The Recovering Legalist

by Anthony Baker | February 12, 2018 · 9:47 am

Do You Hate to Sin?

I hate it when I sin.

Some people hate to get caught, but I wasn’t caught. No one saw or heard or anything – only God.

I hate it when I sin because of the feeling it leaves, the drain on emotions, and the sense of powerlessness that leads to feelings of failure, defeat.

I hate it when I sin because I knew better! I knew better! It’s not like I didn’t know the consequences. It wasn’t like this was something I’d never before encountered. I just walked right into the sin and just committed it, just like it was the natural thing to do.

Oh, but that’s the issue, isn’t it? Nature. That battle between the redeemed and the unredeemed, the spirit and the flesh. How I look forward to the day when this tent in which I dwell is redeemed, also!

I hate it when I sin!

But you may be asking, “Aren’t you a pastor? Aren’t you supposed to be a spiritual and religious leader? How can you be talking about ‘sin’ like this? Won’t it hurt your reputation?”

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. – 1 John 1:8

The Truth is in me. I’m not perfect, just forgiven.

And that’s really why I hate it when I sin; it’s because I know I’m forgiven! Yes, I’m already forgiven! I’ve been saved, justified, reborn, adopted, and have received the righteousness of Christ…and I know a little about what it took for that to happen…

“Forgiven” by Thomas Blackshear

It took the Cross! It took Calvary! It took Jesus bearing my griefs…carrying my sorrows…being stricken and smitten of God…being afflicted…being wounded for MY transgressions…being bruised for MY iniquities…accepting MY chastisement…and taking MY stripes so that I could walk away free (see Isaiah 53:4-5).

He – Jesus – did all that for me…all because of my sin…because He loves me (Romans 5:8).

But you may ask: “If you know you are already forgiven, then what keeps you from going out and sinning all you want?”

Two reasons. First, my “want to” has been changed. Second, it’s like the Apostle Paul said it: the love of Christ constraineth me (2 Corinthians 5:14). The thought of His love for me…what it took to redeem me from sin…to purchase my salvation…what He endured on that cross…the scourging He willingly accepted…it’s like ropes wrapped around me, binding me, “constraining” me.

Nevertheless, there are times when I sin. And I hate it. Romans 7:15-25 just about sums it up.

I thank God that where my sin did abound, grace…OH! What a word!…did much more abound (Romans 5:20)!

Then you may ask: “Well, if there’s more grace than there is sin to forgive, why not just keep sinning so that grace may ‘abound’ even more?”

Read Romans 6, is all I can say.

If you sin just because you can…there’s probably something major you’ve missed along the way. Maybe there’s nothing “constraining” you.

I hate it when I sin.

God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore the joy of your salvation to me, and sustain me by giving me a willing spirit. Then I will teach the rebellious your ways, and sinners will return to you. – Psalm 51:10-13 CSB

4 Comments

Filed under Christianity, grace, Love of God, Struggles and Trials, Theology

Tagged as Apostle Paul, grace, Jesus, salvation, Sin, soteriology, Theology

by Anthony Baker | February 11, 2018 · 7:00 am

Rainy Sundays, and What God Evidently Needs to Know

Rain Rain Go Away

Photo credit: Haley Baker

Well, according to the weatherman (or as Canadian PM Trudeau might say “Weatherperson”), it’s going to be a rainy Sunday. But doesn’t God realize rain on Sunday is a bad idea?

I mean, seriously, with the documented decline in church attendance, you’d think God would know better, right? Why does He choose to place such a heavy burden on the faithful? Why does he choose to put their health and lives at risk by covering the roads with slippery precipitation (rain)?

Maybe its a simple case of miscommunication. Maybe the One who covers the sky with clouds and prepares rain for the earth (Psalm 147:8) should be better informed.

Informative Prayer

So, in an effort to help my fellow brothers and sisters, I’m going to put together a bullet-pointed list of issues that must be addressed if God wants to get more people out of their houses and into His house on a rainy Sunday.

Let us intercede for each other as we take the following concerns before the throne of He who calms the stormy seas. Would you pray with me?

Dear Heavenly Father, Maker of Heaven and Earth, Mighty God,

It’s too hard for us to wake up in the morning when it’s raining; you make our beds too comfortable. Yes, we know we can get up and go to work when it’s storming, but we’ve got to do that – it’s expected of us. However, church is a choice, and you make it much too difficult.

You love a “cheerful giver,” but it’s too hard for us to wake up “cheerful” without sunshine. How can the church pay its bills if we’re not there to cheerfully give our $5 bills? You need us.

You say it’s a sin to be presumptuous (Psalm 19:13; 2 Peter 2:10), so why would you want us to presume your angels are going to keep us safe on these wet roads? If Jesus wouldn’t jump off the top of the temple, then is it wise for us to leap into traffic? Of course not!

And, Lord, we feel we must remind you of something: We are not Jesus. Not even close. So, please understand, walking on water and hydroplaning are not the same thing.

Amen.

Now, if you actually did pray the above prayer, you need more than church – you need Jesus.

The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. – Psalm 95:5-6

6 Comments

Filed under Christian Maturity, Christianity, Church, Humor, Weather

Tagged as Church, Rain, Weather

by Anthony Baker | February 10, 2018 · 6:27 pm

The Depth and Breadth of Suicide

I’ve written about depression and suicide in the past, as many of you know. I’ve written based on personal experience with depression and brushes with suicidal thoughts. Hopefully, some of what I’ve written in the past has made an impact and caused you to think about the issue a little more deeply.

But for what it’s worth, my experience is shallow compared to the depth of pain and sorrow an actual suicide can bring. And when you come face-to-face with what suicide can do to those who are left behind, there’s no plumb to measure how deep the wounds will go.

This morning one of my daughters (Katie) called me on the phone, hardly understandable for the convulsive weeping. A young man with whom she went to college, a young man whom she considered to be a best friend, took his own life last night, and Katie had just received the news as she was driving to work.

The question kept repeating from her lips…”Why?”

Christopher Nitzband (photo by Katie Baker)

There were no discernible warning signs. He was loved by all. I even enjoyed talking with him over lunch last week. He was about to graduate college and had already been accepted to the graduate program at George Mason University. He had everything to live for, yet he chose not to.

Why? Indeed.

The wounds will go deep, and the pain will sink deep into the crevices of many hearts. And the many? How will we know? Already there are hundreds weeping. What other ripple effects will there be from a severed relationship and a wasted life?

I want to leave you with the words from my daughter’s Instagram post. She says it better than me.

“…It’s hard to believe I won’t see him walking around campus anymore. No more walks. No more talks. No more random trips off campus. The horizon of possibilities is gone.

I’ll see you later, bud.”

The “horizon of possibilities is gone.” That’s a wide, wide loss.

My daughter’s updated Facebook cover photo.

I’m sorry for your loss, dear Katie. I’m truly sorry.

23 Comments

Filed under Depression, Life/Death, Struggles and Trials

Tagged as depression, suicide, Suicide prevention

by Anthony Baker | February 9, 2018 · 12:45 pm

Ranting About Realty

The following is a rant I’m making on my cell phone via talk-to-text. I’ve just got to get some things off my chest, even if I have to talk a lot. Forgive me.

Here we go…

Today is the day we close on a house. Oh, don’t get me wrong, however. This is not a house that we are buying; it is a house that we are selling.

Let me further clarify, the house that we are selling is not a house that we are going to be profiting from; it is part of a trust for which I am the trustee. And let me tell you, this has been more of a pain than I ever thought it would be.

Honestly, the whole process of buying and selling property, especially an older house, has been enough to make me never want to buy a house for myself! Sure, I guess if I ever get rich enough to do so, I can have other people do everything for me. However, if I have to go through all this stuff again, I might go insane! I’d rather rent, or live in a van down by the river!

Regardless, all we’ve gone through up unto this point – the day when the papers are to be signed and everything is finalized – has made me think of my future home, the one in heaven.

Just think about it for a moment. Up there we won’t have to deal with contractors, sales people, home inspectors, and realtors. There will be no commissions, no closing cost, no concessions, no negotiations, no allowances, and no last-minute repairs before anyone can move in.

No, when I finally get to move into my heavenly home, I won’t have to worry about a title company getting my name spelled correctly, collecting all the keys and garage door openers, or signing on any dotted lines. I won’t have to worry about any upkeep, any unfulfilled promises, or property taxes (hallelujah!). When I get home, it will be my home, bought and paid for by my heavenly Father!

And I won’t have to sign any more contracts, or revisions, or even more revisions of more contracts… My name has been written in the Lambs Book of Life, and that’s all that matters.

I’m through ranting, now.

Be blessed, y’all 🙂

8 Comments

Filed under General Observations, Struggles and Trials

Tagged as contracts, heaven, Home, housing, realty

by Anthony Baker | February 8, 2018 · 10:00 am

Do You Have Hope Without Jesus?

In Acts 16:30 the Philippian jailer asked, “What must I do to be saved?”

“Forgiven” by Thomas Blackshear

William MacDonald wrote the following comment in his commentary:

“This question must precede every genuine case of conversion. A man must know he is lost before he can be saved. It is premature to tell a man how to be saved until first he can say from his heart, I truly deserve to go to hell…Many people today seem to have difficulty knowing what it means to believe. However, when a sinner realizes he is lost, helpless, hopeless, hell-bound, and when he is told to believe on Christ as Lord and Savior, he knows exactly what it means. It is the only thing left that he can do!” (MacDonald, W & Farstad, A. Believer’s Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson or Logos)

Do you have hope without Jesus? Then you’re without hope. Simply hopeless.

And that breaks my heart.

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…” – Acts 16:31

If you would like to talk with someone, there is a phone line open 24 hours a day. Call 1-800-NEED-HIM (1-800-633-3446). Someone will be happy to show you how to be sure you have eternal life. Don’t wait.

2 Comments

Filed under Christianity, salvation

Tagged as grace, hope, Jesus, salvation

by Anthony Baker | February 6, 2018 · 12:54 pm

Our Proverbial Future

The Other Blog

Many of you may know that I have another blog, and some of you may take advantage of it on a daily basis.

The other blog is ProverbialThought.com, and it has been a daily/semi-daily part of our lives for several years, bringing to us the wisdom of Proverbs – with a twist.

But here’s the thing… we are coming to an end to another rotation, and I’m wondering what to do next.

The Future of “Proverbial Thought”

If you haven’t yet gone to my other blog – one that has been co-written by some wonderful people – go there now and see what you think.

Where should we go from here?

Start over – again? With a fresh group of contributors?

What about listing all of the past posts in pages, just like I started doing with the first two chapters?

I would love to know what you guys – you other bloggers and readers, you Bible students – think.

10 Comments

Filed under Bible Study, blogging, ministry

Tagged as bible study, Proverbial Thought, proverbs

by Anthony Baker | February 5, 2018 · 1:10 pm

Updating the “Sermon Archive”

It has been a long while since I last updated my “Sermon Archive” page. As a matter of fact, up until today, the last sermon I uploaded was a video recorded back in 2016!

Well, since then, as many of you know, I’ve been pastoring South Soddy Baptist Church (since Feb. 2017). But it’s only been just recently that I’ve started recording my preaching. Part of the reason was that I didn’t have a way to record any better than times past – I wanted something better than the onboard mic of my iPhone.

Enter the RØDE SmartLav+.

With the SmartLav+ and Audacity (free online audio editing program) I’ve got a winning combination which allows me to easily record in high quality and edit out my stupidity 😉

So, if you don’t mind listening to a twangy, unpredictable, southern preacher, here’s your chance – and it’ll sound gooooood!

2 Comments

Filed under Preaching

Tagged as iPhone, preaching, recording, sermons, smartlav

by Anthony Baker | February 5, 2018 · 12:31 pm

Why Blogging Scares Me

This is only the second post I’ve read on “Devoted Together,” but it seems like Pastor Brandon Langley, even in his inaugural post, get’s what Christian blogging is all about. Let’s welcome him to the community.

Blogging scares me and it should scare you too. In fact, all Christians should approach any form of social media with fear and trembling. I have been in Christian ministry for seven years now and have benefited much from the online writing of others, but I have avoided any writing endeavor of my own because of this fear. I fear blogging because I know what is in man and more specifically what is in me.

The Danger Within Us

Ever since the garden of Eden, man has believed the lie of the Evil One – that the best pursuit of life is the pursuit of joy in being praised as a god rather than the pursuit of joy in praising the one true God. We unknowingly and subconsciously long for, fight for, and sacrifice much for the affirmations and praises of men at the expense of our own souls.

Romans…

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Filed under Uncategorized

by Anthony Baker | February 2, 2018 · 12:09 am

A quick question for men about lust

It is rare that one comes across a post so straight to the point and convicting. Guys, this is a truth we should be taking very seriously, and it’s a post that should be shared a whole lot more.

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Filed under Uncategorized

by Anthony Baker | February 1, 2018 · 5:40 pm

Do You Even Know the Difference?

Walmart lines can be insanely long, as many of you know well. Therefore, as I am standing in one with my wife, I decided to pull out my phone and watch something on YouTube. She is looking at something in a magazine, probably about how Queen Elizabeth ordered Meghan to boot camp…or that she’s actually an alien.

Anyway, I came across the following video featuring a favorite of mine, Ravi Zacharias. No doubt, the modern church is becoming less and less equipped to handle threats against our faith, and much of the problem lies in the desire to have one’s ears tickled.

Do you know the difference between Christianity and Islam? I hope you do.