Southside Baptist Church

June 18 -22

8:30 - 12:00

Click here to register participants and volunteers.

Monday May 14, 2012

You Can Deal With Loss

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

The word hope is often used when we want something to happen, but we're not sure if it will.

For example, we hope fixing a car won’t cost too much. We hope our children will graduate. We hope the medical test goes well. We hope that the word hope, in the real sense, goes beyond mere expectation.

How do you sustain hope having lost a precious love one? How do you maintain balance when things are obviously happening contrary to your expectation? The simple answer is in Romans 15:13: the ultimate source of hope is our trust in God.

The three Hebrew men in Daniel chapter 3 were told the consequences of not bowing to the King's graven image. They made it known to the King that even if their God refused to deliver them, they would not bow. Their true source of security was in the Lord.

Where is your true source of security? There is no power in a bank account and no peace in an investment portfolio.

Our true source of security comes from the Lord.

I pray you have a blessed day today.

Bro. Herbert

Tuesday May 15, 2012

Worthy!

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures and the elders; saying with a loud voice; “worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory. Revelation 5:11-12

Pastor and author Adrian Rogers told an interesting story about how a gifted violinist named Fritz Kreisler acquired a Stradivarius violin.

Kreisler heard about the rare violin owned by an Englishman and offered to buy it. The old man refused. “It is not for sale,” he insisted.

One day Kreisler ventured to the old man's house and said, “If I can't buy it, may I touch it?”

The old Englishman invited him in, let Kreisler hold the violin, and even allowed him to begin to play it.

As the great musician tuned the violin and then drew the bow across the strings, the music he made conjured up the sounds of children laughing, birds singing, and mighty rivers running. It was an almost magical moment.

Tears filled the old Englishman's eyes as Kreisler finished playing and tried to hand the instrument back to him. The man refused to take the Stradivarius back. He said, “It's not for sale, but it is yours. You are the Master and the one who is worthy of it!”

The book of Revelation records the words of a heavenly worship service. The inhabitants of heaven are worshiping Jesus because he is undeniably worthy: worship is all about recognizing that God is our Master, and that He alone is worthy.

He is worthy of our worship, of our praise, and He is worthy of our very lives!

I pray you have a great day today.

Bro. Herbert

Wednesday 16, 2012

A Spiritual Packing List

Since God shows you to be the holy people He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tender-hearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. Colossians 3:12-14

Some people get ready for a trip days, even weeks, ahead of time. They plan carefully what they are going to take, organize their clothes, get all their traveling documents in order, and then meticulously pack their suitcase well in advance of their departure time.

I admire people who do this. But I am not one of those people. Whether I am going on vacation or out of town on a speaking engagement, I usually don't even get started packing until a few hours before I leave. I throw my soap, shaving lotion, razor, and the like into a small bag, I count the number socks I need, grab shirts and pants, and stuff them into my suitcase, and I'm ready to go.

Oftentimes, when we pack things that way, there is a tendency to forget something that we needed to take for the trip.

Not taking the time to pack the things and think about the things that we are packing can cause us to leave something that we need.

Colossians 3:12-14 gives us a “spiritual packing list”.

Notice the things we should pack for our spiritual journey:

Tender mercies-showing compassion to others.

Kindness-thinking the best of the other people around you.

Humility-placing the interest of other people above your own.

Meekness-treating others with the gentle, quiet, and reasonable attitude.

Long-suffering-patiently putting up with the weakness and failures of others.

Forgiveness-refusing to hold grudges, keep records of wrongs, or harbor hurt feelings.

Love-choosing unconditionally to love others. Love is the most important element, which holds everything else together.

Think about that list. There's absolutely not one item on the list that we don't need to pack and put own everyday. All are essential for life that glorifies and honors God.

Today as you continue on your spiritual journey, make sure that you are packed and ready to go.

I pray you have a great day today.

Bro. Herbert

Thursday 17, 2012

To Yield Or Not To Yield

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up in honor. James 4:10

There is a silly story about a man who entered an interstate from a side road and did not even slow down. An 18 wheeler pulled over, almost wrecking. The truck driver leaned out of the window and yelled, “Hey, didn't you see that sign?” The man said, “What sign?” The trucker said, “That sign that said, YIELD.” “Oh,” the man said, “I opened the window and yielded as loud as I could.”

We know that yielding means giving up the right-of-way to someone or something. Another word for yield is surrender. The Bible talks about yielding or surrendering in three different ways.

We are cautioned not to yield to Satan.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7 Someone has put it this way: give the devil an inch, and you will make him a ruler! Don't give Satan and his temptation the right-of-way in your life.

We are commanded to yield to one another.

Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interest of others. Philippians 2:4

When push comes to shove, followers of Jesus are expected not to push and shove! Instead, we should consider others as being more important than we are.

We are commanded to yield to God.

Come close to God and God will come close to you. James 4:8

When you refuse the temptations of the devil, when you respond with a yielded heart to others, and when you surrender your life to God, you are ready to travel on the highway of God's blessing and abundance.

I pray you have a blessed day to day.

Bro. Herbert

Friday 18, 2012

Can You See The Land?

I pressed own to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Philippians 3:14

After fifteen hours of are hard swimming, Florence Chadwick asked to be taken out of the water. Her trainer encouraged her to keep going, but she insisted that she was done. As she sat in the boat, she learned that she had stopped swimming just one mile away from her destination.

Later, she said, “I'm not excusing myself, but if I could have seen the land, I might've made it.” It wasn't the cold or fear or exhaustion that caused Florence Chadwick to fail. It was the fog. In the same way, many times we fail spiritually, not because of fear or peer pressure, but simply because we lose sight of our goal.

Paul would not let the fog of his emotions, his circumstances, the opinions of others, or even his own past failures or successes keep him from reaching the goal to which Jesus Christ had called him.

Two months after her failure, Florence Chadwick walked off the same beach into the same channel and swam the distance, setting a new speed record. The same thick fog set in, but she made it because she said she kept a mental image of the shoreline in her mind while she swam.

Today, put your failures, fears, and feelings behind you so that you can accomplish God's purposes for your life.

I pray you have a blessed day today.

Bro. Herbert