exactly what to do. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…”[2]

If we do anything other, we hide our candle under a bushel and make our salt less savory.

---

[1] It should be a matter of concern to us that Jesus our Saviour, would not have fit that mold of achievement.

[2] Matthew 6:33

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 5600 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

Matthew 6:30 (KJV) Don’t Hide Your Candle

Matthew 5:1 (KJV) When He Was Set

Matthew 5:1 (KJV)

And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:

We might think that the phrase, “when he was set” means when he had sat down. I think the context implies much more than that. 

Seeing the multitudes:

He set a place to meet with them
There is no way to get around the plain teaching of the Bible. God does not work through an invisible universal phenomenon. He always sets up a place.

There was a set gathering
The multitude was to gather, to come to Him. They were to assemble in an organized manner. There was one body, not many doing their own will.

There was a set message

He opened His mouth and taught them. The nature of the Sermon on the Mount is such that no clear thinking person believes it to be “off the cuff.” Of course, Jesus is God and as such He is omniscient. I know He didn’t have to study as we do. But neither was He simply responding to the circumstances or to their questions. This was a purposeful message designed to teach them very specific lessons.

God uses organization. It’s best when we do too.

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 5600 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

Matthew 5:1 (KJV) When He Was Set

Matthew 4:11 (KJV) Ministry Next

Matthew 4:11 (KJV)

Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

I doubt we have any comprehension of the difficulty of the devil’s temptations against the Lord.

• He was in the wilderness
• He was an hungered
• His was multiple temptations

But Jesus resisted them all with the Word of God. It is so important we know God’s Word. We need to know it well enough to use it as a sword in the most stress filled of life situations. The Bible teaches to submit to God. Then it teaches us to resist the devil and he will flee from us. Submission to God is, I am certain, obedience to His Word.

“Then the devil leaveth Him.”

But that is not where the narrative ends. If it did, we would be pretty good with that. But there is more. The devil left and the angels came and ministered unto Him.

I want to suggest that we can expect this as well. When we have submitted to God, we can expect that the devil tempting us will leave (in time) and that the Lord will send help to lift us back up.

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 5600 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

Matthew 4:11 (KJV) Ministry Next

Matthew 3:1 (KJV) Just Read the Bible

 

Matthew 3:1 (KJV)

In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,

An objection I frequently hear, even among those who claim to agree with me concerning the issue of the King James Version and whether it is the only infallible Word of God, is that our position implies that all the believers before the completion of the King James Version, were without an infallible Bible.

I think the question is a straw man. For the most part they were without having a complete Bible anyway. Though the canon was completed by the end of the first century, limitations in the field of printing and reproduction made it impossible for any of them to have a whole Bible. There were believers in the Old Testament period, lovers of the Lord but without the cross to lean upon as we do today. They looked forward to it, but they could not have leaned upon it. That the believers previous to 1611 did not have the whole Bible, or the finished and perfected Bible does not mean that that God was unfair.

Consider our passage.

• It was a certain day when John began to preach
• It was a certain place where John began to preach
• It was to a certainly limited crowd to whom John began to preach

• What about all those who came before John?
• What about all those who could not get out to John?
• What about all of us who came after John?

God is not unfair that He sent John when and to where He did. We were not there but we benefit from his work. God is not unfair that the King James Version was finished when it was. God made provision for those before, and God allows us who come after the KJV to benefit from the work.

Just as no new generation needs another cross, no new generation needs another translation. The King James is translated without error. People simply need to read it and let the Holy Spirit shed light upon it.

Further translation work has proven time and time again to only corrupt what has been done.

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 5600 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

Matthew 3:1 (KJV) Just Read the Bible

Matthew 2:12 (KJV) Discretion and Discernment

 

Matthew 2:12 (KJV)

And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

We tend, I think, to glamorize the wise men for seeking Jesus, and well we should.

But an interesting element in the context is how much trouble seeking Him caused. No wonder Joseph and Mary hadn’t gone around the country announcing Jesus and inviting people to attend services in their home. At this point, Jesus and His family were vulnerable.

• They hadn’t put up signs pointing to Christ
• The wise men were warned not to return to Herod and make Christ known to Him
• Joseph was immediately warned to flee with Christ to another country

Evangelism is necessary and good work. But discretion and discernment are also Biblical practices. We’ve lived in such peace for two centuries that we’ve lost the sense of discretion. We just “bring ’em all in” and trust God to protect us if some of them turn out to be wolves. No one has to “creep in unawares” into modern churches. For all practical purposes, they are welcome.

And it has been to our hurt. If they haven’t caused physical harm in a church, they have certainly caused spiritual damage as doctrines have been compromised to accommodate these growing numbers of welcomed attendees who have less than sincere motives for being among us.

Baptist believers of previous centuries were adept at both evangelizing and discretion. It’s a spiritual skill we need to hone once again.

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 5600 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

Matthew 2:12 (KJV) Discretion and Discernment

Matthew 1:20 (KJV) A Compelling Example of Submission to God

 

Matthew 1:20 (KJV)

But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

Joseph provides for us a compelling example of Christian submission to God.

When he learned that his espoused wife, Mary, was pregnant, the Bible says he was “minded to put her away.”

Culture would have agreed with the decision to put her away.
This was not his child. The culture of the day would have had little tolerance for promiscuous behavior, and, as far as anyone one of them would have known, her pregnancy was the result of promiscuity.

His parents certainly would have agreed with the decision to put her away.
Though the Bible does not say it of his parents, we know that she left public view going with haste to the hill country of Judah where Elizabeth was.

Joseph personally was minded to put her away.
It says he was minded to put her away privily, quietly. Perhaps his love for her prevented him from causing her too much pain. Perhaps he wished to avoid the shame and humiliation. Whatever the motives, his personal leaning was toward putting her away.

The angel of the Lord had a different instruction

God had a different plan despite what common wisdom and the typical counselors were telling Joseph. It was based on something no one else understood or could have comprehended. It was based on something this world had never seen before. God’s plan was so unique to this world that it defied reason.

Joseph did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him
That’s what we need today. We need Christians who will choose to do what God says even when everyone else says to do otherwise, even when their own desires are to do otherwise; even when we must pay a stiff price to do what God says to do in His Word.

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 5600 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

Matthew 1:20 (KJV) A Compelling Example of Submission to God

Ecclesiastes 12:1 (KJV) Never Too Early

 Ecclesiastes 12:1 (KJV)

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;

The chapter, down through verse eight, is a description of old age.

• It’s a pretty miserable picture but even today
• It’s a pretty accurate picture

Here’s the thing. So many people think that the time to begin looking at eternal things is when all the signs point to their going there soon. I’ve spoken to people who’ve told me,

• “I’m 25 I’m too busy saving for retirement to get involved in religion.” And
• “Religion is for old people. Come talk to me in 25 years.”

As someone who began pastoring at age 25 and continued in the ministry now to almost 64 years of age, I want you to know that 25 years passes very quickly.

I am a simple Bible believer. What the Bible says is better wisdom than anything we’ll find in the world. The Bible says the time to remember God is in the days of our youth. Make no mistake, it is never too late to turn to the Lord. You’ll never be too old for God to receive those who receive His Son, Jesus. But it’s never too early either.

2 Corinthians 6:2 (KJV) 
(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvationhave I succoured thee: behold, now isthe accepted time; behold, now isthe day of salvation.)

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 5600 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

Ecclesiastes 12:1 (KJV) Never Too Early

Ecclesiastes 10:2 (KJV) Right or Left

 

Ecclesiastes 10:2 (KJV)

A wise man’s heart is at his right hand; but a fool’s heart at his left.

I have read that when Stonewall Jackson was injured and his left arm amputated, General Lee remarked, “Jackson has lost his left arm. But I have lost my right.” He was referring to Jackson as his strong right arm as a commander.

Numerous Scriptures speak of our glorified Saviour being at the right hand of God the Father.

The type comes from the observation that most people are right-handed, and therefore it is the right hand that is preferred, exercised the most, strongest, and most useful.

It could then be said that a wise person exercises his affections upon those things that are most useful, most beneficial. On the other hand, a fool’s affections are upon those things that are temporary, easily consumed, and have no eternal value.

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 5600 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

Ecclesiastes 10:2 (KJV) Right or Left