Grayburg Baptist

06/08/2026

➡️𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝟖, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔

🗣𝙲𝚘𝚛𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙 𝚒𝚜 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚐𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝙹𝚎𝚜𝚞𝚜 𝚜𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎, 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚙, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚎𝚕𝚜𝚎𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎.

As I sat in the balcony with my wife Luella, I remembered how important and wonderful corporate worship is. It was Tenth Presbyterian Church's Spring Choral Worship Service. It featured the original compositions and hymn arrangements of Robert Elmore. We were reminded in song of the miserable condition in which sin left us and our world, and of the glorious rescue of redeeming grace. Each piece was so full of the gospel that I felt as if my heart could not contain anything more. I was thinking of the words of Psalm 89:1: "I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations." I thought we could sing and sing and sing and never exhaust the stunning redemptive themes of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Finally, after a lavish gospel meal, the crescendo anthem came. It was such a beautiful celebration of the glory of the gospel that when we came to the last two lines, 1 quit singing and began to repeat over and over again: "Amen! Amen! Amen!" Corporate worship had performed its work in my heart once again.
Very honestly, I hadn't come to the service with a celebratory heart. I had grumbled my way into the room. It had been a long ministry weekend. I wouldn't have gone to that Sunday evening service if Luella hadn't begged me to. 1 really didn't want to be there. But in the middle of it all, something captured my heartglory.

The glory of the grace of Jesus suddenly loomed larger than the exhaustion of my body or the weariness of my mind. My cold heart was enlivened by the fire of the gospel of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The talents of the musicians and the voices of the congregation reminded me once again of who I was and what I had been given in the grace of the cross of Jesus. Once again, this grumbler became a celebrant. Once again, the gathering of God's people for worship had done its job.

God ordained for us to gather for worship because he knows us and the weaknesses of our fickle, grumbling, and easily distracted hearts. He knows how soon we forget the depth of our need as sinners and the expansiveness of his provisions in Jesus Christ. He knows that little lies can deceive us and little obstacles can discourage us. He knows that self-righteousness still has the power to delude us. So in grace he calls us to gather and consider glory once again, to be excited once again, and to be rescued once again.

It's not only that corporate worship reminds us of God's grace, Corporate worship is itself a gift of grace. Run with celebration to its rescue any time it is available to you.
~𝙿𝚊𝚞𝚕 𝙳𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚍 𝚃𝚛𝚒𝚙𝚙
For further study and encouragement: Psalm 122
#𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞

06/07/2026

06/06/2026

➡️ 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝟔, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔

🗣 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙨𝙠𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙚?

We've all been hardwired for hope. We all project our lives out into the future to imagine things as we would like them to be. We all carry around with us personal hopes and dreams. We all surrender our hearts to some kind of expectation. We all silently wish that things could be different than they are. We all hope in something and we all hope for something. So much of how we look at life and how we live our lives is connected to the things in which we place the fundamental hopes of our lives.

Hope always has three elements—an assessment, an object, and an expectation.
First, hope looks around and assesses that something or someone could be better than it is; that that something or someone is somehow broken. If things were as perfect as they could be, you wouldn't need to hope. Second, hope always has an object. It is the thing that you bank your hope on. You ask the object of your hope to fix what is broken or to deliver what is desired or needed. Third, hope has an ex-pectation. This is what you ask the object of your hope to give you, what you hope the object of your hope will deliver.

Now, there are really only two places to look for foundational life hope, that is, basic meaning and purpose, motivation to continue, a sense of well-being, and that knowledge that you've hooked yourself to what life is really all about. You can search for hope horizontally in the situations, experiences, physical possessions, locations, and relationships of everyday life. There are two problems with looking horizontally.

First, all of these things suffer from some degree of brokenness. They are part of the problem, and because they are, they are unable to deliver what you're seeking.

Also, these things were never made to be the source of your hope, but to be fingers that point you to where your hope can be found.

Paul says it all in Romans 5:5 when he tells us that hope in God will never put us to shame. It will never embarrass us by failing to deliver. In those words, Paul tells us where hope can be found. It is found only vertically. Only when God is your hope is your hope sure and secure. Only he is able to give you the life that your heart seeks.

Only he is able to give your soul the rest that it needs. Only he can deliver the internal peace that is the hunger of every human being. It's only when grace has hooked you to him that you are connected to what life is really all about. In his brief words, Paul confronts us with this thought—if your hope disappoints you, it's because it's the wrong hope! Today, what carries your hope?
~Paul David Tripp

For further study and encouragement:
Job 1
#𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞

06/05/2026

➡️ 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝟓, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔

🗣𝙹𝚎𝚜𝚞𝚜 𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚞𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚜𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚎𝚜𝚌𝚊𝚙𝚎 𝚜𝚞𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚢.

It didn't start with the cross; from the very first breath He took until He ascended, Jesus suffered:
• He suffered an uncomfortable and unsanitary birth in a stable.
• He suffered the terror of fleeing for His life as an infant.
• He suffered the trials of growing and learning as a boy.
• He suffered powerful temptation.
• He suffered homelessness.
• He suffered hunger.
• He suffered sadness and grief.
• He suffered disloyalty and betrayal.
• He suffered physical pain.
• He suffered disrespect and mockery.
• He suffered misunderstanding and misrepresentation.
• He suffered the emotional pain of the rejection of His Father.
• He suffered punishment for the sins of others.
• He suffered injustice.
• He suffered violence.
• He suffered death.
• He suffered the full range of the hardships of life in this fallen world.

His calling, His mission, was to suffer, and suffer He did. His suffering was wide-ranging and constant. For the Messiah, suffering was an everyday thing, even a moment-by-moment thing. And every act of His suffering was substitutional. He suffered in our place. He suffered in every way we do so that He could be a Savior to us in our suffering and put an end to our suffering. He suffered every day so that there would be a time when all suffering would end and so that we could live with Him in a world where suffering is no more.

He did not come to earth in regal splendor. He did not come to earth to live in a palace and be given homage as King. Although He was the King of kings, He came as a suffering servant who, in His suffering, would save us from ourselves and finally from our suffering. His suffering is our salvation. His suffering is our hope.

For further study and encouragement: Psalm 22
#𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞

06/04/2026

➡️𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝟒, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔

🗣 𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙂𝙤𝙙’𝙨 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙞𝙣 𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙚𝙚. 𝙄 𝙨𝙖𝙬 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜.

Maybe it was a husband and wife, an angry teenager, a single person who had lost her way, or a pastor who had gotten himself into trouble. For all of the vast differences in the situations and struggles, they shared a common theme. All of these people thought they knew themselves, but they didn't. They all thought that they saw themselves with accuracy, but they didn't.
They all wanted me to agree with the assessments they had made of themselves, but I couldn't. They all suffered from the same disease, but they denied it. It didn't take long for me to realize that I was experiencing firsthand a universal human condition that the Bible talks about. It's called spiritual blindness.

Sin blinds, and because it does, the sin inside me keeps me from seeing me with clarity. Sin is self-excusing and self-aggrandizing. Sin is self-righteous and other-blaming. Sin is self-atoning; it easily rationalizes away my wrongs. Sin allows me to feel all right about what God says is very wrong. The personal sight system that God wired into every human being has been terribly broken by sin. We just do not know ourselves well, and we just don't see ourselves with the clarity necessary to assess who we are and how well we are doing. We all suffer from spiritual blindness. But that is not all. We all also suffer from the fact that we live most of the time blind to our blindness. We don't see ourselves with clarity, but we think we do, and we don't know ourselves with accuracy, but we are convinced we do. This is why we all tend to be offended when someone points out a sin, weakness, or failure. At the moment when we hear such an assessment, we struggle with the fact that what that person has said about us is so fundamentally different from the view of ourselves that we have been carrying around.

So we all need help. It comes to us in the gift of God's Word. Empowered by the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit, it is the universe's most accurate mirror. Stand in front of it and you will see yourself as you really are. The diagnostic accuracy of the Bible is perfect. And because its diagnosis of your true condition, your true need, is always accurate, the Word of God is able to offer the only reliable cure for your condition. An effective cure is always attached to an accurate diagnosis. And here's the good news. You don't need to be afraid of all the dark things you don't see in yourself but which Scripture reveals about you, because all of those dark things have been covered by and defeated by the powerful grace that is yours in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
~𝙋𝙖𝙪𝙡 𝘿𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙙 𝙏𝙧𝙞𝙥𝙥

For further study and encouragement: Hebrews 4:12-13
#𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞

06/03/2026

➡️𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝟑, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔

🗣 ℐ𝓉 𝓌ℴ𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒷ℯ 𝒶𝓂𝒶𝓏𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒾𝒻 𝒶 𝒢ℴ𝒹 ℴ𝒻 𝒶𝓌ℯ𝓈ℴ𝓂ℯ 𝑔𝓁ℴ𝓇𝓎 𝓇ℯ𝒸ℴ𝑔𝓃𝒾𝓏ℯ𝒹 ℴ𝓊𝓇 ℯ𝓍𝒾𝓈𝓉ℯ𝓃𝒸ℯ， 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝒻ℴ𝓇 ℋ𝒾𝓂 𝓉ℴ 𝓌ℯ𝓁𝒸ℴ𝓂ℯ 𝓊𝓈 𝒾𝓃𝓉ℴ ℋ𝒾𝓈 𝒻𝒶𝓂𝒾𝓁𝓎 𝒾𝓈 𝑔𝓇𝒶𝒸ℯ 𝒷ℯ𝓎ℴ𝓃𝒹 𝒶𝓂𝒶𝓏𝒾𝓃𝑔！

It is just so incredible, so counterintuitive, and so beyond anything else in our experience that it is very hard for us to wrap our brains around its majesty. There is no human being so creative and imaginative as to be able to pen such a story. You can read the story in Scripture and still not be blown away by its glory because you just don't have categories to understand its depth and breadth. In fact, it takes what this story is about for you to fully understand what this story is about.

Only the gift of divine grace is able to help you grasp even a portion of the wonder of divine grace.

The expansiveness of God's initiative of grace is so beautiful and transformational that it is the reason John Newton chose the best qualifying word, amazing, when he penned his famous hymn about that grace.

Think about it. No human being ever kept God's law (except Jesus). No one has ever given God the honor due His name. No one has lived the life of worship that is the duty and calling of everyone who has ever taken a breath. All people have not only rebelled against God, but they have written their own sets of self-oriented rules. Everyone not only has failed to worship God, but also has worshiped false gods. Every human being not only has failed to recognize the centrality of God in all things, but also has inserted himself or herself in God's position. Everyone not only occasionally breaks one or another of God's laws, but we all, in some way, have broken all of His laws. Not only do we misuse God's creation, but we put it in God's place and give it the worship that belongs to Him.

So in the face of the depth and heinous character of all of our rebellion against God and His glory, it would be amazing if we were not exterminated. It would be an act of wondrous grace for God to recognize that we exist. But He has done so much, much more than this. By means of the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, He has made a way for us to be welcomed into an intimate familial relationship with Him. He literally adopts us into His family so that, quite apart from anything we could have ever deserved, we are given the full range of rights and privileges of His children. And not only are we granted those things in the here and now, but we are blessed with them forever and ever. Along with this, He has promised us the final end of all the sin, sickness, sorrow, and suffering that our rebellion brought down on this world. So grace lets you have it all-everything, that is, that you need.

Pray for eyes to see it and a heart to embrace it.

For further study and encouragement: Ephesians 1:15-23
~Paul David Tripp
#𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞

06/02/2026

➡️ 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝟐, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔

🗣 𝗜𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗱𝗼. 𝗜𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗛𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼.

Here's the principle (which surely is easier to write out than it is to live): you can't look horizontally for what you will get only vertically, and you can't wait vertically for what you have been called to do horizontally. We all get these two confused again and again. Many a wife believes it is her husband's duty to bring her happiness.
Such a woman is actually acting as if it's okay to put her inner sense of well-being in the hands of another human being. The person next to you is never a safe source of your happiness because that person is flawed and will inevitably fail you in some way. Only God is ever a safe keeper of the security, peace, and rest of your soul.

Here is the bottom line earth will never be your savior. Earth was created to point you to the One who alone is able to give peace and rest to your searching heart. Yet today many people say they believe in God, but they shop horizontally for what can be found only vertically.

On the other hand, there are many people who give in to the temptation to do the opposite. They wait for God to do for them what he has clearly called and empowered them to do. I've heard many people who were dealing with fractured relationships say to me, "I'm just waiting for the Lord to reconcile our relationship." It sounds spiritual, but it is simply wrong. If you have something against your brother, if there is conflict between you, the Bible tells you to get up, go, and be reconciled to him. When it came time for Israel to enter the Promised Land, God was going to part the waters of the Jordan River, but he commanded the priests to step into it.

God was going to defeat Jericho, but he called his children to walk around it. God promises to provide, but he calls us to labor, pray, and give. God alone has the power to save, but he calls us to witness, testify, proclaim, teach, live, and preach.

You see, God not only determines outcomes, but he rules over the means by which those outcomes are realized
So the life of faith is all about rest and work. We rest in God's presence and constant care (vertical), and we toil with our hands, busy at the work we have been commanded to do (horizontal). We rest in our work and work in our rest. At times, we work because we believe that God who is at work calls us to work. At others times, we rest from our work because we believe that the work that needs to be done only God can do. So rest and work, and work and rest. It is the rhythm of the life of faith.

For further study and encouragement: Matthew 19:16-30
~Paul David Tripp
#𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞

06/01/2026

➡️ 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝟏, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔

𝙶𝚘𝚍’𝚜 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚜. 𝙷𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚜 𝚎𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚋𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝.

I wish your care was always easy, predictable, safe a cool drink a soft pillow—
but you are too wise, too loving,
too committed to your work of transforming grace.
So your gracious care comes to me in uncomfortable forms: the redeeming care of disappointment, the unexpected trial, suffering, loss.
These things don't tell me you're cold-hearted, absent, uninvolved.
No, each is a sign of zealous grace, redeeming love.
I struggle to grasp how much you care,
so I struggle to rest in that
care.
You care enough to give me what I need,
not what I want.
You care enough to break my bones in order
to recapture my heart.

For further study and encouragement: Psalm 51 (especially v. 𝟾)
~𝙿𝚊𝚞𝚕 𝙳𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚍 𝚃𝚛𝚒𝚙𝚙
#𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞