MARCH 5 – He delivered me

MARCH 5 – He delivered me

II Samuel 22:18 – He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me.

What a wonderful declaration. I have been delivered. Let me what I have been delivered from. I have been delivered from the penalty of sin. Where I was condemned, now I am set free. Someone paid that sin penalty for me. Jesus took my place. He took the penalty of sin for me and died in my place. I have placed my faith, trust, and belief in Him as my savior.

O, what a Savior.

 

I have been delivered from ignorance. Once when I did not know about sin and condemnation, God, through His Word informed me of my condemnation and that justice was required. When I was set free of that ignorance then I sought the Lord. I was set free from the chains of bondage that held me in the cesspool of this wicked world. I was set free from the ignorance of the right life to live. I no longer live for my own pleasure or my own enjoyment. I live for the one that forgave me.

I have been delivered.

I have been delivered from false religion and false worship. I began life worshiping my self. Yes, I did everything that pleased me. Then I found a way to appease that part of me that said there was more. Therefore I started worshiping those things that I thought would get me to heaven. I tried to be good and I included baptism yet there was that part that was missing. I had never repented. I repented and was set free. I learned that God has set a path that I am to follow in for salvation. He has set the path for the type of life I should live. He has set the parameters for my worship of him.

I Have Been Delivered.

I have been delivered from the habit of sin. The chains have been broken that bound me to lying, cheating, and stealing. Continually every day as I study and learn God’s Word my mind is being reclaimed from the effects of humanism, that thought process that made me my own god. My mind is being reclaimed from the evil and ugly thoughts that once crowded my mind. My body is responding to this renewing of my mind. The outward is reflecting the inward. My speech is more becoming a child of God. My dress is more becoming a child of God. My conduct is more becoming a child of God. My desire is to exalt God and not self.

I Have Been Delivered. Have you been delivered from the world?

204 – July 23 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

The Sentence of burning at the stake was pronounced. But on July 23, 1569, as Jan Block was being led from the prison, it seemed as though he was in charge.

 

Historians said that it seemed that he was on his way to a wedding feast. As they bound him and lit the fire some of his judges wept to see him die.  There was no hesitation of Jan Block as the Lord walked with him through his ordeal.  The Catholic authorities had condemned him to die when they couldn’t convert him. Jan chided him, saying that when he was living a wild and sinful life they were not interested in converting him.  Jan had been a wealthy man living in ease and pleasure in the Dutch city of Nijmegen.  The Anabaptists were active in that area and as early as 1530 several had suffered martyrdom.  Jan’s friend Symon Van Maren spent much time with him in the taverns but was also aware of the Anabaptists because they had given their lives as martyrs in his home town of Hertogenbosch and had fallen under conviction and in time had repented and received Christ as Savior.  It was through his influence that Jan Block began reading the Word of God and too became a believer.  In time the authorities confiscated his estates and he was unable to get meaningful work and was finally arrested after fleeing from town to town.  But what a mighty witness he was.   These Anabaptist Martyrs finally won religious tolerance in Holland which gave the Pilgrims respite before they came to America.

 

 

176 — June 25 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

 Martyrs: Triumphant in the Flames

 

Thomas Hawkes, who, with six others, was condemned to death on February 9, 1555.  Hawkes was a young man of good stature who had been in the service of the Earl of Oxford. He was well versed in the Scriptures, and thus he had refused to have his child baptized in the Roman church. After being arrested, he was held prisoner in the gatehouse for many terrible months as he was being tried by the infamous Bishop Edmund Bonner of London. After Hawkes endured the agony of the long incarceration, Bishop Bonner finally decided upon the death penalty.

 

 

A short while before Hawkes’s death, a group of his friends promised to pray for him in the dread hour of trial and asked for a sign if he realized that Christ was with him in the torture. He agreed with their request and decided that he would lift up his hands in token that he was at peace.

 

The day of his execution—June 25, 1555—arrived, and Hawkes was led away to the stake by Lord Rich where Hawkes would become a fiery sacrifice on the altar of religious prejudice. When he came to the post where he would be burned, a heavy chain was thrown around his waist, and he was secured. After bearing witness to those close at hand, he poured out his heart to God in prayer, and the fire was kindled. The sun shone brightly on those assembled to see him die, but a group of friends stood praying and straining eager eyes for the gesture of victory.

 

The victim did not move and slowly the flames enveloped his body. When he had continued long in it, and his speech was taken away by violence of the flame, his skin drawn together, and his fingers consumed with the fire, so that it was thought that he was gone, suddenly and contrary to all expectation, this good man being mindful of his promise, reached up his hands burning in flames over his head to the loving God, and with great rejoicing as it seemed, struck or clapped them three times together. A great shout followed this wonderful circumstance, and then this blessed martyr of Christ, sinking down in the fire, gave up his spirit.

 

Dr. Dale R. Hart: Adapted from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I. (Thompson/Cummins) pp. 260  – 261.

 

 

164 — June 13 –This Day in Baptist History Past

 

Beheaded for faith in sound doctrine

 

 

 

On June 13^th 1560, Hans Mandemaker, Pastor: together with, Deacon: and Eustachius Kuter. Were condemned to death. At the passing of the sentence, a great number of people were present as they addressed the judges of the court and the jury, proving to them that the sentence, in the presence of God, passed upon innocent men, would rise up in judgment against them to their condemnation for having condemned innocent blood. When they replied that they were obliged to judge according to the emperor’s command and proclamation, Hans Mandemaker said, “O ye blind judges! You are to judge according to your own heart and conscience, as you will have to answer for it in the presence of God. If then you judge and pass sentence, according to the emperor’s proclamation, how will you answer before God?”

 

They all spake with boldness and exhorted the people to repent, to forsake their sins, and to tread the path of truth; it was the truth for which this day they would suffer. Their crime: they did not believe that the holy body of Jesus Christ was in the sacrament but they observed the Lord’s Supper in the same manner that Christ kept it with His disciples, and that they did not approve of infant baptism.

 

Kuter was first beheaded, after which Juriaen Raek stepped cheerfully forward to the executioner and said, “Here I leave wife and child, house and goods, body and life, for the sake and truth of God.”

 

Dr. Dale R. Hart: Adapted from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I. (Thompson/Cummins) pp. 243 -244.

 

 

 

Personal Responsibility 101: Why Is It So Hard to Own Up to Our Mistakes? 1

There will be several postings on this – Pro 6:16  These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
Pro 6:17  A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
Pro 6:18  An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
Pro 6:19  A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

 

By Brett & Kate McKay

“All this has been my fault. I asked more of my men than should have been asked of them.” –Robert E. Lee, after heavy Confederate losses at Pickett’s Charge

“I had the opportunity and the information and I failed to make use of it. I don’t know what an inquest or a court of law would say, but I stand condemned in the court of my own conscience to be guilty of not preventing the Columbia disaster…The bottom line is that I failed to understand what I was being told; I failed to stand up and be counted. Therefore look no further; I am guilty of allowing the Columbia to crash.” –Launch Integration Manager N. Wayne Hale Jr., after the Columbia space shuttle explosion which killed seven astronauts

The stark honesty of these men in taking responsibility for their failures is striking, all the more so because similar statements are so rare. In recent years we have seen the heads of the nation’s corporations and banks testify before Congress as to their role, or rather lack thereof, in the implosion of the economy, and could only shake our heads as they passed the buck, admitted vaguely that “mistakes were made,” and yet failed to name anything specific for which they were personally at fault.

In our day-to-day lives, we all know folks who constantly blame their failures on everything but themselves. They were fired because their supervisor was jealous of them. They got dumped because their girlfriend is nuts. They failed an exam because the questions the professor asked were unfair. The dog hasn’t just eaten their homework – it’s devoured their whole lives.

Plenty of folks decry this shirking of personal responsibility, and declare that “people need to own up to their mistakes!” But what does this vague injunction really mean and how do you start doing it? Unfortunately, most people rarely go beyond the slogans, essentially saying:  “You should do this. Okay, now do it.”

Today we’re going to take a look the very real cognitive reasons for the difficulty in owning up to your mistakes. Understanding leads to greater awareness of the blind spots our brains develop as to when we’re at fault, and this awareness is the first step in learning to overcome them. As we explore this topic, we’ll come to see that while it’s awfully satisfying to point out the motes in others’ eyes, we all justify our failures to one degree or another.

Taking ownership of our mistakes and shortcomings requires both humility and courage; as such, it is one of the true hallmarks of mature manhood.