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The Fear of God Devotional (updated)

Since the first week of June I have been participating in a daily devotion on the topic “the Fear of God.” If you have missed any of them or don’t know anything about them get started HERE. The daily devotional is provided by the National Center of Family Integrated Churches.

The Fear of God

I’m thankful to the Lord for the ministry of the National Center of Family Integrated Churches and it’s director Scott Brown. I’ve recently had the privilege to participate in a devotional project with trusted brothers coloaborating our attention upon the topic of the fear of God.

Every weekday there is a new (short) video and devotional thought to cause the participant to meditate upon the attributes of God and His call to us to fear Him. Here is my latest contribution from Friday, June 17, and a link to the past few weeks of helpful devotional thoughts. Be sure to check HERE each day for more in the coming weeks.

How Does the Fear of God Liberate Me from NCFIC on Vimeo.

The Manifest Presence of God

A few guys over at SBCVoices.com are discussing the topic of the manifest presence of God.

This is of great interest to me:

One of the most helpful things on this topic for me is two fold:

1) Psalm 139, 1 Kings 8:27, Jeremiah 23:24, Proverbs 15:3
2) Where there is no mistaking that the bible clearly shows us that there is nowhere God is not and that there is nothing that can singularly contain Him; there is no place that God is not already there. “Manifest presence” of God are those special moments where God’s presence is unmistakably present.

If God is everywhere, and I believe He is, then we must agree that he is equally present at a Mormon temple, a Muslim mosque, a kingdom hall gathering, a Masonic lodge, a Planned Parenthood clinic, a Satanic event, and a Baptist church service. He’s not being worshiped in these places just because they are places where He is.

Is it possible that God’s presence is manifestly different in places and times of His choosing where His people humble themselves? Yes.

O may He manifestly visit His church again.

Behold Your God

This past Sunday evening I finished a 12 week bible study with several people at Eastside Baptist Church. I want to take just a moment and give a short review of the study for consideration for others, Behold Your God

Let me start with what I didn’t like about Behold Your God. This won’t take long… If there is a critique I could give from a participants point of view after finishing the study it is that I would liked to have heard more from Richard Owen Roberts. That’s about all the negative criticism I can give, and understand that the negative criticism is based on a bias for appreciation for brother Roberts and the impact his preaching has had on my life over these past several years.

This was actually the second time I had done the study. Renee and I did this together just before walking through this with several in our church. I was encouraged to see attendance remained strong throughout the course of time with only a few not finishing.

Twelve weeks sounds like a long time, but it actually went by very fast.

The Workbook:

  • The workbook followed a similar pattern that church goers are likely familiar with. It’s really designed to be a devotional workbook.
  • The workbook is designed to be completed the week before the weekly session and divided into 5 days per week.
  • The time it took to complete each day varied from 20 to 40 minutes.
  • The strength of the workbook was really in the weightiness of reading Scripture. This was less a study of reading man’s opinion on social matters and a quest for “rethinking God biblically.”
  • If you’re  not in the habit or practice of writing thoughts or expressing your thoughts then you may find the workbook invasive, but this practice is beneficial.

The Video Sessions:

  • All 12 of the video session include three parts…
    • biographical sketches of past saints such as; Charles Spurgeon, A.W. Tozer, George Muller, Amy Carmichael, Jonathon Edwards and others
    • Teaching from pastor/author John Snyder
    • interview clips from modern men like Paul Washer, Richard Owen Roberts, Conrad Mbewe, Eifion Evans, Jordan Thomas and others.
  • The video sessions are about an hour long.
  • The strength of the videos are the teaching with John Snyder. His teaching is biblical, and because it’s biblical, it’s relevant.

It was my experience that the study was rich with biblical truth, helpful to cause healthy examination, leading unto repentance, encouraging to press into the character and attributes of God.

I recommend  the Behold Your God without reservation.

Two early outcomes in my life personally are:

  • I cannot afford to know God better without the lamp of Scripture. If Scripture is not showing me who God is then I’m depending on the experiences of others and at risk of creating a god for myself.
  • A.W. Tozer was right when he said “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

“The highest priority of the day must be a full return to the God of the entire Bible.” Richard Owen Roberts

From the Author of Behold Your God, John Snyder

 

The Highway of Holiness

Consider joining me at Ridgecrest Conference Center in Ashville, North Carolina this fall, October 29-31, 2015, for the “Highway of Holiness” conference.

A highway will be there, a roadway,
And it will be called the Highway of Holiness.
The unclean will not travel on it,
But it will be for him who walks that way,
And fools will not wander on it.
No lion will be there,
Nor will any vicious beast go up on it;
These will not be found there.
But the redeemed will walk there,
And the ransomed of the Lord will return
And come with joyful shouting to Zion,
With everlasting joy upon their heads.
They will find gladness and joy,
And sorrow and sighing will flee away. (Isaiah 35:8-10 NASB, emphasis mine)

Conference Registration: REGISTRATION
Conference Lodging: LODGING 
Full list of speakers: SPEAKERS

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Preparing for Corporate Worship (part 4)

Men, when your family wakes up on Sunday, do they ask you,  “Are we going to church?” or do they arise saying to themselves, “this is what we do and this is where we go.” If they are asking you, “do we have to go to church today?” or “are we going to church today?” then you are teaching them that God and his people are not important. They will likely grow up with less interest in the things of God than you. This would be a tragic legacy to leave them.

Gather your family together tonight and make plans to gather with the saints on this coming Lord’s Day.

In this video Boyd Dellinger,  Jeff Pollard, Joe Morecraft, Joel Beeke, Fikret Bocek, Kevin Swanson, Marcus Serven, Scott Brown and myself discuss family preparation for corporate worship.

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