No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
“When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the LORD will answer them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.”
– Isaiah 41:17-18
Main Thought: Here in these verses of Isaiah 41, we find pictured a people who are in need of water in a wilderness, and there is none, and they are parched and perhaps about to die of thirst. I am reminded of after the delivery of Israel from Egypt, the people of God were wandering and soon became thirsty in the wilderness and complained against Moses, and God provided them water out of a rock (Ex. 17:1-7). However, I believe here in Isaiah’s passage that the application is more for those who are thirsty for God and thirsty in a spiritual sense. Some thirsty souls are those who have known His presence but are now thirsting to know the presence and the power of God again, and they are crying out to Him as David did in Psalm 42:2 when he says “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God,” for a fresh outpouring of God upon their souls. Perhaps this is a lost soul who cries out to God for the “spiritual water” of the Spirit of God which brings life and refreshment that they have never known, much like the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well in Samaria. Jesus told her at the well that “everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again” (John 4:13-14). Later on in that passage, we are told she left her water jar and went and told others about this One that she had met (John 4:28-30). What happened to her that made her leave the jar behind? The great need, the great thirsting of her soul, was now satisfied because the water of eternal life had been poured upon her dry and dead soul; the Spirit of God was poured out upon her (Isa. 44:3). The idea conveyed here is not only will our God hear our cry initially but He will continually supply our need and provide us rest and refreshment in the midst of a spiritual wilderness and wasteland. Notice here the “I wills” of God; it is a promise of God that those who call upon Him for this water are heard and He will give them this life, this eternal spring of life that will always satisfy. In John 6:35, our Lord promises that “whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” We may have times when we are isolated in the barrenness of this world, but the God who hears our cries will continue to refresh us through the spiritual water of His Spirit and the Word of God. In Psalm 23, David reminds us that our God, even through the most difficult of times will continue to lead us “beside still waters” and give us a cup that “overflows” with refreshment from God. Are you parched and thirsty in your soul? Do you desire, as the Samaritan woman, the water of life that can only come from our Lord? Then call upon Him, and certainly He will open rivers and fountains and springs, and pour upon you the water of eternal life and eternal satisfaction.
David Webber is married to Mary with four children and four grandchildren, and serves as the Pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Longview, TX. He obtained a BS in History from the University of Texas at Tyler, TX, and pursued studies at Baptist Missionary Association Theological Seminary in Jacksonville, TX. Throughout his ministry, he has been an invited preacher and educator in numerous churches and various Bible conferences. Surrendering to the gospel ministry’s calling in 1972 at the age of 16, he received preaching licensure from Little Flock Baptist Church in Longview, Texas, in 1974. Graduating with a Bachelor of Science Degree in History from the University of Texas at Tyler in 1978, he was ordained in December of 1980 by Faith Baptist Church. Following this, he contributed his services to Faith Baptist in Longview and subsequently engaged with Grace Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas, where he instructed Sunday School and delivered sermons as needed. In February of 1994, Faith Baptist invited him to lead as their pastor, a role he has faithfully held to the present day. David writes a blog for the church website and is a writer for The Art of Worship.
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
“Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.”
– Psalm 29:2
Main Thought: One of the things you see throughout the Psalms of David is his emphasis on the true worship of God. We see it also early in the history of Israel when God delivered His people out of Egypt and gave them His laws and precepts, that a very detailed emphasis was placed upon the true worship of God. The Tabernacle was the hub, at the center of the camp of the Israelites. It was known as a place of holiness, where God came down to meet with man. The Israelites understood that worship was not about them, but about God, worshiping Him because of His great name and holiness. David also understood this, that we worship Him because “His name alone is exalted; His majesty is above earth and heaven” (Ps. 148:13). As His children, we are commanded in His Word to worship Him, to not forsake the assembling of yourselves together (Heb. 10:25), not for the purpose of checking off a box of our religious service, not for the purpose of socializing with friends, or getting our felt needs addressed by the pastors and teachers. No, the purpose when we gather together is to worship, to worship in our praying, our singing, our giving, our serving, and in the proclamation of our God in the preaching and teaching of His Word. When we come together and worship Him in Spirit and Truth (John 4:23), we are doing what we were put on this earth to do, and which we will spend an eternity in heaven doing. May all of us who know our Lord and Savior say with David that we will worship our Lord who has redeemed us because of the glory of His name and in “the splendor of holiness.” I pray all of us who know Christ will have a renewed zeal to worship Him now and look forward to the time when we will live in eternal worship of our Lord and Savior.
David Webber is married to Mary with four children and four grandchildren, and serves as the Pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Longview, TX. He obtained a BS in History from the University of Texas at Tyler, TX, and pursued studies at Baptist Missionary Association Theological Seminary in Jacksonville, TX. Throughout his ministry, he has been an invited preacher and educator in numerous churches and various Bible conferences. Surrendering to the gospel ministry’s calling in 1972 at the age of 16, he received preaching licensure from Little Flock Baptist Church in Longview, Texas, in 1974. Graduating with a Bachelor of Science Degree in History from the University of Texas at Tyler in 1978, he was ordained in December of 1980 by Faith Baptist Church. Following this, he contributed his services to Faith Baptist in Longview and subsequently engaged with Grace Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas, where he instructed Sunday School and delivered sermons as needed. In February of 1994, Faith Baptist invited him to lead as their pastor, a role he has faithfully held to the present day. David writes a blog for the church website and is a writer for The Art of Worship.
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
“For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”
– Hebrews 10:14
Main Thought: The writer of Hebrews is reminding these Jewish believers of the eternal satisfaction for their sins that Christ made upon the cross. Prior to the death of Christ, the Jews understood that sacrifices, such as the Passover, needed to be repeated over and over through time. Those sacrifices, as the writer reminds us in Hebrews 10:1-3, did not bring eternal satisfaction, being a reminder of sins and were only a foreshadowing of what would come in the sacrifice of Christ, stating in Hebrews 10:4 that it was “impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” When Christ came as our substitutionary atonement, He was fulfilling the will of the Father from before time began, and the blood He shed by that “single offering” not only forgave every sin that all who believe by faith in Him would ever commit, but “perfected” or accomplished for all time our standing as children of God. There is not anything to be added to it; no contrition, no penance, no works, no not anything. For anyone to say that something else is needed is to say that Christ’s perfect blood was not enough. The blood Christ shed on the Cross was perfectly and completely efficient and sufficient for those for whom He died. That is verified by Christ’s own words upon the cross when He said “It is finished” (John 19:30) and by the fact that He rose again and ascended back to the Father in heaven, showing that there was nothing left for Him to do for us regarding payment for sin. That does not mean we take this salvation for granted, for as is said here we are “being sanctified,” meaning God is continuing to do a work in us through the Holy Spirit and the Word, and those who are progressing in this sanctification will continue to pursue Him and glorify Him in their lives. What a wonderful thought and what confidence we have, knowing it is not our works and righteousness that assure us of eternal salvation, but it is the single act of Christ, offering Himself upon the Cross that is the surety of our salvation. Thank Him daily that He has secured your salvation for all eternity.
David Webber is married to Mary with four children and four grandchildren, and serves as the Pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Longview, TX. He obtained a BS in History from the University of Texas at Tyler, TX, and pursued studies at Baptist Missionary Association Theological Seminary in Jacksonville, TX. Throughout his ministry, he has been an invited preacher and educator in numerous churches and various Bible conferences. Surrendering to the gospel ministry’s calling in 1972 at the age of 16, he received preaching licensure from Little Flock Baptist Church in Longview, Texas, in 1974. Graduating with a Bachelor of Science Degree in History from the University of Texas at Tyler in 1978, he was ordained in December of 1980 by Faith Baptist Church. Following this, he contributed his services to Faith Baptist in Longview and subsequently engaged with Grace Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas, where he instructed Sunday School and delivered sermons as needed. In February of 1994, Faith Baptist invited him to lead as their pastor, a role he has faithfully held to the present day. David writes a blog for the church website and is a writer for The Art of Worship.
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
“He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of the people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. It will be said on that day, Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
– Isaiah 25:8-9
Main Thought: What a marvelous and wondrous truth that we have spoken and displayed here by Isaiah that speaks of the salvation and the deliverance of God’s people. Isaiah speaks of our God being “a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat” (Isa. 25:4) earlier in this chapter in verse 4 in that current day, but it is obvious here that Isaiah is writing of a future time, a time when death, disease, and all suffering will be no more for the people of God. This is seen in Revelation 21:4 when John writes, following the appearance of the new heaven, new earth, and the new Jerusalem, that “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” This is a great promise that we have, that no matter what kind of suffering and sorrow we have here, it will be taken away by Christ and will be nothing even to be thought of or be a memory in our eternal home. What was it Paul said in Romans 8:18? “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us.” In the salvation that the Lord has given to His people, Isaiah says their reproach, or shame, is taken away meaning that Christ takes away the shamefulness of their sin. His shed blood has cleansed away their sin and shame (Isa. 1:18) forever, never to be seen or remembered again. In Isaiah 25:9, we see the anticipation of the people of God awaiting the consummation, the completion of that salvation, for they say “We have waited for him, that he might save us.” This phrase does not mean that we are not saved now or know that we possess salvation now. We can know that we have been saved from the penalty of our sins, for in Ephesians 1:7 the apostle Paul says “In Him, we have [present tense] redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses…” We can also know from the authority of the Scriptures we have been saved from the power of sin over us because it is written “that our old self [our old man] was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing [done away with], so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” (Rom. 6:6). But here he is speaking of the future promise of the completion of our salvation, our glorification when He returns and “we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). What a marvelous consolation and promise these verses present, and may we like the saints before us “rejoice in His salvation.”
David Webber is married to Mary with four children and four grandchildren, and serves as the Pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Longview, TX. He obtained a BS in History from the University of Texas at Tyler, TX, and pursued studies at Baptist Missionary Association Theological Seminary in Jacksonville, TX. Throughout his ministry, he has been an invited preacher and educator in numerous churches and various Bible conferences. Surrendering to the gospel ministry’s calling in 1972 at the age of 16, he received preaching licensure from Little Flock Baptist Church in Longview, Texas, in 1974. Graduating with a Bachelor of Science Degree in History from the University of Texas at Tyler in 1978, he was ordained in December of 1980 by Faith Baptist Church. Following this, he contributed his services to Faith Baptist in Longview and subsequently engaged with Grace Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas, where he instructed Sunday School and delivered sermons as needed. In February of 1994, Faith Baptist invited him to lead as their pastor, a role he has faithfully held to the present day. David writes a blog for the church website and is a writer for The Art of Worship.
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
“… and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”
– 2 Corinthians 1:22
Main Thought: Many consumer-based companies in our day speak of their guarantees as an inducement for consumers to buy their products. These guarantees, however, always have end dates and loopholes that make it difficult for people to get their money back or their product serviced. Here the apostle Paul tells us of a guarantee by God, one with no loopholes and one with no limits with time. Paul reminds these Corinthian believers first that God has “put his seal on us” as His children. While we may not quite understand what a seal has to do with God’s promise of salvation, the believers of that day did. Kings and queens, when making a proclamation of law or an edict, would seal the document with wax, and then press their ring with their royal crest upon the wax seal, which indicated the ruler’s authority. In the same way, Paul is saying that God has declared our salvation in Jesus Christ and has set His seal of authority upon us.
Rulers in that day would come and go, so their authority might have been overthrown and the ruling reversed, but not so for the child of God for he has been sealed by the One whose rule and authority are omnipotent and everlasting. In 1 Timothy 1:17, it is declared that our God is “The King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God…forever and ever.” His seal and dominion are eternal. Not only has God put His seal of authority on us as the guarantee of our salvation, but He has given us the Holy Spirit within us as a guarantee. We have the written guarantee of His seal upon us in His Word, and we have the living presence of the Holy Spirit to continually assure us that our salvation is guaranteed for eternity. Romans 8:14-17 reminds us that the sons of God are led by the Spirit of God, and causes us to cry out to God, and “bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” If you have a continual yearning in your spirit for God and know God’s presence in your life, then that is God’s living assurance and guarantee to us that we are His eternally. How wonderful and gracious our God is to give us both a written guarantee of His salvation, and give us the living presence of the Holy Spirit to assure us of our salvation. May we rejoice today as His children in the guarantee of our salvation.
David Webber is married to Mary with four children and four grandchildren, and serves as the Pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Longview, TX. He obtained a BS in History from the University of Texas at Tyler, TX, and pursued studies at Baptist Missionary Association Theological Seminary in Jacksonville, TX. Throughout his ministry, he has been an invited preacher and educator in numerous churches and various Bible conferences. Surrendering to the gospel ministry’s calling in 1972 at the age of 16, he received preaching licensure from Little Flock Baptist Church in Longview, Texas, in 1974. Graduating with a Bachelor of Science Degree in History from the University of Texas at Tyler in 1978, he was ordained in December of 1980 by Faith Baptist Church. Following this, he contributed his services to Faith Baptist in Longview and subsequently engaged with Grace Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas, where he instructed Sunday School and delivered sermons as needed. In February of 1994, Faith Baptist invited him to lead as their pastor, a role he has faithfully held to the present day. David writes a blog for the church website and is a writer for The Art of Worship.
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
– 1 Corinthians 10:31
Main Thought: The apostle Paul reminds us here that we were created for the glory of God. Adam and Eve were created and put in the Garden of Eden to bring glory to God, but their rebellion against the single command of God that He gave them brought separation, not communion, into their relationship with God. However, as believers in Christ who have been brought into an eternal relationship with Him, it is more important than ever for others to see that every aspect of our lives is giving glory to God. Paul understood that these Corinthians in most ways, in their personal lives and the church, were not bringing glory to God. There was evident immorality that was present in the church (1 Cor. 5), there was great disunity (1 Cor. 3) and they had turned the observance of the Lord’s Supper into their own personal dinner, disgracing and separating themselves from others (1 Cor. 11). While we may look down on them in many ways for what was going on, we should at the same time look at our own lives and make sure we are glorifying God in all we do. We should glorify God in our homes as husbands by loving our wives as Christ loved the church (Eph. 5:25) and being Godly examples to our wives and children in our speech. Wives should be glorifying God before their children by training them in the Word of God, speaking graciously to them and nurturing them in love, and by being submissive to their husbands as the church is to Christ (Eph. 5:24). In our work, we are to glorify God by the diligence of our work, working not for men but for our Lord (Eph. 6:6-7). Even in our recreation, in those times that God gives us for relaxation and enjoyment, our speech and actions should give evidence that we are glorifying God for that time to refresh our bodies and minds. And then especially in the church, wherever God puts us, we should glorify God in our worship of Him and our service to other believers. We should never think the church exists to serve our purposes and our perceived needs, but realize in the church that we are to always count others more significant than ourselves in all humility (Phil. 2:3), having the mind of Christ in His service when He came to this earth to die upon the cross. Each of us needs to examine ourselves and see if we are glorifying God in our homes, our work, our recreation, and our churches. Are we living our lives for the purpose for which God created us, which is living a life that exalts and glorifies Him? May our prayer be daily as we rise up for whatever lies ahead of us in that day, that we will aim to glorify Him.
David Webber is married to Mary with four children and four grandchildren, and serves as the Pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Longview, TX. He obtained a BS in History from the University of Texas at Tyler, TX, and pursued studies at Baptist Missionary Association Theological Seminary in Jacksonville, TX. Throughout his ministry, he has been an invited preacher and educator in numerous churches and various Bible conferences. Surrendering to the gospel ministry’s calling in 1972 at the age of 16, he received preaching licensure from Little Flock Baptist Church in Longview, Texas, in 1974. Graduating with a Bachelor of Science Degree in History from the University of Texas at Tyler in 1978, he was ordained in December of 1980 by Faith Baptist Church. Following this, he contributed his services to Faith Baptist in Longview and subsequently engaged with Grace Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas, where he instructed Sunday School and delivered sermons as needed. In February of 1994, Faith Baptist invited him to lead as their pastor, a role he has faithfully held to the present day. David writes a blog for the church website and is a writer for The Art of Worship.
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.