1106 E. Morehead Street Burlington, NC (336) 226-0838
| “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing?” (Luke 23:34).
May God continue to be especially nigh to those who are being persecuted. May He use our prayers and our concerns and our monies to help the persecuted church. We know that the primary mission of the church is not to protect itself from the world, but to protect others from the world to come |
“I looked on my right hand…no man cared for my soul” (Psalm 142:4).
When it comes to witnessing for the Lord Jesus Christ, I remember while I was in college that no one every spoke to me about my soul. As a matter of real knowledge, I do not ever recall anyone speaking to me directly about my eternal destination. It was all so vague to me. As a young man, a teen of maybe fifteen, I remember shutting my Bible during a worship service and saying to myself, “One day I will understand but for now I choose to wait it out.”
I did not shut my Bible in rebellion but in mild frustration. I said “Maybe one day I will understand.” I just didn’t get it. I wasn’t trying to harm or hurt anyone; I, with all of the changes going on in my body, mind, and soul of a teen, just gave up and I just shut down.
There are a lot of youth walking around the same way today. They don’t know what the Bible, Jesus, the Church, and prayer, etc., is all about. They are lost and headed toward a dream world that does not exist. And there are hardly any out there who care enough to pray and prepare their own lives to tell the good news to them.
Do you remember in the first paragraph that I remarked that no one spoke up for my soul? Well there was one. I was in my second year of college and I traveled to the State Fair in Raleigh, NC. While there, minding my own business, I was walking with a girl and out of nowhere God appeared. You say, “What?” Yep! In just a moment in time this girl stopped out in front of us and asked ME “If I were a Christian?” I said, “Yes,” for I was taken by surprise. The next step, I took after giving her my answer, the Holy Spirit of God stopped me dead in my soul and in such a real way said to my lost soul, “You are lying.” And He was right. Never before had I been confronted in that manner.
God used that girl to speak to me. He was awakening my soul out of the lap of the evil one. Later I understood the gospel! He opened my eyes. I have never gotten over it. Someone cared for my soul. She doesn’t know what she did for me. I laughed inside when I saw her in front of me with her “Howdy Doody smile“. But now it is me who has the smile. I can’t wait to see her. I don’t know exactly how it will happen, but one day I will thank her for her bravery, courage and her love for a lost college boy headed toward Hell who didn’t understand. And one day I will thank the Lord God Almighty for using this young college girl in my life who stood up for Him!
| “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak” (Matthew 26:41).
David was at it again. Another day of being a king. It had taken its toll on him. He was tired, mentally tired. Not long before, he had sent his troops off to fight and die in the wars against the hated Ammonites. He had stayed behind, though the weight of his kingship rested heavily upon him. David was in bed about all day. He decides to get up and take a stroll on the rooftop in the evening. The man was under pressure. Ruling a country and running a long-distance war can do that. We all face pressure. We all seek something to take our minds off of the struggles of work and the battles at home. We all would love an escape. There are many ways we can get that little respite. We can take a walk, just like David. We can watch a college basketball game. We can take the wife out for dinner (even McDonald’s). We can mow the lawn. We can play a round of golf. We can grab a good book. Or we can find a woman–man–whose looks and wiles we cannot resist. Umm! Don’t yield to the temptation to do something wrong to get your minds off of that which is wearing you down. David’s sin on that cool spring evening followed him the rest of his life. We all face pressures and temptations. But we can run to Jesus. He defeated everything that came His way. And you and I can defeat anything that comes our way. How? Why? Jesus lives in us and we are more than conquerors.
|
“God–His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is pure. He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him” (Psalm 18:30).
Are we as Good as the Book?
God’s Word shields a believer with truth. To find refuge from a world of lies is of utmost importance to the believer. His Book has been proven and it is found perfect and true. When we know God’s Book we know the way home.
Who proved it? Jesus did. The Lord Jesus walked in the midst of hostility, confusion, and lethargy. But He found the written Word pure and a refuge from the sweltering heat of a world gone mad. He used it against Satan. He walked with the Book. All Jesus did brought the Book of God out in the open. He stood strong against Pilate. He went to the cross triumphantly and rose out of the dead triumphantly, proving the Book of God is Good!
When we follow the Lord Jesus we follow Him by this Book given by and from God. The Father above us, the Son beside us, and the Spirit impressing with the Book in us will guide us home. God’s Word is our arsenal against the lies of Satan. We are shielded from the attacks of untruth and led through the maze of confusion with confidence by using the time-tested Word of God.
|
“So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days” (Nehemiah 6:15). The enemy doesn’t mind if you are spiritually active. He just doesn’t want you to be spiritually effective. One may be active in church, doctrinally pure, serving on the church board, teaching, etc…. but if one is not involved in the spiritual disciplines of the Christian life then that life is at a minimal. Minimal in church and minimal in the family. “What are the spiritual disciplines?” you ask. It is the reverence for God’s Word and the power of effective praying. We owe to Scripture the same reverence we owe to God. The Bible is revered but it is not read. There is low reading of the Bible by believers. “Sine qua non” is a Latin phrase which means “without which, nothing.” Without a good diet of Scripture and an exercise in the effectiveness of praying, you’ve got nothing. You and I cannot finish the Christian marathon without true prayer. We cannot even enter the race without the Word of |
“It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on the morrow: and if ought remain until the third day, it shall be burnt in the fire” (Leviticus 19:6).
God desires and commands a freshness about our lives. There is to be an aroma of holiness that is fitting of Christ. A freshness and newness of life will result when we desire Christ above all.
It is an odious thing to be stale and contaminated by sin. Because we have peace with God we ought to strive to rest in the peace of God that speaks volumes of a life endued with power from on High.
Anything that is a stench in our lives ought to be confessed and burned by the consuming fire of God. An awareness and attitude of holiness should be the prevailing function of the Spirit of God allowed to dwell habitually in our temples.
The power of the third day is that we can confess our need and our sins before a holy God and He hears that cry. God has promised peace not only by our justification through the cross of Christ, but also our “peacefulness” by His life freely dwelling within us.
| “But first must he [Jesus] suffer many things, and be rejected by this generation” (Luke 17:25).
The prophets of the Old Testament met great opposition. Ministry is nice when it’s a suburb and, manicured, quiet, well-kept place to come and wash feet. It’s nice when there’s fruit. When there’s encouragement. When there’s hope. When there’s appreciation. When there’s spiritual hunger. When there’s a readiness to change. When there’s a passion for Christ. When it’s yours and God blesses and blesses and blesses. It’s nice, isn’t it? Jeremiah was told by Jehovah God, “Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them, but they will not hearken to thee; thou shalt also call unto them, but they will not answer thee” (Jeremiah 7:27). Jeremiah was told by the people to either change your message or change your address. They would not hear or listen to his warning. This was Main Street in Dodge City at high noon. This was the greatest of all fights. But Jeremiah stood his ground. Most people don’t. They run. They hide. They say, “I never signed up for this course.” There is a great gulf between heaven and hell. When people choose to serve themselves, their self, and refuse God’s glory then there is hell on earth. And Jeremiah felt the heat of it! What about us? Do we yearn to quit? How far will we walk away before we turn back? Many serve God with strings attached. Jeremiah was disappointed but He did not get tangled in the strings. He was committed to God’s calling upon his life. People want to go where it is easy, while the thrust of ministry is not easy. Jesus promised it! If it was not simple and easy for the Lord Jesus then why do we think it would be for us?
|
Kinnett Memorial Baptist Church 1106 E. Morehead St Burlington, NC 27215
336-226-0838
© 2026 Kinnett Memorial Baptist Church. All Rights Reserved · Privacy Information