Blog Archives - Mt. Ephraim Baptist Church

April 1, 2016

3/31/2016

PPIL - Powerful Passage Impacts Life
James 4:13-15 NKJV - "Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit'; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.'"

Commentary:

So much of our lives is thinking about what will happen. Either we're making plans for our future, or we're worrying about what our future might hold. This passage could, and perhaps should be studied alongside Matthew 6:34 that also speaks about the future. Today's verses talk about the former - the idea that we can predict what we're going to do and the implication is that we're setting those goals without taking time to pray and ask God for His plans. Remember, in the "Lord's Prayer" the request is, "...Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven..." More often than not we don't even think of consulting God about our dreams and ambitions. We think we can somehow control our future if we "just wish hard enough!" And if our plans don't work out, what do we do? We blame God as if He should have agreed with us as to what we wanted to do! Little did we think that He is the One who has the right to make plans for us and we are the ones who should agree with Him.

Christian, what God wants from us is our willingness to submit our plans to Him for His will to be done. That's the thought in verse 15, "...if the Lord wills..." When God saved us it was to bring us into His family and into His kingdom. He is our King and we are His servants. We're here to serve Him, not the other way around! Too many Christians think God has to agree to their plans when it's the Christian who should be agreeing to God's plans. More about this tomorrow.

March 31, 2016

3/30/2016

PPIL - Powerful Passage Impacts Life
Ephesians 5:16 NLT - " Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days."

Commentary:

A good question to ask as you face a difficult situation or a difficult decision you have to make is, "What's the most important thing to do anyway?" I just faced this a few minutes before sitting down to write this. I noticed a young woman getting out of a car and starting to walk down the alley next to our house. She looked kind of down and depressed as it was but I noticed she was carrying a can of soda. She dropped the can, seemingly accidentally, and looked down as if she was wondering to retrieve it before all the contents emptied out. But she just kept walking and left the can in the alley. First thought came to my mind set the pace for what I did: I thought she must really be down about something. Even though it was lacking in courtesy that she just left the can in the alley, I thought, "What's most important here, anyway?" Should I go out and confront her about her littering the neighborhood, or, should I pray for her instead? I knew by the time I got outdoors she would be far enough down the alley that I would have to yell to get her attention. So, I prayed for her and then picked up the can myself and threw it away.

How many times do we stop and ask God to guide us in what's really important when we're not sure what to do? Our Daily Verse speaks about "making the most of every opportunity." In the illustration mentioned above I could have confronted this young woman and criticized her for her careless attitude about littering and making somebody else clean up her mess. But, would that have been the best decision? For me the answer was to give her a break, recognize she's already upset about something and don't add to her depression by scolding her for her bad manners. She needed my prayers instead. I noticed where she lived and began asking God how to have a good witness to her and whoever else is in her life.

Our verse today should give us good reason to think about what really matters. Trash on the floor or litter in our neighborhoods is not nearly as important as dealing with the hurts in people's lives and the failures so many face. More than our criticism they really need our love and understanding. Helping a person to get things right with the Lord will allow Him to work in them and lead them to change other areas of their lives as well. Let's make every opportunity God allows in our lives to be an opportunity to please Him and bless the lives of others.

March 30, 2016

3/29/2016

Luke 24:32 NKJV - "And they said to one another, 'Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?'"

Commentary:

Yesterday we noted Jesus came alongside these two disciples and walked with them and spoke with them too. Our verse today speaks of the moment when Jesus revealed who He really was and then disappeared from their vision. They were surprised He was right there with them and they didn't even recognize Him! But, they knew something was different: They felt the power and impact of His words, that which He spoke, and also when He explained the Scriptures to them. Their hearts "burned" within them.

Ever have that experience? When you open God's Word to read, do you anticipate His speaking to your heart? Do you find yourself rejoicing that His Spirit is making things clear to you and helping you understand His Word? Do you sense God leading you and showing you more of what He wants to do in you and through you?

If that is not true in your life is it because you approach the Bible with a careless attitude? Do you "hunger and thirst" after God? Do you really want to hear from Him?! He's ready to speak to you daily. He's ready to have your "heart burn" within as the power of His Word impacts your life. Ask Him to give you that hunger and desire to hear from Him. He really wants to speak to you!

March 29, 2016

3/28/2016

Luke 24:15 NKJV - "So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them."

Commentary:

This happened on the day Jesus rose from the dead! He immediately "showed up" in the lives of His disciples and "drew near and went with them." He still does today. As we journey through life, whether we're traveling or just fulfilling out daily responsibilities He's always with us. He wants us to know that His rising from the dead meant that He truly would fulfill His promise of Matthew 28:20, "I'll be with you always, even to the end of the age."

There's great comfort and encouragement knowing He's right by our sides and helping us through every situation we face. He talks with us too, especially through His Word! Tomorrow, I want to show you how these two men felt when they heard Jesus speak.

March 28, 2016

3/27/2016

1 Thessalonians 4:13 NLT - "And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope."

Commentary:

Christ not only died that man might live, He also rose from the dead that man might rise too! If there is one blessed hope we Christians have is that we will not face a hopeless end! We will face an endless hope! And that "hope" is the sure confidence that as Jesus lived, so shall we.

What's sure about everyone's life? Death. What's sure about a Christian's death? ETERNAL LIFE!!

March 27, 2016

3/26/2016

PPIL - Powerful Passage Impacts Life
Matthew 28:5,6 NKJV - "But the angel answered and said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified, He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.'"

Commentary:

HE IS NOT HERE...HE IS RISEN!! Those words literally have changed the whole dismal picture of mankind!! Before Christ had risen from the dead the world was caught in an awful quagmire of sin and failure with no hope! As we have noted in previous passages without the resurrection of Christ there was nothing to change the eternal destiny of anyone! If Christ was still in the grave the best we could hope for was being eternally buried!

But now that Christ has risen from the dead we have a living hope! We know that believing in Him means exactly what John 3:16 says, "...we should not perish but have everlasting life." Our eternal destiny rises from the grave to the joy of heaven where we will enjoy the promise of Psalm 16:11, "...in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

March 26, 2016

3/25/2016

1 Corinthians 15:4a NKJV - "...and that He was buried..."

Commentary:

We don't hear many messages about the burial of Christ, but it is important! We read in John 19:38-42 of Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus taking the body of Jesus and placing it in a tomb, one which was owned by Joseph according to Matthew 27:60. It was obviously a common practice to "bury" a deceased relative or friend and Joseph was doing a decent thing by allowing Jesus' body to be placed in his own tomb. It was also a fulfillment of prophecy for we read in Isaiah 53:9, "And they made His grave with the wicked--but with the rich at his death."

What's important about the burial of Christ? Let me suggest a few things: First, it proved that Jesus was dead. He wasn't faking His death for His body would be "sealed" into a tomb and would be there for 3 days.

Second, during this time the Bible speaks of Him preaching to the "spirits in prison" 1 Peter 3:19. I believe this was Jesus in Paradise, Luke 23:43, looking across the abyss, Luke 16:26, and speaking to the demonic spirits and announcing His victory over sin. (More about this in another study).

Third, we read in Psalm 103:12, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us" and we also read in Micah 7:19, "He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea." I believe Jesus "took our sins away" as He was buried.

As the old chorus says, "Gone, Gone, Gone, Gone, yes, my sins are Gone...!"

March 25, 2016

3/24/2016

PPIL - Powerful Passage Impacts Life
Isaiah 53:6 NKJV - "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."

Commentary:

This has been one of those powerful passages that has had an impact on many lives over the years. Along with 2 Corinthians 5:21 and 1 Peter 2:24 this passage points to the substitutionary work of Christ on the cross by taking our sins upon His own body while He hung on Calvary's cross. Of course, we should not miss the fact that it was the Lord, the Father, who actually laid those sins on His Son. God the Father took the position of the High Priest and, placing His hands on the head of the Lamb, God confessed the sins of mankind onto His Son.

Jesus would bear these sins on Himself as if He was the sinner! Jesus, the holy and perfect Son of God was willing to be "made sin for us, He who knew no sin" 2 Corinthians 5:21. What was so foreign to Jesus was sinful failure! He had never disappointed His Father in the least, but now He was receiving from His Father the sins of the world and thus making Himself vulnerable to His Father's wrath. As we noted in 1 Peter 3:18, Jesus was "the Just for the unjust" dying in the place of the condemned sinner. He was the Substitute for all of us!

Remember in Genesis 22 when God ordered Abraham to bring his only son, Isaac, up to the mount to sacrifice him to God, that Abraham told his son that God would provide a "lamb". And Jesus was the Lamb provided for us!

March 24, 2016

3/23/2016

PPIL - Powerful Passage Impacts Life
1 Peter 3:18 NKJV - "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit."

Commentary:

Christ suffered a cruel death on the cross as the only One who was really JUST! He died in the place of the really unjust - all of humanity. This verse is a great passage to point to the substitutionary aspect of salvation. He took the sinners place on the cross. He took the sinner's sin as He took the sinner's place on the cross. He took the sinner's judgment for the sinner's sin as He took the sinner's place on the cross. Why? For the very reason He came to earth - to save the sinner from the their sin and to give them a right standing before God that He might bring them to God!

Note another verse that will someday be a "Daily Verse" - Jude verse 24 - "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faithless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy." Jesus wants you in heaven! And He did what had to be done for that to happen. He died as the "sinner on the cross" in order to bring the justified person to His Father in heaven.

It wasn't that He just wanted to get the sin out of you. He wanted to get His righteousness into you! And He wanted to get you into heaven with Him! Praise His Name!

March 23, 2016

3/22/2016

PPIL - Powerful Passage Impacts Life
1 Corinthians 1:23 NKJV - "But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness."

Commentary:

To start with Paul is not saying that when he preaches he only concentrates on the crucifixion of Christ. No! He is simply reinforcing what he has been saying since verse 18 that the "preaching of the cross is foolishness" to so many. He focused on the "message of the cross" as the focal point of salvation. Sure, he knows Christ rose from the dead and emphasizes that in many ways throughout his letters (epistles). But Paul wants to make clear that God doesn't follow the so-called wisdom of mankind which would suggest that victory was far better than death. Most of the world would have said then and still say now, "let Him come down from the cross and we will believe!" To the world that would have been a far greater "WOW Factor" for people to get excited about.

Paul is saying in this verse that the crucifixion of Christ makes a Jew wonder how could it possibly be true that their Messiah would die, and that, die a terrible death like crucifixion! "It just shouldn't be!" is their reaction to this teaching. They were looking for a Messiah to set everything straight and make the Jewish nation the greatest on earth. Of course, we know that their minds were thinking of their political oppression far more than their sinful oppression.

To the Gentile, Paul says they just think it's utter nonsense to think that a man dying on a wooden cross 2,000 years ago should have any bearing on people's lives today. But that did not change Paul's preaching! He knew that the Messiah had to die a cruel death to save the Jew, and that Christ's death on the cross was the "wisest thing" God could do for all mankind! Remember, Christ's death guarantees eternal life for those who believe on Him! "He died that man might live!"

Between 1 Corinthians 1:18 and 23 we see that our preaching about the Cross of Christ is not the message the world wants to hear today. But it's the message they need to hear! Let's keep preaching it!