MORNING MANNA            3-10-22

SHARING GOD’S LOVE

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”- Acts 1:8

It is heartbreaking to see what is happening in Ukraine, and those who help are to be commended. But why is there so little concern about those within our reach – those who are lost and just one heartbeat away from hell? We are to be witnesses for Christ throughout the world, beginning where we are. As wonderful as it is to provide food, shelter, and medical care for those in need, it is even more important to supply their spiritual needs. May God help us to help others by sharing the glorious gospel of Christ with them. We will never do anything more important. – HDS

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

MORNING MANNA            3-8-22

OUR COMFORTER
“I am He that comforteth you.” Isaiah 51:12

As day breaks this morning I am thinking of many dear loved ones who are going through trials, facing uncertainties, and are gripped by fear. Their plight is my pain. They long for a ray of hope, a promise of help, some assurance that things will get better. They need comfort! And they are not alone. You too have troubles of your own and are in need of consolation. You need more than a shoulder to cry on, you need a strong arm to hold you up, an encouraging word to keep you going. I find just that in this text and these comments from the able pen of the late James Smith, written in 1840:

“The Lord’s people are often low and desponding; they do not live up to their privileges; the things of time make too deep an impression, because they do not sufficiently realize eternal things. But Jehovah is their COMFORTER; as such He presents Himself unto us this morning. He is the God of all comfort. He comforteth those who are cast down. To Him alone we must look for comfort. Looking to creatures for what God promises, dishonours Him; and at such times the creature may well ask, “AM I IN GOD’S STEAD?” Our God comforts us by His Son, whom He hath given to us; by the Spirit, which He pours out upon us; by His word, in which He speaks to us: by His ordinances, in which He meets with us; and by His providence, when He appears for us. Let us look unto God as the Author and giver of all comfort, let us plead with Him to comfort us according to His word, and let us be suspicious of all comfort which does not come from Him, and lead to Him. He must be the centre to which we always tend, and the circumference within which we move.”

“Jesus, all our consolations
Flow from Thee, the sovereign good;
Love, and faith, and hope, and patience,
All are purchased by Thy blood;
Now Thy riches grace impart,
Sanctify and fill my heart.”

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

MORNING MANNA            3-7-22

PASS IT ON

“And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.”– 2 Tim. 2:2

David McCasland said, a man who played double-bass in the Mexico City Philharmonic told me that the finest instruments are made of wood that has been allowed to age naturally to remove the moisture. “You must age the wood for 80 years, then play the instrument for 80 years before it reaches its best sound,” said Luis Antonio Rojas. “A craftsman must use wood cut and aged by someone else, and he will never see any instrument reach its peak during his own lifetime.”

Many important things in life are “next generation” matters—teaching, training, and parenting are among them. The apostle Paul invested himself in people whose spiritual influence would continue long after he was gone. He wrote to Timothy: “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” (2 Tim. 2:2). Paul, Timothy, “faithful men,” and “others” represent four spiritual generations built on the enduring foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Are we living only for today and the short term, or are we giving ourselves to others who will continue the faith after our race is run? Living for Christ and making disciples are all about the next generation.

Day by day perform your mission,

With Christ’s help keep at your tasks;

Be encouraged by His presence—

Faithfulness is all He asks. —Bosch

We influence future generations by living for Christ today.

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

MORNING MANNA        3-5-22

GRACE

“…. let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:– Heb. 12;28

We daily need grace to sustain us in troubles; to subdue our corruptions; to sanctify our tempers; to preserve us in temptation; to quicken our languid affections; to enlarge our experience; to render us useful to others; to enable us to endure to the end; and to meet death with confidence and joy. Our God is the God of all grace. Jesus is full of grace, He giveth more grace. He has promised it. “He will give grace.” He has invited us to come and receive it. “Come boldly to the throne of grace, that ye may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” His grace is sufficient for us; but without grace we are dull, lifeless, and sure to fall. O let us look to Jesus for grace to strengthen us, sanctify us, and make us useful! Let us never attempt anything in our own strength; but let us receive from the Lord, that we may live to the Lord; and ascribe all that we do that is good, to the grace of God which is with us. Grace is always free. It is free for us, for us this morning, and our God bids us to the throne of grace, and you SHALL obtain mercy, and find grace to help you this day. – James Smith, 1840

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

MORNING MANNA          3-4-22

TIME WITH GOD
“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.  But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.“– Psa. 1:1-2

One of our great mistakes today is that of assuming that attending church on Sunday relieves us of all our weekly responsibilities regarding the time we spend with God. Our problem is not that we have denied God, but that we have crowded Him out of our lives. If we are serious about our “daily bread” we better spend as much time as possible with “the Living Bread”. This is what A. W. Tozer had in mind when he wrote the following:

 “I have often wished that there were some way to bring modern Christians into a deeper spiritual life painlessly by short easy lessons; but such wishes are vain. No shortcut exists! God has not bowed to our nervous haste nor embraced the methods of our machine age. It is well that we accept the hard truth now: the man who would know God must give time to Him! He must count no time wasted which is spent in the cultivation of His acquaintance. He must give himself to meditation and prayer hours on end. So did the saints of old, the glorious company of the apostles, the goodly fellowship of the prophets and the believing members of the holy Church in all generations. And so must we if we would follow in their train! May not the inadequacy of much of our spiritual experience be traced back to our habit of skipping through the corridors of the kingdom like little children through the marketplace, chattering about everything but pausing to learn the true value of nothing?”

Sadly most professing Christians spend far too little time in God’s Word. Then they complain when God doesn’t grant all their desires or exempt them from trials. They get bitter when they are unable to cope with circumstances, as though God had failed to keep His promises. But the real problem is that they have starved themselves of the spiritual nourishment they need. They have forgotten what Jesus said in John 15:5 “ I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing”. Commit yourself today to meditating on God’s Word daily. – HDS

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