Growin' Up Gregory

"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.  For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like." - James 1:22-24 James makes the point here of emphasizing that we should be doers, not simply do.  He makes this point to show that being godly should be part of our personalities, the Word becomes who we are and makes up our character.  When you start to BE something, it's more than just doing it, sorry Nike.  I know a lot of people who run, but aren't runners, who lift weights, but aren't weightlifters, but I wonder how many people I know who do church, but aren't Christians?  How many people are deceiving themselves today...deceiving was actually a mathematical term back then for a miscalculation...by merely being content to hear the Word but not work on our personal relatio...

I wanted to share part of devotion this morning by Dr. Grant Ethridge of Liberty Baptist Church in Hampton, VA. "Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle?  Who may dwell in Your holy hill?  He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart; He who does not backbite with his tongue, not does evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach against a friend; in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he honors those who fear the Lord; he who swears to his own hurt and does not change; he who does not put out his money to usury, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.  He who does these things shall never be moved." - Psalm 15:1-5 "Why would someone want to spend forever in heaven, yet they don't want to spend one hour in church?  I cannot look at my wife and say, 'I love you,' and then not give her my time, energy, income, and life.  Do you love God's presence like David did?  You can love the church and no...

"Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit." - John 15:2 Do you ever wonder why something bad happens, or is taken away from your life?  In order for us to produce a bountiful crop of spiritual fruit the dead wood in our lives must be removed.  That dead wood consist of many distractions; money, careers, family (at times), and other personal "wants" that hinder us from serving God.  We may wonder why during the pruning but afterwards we can typically look back and realize that the results of His pruning are much better than the direction we were headed on your own.  Being loved by God does not mean that He's going to baby us through life.  His primary concern for us is not our comfort level.  He will allow us to feel pain at times to produce greater strength and to produce more spiritual fruit in our lives.

I'll highlight a couple points that I thought really stood out to me from an article on the website link below. - "Carrying a weapon for self-defense is never condemned in the Bible. In fact, it was mentioned in a positive light by Jesus Himself on one occassion. (Luke 22:35-28) - Christians are called to submit to governing authorities (Hebrews 13:1-7). The Bible does not forbid nor command the possession of weapons. If laws change, we should act democratically to reach the desired alternatives we desire but the ... primary focus should always be to glorify the Lord. - "All who take the sword will perish by the sword." - Matthew 26:52 - Debates over gun control are more political than moral. I've been saying that all along. Many politicians are after votes or power, not necessarily the betterment of people and our county, state, and nation. - "Ultimately guns are not the problem. Sinful people are the problem." http://www.got...

I want to share an article that is in the Deacon Magazine for Winter 2015 - 2016.  "Point of Order" by Joe McKeever "Let all things be done decently and in order" - 1 Corinthians 14:40 Rudy Hough was a deacon who loved beauty and symmetry.  He and his wife, Elizabeth, ran a plant nursery in Columbus, Mississippi, where he served the First Baptist Church as a deacon.  During my nearly 13 years as pastor of that church, Rudy was chairman of deacons twice.  He was a support to his pastor and a strength to his church.  Not one time during my tenure was he anything but an encouragement to me.  Each year when our church chose new deacons and went through the process of interviewing and ordination, Rudy took it upon himself to give a short speech to the new men. "Now that you are a deacon, from time to time church members are going to call with a problem or complaint.  Often, it will concern a leader of the church - perhaps the pastor or another minis...

"You are my friends if you do what I command you.  No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.  You did not choose me, but I chose you." - John 15:14-16a I stand in awe that the creator of the universe wants to be my friend.  That he doesn't consider me an underservant, but someone to join Him right alongside Him in His work.  He doesn't keep secrets from us and  shares with us what He knows from the Father through the Word and prayer.  Thank you Lord for your mercy, your compassion and forgiveness you have for a sinner like me.  Thank you for your righteousness, the perfect sacrifice of Jesus to pay the cost of my sins.  Thank you for your forbearance, your patience with myself and other lost souls as we search for you.  And thank you for being a just God and a loving God.  "What a friend ...

Take a few minutes and read Psalm 2:1-12 before reading the rest of this post since it's pulled from those verses.  In the first three verses we quickly see man's wickedness:  the nations rage, the people plot in vain, and kings and rulers take counsel against the Lord.  We see throughout scripture, and actually just read in Psalm 1 that the Lord will bless those who walk in his way.  Yet we are still filled with rebellion and entitlement instead of spiritual humility.  The next three verses reveal God's reaction to our disobedience.  Here the psalmist actually says that God mocks our rebellion with laughter.  Then He speaks to us in what I wish I could have more of, a perfectly balanced anger.  Now this gets off topic for a second but how many of us often react to hostilely with our spouse or kids just because of our mood instead of whatever they actually did that cause a problem in the first place?  Okay, back to the poin...

For the past couple years I've posted some of my goals for the upcoming year.  Not really resolutions, but more measurable goals for myself.  I have been slack in measuring where I am on those but let's take a look and see how 2015 stacked up.  Spiritually:  In 2015 I did more studies instead of reading through the entire Bible in a year.  While I did miss the daily reading plan that offers, the studies have provided great insight and more passion in my daily walk.   I've read that reading the Bible in a year is like driving a speed boat across a lake, but studying it slower is more like taking a ride on a glass bottom boat where you can observe more of the depths of the water.  If you are looking for a study to do in the upcoming year, I would highly recommend Radial by David Platt, or Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby.  Both are studies that you will make you feel inspired by what God is doing in the world yet also humbled by o...