Baptist Christian Church

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Prov. 2:3-5

We invite you to join us for worship each Sunday morning at 9:30. Last week we learned to regain or fear of God we must choose to receive the Word as the Word of God then treasure it in our hearts. Many Christians make the mistake of reading (casually) the Word, even memorizing it, but they never make the permanent decision to turn from the world to God. God’s wisdom is always available to us, but it is not easy to embrace. Notice Solomon continues in verse three telling us we must

IV. CRY OUT FOR INSIGHT AND UNDERSTANDING. Read Prov. 1:21; 8:1; 9:3; and 21:31. All those verses picture a person crying aloud with urgency, almost agony wanting to hear from God. In Isa. 21:8; Joel 1:19 and Jonah 1:14 you can feel the urgency/agony of these people in these situations. All those examples are the same word Solomon used here in Prov. 2:3. James say it in his letter in 1:5 ask, or beg, call 4, crave, desire that God give to them. When people tell me they just don’t get anything out of reading the Bible or from preaching, I often question them and discover they haven’t put anything into their study or listening. To get the deeper truths of Scripture we must put some real effort into it. Notice in verse 4 we must

V. RECOGNIZE THE VALUE OF WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING! The old saying “anything worth having is worth working for” applies here. In Matt. 13:44, 45 Jesus makes it very clear God places an extremely high value on wisdom and understanding. However, if you read these verses carefully, you will come away seeing that God hasn’t reduced His Word to just-add-water, nuke it for 10 seconds to get instant wisdom and understanding. True Biblical Christianity that works as God designed it to work requires a higher level of commitment, devotion, effort, and work than anything else in this life. A vital dynamic walk with Christ isn’t easy; you must want it more than you want your next breath! By the way, such a decision isn’t a once for ever decision. You must make it as deeply and as seriously every day, all day to make it stick! Finally, when we have done all these steps in verses 1-4 God will see to it we

VI. UNDERSTAND THE FEAR OF THE LORD AND FIND KNOWLEDGE! When we come to the point in our life were The Word of God and all it brings to us, becomes the only starting and ending point in our life, then we begin to accept it – store it in our hearts – we repent, turn completely toward God in understanding and obedience; when we seek God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength – we cry out to Him for insight and understanding – when we search for them diligently as we would for buried treasure worth trillions of dollars – then and only then are our hearts and lives touched with true fear of a thrice holy God! So here is the question: when the sin that still infects your life goes to your mind, does its very presence in your life so horrify you that you literally tremble at the truth that it occupies the same heart as the Holy Spirit? Does it bring a tear from a broken heart to your eyes that you would even consider allowing such a catastrophic atrocity? It should! Won’t you bow before God now and ask Him to help you work for the fear of God?

If we can help you with this or any other spiritual question, call us at (574) 643-9419.

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Proverbs 1:7 and 2:1-4

We invite you to join us for worship each Sunday morning at 9:30. Over the past few weeks we have been studying some serious mistakes Christians have made that have caused us to lose of fear of God. To even consider true spiritual revival we must first regain that fear. In Prov. 1:7 we learn that fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge. In Prov. 9:10 we learn the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. Put them together and we learn the fear of God is understanding. Notice also that the fool despises wisdom, meaning they despise God Himself. As Christians we must learn to fear the LORD again and God tells us how. We begin by

1. RECEIVING THE WORD OF GOD 2:1. The word “receive” means “to take so as to obey; to receive, take as a charge, possession, heritage. Read Prov. 10:8; 21:11 coupled with the verses above and we see how God is putting all this together for us. To “receive” My Words you must accept, choose, select, prefer, and take delight in the Word of God. Jesus told us to “hunger and thirst for righteousness (The Word). If you want God to open His Scriptures to you, you must receive them into your heart, then let your heart be softened by the Holy Spirit, after that let the Holy Spirit send the Word to your head for understanding! To have a true heart’s desire to understand the Word, then no Christian can ever say “that part doesn’t apply to me.” So ask yourself if your heart really desire to receive the Word as God intends it to be received. Christians must also
2. TREASURE THE WORD OF GOD – Verse 1. I am told Christians in some places in the world can’t have Bibles openly, so they have small parts which they memorize then trade for another part to memorize. How many Bibles to you have in your home? Do you treasure them as those people treasure the Word? Do you value the Word for what is truly is? Do you treasure or “store up” the Word so it can be used in your defense when Satan attacks? What portion of God’s Word is so valuable to you, you go to is almost daily just to let is speak to you? What is in the storehouses of your heart? Until they are filled with the Word, the fear of the Lord is pushed somewhere else. You must treasure it and store is so you are ready to
3. REPENT AND APPLY THE WORD OF GOD. Verse 2. The NKJV uses the word “incline” which gives a better picture of what Solomon meant. The word “incline” means “to stretch, extend, or expand. The idea is to stretch, expand your heart towards an object in regard, or favor. Do you see how beautiful this is? God tells us to “receive My Word into your heart as a valuable treasure stored up to be used to stretch, expand your heart in the direction I will lead you through My Word. Repentance (turning from the world toward God) is always the starting point. Only when we are facing God fully, can we receive and treasure His Word with the intent to hear it with our heart. So what’s keeping you from learning to fear the LORD again? The answer is nothing more than stubborn pride that has no fear of God! We all need to change that.

If we can help you with this or any other spiritual matter, call us at (574) 643-9419.

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Nehemiah 8:1-12

We invite you to worship with us each Sunday morning at 9:30. Nehemiah is a dynamic book that teaches us many lessons about individual and corporate life as Christians. The real message of the book goes deep into the motives and intents of the heart. In our society now, the word revival stirs up negative feelings and thoughts. Many people think of long nightly services with hell-fire and brimstone preaching followed by emotional invitations until someone makes a decision. True Biblical revival is none of that! True Biblical revival actually begins in the hearts of individuals who are true Christians, then carries over into the corporate body. The word revival means “to bring back to life.” Nehemiah did not lead the people back to Jerusalem just to rebuild the walls. He led them back to worship and serve God, and to evangelize the people. As we consider the current “state of the Church” in America today, what makes revival necessary?

1. THE TRUE ART OF WORSHIP DOES NOT FILL OUR SANCTUARIES! Ask yourself, “what is the true motivation of my heart to attend Sunday morning service?” The real answers go from a deep, heart desire to meet with Almighty God in true spiritual worship – to nothing more than “appearances”. Today we don’t worship because we don’t see God as YAHWEH – God! Read Ps. 18:7-15. Is that the God you wake to serve every day? Or is God nothing more than the Big Guy upstairs, your Bud, Mr. Fix-it when crisis strikes? Dear Reader, when the curtain tore the only thing that changed was unlimited access to God. Nowhere does Scripture ever teach that God’s holiness, awesome power, the fear of God went away! As the redeemed of the Lord His Holy Majesty and Awesomeness ought to be magnified infinitely in our hearts. We ought to be on our knees begging God to put the fear of Him deep into our hearts so we have a desire to worship Him as Almighty God! When that happens, worship will fill the sanctuary. Another reason we need revival is
2. THE TRUE EXCITEMENT OF WORSHIP IS GONE! Because there is such a widespread loss of the fear of God, there is also a loss of the true excitement of worship. One pastor said, “there is a pervasive dullness of religiosity.” Said another way it means we just go through the motions. When I speak of excitement I don’t mean 45-50 minutes of 7-11 choruses, jumping up and down with praise teams, bands, then tack on a 20 minute devotion and call it church! That’s entertainment, not worship! Does worship have to be dull and boring – absolutely not! Our excitement should come from meeting the Living God of Creation as His redeemed children! We ought to come before Him remembering where we were when He called us and where we are because of His sacrifice, His love, His work on Calvary! It’s all about Him, not me!! Try this; when you go into your sanctuary next Sunday visit until the prelude starts then sit down and bow your head beginning to pray. Ask God to meet with you personally and speak to you through His Word. Submit yourself to Him expecting Him to change you. Focus solely on God and expressing adoration, praise, awe, yes even fear, and an attentive heart. Do that for the next month and see if a different kind of excitement doesn’t begin to fill your heart for worship.

If we can help you with this or any other spiritual matter, call us at (574) 643-9419.

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Romans 3:9-18

We invite you to worship with us each Sunday morning at 9:30. If someone were to ask you what is the fundamental reason that would fully explain why America is the way she is today, what answer would you give? The answer is simple in that we have lost our fear of God. Most people see God today as a ‘nice ole Guy’ who’s going to let anyone who at least tried to be good into heaven. The fear of God is unquestionably the most basic and central concept, not just in the religion of The Bible, but in all religions. In the Judeo/Christian religion the fear of God is what elicits true worship, reverence, and obedience. Let’s consider how we lost that true fear of God. We have forgotten:

1. THE CONCEPT OF THE FEAR OF GOD! The fear of God is first seen in recorded human history in Gen. 3: 8-11. Here Adam wasn’t just afraid, he was also poor or as we learned a few weeks ago –“one who is destitute standing in front of One demanding an answer.” That truth in itself rubs us the wrong way, because we don’t like to be told we are poor and inferior. It is completely opposite the current post modern, existentialist, self-focused culture in which we live. Christians have fallen victim to it as well. One way to keep things in perspective is to remember that one day all Christians have a non-negotiable, non-cancelable appointment with God Almighty to give account of himself to God (Rom. 14:12). Read Job 28:1-28 where he explains that wisdom is the same thing as the fear of God. The word he uses for “fear” means dreadful, trembling resulting from apprehension of danger and a sense of one’s own weakness before a Holy God! Because we have forgotten the concept of the fear of God we’ve also forgotten
2. THE AFFECT OF THE FEAR OF GOD ON MAN! In Gen. 28:10-17 the word “fear” is the same word used in Job. Notice the affect of that fear was worship! In Ex. 3:1-6 the same word for “fear” is used. There Moses wasn’t just afraid, he was shamefully afraid and hid his face. The result was that Moses acted in obedience, even though it meant he had to return to Egypt and tell Pharaoh to release his entire work force to Moses! Read Isa. 6:1-4. When Isaiah was confronted with God’s holiness, he responded, in our language, “I’m a dead man, no one sees God and lives.” In verses 6, 7 we see God’s redeeming grace. When applied to Isaiah is resulted in Isaiah becoming a “missionary or sent one” to Israel. We have forgotten the concept and affect of the fear of God because we have also forgotten
3. THE SOURCE OF THE FEAR OF GOD! What word comes to mind in answer to this question? What is God’s directing attribute, or what word describes God more than any other word? If you thought of anything other than HOLINESS, the sad truth is you don’t know God as God! We must understand and remember that more than anything else God is a thrice holy God in all that He is. When we accept His gift of salvation, He shares that holiness with us so we can know Him as The True and Living God! Holiness is the way we respond to God and His divine sovereignty. So the question in all this becomes “what is the ultimate source of your life in all its parts?” A Christian must understand that all of life must begin and end in God. We must get on our knees before our God and beg Him to cause us to fear Him as we should, so our life responds to Him in worship, obedience, and missions.

If we can further help you understand this call us at (574) 643-9419.