“We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.
” I want us to catch the spirit of Paul in his prayer reminder to the Colossian Church. I made a prayer covenant with a good friend of mine this morning, and I thought that it would be good idea for you to share the idea of making a prayer covenant with a trusted friend, trusted group, or your church.. What is a prayer covenant? Actually, it could be whatever you want it to be, but I want to share with you my idea. A prayer covenant is made between two, or more, Christians to pray for some particular need in your church, in your life, in your family, etc. To make a prayer covenant, you contact a friend, or a group of friends, and covenant to pray for the need that you feel led of God to share. You and your prayer covenant partner(s), will covenant to pray for that need daily. In Paul’s letters to churches, he usually mentioned that he was praying for them, and asking them to pray for him. Throughout the Bible, the importance of prayer is emphasized. I think of Nehemiah when he heard of the condition of Jerusalem after the Jews has been allowed to return to their home. He was told that the wall was torn down and that the place was in total disarray. Here is his response: “When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven…” When the opposition to their rebuilding project was met with great opposition here was the response: “But we prayed to our God, and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.” Nehemiah called his fellow workers to prayer in order to meet the need. The result was that they rebuilt the wall in fifty two days. Dwight L. Moody once wrote: “Every great movement of God began with a man on his knees.” But the great movement took place because the one man rose from his knees and involved other people in prayer. You just don’t know what can happen when you covenant to pray for some need in your life, your church, your family, etc. I imagine that you have been burdened about something that you felt was impossible to solve. You need to remember that “with God all things are possible.” When I have prayed in covenant with individuals and churches, I have seen God answering our prayers in ways that we did not imagine. God will do far more than we ask when we covenant to pray with each other. Give it a try!!! Bro. Joe
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“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” 37. “Nay we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.”
When things go wrong, as we know that they will, what are we to think? Is God mad at us? Has God forgotten us? Observe the word of God: “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” Further: “We are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.” The adverb “together” covers a lot of events in our lives. Through all of the “togethers” we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.” We need to remember this when we are going through those seemingly impossible temptations that we encounter. (Remember that “through God all things are possible.”) Let’s look at some of the greatest temptations that people face today. Could it be the sin of pornography? We are told that church people are affected by this as well as those outside of the church. It is so available, that all people, even children, can watch it. If this has a grasp on your life, remember that in Christ you are more than a conqueror. Could it be the sin of alcoholism? The brain and cells can be so saturated by alcohol that it seems to be a necessity. Remember that you are more than a conqueror if you will turn it over to Christ. Could it be the temptation of sexual lust? Sex is a gift from God, but we know that we can turn it to nefarious purposes. There is no end of the temptations that we face, but through Christ, God has made it possible for us to be forgiven and live in victory. There is an answer for us to help us overcome life’s temptations found in James 4:7-8: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands you double minded.” This does not mean that we can mouth the words in seeking forgiveness and healing, Notice it says “Submit yourselves therefore to God.” After submission to God comes the power to resist the devil. He flees due to the authority of Christ in your life, not through your own power. In the process you are to “draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” It is in this process that God is “working all things together” in our lives to give us victory. We are not helpless pawns in the hands of Satan. Jesus gives us victory through His blood and His forgiveness. Seek Him! Bro. Joe “There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the most high.”
What is the “river”? We know that the “city of God” mentioned in the text symbolically is Jerusalem, because of the mention of the “holy place of the tabernacle of the most high.” In John 4, Jesus pointed out that the time will come when people will worship God in “spirit and in truth” wherever they are. Since this is true let’s just consider that the “city of God” is the people of God. The river and its streams “shall make glad the people of God.” If you are a Christian this pertains to you. Let’s take a look at the river and its streams. Let’s say that the “river” is the presence of God. Throughout the Bible the people of God have rejoiced and have been made glad when they knew that God was with them. Jesus made two promises that make this “river” real in our lives. He promised that He would send the Holy Spirit to be with His people after He ascended to the Father, and that He would be with them “always, even unto the end of the ages.” God’s Spirit and His presence flow like a river through our lives on a daily basis and make our hearts glad. Then let’s say that one of the “streams” is the grace of God. In Ephesians 2:8 Paul wrote: “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” According to this verse, if it wasn’t for the grace of God we could not have the salvation that God freely offers through His Son. The classical definition of grace is “God’s unmerited favor.” A more understandable definition is “getting something that we do not deserve.” The Bible teaches that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Without God’s grace we would all be lost and without hope. His grace, freely given through Jesus, allows us to come into His presence. Let’s say that one of the “streams” is prayer. You remember that when Christ died, “the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom.” This meant that God was now available to us without anyone else to take us to Him. Hebrews 4:16 reminds us that we can “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and grace to help in time of need. “ The reality that God will hear and answer our prayers whenever we pray certainly makes “glad the people of God.” The wonderful thing about this “stream” is that it never ceases to flow. I’m sure that I could come up with more “streams,” but the two that we have considered should suffice to make us glad that we are the people of God through our faith in Jesus Christ. We have the promise of God’s grace and the promise of His availability through prayer. BE GLAD!!!!!! Bro. Joe “What do you want me to do for you?”
This was the question that Jesus asked the blind man, Bartimaeus, when he called out to Him. Bartimaeus knew exactly what he wanted Jesus to do for him. He wanted to see- which he received.. How would you respond to Jesus if He asked you that question? Do you want Him to love you? This might seem a trite question, but there are many people who doubt that Jesus loves them, or at least they have not accepted the love that He offers. Well, here it is again, Jesus already loves you. This is what John 3:16 is all about. Read it again and inculcate it into your life: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” What do you think you need to do to make Him love you? Nothing! He loves you. I remind myself that He is not always pleased with me, but He never stops loving me. You can, no doubt, say the same. Do you want Him to save you? I just showed you above in John 3:16 that He came to earth to make salvation possible for you: “whosoever believes in Him…” This doesn’t mean to just believe about Him, but to believe in Him – or to have faith in Him. John 1:11-13 explains this to us: “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not, 12, But as many has received Him, to them gave He the power to be become (children) of God, even to them that believe on His name. 13. Which were born not of blood (family connections), nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Read 1 John 1:7-10 to see how you activate this promise. Do you want Him to bless you? He certainly will. He has probably already blessed you, but you have just not seen the blessing. I have reached the point in my life when I wake up in the morning and can walk, talk, read, etc. I know that I’m blessed. I have two daughters a son-in-law and four grandchildren who remind me of how blessed I am. I have two brothers, and all of us are, let us say, getting up in age, but we are all still fairly engaged in life that remind me that God is blessing me. That I can still type these devotional thoughts daily, reminds me I am being blessed. Give some thought to reasons why you should feel blessed. Do you want Him to use you in His service? All you have to do is make yourself available. If He would use Paul with his history, and if he will use me with my history, He will certainly use you with your history. He wants to use you and make you a blessing!!! He will do it, or might have already done it, and you missed it. Selah Bro. Joe "The just man walks in his integrity...."
I have been retired for some time now and am not tempted to fill anyone else's shoes. Back in 1987 when I was called to be the Director of Missions of the Tucker Baptist Association, someone said to me about my predecessor Lester Turley,: "You have some tough shoes to fill." My answer was: "I will have enough trouble trying to fill my own shoes without trying to fill Brother Lester's shoes." It is a lesson that I have learned over my years in the ministry from 1960 to today. This lesson came home to me when I was a student at Southeastern Seminary in Wake Forest, NC in the late sixties and early seventies. I found some old tapes in the library of the "Baptist Hour" sermons of Dr. George W. Truett. I had heard a lot about Dr. Truett, and, truth be told, had probably preached some of his sermons, but I had never actually heard him. I went to the library every day for weeks and listened to Dr. Truett's sermons. One night I had a dream that I was preaching in a large church. I sounded just like Dr. Truett. I walked around the pulpit and looked down at my feet and I was bare-footed. What I gleaned from this dream was that I might as well not try to fill Dr. Truett's shoes. Whether that was what I was supposed to glean from that dream or not, it has been helpful to me over the years. You see, Dr. Truett's shoes had already been filled by him. What God wanted, and still wants from me, is to do His will for my life and follow His leadership in doing it. What about you? You are a unique creation of God. There might be people who are similar to you, but no one else is exactly like you. You were born to be what God wanted you to be. It is your responsibility to find out what that is and do it. When you have found the niche that He has for you, then do what you can do, or what God wills you to do. Being human, you will make mistakes, as I certainly have, and you will not always follow His will, but , all things being equal, you will do what you can do under His leadership. In God's universe, there are no other shoes for you to fill but your own. Just make sure that the shoes fit and that you wear them well. Bro. Joe “What think you of Christ?”
This was a question that Jesus asked the Pharisees concerning Himself. It is a question that is still asked today. Ask yourself: What do you think of Christ? Do you think of Christ as just a “good man”? I once heard Him referred as a “good man” by a Muslim man. Jesus wouldn’t refer to Himself as “good,” but by every order of goodness that I know of , Jesus lived a good life. He loved, served and healed people. He fed hungry people. I could go on with this, but Jesus did not wish to be referred to as just a “good man.” Do you think of Christ as just a prophet? He was referred to as “a prophet” by some in the New Testament. He was certainly prophetic in His ministry in the New Testament. He knew things about people, like the woman at the well in John 4, that only a prophet would know. But He was not just a prophet. He knew that the penitent thief on the cross would be with Him in paradise. He was more than just a prophet. Do you think of Christ as God? John referred to Jesus as God in John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God.” You can translate this any way that you want, but it still comes out that “He was God.” He certainly had the attributes of God. For example, He turned water into wine – which is humanly impossible. He walked on water – which is humanly impossible. By every definition of God that there is, Christ certainly showed Himself to be God. But read on: It is not enough to just think of Christ as God, for you can believe that, but not take Him personally as your Savior and Lord. In Matthew 18:11 Jesus said: “I am come to seek that which was lost.” Jesus wants you to not just call Him Savior and Lord; rather, He wants you to receive Him as your personal Savior and Lord. He wants you to take Him personally, not as a distant God, but as one who loves you and died on the cross to save you, and who wants to be intimately involved in your life. When you receive Him by faith, He will receive you. Jesus invites you to confess your sins and invite Him into your life, believing that He will save you from sin, and enable you to live with Him eternally in heaven!!!! Do it! And if you have done it share it!!! Bro. Joe “But the Lord said unto (Ananias), go your way for he (Paul) is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel.”
In my Bible reading this morning I came upon two scriptures that seemed odd. My text reflects one of these and the other is from 1 Samuel 17, where David killed the giant Goliath. Wasn’t it odd that God chose the young boy, David, to kill the giant, Goliath? Even as David approached the giant to kill him, he was surrounded by an army of grown men who had been afraid to face Goliath. David’s brothers, who would not face Goliath, had been aggravated with him for asking so many questions about Goliath. Saul himself was surprised that this young fellow was willing to face Goliath, but he consented to David’s request. Against all odds, the boy killed the giant and won the battle for Israel. Wasn’t that odd? Wasn’t it odd that when God needed someone to witness to the Gentiles, He chose Saul of Tarsus? Saul was en route to Damascus to arrest Christians and take them to Jerusalem for trial, when he was encountered by Jesus, who called him to witness to Gentiles. Some of you have probably heard me say that when God wanted someone to witness to Gentiles, He saved and called the meanest Jew that He could find to do the job. Wasn’t that odd? I looked at myself in the mirror this morning, after deciding to write on this subject and said to myself: “Wasn’t it odd for God to call me to preach, pastor churches, and even for over twenty years minister to churches and ministers.” Also, I never had any idea about teaching the Bible to prisoners, but for over twenty years I taught the Bible in two prisons, even as I ministered to churches and pastors as an Associational Missionary. I looked quizzically at myself and thought, “Did you really do that?” The answer, oddly, was “yep.” When I thought about David, Paul, myself, even some of you (lol), I said that it wasn’t odd at all. After all God knows us and knows what He can empower us to do if it is His will. It would not be odd for Him to use you! Bro. Joe “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
Our text is one biblical reminder that we are never alone, for God is with us. He is not with us only in times of trouble, but He is with us at all times. You are not alone! You are not alone because God is always with you. If you are a believer in Jesus, the Holy Spirit is not only with you, He is abiding in you. If you are not a believer in Jesus, the Holy Spirit is pulling at your heart waiting for you to invite Jesus into your life. God is not unaware of any human being, and longs for all to be saved. Keep in mind that God is omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent! You are not alone even when you have “bad days.” Some days you feel that God has forgotten about you, or abandoned you. There are days when everything goes wrong and you feel defeated. Relax, we all have those days. But Jesus is not dead in those days, and the Holy Spirit is not inactive. I am in the process of reading Job as I write this, and the thought came to me that when we feel God-forsaken, we need to think of Job. Every time I read Job, I think, “And I think I’ve got problems.” But God had not forsaken Job and He has not forsaken you. When you are having a good day God is with you. Sometimes we feel that we have this thing called life all wrapped up. We might think, “Why do I need God. I can do this thing myself.” I am reminded of times when I have gone into the pulpit thinking that I know how to preach and the result was that I left the pulpit with the thought that I don’t know how to preach. We have a tendency to go our own way, and like Sinatra, we do it “my way.” Just like I can’t preach like that, you cannot approach life like that. Not only is God with us, we need for Him to be with us to offer us guidance. Jesus knew that we needed God’s guidance when He sent the Holy Spirit to convict us and to live in us. You need to remember that God is always with you to inspire and encourage you. He is also with you to get you back on the right path when you leave it. He has given you the Holy Spirit to gift you and to use you in His service. As God is with you as an “ever present help in trouble.” He is “an ever present help in all of life.” You just need to remember that you are never alone, because God is always with you. Bro. Joe “And they continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47. praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church such as should be saved.”
I want to look at the attitude of these early Christians as shown in the two verses of our text. They ate their meat, or they ate together, with gladness (of heart). They were glad, or happy, people. The Greek word translated “gladness”, can also be translated as “delight.” With all of the pressures this church was under because of opposition by the Jewish council, and to an extent, the roman governor, they were a glad people. This was because their gladness was in their hearts. Verse 47 shows that they found favor with all the people, excluding their powerful opposition. Gladness is contagious. This leads me to ask, “Are you a glad person?” What do people see in you when they encounter you? Is your church a glad church? When people visit your church do they encounter a glad people? They ate together in “singleness of heart.” The Greek word can also be translated as “sincerity of heart.” Their dedication to Christ was sincere and pure. There was no pretention in the worship of this church. There was also no pretention in the daily lives of the people who comprised this church. Their trust in Christ was sincere and single. They were not seeking to be a religious people; rather, they came across as people who had trust in Jesus. Is this what people see in you as they encounter you in daily life? Is this what people see in your church as they encounter you in worship? I’m not assuming that this is not true of you, or of your church, but I’m saying that we need this singleness and sincerity in our lives and in our worship. They ate together “praising God.” I think that gladness and single sincerity of heart will result in a “praising people.” I paused here and asked myself if I am a glad and sincere person? I know that I praise God daily, and I certainly try to be glad and sincere in my faith and in my life. I remember Mary saying to me one day when we were held up at a red light: “Somebody’s going to go by us and say what is wrong with Joe Beauchamp. He looks unhappy.” I remember this every time I get into a “fuming” situation. We should want people to see us as a people who gladly and sincerely praise God. Does this describe you and your church? Well, does the attitude of gladness, sincerity and praise of the early church describe you? Bro. Joe “Then they that gladly received the word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them three thousand souls. 42. And they continued steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers,”
Verse 42 gives us a pattern of the fellowship of the first Christians. It is a pattern that we still follow- or should follow today. Here is the pattern: First, they “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine.” What was the “apostles’ doctrine” based upon? It was based upon Old Testament scriptures, particularly those scriptures that pointed to the coming of the Messiah. It was also based upon the teachings of Jesus that became what we call “the New Testament.” Today, we call this “Bible study.” At the heart of the fellowship of Christians is the study of God’s word. This is done today through what we call Sunday School (or small group if you prefer.) Whatever we call it, it is the study of the Bible. This is also done through the preaching of the word by the pastor. Second, they were in “fellowship.” We might refer to this as “having fellowship.” However we say it, it means that Christians were in Koinonia with each other. “Koinonia” is a Greek word which means “partnership.” Having fellowship did not mean that they just met, had snacks and had a good time. (This was part of it, for they did, “break bread” together.) But on a deeper level it meant that they were in partnership with each other as they studied the Bible, and as they reached out to the world. The church, God’s people, is in partnership with each other, not just to get together, but to reach out to the world. Third, as they met together in partnership with each other, they prayed together. We can refer to this as worship. At the center, the core, of church fellowship is prayer. We pray when we are alone, but we should also pray as we meet together. It is through prayer that we are able to demonstrate the power of God to the world. For example, in Acts 4 when the church discovered that the chief priests and elders had forbad them to preach in the name of Jesus, “they lifted up their voice to the Lord.” This is an example that we should follow in our fellowship. We need to lift up our voices to the Lord, and expect Him to do great things among us as He did in this early church. We should meet prayerfully on any occasion when we meet together. We should live prayerfully when we are not together. Here is our biblical pattern of church life: We should study the Bible together and individually. We should be in loving partnership with each other. We should worship and pray together and individually. To quote Jesus: we should “go and do likewise.” Bro. Joe |
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