“A wise man will hear, and will increase learning”—– Prov. 1:5

It is amazing that some folks have such a bad attitude toward education. Too many are like the farmer who said to a well-educated city preacher, “Tha good Lawd don’t got no use for your book learnin”. To which the preacher replied, “Nor has He any greater need of your ignorance”. 

Well, regardless of what some people think, the Bible stresses the importance of learning. You’ve heard it said, “What you don’t know can’t hurt you”, but that’s not true. Not only can it hurt you, it can kill you! Hosea 4:6 says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge–“. Yet multitudes attend Sunday School and church every week who seldom learn anything. Some make no effort. They are distracted by a non-stop effort to please self and see no need to dig deeper in the Word of God. Then there are others who have simply never learned how to learn and they go on day by day thinking they have reached their intellectual limit, so why try? But there is also the wise man who realizes there is always more to learn and he refuses to be satisfied with his intellectual attainments. He loves to learn. He longs after knowledge like a thirsty man longs for water. He yearns to learn. This is the kind of person who makes a difference in the world. He understands the times and knows what to do. Feeding on the Word of God, he grows and it shows.

How is it with you–do you have a yearning for learning? If we are to be among the wise we must acknowledge the importance of learning, we must admit that some of our ideas might be wrong, we must attempt to learn, and we must apply what we learn unto our lives. Learning involves more than just becoming acquainted with the facts. We are to become doers of the Word and not hearers only. – HDS
 
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

John 3 is one of the most popular chapters in the Bible, and for good reason. It’s the story of Nicodemus, a religious man, a teacher in need of being taught. He had spent his entire life studying the Scriptures, yet he failed to understand the most basic of all spiritual truth—-“Ye must be born again”. Like any self-righteous Jew, Nicodemus depended on his natural birth, his knowledge of the law, and his religious devotion to secure for himself a place in God’s kingdom. But in his encounter with Jesus he learned that none of these is enough. They aren’t enough for you either—-“Ye must be born again”. In our Lord’s response to Nicodemus He speaks of these four things:

I. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL— vs. 6 “That which is born of the flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit”.
We marvel at the birth of a child and speak about how cute and precious babies are, but there is more to a child than what meets the eye–there is an ugly side. Every child is born with a sinful nature. And what we are by nature or nurture is never enough to make us righteous. The natural man is sinful, separated from God and condemned.

II. THE DEMAND FOR A NEW BIRTH—vs. 7 “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again”.
Man’s great need is regeneration, not reformation. He must become a new person and that requires a new birth, a spiritual creation. The spiritually dead person needs life which requires a birth, and only God can produce life. He is the source of life, a living Spirit, the fountain of living water.

III. THE DYNAMICS OF THE NEW BIRTH—vs. 8 “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”The new birth is a work of God, rather than man. Salvation is something God does for us, not something we do for God. We are saved as a result of being accepted by God—but we cannot make ourselves acceptable. We are accepted by Him only when we accept His Son as our Lord and Savior(Eph. 1:6).

IV. THE DISCERNMENT OF THE NEW BIRTH—vs. 9-10 “Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?”Since this is the one thing we cannot afford to be wrong about we need to accept what Jesus says. Until a person comes into agreement with Him there is no hope. In these verses we see two important truths:
1. Religion is worthless apart from regeneration–vs. 9-10
   Nicodemus should have known this. His confusion shows what happens when we value tradition more than truth.
2. Redemption is in Christ alone– vs. 11-13
   Any student of the Old Testament should have known what Jesus says here. The O.T. clearly points to Christ, leaving us without excuse for not recognizing Him and receiving Him as Lord and Savior. Jesus is not “a” way to heaven. He is “the way” (John 14:6).

The importance of this subject should inspire you to investigate it to the fullest. Have you? Will you? Ye must be born again! – HDS
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

“Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.”  —Proverbs 4:26

Every path has a destination and decisions determine destiny. You need to think about that. There is no road to nowhere. Every path leads somewhere. And God has given us the privilege and responsibility to choose. Every choice has consequences. Where we end up is the culmination of choices. If we are wise we will “ponder the path” we take.

Chilon of Sparta was said to be one of the wisest men of the ancient world. He was called one of the Seven Sages of Greece. One of the sayings for which he is remembered is, “Consider the end”. Although he lived six centuries before Christ that is still good advice. It is in fact a scriptural admonition, as our text shows. We are to “ponder” (weigh) the path we take, rather than wrecklessly proceeding down life’s road.

The path of righteousness leads to a great many things to be desired. The path of rebellion leads to destruction. The choice is yours— choose wisely! Consider the end at the very beginning. Consider the consequences of your choices and it will save you much pain and suffering. The Psalmist said, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD—“(Ps. 37:23), so let us look to God for guidance throughout life’s journey. But to do His will we must search His Word—“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path“(Ps. 119:105). It is the means whereby He guides us. Those who neglect it will find themselves on the wrong road.

There are a lot of things in life that we can’t control or change, but with God as our guide we can make choices that will lead us to the best possible place. No one ever went wrong by going right. When we consider the end and choose the right route we never end up on the wrong road — a road that leads to ruin.- HDS,  (9/16/13)

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

“And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil. And thou hast showed this day how that thou hast dealt well with me: forasmuch as when the LORD had delivered me into thine hand, thou killedst me not.”-1 Sam. 24:17-18

Although far from perfect, David was a great man. We see his greatness in many ways, but one of the best examples is found in our text. Here we see him giving good for evil. When Saul, who was on a mission to kill David, entered the cave to attend to his needs he had no idea that David and his men were hiding there. He was at the mercy of the man he wanted to murder. But, although urged by his men to kill Saul, David spared him — cutting off a piece of his robe to prove he had done so. Not until later did Saul realize that David had shown him mercy.

What David did was God-like. Rom. 5:8 says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”. To be like Jesus we must do the same. To return evil for evil is beast like. To return evil for good is devil-like. To return good for good is man like. To return good for evil is God-like. Who are you like? David did many things that we can’t do, but returning good for evil is something we could and should do. Although you can’t kill a lion, a bear, or a giant as David did, you can overcome evil with good.

If you are plotting evil against someone who hurt you stop it. Instead, do to them as God has done for you. Return good for evil ( Rom. 12:17-21). It might be contrary to what you want to do or what others tell you to do, but do it any way. That’s the only way to justify the hope that things will get better. This could save your marriage, keep you employed, make a friend, spare you harm, strengthen your testimony, give you peace, and help others. Most of all it will please God and that makes it important. Goodness is the only weapon that can overcome evil. Use it! — HDS

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

“These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look….”- Pro. 6: 16-17

Ask anyone if God hates pride and they will answer as they should- “Yes!”. But few see it as a problem in their lives. Some, in fact, find it to be attractive — although an abomination to God. On the other hand some are quite proud of their humility– unaware that we are never more proud than when we think we aren’t. Far too many people either aren’t aware of their pride or won’t admit it. But it is harmful either way.

Pride is terrible and it does terrible things to people. The products of pride are many. The book of Proverbs is a great study source on the subject. Pride provokes Deity ( Pro. 6:16); proves depravity ( Pro. 21:4); promotes dissension ( Pro. 13:10); produces dishonor ( Pro. 11:2); and precedes destruction ( Pro. 16:18). You would think that we would do everything in our power to avoid something so sinful and destructive, but few do. Rather than humbling themselves before the Lord they rush head-long down the path of destruction, depriving themselves of the blessings they could have had.

Do you see your need of humility or do you think you can get along just fine just being you? Pride blinds you to your need of God and deceives you into thinking you are sufficient in and of yourself. That results in ruin in numerous ways, but most of all in regards to eternity. Every person in hell is there because they didn’t see their need of Christ. Every person in heaven is there because they were humble, like the publican who prayed, “God be merciful to me a sinner” ( Luke 18:13). God says of such people, ” For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”- Heb. 8:12. — HDS

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346