Looking at the world around us it’s easy to wonder “What in the world is wrong with the world?” How did we get to this place? While this could be answered in several ways, I believe the answer is this – moral relativity has ripped the fabric of our society to shreds. Basing beliefs on that nothing is sacred or sure, everything is subjective. That’s why we see no clear lines of demarcation between right and wrong in the world. Everything is up in the air for whatever you want to grab. And if you take a stand for an absolute you will meet with disdain and debate, or worse. In the mind of most people each person is free to embrace their own “personal truth” – whatever that means. It’s no wonder that there is so much confusion and conflict. Without the absolute truth as our benchmark nobody knows what is right and wrong.

We ought to thank God that He has given us something more than the guesses of man. He has given us His infallible Word by which He can direct our steps, a sure guide that never leads us astray. So, now we have a firm foundation upon which we can rest and build our hopes. For our greatest needs to be met the Bible must be the basis for our beliefs and behavior. It is the only proven reliable source of truth. God doesn’t give us a mixture of truth and error. His book is true throughout. Therefore we must read it to establish and evaluate our beliefs. We all too easily deceive ourselves. But when we look into the word of God we see things as they are. According to James 1:23-24 it is like looking in a mirror to see ourselves as we really are.- warts and all. We need that lest we content ourselves being less than we ought to be.

But it doesn’t end there. Not only is God’s word plain, it is also powerful. It transforms. As we focus on the glory of the Lord seen in the Word of the Lord we “are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18). But be warned! We won’t always like what we see in the mirror. Nevertheless, we need a good look at ourselves anyway. So the next time you hear a sermon that is too personal to be pleasurable just remember – that’s what you need. The best sermons are those that help us become our best by being like Jesus! – HDS

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

I’ve lost track of all the lonely miles I’ve travelled preaching revival meetings. Most of the timeI would drive home as soon as the meeting was ended. Over and over again I would drive all night just to get back home as quickly as possible. I often drove all night Saturday to get home in time to preach Sunday morning. To make matters worse it was often during strong storms, sleet, and snow.

I’ll never forget one night driving all the way across Missouri with tornadoes dancing all around. I saw cars flooded, wrecked, and turned upside down. I kept driving through the wind and rain trying to make it home to my wife and kids. I was tired and weary but kept going, thinking about the comforts of home. I can’t think of those experiences without thinking of a song my wife used to sing. It says:

We’re not home yet children
So keep your eyes on the savior
Just a few more days to labor
And we’ll sit down beside the river
How we long to be with Jesus
And our loved ones gone before us
There’s a better day a comin’
We’re not home yet

The one thought that kept me encouraged while staying in strange places, often with very uncomfortable accommodations ( That’s another story), worn and weary in body, was the fact that I was headed home. I could put up with the hardships because I knew when I got home I could kiss my wife, hug my children, put my feet under the family table, eat home cooked food, and sleep in my own bed.

The first and only religious song I ever heard my mother sing was “This world is not my home”. Indeed that is true. A better day is coming and it’s getting closer all the time. Fear not weary pilgrim you are headed home and the best is yet to come! – HDS

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

Nothing in the world is more important than salvation – a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet many take the approach that it’s not something we can be sure about or that one guess in as good as another. In their mind no one can know for certain that they are saved and going to heaven. Evidently they’re not been reading the Bible. The apostle John tells us we can know we’re saved. That in fact was his reason for writing this letter. That being the case we would be wise to consider what he says.

In this letter John gives us several vital signs of spiritual life, signs of salvation. Open your Bible and look at these references and you will see what I mean. He speaks of an —
1. Intense love for Christ – 4:19;5:1-3This is the first and great commandment (Matt. 22:36-38). The Christian loves Christ above all else, and there will be some evidence of it.
2. Interest in others – 3:14-19; 4:7-8,20Love for others is the second great commandment and it always accompanies the first. If you love Christ you will love others, and love is always manifested by good deeds and meeting needs.
3. Insatiable desire to see others saved – 4:15Confessing Christ before others is an evidence of salvation (Matt. 10:33; Rom. 10:11). Something is seriously wrong with those who claim to be a Christian yet never make an effort to win others to Christ. By the actions of some it appears that they have no concern where their family and friends will spend eternity.
4. Inward desire for holiness – 2:3-6The true believer doesn’t love the world (2:15), listens to the Word of God (4:6), obeys the will of God (2:3-6; 3:6-10), and is an overcomer (5:4-5,18). He isn’t perfect but he wants to be.
5.Inner witness of the Holy Spirit – 3:24; 4:13;5:10,19 (also Rom. 8:16)Our assurance isn’t self generated, something acquired by human effort. It is given by the Spirit of God.

Now in light of all this, you might want to do as Paul says in 2 Cor. 13:5 “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”. Do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you would go to heaven if you died today? Is there evidence of it? – HDS

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

The title of my message yesterday was “Image Isn’t Everything”. Although some folks say they agree with that statement their life says otherwise. They have been living a lie, hiding behind a mask, for years. They are pretending to be what they’re not. It’s called hypocrisy.

Somehow they’ve got the idea that convincing others that they are a Christian makes them one, but it doesn’t. You can put that down as your religious preference on a questionnaire but that won’t get you into heaven. Salvation isn’t based on what you or others think about you. It’s what God thinks that matters most. You might minic Christians without truly being a Christian. You can be accepted into the fellowship of a church based on your profession of faith, but that doesn’t make you a member of God’s family. You can even be knowledgeable of Christ without knowing Christ. You must be born again.

Many claim to be a Christian even though the evidence says otherwise. When presented with the evidence they try to explain it away by saying something like “Nobody is perfect”, or “I asked Jesus to save me and I think he will”, or “I had an experience”. They will tell you how they walked down the aisle at church, said a prayer, had a warm feeling and left feeling better. Yet all the facts show that they do not have saving faith. They live day after day without any signs of spiritual life, and no grounds for calling themselves a Christian.

It will be a sad day when those who believe that image is everything discover that it is actually nothing. When all the religious garb is stripped away they will stand before God in the filthy rags of their sins and be condemned to hell for eternity. It takes something other than a religious experience or a good reputation to become a child of God. No amount of human effort can ever suffice. Salvation is “by grace..through faith” in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and there will always be some evidence of it ( 2 Cor. 5:17). So stop pretending. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” – (Acts 16:31). – HDS