It's On My Mind

September 22, 2019 (Sunday)

Fanny Crosby wrote the words of hymns that continue to inspire us for, lo, these many years. I don’t know about others, but I know the Lord has led me every step of the way in my life. One of the advantages of getting old is that I can look back and see the hand of the Lord in many decisions of days gone by.

All the Way My Savior Leads Me” is a Christian hymn with lyrics penned in 1875 by Fanny J. Crosby to a song composed by the Baptist minister Dr. Robert Lowry. In summary, this hymn says that our savior, Jesus, provides us with guidance and strength all the way through life. Crosby goes through many examples of places and feelings in which her savior led her gracefully through.

“All The Way My Savior Leads Me” was written by one of the most pro­lif­ic songwriters in history. Fanny Crosby wrote over 8,000 Christian hymns despite the handicapped she struggled with during her life. An inept doc­tor left Fanny without her eyesight at six weeks of age after a botched procedure. She said, ” If per­fect earth­ly sight were of­fered me to­mor­row I would not ac­­cept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been dis­tract­ed by the beau­ti­ful and in­ter­est­ing things about me.” “All The Way My Savior Leads Me” is one of her songwriting masterpieces.

September 21, 2019 (Saturday)

Here is a beautiful song of worship, praising our blessed Savior for His provision of Atonement for all who will believe in Him, accepting Him in their hearts as both Savior and Lord.

September 20, 2019 (Friday)

At Bethel Baptist Church in Ingleside this weekend the church will welcome a prospective pastor. It is a “get acquainted” weekend as he meets the people and discovers the church and community. He will preach this weekend but the church will not make a decision about whether to call him as the new pastor until the following Sunday, September 29. If the church extends a call, he may continue to seek the Lord’s will in the matter, or he may give the church an answer right away. It is a matter for prayer by all concerned.

Last January I asked the church to elect a pastor search committee. It is unusual for an interim pastor to remain in a church for an extended period and I have been interim during this term since December, 2014. I had been experiencing a few falls now and then (not injured), I have a few health problems, and I took a good hard look at the calendar which told me that in 32 months from that day I would be 90 years old, if the Lord wills, and in all probability it is time for the church to call a permanent pastor.

The committee was elected and has been serving diligently, going through a process of finding possible pastors and narrowing the list to one person who will visit the church this weekend. They will recommend him to the church and the church will vote on September 29.

I believe all of us, including the prospective pastor and his family,  been seeking the Lord’s will in this matter. Let us all pray for His Will to be done.

September 19, 2019 (Thursday)

Fifty-two years ago I had a conversation that I have never forgotten. After preaching that evening about Jesus being perfect, and saying that no human is perfect, one of the men in the congregation asked to speak with me. He said, “You said in your sermon that there is no such thing as a perfect man.” “That’s right,” I replied. He stepped back on one foot, held out his arms as if to say, “Look at me,” and declared, “You’re looking at him!” He is the only person who has ever said that to me. I sort of think that he and I were not speaking the same language.

I have never had a problem with Romans 3:23, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” I know I have sinned. I can remember knowing full well that I was doing something seriously wrong as early as my pre-school years.  I recall a preacher who was talking about our sinfulness and he said, “If any of you men think you are perfect, just ask your wife about it.” None of us is perfect. That’s the truth. But those of us who have come to Christ as Savior are forgiven.

I have said all that to say this: the man who will become the new pastor at the church where I have been interim pastor will not be a perfect man. I do not know him, but I know that no one is perfect. And the church, as wonderful as it is, is not perfect. No church is perfect. We are all human beings who have inherited a carnal nature that leads us astray, but as God’s children through faith in Christ, we have a spiritual nature, and we want to live a godly life.

Realizing that none of us is perfect, let us love one another. forgive one another, be kind to one another, and do good for one another. Let us reach out to people everywhere with the message that we can be saved by the matchless, wonderful grace of God.

September 18, 2019 (Wednesday)

The Bible speaks of “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” Consequently, there was a time when we had “sword drills” in Baptist churches. These were mainly done by children. The leader would order: “Attention!” Each child would stand at attention with his or her Bible at his or her side. The leader then said, “Draw swords!” The child would then hold the Bible in the palm in front of him or her, ready to turn to the verse about to be given. The leader might comment on the Scripture verse about to be commanded, and then, in a clear voice, would say the Bible Book, Chapter and Verse, twice, and then order, “Charge!” The person who found the verse would step forward, his or her Bible open to the verse, ready to be read. Many people had well-worn Bibles, especially if they participated in sword drills. In the process, they memorized many of those verses, and, if you could speak with one of them today, he or she would no doubt be able to quote some verses to you.

The verse, “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee,” tells us how to hold on to verses that help us in many ways as we journey through life.

At Bethel Baptist Church, Ingleside, we studied the book of Psalms, one by one, on Wednesday nights. There are 150 of them, and I wrote a blog about each of them. You can find them in the archives of this blog. When we completed our study, I sent each class member a copy of “25 Most Popular Verses from the Psalms.” Click here to see them.

The Bible is chock full of special verses that we can memorize. If we commit them to memory, they will always be there for us when we need them. Why not start today? The verses are found in all 66 books of the Bible, not just the Psalms. You can find them with simple searches here on the web. You will be glad you did.