“Be careful 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

Since I plan to preach about peace in both services today I thought it might be good to get your thoughts headed in that direction. That’s something God expects us to think about. Henry Van Dyke said, “It is the deepest and most universal desire of man, whose prayer in all ages has been, ‘Grant us Thy Peace, O Lord.’ It is the reward of the righteous, the blessing of the good, the crown of life’s effort, and the glory of eternity. The prophets foretell the beauty of its coming and the psalmists sing of the joy which it brings. Jesus Christ is its Divine Messiah, its high priest and its holy prince. The evangelists and prophets proclaim and preach it. From beginning to end the Bible is full of the praise of peace.”

Being so important you can rest assured that Satan is doing everything in his power to prevent you from enjoying the pleasure of peace. George Washington said, “There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet an enemy”. He was right. That’s true regardless of the nature of your struggle. If we are to have peace we must put on “the whole armour of God” ( Eph. 6:11). But to do that we must first trust Christ as our Lord and Savior. As someone said, “No God, no peace. Know God, know peace”. There can be no peace apart from knowing Christ.

“Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” John 20:29

Thomas is well known for his doubting. On the same Sunday evening that Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared to His church. However, Thomas was not in the assembly. When the disciples later reported to Thomas that he had indeed missed this appearance of the Savior, he said, “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25). He would not believe based on the testimony of another, but would only believe if he saw for himself. 

The following Sunday evening Jesus appeared again to this group, this time with Thomas in the company. When Thomas saw the evidence of His wounds, he declared, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). To which Jesus answered with our text, saying, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29). 

What an encouraging confession regarding THE BLESSED MAN. Blessed are they that live by faith. Blessed are they who believe without seeing. Perhaps we all have envied those who witnessed the miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ firsthand, during His earthly ministry. What a blessing it would have been to see someone raised from the dead or see a blind person receive his sight! And yet, it is not only those who have seen that are blessed. Jesus promised special blessing for the ones who have not seen yet still believe. We have never seen the cross, but by faith, we know that Jesus died there for us. We may have never seen the empty tomb, but with the eye of faith, we know that Jesus rose from the dead. 

Thomas spent a week in doubting and misery because he did not believe the truth concerning Jesus. Because he did not trust, he missed out on a week of blessing, when he could have been rejoicing in the victory of the cross and resurrection. 

There are promised blessings to those who by faith believe what God says. Psalm 2:12 says, “Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” THE BLESSED MAN believes the testimony of Scripture and trusts the Lord. Through faith, the unseen reality becomes real to us, and we walk in the blessing of it. – Thomas Smith

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

“O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker” – Psalm 95:6

In light of our current situation many have expressed their concern about the subject of worship and how they are hindered by not being able to assemble together. However, it takes more than meeting together to be able to truly worship God. There is another factor that must be considered. The following article from the Baptist Bible Hour speaks of that which is often missing.

Throughout Scripture we are called to worship the Lord in various ways and by various means. We are called to give thanks, praise, and power to our God. But the practice of all of these commands and encouragements must begin with submission to God — “bow down…kneel before the Lord.”

There is no true worship without submission. We can admire Jesus, we can appreciate the selflessness and sacrifice of the cross, we can even confess that He is Lord…but if we do not submit to Him as our Lord, than we have not offered Him genuine worship.

Worshiping God begins by submitting to God’s rightful rule over us because He is “our maker.” There is no particle or person or planet that does not owe their existence to God. Because He is the creator of all things, all things owe their allegiance to Him.

None are exempted from this call—“let us worship and bow down”—because none are excepted in the description of God as their “maker.” We are every one of us summoned to the privileged position of worshiping at the feet of Jesus Christ.

Have you purposed to worship Jesus Christ today? Then you must begin by bowing down, by kneeling before Him and submitting to His rightful rule over your every thought, word, deed, and design. You must prepare to meet your maker.

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

“And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” Matthew 24:6

The disciples asked Jesus, “what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world” (3). In Matthew 24, He gave them many indications of the kinds of activities one will encounter in the end times. These signs include such things as: an abundance of false teachers, great deception, wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, persecutions, and great tribulation, such as has never occurred. 

The world is headed for great catastrophe. It will not happen all at once. Much of this will take place after Christians are taken to Heaven, in the rapture that will precede the time of great tribulation. Most people would agree that many of these things have already begun. There are others, though, that have quite a different view about the time that we live in. And, there are even preachers that paint a much different picture about the future from the one described in our text. To hear them, you might think that great revival will accompany the last days. Some even proclaim what could be considered virtual world dominance by Christians. 

The Bible does teach that Jesus will one day reign on this earth for a period of one thousand years and that His faithful followers will reign with Him in His kingdom. However, that reign will be preceded by a period of apostasy and great tribulation. When we read of and hear about the great proliferation of error, the natural disasters that seem to escalate both in number and magnitude, the serious famines and pestilences and such things, it should tell us that we are nearing the end. 

What, then, should be our mindset as we ponder world conditions? Jesus said, “see that ye be not troubled.” We are not to be alarmed or frightened. For one thing, we have been warned. Jesus tells us in His Word what to expect. It should come as no surprise that there is a great falling away from the true faith, or that false gospels flourish in our day. We can trust in the Lord and know that He is in control and that He does all things well. While His return is imminent, we understand that we live in a day of tremendous opportunity to preach the Gospel and win others to Christ. We are to occupy until He comes. One day soon, our days of evangelism and discipleship will be over. We must work while it is day. (Thomas Smith)

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

” For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. ” – 1 Cor. 4:4

John Piper makes a great point in light of current conditions. He said: “Let’s put it this way. People would often ask me before my cancer diagnosis, “How’s your health?” And I would answer, “Fine.” I don’t answer that way anymore. I say, “I feel fine.” There’s a difference. The day before I went for that annual prostate exam, I felt fine. The day after, I was told I had cancer. In other words, I was not fine. So even as I write these words, I do not know if I am fine. I feel fine. Way better than I deserve. For all I know, I have cancer right now. Or perhaps a blood clot. Or the coronavirus.
What’s the point? The point is this: the ultimate reason we ought not to say, “I am fine,” is that God alone knows and decides if you are fine—now. To say, “I am fine,” when you don’t know if you are fine, and you don’t control if you are fine, is like saying, “Tomorrow, I will go to Chicago and do business there,” when you have no idea if you will even be alive tomorrow, let alone doing business in Chicago.
Here’s what the Bible says about a sentence like that:”

” 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: 13-15
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346