Bethamay Baptist Church: 2012

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Create In Me a Clean Heart

God gave you one heart. Here is how to care for it.

Most heart attacks occur in the day, generally between 6 A.M. and noon. Having one during the night, when the heart should be most at rest, means that something unusual happened. Somers and his colleagues have been working for a decade to show that sleep apnea is to blame.

If you take an aspirin or a baby aspirin once a day, take it at night. The reason: Aspirin has a 24-hour "half-life"; therefore, if most heart attacks happen in the wee hours of the morning, the Aspirin would be strongest in your system.

Aspirin lasts for years in your medicine chest, (when it gets old, it smells like vinegar). Why keep Aspirin by your bedside? It's about Heart Attacks!

There are other symptoms of a heart attack, besides the pain on the left arm. One must also be aware of an intense pain on the chin, as well as nausea and lots of sweating; however, these symptoms may also occur less frequently.

Note: There may be NO pain in the chest during a heart attack.

The majority of people (about 60%) who had a heart attack during their sleep did not wake up. However, if it occurs, the chest pain may wake you up from your deep sleep. If that happens, immediately dissolve two aspirins in your mouth
and swallow them with a bit of water. Then:

- Call 911.
- Phone a neighbor or a family member who lives very close by.
- Say "heart attack!"
- Say that you have taken 2 Aspirins.
- Take a seat on a chair or sofa near the front door, and wait for their arrival and
...DO NOT LIE DOWN!

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Faith first for true knowledge

Anselm said, "I do not understand so that I might believe, but believe in order to understand."

My grade school teacher taught me that an English preposition was "anywhere a mouse could go." A mouse can go above, below, around, in, and in-between. The preposition “between” in Hebrew is also the word for “understanding.”

Thinking with the Bible as your grid gives us understanding. For instance, difficult is choosing between two good choices. The bible gives us the capacity to sort out our options.

Proverbs says, “Understanding is a fountain of life to he who has it.” To know your choices, and make the right one is “understanding.” Gain “understanding” by remembering the word of God. Believe it first, to gain understanding. Usually the choice is obvious; the word is clear. You can do what a mouse can do. With divine understanding and the Spirit of God guiding you, you can sort out which way to go.

Proverbs 16:22
Understanding is a fountain of life to those who have it, but folly brings punishment to fools.

I have moments of doubt

Mark 9:24 "Immediately the boy's father cried out, saying, 'I do believe; help my unbelief.'"

My kids didn’t believe me when I told them I could fly. I don’t have wings; I’m not superman; I don’t have any jet packs. They had no evidence, so they remained in their unbelief. “Prove it,” they say.

But they do not waiver in unbelief when it comes to God. There is plenty of evidence. Every day, God proves it. They saw the lunar eclipse where the earth’s shadow fit exactly over the diameter of the moon. They saw kittens born, looking like the mother cat. They see God’s designed order, coupled with irreducible complexity everywhere.

Let Dr. Jay Quine challenge your unbelief. The evidence for God is overwhelming. So in times of doubt, do not waiver in unbelief. You know there is no where else to go!

Romans 4:20 "Yet with respect to the promise of God, he did not waiver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God."

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Daniel: The Overview

The Book of Daniel

c. 605 - 562 B.C.

Key Verse of the Book: Daniel 4:17

"In order that the living may know that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whom He wishes, and sets over it the lowliest of men."

After Nebuchadnezzar defeats the Assyrians at Charcemish (605 B.C.), Jehoiakim and other dignitaries are taken to Babylon (2Ch 36:6; 2Kg 24:1). Daniel is part of this exile (followed by two more, in 597 B.C. when Ezekiel is taken (2Ch 36:10), and 586 B.C. when Jerusalem is destroyed). Daniel becomes part of Babylon's court, and serves in official capacities through Cyrus the Mede's rule (c. 536 B.C., the vision of ch.10). Through the court narratives of the life of Daniel and his companions (Dan 1--6) the reader finds encouragement to trust God and obey His revealed will regardless of external pressures and circumstances. Through Daniel's prophecies, those related to God see that He controls the His-story of the world (Dan 7--12) to flow according to His direction until the end of these times of the Gentiles when the Son of Man establishes the Kingdom of God on earth.

God’s Sovereignty in Our Lives (Chapters 1—6)

That no one is independent of God is clear in this section. His people (such as Daniel, his three friends) are subjected to foreign rule at His hand, yet blessed in captivity for their obedience (1--3; Daniel given the revelation of the dream); the Gentile king rules only by the permission of God (4; Nebuchadnezzar's insanity), at Whose hand kings are deposed and established (5; message to Belshezzar). Finally, God sovereignly protects and exalts those who completely trust in Him (6; Daniel in the lion's den).

God’s Sovereignty in World History (Chapters 7—12)

That no nation is independent of God is clear in this section. Through Daniel's visions, a panorama of the "times of the Gentiles" is given, demonstrating that God controls the process of history. Successive world empires are outlined, and several individuals described, focusing on the fourth and most terrible empire (Rome), its leader (the little horn; abomination of desolation), and the final 3 1/2 years of his domain. Into this empire will erupt the Son of Man (7:13; "Messiah" 9:26), Who replaces it with the Kingdom of God which remains forever.