Pleasant Grove Baptist Church June 19, 2019 at 03:44AM

from Pleasant Grove Baptist Church http://bit.ly/2KqTFgB
via IFTTT God brings the growth, not the laborers. Simple concept, but do we truly believe it? Or do we look with stary eyes at the particular laborer we prefer and attribute success to their efforts? I fear this is all too common. Men are often associated with the success, the growth, that comes only through God Himself. When gardening, there are many tasks. 1. Prepare the ground, break the soil, remove the weeds. 2. Choose the proper seeds 3. Plant the seeds into the soil properly 4. Fertilize the soil 5. Water the seeds 6. Nurture the seedling and protect it 7. Continue weeding and watering 8. Harvest properly But none of these steps causes growth. These steps facilitate growth, making it possible, but do not cause it. Growth happens due to creation's mechanisms ordained and controlled by God, not man. Man only manages the environment, God brings growth. Interestingly, man can cause growth to end, due to mismanagement at any step. Man can cause damage through neglect or mistakes. However, man can not actually guarantee growth. It is not in our control. All we can do is set everything right for growth and wait. Life is the same. Church is the same. Family is the same. All the laborers can do is set things right in the environment, and wait for the growth God brings. It is not the laborer not the manager, not the leader who causes growth. It is God. Yes, we must be diligent to do all we can as our part to facilitate growth, but never think that we can "make it happen". We must remain humble and obedient to the one ultimately in charge. That is all we can do and all we are asked to do. We don't have to bring success, we only have to set the environment right! For example, many parents have errant children. Sure, sometimes it is their fault, some part of the process that they neglected or did wrongly. But other times the parents did all they could, did it right , and still the child goes astray. Peace is found in the truth that we are not in control of the results, only our part of the process. Adam and Eve walked with God personally, had no peer pressure, no television, no drugs, yet their child murdered his own brother. All through history good parents suffered watching their own children go horribly wrong. Such is life. We are not in control of results, only process and environment! Now, when we do things wrong, when we act selfishly and neglect our responsibility or even rebel, then we are responsible for damaging growth, for causing a bad outcome. Yet, we can repent of those mistakes and rebellions and be free from the guilt. God who is Lord of the harvest can correct our mistakes and bring about good. It is in hHis hands, not ours. All we can do, even after grave mistakes, is to repent, trust, and obey. That's it. We do not have to power to bring new growth. So relax, concentrate on repentance of mistakes, and obedience, humility, trust for the future. Do what is available to do to set things right and leave the rest in the hands of a God who speaks light into existence. Herein is peace. God is ultimately in charge, not you, not your favorite personality. Trust and obey.

Pleasant Grove Baptist Church June 17, 2019 at 03:30AM

from Pleasant Grove Baptist Church http://bit.ly/31FwdBF
via IFTTT Christianity is not a "mind thing", it is a "heart thing". Unlike religion, the Gospel can not be learned. No amount of study or understanding can bring a person into an understanding of our God and Creator. No amount of debate can convince any of us of the truth of the Gospel. Why? Because the Gospel is not an understanding of the mind. It is not about memorizing scripture or learning Bible stories and their meaning. The gospel is about a relationship between our spirit and the Spirit of God. Paul is saying here that it is pointless to try to attain this relationship with God through work of the mind, through learning, understanding, or memory. Those are things of natural physical man. Those are the things that Adam tried to use to become like God in the garden...knowledge of good and evil. Wow, consider this....trying to attain holiness through knowledge is the sin of the garden that brought sin and suffering into our world! Trying to attain holiness (being like God without God) through man's abilities is the basic sin of humanity. Yet most religions tout this as the method to use. Learning. Mindfulness. Understanding. These are sin! These are why we suffer today. Man chose to attain holiness his own way, in his own abilities of mind and body. The Gospel says "man is hopeless, learning and understanding are hopeless, only an act of God can bring man into holiness". That act was what Jesus did on the cross. By dieing in our place, and paying the debt for our sin, we can be made holy (sinless, guiltless) in God's eyes. Then the Spirit of God can again inhabit our spirit and we are alive with understanding and knowledge beyond comprehension. You see, it is not knowledge itself that is the sin. The act of sin is in man attaining knowledge on his own, without God's action and oversight. Man grabbing the fruit of the tree and eating by his own power instead of relying on God to enlighten him. Did God want man ignorant of the ways of God? Is that why God forbid "the knowledge of good and evil"? Of course not. It wasn't even that knowledge itself was evil. God said "do not eat or it", an act of man attaining the knowledge without God. God wanted to be the father, graciously and carefully guiding man into truth and knowledge. But man was impatient and proud, and chose to do it his own way, without God. It's not knowledge that is evil, it is how we attain it! When reading something, watching something, or hearing something, it is the Holy Spirit that brings understanding not through our thoughts, but through our spirit. It is not the words, not the speaker that give us understanding, it is the Spirit of God. So a person not washed clean in the blood of Jesus can not attain understanding. It's impossible because understanding truth is not a mind thing done by man, but a God thing done by and in spirit So, what is the conclusion? Pray. Seek understanding through spirit, from the inside out. Whether reading, listening, or watching, seek understanding from the Holy Spirit. He is the one who opens our eyes, from the inside out. We know truth in our hearts before we can explain it in our mind. It is an act of God, not man. Understanding is granted, not achieved. Bottom line? It's all Jesus. Only He can turn teaching into understanding. Turn to him regardless of the source of the lesson, ask Him for understanding. It's all Jesus.

Pleasant Grove Baptist Church June 13, 2019 at 03:22AM

from Pleasant Grove Baptist Church http://bit.ly/2F7gL7H
via IFTTT Demonstration of the Spirit and of power, not persuasive words of wisdom. Does your church follow this example? Everywhere the apostles went, the Spirit of God manifest Himself in demonstration of power. What are these manifestations of power? They are listed later in the letters from Paul to this same church. Sadly, today we seem to have mostly moved away from the power of the Spirit and ask people to rest their faith on words of wisdom. Why? There is a variety of reasons, most not good. I grew up watching such demonstrations of power. As a teenager, I witnessed weekly or even daily miracles of all types. Healing, deliverance, words directly from Heaven, authority over evil, etc. It was a regular occurrence. It was commonplace. In the beginning these acts of God drew in people. "This is real!" Was the cry. Things were happening! Not just Bible teaching, but God was moving and proving Himself. Then, it changed. The constantly evil heart of man started looking for and praising the miracles more than the miracle worker. Men started thinking they possessed some supernatural power at their command. People craved the signs more than the sign giver. Greed, selfishness, idol worship. And the result? God quit. The signs and wonders quit. The miracles quit. So man decided to "keep it going" under his own power. Preaching, words of wisdom. Some even cheated and started fooling people to appear to still be walking in God's power. But it was a lie. Today we see the fruits of that lie. Big ministries rooted in cash flow and promises of blessing, not cross carrying. People who are no more sanctified than their neighbor, people who claim to be Christian but live like pagens. So now what? We live today in the aftermath of all this. Just like Israel. They were mightly blessed, but went astray. God left and they were defeated, exhiled until their hearts returned to God. Then they had to return and rebuild what once was. Today is that day. The church in America must rebuild. The people are hurting, suffering, desperate to find the truth, a touch from God. The hunger is back, the city now needs to be rebuilt. All across America there are small pockets of truth sweeping over the land. A call to return to the message of the cross, to lay aside the eloquent preaching of man and rely on the Holy Spirit and power. The city is being rebuilt. Soon, once again we shall see demonstrations of the Spirit and power at the center of the church, but God first must change hearts so that this new generation does not fall into the same trap of pride and sin. God is working on the exhiles, preparing us for the days ahead of building, of returning, of seeking God and His holiness first. What a glorious day! Pray that it come quickly, that our hearts are made ready, the harvest is ready, waiting for workers. It is time. Storm clouds are gathering threatening to wipe out the harvest. The stage is set. What will you do? Pray, seek to be ready. Submit your heart to the refining fire of the Holy Spirit. Lay aside all the entertainment, fleshy desires, world passions for money and pleasure. Ask God to make you ready to be a conduit of power from heaven to your neighbors. Seek Him first and all these things shall be added to you. Demonstrations of Spirit and of power.