The Faithful God

 

“Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations” (Deuteronomy 7:9).

 

God will always keep His word.  He is “the faithful God.”  He is immutable (unchangeable).  Because He is the perfect God, He cannot change, nor can He ever lie. The writer of Hebrews reminds us that this truth should result in hope, like “an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast” (Hebrews 6:19).  The faithful promises of God keep us secure, like an anchor, during the storms of life.

 

You can count on the promises of God. They are true and will be fulfilled, just as He has said. As Moses wrote, God will keep His commandments, even to a thousand generations.  Most people believe that one generation is 20 years.  If that is so, God’s promises are good for at least 20,000 years! Now that is a guarantee worth believing!

 

God is faithful for a lifetime and throughout eternity.  Upon what promises of God are you building your life? Upon what word from our faithful God are you depending?

 

At times you may not be faithful, but you can depend on the faithful God!

 

Larry

 

109 – April 19 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

The “Great Awakening” was an amazing movement of God’s Holy Spirit of which it has been written, “There are few instances in history of transformations of religious life so profound and so widespread during so short a period.”  Though the movement was experienced primarily in New England, in the course of time, through the ministry of the Separate Baptists, the so-called “Bible Belt” in the southern states of America was the primary benefactor. However, there is no doubt that the “Great Awakening” left its impact in Baptist Churches, and all other religious groups, throughout America.  Revivals had significant role in spiritual and physical growth as revealed in the history of the First Baptist Church of Cape May.  It had never been a large church, as Morgan Edwards reported that there were about 90 families in  the congregation on April 19, 1790, “whereof 63 persons are baptized and in the communion which is here administered every other month.”  There were periods of growth in that work that came during “revival meetings.”  The first such services were called “protracted meetings,” and they were usually held during the winter months when farmhands and fishermen experienced an idle season. One of the secrets of success in these meetings was the fact that they usually began with an appointed day for fasting and prayer.  At times cottage prayer meetings were held prior to the meetings as well.  In 1839, sixty-eight were baptized and united with the church.  In 1849 another 29 converts were saved, baptized, and added to the church.  With the infiltration of German rationalism, revivalism as such began to wane, and today it is tragic to report that many churches are pleased to merely maintain their membership.

 

**(And if one of the maintained would leave due to the preaching of God’s word straight and true, how The membership rants and raves at the pastor, yet there is little or no concern about reaching the lost and bringing them into the flock. ** True revival will cause an “Awakening” of the believers gratitude for his salvation, and an urgency for the salvation of the lost.)

 

**Editors note

 

Dr. Dale R. Hart, adapted from:  This Day in Baptist History  III (David L. Cummins) p.p.  227   –   228

 

 

ANOTHER TRAGEDY

 

Certainly the deaths and those injured at the Boston Marathon is an horrific tragedy. Life is not precious to so many people today. There is a general coarsening of humanity and the inhumanity of man to man is rising to the forefront of our daily living.

 

 

We mourn and weep and pray for all those whose lives have been torn asunder. Our hearts are broken because tragedies seem to be increasing. We know that investigations are ongoing to find the perpetrators of these incidents.

 

 

What drives the heart of the man that would indiscriminately kill and maim young and old, male and female? Evil. God in Genesis 6:5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. This evil heart of man brought on the flood. We find later that this evil heart brought about the destruction of Sodom and her sister city. Evil is not new.

 

 

What is pushing this evil heartedness. It happens when man turns away from God. Man removes the laws of God from society and then wonders why evil is bound up in the heart of man. It is fairly clear that the more we remove God from society, evil grows. The further away from God man gets the more coarse and evil man becomes.

 

 

Now those that believe in God, worship God and try to live by the teachings of Jesus are being accused of possibly being the ones behind the Boston Bombing.

 

 

How can this be? We practice love for our fellowman, charity and benevolence. We practice compassion for the unfortunate and assistance where help is need. What law is there against these practices. All others have the right to think, practice and believe as they want. We that believe in God are laughed at and ridiculed because we hold the beliefs that have been held according to God’s Word and have been honored for several thousands of years.

 

 

Now the media would like to label us as dangerous, radical terrorists that would bomb innocent people. Their notion and labeling is radical and speaks of devious and jealous heart.

 

 

There is the problem. A lack of God. “The fool hath said in his heart there is no God!

 

GOD GIVE ME JOY

God give me joy in the common things:

In the dawn that lures, the eve that sings.

 

In the new grass sparkling after rain,

In the late wind’s wild and weird refrain;

 

In the springtime’s spacious field of gold

In the precious light by winter doled.

 

God give me joy in the love of friends,

In their dear home talk as summer ends;

 

In the songs of children, unrestrained;

In the sober wisdom age has gained.

 

God give me joy in the tasks that press,

In the memories that burn and bless;

 

In the thought that life has love to spend,

In the faith that God’s at journey’s end.

 

God give me hope for each day that springs,

God give me joy in the common things!

 

Thomas Curtis Clark

Becoming Fit for Glory

The Lord will give grace and glory. (Psalm 84:11)

Grace is what we need just now, and it is to be had freely. What can be freer than a gift? Today we shall receive sustaining, strengthening, sanctifying, satisfying grace. He has given daily grace until now, and as for the future, that grace is still sufficient. If we have but little grace the fault most lie in ourselves; for the Lord is not straitened, neither is He slow to bestow it in abundance. We may ask for as much as we will and never fear a refusal. He giveth liberally and upbraideth not.

The Lord may not give gold, but He will give grace: He may not give gain, but He will give grace. He will certainly send us trial, but He will give grace in proportion thereto. We may be called to labor and to suffer, but with the call there will come all the grace required;

What an “end” is that in the text–”and glory!” We do not need glory yet, and we are not yet fit for it; but we shall have it in due order. After we have eaten the bread of grace, we shall drink the wine of glory. We must go through the holy, which is grace, to the holiest of all, which is glory. These words and glory are enough to make a man dance for joy. A little while–a little while, and then glory forever!

The Meaning Of Life, Love And Family : Video Clips From The Coolest One

God gives us purpose. God is the purpose. We must come to the realization that God does things with a purpose in mind. May we always search for that purpose.

 

The Meaning Of Life, Love And Family : Video Clips From The Coolest One.

IN THANKFULNESS

Oh God, if I could but impart

The thankfulness that swells my heart

For each and every little thing . . .

 

Like color bursts announcing spring,

The shaded spots the trees have brought,

The sunshine brightening every thought . . .

The squirrels playing on my lawn,

The eventide . . . the still, new dawn . . .

The fragrant smell of brown leaves burned,

The fresh black dirt where earth is turned -

So many small things such as these

Have done so much my life to please

My whole life long would be of praise

To God, the Keeper of my days

 

Beverly Enderby Kimzey

 

 

AFTER

After the snow of winter,
Spring will surely come,
Bringing warmth and beauty
Of blossoms and birdsong.

After the rain, the swallow
Will soar again on high,
And a rainbow follow
In a sunlit sky.

After the tears of sorrow,
Spirits will renew,
And a bright tomorrow
With God’s help see you through.

Elsie Natalie Brady

37 – Feb. 06 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

Bucknell University
 We must always remember that God rewards faithfulness, not fame.  We certainly rejoice over those who have made a great impact on their world, but must not forget those who have labored in obscurity.  Daniel Erastus Burt is an example of one of those unsung heroes of the faith.
Daniel E. Burt was born in Cambridge Springs, PA, on Nov. 4, 1835, in his father’s Tannery plant.  He received his theological training in Lewisburg, PA., at what is now Bucknell University.  For 35 years, he was the pastor of small rural churches in western N.Y., and northwestern, PA.  Because the churches were unable to support his family, he often doubled as the local school master.
After his retirement, a newspaper asked him to write a series of articles summarizing his years in the ministry.  The yellowed clippings of these stories are still a blessing to his descendants.  In one he tells of two sisters, professed infidels that passed by the church one Monday evening during the services and decided to go in and make fools of themselves.
They went forward at the invitation each night feigning their need of spiritual help.  One night after the service with only the Pastor, the evangelist, her sister and one other person present, as the little maid that the Lord Jesus raised from the dead, the older sister confessed that she had such a burden of sin and guilt that she couldn’t take it any longer and fell on her face before the Lord and heard Him say, “Thy sins be forgiven thee.”   She was later sent to Yokohama, Japan as a missionary.  Pastor Burt died on July 29, 1908, and his faithful wife, Orpha, followed him into that eternal land of joy on Feb. 6, 1922.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon, adapted from:  This Day in Baptist History III (David L. Cummins), pp. 75-77.

LINKED WITH HIM

When I feel still and very empty,
I try to turn my thoughts to prayer,
A little light turns on inside
And suddenly my God is there.

My doubts come from their stony places, He turns each one into a flower,
My heart gets into heaven’s gate,
I’m linked again with Him in prayer.

Marion Schoeberlein