Monday, August 30, 2010

August 29th Podcast

The podcast for this week's sermon (August 29th) is now available!!

http://fbcbeggs.podomatic.com/

Daily Bible Readings: August 30th- September 4th

Monday- Psalm 150:1-6
Meditation: We finish our look at the book of psalms with a very appropriate call to praise. The message of Psalm 150 provides depth in its simplicity. The summary of all that we’ve seen in the last 2 ½ years: Praise the Lord! After all this time spent in the psalms giving us reasons and motivation, command and directions, how has your praise for God grown? Could you say that your life meets the call to praise Him?

Tuesday – Psalm 150.1; Psalm 84.10-12; Jeremiah 20.9
Meditation: From where does God’s praise originate? It should come from everywhere. But if some of the world sits in ignorant silence, there is one group whose voice should never be quiet: his people. God has pulled us out of a horrible life and he continues to bless us as long as we live. It is not possible for those who love God to even be able to hold back his praise. How vocal is your life? Does it ring loudly about how great your God is or is there an eerie, uncomfortable silence?

Wednesday – Psalm 150.2; 1 Corinthians 3.16-17; Exodus 15.11; Isaiah 45.5
Meditation: We have every reason to praise God. We should never have to ask the question “Why?” Two things about God that should drive us to praise: what he has done and who he is. God has done so much for us. He has worked “mighty deeds” on our behalf. But really even without the many great things God has done for us, we have reason to praise him just for the fact that he is God. If our lives are not lives of praise it isn’t because God doesn’t deserve it or hasn’t done enough, it is because we refuse to give to him what is rightly his: our lives.

Thursday – Psalm 150.3-5
Meditation: How are we as Christians supposed to praise God? Simple…with everything we have. These instruments are not here to describe a heavenly band but rather to show us that no matter what is going on or where we are, we can praise God. From the battlefields of our lives, to times of victory, even when we are alone and nothing is going on, we can and should praise him. So don’t worry about how, just do it.

Friday – Psalm 150.6; Psalm 148.1-14
Meditation: If you are alive, this psalm is for you. The life of praise is not just for the mature Christian or even just Christians in general. Everyone on earth should be praising God. This call to praise isn’t about making God feel special or important, it’s simply the truth. There is only one God, only one hope for this world and he deserves our praise and admiration. He deserves our lives.

Saturday – Psalm 150.1-6

Monday, August 23, 2010

August 22nd Podcast Now Available!

The podcast for this week's sermon (August 22nd) is now available!

Psalm 149:6-9
http://fbcbeggs.podomatic.com/

Daily Bible Readings: August 23rd-28th

Monday- Psalm 149:1-9
Meditation: What is the church, the people of God, Supposed to be doing?  What will our lives look like? What is the work of the church? Here God gives us some answers to that question that every church asks. He lays out two areas of church life: the church at praise and the church at war. Last week we looked at praise. This week we will look at the church at war. Pray that God would call you and our body to faithfully fulfill both of these calls, that we might live and fight for the glory of God.

Tuesday – Psalm 149.6-9; Psalm 119.11; Ephesians 6.13-17
Meditation: The first aspect to the Christian fight is our preparedness. God calls on the Christian to have his praise in their throats and a sword in their hands. We know that our sword is none other than the word of God. God’s word is to be on our tongues and in our hands. Our success in our fight centers on what we do with God’s word. If we intend to fight, his word alone will serve our needs.

Wednesday – Psalm 149.6-9; Ephesians 6.12; Matthew 28.18-20; Acts 1.8;
Meditation: With this preparedness, the Christian now goes into battle. The first object of our fight is the conquest of the nations. Our fight is not for the land of the nations but for their hearts. So how do we win this fight? With the word of God, our sword. The nations are defeated as the gospel comes and conquers them. That is why we must take the word into the world, because it is the word alone that can set free the world. If we are going to win the world, we must know the word. Do you?

Thursday – Psalm 149.6-9; Ephesians 2.1-3; Colossians 2.13-15; Hebrews 4.12
Meditation: The next fight in our war is against the rulers of our world. The king of this world is none other than Satan himself. The work of the gospel is to declare that Satan has been defeated and it binds him and steals his very family. But the word also works in our own hearts. In the battle against sin, only God’s word can provide victory. Pray that you might fight the battle and that God might have victory over sin, over Satan, and over yourself.

Friday – Psalm 149.6-9; Romans 3.23-25; John 3.16-19; Colossians 2.13-15
Meditation: The last job of the church at war is to work judgment. The church calls the world to see that it has no hope. That it faces sure judgment. And in that it calls the world to see the hope that only the gospel provides. We must tell the world of the bad news so that the good news of God’s grace might shine that much brighter. There is only one hope for the world and only one hope for us: Jesus Christ. When is the last time you remembered how hopeless your life was? Thank him today for the hope only he can provide, the hope that brought you life out of judgment.

Saturday – Psalm 149.1-9

Monday, August 16, 2010

Daily Bible Readings: August 16th-21st

Monday – Psalm 149.1-9
Meditation: While Psalm 148 was about the duty of all of creation to praise their Creator, this week it is the church that fills the verses of Psalm 149. If Psalm 148 was a praise of the Creator, Psalm 149 is a praise to the Redeemer. What is God calling on his people to do? What is the life of his people supposed to look like? Pray that God would help you to see what it is he demands from you and pray he would help you to believe and accomplish what he demands.

Tuesday – Psalm 149.1-5; Lamentations 3.22-23
Meditation: As God’s people are called to praise him, what is the content of their praise? What drives his people to give up their very lives and follow him? We see in this psalm that there is no one moment, but rather new moments, “new songs”, every day where God adds content to our praise. Every day lived in allegiance to him is a day filled with blessing and a life filled with reasons to praise our great God.

Wednesday – Psalm 149.1-5; Hebrews 10.24-25; 1 Corinthians 6.9-11
Meditation: Who is called to this life? Called to praise God anew every day? The praise of God rings out from an assembly of the godly. Meeting together is good for Christians and healthy and essential for spiritual growth. But that gathering must be one of total humility. We are not godly because of who we are, we are godly because of what God has done for us. And it is that work of God, that grace, that drives us to praise him and drives us together in his name and for his glory.

Thursday – Psalm 149.1-5; Exodus 15.19-22
Meditation: How are we to praise God? That is a question asked by church worship people and has been a part of modern church debate for over a decade. Yet here God highlights just one aspect of praise: rejoicing. When thinking about God, the people rejoice with unfettered joy (dancing, music, etc.) If someone from the outside were to see our worship service is that what they would see, people celebrating / rejoicing together? Would they see that in your life today?

Friday – Psalm 149.1-5; John 3.16; Ephesians 3.20-21; Psalm 63.6-7
Meditation: The psalm finishes with four reasons we have to praise God: God’s delight in us, our salvation, the promise of glory, and the coming victory. We have every reason to praise God. Every reason to have every day of our lives filled with praise. How is it that praise is a struggle? How is it that praising God with every minute of our lives seems like a fairy tale, an exaggeration? Could it be that we haven’t spent enough time really understanding the why of our praise? If we will see what God has done for us, praising God won’t be what we do; it will be who we are.

Saturday – Psalm 149.1-9
Meditation: Look over this week’s meditations. Not only is God our Creator, he is our Redeemer. We have every reason to praise him and new reasons that will arise every day. Make sure this week you understand the call of God’s people to praise him.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Pastor Gore's Guest Editorial

Baptist Messenger Guest Editorial: Whose Rights?

Daily Bible Readings: August 9th-14th

Monday – Psalm 148.1-14
Meditation: What does it mean that God is “Creator”? Being Creator carries with it great authority. But it also calls for a response from the created. Psalm 148 is going to praise God for who is he is in creation and what he has done on behalf of us his created, and how we are to respond to our great Creator. Pray that God would help you marvel not just at creation but at him.

Tuesday – Psalm 148.1-10; Psalm 19
Meditation: The Bible loves to highlight the greatness of God and of his creation and our psalm is no different. God has made the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. We must be amazed by the one who crafted them in his own hand. And not only did God make the heavens and the earth, he continues to sustain them. Thank God that he not only creates but upholds his creation.

Wednesday – Psalm 148.11-14; Psalm 139.13-18
Meditation: God didn’t just craft creation. He made us. He didn’t just make the stage. He makes the performers. From the least to the greatest, all are works of his hand and owe their lives to him. And as with creation God didn’t just make us and move on. He is in control of every day of our lives. The God of the universe guiding your life. What a blessing. God’s care for us is not about a moment in the past, but is highlighted anew every day, for it is God that sustains both us and our world.

Thursday – Psalm 148.13-14
Meditation: What should our response be as we grow to understand more about our great God? It should come as no surprise that the answer is…praise! This psalm gives us two reasons to praise God as creator. The first is just the simple fact that there is no one else like him. There is one creator for this entire world. The God of the Bible alone carries that title. It just makes sense to fall down in worship before the one who made all this. Pray that God would grab your heart with who he is and lift your eyes to be amazed at what he has done.

Friday – Psalm 148.13-14; Psalm 18.2, Luke 1.68-69
Meditation: The second reason we have to praise God is that he takes all that power he possesses as creator and uses it on our behalf. He applies his power to protect, to save us. The “horn” he raises for us is none other than his own Son. God doesn’t just make us, nor is his care for us finished in that he makes and sustains us. Our God goes infinitely beyond the bounds. Our God saves us. For that he deserves our praise.

Saturday – Psalm 148.1-14
Meditation: Look over this week’s meditations. There is one Creator. Only one. And he deserves our praise, our lives. Can you say that you have treated God as he deserves to be treated? Have you given him the praise due the one true God?