Waterloo Missionary Baptist Church

05/23/2023

Colossians 4:2
Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.

Commentary:
Devotion to prayer applies to our everyday lives and is vital to our relationship with Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Through prayer we share our hearts with God, and He wants to speak to us as well. It is a two way conversation, and a lifeline of our faith. In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”.

05/21/2023

2 Corinthians 7:10-12
For sadness as intended by God produces a repentance that leads to salvation, leaving no regret, but worldly sadness brings about death. For see what this very thing, this sadness as God intended, has produced in you: what eagerness, what defense of yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what deep concern, what punishment! In everything you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter. So then, even though I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did wrong, or on account of the one who was wronged, but to reveal to you your eagerness on our behalf before God.

Commentary:
You can tell what kind of sorrow you are experiencing by looking at the fruit produced because of it. Sorrow that produces death deceives us. It captures us in confusion and doubt about ourselves, about God, about everything. Anxiety and fear often accompany worldly sorrow, and the result is a spiritual paralysis that corrupts all areas of our life. Godly sorrow, on the other hand, brings conviction and leads us to repentance. This type of sorrow is a tool the Holy Spirit uses to confront us about sin and enact change in our hearts and minds. Keep careful watch over the sorrow that you experience, and let God lead you down the path that brings life.

05/20/2023

Galatians 3:1-3
You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified! The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? Although you began with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort?

Commentary:
We receive the Holy Spirit by believing the message about Jesus Christ. Romans 10:17 (NKJV) says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”. Only in obedience to the gospel will we be able to remain in Christ and not fall captive to judgment according to the law. It is by grace through faith in Christ Jesus that we are saved and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. No amount of “following rules and traditions” has drawn the Holy Spirit to live in us. God loves us, and He wants relationship with us. It is the work of Jesus Christ upon the cross, His life, death, and resurrection. It is because Christ Jesus succeeded in His mission and took His rightful place at the right hand of God that we are able to share in communion and community with the Triune God. It is only by His blood, and only by His mercy.

05/18/2023

“A Life of Sacrifice”

Living for our own gain adds stress, pressure, and chaos to life, successfully robbing us of all the transcendent peace available through sacrificial living. We were never created to be our own provider or sustainer. We were never meant to develop our own source of joy and purpose. The only place we will find lasting peace is in complete surrender to God’s intention for us: a life of total sacrifice. Jesus was our perfect model. He did everything according to the perfect and pleasing will of the Father. And Jesus said in Luke 9:23-25, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” Jesus makes it clear that sacrifice is the gateway to finding the life God intends for us. It’s the pathway that leads to the perfect will of our heavenly Father. We are not sacrificing our own wills, plans, and dreams to a God who has less satisfying plans for our lives. Jesus said in John 10:10, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” God has plans greater than we could ever ask or imagine in store for us if we will lay down our dreams to make space for his.

05/16/2023

Colossians 4:1
Masters, treat your slaves with justice and fairness, because you know that you also have a master in heaven.

Commentary:
Psalm 123:2 says, “As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he shows us his mercy.” Matthew 25:21 says, “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’” Luke 5:5-6 says, “Simon answered, ‘Master, we've worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.’ When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.” Jesus is our Master in Heaven. Surrender, humility, obedience, mercy, and fairness are all qualities that good masters will instill in others, but also must possess themselves.

05/14/2023

05/10/2023

1 Timothy 2:5-7
For there is one God and one intermediary between God and humanity, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself as a ransom for all, revealing God’s purpose at his appointed time. For this I was appointed a preacher and apostle—I am telling the truth; I am not lying—and a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

Commentary:
Hebrews 8:6 says, “But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.” Hebrews 9:15 says, “For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.” Our great hope of reconciling with God is Jesus Christ. It is because of an encounter and relationship with Jesus that we are able to live by the Spirit of God and not by the flesh. We can live in victory because He overcame sin and death. Thank you, Lord Jesus! In John 6:48 Jesus says, “I am the bread of life.”

05/07/2023

Jeremiah 2:13
“Do so because my people have committed a double wrong: they have rejected me, the fountain of life-giving water, and they have dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water.”

Commentary:
The word of the Lord is on Jeremiah speaking about Israel forsaking God. Along with forsaking Him, Israel is charged with digging “cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water.” (NET). When I read this one question comes to mind, “Why is God not enough for Israel?” God calls Himself the “fountain of living waters”. To the woman at the well in John 4:10, Jesus says, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” God is the living water that satisfies and enables us. He alone is enough. Do not turn from God and worship the broken cisterns of money, lust, food, pride, achievement, and success. No idol will ever satisfy, because we are designed to be filled by the living waters from God. Nothing can replace Him.

05/03/2023

“The Patient Passion of God”

There is no virtue more calming than patience. A peaceful lifestyle begins with patience. When birthed by a heavenly perspective, patience can transform even the most stressful places of one’s heart into calm streams of joy and abundant life.
Our heavenly Father perfectly models a patient heart. 2 Peter 3:8-9 says, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” God’s perspective and overwhelming love for us fill his heart with incredible patience. God watches in pain as humanity kills, steals, lies, and cheats. He watches as those he most cares for throw away his perfect plans for cheap imitations that only cause heartache and pain. But God in his patient mercy waits to return and bring about the complete restoration of creation that all might reach repentance. God is patient because he is love. God is not only patient in regard to the second coming of Jesus. He is wholly patient with us in regards to our sanctification and relationship with him and others. He beckons us moment by moment, whispering to our heart about the great plans he has for our life. He waits patiently as he transforms us into a reflection of Jesus by filling us with his abundant love. He knows our frame. He knows the wounds the world has caused. And he is patient with us.

05/01/2023

2 Peter 2:12-17
But these men, like irrational animals—creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed—do not understand whom they are insulting, and consequently in their destruction they will be destroyed, suffering harm as the wages for their harmful ways. By considering it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight, they are stains and blemishes, indulging in their deceitful pleasures when they feast together with you. Their eyes, full of adultery, never stop sinning; they entice unstable people. They have trained their hearts for greed, these cursed children! By forsaking the right path they have gone astray, because they followed the way of Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, yet was rebuked for his own transgression (a dumb donkey, speaking with a human voice, restrained the prophet’s madness). These men are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm, for whom the utter depths of darkness have been reserved.

Commentary:
This passage is yet another warning about false prophets and teachers, and some of the characteristics that will be true of them. On the list are carousing (drinking deeply and frequently) in broad daylight, deceit, adultery, stumbling blocks, and greed. The NKJV says they, “love the wages of unrighteousness”. Earlier in 2 Peter 2, it says these people “deny the sovereign Lord who bought them – bringing swift destruction on themselves.” Jesus invites all people to Himself, because true life is found in Him. He is the bread of life, and the only way to be in right relationship with God. A relationship with Christ transforms us, producing evidence of His grace and mercy. The mark of a true disciple of Christ is complete reliance upon Jesus in both speech and action…perfected by the residence and partnership of the Holy Spirit.

04/30/2023

Jeremiah 2:11-12
Has a nation ever changed its gods(even though they are not really gods at all)? But my people have exchanged me, their glorious God, for a god that cannot help them at all! Be amazed at this, O heavens! Be shocked and utterly dumbfounded,” says the Lord.

Commentary:
When I think about a nation changing gods, I can’t help but think about Israel and the golden calf. Delivered from the oppression of Egypt in a miraculous way, the people of Israel are quick to abandon the Lord and exchange Him for a golden idol made from their own jewelry. God’s response to this is anger, because our Lord God is a jealous God. The lips of the Israelites said, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.” (Exodus 24:3) Yet, their actions spoke the truth about their hearts: “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” (Exodus 32:1) It was the Israelites who decided the value of the idol; that it somehow deserved their worship, and that it could replace the Lord God. Do you worship the Lord, or some other pretender?

04/27/2023

Matthew 16:1-4
Now when the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus, they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He said, “When evening comes you say, ‘It will be fair weather, because the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, because the sky is red and darkening.’ You know how to judge correctly the appearance of the sky, but you cannot evaluate the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then he left them and went away.

Commentary:
Matthew 12:40-42 provides a bit more context, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.” The Pharisees want a sign because, in part, they want Jesus to be what they need Him to be to justify what they believe and what they teach. They seek only what Jesus can do for them, rather than seeing Jesus as the bread of life. He is the life, not the signs.