MORNING MANNA            2-9-23

WINDOWS OF HEAVEN

“Prove me now” (Mal. 3:10).

Having just finished Stewardship month the following quotes are good food for thought. If you wonder why some are blessed with more than others it might be because they had enough faith to trust God and gave more than others, and that caused God to open the windows of Heaven and bless them with an abundance.

 Someone said, “What is God saying here but this: “My child, I still have windows in Heaven. They are yet in service. The bolts slide as easily as of old. The hinges have not grown rusty. I would rather fling them open, and pour forth, than keep them shut, and hold back. I opened them for Moses, and the sea parted. I opened them for Joshua, and Jordan rolled back. I opened them for Gideon, and hosts fled. I will open them for you–if you will only let Me. On this side of the windows, Heaven is the same rich storehouse as of old. The fountains and streams still overflow. The treasure rooms are still bursting with gifts. The lack is not on my side. It is on yours. I am waiting. Prove Me now. Fulfill the conditions, on your part. Bring in the tithes. Give Me a chance.”

  S.D. Gordon said, “I can never forget my mother’s very brief paraphrase of Malachi 3:10. The verse begins, “Bring ye the whole tithe in,” and it ends up with “I will pour” the blessing out till you’ll be embarrassed for space. Her paraphrase was this: Give all He asks; take all He promises.” 

 J.H. Jowett wrote,” The ability of God is beyond our prayers, beyond our largest prayers! I have been thinking of some of the petitions that have entered into my supplication innumerable times. What have I asked for? I have asked for a cupful, and the ocean remains! I have asked for a sunbeam, and the sun abides! My best asking falls immeasurably short of my Father’s giving: it is beyond that we can ask.” –  HDS

David Stone

Lakeway Baptist Church

Humble, Tx.

MORNING MANNA            2-8-23

A LESSON ON LOVE

“ Let love be without dissimulation.. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;” Rom.12:9-10

“Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Rom.12:21

Over the years I’ve seen churches fracture, fail, and fold up. Unable to fellowship together the members unravel until there is nothing left but miserable memories. And the harm done is worse than words can tell, because the cause of Christ is harmed so greatly. The fact is, no church can last without love. The same is true of families. Lacking love our corrupt culture has collapsed and will continue to get worse and worse.

Therefore we must be prepared to combat the evils we face. We can’t always eliminate evil, but we can do our best to overcome it. We do that by using the weapon of good. It’s not enough to just quietly endure offenses as though they never happened. We are to take action by responding to the evil by doing good – expressing love. Remember, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35).

Trying to correct the problem without compassion is useless. Just telling someone to do better isn’t enough. In fact that alone can hurt more than it helps. Without an evidence of genuine love even the best counsel falls on deaf ears. A lecture can’t take the place of love. As has often been said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care!” And woe is unto us if we disobey God by refusing to love the unlovely.

Someone said, “Love is the king of the affections and the queen of the virtues. It’s in a league of its own….the core of divine essence:’God is love’.” Let us then remember that without charity we are “nothing”(1 Cor.13:3). Jesus changed us by loving us and we love Him because He first loved us. God help us to do the same- then we have a chance of changing others! – HDS

David Stone

 Lakeway Baptist Church 

Humble, Tx.

THINK ABOUT IT               2-7-23

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Ignorance of the Bible isn’t just a problem in our culture. It’s a problem in the church, and it’s scandalous.

How bad is it? Researchers tell us that it’s worse than most could imagine.

We would not expect secularized Americans to be knowledgeable about the Bible. A Barna poll once indicated that at least 12 percent of adults believe that Joan of Arc might be Noah’s wife. Another survey of graduating high school seniors revealed that over 50 percent thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife. A considerable number of respondents to one poll indicated that Billy Graham preached the Sermon on the Mount.

The larger scandal is biblical ignorance among Christians. Choose whichever statistic or survey you like, the general pattern is the same among professing Christians. America’s Christians know less and less about the Bible. It shows.

How can a generation be biblically shaped in its understanding of human sexuality when it believes Sodom and Gomorrah to be a married couple? No wonder our culture has so quickly embraced the normality of same-sex marriage. And it’s little wonder that Christians show a growing tendency to compromise on such issues.

Youth ministries are asked to fix problems, provide entertainment, and keep kids busy. But how many local church youth programs actually substantially increase their Bible knowledge during the critical junior high and high school years?

Even the pulpit has been sidelined in many congregations. Preaching has taken a back seat to other concerns in corporate worship. The centrality of biblical preaching to the formation of disciples is lost, and Christian ignorance leads to Christian indolence and worse.

Churches must recover the centrality and urgency of biblical teaching and preaching, and refuse to sideline the teaching ministry of the preacher. Pastors and churches too busy—or too distracted—to make biblical knowledge a central aim of ministry will produce believers who simply do not know enough to be faithful disciples. (Worse, they will fail to pass down a clear understanding of the gospel to the next generation sitting in the pews.)

We will not believe more than we know, and we will not live higher than our beliefs. The many fronts of Christian compromise in this generation can be directly traced to biblical illiteracy in the pews and the absence of biblical preaching and teaching in our homes and churches.

This generation of Christian parents and pastors must get deadly serious about the problem of biblical illiteracy, or a frighteningly large number of Americans—Christians included—will go on thinking that Sodom and Gomorrah lived happily ever after.

David Stone  

Lakeway Baptist Church

Humble, Tx.

MORNING MANNA              2-7-23

UNCERTAINTY

 “ Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.“- James 4:14-15

The last few years has put nearly everyone on edge. Uncertainty has made people uncomfortable, fearful, and reluctant. They are wondering,”What’s next”. It’s common to hear people say,”We live in uncertain times”. We are starting to realize that uncertainty is certain. The fact is, it has been that way since the fall of man. And it is that way throughout our days on earth.

 
Life is full of uncertainties and it’s that way at every stage of life. People say —

— “Will mom make me eat broccoli again?”

— “Will I make a passing grade?”

— “Will I make the team?”

— “Will he like me?”

— “Will she marry me?”

— “Will I get hired?”

— “Will I get a raise?”

— “Will the storm hit here?”

— “Will my lab work be ok?”

— “Will the treatments work?”

— “Will I live through this?”

— “Will I live long enough to ___?”

But— “Ye know not”

Whatever the case, we can’t afford to be governed by fear. In some cases our worry can harm us more than what we hope doesn’t happen. We can’t control the future, but we can change the way we view it. As someone says, and Bible confirms, “Man proposes, God disposes”.

We can’t see the future and, if you think it through, that’s a good thing. But we can trust God with it. To have peace we must live by faith. Confidence in God gives us courage. Therefore we need to focus on God’s promises instead of giving way to our feelings. He gives us “peace that passeth all understanding “.— HDS

David Stone

Lakeway Baptist Church

Humble, Tx.

MORNING MANNA               2-6-23

SIN AND ITS EFFECTS

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” – Romans 5:12

Can one man make a difference? Human history shouts in the affirmative.

One man, one woman, one child can have an enormous impact, either for good or evil. Adam, by eating of the fruit which God had forbidden, plunged himself and all his posterity into sin. And the inevitable result of sin was death.

The world is full of “if onlys”. If only Adam had not eaten of that fruit! If only the people had listened to Noah’s preaching! If only Moses had not lost his temper! If only Peter had stood up for Jesus!

On the other hand, the world is full of “what ifs”. What if Abraham had not faithfully followed God’s command? What if David had not stood up to Goliath? What if Paul had not written to the churches?

May your life be empty of the “if onlys” that come from disobeying the clear instructions of God in his Word. May history be filled with the “what ifs” of your faithful acts of obedience to God.

One Man entered history 2,000 years ago and lived a life free of “if onlys” so that we might live lives free of regret and full of joy, in his service and to his credit. Jesus unwound the “if onlys” of Adam’s sin and its effects and wove them into a magnificent tapestry of grace, to the glory of his name.( Copied)

David Stone

Lakeway Baptist Church 

Humble, Tx.