Justyn Smith • A Heart For Revival

  TEENAGE SUMMER BAGGAGE #8: The Baggage Of Your Past   In 1 Corinthians 6:11, Paul reminded the Corinthians about the past to encourage them in their present position and purpose in Christ, "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."  Someone once said, My past beats within me like a second heart.  The decisions you make now will form your future. In your future, your present will either be filled with past regrets or joyous memories.  Let's study the Scriptures to find God's victory over our past regrets and move on to present victories! I. Let's realize our past pulling away from Christ A. Your past doesn't refuse you of a home in heaven.  1 Corinthians 6:9-10 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of...

  TEENAGE SUMMER BAGGAGE #5: The Baggage Of Spiritual Apathy/Carelessness   In Haggai 1:6, the results of spiritual apathy are revealed , "Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes."  The exhortation for each of us is, "Consider your ways." I. We can't afford spiritual apathy. Haggai 1:6,9-11 Notice the gain the people had, and then notice the immediate loss or lack of sufficiency. Isn't it amazing how spiritual life really is?  II. We shouldn't avoid spiritual assignments.  Haggai 1:2-4 The people were once so excited to get to work for the glory of God. They were set free from captivity to only set the hammer down once they got more focused on themselves. We avoid spiritual assignments when we set our attention on things below more than on things above. Avoid spiritual a...

  TEENAGE SUMMER BAGGAGE #4: The Baggage Of No Self Control In 2 Peter 1:6, the exhortation to, "add to knowledge temperance..." is huge to overcoming lives challenging temptations. Do we even try to reign victorious over temptations, or do we simply fall to them every single time?  Temperance means self-control. It comes from a word that means: strong in a thing (masterful) or self- controlled (as in appetite). When you "give in" every time, you are constantly lending yourself to defeat when we are told we already have victory in Jesus. Please take note of these testimonies of self control from the Bible, and then realize you can react just like them with the help of the Lord! I. Self-control removes blindness. 2 Peter 1:5-9 2 Peter 1:5-9 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; [6] And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; [7] And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to ...

  Go to the Ant, thou Sluggard Created with Adobe Spark —> Go to the Ant, thou Sluggard We can all learn from an ant today. It’s a very small creature with a powerful example displayed! Proverbs 6:6-11 KJV [6] Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: [7] Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, [8] Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. [9] How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? [10] Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: [11] So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man. —> When you note your own LAZINESS, observe the ant. Study the ant. Consider how an ant gets along in life. vs 6 —> An ant doesn’t need a LEADER to provide for it. We don’t need any authority over us to tell us that we need to get busy now so we will “have” later. vs 7-8 —> We will suffer LOSS LATER if we are LAZY now. vs 8-11 >>Ge...

  CHOICES Created with Adobe Spark CHOICES  (FBC's Graduation Service - 5.25.18) People have asked for the details of last night's graduation message at Faith Baptist Church in Pekin, IL. Here they are, and may God continue to bless with the overflow and outpouring of God's Word! Question: Have you ever lived off the overflow of the blessings of God in some one else's life? They made good choices, and now you reap the benifits. This was what happened with Abram and Lot. Before I give the simple points to the message of the hour, please note the following statistic: We, as adults, make around 35,000 choices a day. Every choice should be important! As children, our choices are simple, maybe "M&M's or Skittles!" But, as we grow, we discover that the choices become a little more difficult and involved.  Ponder the following quotes: Zig Ziglar - Every choice you make as an end result. Thomas Watson – Religion is not a matter of chance, but of choice. Henry ...

  Handle It Photo Credit:  veeterzy  on unsplash. Handle It Have you ever broken a glass bottle or window? What did you do after the incident? Did you sit there and do nothing, or did you pick up the pieces? I'm pretty sure that you or someone else picked up the pieces.  Why? Here's a good reason: You didn't want the shards of glass to come back and stab or slice you at a later date. You probably did more than pick up the pieces. You probably vacuumed, wiped, cleaned, scanned over the general location and maybe even vacuumed again! Why? Because you grasp the after affects of leaving glass laying around without even having to step on the broken glass.  In essence: YOU " HANDLE IT. "  The old saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."  BUT - What if there are some broken things in your life? TREAT them as broken glass, and handle each situation through the wisdom of the WORD of GOD.  There are three broken areas of life we need to handle wisel...

  FOCUS ON THE ENDGAME Photo credit:  Gian-Reto Tarnutzer  on unsplash FOCUS ON THE ENDGAME There are so many aspects of the Christian life that must consider the longterm, end-results that we often call the "endgame." The following questions arise in my mind as I think about the endgame this morning: 1. What is the endgame of sin?, 2. What is the endgame of the Saviour?, and 3. What will the endgame of my life be? Before I expound in a simple manner, let's establish this about the endgame.  GOD IS THE AUTHOR AND FINISHER OF ALL THINGS. I MUST KNOW WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS, AND I MUST REACT ACCORDINGLY. PRESENT CHANGES WILL BE REQUIRED AS WE FOCUS ON THE ENDGAME. Let's begin. I. What is the endgame of sin?  James 1:14-16  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Sin is developed within. Si...

  Expectations Ruin Relationships Expectations Ruin Relationships Evangelist S.M. Davis preached our Spring Revival in April of 2016. He preached a message entitled, "Expectations: The Enemy Of Relations and Gratitude,"   and you can listen to it by clicking the title just given. The whole message was extremely helpful. I certainly recommend that you listen to the entire message, but one of the statements gleaned from Brother Davis' message (which we have utilized much) is, " Expectations Ruin Relationships ." I have been pondering that statement a lot recently. I typically consider this statement when I become expectant of certain things from others, and then reevaluate and recalibrate my thinking. Today has been different. I have asked myself this question, "What can I do to prevent others from having expectations of me so that I'm not at fault for a ruined relationship?" My mind began immediately considering being a father to Lydia Grace. (And t...

  The Spiritual Change We Need We are in desperate need of a spiritual change...thankfully we have a God with open arms and a plan to come to Him! Let me recap the messages we recently heard on this most powerful topic.  Each message began with a congregational reading from Psalm 23:1-6: "(A Psalm of David.) The LORD  is  my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou  art  with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever." First, we learned of Spiritual Conversion. You can listen to...

  Back To Church By Being The Church We have the privilege of getting Back to Being the Church for the glory of God! Let me recap a couple messages we recently heard on this most powerful topic.  Each of the messages began with a congregational reading from First Peter 4:17-18: "For the time  is come  that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if  it  first  begin  at us, what shall the end  be  of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" We brought on the point that if we are "scarcely saved" the "ungodly and the sinner" will appear in hell due to our lack of Gospel Spreading because we are too consumed with others things instead of godly things. First, we were challenged on a message entitled, The Power of Salvation. You can listen to this message by clicking  here . Second, we were challenged on a message entitled, The Power of Grace. You ...

  Take Aim For 2017 Let's take aim for 2017. I'm going into 2017 with the same determination of previous years...If I aim at nothing, I'll miss every time. I desire to aim for the glory of God! I personally love the week in between Christmas and New Years. It's an excellent time for me to switch gears, and simply meditate on "Personal Life Stewardship" as one Pastor in California calls it. In fact, I have just picked up his book again, "Stewarding Life," and decided to read it and refocus.  Let me give you the three possible primary ways we may expend our lives in 2017, and then I'll let you decide where you are at and where you need to be with God. These three truths are from Chapter Two in Paul Chappell's book, "Stewarding Life," and I pray they will challenge you as they have challenged me: I. Squanderers waste  the life God has given in purposeless living. Or they waste their lives in selfish or temporal pursuits. II. Spenders e...