THINK ABOUT IT           11-23-24

Media Manipulation

A. W. Tozer (1897-1963) said “. . . advertising, at least in the United States, is the most powerful educational agent extant. Those who write the advertising copy probably do more to determine the way the average person thinks than the school and church combined.

The reasons for this are two. One is that men may flee from the admonitions of parents and the good counsel of the church, but where can anyone hide from the advertiser” He is as near to being ubiquitous as anything on earth except gravity.

The second reason the advertiser exercises such incredibly powerful influence is that he has learned to perfection the art of communication. He may be lying, and often is, but he does get his ideas across; and that is more than can be said for the school and the church.”

It should be easy to see that it’s worse now than when Tozer wrote those words. There is no denying that the world is getting its message out which, as Tozer said, “is more than can be said for the school and the church”.

Tozer told the truth! I’ve been preaching 58 years and I can tell you from experience and observation that Christians and churches did more to reach the lost then than they do today. So is it any wonder that things are as they are?

Jesus said, “ “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭13‬ ‭. Sadly there are too many “good for nothing” churches today.

It is a well known fact that meat will spoil without salt. Without salt the outcome is predictable – it rots! Even so, when the church fails to be salt to the society it gets worse and worse. We need to stop blaming the world for its rotten condition and put the blame where it should be – on our shoulders. We have failed to deliver the life changing message of the gospel to the world.

Be honest, when is the last time you made a sincere effort to lead someone to Christ? What ministry are you involved in that works as a witness to those who are without Christ? How often do you pray for someone specifically to be saved? How long has it been since you invited someone to church? 

So, rather than spewing our disdain for this wicked world let us do our best to reach others for Christ. God help us to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. THINK ABOUT IT!- HDS

David Stone  

Lakeway Baptist Church  

Humble, TX

THINK ABOUT IT                11-19-24

Understanding Understanding
As hard as we might try, we can’t always understand one another. As we listen to people pour out the burdens of their heart, we’re often guilty of saying,”I understand” when we don’t. O we mean well, we want to understand and we try, but we can’t. We are all different and our circumstances are not the same. 

Sometimes we are guilty of criticizing others when we would actual do worse were we in their exact same situation. They fare better than we would were the roles reversed, yet we complain about their short-comings. We need to realize that we can’t always understand the degree of their temptation, the weight of their burden, the extent of their weakness, the stage of their maturity, and the effects of their past. If we could truly understand we might commend them rather than condemn them.

 

In a thousand years I could not explain to you what it is like to be a pastor. Unless you are a pastor, you don’t have a clue! However, neither can I always understand what it is like being in your shoes. Since that is true, we both need to work at being more understanding regarding things that we don’t understand. Although we can’t understand we can be more understanding, and that would make a tremendous difference in our relationships. We are all different, imperfect, and in need of help. So let’s pray for one another, and for ourselves—asking God to help us understand that we don’t understand.

 Since we all fail, it behooves us to be “kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”(Ephesians 4:32). That’s not just good advice, it is a command. Think about it! – HDS

David Stone  

Lakeway Baptist Church 

Humble, TX

THINK ABOUT IT            11-17-24

FOREVER FRIENDS

I COULD NEVER BE PRESIDENT
Someone said,”In America anyone can become President–that’s one of the risk you have to take!”. As a child I wouldn’t have believed that, but now I’ve lived long enough to see that it really could happen! Even someone without any experience, someone who has never had a real job is liable to become the president! It happened! And something worse could happen!

Parents often try to encourage their children by saying,”You can be whatever you want to be. You could even grow up to be president”–as though that would make them a success. The truth is, for some people, becoming president would be a sign of failure, not success. I’ll use myself as an example. I could never be president, and it’s not because–
–I’m not smart enough, although that is true.
–I don’t have the temperament to do it, although I don’t. I don’t excel at being “politically correct”
–I couldn’t get enough votes, although I couldn’t.
–I don’t have enough political connections, although I don’t.
–of the size of the salary, that would be more than enough.
–I don’t love my country, I do–more than some presidents.

I could never be president, under any circumstances, because God has called me to preach. For me to serve as president would not only be a demotion, it would be an act of disobedience. Being president would be fine for some folks, but it would be a crime, sin, for me. I have no respect for any man who claims God called him to preach and then does something else. If he isn’t faithful to God I wouldn’t trust him to be faithful to the office of president.

But, this isn’t just about preachers. This is about all of us and our attitude toward God’s will for our life. If success is defined as doing the will of God then all of us can be successful! And doing anything else, regardless of how well we do it, would be failure. Success is about being faithful, not becoming famous. It’s not about fortune and fame. It’s not about being president or a preacher. It is simply discovering the will of God and doing it–that’s success!

So, do you know what God wants you to do? Are you doing it? If the answer is “Yes”, then you never need to feel less important or less successful than anybody else. Whether you are a housewife, a farmer, or a ditch-digger, what you do is just as important to you as anything else– including being president. Think about it!- HDS, October 2012

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

 The major problem today is man’s failure to read, study, and obey the Word of God. Close on the heels of that problem is man’s ignorance of church history. The only perspective most people, especially young people, have today is what they see around them. They have no idea of how things ought to be, nor how things used to be.

They might have heard of the “First Great Awakening in America “, but they have never studied it. And they have no idea as to the cancerous heresies eating away at our spiritual heritage. They don’t have a clue as to the horrible changes that are taking place.

It is in light of these facts that I am sending you this article by David Cloud which describes one of the example of what I’m talking about. Read it and weep!- HDS

JONATHAN EDWARDS’ CHURCH THEN AND NOW (Friday Church News Notes, October 18, 2024,
 Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) was a key figure in the First Great Awakening in America. The revival in the northeastern part of the United States started in his church in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1734. He preached the new birth and held to the infallible inspiration of Scripture. He believed in a God who is both holy and compassionate, a Judge and a Saviour. He preached salvation through faith in the vicarious atonement of Jesus Christ. Edwards’ famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God warned people to flee God’s wrath. Following is an excerpt: “The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present; they increase more and more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given; and the longer the stream is stopped, the more rapid and mighty is its course, when once it is let loose. It is true, that judgment against your evil works has not been executed hitherto; the floods of God’s vengeance have been withheld; but your guilt in the mean time is constantly increasing, and you are every day treasuring up more wrath; the waters are constantly rising, and waxing more and more mighty; and there is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, that holds the waters back, that are unwilling to be stopped, and press hard to go forward. If God should only withdraw his hand from the flood-gate, it would immediately fly open, and the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God, would rush forth with inconceivable fury, and would come upon you with omnipotent power; and if your strength were ten thousand times greater than it is, yea, ten thousand times greater than the strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, it would be nothing to withstand or endure it.” Edwards’ church, First Church of Northampton, was founded by English Puritans in 1654. Its third meetinghouse was built in 1737 during Edwards ministry and the Great Awakening. The current building was constructed in 1878 after the previous one was destroyed by fire. It is considered “one of the finest examples of High Victorian Neo-Gothic architecture in America.” It features stained glass windows, an organ built by Ernest Skinner, and a clock weighing 1,600 pounds. In 1988, First Church of Christ of Northampton and First Baptist Church of Northampton combined to form one church known as “The First Churches.” It is a member of World Council of Churches. Though the building is beautiful and historic, the church itself is apostate. It has a form of godliness but denies the power thereof, with no supernatural new birth gospel and no belief in the divinely inspired, inerrant Scripture. First Church “has been a forerunner in welcoming LGBTQ+ people into the life of the church.” In 1996, the church officially became an “Open and Affirming congregation,” meaning it “invites all to worship with us, without regard to differences such as race, gender identity, ability, sexual orientation … or any other difference that may be misunderstood as a barrier to Christian fellowship.” A rainbow homosexual rights flag is featured on the church sign and the church’s web site, with photos of same-sex couples. The church’s pastor, Sarah Buteux, is shown holding a sign that has God proclaiming, “Be You!” The church promotes contemplative mysticism, including centering prayer, which is a mindless practice that attempts to obtain revelation directly from God.