First Baptist Church Cross Plains

The story is told of a woodpecker who was pecking away on a pine tree when it was hit by a bolt of lightning and split from top to bottom. The woodpecker could hardly believe his eyes. He backed off, looked at the tree for a moment, and flew away. He came back later, leading nine other woodpeckers. Then, with a great deal of swagger and pride, he pointed to the tree and said, “There it is, gentlemen, just like I told you!” Now let’s get serious. As long as you remember to give God the credit for your success, He will keep using and blessing you. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above· (Jas 1 :17 NKJV). That means every good thing you enjoy today, and every good thing you’ll need tomorrow, is a “gift” from God. Paul writes, “That no flesh should glory in his presence.· There is no bragging in heaven, just praise. Why? Because you can’t brag on how you got to heaven; it is all by God’s grace. And you can’t brag on what you did for God before you got to heaven, because it was all God’s calling. He says, ·1 am the Lord, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another” (Isa 42:8 NKJV). Again He says, “Everyone who is called by My name, whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him” (Isa 43:7 NKJV). The Lord’s Prayer ends with the words “Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory· (Mt 6:13). For how long? ‘For ever and ever, Amen.’

Matthew records, ·Tnen Peter got…out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.” Today, ask yourself these three questions: (1) What’s my boat? It’s whatever gives you your greatest sense of security. It’s what you’re tempted to put your trust in when life gets stormy. To know what your boat is, ask yourself, “What is it that produces the most fear in me, especially when I think of leaving it behind and stepping out in faith?” /2) What’s keeping me from getting out of my boat? Fear. Fear of people, fear of failure, fear of criticism, fear of lack. In order to grow, you must go into new territory, and each time you do, you’ll experience fear. It never goes away. But each time you get out of your boat, you become a little more able to do it the next time, and you begin to realize that fear doesn’t have the power to destroy you. So when Jesus says to you, “Come,” start walking, He won’t let you drown. /3) What will I forfeit by staying in my boat? Your destiny. To achieve what you have not yet achieved, you must attempt what you have not yet attempted. Will there be risks? Yes. Baseball’s greatest hitters fail two times out of every three. But they know that if they don’t step up to the plate, they’ll never experience the joy of hitting a home run. Understand this: If you stay in your boat, you’ll eventually die there, and end up wondering what your life might have been if only you’d been willing to get out of your boat.

Are you asking, :is it too late for God to do something with me?” It’s never too late for God! In Scripture we read about broken people God raised up in marvelous ways. He used Moses, a murderer, to deliver the Hebrew slaves. He used Jacob, a liar and a trickster, to fulfill His promise to Abraham. He even included Rahab, a harlot, in the messianic family line. And if God redeemed them, He can redeem you too. Brokenness should never keep you bound. Rather, it should release you into a life of freedom. A truly broken person understands the reality of John 15:5, where Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing· (NLT). A broken person who has learned to depend on God is a force to be reckoned with. When you’re looking at a past strewn with failures, it’s difficult to see a bright future, just as it’s difficult to drive when you’re looking in the rear view mirror. You need to glance in your rear view mirror occasionally, but if you keep focusing on it you’ll end up hurting yourself and others. That’s why the windshield is so much bigger than the rear view mirror-it shows you where you’re headed instead of where you’ve been! When you turn to God He will forgive you, restore you, and use you for His purposes. He said, ·1 have seen what they do, but I will heal them anyway! I will lead them. I will comfort those who mourn, bringing words of praise to their lips” (Isa 57:18-19 NLT) The word for you today is-it’s never too late for God!

The Hebrew verb for test comes from a word that means “to take a keen look at, to look, to choose.” Dismiss the notion that God does not see your struggle. On the contrary, He is fully engaged. He sees the needs of tomorrow and, accordingly, uses your circumstances to create the test of today. Does He not have the authority to do so? He is the potter; we are the clay. He is the shepherd; we are the sheep. He is the gardener; we are the branches. He is the teacher; we are the students. Trust His training. You’ll get through this. And remember, all tests are temporary. They are limited in duration. The Bible says, “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials” (1 Pe 1:6 NIV). And here·s something else to keep in mind: You can’t shorten your testing period, but you can definitely lengthen it by being proud and stubborn, resisting what God wants to teach you. God won’t deny you that choice, but neither will He protect you from the consequences of that choice. You wouldn’t be the first student who had to repeat a grade in school, and you won’t be the last. You can go to church on Sunday and pay lip service to God’s Word; you can reject the principles of truth and seek the easy way out. But it doesn’t work. “Good understanding gains favor, but the way of the unfaithful is hard” (Pr 13:15 NKJV). Do it God’s way, for that’s the best way. Always!

Daily Bible study equips you for your God-given assignment in life. Paul writes: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching… reproof…correction … for training in righteousness; so that the man [and woman[ of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (vv. 16-17 NAS). According to Paul, all Scripture is profitable-but profitable for what? (1) For doctrine and teaching. It will structure your thinking, and that’s crucial, because if you’re not thinking correctly, you’re not living correctly. What you believe ultimately determines how you behave. /2) For reproof It will tell you where you’re out of bounds. Like an umpire who cries, ·out!” or “Safe!” the Bible lets you know what’s sinful, and what God wants for your life. /3) For correction. Do you have a closet in the house where you store all the junk you can’t find room for anywhere else? You cram it all in, then one day you forget, open the door, and-whoosh!-it all comes out? You say, “Good night! I’d better clean this thing up!” The Bible is like that; it opens the closet doors in your life and provides a purifying dynamic. /4) For training in righteousness. Having corrected us on the negatives, Paul gives us positive guidelines to follow as we go through life. For what reason? “That the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” Have you ever wished your life was more effective for Jesus Christ?  And if so, what have you done to prepare yourself? Bible study is a primary means of becoming an effective servant of Jesus Christ. Nothing can take its place!

Paul writes:  You have become dull of hearing…by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles…you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk… is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil’ (vv. 11-14 NAS). The key word in this passage is time. The people to whom these words were written had a learning disability:’ You have become dull of hearing; meaning you are slow to learn.By the time you ought to be entering college,you’ve got to go back to kindergarten and learn your ABCs all over again. By the time you should be communicating the truth as teachers, you need to have someone communicate the truth to you. Note the phrase · solid food is for the mature:  Who are the mature? Yo·u re mature if you’ve trained yourself through constant use of Scripture. The mark of spiritual maturity isn’t how much you learn, it’s how much you put into practice. In the spiritual realm the opposite of ignorance isn’t know ledge, but obedience. Obeying the Scriptures is the key to spiritual maturity. In the long term, you retain about 10 percent of what you hear, SO percent of what you see, and 90 percent of what you do. So: “Don’t just listen to God’s Word… do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves… if you do what it says… God will bless you for doing it (Jas 1 :22, 25 NLT).

Daily Bible study is essential to your spiritual growth. Professor Howard Hendricks writes: When our kids were youngsters growing up, we set up a growth chart on the back of a closet door. As they grew, they begged us to measure how tall they’d gotten and record it on the chart. It didn’t matter how small the increments were, they bounced up and down with excitement to see their progress One time after I measured one of my daughters, she asked me the sort of question you wish kids wouldn’t ask: ‘ Daddy, why do big people stop growing?’ How could I explain that big people don·t stop growing- we just grow in a different direction? I don·t know what I told her, but to this day the Lord is still asking me, ‘Hendricks,are you growing old, or are you growing up?’ How about you? How long have you been a Christian? Nine months?Thirty-nine years? The real issue is how much have you grown up? Step up to God’s growth chart and measure your progress.That’s what tile apostle Peter meant when he wrote, ‘Like newborn babies long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation:Just as a baby grabs for the bottle, you grab for the Bible.The baby has to have milk to sustain its life physically; and you have to have the Scriptures to sustain your life spiritually. So the first reason for studying the Scriptures is that it’s a means of spiritual growth. It is God’s primary tool to develop you as an individual:

Zacchaeus got rich by taking more taxes from people than his Roman masters demanded, and pocketing the difference.  But after he met Jesus, he said, “If I have cheated people…I will give them back four times as much”  (NLT).  Consequently, Jesus said, · salvation has come to this home today· (v. 9 NLT). Integrity isn’ t about regret, or seeking to minimize painful consequences, or attempting to do damage control. It’s about honest repentance,making amends, and living in a way that guarantees you’ll do things differently in the future. Writing about integrity, one pastor says:’ People look around them at promiscuity, abortion, sexually transmitted disease,sand mourn its passing. They see officials taking bribes, business leaders demanding kickbacks, investors parlaying inside information into untold wealth, and they lament the demise of integrity. They read about battered wives, jobless husbands, and abused children, and wonder what happened to caring:  The Bible says, ‘The integrity of the upright shall guide them· (Pr 11:3). Rebuilding your integrity means humbly acknowledging that sometimes your thoughts aren’t fit to print or that you’ve hurt someone and need to make things right. It’s estimated that 50 percent of American Christians cheat on their tax returns; that’s roughly the same percentage as those who don’t claim to follow Christ! Integrity is who you are when nobody’s looking. Job said,’ Does He not see my ways?… If I have walked with falsehood, or if my foot has hastened to deceit, let me be weighed on honest scales, that God may know my integrity(Job 31:4-6 NKJV). Starting today, rebuild your integrity.

At age twenty·six, Thomas started a publishing company and founded the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses in America. He worked with some of the greatest singers in the history of Gospel music, including Mahalia Jackson. But one night after singing to a Saint Louis audience, he was handed a telegram that said, “Your wife just died: She had passed away in childbirth. Thomas hurried back home to Chicago, where his newborn son died the following day. He plunged into depression, avoided people, and grew angry with God. ·1 felt God had done me an injustice. I didn’t want to serve Him anymore or write Gospel songs.· Then a friend took him to a neighborhood music school. That evening Thomas sat down at a piano and began to play… and pray. He poured out his heart to God, and what wonderful words they were: “Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, let me stand, I am tired, I am weak, I am worn; through the storm, through the night, lead me on to the light: Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home: Thomas A. Dorsey testified that the Lord healed him that night as he sat at the piano. He went on to pen more than a thousand songs and become one of the most influential Christian songwriters of all time. All because he reached out to God for help, The psalmist did that too: ·1 called on the Lord in distress, and the Lord answered me.” So the word for you today is-turn to God; He will not disappoint you.