Psalms 11:1 (KJV) Why Flee?

Psalms 11:1 (KJV)

In the LORD put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?

Albert Barnes sets this verse up as a contrast between the believers and those enemies of the Lord.

“…how can you give me such counsel, as if I were to run away from danger, and to put no trust in God? He seems to have supposed that such an act of flight would have been construed by his enemies, and by the enemies of religion, as evidence that he had no faith or confidence in God.”

Though the world may view it as the common and prudent way to address evil and avoid danger, the Christian finds a different refuge than the mountains. He finds the strength to stay in confidence rather than to flee in fear.

The question is bigger than this because it is obvious God used the flight of the believers in Jerusalem under the persecution of Saul. But, it’s interesting, isn’t it that the Christians scattered everywhere but the Apostles stayed in Jerusalem?

Paul is later shown to flee at times and to stand his ground and other times.

It seems to me then that the answer is neither staying nor fleeing but in trusting the Lord. We ought to be so in tune with the Lord where we know it is the Lord who is leading us either way.

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 5400 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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Psalms 11:1 (KJV) Why Flee?

2 Corinthians 12:2 (KJV) I Knew a Man

2 Corinthians 12:2 (KJV)
I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.

I knew a man

The context allows us to understand this man to be Paul. He uses the third person to detach himself somewhat and remove from the passage any cause for self-glory. Indeed, the entire passage is designed to remove from Paul any self-glory. All anyone need ever know about Paul is what they see and hear.[1]

I knew a man above fourteen years ago
I’m thinking of myself fourteen years or more ago. I’m thinking of those days just beginning the pastorate in Astoria about thirty-eight years ago. All of that seems more like a dream than reality these days. I know it happened. I know I was there. I know we started with absolutely nothing. I know some people hurt us so terribly. I know others stayed by us. I know God did miraculous things to care for us, provide for us, and to bring us to the place we are today.

I want to, even need to tell those stories. But they are almost unreal in my memory and maybe seem irrelevant to those who might hear.

Is that some of what Paul expressed?

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[1] 2 Corinthians 12:6 (KJV)
For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me.

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 5400 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 Corinthians 12:2 (KJV) I Knew a Man

2 Corinthians 11:6 (KJV) Effectiveness in the Message

2 Corinthians 11:6 (KJV)

But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things.

The Apostle’s only genuine concern was that he minister to the souls of these people. He wasn’t trying to impress anyone or build himself up to be someone. He only wanted to present them chaste before the Lord Jesus Christ.[1]

There are three parts to this verse that contribute to his effectiveness in the message:

Rudeness of speech

The word has to do with a simple or unlearned pattern of speech. Interestingly, we know that Paul was quite well educated. Any plainness in his speech patterns then, was intentional. He chose not to use a manner of speaking that would bring attention to his education but instead would bring clarity to his message. He put all his cookies on the bottom shelf.

Knowledge
Though his manner of speech was plain, his level of knowledge in the things of God was far from limited. The Apostle’s relationship with the Lord was personal. His understanding of the plan of God was deep. His experience as a man of God was full. One would miss nothing if his teacher were Paul.

Transparency
Rather than impress people with his knowledge by using excellency of speech, Paul elected to demonstrate Christian truth by being fully transparent in his life. This choice had its hiccups. Some then found things to fault him. Some could suggest people would not grow to maturity as quickly this way. The truth is knowledge in the things of God does not produce maturity. Genuineness does.

Paul chose genuine Christianity over quick results.

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[1] 2 Corinthians 11:2 (KJV)
For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

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 5400 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 Corinthians 11:6 (KJV) Effectiveness in the Message

Psalms 5:1 (KJV) Consider Our Meditation

Psalms 5:1 (KJV)

A Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation.

Consider that God would consider our meditations, the ponderings of our mind and soul about the Word of God.

Psalms 1:1-2 (KJV)

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

• He hears our prayers
• He delights in our conversations concerning Him and 
• He takes thought of our study of His Word and those things we meditate over from it.

Truly this is a blessing.

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 5400 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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Psalms 5:1 (KJV) Consider Our Meditation

Psalms 3:1 (KJV) No Reason to Fear

Psalms 3:1 (KJV)

LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me.

The Psalmist acknowledged three things:

• That his enemies had increased
• That many people said God could not help him
• That God was his shield and his glory

So, while the trouble had gotten worse, God had not changed. Perhaps more importantly, his trust in God had not changed.

In the midst of this trouble:

• He believed God[1]
• He prayed to God[2] and then
• He rested in the assurance of God[3]

This sort of faith has no reason to fear any number of enemies. They are nothing before the Lord.

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[1] Psalms 3:3 (KJV)
But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.

[2] Psalms 3:4 (KJV)
I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.

[3] Psalms 3:5 (KJV)
I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me.

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 5400 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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Psalms 3:1 (KJV) No Reason to Fear

Psalms 2:3 (KJV) Free of God?

Psalms 2:3 (KJV)

Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

The Sweet Psalmist was very specific. The kings of the earth, and those that rule with them take counsel and conspire:

• Against the Lord and
• Against His anointed

to break free of them. In other words, they want liberty from God. They do not want His constraints. They do not desire His authority over them.

They take counsel against the Lord but also against His anointed because it is they who call them into account. A person could point to King David as being the Lord’s anointed. That would be accurate. Indeed, it would apply concerning David’s lineage and Jesus Christ.

But I think it reaches past David and could apply to every child of God. We are kings and priests unto God, and Jesus has made us so. We are salt and light, and our very presence exposes and reproves the unfruitful works of darkness.

Human authority strives with all they are worth to be free from God and anyone who reminds them of Him.

Much better to run into the light and let the bondage of sin, Satan, and self be broken.

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 5400 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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Psalms 2:3 (KJV) Free of God?

2 Corinthians 7:2 (KJV) A Reason to Be Upset

2 Corinthians 7:2 (KJV)

Receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man.

No man is perfect, and all of us have sinned. That being the case, there is pretty much always a reason for one to be upset at another – if that’s what we want to be.

Apostle Paul knew some people in the church at Corinth were not fans of his. He besought those very same people to receive him based on these three truths:

We have wronged no man
He had not hurt any of them, either physically or socially. On the contrary, he had corrected and rebuked them. Neither of those has effected an injury upon them.

We have corrupted no man
Nothing he had said, done, or taught had influenced anyone to ruin or defilement. No one was morally or spiritually worse for the ministry of Apostle Paul.

We have defrauded no man
He had not taken advantage or gotten gain for himself from any of them. He had not stolen from them or even coveted what was theirs.

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 5400 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 Corinthians 7:2 (KJV) A Reason to Be Upset

2 Corinthians 6:1 (KJV) Workers Together

2 Corinthians 6:1 (KJV)

We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.

It seems to me that the Apostle, as an ambassador for Christ,[1] beseeches his reader toward two things:

• First, to the lost, that they would come immediately to Christ for salvation.
• Second, to the believer, that they would come out from among them of the world.

The context, as I understand it, is a sect of Judaizers in the church. They would have prevented some from coming to true saving faith by adding the works of the law as necessary for salvation. Moreover, they would have spoiled the testimony of those already saved by teaching them a legalistic form of Christianity that required works for righteousness.

As a worker together with Christ, Paul suffered dramatically for begging souls not to receive the grace of God in vain. They ought to come to Christ by faith without works and then come out from among[2] those who taught anything otherwise.

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[1] 2 Corinthians 5:20 (KJV)
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

[2] 2 Corinthians 6:17 (KJV)
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

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 5400 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 Corinthians 6:1 (KJV) Workers Together

2 Corinthians 5:5-6 (KJV) Confidence

2 Corinthians 5:5-6 (KJV)

Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.

Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:

Paul was confident. He said so twice.[1]

But his confidence was not in himself. He was confident because he knew that God had wrought or made him for the purpose of life swallowing up mortality.[2]

• 
  
  He knew the purpose of God was more than a few years on earth. 
• He knew that God had created him to live forever. 
• He knew that death, whenever it came, would only usher in this life God had created him to experience. 
• He knew that when this tabernacle we currently reside in dissolves, there is a house awaiting us in heaven.[3]
• He knew to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

Knowing these, he was confident to deliver the Word of God in whatever circumstance.

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[1] 2 Corinthians 5:8 (KJV)
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

[2] 2 Corinthians 5:4 (KJV)
For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

[3] 2 Corinthians 5:1 (KJV)
For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

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 5400 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 Corinthians 5:5-6 (KJV) Confidence