First Baptist Church of Ojai, California

Highlights From Today's Bible Reading

Jeremiah 7:23 (NIV) 
    but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you.

Col. 2:8 (NIV) 
    See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

Col. 2:15 (NIV) 
    And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Highlights From Today's Bible Reading

Matthew 10:27 (NIV) 
    What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.

There was a time that the message of the Gospel was to be kept quiet and low key as Jesus' "time had not yet come."    That time has long passed.  Jesus has now instructed us to be so open with the Gospel that it is as if we are shouting it from the rooftops.  May our very lives shout the name of Jesus.

Matthew 10:33 (NIV) 
    But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.

In what ways do I disown or deny Jesus by the way I live my life?

Matthew 10:38 (NIV) 
    and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

The call of the Christian is to die.

Highlights From Today's E.M. Bounds Reading on Prayer

The Church is God’s manufactory on earth, and its primary duty is to create and foster righteousness of character. This is its very first business. Primarily, its work is not to acquire members, nor amass numbers, nor aim at money-getting, nor engage in deeds of charity and works of mercy, but to produce righteousness of character, and purity of the outward life.

What we are with God gauges our influence with Him.

 

We pray feebly because we live feebly. The stream of prayer cannot rise higher than the fountain of living. The force of the inner chamber is made up of the energy which flows from the confluent streams of living. And the weakness of living grows out of the shallowness and shoddiness of character.

As is the life, so will the praying be. An inconsistent life obstructs praying and neutralizes what little praying we may do. Always, it is “the prayer of the righteous man which availeth much.”

Currently Reading The Winners Manual: For the Game of Life By Jim Tressel, Chris Fabry, John Maxwell see related "One of the helpful things I've either read or heard over the years is that we need to treat people as if they're hurting.  You never know what others are going through.  How many times have you found out later that someone you spoke with was dealing with a particular challenge, crisis, or heartache?  Maybe you could have spent a few more minutes visiting with that person and didn't, and now you're kicking yourself.  Or maybe you did take the time and treated that person as if he or she were hurting.  Those opportunities may come up more often than we realize (183)."

Currently Reading Why We're Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be By Kevin DeYoung, Ted Kluck see related "Isn't it strange, C.S. Lewis wondered, that the Law would be the Psalmist's delight (Ps. 1:2)?  Respect or reverence we might understand, but delight?  Who delights in law?  And why?  Lewis explains:  "Their delight in the Law, is a delight in having touched firmness; like the pedestrian's delight in feeling the hard road beneath his feet after a false short cut has long entangled him in muddy fields."  In our world of perpetual squishitude, why offer people more of what they already have--vague spirituality, uncertainty, and borderline interpretive relativisim?  Why not offer them something hard and old like the Law in which we delight, and dare to say and believe "Thus saith the Lord" (85)?"

Thoughts From Today's Bible Reading

Psalm 150:5 (NIV) 
    praise him with the clash of cymbals,
        praise him with resounding cymbals.

There are many different dimensions to musical worship that pleases God.   Most of  all, our worship must be in Spirit and in Truth.  But without question, a dimension of worship that pleases God is that which is loud and raucous.   He says as much in this verse in the psalms.  Such worship is characterized by passion and freedom.  May our worship be marked by the clashing of resounding cymbals as well as that which is reflective.

Wild At Heart Continued

Currently Reading Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul By John Eldredge see related "A man must have a battle to fight, a great mission to his life that involves and yet transcends even home and family.  He must have a cause to which he is devoted even unto death, for this is written into the fabric of his being.  Listen carefully now:  You do.  That is why God created you--to be his intimate ally, to join him in the Great Battle.  You have a specific place in the line, a mission God made you for.  That is why it is so essential to hear from God about your true name, because in that name is the mission of your life (142)."

Thoughts From Today's Bible Reading

Acts 20:22-24 (NIV) 
    "And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. [23] I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. [24] However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.

I've heard it said that when you no longer fear death, you have nothing else to fear.  The Apostle Paul is a perfect example.  He laid his life on the line for the sake of the Gospel.  He was fearless because he knew that as a follower of Jesus Christ whose reward would be heaven, he truly had nothing to fear.  May I live each day fearlessly like Paul. 

Thoughts From today's Reading

John 11:40 (NIV) 
    Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"

What miracle are you believing God for right now? 

Proverbs 15:22 (NIV) 
    Plans fail for lack of counsel,
        but with many advisers they succeed.
 
Who are your advisers?  Are they people who are able to hear the voice of God?

Proverbs 15:23 (NIV) 
    A man finds joy in giving an apt reply--
        and how good is a timely word!
 
Think of one person you can bless with a kind word today.

Thoughts From Today's Reading

John 8:32 (NIV) 
    Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

I have never been more keenly aware of the enemy's strategy of using lies to hold people in bondage.  There are scores of Christians in varying states of depression and oppression because the evil one has planted seeds of falsehood in their minds.  These seeds take root and produce a veil of confusion and doubt.  The only remedy is the truth of God's Word.  It alone is the key which can release captives from their prisons.  How important it is for us to feed on truth and to boldly proclaim the truth in love.