MORNING MANNA             5-26-23

RELIGIOUS BUT LOST

“There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”- John 3:1–3

Sometimes people get close to safety only to take a wrong turn, follow a wrong path, or simply give up. The same can be said for many people’s spiritual condition as well. Did you know it is possible for someone to be religious but lost spiritually? That may sound like an oxymoron, but as we will see today, God desires for us to have a relationship with Him rather than religion.

In John 3 we see the story of a man who was religous but was lost. Nicodemus was a religious leader of his day, a Pharisee. He had studied the Old Testament scrolls and had even memorized many of them. His life revolved around keeping the law and obeying the rules of the Old Testament. He was extremely religous but was spiritually lost.

Nicodemus approached Jesus at night, perhaps in fear of what the other religous leaders would think. Christ was not accepted by the Pharisees because of His teachings of salvation through faith, not through the keeping of the law. He wanted people to have a relationship with Him rather than follow a religous system.

Nicodemus had religion, but he didn’t have a relationship with the Lord. Jesus told him, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Salvation comes through trusting in Christ, not through performing religious acts.

Of all the people who could have claimed religion, Nicodemus was one. He had more than likely studied the Bible since he was a young child. Another man who was extremely religious was the Apostle Paul before his conversion. As he said, “Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless (Philippians 3:5–6). Paul was an elite religious leader, yet until he put his faith in Christ, he was without salvation.

Do you have a relationship with Christ or do you simply perform religious acts? God wants to have a one-on-one, daily relationship with you, and that relationship comes through belief in His Son’s sacrifice on the Cross.- Daily in the Word.

David Stone

Lakeway Baptist Church 

Humble, Tx.

MORNING MANNA            5-25-23

PERFECT PEACE

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.”Isaiah 26:3-4

Why is “the righteous nation” (ver. 2) composed of people who are kept in “perfect peace”? It is because their minds are stayed on God. And why are their minds stayed on God? It is because they trust in him. Trusting in God leads to minds fixed on God which leads to hearts kept in perfect peace. Don’t you want that? Then pay attention to the logic of the text!

It starts with trusting God. Of course, not just any god, but the true God, the “Lord Jehovah” in whom is “everlasting strength” (ver. 4). The gods of the nations are idols and can do nothing. The modern rejection of any God for the secular reliance on self is even worse. There is no wonder that we live in times that, despite the proliferation of psychologists and psychiatrists, are characterized by incredible levels of stress and anxiety. But instead of our penchant to trust in ourselves, the Scriptures direct our gaze to the true God who dwells in the heavens and does whatever he pleases (Ps. 115:3; 135:6), and who directs the affairs in this world so that he is ultimately glorified and his people blessed. Indeed, “blessed are all they that put their trust in him” (Ps. 2:12).

If we trust in the God of the Bible (and not a god of our own making), then our minds will be stayed on him. You can tell what your trust is in by what your mind dwells upon, especially when trouble is near. If your trust is in God, then your mind will be directed to him when fears arise. “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee” (Ps. 56:3). To have your mind stayed upon God means that the determinative factor in how you approach and think about the problems that surround you is the character and power and the promises of God towards you. Do we do that? If not, then let us examine our hearts for what it is that we are truly trusting in.

When we learn to lean upon God in this way, trusting in him and staying upon him, then it is inevitable that God will keep us in perfect peace. I think this is very similar to what the apostle Paul is talking about when he says, “Be careful [anxious] for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7). This is the kind of peace that you want: not a peace that you work up, but a peace that God gives. And it is given to those who trust in him, whose minds are stayed upon him, and which is expressed in a commitment to give everything to him in prayer (cf. Ps. 55:22).

Perfect peace! Let us avail ourselves of this great and wonderful gift by lifting our eyes to the God of heaven from whom comes all our help.- Baptist Bible Hour

David Stone

Lakeway Baptist Church 

Humble, Tx.

MORNING MANNA              5-24-23

MOVED WITH COMPASSION

“But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”- Matthew 9:36-38

Alexander Maclaren, Baptist minister in Scotland in the late 1800s, once said, “Kindness makes a person attractive. If you would win the world, melt it, do not hammer it.” Maclaren makes the point that kindness and compassion has more of an influence on others than harsh treatment. 

One of the greatest examples we have of compassion is seen in Christ. His compassion took Him from Heaven’s perfect habitation to earth’s sinful state. It drew Him to a people whom He loved but who hated Him, and it led Him to a death on an old rugged Cross. Compassion was the driving factor behind Jesus’ earthly ministry, and the story in our verses today illustrates this truth. 

“But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.” Christ saw the people before Him, not as followers or promoters of his popularity, but as lost souls, needing His help. 

Imagine being in Christ’s spot. Multitudes of people stood before Him, and, whether they knew it or not, they needed His healing, physically and spiritually. They had been lost in a tradition of religious knowledge and worship that He had come to end. Everyone in Israel needed His salvation.

Jesus was moved with compassion by seeing the needs of the people. Jesus’ compassion wasn’t simply a heartfelt emotion; He acted upon His compassion. He commanded the disciples, “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”

How do you view the people around you? Do you see them as friends, neighbors, perhaps people with problems? Or do you, like the Lord, see them as people needing help? Having godly compassion means seeing the needs of people before seeing the differences in people.

Some people are called to be missionaries and spread God’s Word, but we all are instructed to pray for the lost souls of others. No one person can reach the entire world, but as God’s people pray for His work to be done and are faithful in the work God has called them to do, God’s message will be spread.

It’s sometimes overwhelming to think of the millions of people you cannot reach with God’s Word. Sometimes you might even want to drop everything and travel the world, telling others of Christ! While that is a worthy aspiration, He has called you to be faithful where you are and continue reaching out to those around you.

How far is your spiritual reach? Do you reach out to people around you through witnessing, to missionaries through praying, and to other countries through giving? God desires that you would have compassion on the lost of this world, and that compassion would move you enough to seek God’s help in reaching them. Take time today to pray for God’s work to be prosperous in other countries, and continue reaching out in your own mission field where you live. You can make a difference as you are faithful where you are right now.(Daily in the Word)

David Stone

Lakeway Baptist Church 

Humble, Tx.

MORNING MANNA              5-23-23

SJCH WERE SOME OF YOU

“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” I Corinthians 6:9-11

The Bible teaches the absolute necessity of the new birth. “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?” God is holy, and none of us are righteous within ourselves. Every person is in need of salvation. In our unregenerate and natural state, none will qualify for Heaven. 

People are deceived about the seriousness of sin, the nature of salvation, and the requirement of rebirth and imputed righteousness. False teachers assure their listeners that good works or moral reform will gain an entrance into God’s holy Heaven. This is not true. That is why the text says, “Be not deceived.” 

Thank God for salvation that brings forgiveness of sin and the new man of righteousness. God’s gift of eternal life produces transformed lives in those who are redeemed. Only God can create a new person through the miracle of the new birth. We can identify with Paul’s statement, “And such were some of you.” We may not be all that we should be, but thank God we are not what we once were. God can change anyone. When we are born again, we become new creatures in Christ. Our past is exactly that; it is our past. 

Sometimes new believers have a hard time putting their past behind them because of guilt over past sins. It is important that we take God at His Word concerning our former lives. Our sins are under the blood; we have been justified by His grace; and we have peace with God.

Because we remember what we once were, it should help us have compassion on the unsaved and a desire to reach them with the Gospel. Nothing could have changed us like the power of salvation. We should never look, with a critical, judgmental eye, at others still bound in sin. But for the grace of God, we would still be there. The next time we get irritated or frustrated with the behavior of lost sinners, remember this: “And such were some of you.”- Thomas Smith

David Stone

Lakeway Baptist Church 

Humble, Tx.

MORNING MANNA               5-20-23

Love’s Constraint

“ For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.”- 2 Cor. 5:14-15

An ambassador may live in a foreign country, but he does not belong to it. He is there to represent his own country, and no opportunity of helping forward her interests is allowed to pass. We have to represent Christ to the world. The word “constrain” suggests a constant pressure, an urge, as when water is forced down a certain channel. St. Paul says: “I act as I do because I am under the spell of a mighty constraint; I can do no other; I am not master of myself. Do not wonder at what may seem to be unusual and extravagant. Attribute my eccentricity to Christ—His love actuates me, and bears me along.”

What is meant by “the love of Christ?” Is it His to us, or ours to Him? It is impossible to divide them thus, for they are one. As the sunlight strikes the moon, and is reflected from her to the earth, so the love we have to Christ, or to man, is the reflection of His love to us. All love in our cold and loveless hearts is the emanation and reflection of the Love which began in Him, was mediated to us in Calvary, and is reflected from us, as sunlight from a mirror.

The love of Christ does not constrain all Christian people, because they do not understand the profound significance of the Cross; but when the soul once appreciates that, and passes through the gate of death into the life of God, then it begins to feel the constraining love of Christ. The pivot of our life must be the Risen Christ: “We no longer live unto ourselves, but unto Him who rose again.” We sometimes hear people described as eccentric—out of the centre. A man is ex-centric to the world when he is concentric with Christ. It is thus that we become a new creation. When by faith we are united to Jesus Christ in His Cross and Grave, the transition is made. We pass over into the Easter life. He has reconciled us unto Himself, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation—therefore we are ambassadors. We have to proclaim forgiveness to the sinful, the loosening of their chains to those who sit in prison-houses, and the near approach of salvation to all (Isa 52:7-10).

Prayer

This empty cup for Thee to fill;
This trembling heart for Thee to still;
This yielded life to do Thy will,
O Lord of Love, I bring Thee. Amen.

FB Meyer

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