Prentiss Baptist Church

11/06/2025

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength ... "

—ISAIAH 40:31

It is an exhilarating experience to live the new life, with Christ inside me enabling me to live it. As a man was riding along in his Ford, suddenly something went wrong. He got out and looked at the engine, but he could find nothing wrong. As he stood there, another car came in sight, and he waved it down to ask for help. Out of a brand new Lincoln stepped a tall, friendly man who asked, “Well, what’s the trouble?” “I cannot get this Ford to move,” was the reply. The stranger made a few adjustments under the hood and then said, “Now start the car.” When the motor started, its grateful owner introduced himself and then asked, “What is your name, sir?” “My name,” answered the stranger, “is Henry Ford.”

The one who made the Ford knew how to make it run. God made you and me, and He alone knows how to run your life and mine. We could make a complete wreck of our lives without Christ. When He is at the controls, all goes well. Without Him, we can do nothing.

Lord, so often I forget to give You complete control and I fail. Teach me to rely completely on You for my strength and needs. Amen

11/05/2025

Who so trusteth in the Lord, happy is he.

—PROVERBS 16:20

There is much in our nature that perplexes us. Many people are disturbed as they confront the troubling riddle of their own existence. They are bewildered by their proneness to sin and evil. They quake and tremble at the thought of their inability to cope with their own lives.

Christ can give you satisfying answers to such questions as “Who am I?” “Why was I born?” “What am I doing here?” “Where am I going?” All of the great questions of life can be measured when you come by faith to Jesus Christ and receive Him as your Lord. Let Him be your Pilot. He can take away the worry from your life.

I trust You, Lord, to control my life. Knowing You will guide me in the right path gives me joy. Amen

11/04/2025

OV
04
All of us used to be just as they [nonbelievers] are, our lives expressing the evil within us ... But God is so rich in mercy ... he gave us back our lives again when he raised Christ from the dead ...

—EPHESIANS 2:3–5 (TLB)

I am reminded of a period when all the agonies that afflict modern minds were felt by another generation, the young people who lived during the first century after Christ. They too sought change, but they directed their efforts at individuals, not at the Roman Empire, not at City Hall. And eventually the whole social and political structure felt their impact. In short, those renewed men and women became filled with a unique dynamic force.

Today this same force is available to all people. Over the centuries it has worked in the lives of millions. I personally have seen thousands of people changed. Jesus called it “a new birth.” The Scripture tells us that you need not continue as you are. You can become a new person. Whatever your hang-up—guilt, anxiety, fear, hatred—God can handle it.

I delight in knowing, Lord Jesus, that there is nothing in my life that is incapable of being changed through Your redemptive power. Amen

11/03/2025

Keep yourselves in the love of God ...

—JUDE 21

The Bible is a revelation of the fact that God is love. Many people misunderstand the attribute of God’s nature which is love. “God is love” does not mean that everything is sweet, beautiful, and happy, and that God’s love could not possibly allow punishment for sin.

When we preach justice, it is justice tempered with love. When we preach righteousness, it is righteousness founded on love. When we preach atonement, it is atonement planned by love, provided by love, given by love, finished by love, necessitated because of love. When we preach the resurrection of Christ, we are preaching the miracle of love. When we preach the return of Christ, we are preaching the fulfillment of love.

No matter what sin you have committed, or how terrible, dirty, or shameful it may be, God loves you. This love of God is immeasurable, unmistakable, and unending!

My heartfelt gratitude to You, Father, for Your forgiveness and love. I must be acutely aware that in all my dealing with others the only yardstick I have is Your immeasurable love. Amen

11/02/2025

11/02/2025

There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

—PROVERBS 18:24

How many lonely people there are today! God did not create man to live in miserable inner loneliness. In that first Eden, God Himself came down to keep the man He had made from being lonely.

One of the most heartening things Jesus said to His disciples was, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). He came to restore fellowship between man and God, and to take away human loneliness. Jesus Christ will take away loneliness from your soul. He will be your companion and friend.

You want to fill all the lonely moments, Lord, and turn them into times of incredible delight. May I never fear loneliness again. Amen

11/01/2025

You don't understand now why I am doing it; some day you will.

—JOHN 13:7 (TLB)

May I remind you that physical illness is not the worst thing that can happen to you? Some of the most twisted, miserable people I have ever met had no physical handicap. Some of the world’s greatest and most useful people have been handicapped.

“The Messiah” was composed by Handel, who was suffering from a paralyzed right side and arm. Catherine Booth, in the last year of her life, said that she could not remember one day free from pain.

Helen Keller has written, “I thank God for my handicaps, for through them I have found myself, my work, and God.” Some of the most radiant Christians I have ever met were “wheelchair” saints. May God give you grace to “triumph in affliction.”

When physical afflictions come into my life, may they draw me closer to You, my beloved Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

10/31/2025

which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

—PHILIPPIANS 3:20 (NASB)

If you are moving to a new home, you want to know all about the community to which you are going. And since we will spend eternity some place, we ought to know something about it. The information concerning heaven is found in the Bible. When we talk about heaven, earth grows shabby by comparison. Our sorrows and problems here seem so much less, when we have keen anticipation of the future.

In a certain sense the Christian has heaven here on earth. He has peace of soul, peace of conscience, and peace with God. In the midst of troubles and difficulties he can smile. He has a spring in his step, a joy in his soul, a smile on his face. But the Bible also promises the Christian a heaven in the life hereafter.

Father, as I face whatever trials come my way, I will take heart in the glorious promise of heaven—knowing I shall be with You! Amen

10/30/2025

Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love ...

—JEREMIAH 31:3

As I read the Bible, I find love to be the supreme and dominant attribute of God. The promises of God’s love and forgiveness are as real, as sure, as positive, as human words can make them. But the total beauty of the ocean cannot be understood until it is seen, and it is the same with God’s love. Until you actually experience it, until you actually possess it, no one can describe its wonders to you.

Never question God’s great love, for it is as unchangeable a part of God as His holiness. Were it not for the love of God, none of us would ever have a chance in the future life. But God is love! And His love for us is everlasting.

Knowing myself as I do, Lord, the knowledge of Your love and forgiveness never ceases to amaze me. In the knowledge of this, help me to communicate to others that this love is theirs too, if they will only reach out for it. Amen

10/29/2025

CT
28.. being knit together in love ...

—COLOSSIANS 2:2

Thousands of young couples go through with a loveless marriage because no one ever told them what genuine love is. I believe we need to read the 13th chapter of First Corinthians, in which the Apostle Paul gives us a definition of love. He says, “Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” If people today knew that kind of love, the divorce rate would be sharply reduced.

Lord Jesus, we need Your love and forgiveness in our hearts, if we are to love unselfishly. Amen

10/28/2025

T
28.. being knit together in love ...

—COLOSSIANS 2:2

Thousands of young couples go through with a loveless marriage because no one ever told them what genuine love is. I believe we need to read the 13th chapter of First Corinthians, in which the Apostle Paul gives us a definition of love. He says, “Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” If people today knew that kind of love, the divorce rate would be sharply reduced.

Lord Jesus, we need Your love and forgiveness in our hearts, if we are to love unselfishly. Amen

10/27/2025

God carefully watches the goings on of all mankind ...

—JOB 34:21 (TLB)

There is an old story that tells about a pig. . . . The farmer brought the pig into the house. He gave him a bath, polished his hooves, put some Chanel No. 5 on him, put a ribbon around his neck, and put him in the living room. The pig looked fine. He made a nice and companionable pet for a few minutes. But as soon as the door was opened, the pig left the living room and jumped into the first mud puddle that he could find. Why? Because he was still a pig at heart. His nature had not been changed. He had changed outwardly but not inwardly. . .

You can take a man—dress him up, put him in the front row in church, and he almost looks like a saint. He may fool even his best friends for a while, but then put him in his office, or in the club on Saturday night, and you will see his true nature come out again. Why does he act that way? Because his nature has not been changed. He has not been born again.

Almighty God, there are times when I debase my Christian walk and slip again into the mire. Cleanse and strengthen me, for Jesus' sake. Amen