Meet Christian and Allie. They both came to our church yesterday and I went to follow up on them. They were surprised the pastor would come to their house. Allie asked me what she needed to do to get baptized. That opened the door for me to talk to both of them about the Gospel, and they both accepted Christ as their Saviour. Thankful the Gospel still does the work in the heart of those that the Holy Spirit leads us to #divineappointments

How You Say It Really Matters x.com/i/broadcasts/1yJAPPAEm…

Learn why your terminology is not only critical, but it tells on you oldpathsjournal.com/post/how…

When you take for granted God moving in your life, you will quickly squander His moving for your own selfish pleasures

One of the sad statements about Samson that reveals his character is that he used his companion as a friend. In other words, he was not really a friend to his companion, but he used him for his own advantage. However, the one whom he used ended up biting him, as Samson's wife was given to this friend whom he had used. One thing everyone must be careful about is that we do not use people for our own advantage. When you use someone for your own advantage, you can be guaranteed that they will turn on you one day. If the only reason you have someone as a friend is so that you can get something out of them, then you are a very shallow person. Friendship should never be about what I get out of someone, but rather, what can I do for that person. Friendship should never be something that we take lightly, where we use people for how they benefit us and then cast them aside once they no longer benefit us. I believe one of the great sins of our day is the shallowness of friendship that is exhibited among God's people. There are those who have stuck their neck out to help you, and then you do nothing to help them in return. That is a shallow friend. There are those who have hurt their own name to stand with you, and then you do nothing to reciprocate that friendship. My friend, that is a very shallow type of friend, and only an empty person responds like this. Then there are those who are friendly to people as long as it will not hurt them, but as soon as someone they call a friend does something that is unpopular, they turn on them or refuse to stand with them in their darkest days. Again, this is a shallow friend. True friendship stands with you whether you are popular or not. True friendship is not concerned with what it can get out of a friend, but rather, what it can do for a friend. I want to challenge you to be a true friend to your friends. This does not mean that you always have to agree with your friends, but it does mean that you will always be a friend to those whom you call your friends. Never become the type of person who uses others as friends, but be a friend even when the world turns against those whom you call your friends.

God’s power was tremendous again today by giving us 16 saved, 5 baptized, another joining the church, several visitors, and a great summer attendance. Part of the “Miracle of Maranatha” is that we choose to have a #summerjump instead of a summer slump, and the Lord seems to be providing. #MBCBethany #OKC #church #growing

Once you accept "I can't," you will lose the faith to drive forward by faith and stop seeing God working through your life.

Too many people have made the Gospel way too difficult. When we look at this prison guard, we find the answer to what it takes for a person to be saved. He asked, "What must I do to be saved?" Either Paul was a heretic, or what he was about to say shows us what it takes to be saved. Paul said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." You will notice that Paul did not say, "Believe and work to keep your salvation." You will notice that Paul did not say, "Believe and repent of every sin to be saved." You will notice that Paul did not say, "Believe and be baptized, and then you will be saved." Paul simply said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." My friend, salvation comes from repenting of your unbelief and placing your belief in Jesus Christ as the only way to be saved. In fact, throughout the book of Acts, we see the importance of believing for a person to be saved. In Acts 18:27, it says that Apollos "helped them much which had believed through grace." In other words, we are saved by grace, which means that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves other than believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. In Acts 19:2, Paul asked, "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" Notice he did not ask if they had received the Holy Ghost since they believed and worked to keep their salvation. Notice he did not ask if they had received the Holy Ghost since they had repented of every sin and believed. All these people had to do to receive the Holy Ghost was believe. Believe on what? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Let us stop making salvation more difficult than it is, for anything that is more difficult than believing on the Lord Jesus Christ IS NOT salvation. Christ made it very plain throughout the Scriptures that a person gets saved simply by stopping his trust in anything other than the Lord Jesus Christ to save him. When a person puts his faith and trust in Christ's payment for his sin on Calvary as the payment for his sins, then he is saved. Why would Christ make salvation so simple for the lost? He made it simple because He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. He makes it easy because He loves people and wants them in Heaven. Maybe we as believers ought to love people the same way that God loves them, and if we do, we will not make salvation more difficult than the Scriptures make it, which is simply believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.

Learn how Gideon turned his fear into faith oldpathsjournal.com/post/fro…

“I can’t” never did anything; “I can” did all things. The difference between success and failure is often the “t.”

Ananias almost made the same mistake that many believers make when they go soul winning. When God told him to go find Saul of Tarsus and witness to him, Ananias answered the Lord and said, "Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem." Ananias was prequalifying whether Saul could be saved or not. He was making up in his mind that Saul was too hard to get saved. However, he obeyed the Lord's leading, and the rest is history. Saul got saved and became the Apostle Paul, who reached the Gentile world for Christ. One of the great mistakes many soul winners make when they go soul winning is that they look at somebody and think that they are too hard to get saved. Let me remind you that everybody has a soul and that the Holy Spirit will convict everybody of their sin. You must never prequalify somebody as being too hard or very easy to be saved. Half of the battle that you will fight when it comes to soul winning is believing that Christ can save someone. Just because someone drives a fancy car, lives in a big house, or has a lot of money does not mean they cannot be saved. Certainly, the Scriptures teach that it is harder for rich men to be saved because of the riches in which they trust, but that does not mean they cannot be saved. I want to encourage you to stop prequalifying who can and cannot be saved. I want to challenge you to start witnessing to everyone you see, realizing that if the Holy Spirit led you to them, they can be saved because He is the One who led you to them. We may be surprised how many the Lord would help us to lead to him if we would stop trying to find the so-called easy ones to get saved and simply realize that all men to whom we witness can be saved. Always remember, it is in the power of the Gospel, not in the condition of the person to whom we are witnessing, that does the work on the heart for the lost to get saved.

The Principle of the Leader-Follower x.com/i/broadcasts/1lJQRReDk…

Learn the two important principles about the leader-follower oldpathsjournal.com/post/the…

A great church that wants to see great success must have a great witness and a great outreach to reach the thousands

We all know the story of Achan, but we often miss the lessons we can learn from his life. What Achan did in taking that which God had set apart was take something that belonged to God. He took of the accursed thing and became a curse to himself, his family, and his people. It did not matter what his reasoning was for taking that which belonged to God, but because it belonged to God, he should have kept his hands off of it. We see the principle of God setting things apart for Himself throughout the Scriptures. God set the tree of the knowledge of good and evil apart, but Adam and Eve took of that fruit, and they became cursed. The tithe belongs to God, and anyone who takes and uses that tithe for themselves becomes cursed by God. The glory belongs to God, and anyone who takes God's glory for themselves becomes cursed by God. You see, God's principle is that what He sets apart belongs to Him, and when we take what belongs to God, we become cursed by God. Sadly, many have taken that which belongs to God and used it for themselves, and they have become a curse to themselves, their family, and their church. You cannot take what belongs to God and think that God will quietly sit by and allow you to take it without Him doing anything. Let us remember that whatever God sets apart, or whatever we set apart for God, belongs to Him. If you set your life apart for God, then your life belongs to Him. Because God set the first day of the week apart and calls it His day, to use Sunday for any purpose other than the Lord is to take that which belongs to God. Always understand that the sin of Achan was not merely that he stole from God, but that he rebelled against God's ownership. What God owns belongs to Him, and for us to touch it is an act of rebellion against that which belongs to God and makes us a curse to ourselves and to everyone around us.

God Needs Better Planning x.com/i/broadcasts/1yxBeeDkb…

Learn two reasons why you must be patient with God and His planning oldpathsjournal.com/post/god…

Nobody has an excuse for sin because the Holy Spirit always tells them something is wrong before they do it

Jesus made a great statement that every believer ought to adopt as the purpose of their life. Jesus said, "I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me..." (John 17:6). The word manifest means to display, reveal, or make known. It means to be the evidence of something so that it becomes obvious and plain. In other words, Jesus was saying that He had made the Father's name very clear to all those who had been given to Him. God has given you many people in your life whom you are acquainted with and with whom you have some measure of influence. Our neighbors are people whom God has given to us. Those with whom we do business are people whom God has given to us. Those whose paths cross ours on a regular basis are people whom God has given to us. Those with whom we work with are people whom God has given to us. Every person whose path crosses yours regularly is someone God has placed in your world for the purpose of manifesting His name to them. Now, the question you need to ask yourself is this: Have you manifested the name of Christ to those whom God has given to you? Have you made Christ visible through your life to those around you? Does your life display the Saviour? If your life does not show Christ, then you have failed to manifest His name to those whom God has placed in your world. Moreover, you must manifest His name through your words. Therefore, another question you must ask yourself is this: Have you told everyone in your world about Jesus Christ? Do they merely know that you attend church, or have you actually given them the Gospel? For people to know that you are a believer, yet never hear from you how they can become a believer, is to fail to manifest Christ's name to them. Every person in your world ought to hear the Gospel from your lips. Are you manifesting the name of Christ to those whom God has given to you? Let this simple statement challenge you every day of your life. Determine that every person God places in your path will have an opportunity to hear the Gospel from you. God put them in your path for a reason, and that reason may very well be so that you can manifest His name to them and give them the opportunity to be saved.

Losing Respect for God x.com/i/broadcasts/1YGNrrzkp…