“Exercising Great Love”
March 3 “Exercising Great Love” 2 Peter 3:9
Good morning from Pastor Glen Brock, Baptist Tabernacle Church, Wendell, North Carolina… “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
My earliest memories involve the love of my mother and the mercy that she demonstrated towards this “active and mischievous” little boy! I was inquisitive and I wanted to see how things worked, and that would include taking things apart and putting them back together. One example was the Electrolux vacuum cleaner. It came apart easily, and it went back together just as simply, with 2 parts left over! Oops! Here comes the exercise of her great love! I know that I put Mama through some trying times, yet she was so compassionate, and she loved me through the “growth.” Now, her patience had limits! From time to time, she would exercise her great love at the end of a belt or a “switch (I would have to fetch)!” Mama was my first example of the Love of God and the depth of His love for a wayward people. My God loves each one of us and He does not want any to perish, and this great love is extended to all! Just as Mama would show mercy, our God shows mercy to us! He does not overlook sin, or ignore His Holiness, but God is patient and loving and He is ready to forgive and to reconnect with us. Folks, I would ask why it was that I would receive a “killing” for my actions, yet my friend would get a pass from his mother! “Because I love you more,” was my mother’s answer! Peter said that it might appear that our Lord was “slack” in punishing the sinful, however, God is patient and loving and He wants us to repent and to claim His Grace and to re-establish a “Right” relationship with Him. God is patiently waiting for you today! Every day, in everything, God is actively demonstrating His Great Love for us! Sadly, not everyone will be SAVED! God’s Love demands Holiness, and His Holiness is always tempered by HIS LOVE! Just remember this: God Loves You and He is Not Slack with this Love! He has Promised redemption, and Eternal Life, with Him, and the Price of Admission to Heaven has been paid on the Cross of Calvary! God is ready to forgive your sins, and He is willing to show His Mercy towards you, and to offer His Grace (His unmerited favor) for the remission of your sins! My dear Mama corrected me because she loved me, and my God offers His Love and He corrects me and guides me and protects me, and He is not SLACK in Doing IT! I have rambled on to say this and it is the most important lesson of all: “… not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” Stay Strong, Stay Focused…THE BEST IS YET TO BE!
BIRTHHDAYS FOR MARCH 2, 2024
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO:
COLE GIDDING
JOSEPH LAMBERT
“Attitude of Joy”
March 2 “Attitude of Joy” Luke 15:7
Good morning from Pastor Glen Brock, Baptist Tabernacle Church, Wendell, North Carolina… “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.” (Luke 15:7)
Are you rejoicing? What is it that motivates your rejoicing? As you live your life, what are the main priorities of your daily responsibilities? Are you preoccupied with earthly and temporal things or are you focused on heavenly things? We must take a serious and honest look at our lives, and we must really determine who we are, to answer this question! Luke is telling us what causes a smile in heaven! God is not impressed with our human righteousness and our human attempt to “act” righteous! Our God finds great pleasure when a sinner comes to Him through repentance and receives the Grace of God, through Jesus Christ! Sadly, not everyone will come to Christ! We are all sinners, and we need to call out to God for His Mercy and Grace, as we repent of our sins and ask Him to forgive and to cleanse us and to make us acceptable, through the shed blood of Jesus. There is absolutely nothing, in our human existence, that we can do to qualify for this Amazing Grace! It is by His Great Love for us and His desire that we should re-establish a relationship with Him, through Jesus’ Redeeming Blood and our recognition of our sinfulness and for our repentance and acceptance of His atoning Grace that we are able to claim victory for our living! Friends, outside of knowing Jesus Christ and His redeeming Love for us, our job, our joy, our responsibility, is to share this Great News with others! Every time that I share Jesus with another soul, and they, through faith, confess, believe, and accept, as their own, the Amazing Grace of God, I REJOICE! What makes you celebrate? We have the absolute privilege to serve as Ambassadors for God, in this world, every day of our lives! May you continue to become heavenly minded and continue to live so that others WILL SEE JESUS IN YOU!!! Stay Strong, Stay Focused…THE BEST IS YET TO BE!
BIRTHDAYS FOR MARCH 1, 2024
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO:
CHRISTIAN GIDDING
JUNIOR FERRELL
MASON TAYLOR
“Call Upon Me, I Will Listen.”
March 1 “Call Upon Me, I Will Listen.” Jeremiah 29:12
Good morning from Pastor Glen Brock, Baptist Tabernacle Church, Wendell, North Carolina… “Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.” (Jeremiah 29:12)
All of the greatest moments of my life have been experienced, in prayer and the results of prayer! The scripture passage for today, follows a promise that God made, to provide a future and to offer hope! I feel blessed and privileged to be able to call on my God, and to know that He has promised a “Divinely Guided Future and His Blessed Hope for my Life! You see, prayer, sincere and faith-filled prayer, is the conduit by which we enter His presence and talk with Him and position ourselves to claim His Divine Promises for our Lives! I get excited, each time that I enter the presence of the “UNLIMITED GOD,” especially, when I recognize my “LIMITED” capacity! PRAISE GOD! Because of His “UNLIMITED” provisions, I can live “LIMITLESS!” Folks, the privilege of prayer is a blessing! We can talk to God, and He will listen and answer our prayers! He listens to my “whining and my complaining and still loves me and has promised that He would provide His Grace for my every shortcoming! So, given the promise, and believing His Word, and recognizing His “UNLIMITED” capacity and power, with intensity and with clear focus, call on the Lord, in Faith, and share your burdens and struggles and needs and desires, and leave them at His feet! Every day, in faithful prayer, share your ups and downs and LEAVE THEM WITH HIM! Pray for each other and lift up our leaders and our friends and neighbors and LEAVE IT THERE! Bring all your burdens to the Lord, put them at His Feet and LEAVE THEM THERE! Guess What? Your Husband or Wife, Your Friends, Your Co-Workers, even Your Pastor may not always listen to you, yet we have a friend, a friend that is closer than a brother, that will listen, hear, and respond to our prayers! What a privilege that we have in Holy and UNLIMITED PRAYER! Exercise the Privilege and Pour Out Your Heart to God and Expect His Blessings, Corrections, and His Provisions! HE WILL LISTEN TO YOU!! Stay Strong, Stay Focused…THE BEST IS YET TO BE!
BIRTHDAYS FOR FEBRUARY 29, 2024
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO:
MAKAYLA PERRY
His Glory: Our Ultimate Goal
February 29 His Glory: Our Ultimate Goal John 14:13
Good morning from Pastor Glen Brock, Baptist Tabernacle Church, Wendell, North Carolina… “Whatever you ask in My Name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:13)
Prayer, and our participation in prayer, is simple; yet; has very specific requirements. Jesus told His Disciples that whatever they asked in His Name would be given to them. These are the words of Jesus, Himself, and these words have promise for us, right now, today! We need to, first, consider the “ask in My Name!” Many of us (Christians) will close our prayers with the words, “IN JESUS’ NAME, AMEN.” Daddy told me, many years ago, that, if I did not pray “In Jesus’ Name,” that my prayers were just “so many words…” What he was attempting to explain, is that our prayers, regardless of the intensity and specific nature of the request, if we are not asking in the proper attitude and in the proper relationship and if our prayers are not in alignment with the will of God, do not expect God to fulfill the request. Folks, our prayers, our communication motives, should be completely consumed in our desire to glorify the Father through the Son and our prayers should include an attitude and desire to express “Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Bottom Line: Prayer is our opportunity to “Praise God,” and our responsibility to communicate and to “Glorify” God through Jesus Christ! Everything that we do, as Believers, in about attitude and relationships. The stronger that we grow, in our faith, and the more committed that we become, the results will be a stronger prayer life and that will be demonstrated by a “Selfless” request and a “Glorifying” praise! What God does with you is entirely up to you. It always has and it always will! Stay Strong, Stay Focused…THE BEST IS YET TO BE!
BIRTHDAYS FOR FEBRUARY 28, 2024
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO:
ALLYSON CREECH
SHIRLEY LANE
CAROL WOODARD
HEATHER WENTZ
GINA HINTON PRICE
JESUS is the WAY!
February 28 JESUS is the WAY! John 14:6
Good morning from Pastor Glen Brock, Baptist Tabernacle Church, Wendell, North Carolina… “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)
Studying the Old Testament, we discover that it is a series of signs and events that point to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ! Praise God! He is the prophesied Messiah, the Way, the Truth, the Life, that the scriptures for told. God loves mankind so much that He was willing to send Jesus, His Only Son, to reestablish the broken relationship that occurred in the Garden of Eden by Adam and Eve. We, a sinful, imperfect, and habitual rule breaker, could not stand before a Holy God, and ask for anything! Our Human Good is not enough to reestablish a relationship with God! God knew that we needed a way through to establish this Holy Relationship! Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the TRUTH that was PROMISED from the first sinful event in the Garden of Eden! Friends, pay close attention… JESUS CHRIST IS THE ONLY WAY TO HEAVEN! WE ARE NOT WORTHY TO COME BEFORE GOD, IN OUR SINFUL NATURE! THE FACT IS THAT WE CANNOT KNOW GOD WITHOUT JESUS CHRIST AND HIS ATONING BLOOD THAT COVERS OUR SINFUL NATURE! GOD CANNOT LOOK ON SIN AND WE MUST HAVE JESUS AS OUR SAVIOR, REDEEMER, AND FORGIVER, TO COME INTO THE PRESENCE OF ALMIGHTY GOD! WE CANNOT KNOW GOD, HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM, WITHOUT THE ATONING BLOOD OF JESUS THAT COVERS OF SINS! “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” When we know Jesus, we know the FATHER! THERE IS NO OTHER WAY TO HEAVEN, THERE IS NO OTHER WAY TO A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FATHER GOD! Jesus is the ANSWER! Jesus is the WAY! Jesus is the TRUTH! Jesus is the LIFE-GIVING POWER TO HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH FATHER GOD! Facts are facts, and the simple fact is that JESUS IS THE WAY! Stay Strong, Stay Focused… THE BEST IS YET TO BE!