Pleasant Grove Baptist Church November 06, 2018 at 03:44AM

from Pleasant Grove Baptist Church https://ift.tt/2RAp5AP
via IFTTT Their heart was hardened. AFTER witnessing one of the most incredible miracles of Jesus ministry. We must be careful, so careful, forever diligent against our main enemy... Ourself! These men had witnessed Jesus feed thousands of people with only a small basket of food. He created food out of thin air and miraculous creative power. They watched, they saw, they knew. Yet they remained hard of heart and dull of mind. How can this be? The heart of man is continually deceitful. When we see miracles without submitting our heart to God to fill us with Holiness, to purge us of evil, we can be lead astray. There is great temptation in miracles! Temptation for evil. Temptation to misuse the awesome power of the Creator. Decades ago, my father walked in daily miracles of healing. For years I witnessed as a young man almost daily miracles, from small to huge. Things people say are impossible. Blind see, cripples walk, cancers melt away. Each day was not the question "will god move today" but rather "what great miracle will we see today". Then a phone call. Another well known minister, with a large following, made an offer. "Let's team up! With my anointed preaching and your miracles, we will be unstoppable! We can be blessed with riches beyond belief!". Put yourself in that situation. What would you do? It's easy to justify saying yes, think how many could be touched, saved, healed, helped. Temptation always comes in a beautiful package, but the core inside is ugly and dead. Dad said no. Wrong motive. But it was hard. He agonized for days. But in the end he knew that it would end badly if the motivation was Fame, riches, and selfish getting. We remained poor, but God blessed. Here the disciples had witnessed another miracle but still couldn't see past the immediate benefit. Their eyes were on this world. They had not yet accepted that God walked with them, that all things were not only possible, but planned. They only saw the world and miracles of a righteous man. So when storms came, they feared. When unknown came, they worried. They only saw the miracles, not the god who did them. We must be careful. God is light, He is holy. He calls us first to be like him, with him. The miracles must FOLLOW, not precede. Don't ever let your eyes fall in the miracles instead of the glory of God. We must seek righteousness, seek to be purged of all evil and walk like Jesus in pure love and service. Not just on Sundays, but every minute of every day. We must seek to have a soft heart, an understanding mind. See the deep truths of God instead of just quote scripture. KNOW the Creator. Then the miracles can follow, and they will, once we ourselves are at peace with God and life.

Pleasant Grove Baptist Church November 03, 2018 at 04:10AM

from Pleasant Grove Baptist Church https://ift.tt/2CYr7Xj
via IFTTT "he used to enjoy listening to him". Wow. This is deeply convicting for us today! Life changingly so! Harrod enjoyed listening to John the Baptist. He "went to church", listened to the sermons, left feeling good (although perplexed because John kept pointing out Harrods sin), and had a good time. Enjoyable. But Harrod became John's murderer. Take care friend, take great care about our reception of the gospel truth. It should not be an "enjoyable" experience unless we have already purged ourselves of all sin. If we still have any sin in our lives, any hidden struggle, any selfish motive... The gospel exposes that with intent to rip it out of our lives. That is not enjoyable. So there are two paths here. Harrods path was to enjoy listening while ignoring the reality and holding onto his own sin. He enjoyed John's teaching because his heart was cold and closed. That leaves one perplexed.. and forever sinful. The other path is perfection or the seeking of perfection. If one is perfect already, there is no conviction within true teaching. But we are not perfect! We all have sins we are dealing with. The open heart, filled with the presence of a Holy God, hates sin, seeks to rid itself of sin, seeks perfection. And then truth brings conviction. If our heart is right with God, we will experience conviction that leaves us crushed, not merely perplexed! We fall in tears over our sin, repenting openly when the Holiness of God shines light on our own darkness. That is a sign, a fruit, of a converted heart! Willingness to see our sin as sin, and a heartfelt broken repentance, is the result. It is not an enjoyable experience! After, sure, but not during. It hurts to die! Harrods example here is deep. By not allowing God into his heart, by seeing John's preaching as entertainment, as enjoyable, by attending church for the entertainment value, Harrod himself became a tool of Satan. Unrepentant sin is an effective tool in Satan's hands if found within our heart. Don't follow Harrod! Let the words of God and the godly reach deep into your heart and dig up that sin, that selfishness, that dark desire, the evil habit. Let God's power root it out! Let His forgiveness melt it away. Feel the pain of realizing our disappointment of our creator, Seek to be cleansed more every day, to be more like Jesus. Or become a tool of Satan. The choice is yours.

Pleasant Grove Baptist Church November 01, 2018 at 03:24AM

from Pleasant Grove Baptist Church https://ift.tt/2qlcHsH
via IFTTT Jesus just showed up at church, and taught. People listened. People were entralled with his wisdom. But, Jesus had no letters after his name, no title, no formal training, no paper diploma, no official authority, no position. He had nothing. Yet, Jesus had everything! He had understanding, power, truth. We as humans so often cave into believing man's lies that we don't even see them as lies sometimes! Jesus had zero earthly qualifications. He sent out the disciples with zero earthly qualifications. At Pentecost the apostles became apostles with tongues of fire, not diplomas. Paul was added to their number through a godly act of blindness, erasing much of what Paul considered good with heartfelt repentance. And yet today, we respect those with papers, training, letters. Why? Because there is so little real. So few walk with true goodly authority and power. So few speak the truth. So few posses godly wisdom. So few seek god more than man. What an indictment on our generation! We praise the wisdom of man in part because we rarely see the true work of God! Today we tend to see everything as a miracle of god. We go to the doctor with a problem, take the medicine he prescribes, and call the result a miracle. Why? How often do we see one walk in the authority of Jesus.." lay hand on them and they will recover." We have reduced miracles to commonplace acts because real miracles are few and far between. Peter said "what I have I give thee, rise up and walk" Jesus asked "what is easier, to forgive sins or to say rise up and walk"? Today, in absence of true power, glory, and truth we put ritual, tradition, and man's approval in diplomas, letters, authority. But what if we didn't? What if instead of years of seminary, what if we looked for years of prayer and repentance. Years of spending time alone, in a dessert, with a holy God. What if we looked for fruit of repentance in every man's life? What if we sought the presence of holy conviction in a man's words? What if we sought after deep truth over repeated phrases? What if we watched for evidence of gods power over the death and destruction of the enemy? What if the blind would see, the crippled walk? What if? Then, papers, diplomas, letters, recognition would not matter. When someone walks in truth and power like Jesus, nothing else matters. People are amazed. It doesn't matter who you are, how old or young you are, how bad you may have lived, how little you may know, none off that matters at all. All that matters is, seeking God's face. Living daily with Jesus. Spending time alone letting the Holy Spirit clean the corners and crevices of your heart from all impurity, all selfish ambition, all self serving goals. Turning your life and heart over to the saviour and truly living for Him. Do that and God will move, through you, just so as in this scripture. Jesus promised that we would do even greater things than Jesus did. Are you ready? He is. He has waited all your life to use you. Waited for you to honor the act baptism and turn your life over to Him, die to self, life for Christ. Then you can walk unannounced into the church and spread God's truth in a way that touches and amazes people, changes hearts, and even heals the sick. Because it's not you, it's the Holy Spirit within you. Seek Him first, and all else will be added unto you.