<![CDATA[Second Baptist Church - Joliet, IL - SBC Blog]]>Mon, 12 Feb 2024 16:05:59 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[“Bad Luck or Bad Faith?”]]>Sun, 11 Jan 2015 16:37:58 GMThttp://sbcjoliet.org/sbc-blog/bad-luck-or-bad-faithNow faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  Hebrews 11:1 Jesus said to him [Satan] on the other hand, it is written You shall not put the Lord your to the test.  Matthew 4:7

The Bears won but you lost a lot of money because of bad player picks in fantasy football.  How can you enjoy a simple sports game when you can no longer pay your bills?  Your loved one is diagnosed with terminal cancer and the doctor of oncology projects three months for the cancer to run its course.  What will you believe about the outcome?  You have lost your job with the tightening market. What will you believe regarding your outcome?   You have been betrayed and terribly hurt in the most important relationship in your life and no change is in sight.  What will you believe about people like the one who hurt you? 

In spite of what people do or how circumstances turn out, faith is so crucial to pleasing God and faith is even more crucial for us to become conquerors in Christ.  Our mind is challenged constantly to believe God for victory in the events we face. 

It is so important to realize that faith enables your mind to change outcomes!  Faith connects our minds to the available power of God’s Word to create “the substance of things hoped for” and when circumstances assault our thoughts, faith produces “the evidence of things not seen”.   And even at the risk of being ridiculed perfected faith can empower us to walk on the troubled water of stormy situations to experience the victory nobody fathomed.

So what destroys faith in us?  When was the last time you heard someone say: “if I did not have bad luck, I would have no luck at all!”  So what is luck? Webster’s dictionary says luck is “the chance happening of an event good or bad.”   How many people do you know who speak words of living by chance?  Phases may be heard spoken such as:  “I bet you it ain’t going to get any better!” “These are the cards I have been dealt” “That’s just how the dice will roll” 

Isn’t it unfortunate to observe how seemingly harmless betting/gambling practices can shape our thinking when we are confronted with what to believe when facing trials?  In gambling practices, the person who makes a bet on chance is no more than a bystander who wagers their God-given substance and watches for a good outcome with fingers crossed. 

With faith, this person is not a bystander, but actually creates a new outcome with God’s help.  With faith, the outcome does not take away the person’s substance but it creates new substance.  With faith, we do not gain and lose by sight; we always win by creating something by sight that was not there.  God’s Word working through our belief has the creation power to make real what we do not see.

So brothers and sisters, let’s not put God to the test anymore by talking about how “our luck is going” rather speak our faith to determine what the end is going to be.  Stop conditioning your mind to be bystander by taking a betting position on outcomes - fun or no fun.  Dare to believe God’s Word to change your circumstantial outcomes.  Dare to be a faith hero who creates new value when all is lost by using the power of God’s Word.  Be the mail man who delivers an unseen blessing to someone else’s hurting heart without hope. 

Don’t put your blessings up for wager.  It is all in your mind – walk by faith and not by dice!

Bless you!

]]><![CDATA[WHAT ABOUT THE COMPANY YOU KEEP?“Are All Church Folks Good Company?”]]>Fri, 03 Oct 2014 19:17:03 GMThttp://sbcjoliet.org/sbc-blog/what-about-the-company-you-keepare-all-church-folks-good-company"Do not be misled: 'Bad company corrupts good character.'"  1 Corinthians 15:33 NIV

While we are all associated with the Body of Christ in Second Baptist Church, we are not all of the same maturity in Christ.  We need to be discerning of the company we keep with church folks and associates at home and abroad: 

  • It is better to be alone than in the wrong company.  The person who cannot be alone is a person who is not at peace with his/her self.
  • Show me who your best friends are, and I will show you who you are.
  • If you run with wolves, you will learn how to howl amidst only the trees of the forest.  But if you stretch your wings with eagles in God’s Word, you will soar above the trees to appreciate the greatness of the forest with God’s wind beneath your wings. 
  • A mirror reflects the image of your face, but what you are really like is shown in the faces of the friends you keep. The simple fact of life is that you become like those you associate with for the good or the bad. 
  • Righteous people seek to do the right thing.  Unrighteous people have little remorse about doing wrong.  They are gratified to get away with wrong.  They are fretful about getting caught or they are dejected about suffering loss from wrongdoing.
  • With some people, you can spend many hours and feel drained; with others, you can spend precious minutes and be set free. 
  • What you tolerate, you authorize; people, who waste their time, will waste your time as well.  The less you associate with idle people, the more your life will excel. 
  • Don't follow anyone who keeps doing the same thing all the time.  Purpose driven people do not like stagnation in their lives or in the lives of others.   
  • As you grow in Christ, be prepared for your associates to change.  The Lord will show whether a person is in your life for a reason, season or a lifetime.  Some of your friends will want you to stay where they are.  They may try to make what’s missing in their life your responsibility more than God’s.  It is your responsibility to refuse false guilt.
  • Friends that don't help you climb will cause you to crawl.  They will encourage your vision or destroy your dream.   They will celebrate your advancement or be envious that you left them behind. 
  • Consider this:  Be careful about receiving criticism from a person who complains a lot and has little to show for their life.  Do not discuss your problems with someone who cannot solve their own.
  • Those who never succeed themselves are usually very quick to tell you how.
  • Be careful who you listen to; some people have motives that will shock you.
  • Be stronger as a positive person than other people are negative.
  • As you seek guidance from the Lord, always be patient to hear His voice more than being desperate to receive results.  Otherwise, the enemy will arrive first and confuse you with a counterfeit answer to your prayer.   
  • Be blessed of God first in your belief and then you will be blessed in action.   The Just shall live by faith before sight.
  • Prove to only yourself that your best relationship will always be with the Lord:

Happy moments, Praise God
Difficult moments, Seek God
Quiet moments, Worship God
Painful moments, Trust God
Every moment, Thank God

Be wise with the company you keep.  Amen.

]]><![CDATA[“Making Real Time for Soul Food”   ]]>Thu, 04 Sep 2014 22:18:43 GMThttp://sbcjoliet.org/sbc-blog/making-real-time-for-soul-foodPicture
“Making Real Time for Soul Food”  

During the upcoming holidays, there will be a lot of good cooking with delectable dishes being served that taste so good, we often refer to it as “soul food.”  It may be good down to the soul, but true soul food can only come from the Word of God. 

The Apostle James has prepared some meaty truths for our soul to thrive on and strengthen our walk with God.  Why not gain a few pounds in your soul with spiritual food prepared by James.  Here are some important spiritual truths to learn and share with others from the Book of James that blessed my soul: 

  • When faced with a trial, your attitude determines altitude in overcoming the problem.  Focus on rejoicing in the work God is accomplishing in you more than fearing the outcome of threatening circumstances.  James 1:2
  • When you feel trapped in a trial, rather than ask others for their opinion and risk being confused, ask God for His wisdom that works without fail.  Each time God delivers the wisdom you requested, it makes you less dependent on yourself and others, and more reliant on your God.  James 1:5
  • A believer who is from a depressed neighborhood background can rejoice immediately that their genuine walk with God will raise him/her to greater heights in their natural and spiritual life.  James 1:9
  • A believer who can be viewed as rich should rejoice in his/her humility of not being changed by his/her money as well as dodging the trap of trying to take the money to the grave.  (This is contrast to lottery winners who at some point are apt to experience ruin and busted family relationships.)  James 1:10
  • Going to Church and living your life with a loose tongue makes going to Church in vain for you.   James 1:26
  • Real Church ministry is not attending meetings, events and dinners but it begins with a focus for meeting needs of the fatherless and the husbandless.  James 1:27
  • It is a sin for members of the Church in worship to show favoritism to wealthy looking visitors and mistreat those who looked disadvantaged.  (We must be willing to give up our seat for Joe six-pack with HIV/AIDS and who abused drugs as much as we would for Oprah.)  James 2:2
  • If we say we have faith and our actions do not line up, then our faith is dead.  Believing in God alone without the life to match it is not enough. Even demons take the first step and believe – and then they tremble.  James 2:14-19
  • A loose tongue can cause a world of trouble and lead to unspeakable evil.  No person can tame another person’s loose tongue.  No one in the Church family should have a tongue that is tamed at one time and loose at another.  James 3:3-9
  • Conflict among members of the Church is created due to worldly interests that penetrate within the heart.  These carnal interests grow because God is not trusted to provide for the lack in their lives.  Spiritual adultery occurs when too much attention is given to carnal people and worldly environments.  Maintaining worldly friendships and carnal interests makes a member of the Church an enemy of God.  James 4:1-4
  • Never take God for granted that tomorrow is owed to you.  Remember your mortality and daily vulnerability to death when planning ahead and respectfully acknowledge: “If the Lord wills…”  James 4:15
  • Those with money who live at the expense and in cynicism of those who don’t have money, are guaranteed to decline in misery.  James 5:5
  • Do not swear (give allegiance) or take oaths in place of keeping your word to God and man.  Dreadful surprises will lurk otherwise.  James 5:12
  • The prayers of wishful thinking are useless.  The prayer of faith brings results.  Members who are sick have the privilege to believe God to be healed and call for intercessory prayer by the Church elders.  Members with faults are not to suppress them.  Faults should be confessed and prayed for fervently by other members who are righteous.  Healing and breakthrough shall result.  James 5: 13-16
  • Members of the Church wander from the truth and fall into living a lie which leads to death.   The steadfast Church is challenged to restore the souls of in-house sinners from death and back to the truth of the Word.   The multitude of all past sins of a rescued person are paid for and covered by the Blood of Jesus.  James 5:20
If reading these scriptural truths was a blessing to you, then share them with others.    As we make plans for family and special meals, why not do the same for our soul?  Let’s make time for our soul to be fed with the Word of God on a regular basis.   It is absolutely the only soul you and I will ever have.

Bless you,

Pastor Tyler

]]><![CDATA[Preachers of L.A.]]>Fri, 20 Dec 2013 23:30:06 GMThttp://sbcjoliet.org/sbc-blog/preachers-of-laThe following are observations on how the show promotes seven negative stereotypes:

  1. They live a lavish lifestyle.
  2. They exaggerate their humanity at the expense of the glory of God.
  3. Some seem emotionally detached and unable to relate to others authentically.
  4. Some leaders have violated serious biblical ethics in marriage and family. 
  5. Their ministries are depicted as being more hype than substance.
  6. They showcase leaders with emotional immaturity.
  7. The show reinforces a distorted view of the whole church.

In conclusion, the secular media wants to capitalize on the negative stereotypes of Pentecostal preachers by allowing them to uncover and exaggerate their humanness to such an extent that it can make all church leaders look merely like professional speakers that use the gospel only for personal gain. When the church
leaders are as fleshly as the typical unbeliever, it abrogates the need for the unsaved to seek a church to find the truth and power of God.

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