Author: marvinmck

Marvin McKenzie was born in the Pacific Northwest and became a Christian at the age of eighteen. He has been in the Baptist ministry for thirty years and has planted and pastored churches in Washington and Oregon. Besides his pastoral ministry, Marvin has been actively involved in training men for the Baptist ministry. He has conducted local church Bible Institutes in those churches he has pastored, from which a number of men have entered the ministry. Marvin also served as: Vice President of the Western States Baptist Bible Fellowship, The Board of Directors of Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College in San Dimas, CA, Dean of men at Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College in San Dimas, Executive Vice President of Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College in San Dimas, CA and Executive Vice President of Heartland Baptist Bible College in Oklahoma City, OK. Marvin is married to Anita. They have two sons, Bohannan and Caleb. Both are Baptist pastors in Washington State. Marvin enjoys camping, fishing and horses.

1 Kings 19:9 What Doest Thou Here?

1 Kings 19:9 (KJV)
And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?

“What doest thou here?” 
The question is of such significance that God puts it to the prophet twice.[1] The first was in Judah, a day’s journey from Israel. The second was at Mt Horeb, in the wilderness, where Moses received the Ten Commandments. Though God had sustained him on his trip to Horeb, neither place was where God had put him.

Gill writes,
“..this is not a proper place for a prophet to be in, in a wilderness, in a mountain, in a cave in it: what work could he do for God? or what service to his people? in the land of Israel he might bear his testimony against idolatry, and so be a means of reclaiming backsliders, and of establishing those that were in the true religion; but of what usefulness could he be here?”

We have a weakened view of faith whenever we take the view that we can practice our faith anywhere we choose. It’s as much as saying we are our own “god of location.”

Elijah felt justified in fleeing.

  • He had left Elisha there to continue the ministry

  • He had been threatened of life by Jezebel

  • He had gone to Horeb in the strength of God’s provision

He had gone first to Judah, where God’s Temple was, and then to Horeb, where the Ten Commandments had been delivered.[2] But none of this was where God had designed Elijah to serve. 

His flight as much as admitted his faith so strongly professed in chapter eighteen, was shallow, if not a show.[3]

  • God had a place for Abraham to move

  • God had a place Isaac was not to leave

  • God had a place Jacob must return

  • God had a place promised to Israel

  • God had a place designated for each of the tribes

  • God had a place Elijah was to serve

Who are we to believe God is pleased whenever we choose out our own place to serve?

Eventually God brought Elijah back to Israel. There was just no other place he could be an be what God where and what God designed for him to be.

[1] Again in verse 13

[2] Many Bible students believe Mt Horeb and Mt Sinai are the same.

[3] Very often what we profess with our mouths, and even what we boldly do with our hands is a ruse to cover what we sense in our heart.

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 5900 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

1 Kings 19:9 What Doest Thou Here?

Luke 7:7[1] The Basis of Great Faith

Luke 7:7 (KJV)
Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.

I see in this passage a contrast between the elders of the Jews and the centurion that provides a description of faith.

The centurion asked the Jews to send to Jesus a representative, requesting He come and heal his servant. The Jews seemed willing to grant this request and, approaching Jesus, explained why the centurion was worthy of such a favor.

  • He has loved our nation
  • He has built us a synagogue

As Christ neared the centurion’s home, he sent friends.[2] The friends, I believe, had been instructed to discount the worthiness of his deeds and express the unworthiness of his person. Nevertheless, he said he knew Jesus could say the word, and the servant would be healed.

Faith has nothing to do with our worthiness, or lack thereof. It has everything to do with the authority of Christ.

Too often, we base our requests before the Lord on either our worthiness or unworthiness. Yet, faith is all about the Lord.

I do not mean to suggest it is acceptable to live unworthy of the vocation of the Christian. Ours, is to put off the old man and put on the new. 

The basis of prayer, the asking, and the receiving, is the person and authority of Christ. Call upon Him not because you are worthy but because He is Christ. Don’t hesitate to call upon Him because of your unworthiness. He is Christ.

[1] This Daily Visit with God was written while I was in the hospital reception room as my wife underwent surgery to remove cancer. I am asking God to heal her not based on the worthiness of either of us, but the authority and care of Jesus Christ.

[2] Note that these were not the Jews but, this time, his personal friends.

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 5900 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Luke 7:7[1] The Basis of Great Faith

Luke 6:49 A Solid Spiritual Foundation

Luke 6:49 (KJV)
But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

Verse forty-seven, Jesus gives three components to a solid spiritual foundation:

  • Come to Him
  • Hear His Word
  • Do what He teaches

Nowhere does Jesus promise we will face no storms if we do these. What He promises is that if we do them, we will survive the storms when they come.

Verse forty-nine, Jesus makes the contrast. Notice that the house on the sand is not built by those ignorant of His Word. The house on the sand is built by the person who hears His Word and chooses not to do what He teaches. There may even be the implication that they have come to Him to hear His sayings.

No one is so foolish as the Christian who knows the truth and knows where to find good counsel for life but chooses instead to do his own will and go his own way.

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 5900 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Luke 6:49 A Solid Spiritual Foundation

Luke 5:38 The Gospel is Not a Patch

Luke 5:38 (KJV)
But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.

Gill says this new wine is the gospel and that the contrast Jesus is making is the difference between the traditions of the Pharisees over the Word of God. The scribes and Pharisees had murmured about the company His disciples kept, and that they did not keep the traditional fasts and vain prayers of the Jews.

The point Jesus made was that the message He came to give could not blend with the traditions of Judaism. They would not receive it and would only grow indignant from it. It would be impossible to patch up Judaism. Those who had grown accustomed to the old would have no taste for the new.

Enter the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a new bottle suited for the new wine of Jesus’ gospel.

The lesson is that the old Jewish faith, though not finished until the end of the seven years of Tribulation, is not the focus of the ministry of Christ. Judaism and Christianity are separate. The New Testament believer must come completely out of the old religion if he would enjoy the taste of new faith in Christ.

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 5900 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Luke 5:38 The Gospel is Not a Patch

1 Kings 14:7 Don’t Let Sin Lead to Greater Sin

1 Kings 14:7 (KJV)
Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel,

The rebellion of Jeroboam against Jerusalem is obvious and blatant. God’s promise was for the throne to belong in Jerusalem and to the seed of David. This in no way means that David’s family was perfect and wouldn’t be tested.

Jeroboam was a test in much the same way that Nebuchadnezzar was a test. God used each man to chasten, correct, and develop his people. Jeroboam did an evil thing just as much as Nebuchadnezzar did. But both men were tools of the Lord, and both men could have sought the Lord.

Jeroboam went farther than God allowed.  Having separated from Judah, which was wrong, he did more wrong. It was this that God judged.

None of us are perfect. We do wrong. God can and will use it. 

  • It might be that we learn lessons from our wrong
  • It might be He uses our wrongs to teach someone else lessons

But that God uses it in no way means He approves of it. Nor does it mean He supports our doing what will almost certainly happen, that we slip into a state of further spiritual decline. 

The thing to do is repent and turn to God. Don’t let one sin lead to greater sins.

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 5900 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

1 Kings 14:7 Don’t Let Sin Lead to Greater Sin

Luke 4:28 No One Is So Wrathful

Luke 4:28 (KJV)
And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,

So early in Christ’s ministry and already the people were filled with wrath and would have killed Him. Though, for a time, multitudes followed Jesus, the religious crowd in Nazareth and Jerusalem would have killed Him had they the opportunity.

Their anger was stirred,

  • Because He said they would not honor His
  • Because He said God’s blessings would be on Gentiles
  • Because He said the cleansing of God would not come to Israel

This was so early in Christ’s ministry that He had called none out of the synagogue. He had not overthrown the money changer’s tables. Jesus had done nothing to set Himself up in opposition to either the Temple Worship or the Roman leadership. He had done few miracles, if any. He had preached no sermons.

They had just one reason to be filled with such hateful wrath; He had implied that they were of the same nature as those in the past who did not believe God.

No one is so wrathful as the one filled with religious indignation.

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 5900 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Luke 4:28 No One Is So Wrathful

1 Kings 10:9 Except I See

1 Kings 10:9 (KJV)
Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice.

Word had gotten to the Queen of all that was happening in Jerusalem. Reports were such that it was not enough to hear about them. She had to see for herself. This would have been no small venture. 

  • After asking her “hard questions” and Solomon’s answers 
  • After seeing his kingdom, his riches, and the happiness of his people 

she said the half had not been told, and she would have believed if she had not seen with her own eyes.

This brings to my mind both a positive and a negative perspective.

From the positive
I am thinking of the person who hears of Jesus Christ, perhaps even rejoices in the reports about the Lord, and is happy for those who enjoy their relationship with Him but do not come to know Christ on their own. A person will never know the fullness of what it means to know Christ unless they know Him for themselves.

From the negative
I am thinking of Thomas, of whom the Bible says,
John 20:25 (KJV)
The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

He refused to believe the reports of the others. He had to see for himself. The Bible goes on,
John 20:27-29 (KJV)
Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Our world is filled with souls today who refuse to come to Christ because they, in effect, have said, “Except I shall see…I will not believe.“

Perhaps the Queen of Sheba betrayed her doubtful nature when, after all, was said and done, she gave glory, not to God but to Solomon, when she said the Lord loved Israel and therefore made Solomon king. None of what she witnessed was because of Solomon. She used the name of the Lord, but she only saw Solomon.

Is it not a faithless perspective that credits the man God uses and not the God who uses the man?

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 5900 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

1 Kings 10:9 Except I See

1 Kings 8:37 “If” and “Then”

1 Kings 8:37 (KJV)
If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpiller; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;

Solomon’s prayer of dedication is thirty verses long. Nine times he uses the conjunction “if.” Seven times he requests of God, “Then hear thou [their prayer].[1]” This is an unusually long prayer by the standards of the Bible and one that would be challenging to compose. Solomon seems to try to think of every possible event that might happen in the future of his nation. The formula he repeats is,

If[2] + (an unknown variable) + prayer = “Then hear thou.”

Solomon, in God’s wisdom, could foresee certain possibilities in Israel. He could not anticipate them all. He did not pray that God would answer all the possibilities ahead of time. He prayed that God’s people would pray in whatever the event and that, when they prayed, God would hear and answer.

Life is filled with any number of possibilities. We would never be able to enumerate them all. What we can do is, regardless of the event,

  • Turn to the Lord 
  • Pray, and 
  • Trust the Lord to answer

It is a reasonable prayer to ask God to hear whatever our prayer, whenever we turn to Him in prayer.

[1] His prayer included that Israel, in the future, would pray.

[2] In the event of

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 5900 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

1 Kings 8:37 “If” and “Then”

1 Kings 6:1 The Christ of Christianity

1 Kings 6:1 (KJV)
And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.

It was four hundred eighty years between when Israel left Egypt to when construction of the Temple began. It took another seven years to complete.

I don’t want to imply that things were always grand before the Temple was built, but I do think we’d be hard-pressed to find anyone after its completion that compares to the likes of

  • Moses
  • Joshua
  • Samuel or
  • David

Even Solomon, in all his glory, seems to be a foretelling of what was to come. The man who built the Temple could, himself, not remain faithful to the God for whom it was built.

The Temple went through several iterations.

  • Solomon’s
  • Zerubbabel’s
  • Herod’s

No doubt the presence of God was in the Temple. It is also evident that the spiritual condition of Israel could be measured by their care of the Temple. But it also became something like an idol to them. Even the disciples wanted to brag about the glory of the Temple, apparently missing the contrast between the physical structure and the glorious Temple, which is Christ.

I am of the opinion much too much emphasis is placed on buildings, enhancements to them, and their meaning to that which is spiritual. I am convinced many only see the structure of Christianity and miss the Christ of Christianity entirely.

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 5900 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

1 Kings 6:1 The Christ of Christianity

Mark 16:14 The Faith That Saves

Mark 16:14 (KJV)
Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

Consider.
They had been with Jesus for three and a half years. They had seen His miracles. They had heard His preaching. They had each been told He would die and rise again.

  • But when the women told them He was alive, they did not believe.
  • And when the two witnesses told them he was alive, they did not believe.
  • In the case of Thomas, when all the others told him Jesus was alive, he did not believe.

When Jesus appeared to them, He upbraided[1] or rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart. But notice, He immediately commissioned them to go, and tell the world. In that Great Commission, He made this statement:

Mark 16:16 (KJV)
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

The faith that saves,
Is a faith that accepts a witness
Though they were able to perform signs and wonders at the first, it was evident that those would not last. It is faith in a witness that saves, not faith in a sign.

Is a faith that surrenders
Baptism does not save a soul. It cannot wash away sin. Too many Scriptures give evidence of that to interpret this verse so strictly. Baptism is,

  • An answer of a good conscience
  • The first step of obedience and
  • A testimony of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ

A person does not have to be baptized to be saved, and baptism does not save. But the one who refuses baptism surely signifies they have never died in Christ[2] and is therefore not born again.

[1] Chided or rebuked

[2] Romans 6:3 (KJV)
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 5900 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Mark 16:14 The Faith That Saves