Believers in Jesus are gathered for worship at a recent Union Baptist morning service.
Union Baptist Church is located in the heart of Buford, GA, convenient to all of our schools and main streets. We are a caring and loving body of Christ and are hopeful that you will join worship each and every Sunday.
We are praying God’s greatest blessings upon you!
“I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done; this is also vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 8:10)
THE wicked here are the ones who through wicked means have prospered in this world. Our text puts perspective upon these folk which will encourage the righteous who are troubled by the prosperity of the wicked. From this text we note four things about the wicked. They are the death, the departure, the demotion, and the destiny of the wicked.
Death. “I saw the wicked buried.” The wicked may have been able to escape many things through cheating, lying, payoffs and other evil means; but they will not escape death. They have a Divine appointment with death (Hebrews 9:27). All their prosperity will not keep them from this appointment.
Departure. “Who had come and gone from the place of the holy.” This sentence suggests apostasy. These wicked folk used to go to church (“place of the holy”), but they left it. When they became prosperous through their evil ways, they left the holy place; they departed from the faith. Evil prosperity does not promote piety.
Demotion. “They were forgotten.” Once the wicked die, they are eventually forgotten by the world. But worse, they are forgotten by God. God warns evil men that “I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you . . . and cast you out of my presence” (Jeremiah 23:39). These wicked people forgot and forsook God; now in the end, they are forgotten and forsaken of God. In contrast, the thief on the cross wanted to be remembered by God and was (Luke 23:39–43).
Destiny. “This is also vanity.” The epitaph of these wicked folk who prosper in the world but forsake God is “vanity.” The word “vanity” means empty, useless, waste, worthless. A life lived only for this world ends in vanity. When one is ushered into eternity, the gains of this world will be found to be losses and not gains. “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul” (Mark 8:36). In contrast, Paul gave himself to the Lord and so could say, “To die is gain” (Philippians 1:21) not vanity.
keharrisministries.com
Rev. Khristian is only 13 years of age; the younger son of Rev. Dr. Kary E. Harris
“Praise ye the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.” (Psalm 111:1)
PRAISE for God is the theme of this verse. The command for praising, the consecration for praising and the crowds for praising are all included in the verse.
Command for praising. “Praise ye the LORD.” We are to praise God. The world is not so sure as they put limits on where God can be honored. But the world is run by Satan. It makes no difference what the world thinks, we are to praise God. Spurgeon said, “Do it now, do it always; do it heartily, do it unanimously, do it eternally.” Let us praise God with our lips and our lives. Much of the world only mentions God in profanity; God’s people are to mention God in praise. The ailments of the world and our own lives can be traced back to failure to praise God.
Consecration for praising. “I will praise the LORD with my whole heart.” The Psalmist exhorted others to “Praise ye the Lord.” Now he sets a good example by doing it himself. The best way to teach is by example. We need to practice what we preach. And our example needs to be an excellent example. This one was, for it was praise from the “whole heart.” It was not just empty rhetoric, or words without sincerity, for the Psalmist praised God with sincerity. It is the only kind of praise that counts.
Crowds for praising. “In the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.” The two different crowds here represent two different situations for praising God. The first crowd (assembly of upright) represents a small group while the second crowd (congregation) represents a large group. The lesson is that we should praise God no matter where we are or how many people are present. Just because you are in a small church with few in attendance should not stop your praising God. And when you are in a large crowd where some may oppose your praising, you still are to praise God. Some folk only praise God where it is acceptable to do so. Our text says to praise God everywhere regardless.
Keharrisministries.com
“The LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD will give grace and glory; no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” (Psalm 84:11)
THREE sentences compose this verse which tells us something about the character of God. In these sentences we have the work, wisdom, and wonderfulness of God.
Work of God. “The LORD God is a sun and shield.” God provides us with both light and protection. The sun speaks of light. God is the great enlightener. Jesus is the “light of the world” (John 8:12). Leave out God and you will walk in darkness concerning the most important matters of life. The shield speaks of protection. The greatest protection God provides for us is the protection of our soul through Jesus Christ. This will protect us from eternal condemnation. No work is greater than this work of God on our behalf.
Wisdom of God. “The LORD will give grace and glory.” That which emphasizes God’s wisdom here is the fact that grace comes before glory. Grace speaks of character. To learn grace and to grow in grace, we often have to experience many troubles and trials. But this will build up our character. Then it is safe to bring the glory. If glory comes before we have the grace of character, it will ruin us. Character is all essential to be able to handle the glory well. Mankind, however, wants more glory; but God says we need more grace. God is right, for God is wise. Grace must come before glory.
Wonderfulness of God. “No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” This is a wonderful promise from God. It is such a wonderful blessing. But some doubt it, for they complain they do not have all the things they want. There are two reasons for this complaint.
First, the nature of the blessing. Our verse did not say all the things we want; it said “good thing.” But many things we want are not “good” for us.
Second, the nobleness of the blessed. Our verse did not make this promise to everyone but only to those who “walk uprightly.” If you are short on God’s blessing, check your walk. If you want Divine blessing, concentrate on your walk and let God take care of the blessing.
Pastor Kary
“Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary.” (Psalm 68:9)
God cares for His people. Our verse speaks especially of the care of God for the Israelites when they were marching through the wilderness on their way from Egypt to Canaan. God’s care is shown in His blessing His people. Our verse speaks of the size of the blessing, the strengthening from the blessing, and the season of the blessing.
Size of the blessing. “Plentiful rain.” God is not cheap. He is characterized by “plentiful” not by miserliness. No one blesses so liberally as God. Sin promises to fill you, but it only fleeces you. The world cannot equal God’s blessings. His blessing is more than a sprinkle here and there, but it is “plentiful” rain. If Divine blessings seem small, it is not God’s fault; but it is our fault. Our sin has limited the blessing.
Strengthening from the blessing. “Whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance.” The word “confirm” means to establish or to strengthen. The Israelites marching through the wilderness could easily become discouraged and weary both spiritually and physically. But Divine blessings came to strengthen them physically and to strengthen them spiritually. This is what Divine blessings are to do for us, but too often we pervert the blessing so that it does not help us but only hurts us. We often use prosperity to satisfy our carnal appetites and desires rather than strengthen our faith. And we often use our blessings to harm us physically. Some take the good things of life and misuse them to their physical harm—such as overeating.
Season of the blessing. “When it [God’s inheritance, His people] was weary.” God is timely with His blessings. When we are down and ready to give up, He comes to the rescue by blessing us. When we are parched and dry, He sends “plentiful rain.” When we are faint and faltering, He strengthens us in the faith by His providentially timed blessings. Count on God to come during those times of weariness and discouragement with blessings to lift up your spirits. He will meet our need in the hour of our need.
keharrisministries.com
“Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.” (Job 23:12)
HERE is a great testimony regarding the Word of God. The speaker is Job, and he is answering one of his critics who has just charged Job unjustly with evil. In the midst of Job’s speech comes this declaration about the Word of God. In it is the esteem for the Word, the essentials of the Word and the endurance of the Word.
Esteem for the Word. “I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.” Job so values the Word of God that it is more important to him than physical food. Many despise the Word of God, and others simply ignore it. But Job saw its real value, and he gave it the honor we all should give it. This sort of attitude in people will make them really faithful to church attendance at a church where the Scriptures are faithfully proclaimed. They will not be off doing other things if they so esteem the Word of God.
Essentials of the Word. “I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.” Job shows the essentials of the Word in that he says it is greater than “necessary food.” Job did not say he thought the Word more important than just some other non-essential thing, but he went farther and said it was more important than even the most essential things of life. Food is indeed very essential. It is “necessary” or our physical body will die. But the Word is even more important. For it feeds the spiritual being, and the spiritual is more important than the physical!
Endurance of the Word. “Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips.” In spite of his great troubles, Job had not junked the Word of God. In spite of his great troubles, Job still obeyed the Word and still esteemed the Word above even the essential things of life. Obviously then, the Word of God had not failed Job in trial. Many other things fail us in our darkest hours, but the Word of God will not fail. The Word of God will endure all our troubles and trials. It will never let us down. It will always be of help.
Rev. Dr. Kary E. Harris, PhD.
Joel 2:28 (KJV)
28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
Nehemiah 4:6 (KJV)
6 So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.
Revelation 2:10 (KJV)
10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.