Luke 1:14 (KJV)
And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.

John brought joy and gladness:
Through his testimony
Vs 15

John’s would be a life of both separation and sanctification. He would be great because he turned from sin and because he leaned upon the Holy Spirit.

Through his ministry
Vs 16

John prepared people for the Lord by:

• Turning the hearts of the fathers to the children. Strong families tend to build strong relationships in Christ
• Turning the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. There is great wisdom in being just, lawful and submissive to the social contract. 

People are not saved by being faithful to their families and citizens to their countries. Many have come to know Christ as Saviour through the fall they experienced due to unlawfulness. Nevertheless the truth remains, those who have been trained to be:

• Decent, 
• Orderly, 
• Loving and 
• Faithful 

are soil prepared to receive the Lord.

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 4200 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

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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Luke 1:14 (KJV) How John Brought Joy

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Luke 1:1-4 (KJV)
Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.

A fellow thought he was being smart with me the other day and asked, “What are the only two books of the Bible not written by a Jew?” I assumed by his countenance it was a trick question and didn’t respond. He answered, “Luke and Acts because Luke was a Gentile.”

Ok. I had never heard that. I did a bit of digging and discovered that it is not possible to tell whether he was Jew or Gentile. He was from Syria, I believe, but that does not preclude him being Jewish. Paul was from Tarsus, a Roman city. Paul was by birth Roman but by blood a Jew. It is possible and even likely the same was true of Luke.

Paul took heat for hanging around Gentiles. He counseled Timothy to be circumcised because as only half Jew, he had not been. Circumcision would remove at least that obstacle from his ministry. When he went into the temple the Jews worked themselves into a frenzy because they assumed he had taken Titus, a Gentile, into the temple with him. But Luke, who penned the accounts of both Timothy and Titus, mentions no such trouble on his account.

Was Luke a Jew or a Gentile? The Bible does not tell us. It is most likely, I believe, that he was a Jew.

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 4200 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

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Luke 1:1-4 (KJV) Jew or Gentile?

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1 Chronicles 17:23-24 (KJV)
Therefore now, LORD, let the thing that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house be established for ever, and do as thou hast said.Let it even be established, that thy name may be magnified for ever, saying, The LORD of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel: and let the house of David thy servant be established before thee.

It’s impressive how things turn around in this chapter. We begin with David having a heart to build God a house. We end with God promising to build David a house.

Once the prophet has finished the Word of God, David began to pray. What I notice is that he simply prayed that the thing God had spoken would be done. While David would set aside materials for Solomon’s use in building the future temple, David did not pray about that. He prayed that God would do what was in God’s heart and not that God would do what was on David’s heart.

Though the promise of God was unquestionably a blessing to the family of David, his concern was that God’s name be magnified. God’s name is magnified, not by what we accomplish for Him but by what He accomplishes in us. Solomon’s temple, for all its splendor, would crumble. But what God did through the house of David, in giving us a Saviour, is an eternal splendor.

We ought to have a heart to serve God and to fulfill that service. But our prayers should focus on the promises of God in His Word. These are the things of lasting worth.

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 4200 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

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 Chronicles 17:23-24 (KJV) Things of Lasting Worth

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1 Chronicles 15:1-3 (KJV)
And David made him houses in the city of David, and prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent.Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the LORD chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him for ever.And David gathered all Israel together to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the LORD unto his place, which he had prepared for it.

There is in the life of Israel an almost constant effort to restore what was lost when the sons of Eli took the ark into battle with the Philistines.

-Israel ignored the ark during the reign of Saul.

-David at first caused a breach by attempting the ark’s return in a manner not Biblical.

-It was at first returned into a tent David had prepared (as opposed to that one God had given Moses a pattern for).

-David desires to build God a house but was forbidden.
He was instead permitted to lay aside the materials Solomon would use to build it

-Solomon’s temple would be in various stages of repair or disrepair for the next many centuries.
That the people had no true heart for God is evident by the fact that they served God when they had a good king but did not when their king was ungodly. A heart for God will be faithful to God’s house regardless the leader.

-That temple would be destroyed by the Babylonians.

-Israel, under Zurubbabel, would build another, less glorious temple

-A new temple would be built by a heathen.
Not that he was a believer, but to pacify the people.

-The Romans would tear down this temple.

-But Jesus Christ had already established a new house for His people in the local church. 

We will find, in our own worship, a constant struggle to give the house of God its rightful place. Perhaps you:

• Can recall a time when you did not seek the Lord
• Experienced a period where you sought the Lord but not according to Scripture 
• Tried to build your own sort of walk with God
• Lived through various stages of zeal versus apathy toward church
• Witnessed the enemy attempt to tear down God’s church
• Toyed with so called churches that were not ordained of God

Jesus Christ said He would build His church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. Find a doctrinally solid Baptist church and become dedicated to it. That is God’s place for His people in this era.

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 4200 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

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1 Chronicles 15:1-3 (KJV) Giving God’s House Its Place

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Mark 14:1 (KJV)
After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death.

In the Old Jewish faith there was the feast of the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread. They occurred simultaneously with this distinction; Passover was but one evening. Unleavened Bread continued seven days.

One has to do with immediate deliverance
The death angel passed over all who had the blood of the lamb on the doorpost. Salvation, deliverance from sin, death and hell, is an immediate action accomplished by God because of Christ’s blood.

The other has to do with daily sanctification
It was after the death angel that Egypt drove out the Jews. They had prepared unleavened bread to sustain them on the first stages of their new life. Christianity is about so much more than salvation. The day to day life of the Christian is to be one of growth progression and deeper holiness.

Just as no Jew could have successfully remained in Egypt once the death angel had passed, no truly born again believer can live peacefully in worldliness. It becomes us to daily separate ourselves from sin.


Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread

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 4200 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

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Mark 14:1 (KJV) Saved and Sanctified

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Mark 13:7 (KJV)
And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.

For we walk by faith, not by sight.

Faith is not just what we believe but whom we trust.  Jesus said we should not be troubled by wars and rumors of wars. He goes on to describe all sorts of otherwise troubling things;

• Nations rising against nations
• Earthquakes, famines and troubles
• Believers delivered to judgment and beatings
• Brother betraying brother to death
• Children rising up against parents
• Hated of all men for Christ’s sake

How is it possible not to be troubled? Only through faith. Only by trusting Jesus and the plan of our Heavenly Father.

Life is filled with challenging and troubling things. The Bible tells us this will get exponentially worse as we draw closer to the last days. The only way for a Christian to not lose heart is to not lose faith. I don’t mean to keep believing. I mean to keep trusting and to lean ever more heavily upon the promises of the Word of God.

This is the thing I think Satan is robbing us of today. Modern thinking about the Bible; those who question it, challenge old fashioned fundamental preaching and explore the ideas of more progressive thinkers or non Christian religions only loosen their resolve in the promises of God.

In times of relative ease we may get away with that. When trouble comes, it will be devastating to have lost faith in the Word.

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 4200 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

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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Mark 13:7 (KJV) How Is It Possible Not To Be Troubled?

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Mark 12:1-3 (KJV)
And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country.And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard.And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty.

Jesus seemed to increasingly use parables the closer it came to His crucifixion. It is as if He were preparing us for the mysterious nature of post resurrection faith.

The lessons that may be drawn from this parable are many but my focus is in the grace it represents. What grace the owner showed. Sure, in the end he destroyed the husbandmen but he did not do it quickly. The fact that he destroyed them tells us of his ability. He could have done this at any time. He did not. Again and again he sent servants. Again and again they were mistreated or killed. Again and again mercy was bestowed upon them.

Do not think to be sorry for these husbandmen. I cannot imagine what destruction might have been theirs but:

• It did not come quickly 
• They must have been smitten in conscience and
• They were given ample opportunities to repent

When destruction from the Lord comes, it always seems like it comes suddenly and without warning. Not so. Grace has been extended. In some cases grace has been so free for such a long time we cannot recall when it began.

When Christ returns it will seem as if it catches people by surprise. That is true only for those who have refused to listen.

When death and hell are delivered into the Lake of Fire and brimstone it will occur in but a moment. Never forget that there have been thousands of years of grace that “whosoever will” could have received, but instead rejected.

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 4200 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

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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Mark 12:1-3 (KJV) When Destruction Comes

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1 Chronicles 11:6 (KJV)
And David said, Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain. So Joab the son of Zeruiah went first up, and was chief.

These days, I tend to side with David on just about everything. He was not a perfect man and God plainly gives to us an account of his worst failures. But many of those things David is often criticized for have no basis in Biblical fact. The Bible does not call David a poor father. The Bible does not fault David for his faithfulness to Saul, etc. I believe we would be wisest to do the same.

That said, there is something in this passage I think a person can learn from. David’s open offer to give the top spot in the army to the one who first took Jerusalem left him vulnerable to whoever got the job done. Joab won the prize and David honored his promise for the rest of his life. But it cost him dearly. Joab’s skills in leadership and combat served David well. But his lack of true submission brought:

• Pain to David’s family, 
• Risk to David’s throne and eventually 
• Death to Joab personally

It would surely have been better to promote a man of his own choosing to do the job.

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 4100 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

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 Chronicles 11:6 (KJV) Who Will Do This?

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Mark 10:2 (KJV)
And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him.

Sometimes you just can’t win.

The Pharisees asked this question of Jesus, the Bible specifically says, “tempting Him.”

They didn’t really want an answer and really, they would have been upset at any answer He gave.

Later a young man will ask Him a question and leave sorrowful because Jesus’ answer wasn’t one he intended to follow.

The only questions that are good questions are those that are asked in a teachable spirit. Questions meant to challenge will almost always end badly.

But I note that Jesus answered the questions anyway. They are not to be ignored or avoided. The teacher answers questions and lets the responses be what they are.

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 4100 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

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Mark 10:2 (KJV) The Only Questions That Are Good Questions

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Mark 9:49-50 (KJV)
For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.

The value of salt in the ancient world is well known. They used it as a trading commodity as well as a preservative for their food and a cleansing agent for their wounds. Salt was also added to their sacrifices and was used in their covenants.

In this instance the employment of salt seems to be about its savor as well as its cleansing. The purpose of this salt however, was not that we might apply it to others but to ourselves. When Christians are pure, unspoiled and of a good nature we have the ability to peacefully draw others toward that which is pure and good and right. When we, on the other hand, try to apply the salt on others we almost certainly cause a break in the peace.

It reminds me of Peter’s counsel to the wives of unbelieving men. 1Peter 3:1-4
Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

Focus on growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and we will more likely evangelize in a peaceful and profitable manner.

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 4100 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

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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Mark 9:49-50 (KJV) Salt Is Good

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Mark 8:19-20 (KJV)
When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve.And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven.

Right away I notice that, while Jesus gave a miraculous increase both times, there is:

• Not an equal need
• Not an equal offering and
• Not an equal reward

He fed five thousand men with five loaves and had twelve baskets left over.
He fed four thousand men with seven loaves and had seven baskets left over.

The blessings of God are not about equal proportions and fair rewards. We do what we can. We do all that we can. God will then do more than enough.

One time we have a little less (five loaves).
We are not expected to scrounge around and dig up more just because the need is greater. Another time we will have a little more (seven loaves). We are not to hold back some just because we know God can supply for others without it.

One experience does not necessarily establish precedent for the next.
Having a return of twelve after an offering of five doesn’t promise a return greater than twelve with an offering greater than five.

Ours is a faith of obedience and trust.
We obey the Lord with what we have and trust Him to use all things well.

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 4100 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

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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Mark 8:19-20 (KJV) Equal Proportions and Fair Rewards

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1 Chronicles 3:1 (KJV)
Now these were the sons of David, which were born unto him in Hebron; the firstborn Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; the second Daniel, of Abigail the Carmelitess:

We have such hopes for our children when they are born. (Or perhaps some have no hopes but only think of themselves in the moment). I doubt many parents look at that sweet baby and contemplate the difficulties that child is almost surely to experience.

Job 14:1
Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.

Just these two verses listing only part of David’s children includes:

A rapist
Amnon forced his half sister and was then murdered by his half brother Absalom.

A rebel
After murdering Amnon for forcing his sister, Absalom grew bitter toward his father and eventually led a rebellion against him. Absalom was killed in a pathetic manner, hanging by his hair in a tree and slain, against his father’s pleading by Joab.

A renegade
Adonijah has never been refused anything so, when his father was near to death, without asking, he presumed to set himself as king. God and David had different plans. Solomon was crowned and when Adonijah contrived a plot to steal the crown from him Solomon, his brother, ordered his execution.

The greatest joy I have had in this life has been raising my children. They continue to this day to bless the soul of their mom and me. But it doesn’t happen by accident and we can’t guarantee them a pain free life (nor have they experienced one.) Children should be:

• Conceived in a loving home 
• Nurtured in a Christian environment and 
• Taught to give God their victories and their defeats

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 4100 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

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 Chronicles 3:1 (KJV) Children Should Be

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Mark 7:11 (KJV)
But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free.

The Jews had developed a system that, for the profit or good of the system, would ignore the plain teaching of the Bible. Something similar happens in churches today. We see a teaching in the Scriptures but recognize that, in order to hold it, we sacrifice potential followers. Reason suggests that we must misunderstand the Bible and some excuse is made so that the Scriptures may be violated.

Some see the ordaining of women this way
The excuse I hear most often is that Paul was a member of a chauvinist culture. We should not be held to that standard.

Some do this with divorced men in the pulpit
Since no man is perfectly blameless, they would suggest, but we still have men in the pulpit, then to require pastors to be the husband of one wife is hypocritical.

Some do this with the ordinances
To require a strict baptism or closed communion is to exclude some otherwise wonderful people from church membership. Churches have come up with various rationale for ignoring this.

The same can be said of:

• The numerous denominations
• The variety of Bible versions 
• The inclusion of worldly music into church practice

In every case these have happened as a result of making church profit the priority over the authority of Scripture. In every case these contribute to the modern spirit that makes the Word of God of none effect.

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 4100 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

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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http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

Mark 7:11 (KJV) Placing Profit Above Truth

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