MORNING MANNA                  8-28-23  
PUT AWAY LYING

 “Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man the truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another”.–Ephesians 4:25 

Sometimes we wonder what is hindering God’s working in the church, when the truth is that we need not look any further than the end of our nose–no, better yet  to the tip of our tongue! We are quick to point out how the sin of drunkenness, adultery, etc. robs us of blessings, but seldom do we attribute it to our own dishonesty. We are quick to lay the blame on someone else’s doorstep without giving a thought to the possibility that we might be the problem. Even when we know we’ve lied we don’t associate it with anything so serious as hindering the church or endangering our lives. 

If you know anything about God you know that He is holy and He hates falsehood. “Lying lips are abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight.”(Proverbs 12:22). Yet the average church member doesn’t think twice about distorting the truth. It happens in regards to the committment they make in baptism, the church covenant, and statements made concerning their intentions, and denial sins. Then we wonder what is holding back the blessings of God. How dumb is that? People laugh at “dumb blonde” jokes, but nothing is dumber than this. The evidence is staring us in the face. We need to stop pretending that we don’t know what the problem is. We cannot ignore sin and expect God to bless. If you really can’t identify the problem ask God for help–He isn’t trying to hide it.

 

Lying is a characteristic of unsaved people (Rev. 21:8). When we lie we leave our testimony in shambles, grieve the Holy Spirit, rob ourselves of a good conscience, and keep God from pouring out His blessings. We even jeopardize our lives (Acts 5:1-11). It is shameful when church members lie to get what they want and then fail to keep their word. God never takes it lightly. Those who distort the truth to get what they desire end up losing what they’ve got.

 
You can call it a “little white lie”, or “a fib”, or “just doing business”, or “mere exaggeration”, but when you fail to keep your word it is a lie, a sin. God hates it and God will handle it–He never ignores it! Regardless of how polite or innocent it may seem, no lie ever goes unnoticed or without consequences. If we are wise we will heed Solomon’s warning in Ecclesiastes 5:4-6 “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?“. So how is it with you? Is God delighted or disgusted with your words? Lie now and cry later!- HDS ,(2-7-11, revised)

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

MORNING MANNA               8-26-23

RESIST THE DEVIL

“Resist the devil.”  James 4:7
Having experienced great blessings from God recently we must keep in mind that Satan will do all he can to hinder us. That being the case we would do well to give attention to what James Smith wrote back in 1840. He said……

“Every believer must expect to be visited by Satan; he is our adversary; he is always watching for an opportunity to injure us. He first tempts us to sin, and then accuses us of sinning. He misrepresents every subject. He endeavours to make the world appear lovely, sin trifling, death terrible; he generates hard thoughts of God, perverts His holy word and leads believers into bondage. His fiery darts are very terrible. Thoughts the most blasphemous, horrible, and unnatural, are often thrown into the mind by him; and then he lays them to our charge, and distresses our souls on account of them. But we are called upon to resist him steadfast in the faith, believing what God is to us; what Christ has done for us; what He has promised to give us; and that God will bruise him under our feet shortly. The triumph of this wicked one is but short; for we shall overcome him by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of His testimony. Look to Jesus, call upon thy God, and oppose the blood and righteousness of Jesus to all his charges. He is mighty, but thy Jesus is ALMIGHTY. Take this shield of faith, and thou shalt quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.”

Temptations everywhere annoy;
And sins and snares my peace destroy;
Lord, let Thy presence be my stay,
And guard me in this dangerous way.

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

MORNING MANNA            8-25-23
CONFESSING OUR SINS

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. —1 John 1:9 

Confession of sin can be very very difficult–especially when you have a reputation to uphold, or an office to maintain, or a marriage to save, or a job to keep, or money to lose, etc. It is usually the last thing we want to do. 

People are eaten up with envy, jaded with jealousy, blighted with bitterness, consumed with covetousness, frozen by fear, polluted by pride, etc., yet they refuse to admit it. Although it’s obvious to others, ruining relationships, corrupting their character, hurting their happiness, and souring their spirit, they refuse to to repent.

 It would be so simple and it is so serious and there is so much at stake that you would think everyone would do it, but few do. Instead, they use every excuse imaginable to keep from dealing with it and blame everyone possible for it. They imagine that it wouldn’t make anything better, or that people won’t forgive, or that they won’t be able to stop, or that they have plenty of time, or that someone else should take the first step. It’s a fool’s game, but they play it without fear. 

There is so much at stake that we ought to confess our sins as quickly as possible, as sincerely as we can, and as completely as is necessary. We ought to do it without hesitation, reservation, argument, or question. Why would you wait? How long will you wait? What might you lose while you wait? All the while, as you entertain sin in your life you deprive yourself of blessings. Whatever the price you must pay by confessing your sins it is not as much as the cost of not doing so. No one sins successfully. 

We ought to be forever thankful that forgiveness is possible. We don’t deserve the least of God’s favor, yet he forgives and restores. He does so only because of the sacrifice of Christ, His own dear Son. Once we have established a relationship with God by trusting Christ as our Savior, we ought to maintain our fellowship with God by confessing our sins–all of them, right now! Doing so will bring peace into your heart and blessing into your life. Make this day a turning point in your life by confessing every known sin. HDS, 4-2-11 

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

MORNING MANNA            8-24-23

FINDING THE FACTS

Several years ago I read the following story in Steve Farrar’s book “Point Man”:The photographer for a national magazine was assigned to shoot a great forest fire. He was told that a small plane would be waiting to take him over the fire. He arrived at the airstrip just an hour before sundown. Sure enough the Cessna was waiting. He jumped in with his equipment and shouted, “Let’s go!” The pilot swung the plane into the wind and soon they were in the air. “Fly over the north side of the fire,” said the photographer, “and make several low-level passes.” “Why?” asked the nervous pilot. “Because I’m going to take pictures!” retorted the photographer. “I’m a photographer, and photographers take pictures.” After a long pause, the pilot replied. “You mean, you’re not the instructor?”

That humorous story illustrates something that’s not funny. Many people jump on board with someone or something without thinking about it first. They commit some act, embrace some doctrine, unite with some religion, or join with some church without thinking it through first.

The Bible tells us to “Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established “.(Prov.4:26). Yet many grope through life like blind men. They give no serious thought to their actions, other than whether or not it pleases them. And sadder still is the fact that such foolishness hurts others as well as ourselves.

The old adage “Look before you leap” is good advice. If we are wise we will make our decisions in the light of God’s Word and after prayer. So, before you make a choice consider the consequences, lest you endanger yourself.- HDS

David Stone

Lakeway Baptist Church 

Humble, Tx.

How heart-cheering to the believer, is the delight which God has in His redeemed people!

We cannot see any reason in ourselves why the Lord should take pleasure in us. We cannot take delight in ourselves, for we often have to groan, being burdened; conscious of our sinfulness, and deploring our unfaithfulness.

And we fear that God’s people cannot take much delight in us, for they must perceive so much of our imperfections and our follies, that they may rather lament our infirmities, than admire our graces.

But we love to dwell upon this transcendent truth, this glorious mystery—that as the bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so does the Lord rejoice over us!

We do not read anywhere that God delights in the cloud-capped mountains, or the sparkling stars—but we do read that His delights are with the sons of men.

We do not find it written that even angels give His soul delight; nor does He say, concerning cherubim and seraphim, “You shall be called Hephzibah, for the Lord delights in you”; but He does say all that to poor fallen creatures like ourselves, debased and depraved by sin—but redeemed and saved by His grace.

In what strong language He expresses His delight in His people! Who could have conceived of the eternal One as bursting forth into a song? Yet it is written, “He will take great delight in you . . . He will rejoice over you with singing!”

As He looked upon the world He had made, He said, “It is very good”. But when He beheld those who are the purchase of Jesus’ blood, His own chosen ones, it seemed as if the great heart of the Infinite could restrain itself no longer—but overflowed in divine exclamations of joy.

Should not we utter our grateful response to such a marvelous declaration of His love, and sing, “I will rejoice in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!”- author unknown