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Hi!
I'm
Bruce Collins. I am an evangelist and teacher of the Bible. I
became a child of God by faith in the person and work of the Lord Jesus
Christ on November 24, 1963 and have tried to serve the Lord in various
capacities since then. I am presently an itinerant minister of
the Gospel. I do not work for an organization but I try to
serve the Lord in the best way that I can wherever He leads. That
means that my wife and I have our financial needs met by the Lord as we do
not have a salary from any church or organization. We believe
that the Gospel is free so we have never made a charge for our services.
I
am available for Bible studies, conferences, Gospel meetings, children's meetings
and camp work. I have traveled throughout much of the United States
and Canada in my service for the Lord. My wife helps me, and
we attend the Bethany Bible Chapel in Cedar Falls, Iowa. They have encouraged us
by commending us for this work.
My
wife, Geneva and I live in Waterloo, Iowa. We have four children.
One of them is married and has provided us with two grandchildren.
This
web site has a weekly meditation that I hope will encourage you. It
has links to literature and organizations that I think are helpful.
You can also listen to my weekly radio program here.
Yours
because of Calvary,
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Meditation--updated
weekly
If
you would like to comment go to
http://bdcministries.com/
Right
Thinking
All
we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own
way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)
We
are all like Sheep
We would like to
think we are all leaders but the Bible is clear that at least initially
we are all followers and we follow the wrong person.
We follow the leadership of a subtle enemy who wants to destroy
us. He doesn't appear to be
an enemy. He often appears
to be very attractive like Absalom was in the Old Testament.
He will tell us what we want to hear, he will flatter us, he will
kiss us (tell us how much he cares) and when we listen to his lies, he
will destroy us. We need to be delivered from the lies of Satan.
Critical Thinking
I had an interesting
discussion with a college professor recently who teaches political
science. We agreed that
public education generally does not teach people to think critically.
When I taught at the college level, many students didn't care
about how we got problems solved, they just wanted the formula for
finding the answer. They weren't trying to think critically.
Some people think
that they are finding the right answers to life's questions by belonging
to particular groups. They join churches and clubs and become members of
political parties. Often
they become so loyal to those associations that they do not realize that
they are being led like sheep to support things that are wicked and
immoral. They are not thinking critically.
They are doing what they are doing because they want to "fit
in." It is one
thing to be unsaved and to follow a leader blindly, but Christians have
the Holy Spirit and a good Book to guide them.
We need to set the standard when it comes to critical thinking
and when it comes to following the right leader.
When I go to Bible
studies, many people tend to study somebody's study guide.
I find that when we do that often we are more concerned with
figuring out what the author of the study guide thought the passage
meant than we are with trying to figure out what the Lord meant.
Instead of teaching tools for good study habits, we teach the
conclusions of an author that we respect.
As a result, we have many varied opinions on many things.
I have found that many people are no longer concerned with the
doctrine of the new birth even though the Bible says we must be born
again. I have also found out
that there are many opinions about what a scriptural baptism is and
means. Some seem to think
that the how and why of baptism simply doesn't matter so long as one is
saved. But if one is saved,
shouldn't the Lord's teaching on the subject of baptism matter?
Sometimes we Forget
Who is Really in Charge
As we come to the end of the period of the judges
in the Old Testament, we find everyone did that which was right in their
own eyes (Judges
21:25). This led
to a Levite hiring himself out to be a priest in the house of one who
had made an idol for his family to worship. Idols were wrong.
God appointed priests, not men.
A priest was supported by God through tithes and offerings but
this man was willing to hire out for a position that was not found in
the instruction Book. The Levite left that house to be a priest for the
tribe of Dan (supposedly he obtained a more successful ministry).
The tribe of Dan became idolaters because of that idol. They had
left the instructions of God and were following their own desires.
In addition, the whole tribe of Benjamin was nearly wiped out by
their own countrymen because of the immorality that developed when
everyone did that which was right in their own eyes.
Like sheep they had gone astray. They were no longer thinking
critically or right.
When
we do what is right in our own eyes (when we make our own decisions) as
the Israelites did, who are we really following?
Normally, we are following the deceitfulness of Satan.
The Bible says that we don't think like God thinks and we need to
seek Him. We may not like
what He tells us but we will find out that the pleasing Him requires us
to trust Him. We can either
be like the Israelites who turned away from the Lord and suffered
because of that or we can do what the Lord asks us to do the way He asks
us to do it and be blessed. Isaiah
says, '"My
thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,"
says the LORD. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so
are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9)."
Let's
get back to the basics and do what God says pleases Him rather than what
the religious and secular world says works.
As Christians let us remember that yoking with unbelievers in
business, marriage, politics and in our social lives will cause us to
think like unbelievers. It
will not cause unbelievers to think like Christ.
The Lord is clear that we are not to do this (2 Corinthians
6:14-18). When
we get to the “other side,” we surely want to hear those words,
“Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful
over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into
the joy of your lord (Matthew 25:23).”
Let's
make sure that as sheep we are not going astray..
Meditation
for the week of April 22, 2018
Archived
Meditations
If
you would like to be on the email address list for these meditations
write to me at
mail@bdcministries.faithweb.com
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