Pleasant Grove Baptist Church May 22, 2019 at 03:15AM

from Pleasant Grove Baptist Church http://bit.ly/2WXGu9D
via IFTTT Who have you "built up" today? This so the job of the church, to stand together as a family and love each other. Not as the world loves, but love from God that is the love of a sibling. A loving sibling is always there to hold your hand, offer a shoulder to cry on, give advice, or stand and declare correction. A loving sibling would never let another go astray and harm themselves without speaking truth. This is the church. Work. Watchful work for each other. Serving. Jesus spent his last evening with the disciples demonstrating this concept in the washing of the disciples feet. Service others unselfishly. He is our example. We are to wash feet. Not literally, but figuratively. Giving ourselves, our resources, our time, our heart to our sibling in Christ. Whatever they need, being the conduit for that. It is work. Being a member of God's church is not about receiving at all, but giving. Selfish people focus on receiving, and Jesus followers are called to put aside all selfishness. Being a member of the local church is about giving. Not just tighing, but giving all that we have in living for our siblings in Christ. Consider nothing to be "yours" but all that you have is given by God so that you can share with those who need. All. Hold nothing back. Do you have a word? An insight? A hug? A warning? Share it! The local church is the hospital or base camp for the war of good and evil. Christians are constantly under attack as well as ever attacking the enemy. The church is where we support each other, encourage each other, correct each other, minister to each other, so that we may return to the battle stronger and purer. This is church membership. Giving. Serving. Set aside the selfish desire to get more than you give. Concentrate on others more than yourself. This is the way to peace and comfort, through giving. It is also the way to obedience. Who have you served today? Who is better off with the Lord because you were there? If a name escapes you... Hurray. Go serve! Serve someone before the day sets, none of us knows if we shall see tomorrow. Serve now while you can. Jesus washed feet. What shall you do today?

Pleasant Grove Baptist Church May 21, 2019 at 02:58AM

from Pleasant Grove Baptist Church http://bit.ly/2waf30v
via IFTTT Work. Good honest hard work. It's a good thing! Our ambition should be to support our own needs, to not rely on others for our existence. But to work for a living. Honest pay for an honest day's work. Life is not about enjoyment, not about recreation. Life is not video games and golfing and socializing with friends. Life is work. The foundation must come first. Caring for our own needs is the foundation. Perhaps we have lost this drive in our society. Perhaps it's just easier to let someone else pay the bills and we enjoy life. Perhaps we even feel as though "they" owe us. But that is not scripture. That is not the gospel. We should never be "comfortable" existing because someone else worked and we didn't. Each of us is called to care for our own needs. This is not new, not at all. Think back to the garden where it all started. Part of the curse on man for sin was, yes, work. "you shall eat of the field by the sweat of your brow". Work. Why? Because it's good and just. Man desired to find his own way in the world, to know good and evil, make our own choices. So, God said ok, but in return you no longer get a free ride. With freedom and autonomy come responsibility and need for work. Originally God had light work intended for man, just to tend His garden. But there were no weeds, no predators, no bad weather, no seasons, no real "work" to it. Sin is what changed everything. Sin is what made the ground cursed and difficult to eat from. And sin is why we work, God ordained it. Satan constantly offers us an alternative to God's plan. In this truth of "hard work" Satan offers all sorts of alternatives. Live off others (welfare), live off the government (socialism), live off chance (gambling), cheat, steal, or even...live off your parents. None of these can be a life choice for the Christian. These are Satan saying "you don't really have to work so hard because of sin...no...be like God!" But it's all a lie. No one owes us anything. God says we must work to provide for ourselves. Period. Sure, there is always times, seasons of life when we have difficulty. The church is called to support those in need. But this is for a season, not a life choice. And even within those seasons, our "ambition" should be to become self supporting. A quiet self supporting life. That is the call Paul gives. Be an example. Give more then you get. Do not buy into the entitlement mentality. No one owes you anything. If you receive help, it is by the grace of one generous to you. We are not entitled to anything. We demanded to make our own path back in the garden. We deserve nothing. All is from Grace, undeserved grace. It's a heart attitude. Receiving welfare is not bad. Living comfortably off welfare and being ok with that, is bad. Feeling like someone owes us bread, is bad. Selfish, sinful. A quiet and self supporting life. Not extravagant, not wealth to outshine the neighbors. Just a quiet self supporting life shining the light of Christ to all we encounter. That is the Christian's ambition.

Pleasant Grove Baptist Church May 20, 2019 at 03:10AM

from Pleasant Grove Baptist Church http://bit.ly/30w6gUQ
via IFTTT Sin. Disobedience to the God who created us. Refusing His instruction by instead creating our own vision of the truth based on the passions of the flesh. Sin. The call of the gospel, cover to cover in the Bible really, is to lay aside the flesh and the desires of the flesh. Yet today, Satan has deceived even those in the church to celebrate the flesh and it's desires. That is directly contrary to the gospel. "But I am made this way" is not a defense of sin in any sense. In fact, it doesn't matter at all whether we are built to desire sin or we choose sin. The remedy is the same, we must turn against sin completely. It is in fact the desire of the flesh, born or built, that Jesus conquered on the cross, so that we may be set free from the power of sin. Being set free means we no longer are compelled to sin! Regardless of why we sinned, we can walk free of sin through the cross. Homosexuality, is a sin, just as promiscuity, adultery, prostitution. Each of these is sexuality immorality. Is one worse than the other? Why even ask? All are punishable by death! One problem we have in America today is, we pick sins to celebrate and others to ignore. While celebrating the open sin of homosexual marriage, we ignore the open sin of sexual relations outside of or before marriage. Sin is sin. Immorality is immorality. All is punishable by the death penality. Paul calls us here to set aside the desire of the flesh. All flesh is evil, sin, abhorrent to a holy God. Any sexual relations outside of the God ordained lifetime commitment of marriage between man and woman is sin. Often we find those celebrating the sin of homosexuality are also enjoying the sin of sex outside of lifetime committed marriage. Sin gives birth to more sin. Lust of any sort, is evil and sinful, and leads to misery. The message of the gospel is, lay aside the flesh, all of it. Any desire of man. All must be brought under the authority of Christ. All. The flesh and it's passions must be submitted to the cross to die. And die it will! We are set free from the desires of the flesh by the forgiveness of the cross followed by the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Whether it is drug addiction, gluttony, sexual desire outside of marriage, same sex attraction or any other desire of the flesh. The Gospel sets us free! Free to joyously follow God's plan and law. Celebrating sin is sin. We are called to expose sin, all sin. We are called to die daily to the desires of our flesh and submit to life in Christ. Choosing to hang on to any sin, is sin, and separates us from the blessings and life of God. Homosexuality is sin. Sexual relations outside of marriage is sin. Serial monogamy is sin. Adultery is sin. Prostitution is sin. And sin is death. The cross frees us from the desire for sin. That is the gospel! No lust of the flesh is stronger than the redeeming and cleansing power of Christ. Each of us must submit to Christ the desires of our flesh, whatever those are, and let Christ cleans us and overcome those desires through His might. Stop celebrating sin, and live free of the flesh through Christ.