The true meaning of Christmas

What a great time of the year! Most folks are just a little happier. They
decorate their homes; they have more friends and family in to share meals
and fellowship. Most give gifts of some kind with someone. In general, it
is a happy if not joyous time of the year.

I realize of course that is not true for everyone, some folks are
overwhelmed by the season. The business, the gift buying, the traffic and
the expectations are somewhat nerve wracking.

What is the TRUE meaning of Christmas, or does it really have any meaning
other than a great big party to our world. I like what Charles Tucker has to
say about it. Notice below:

"This time of year we talk about "the True Meaning of Christmas." OK, I know
that Christmas isn't mentioned in the Bible; Jesus nowhere tells us to
observe His birthday. But the fact that Jesus was born into this world to
live among us as one of us is indeed at the very center of the gospel. It
was "when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman,
born under the law" (Galatians 4:4). We must believe that Jesus was born as
a real flesh and blood baby in order to accept that He gave His body and
shed His blood on the cross (1 John 1:1-2). Jesus became flesh and blood
like us in order to redeem us (Hebrews 2:14). Jesus was Immanuel, "God with
us." (Matthew 1:23). Because we connect this time of the year to the story
of the birth of Jesus, therein is really the 'True Meaning of Christmas.'"

I agree with Charles. If this season puts Jesus more in the forefront of
people's hearts and minds, then it does give a meaning to Christmas, which
is truer than any of our other World Holiday's.

No, Christmas isn't in the bible, but Paul tells us in Romans 14:4-6,"Who
are you to condemn someone else's servants? They are responsible to the
Lord, so let him judge whether they are right or wrong. And with the Lord's
help, they will do what is right and will receive his approval. In the same
way, some think one day is more holy than another day, while others think
every day is alike. You should each be fully convinced that whichever day
you choose is acceptable. Those who worship the Lord on a special day do it
to honor him."(NLT)

So, Paul tells us that if we want to set aside special days to honor God,
then do it, but do it wisely. A day to honor God is not about giving gifts
or feasting with friends, it's about remembering our God and what he has
given us.

Russ Lawson

Jesus of Nazareth

Because Of This One Man by Tom Wacaster Many a tribute has been paid to Jesus of Nazareth. "Believers and mockers, skeptics and saints, the mighty and the humble; all have testified to the fact that this Man among men was more than a man." Those who are diligent students of the Bible see in the pages of that inspired book a portrait of One Who was (and is) the epitome of selfless service and supreme sacrifice. Those who refuse to hear the Word of God cannot deny that the life of this One man made an impact upon the world that continues to be felt more than two thousand years later. The ministry of Jesus lasted only three years. Yet in those three years we find condensed the deepest meaning of history and a manifestation of God "come in the flesh." The impact He made upon history for generations yet unborn is summed up in His own words: "If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto myself" (John 12:32). He chose twelve apostles, not from among the scholars, or from among the leaders of the elite religi ous hierarchy, but from the common masses. With no possessions to call His own, and no friends among the mighty and rich, He associated with sinners and publicans - not to stoop to their sinful life, but to raise them up to a higher and nobler life. When zealots sought to make Him their king, He withdrew and boldly declared that His kingdom was not of this world. He was an encouragement to the down-trodden, a teacher of those who hungered and thirsted after righteousness, a Great Physician to those who suffered from bodily ailments that robbed them of their strength and hope. He was kind and compassionate to those who sought His wisdom; and He was stern and straightforward toward those who were determined not to come to the light. He provided unmistakable proof that He was from God by the miracles He performed. Prompted by compassion for those who suffered, He demonstrated the power of God to overcome physical ailments so that men could see in Him the same power to overcome ! the spiritual ailments. His miracles were performed without ostentation and served to demonstrate the authority of His words. His life was so holy that He could face His accusers and ask, "Which of you convinceth me of sin," knowing that they could find no occasion of stumbling in Him. Philip Schaff commented on the pure and sinless life of Jesus Christ: "Who would not shrink from the attempt to describe the moral character of Jesus, or, having attempted it, be not dissatisfied with the result? Who can empty the ocean into a bucket? Who can paint the glory of the rising sun with a charcoal. No artist's ideal comes up to the reality in this case, though his ideals may surpass every other reality. The better and holier a man is, the more he feels his need of pardon, and how far he falls short of his own imperfect standard of excellence. But Jesus, with the same nature as ours and tempted as we are, never yielded to temptation; never had cause for regretting any thought, word, or action; he never needed pardon, or conversion, or reform; he never fell out of harmony with his heavenly Father. His whole life was one unbroken act of self-consecration to the glory of God and the eternal welfare of his fellow-men. A catalogue of virtues and graces, however complete, would give us but a mechanical view. It is the spotless purity and si nlessness of Jesus as acknowledged by friend and foe; it is the even harmony and symmetry of all graces, of love to God and love to man, of dignity and humility of strength and tenderness, of greatness and simplicity, of self-control and submission, of active and passive virtue; it is, in one word, the absolute perfection which raises his character high above the reach of all other men and makes it an exception to a universal rule, a moral miracle in history. It is idle to institute comparisons with saints and sages, ancient or modern. Even the infidel Rousseau was forced to exclaim: 'If Socrates lived and died like a sage, Jesus lived and died like a God.' Here is more than the starry heaven above us, and the moral law within us, which filled the soul of Kant with ever-growing reverence and awe. Here is the holy of holies of humanity, here is the very gate of heaven" (Schaff, History of the Church). Every great story has a tragedy that unfolds in its plot, along with the triumph of the main character. The history of Jesus is not a myth; it is not a novel; nor is it something written for mere entertainment. But the story of Jesus provides the ultimate tragedy and triumph. As God's mystery unfolded in that little, isolated, insignificant country, Jesus began to tell of His death. But His was not a natural death, for He died the shameful death of the cross, the just for the unjust, the innocent for the guilty. So horrible was the death of the sinless Savior that the sun refused to shine at noon, and the earth shook as its Maker finally gave up the ghost. When He was laid in the tomb, the hopes of His disciples were dashed. An immense stone to seal the tomb, and a powerful Roman legion to guard its entrance, those fishermen returned to their fishing business, their dreams and expectations buried in the tomb with the Man Who walked and talked in their midst for three and on e half years. Meanwhile, as the guest of Paradise, Jesus awaited that moment when He would roll back the stone that blocked the exit from that cold dark tomb, and come forth Conqueror over death and the grave. On the third day, He burst the bonds of death. God turned the tragedy into triumph. Today men can have a renewed hope because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The angels in heaven rejoiced at His birth. Men can rejoice today because of His resurrection and ascension to the right hand of God the Father. ~~~~~~ There is an amazing structure to the Bible, unequaled by products of human writings. Take, as an example, the topical structure of our Bible. This is especially true when it comes to the New Testament. The Gospels provide us with the manifestation of Christ, the book of Acts records the propagation of Christ, the letters set forth the inspired interpretation and application of Christ, and the book of Revelation gives us a glance at the victory we have in Christ. Geisler and Nix provide this fascinating summary of the New Testament as it relates to Christ. "Here the promised Saviour becomes present; the concealed becomes revealed; the Logos enters the cosmos (John 1:1, 14), as Christ is made manifest in the flesh. The Gospels give a fourfold manifestation of Christ: He is seen in His sovereignty (Matthew), ministry (Mark), humanity (Luke), and deity (John)" (Introduction to the Bible, page 23). I find it rather ironic (if not tragic) that men attempt to honor the Lord from Thanksgiving Day until December 26th, but pay little attention to the very book that provides us with the information as to how we are to truly honor Him. The rest of year (December 26th-mid November) is life as usual, with special emphasis between Christmas and New Year on partying, merrymaking and frivolity. If men would study the very book in which the knowledge of Him Who holds "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. 2:3) exists, they might realize the beauty of that book, and the beauty of holiness that comes with applying it to one's life.

 

#Hurricane #Sandy

We've seen and heard lots of news lately about "Sandy," the storm that struck the East coast late last October, haven't we? Almost daily we hear about the devastation and the resulting clean-up efforts. About all the losses and the heartaches brought by the storm. Seems like "storms" and "heartaches" go together, don't they?

I wasn't there to experience Hurricane Sandy, but I've been in storms before (haven't we all?) both the physical and the other sort of "life storms" that seem to find us at times, no matter where we are. Even though not having been in the area of that storm I can say, with much surety, that a lot of praying went on. Perhaps with a lot of those prayers including the words, "Lord, save me" in them.

I know that I've written editorials on the subject of "storms" before and tied those "storms" into spiritual lessons, but it's always appropriate to look at a lesson on dealing with the "storms" of life. Today seems to be another one of those occasions and I appreciate your considering my words again on the subject.

Before getting into the Biblical references of our lesson, allow me to offer one more commentary: it just seems to me that a lot of people only remember God in the midst of a "storm," whatever shape of form that "storm" is when it comes upon us. It doesn't have to be a "dark and stormy night" like Snoopy starts his stories off with, but "darkness" is really fitting to our "storms," isn't it? The adjective "light" just doesn't come to mind when we talk about "storms," does it?

And "darkness" certainly was part of the scene we're going to use in our Bible reference here today. This reference is found in the 14^th chapter of Matthew and in verses 23 thru 33. Please follow along there and make sure that I relate the events in those verses correctly.

First, let's set the scene, so to speak. We know that it was dark because verse 25 tells us that this event occurred "in the fourth watch of the night." That equates to being about 3:00 in the morning. And, we know that it was "a dark and stormy night" because the ship was being "tossed with waves" and the wind "was contrary." Just so that we fully understand this: "contrary" means things like difficult, troubling, hostile or adverse. Generally speaking: something unfavorable.

Certainly not the best time for the apostles of Jesus to be out in the middle of the Sea of Galilee in a little boat. They were there because Jesus had sent them on ahead to the "other side" of the sea while He went onto a mountain to pray.

Now some of the apostles were fishermen and, no doubt, were more used to being in a boat out on the sea, but most of them were occupied on land so, human nature being what it is, I have no trouble seeing them fairly alarmed by their predicament. Me, I'd be scared to death.

And then, to add another fear factor to this scene, they looked out on the water and saw what they thought was a "ghost" coming towards them. (Vs. 26) The Bible says that they were "troubled" by this vision. I'll bet they were. It says that they "cried out in fear." In some places the Bible uses the phrase "sore afraid," which to us Okies, Arkies and Texans means "flat scared."

That's when Jesus called out to them with some words that all of us should take to memory and recall when we're in the midst of our "storms:" "Take heart, it is I. Do not be afraid." (ESV) I'm sure that these would have been soothing words for them to hear because it wasn't too long back (Chap. 8) that they had been on the same sea in a little boat, but Jesus had been with them on that occasion. When the storm came up and they were afraid they called out the same thing: "Lord, save us." That's when He "rebuked the winds and the sea" and they calmed down. But, He wasn't with them in the boat this time. (Doesn't that inspire a lesson on "being in the boat with Jesus?)

Thinking about these words brings me to recall some other words of Jesus in Matthew 10:28 when He told His disciples to not be afraid of things that "kill the body" but rather, be afraid of the things that can kill both the "body and the soul." The idea here being, if you're with me (Christ) you're safe from eternal harm. Our "storms" are just one of those things that can take our human life, but can't take our "soul" if its secure in Jesus.

But then, up pops Peter. Good old impetuous Peter who would later on do and say other impetuous things. But Peter is going to serve as a "show and tell" lesson here to the disciples then present and to everyone since. Allow me to explain what I mean by those words.

I see a little different aspect here than most teachers I've heard speak about this occasion in a lesson. In the earlier event on the sea, Jesus chided them about their being of "little faith." I see another "lesson in faith" about to be taught to them here in this event using Peter to accomplish it. Take the time to read both accounts that I'm using today, Matt. 8:23-27 and Matt. 14:23-33. I think that you'll see some very similar words said by Jesus on both occasions.

But, back to Peter on the second occasion. Notice he says, "Lord, IF it is you, command me to come to you on the water." (Vs. 28) Notice my emphasis on "if." Doesn't that sound a little like a test? Now, we know that Jesus knew what was going to happen, don't we? So He simply says, "Come." Like, "OK, come on."

Now Peter didn't hesitate a bit. He left the boat and started walking on the water towards Jesus. But then, he started paying more attention to the "storm" going on around him than he was paying on Jesus. He became "afraid" and "beginning to sink" he called out "Lord, save me." Not an uncommon request, is it?

Jesus "reached out His hand and caught him" and then chided him on his lack of "faith." He asked Peter, "Why did you doubt?" (Vs 31) Let's see if we can see a reason Peter doubted. I think it's pretty simple myself - Peter did what a lot of us do sometimes. He let the "storm" take his focus off of Christ. Instead of paying attention to Christ, he began paying attention to the things going on around his physical life.

Remember I mentioned that he "began to sink?" Isn't that what a lot of us do? We let worldly things pull our attention away from Christ little by little. We don't necessarily go under immediately, as we get less and less focused on Jesus, we slowly sink. We slowly get farther away from Him. But, just as He did with Peter, he will "stretch forth His hand and catch us." However, like Peter, it's upon us to realize that we're sinking and where our salvation is located.

Ron Covey

What's Most Important in life?

What's Most Important?

Family, friends, teammates, and the world were all in shock when they
learned that Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher fatally shot his
girlfriend before driving to the NFL football team's training facility and
shooting himself last Saturday.

On the very next day, the grieving Chiefs decided to proceed with their
scheduled game against the Carolina Panthers. The Chiefs won the
emotion-filled game, but all would agree that the outcome of the game was
not the important thing.

Chiefs quarterback Brady Quinn was asked to share his thoughts about the
tragedy in a press conference after the game. Commenting on Quinn's
remarks, Mike Florio said, "Quinn's post-game remarks were eloquent and
heartfelt and they captured perfectly one of the things we risk losing as a
society that communicates primarily in snippets of misspelled words and
emoticons."

"The one thing people can hopefully try to take away, I guess, is the
relationships they have with people," Quinn told reporters after the game.
"I know when it happened, I was sitting and, in my head, thinking what I
could have done differently. When you ask someone how they are doing, do you
really mean it? When you answer someone back how you are doing, are you
really telling the truth?"

"We live in a society of social networks, with Twitter pages and Facebook,
and that's fine, but we have contact with our work associates, our family,
our friends, and it seems like half the time we are more preoccupied with
our phone and other things going on instead of the actual relationships that
we have right in front of us. Hopefully, people can learn from this and try
to actually help if someone is battling something deeper on the inside than
what they are revealing on a day-to-day basis."

Thank you, Brady Quinn, for the wake-up call!

Relationships. That's what life is all about. Yet, all too often we take
our relationships with family and friends for granted.

And there is one relationship that is THE most important: our relationship
with GOD, for this is the relationship that will save us and give us eternal
life in a place where "there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.
There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." -
Revelation 21:4

Sin disconnects, divides, and destroys us and our relationships with others
and with God (Isaiah 59:1-2). But God loves us so much that He gave His Son
Jesus to die on the cross for our sins (John 3:16). Through Jesus, we can
be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:17-21) and receive the gift of eternal
life (Romans 6:23).

Because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, we can be reconciled to God
by placing our faith and trust in Him (Acts 16:30-31), turning from sin in
repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confessing Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10),
and being baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of our sins
(Acts 2:38). The blood of Jesus continues to cleanse us from our sins and
keeps us in fellowship with God as we continue to walk in the light of His
Word (1 John 1:7).

We may not be able to make sense of the tragedy involving Belcher, his
girlfriend, and their families. But may it cause us to come to our senses
and recognize the importance of our relationships - especially our
relationship with God!

Won't YOU establish a saving relationship with the Heavenly Father by
accepting His offer of salvation, life, and relationship by trusting and
obeying Jesus?

David A. Sargent

What do Alpha and Omega mean?

I like airplanes and I like flying them, which I once was able to do. (Commercial, multi-engine rating) Alas, no more as age and physical things now prevent me from obtaining a "Medical" which is really what gives you the "OK" to pilot an airplane. I put the word "OK" in quotation marks for reasons you'll see later.

I also appreciate a good story, especially if it's a true one and if it relates to airplanes and flying, so much the better. Furthermore, if the story can be used to illustrate a Bible lesson, then I've "hit the mother lode" so to speak.

You've no doubt deduced that this is about to all come together here today. I'm going to tell you a true story, as told to me by a friend and it's a story that caused me to recall some words "revealed" to the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos by the "Alpha and Omega" - Jesus Christ.

We find these words in the 3^rd chapter of Revelation and in a moment we'll go there, but first the story related to me by my friend who was personally acquainted with people involved in the events of the story. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did and that you can understand my connection of it to the lesson.

My friend had an acquaintance who was a fighter pilot in WW2. He was shot down over Europe, captured by the Germans and interred in a prisoner of war camp. At the end of the war and having been freed from the camp, he was returned to the U.S. and stationed at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio.

He was received there as a returning hero of the war, which he truly was, and his arrival was quite a local news event. While being driven around the city and being shown the various points of interest he remarked on some of the nice houses they were passing. The driver pointed out one particular house and told the pilot that it was the home of Orville Wright.

The pilot told the driver to stop the car at the house and he got out and went to the front door. Upon knocking on the door, it was answered by Orville himself. The pilot identified himself and said how pleased he was to meet him. Orville replied that he had read about the pilot's return in the newspaper and was glad that he stopped by and was equally glad to meet him.

The pilot was scheduled to go to New York City in a few days to speak at a fund raising event and had been told that he could bring a guest speaker with him if he liked. On a spur of the moment, the pilot told Orville about the New York trip and asked him if he would like to accompany him as his guest. Orville readily agreed to do so.

A few days later they went to New York aboard a commercial airliner and upon arrival, as they exited the plane, a stewardess at the door asked if they enjoyed the flight. The pilot said, "Yes, it was fine." She then asked Orville Wright the same question and he replied that it "was OK." She then asked him if it was his first flight and he told her, "No, but it was OK too."

What an understatement by the man who, with his older brother, Wilbur, invented the way to control heavier-than-air flying machines and was the first pilot to actually fly the first powered and controlled airplane. In a little over 2 weeks it will be the 109^th anniversary of that historic event. (Dec. 17, 1903) I wonder if the stewardess ever knew who it was that told her that his first flight was "OK too."

We've all been asked the question "How are you?" and no doubt replied, "I'm OK." You know, by saying that we're "OK" is what I'd call a "middlin" response. Sort of saying that we're "not bad" but then again, we're "not good" either. "Just OK." Many times the use of "OK" means something like "tolerable" or "fair." Like saying that we're "pretty good" which means that we're "not bad." Like I said, "middlin."

Did you ever stop to think that Christ doesn't want "just OK" disciples. Followers who are just "fair" Christians. "Pretty good" Christians. That's sort of describing a Christian who is faithful some of the time and some of the time not. Maybe a "middlin" Christian.

I think that our passage in Revelation 3 fits right well with the description seen in the above paragraph. In verses 15-16 we see some pretty harsh words spoken to the "church of the Laodiceans." He didn't say that they were bad, and He didn't say that they were good. Actually He used the metaphor of them being neither "hot nor cold" but rather described them as "lukewarm."

To me, it's like He was saying they were "just OK." Not bad, but not good either. Just "lukewarm." Sort of "middlin'." If you read just a few words further, you'll see how acceptable this condition is with Him. In the vernacular of teenagers today - NOT!

If you look up the word "OK" you'll find that one of its meanings is "acceptable." As in "OKing" something. As in passing or approving of something. Or, of it's being acceptable. I'm going to go on record here by saying that I don't think that is the situation with the Laodiceans and their being "lukewarm." Christ says that because they're "neither hot nor cold" but "lukewarm" He will "spue thee out of my mouth." The Greek word for "spue" actually means "to vomit" so, in essence, Christ says that if you're "lukewarm" or "just OK" you make me sick.

No, I don't think someone who fits the description of being a "just OK" Christian is one acceptable to Christ. A Christians' faith is to be more than "just OK." I see the Laodiceans as being an "OK" church and we know how acceptable they were.

I guess that our closing thought should be on answering the question "how do we become more than just an OK Christian?" There are probably several passages in the Gospel that can give us the answer to that question, but I've chosen one that I think pretty much sums it up in one verse.

                        "That we might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful

                        in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." Col. 1:10

Ron Covey

　

　

　

the Black Friday Experience

Well, here in America Thanksgiving has come and gone and more importantly to
some they got to experience "Black Friday" shopping thrill. The largest sale
day of the year we are told. Many people arrived at the stores hours before
they opened, standing in lines that sometimes held hundreds of people. Deals
were found, gifts were bought, shopping frenzies were experienced, people
were pushed and pulled by crowds of people, angry or rude drivers were
endured as were the long lines at the checkout counters.

Honestly, the total experience is almost a mystery to me. Maybe you were one
of those who went "Black Friday" shopping, or maybe like me, you weren't.
There is nothing I know of materially, that is worth putting myself through
what it takes to go "Black Friday" shopping, there never has been.

What is more of a mystery to me is how some people plan for days (maybe
weeks) for that one shopping day. They study the shopping adds, they plan
out routes to the many stores where they plan to shop, they plan routes to
particular merchandise within the stores (which may or may not be there).
For many people it takes whole family involvement, with each member assigned
the task of finding one particular item in any given store. Some folks take
"shopping buddies" to help them grab the loot they desire. They have it all
worked out.

What is even more of a mystery to me is how many of these same folks can't
find their way or find time to be with God's Family at times of worship.
Honestly, if they can plan a shopping trip like a general planning a battle,
surely they could make a plan that would help them gain the most important
prize. couldn't they?

I guess I just don't understand, or so I've been told. The only thing that
comes to mind for me right now is not the latest item on sale, but Jesus
words when he said, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also".

Do you have your plan for what is really important? You can do it, I know
you can! Meet with other Christians whenever they meet!

Russ Lawson

Thankful for the small things

We here in America have officially been in the "Thanksgiving" mode for the
past couple of weeks. It's interesting to see all of the folks on the
Internet expressing thanks for so many different things. Much of the time
they are expressing thanks for the small things that touch their lives every
day.

To me that is wonderful! How often do we say thank you when some extra
special or extraordinary thing is done for us? Yet the small things, the
everyday things are often overlooked. Do we forget the phone call of
encouragement, the note that says I care? What about the cup of coffee or
tea someone brings you. What about the person who goes out of their way to
speak to you or be nice to you. Sometimes folks do something that makes us
feel good when they don't really intend.

Saying "thank you," is important, even if it is not always expected. I like
this little story about being thankful: "Grandpa, I wanted to say "thank
you," said the young lady." What are you thanking me for?" asked the old
man. The young lady replied, "I noticed that when you sneeze, you've learned
to put your hand in front of your mouth." "Of course," explained Grandpa.
"How else can I catch my teeth?"

There are times in our lives when it seems there is nothing for which to be
thankful. We have all been there, all felt disappointment, all felt alone
and deserted. But when you start looking at the small things in life, you
can always find something for which to be thankful.
I'm reminded of the movie Pollyanna in which a little orphan girl, who has
had a very difficult life, plays what she calls, "The Glad Game." She takes
time to look at each aspect of a situation and fine one thing for which she
can be glad. I understand just how difficult that may be, but it can be
done. (If you haven't watched the movie for a long time, maybe it's time to
do so again.)

Most of our disappointments in life are tied to the physical world, our
house, our job, our car, our friends, our families. As a Christian we learn
(hopefully) to reorient our thinking to understand that these things are
only temporary. The things that really count are waiting for us beyond our
life here on earth. David writes about this in Psalm 39:4-7 where he says:
"LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days
are numbered, how fleeting my life is. You have made my life no longer than
the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best,
each of us is but a breath." We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy
rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it.
And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you."

One of the best known verses in the scripture comes from the Apostle Paul
when he wrote: "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!"
(Philippians 4:4) These weren't just words in some motivational book, they
are words from someone who lived a very difficult life, yet remembered what
and who he was living for. Maybe we should try and do the same thing.

I am thankful for each of you!

Russ Lawson

Remembering Veterans

It's so easy to forget those who served in our military, because of the most
part they are quiet, unassuming people. They are not boisterous of their
sacrifices, but they know what is expected and how to hold their place in
the line and do their duty.

It seems that when Christian Herter was governor of Massachusetts, he was
running hard for a second term in office. One day, after a busy morning
chasing votes (and no lunch) he arrived at a church barbecue. It was late
afternoon and Herter was famished. As Herter moved down the serving line, he
held out his plate to the woman serving chicken. She put a piece on his
plate and turned to the next person in line.

"Excuse me," Governor Herter said, "do you mind if I have another piece of
chicken?" "Sorry," the woman told him. "I'm supposed to give one piece of
chicken to each person." "But I'm starved," the governor said. "Sorry," the
woman said again. "Only one to a customer."

Governor Herter was a modest and unassuming man, but he decided that this
time he would throw a little weight around. "Do you know who I am?" he said.
"I am the governor of this state." "Do you know who I am?" the woman said.
"I'm the lady in charge of the chicken. Move along, mister." (Bit & Pieces,
May 28, 1992, pp. 5-6).

I think that those officials who ignore or subvert our laws should be
prosecuted to whatever extent the "law" demands. Does that mean that I like
all of the laws? Of course not, but we do have means in place to change
laws. I for one am an activist in the sense that I actively express my views
to my elected representatives through phone calls, emails, letters and
votes. A soldier knows how to hold their place in the line, do their duty
and protect what is dear to them. The same is true of Christian Veterans.

The apostle Paul puts it this way in Ephesians 6:11-13, "Put on the whole
armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the tricky ways of the
devil." (NLT) or " Each of you put on the whole armour of God, that you may
be able to withstand in the devil when he attacks and when you have done
everything in your power to stand against him, continue to stand anyway."

We thank our veterans for their service and commitment to keeping us free.
But when our service to the military ends, you can't stop fighting or
standing up for what is right.

You see I believe that it is part of our duty. To use to God's advantage in
any way we can the laws of the government he has placed here in our country.
If you want to protect your freedoms and see Godly values stay in place and
have some say, maybe in a small way in what happens in and to our country,
get out of your easy chair and do something about it! Be an activist, if you
don't, then don't come crying to God to do something when they place
"alternative lifestyle choices" on the curriculum of your local school, when
they pass laws that contradict God's laws, stand up and do you duty. It's
time we say to our world; "Do you know who I am?" I'm one of God's soldiers
and you are not going to disobey God's laws without answering to me and
thousands like me!

Russ Lawson

“Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination” (Lev. 18:22).

Just two days more and this presidential election cycle comes to an end.
Here are today's question, Scripture, and prayer:

Question:
For the past several years, the identity of the home has been changing. It
used to be that we fought the "single parent" homes due to pre-marital sex
and having children out of wedlock. We urged people to follow God's pattern
of marriage and then having children (Tit 2). Now, and frankly over the past
four years it's been pushed like no other time in our history; we've seen a
time of another moral dilemma facing homes in this country. So, sir if
you're to be our next president, will you stand for biblical marriages--one
man and woman in marriage for life?

Scripture:
"Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination"
(Lev. 18:22).

"And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made
them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause
shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they
twain shall be one flesh?" (Mt. 19:4,5).

Prayer:

Father in heaven. We live in a time where folks have challenged and wrested
thy Word with respect to marriage. In just two more days we'll elect a man
who can play a vital role in seeing that homes remain between a man and
woman. Father, give us such a man as this. In Jesus' name. Amen.

For previous devotionals, visit www.NeilRichey.com.

#2012 #election news

While it's not my custom to send devotional thoughts out on Saturday or
Sunday, I do hope you'll join me for just a brief thought.

It's the final weekend before Tuesday's election, and well, this is HUGE!

For the past few days we've been considering just three things by way of our
short daily devotionals. Each day we're posing a question to the
presidential hopefuls, considering a Scripture or two, and saying a prayer.

Today, I want to hit what has been dubbed one of the "moral" issues with
respect to the election. Frankly, I believe everything we've discussed up to
this point are moral matters.

Question:
In all likelihood, over the next four years you will have the opportunity to
appoint replacements for the highest court in the land. It is crucial that
you and your appointees will honor all human life--in and out of the womb.
Sir, will you respect such life, and will you condemn and correct laws that
authorize the taking of human life--at any "term?"

Scripture:
"For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the
babe leaped in my womb for joy" (Lk. 1:44).

"These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto
him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood" (Pro.
6:16-17).

Prayer:
Father, righteousness does exalt a nation, and please help our leaders to do
right when it comes to the unborn, and born. There are those who would take
the life of innocent children before they ever see the light of day. Too,
there are those that take the life of a child moments after they are born.
Father, please give our politicians hearts that will see the need to allow
all babies to be born and pursue happiness--conceived in want, those
unwanted, conceived by rape, or even incest. Father, please protect our
children by helping us to elect leaders that will honor and cherish all
human life. In Jesus' name. Amen.

For previous devotionals, visit www.NeilRichey.com.







The Piedmont Road
church of Christ
* Home of the Georgia School of Preaching and Biblical Studies

1630 Piedmont Road NE
Marietta, GA 30066
770.971.9933
www.LifeInChrist.com

Sunday
9:30 a.m. Bible Study and 10:30 a.m. Worship
5:00 p.m. Children's Bible Time, followed by our evening Worship

Wednesday
7:15 p.m. Bible Study

We hope you'll join us this Lord's Day!

Subscribe!





Copyright © 2012 Piedmont Road church of Christ, All rights reserved.
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Marietta, GA 30066

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Republican and Democrat presidential hopefuls for the 2012

Both the Republican and Democrat presidential hopefuls for the 2012 election
are back hitting the campaign trail hard today following the disaster in the
Northeast earlier this week. I know they're both concerned about the folks
there, but with only a few days left to solicit votes, they have to be back
out telling us, the American people, why they should be the next President
of the United States. Who can blame them?

Today's devotional is no different than the past three days. We'll consider
a question, a Scripture, and a prayer.

Question:
I recently heard that there's never been a time in recent history where
there's been a greater chance that citizens could be robbed, or even
murdered. I wonder, is that because our society has become increasingly
tolerant on crime and punishing evildoers? Sir, if you're to be the next
President, what will be your position on crime and consistent justice for
wrong doing?

Scripture:

"A king that sitteth in the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with
his eyes" (Pro. 20:8).
"A wise king scattereth the wicked, and bringeth the wheel over them" (Pro.
20:26).

Prayer:
Father in heaven. Thank you for your Word that serves as a guiding principle
for right and wrong, and justice. Father, thank you for teaching us that our
elected leaders are to lift up good works, and bring the sword down on evil.
It is our prayer that the next President will be convicted to lead in his
office in the areas of work that you prescribe. In Jesus' name. Amen.

For previous devotionals, visit www.NeilRichey.com.

Scott Stephens shark attack

Scott Stephens was having a good day surfing this past Tuesday off the coast
of
Eureka, California. Other surfers were nearby as Scott rode out to catch
another wave, lying on his surf board as he paddled out into the ocean.
What
happened next is every surfer's nightmare.

A shark attacked Scott, grabbed him by his midsection, and pulled him
underwater. What Scott did next can only be described as "survival
instinct":
he began punching the shark on its head until it released him.

Scott was able to get back on his badly-mangled surf board and paddle back
to
shore. There, thanks to strangers who rushed to his aid, he was taken to
medical personnel. Surgery found no vital organs damaged, and a full
recovery
is expected.

What would you or I do in such a situation? Sometimes people give in to
situations of danger, seeing no point in fighting back. Others, however, do
what Scott Stephens did; they start punching.

Not many of us will ever be attacked by a shark. But other ordeals might
grab
us by the gut and threaten to destroy us in overwhelming conditions.
Gabrielle
Giffords, the former member of Congress from Arizona, suffered a gunshot
wound
to her head in an assassination attempt in January of 2011. What was the
likelihood of her recovering from this lethal attack? Yet because Giffords
began "punching away", we have witnessed her remarkable comeback from near-
death.

All of us face the certain prospect of being attacked by Satan. Peter
revealed
this dreaded news in his first letter: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your
adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may
devour"
(1 Peter 5:8). A lion is an enemy to be feared. And it's not a question of
"if" he will attack me, but "when".

Martin Luther had an idea of how fearsome Satan is. In his famous hymn he
wrote: "For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe; his craft and
pow'r
are great, and armed with cruel hate, on earth is not his equal." ("A
Mighty
Fortress") If that be true, what hope do any of us have when we are
assaulted
by the devil?

We have great hope - even confidence! - if we follow the advice of the
apostle
Paul: "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against
the
wiles of the devil" (Ephesians 6:11). Paul then describes various pieces of
that spiritual armor - truth, righteousness, faith, etc. Those who so equip
themselves have more than a fighting chance; they know they will conquer
Satan!

Most of the armor Paul describes is defensive in nature: the helmet, the
shield,
the breastplate. But one item is offensive: "... and the sword of the
Spirit,
which is the word of God" (Ephesians 6:17). Jesus demonstrated the
effectiveness of this "sword" in His own encounter with Satan (Matthew
4:1-11).
After skillfully fighting back with God's word, the devil was forced to
retreat.

Struggling with Satan is a subtle process, not usually as harrowing as being
found in the jaws of a shark. But the stakes are far greater! In such
times we
must start punching with all our might. With God's help we'll break free
from
this ancient foe. He will even flee from us (see James 4:7).

Timothy D. Hall

When is election day?

This is day two in our countdown to the election on Tuesday. Each day we're
doing three things by way of our morning devotionals. We're asking a
question, considering a Scripture, and saying a prayer. Please join me as we
give serious consideration to who will be our next President.

Question:
There has been a lot said lately about the economy. It's definitely
something on the minds of most Americans. If you're to be my President for
the next four years sir, what will be the motivation behind your Presidency?
Will it be money?

Scripture:
"Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right"
(Pro. 16:8).

Prayer:
Father in heaven. Thank you for the opportunity to live in this grand
republic. In just a few days it will be our privilege to exercise our right
to vote for the next President of the United States. Father, we're concerned
about a lot of things right now. One of them has to do with our economy.
Many are out of work. Several folks would like to start a business or hire
more employees for the businesses they already run. So many are struggling
with taxes, the ever rising cost of healthcare, and higher prices at the
gas pump. Some folks would like to retire after having worked so hard for
most of their lives and yet today cannot because they've lost so much of
their retirement savings. But Father, as challenged as we are financially,
and as much as we want a President to help us get our economy on correct
course, help us to hire a man who will be driven by righteousness over
revenues. In Jesus' name. Amen.

For previous devotionals, visit www.NeilRichey.com.







The Piedmont Road
church of Christ
* Home of the Georgia School of Preaching and Biblical Studies

1630 Piedmont Road NE
Marietta, GA 30066
770.971.9933
www.LifeInChrist.com

Sunday
9:30 a.m. Bible Study and 10:30 a.m. Worship
5:00 p.m. Children's Bible Time, followed by our evening Worship

Wednesday
7:15 p.m. Bible Study

We hope you'll join us this Lord's Day!

Subscribe!





Copyright © 2012 Piedmont Road church of Christ, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you're a member of or friend to the
Piedmont Road church of Christ.
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Hurrican Sandy

A historic storm is bearing down on the east coast. Many forecasters are
claiming
that the impending weather phenomenon poised to hit the Mid-Atlantic and
northeast,
called a nor'easter, is the largest in history. Coupled with that is the
surging,
strong category one hurricane, Sandy. The two will clash together in a
super storm
being called "Frankenstorm"--due to its proximity in time to October 31st.
It will
bring hurricane-force winds, storm surges, blizzards, tornadoes, possible
tidal
waves, and more. The dramatic nature of this event was expressed this way
by Stu
Ostro, meteorologist for the Weather Channel: ""History is being written as
an extreme
weather event continues to unfold, one which will occupy a place in the
annals of
weather history as one of the most extraordinary to have affected the United
States"
(Doyle Rice, USA Today online, 10-29-12).

Events like this give perspective to who we are in contrast to the living
God!
We are small, dependent, and relatively fragile, as events like this prove.
Arrogance
and defiance are exchanged for humility and dependency.

The Christian's confidence is in Christ, who proved Himself the Master of
winds
and waves (Mat. 8:26-27). As the One who created everything that was made,
including
the elements of nature (Col. 1:16), His power exceeds anything that it can
demonstrate.
As tens of millions face power outages, as property damages will be in the
multi-billions
of dollars, and as lives will be endangered by the unprecedented storm, this
fact
becomes more incredible and reassuring. When the storms of life rage, He is
our
shelter. If the physical storms threaten, we can rest in His eternal
protection.

When that great event comes that ends it all (2 Pet. 3:10), we can be safe
from
eternal harm! The Master of the winds and the waves mastered a problem
even bigger
than Sandy. He mastered the sin problem. If we make Him our Master, we
need fear
nothing this life may throw at us.

Please pray for the millions of people threatened by this storm, including a
great
many of our brothers and sisters in Christ.


Neal Pollard

Walking with Jesus

I've often thought about Jesus' disciples who had the privilege of walking
with and talking to Jesus. Oh what an experience that must have been.

There's a song in our church hymnal that says in part, "and He walks with me
and He talks with me." I don't remember all the words readily, but these are
some that come to mind. Now, clearly there's an element of poetic license
here as Jesus certainly doesn't literally walk with us or talk to us.
However, the more we read the words of Jesus the closer to Jesus we get--and
in that sense, He walks and talks to us.

Have you walked with Jesus lately? What have you learned?

1. Maybe you've learned something about prayer. You would, you know. As a
disciple of Jesus there's no better example to go to in order to learn the
how and why of prayer. Remember how the early disciples said, "Lord, teach
us to pray" (Luke 11:1). It's as if they were saying, "Lord, teach us to
pray like you."

2. Perhaps the Lord has given you insight into eternity. There's no place
like home! We often talk about where we're from, what it's like, and what we
enjoy doing at home or in our hometown. Jesus was the same about his home.
He talked about His home (John 14:1-4), and how He wants all to join Him
there one day.

3. No doubt you spent some time learning of His love for you. A family made
up folks that love one another, share that love with their words and action.
Jesus tells us that He wants us to be part of His family. He says He loves
us so much that He wanted to tell us and show us--and, He did by way of the
cross (John 3:16).

I hope you'll spend part of your day with Jesus. I'll let you in on a little
secret. He's already committed to spending His entire day with you.

I hope you have a great day!

For previous devotionals, visit www.NeilRichey.com.

For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you" (2 Cor. 2:4).

Today, we conclude our short series on "The Tears of Paul." Thus far we've
observed that Paul served with tears and he warned with tears. This morning,
let's notice that he wrote with tears.

The Bible says, "For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote
unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might
know the love which I have more abundantly unto you" (2 Cor. 2:4).

Did you ever stop and wonder if Paul's tears, shed while writing this
epistle, actually fell upon the paper which he wrote? Why were tears pouring
from the apostle's eyes as he wrote this epistle?

Think about the recipients of his letter.

The city of Corinth was quite wicked. That ungodliness eventually made its
way into the church of the Christ. A son committed adultery with his
father's wife. Some were going to law with their brethren. There were
idolaters in the city and the church. Some practiced homosexuality, and we
could go on and on.

Due to his abundant love for his brethren in Corinth, Paul shed many tears
as he wrote to them. Barnes noted, "This was an instance of Paul's great
tenderness of heart--a trait of character which he uniformly evinced. With
all his strength of mind, and all his courage and readiness to face danger.
Paul was not ashamed to weep; and especially if he had any occasion of
censuring his Christian brethren, or administering discipline,...."

What a great man of God the apostle was. He was a man that shed tears when
he served, warned, and taught.

May God help you and I to have hearts that long to serve our God, to warn
our brethren about the danger of falling from God, and be ready always to
encourage souls to do right.

I hope you have a great day!

For previous devotionals, visit www.NeilRichey.com.

You must in all things show yourself an example of good deeds; in your teaching showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility

Marion Gilbert wrote this little paragraph, I thought it was worth sharing.
"One morning I opened the door to get the newspaper and was surprised to see
a strange little dog with our paper in his mouth. Delighted with this
unexpected "delivery service," I fed him some treats. The following morning
I was horrified to see the same dog sitting in front of our door, wagging
his tail, surrounded by eight newspapers.
I spent the rest of that morning returning the papers to their owners."
I know it seems like a silly little story, but what would you have done?
After all, you didn't tell the dog to bring all of those newspapers, it's
not even your dog! It's not your responsibility to get them back is it? At
the most, we might call the newspaper office. but to return all of the
papers ourselves, that's going just a little to far isn't it?

The apostle Paul wrote to the young man Titus in Titus 2:7, "You must in all
things show yourself an example of good deeds; in your teaching showing
integrity, reverence, incorruptibility."

Wow, that's difficult isn't is, "you must in all things show yourself an
example of good deeds. showing integrity." I think the point Paul is making
is that you never know who is watching what you do and how they will respond
to your actions. You see, that is part of "Showing ourselves an example." It
takes more than just saying the right words and proclaiming that we are good
people; we have to show by our example the stuff of which we are made. In
this context of course I am talking about living our life so that it's not
just our words that say, "I'm a Christian," it is our example also.

It is the little things in life that make a difference. You may never have a
dog bring you your neighbor's newspaper, but what about that clerk or teller
who gives you too much change or some other mistake made in your favor. How
will you respond then? What will your example say?
My prayer is that our God will give you a pure heart of integrity as you
walk through this life.

May He continue to bless and keep us all!

Russ Lawson

Why become a preacher?

I love preaching! Why? Because the purpose is to invoke a response and then
motivate a change in the way one lives. That, in essence, is what Paul was
saying about the Scripture in 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Study that passage and see
if that's not the point.

Of course, it's the Scripture that we preach and that changes lives--not the
one doing the preaching. In fact, if we as preachers would learn to get out
of the way of the text, and let the text do the talking, then we'd be far
better off.

Sometimes we say, "well, it's been awhile since anyone has responded to the
invitation on Sunday." Keep in mind, that doesn't mean no one has responded.
Everyone responds--if just in their own heart, and that negatively or
positively.

Here's another thing to keep in mind. The invitation for public response on
Sunday is not just for someone to obey the Gospel in baptism for the
remission of sins. Nor is it just to bring someone to repentance for public
sin.

I think far too often we fail to realize that an invitation to respond is
also a good time for folks to come forward and ask their church family for
prayer because they need HELP!

As you know, there's not been a daily devotional nugget because my son and I
were in Africa on a short term mission trip. While on that trip, it was our
privilege to worship and work with the Kisongo Church of Christ. I was able
to present three lessons before the church. at the conclusion of two of them
we invited people to respond to the invitation. On a third occasion, another
traveling companion, Lance Leavens preached and invited folks to respond to
the invitation.

There were about 24 souls who responded. Of the 24, one of those wanted to
be baptized, and a second expressed sinfulness and asked for prayers with
respect to that.

The balance of those who responded simply asked for help. Moreover, most
were asking for prayers for God's aid for their friends or family who were
going through struggles.

I was overwhelmed by their love and concern for others and how they used
responding to the invitation to ask for prayers for help--and that, often
for others.

This Lord's Day, what if more people responded calling upon the prayer power
of the collective body of Christ? Something to think about.

I hope you have a great day!

For previous devotionals, visit www.NeilRichey.com.

To give life meaning, one must have a purpose larger than one's self

One of the fundamentals of Biblical teaching is that God has implanted
within man an insatiable desire to serve something--better stated,
someone--greater than himself. You and I of course understand that our
purpose in life is to glorify God above, a task which is accomplished as we
serve God and our fellow man.

This very concept is what gives life meaning and makes it worth the living.
A life lived otherwise is rather meaningless, isn't it.

I like how Will Durant said it: "To give life meaning, one must have a
purpose larger than one's self."

However, so many live empty lives because theirs are often about serving
self rather than others. Viktor Frankl said, "Clinics are crowded with
people suffering from a new kind of neurosis, a sense of total and ultimate
meaninglessness of life."

What is your purpose in life? To glorify God? Yes! But how? In short, by
everything that you do, say, or think.

The apostle Paul put it this way: "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do
all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by
him" (Col. 3:17).

Perhaps your words designed to encourage a soul to become a Christian are
taken as bigoted or unloving. Water off a duck's back--God knows your
intentions and you speak the truth in love.

There may be times when your good works are not seen, but your so-called
inadequacies are. Big deal! Keep glorifying God. He knows your service
record.

Maybe there are times that your thoughts stray from that which is righteous.
If it's but for a moment and you refocus, and this is the exception and not
the rule, don't worry about it. God knows your heart.

Your life has meaning. It has value. That is, if it's lived in service to
God.

I hope you have a great day!

For previous devotionals, visit www.NeilRichey.com.

The play, Once upon a mattress

My wife and I got to go with some good friends to see a High School play
titled: Once upon a mattress. For those who don't know the story line, it is
something like this: To test a girl (who claimed to be a princess) to see if
she was a real princess, a dried pea was placed under 20 mattresses by the
evil queen. If the girl felt the pea it proved she was a real princess
because of her extreme sensitivity. The girl in the play passed the test,
(with a little help from her friends). She felt the pea, proved she was a
real princess and passed the test.


As I thought about that simple play, I thought about how much it mirrored
real life. We often claim to be "real" Christians to our families, our
friends, our co-workers and perhaps the world in general. In fact we can
claim to be real royalty also.1 Peter 2:9 tells us, "But you are not like
that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God's
very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God,
for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light."


The devil is intent on proving that we are not special, not royalty, not
Christians. Much like the evil queen in the play, he constantly presents us
with tests designed to cause us to fail in being worth to wear the name
"Christian".


Surviving these tests is never easy and often quite unpleasant. It could be
resisting the influence of someone at school or work, or even within your
own family to say some un-Christian word, loose control of our emotions or
participate in some un-Christian act. It might be the influence of the world
that causes us to be tempted to forget our Christian values, morals or
ethics.


Satan tries to hide many lumps under the mattresses that make up the layers
of our lives. The only true protection we have is to remain true to our
relationship to Christ. Our world (guided by Satan) will lie to you and try
to cause you to doubt God, His Word and other believers. I like what Paul
wrote in Romans 3:4, "Even if everyone else is a liar, God is true."


Now in the play, as I said, the princess passed the test because of the help
of her friends. We as Christians need to be there to help one another also;
because that is the only way we will survive in this world. One of my
favorite passages is Hebrews 3:12-14, where we read: "Be careful then, dear
brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and
unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other
every day, while it is still "today," so that none of you will be deceived
by sin and hardened against God. For if we are faithful to the end, trusting
God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that
belongs to Christ."


This is one of my favorite passages, because I know I can't make it through
this world alone. I need your encouragement in my life and I believe that
you need the encouragement of other Christians also.


How about you, will you be proven royalty or not?

--Russ Lawson

Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses

 

As we're all aware, we're in the midst of a national election season and one of the points being debated (ad nauseam) is the economy. I think that most of us can agree that it's definitely not good, but I'd like to use our economic situation, combined with the words of a prophet of old and a parable told by Christ to bring forth an editorial lesson today.

First, a quick thought on the economy. Yes, it's bad in a lot of ways BUT, most Americans have never had it so good. When you compare the material possessions of most Americans today with a large part of the world, even our poor would be considered to be blessed. I just do not think that Americans have a grasp on what real poverty is and this is what makes this applicable to our lesson.

We have so much, material-wise, in our lives that I feel that our material possessions, and the gaining of them, becomes the most important thing in our lives. God especially takes at least second place and maybe even lower than that. Perhaps if we, as a society, weren't so materialistically motivated, didn't have it so good, we might be more concerned with having God in our lives instead of possessions. Just my way of thinking anyway.

Back in the days of ancient Israel they had reached the situation that I think this country has reached - they were so affluent and absorbed in their material possessions that they had forgotten God. Like America today, they had probably never had it so good, life was pleasant and enjoyable and they seemed to be consumed by their possessions. Yeah, life was good at that time. Didn't need God.

But good old Amos had a message for Israel and we can read some words he said to them that speaks to what God thought about their current situation. In Amos 6:1 he said, "Woe to them that are at ease in Zion." I don't how you feel about that word "Woe," but I don't see it as being very pleasant, especially if it's aimed at me. The Hebrew definition of that word mean things like "alas" or "oh no" or is said to be an expression of "lamenting." I don't think one "laments" over something good, do they?

Doesn't it seem that when times are not so good, when people are lacking in the worldly material things, that they are closer to God. It was that way with Israel and I fear that it's that way with us today. People just don't seem to need God when things are going good, do they? God was concerned with His people back in Amos' day and I have faith that He is still concerned about us today.

Yep, Israel was sitting there pretty good in Amos's time. They had taken their "ease" as the verse says. Interestingly, the Hebrew word translated in English as "ease" means "to be secure" but in a bad context. As in "haughtily" secure. Amos knew that their souls were in danger with God by their false security, based on their possessions. Why I say "false security" is because that's where their faith lay and not in being concerned with being secure in God.

In the 12^th chapter of Luke, verses 13-21 we find a situation similar to Israel and we read what Jesus Christ had to say about it. The situation: a young man comes out of a crowd and asks Jesus for a favor. He wants Jesus to tell his brother to share his inheritance with him. In response to the young man's request, Jesus tells him and the crowd a parable, sometimes referred to as the parable of the rich fool.

Important to note though is that before starting the parable, He makes the statement that I used as a lead-in to our lesson: "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses." He then goes into His story about "the rich man" who had all the good things of life in abundance.

Yes, he had so much of the world's goods that had run out of space to store anymore "things." So, his solution was to build himself some more and bigger barns and storage facilities and amass more goodies. After he spent his efforts at doing this, gaining more and more things, when he felt that he was economically secure, he could tell his soul "take thine ease." Remember how the word "ease" applies here?

He had spent his life's efforts at gaining the good things, the material possessions that would make him "economically secure." And when he had reached that plateau he could "take his ease" and he'd be secure (haughtily). Or, so he thought. Look at what God had to say about his plan. "Fool! This night your soul will be required of you, then whose will those things be which you have provided?" (Vs. 20)

Back a few paragraphs ago I mentioned that many people seem to have made the most important thing in their life the gaining of material possessions. Yes, we have to have the necessities, but we don't stop there, do we? It just seems like the more we get, the more we want. Are we ever satisfied? Shouldn't we really understand that it's not "the abundance of things" that make us rich?

The last verse of Jesus' parable answers the question I just asked. He closed his story about the "rich fool" with these words: "So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." (Vs. 21)

I think that we need to seriously consider whether we've gotten ourselves into the situations that Israel and the "rich man" had arrived at. In the sense of material possessions, have we gotten ourselves so rich as a nation, as a society, that we've forgotten the character and spirit that established us as a nation? Are we now "sitting at ease" and have forgotten God?

When you look back at history, yes Israel was "haughtily" secure and "at ease." They had left God and in that condition, they had set themselves up for a fall. And, the fall came. In parallel, can we, as a nation, be doing the same thing? I have a great fear of that happening.

As a closing thought, spiritually speaking, just like we can't trust in our riches and "take our ease" neither can we, as Christians, "retire" from our duties. We can't think that our soul is so secure that we can "take our ease" and rest on whatever we've already done for the cause of Christ. We only have a short time, whatever our life span on earth is, to make our "calling and election sure" and then we can rest, "take our ease" for eternity. As John tells us in Rev. 2:10 "Be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life."

Ron Covey

God Are You Out There?

In Don England's book, God Are You Really There, England writes about a
young man named Brian. Brian has just turned 18 and he is thinking about all
of his accomplishments in his short life. He's excited about his High School
graduation and is anxiously awaiting beginning his college career.

However, those thoughts of excitement turned to depression when he learned
that a very dear friend was hit by a drunk driver and now is in the hospital
with very little hope for survival.

Brian walks outside in the yard and looks to the heavens and asks, "God are
you really there?"

Harold Kushner, Jewish author, once asked and subsequently wrote a book
entitled, "When Bad Things Happen to Good People." The reality is, bad
things do happen to good folks just because that's part of life. We might
call it the human predicament.

Sometimes those bad things cause us to question God, but sometimes when our
heart is not guarded it will cause us to question our faith in God.

It's okay to question God--Jesus did. You remember when Jesus looked to the
heavens and asked, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Mt. 27:46).

The difference between His questioning and ours is that His questioning was
never a lack of faith or trust. Sometimes ours is.

The Hebrews writer said, "But without faith it is impossible to please him:
for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder
of them that diligently seek him" (Heb. 11:6).

God are you really there? Oh yes, He's there! And He cares for you and me.

I hope you have a great day!

For previous devotionals, visit www.NeilRichey.com.

why get an annual exam?

When's the last time you went in for a physical examination? I guess for
about two years now I've given extra attention to my physical health. I've
tried to eat healthier and be more active in my lifestyle so as to get more
physical exercise.

My doctor monitors my health with a full physical each year and tells me
about the importance of self-examination and follow through. His words: "If
you take care of yourself doing what I say, you'll be fine." Of course, I
realize there's no crystal ball, and one day I may not be fine--but that's
true for any of us. However, if we take care of ourselves, and practice
self-examination and follow up with the doctor, it is far more likely that
we'll be healthy longer.

Additionally, it's important that we regularly examine who we are, and how
we're living.

I read about a young man who was overheard making a telephone call to a man
about lawn service. The call went like this:

Hello, sir, I was calling to see if you needed a lawn boy. Oh, you have one.
Well, is he adequate? Oh, he is! Thank you, I was just checking," said the
young boy.

The one who was listening in on the conversation felt sorry for the boy who
placed the call and said that he was sorry he didn't get the job. To his
surprise, the young man said:

Oh, no sir. I've got the job. I was just calling to check up on myself.

When's the last time you checked up on yourself?

Have you checked on your attitude lately?

Perhaps the words you use or the stories you tell need to be revisited.

Are you as spiritually minded as you ought to be?

Are you engaged in church work?

Are you regular in your worship attendance?

Are you the family person you need to be?

The Bible says, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your
own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you,
except ye be reprobates?" (2 Cor. 13:5).

Self-examination is important in the life of every Christian.

I hope you have a great day!

For previous devotionals, visit www.NeilRichey.com.

Who is a trrue saint?

I recently read the story about a boy who went to a worship service in a
beautiful ornate church building. It had stained-glass windows with pictures
of individuals made to represent "Saint Matthew," "Saint Mark," Saint Luke,"
and "Saint John" to name a few.

When the boy grew older he was asked to define "saint." He reflected on the
beautiful stain glass windows through which the sun shined brightly. He
said, "A saint is a person whom the light shines through."

I've heard several folks who claim to be Christians exclaim, "I'm no saint!"
However, my Bible tells me something different about one who is a true New
Testament Christian. A Christian is a saint. Phillipians 4:21 says, "Salute
every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with me greet you."

Who are the saints? All those who "are in Christ." What does it mean to be
in Christ? It means to be a Christian. Every Christian is in Christ.

Now, not every saint acts like one. In other words, not every saint let's
the light shine through.

What about you? Maybe you need to take out the Windex and clean the glass so
that the light will shine through and show the glorious light of Jesus
Christ. We call that the blood of Jesus. As Christians, when we make
mistakes, falter, and fall, God will forgive us if we but ask him, and
repent of our sinfulness.

Is the light of Jesus shining through your life? Are you acting like a saint
should act?

I hope you have a wonderful day!

For previous devotionals, visit www.NeilRichey.com.

Sending Them Off With Prayer

Recently, the Lewisville (TX) church of Christ hosted their annual "Sending
Them Off With Prayer" Night. During this gathering, the church prays for
everyone involved in the beginning of a new school year.

This year, the Lewisville church added something new: Bibles were given to
all of the children who were entering the first grade. These rising
first-graders were called to the front of the building with their parents
and were presented with a Bible by the minister, Jeff Jenkins.

Jeff related some of the responses from these first graders:

"One of our parents sent me a picture of her little girl in bed the night
before her first day of school and she is holding her Bible."

"Another one of our students came up to me during the next church service
and said, 'Mr. Jeff, look, I brought my new Bible!'"

"Another parent sent me the following story about her daughter: 'Avery was
SO EXCITED tonight when she received her Bible at church. She quickly
noticed it had a map in the back. She looked up at me and said, "Mommy,
look, it has a map; now I will never be lost."'"

Jeff smiled and thought to myself, "You are right. this Bible is your map so
you will never be lost." *

The Bible, God's Word, IS our map. It reveals where we are, where we are
headed, and our desired destination.

The Bible reveals that we are lost in sin, and the wages of sin is DEATH
(Romans 6:23).

But the Bible also reveals that God loves us so much that He gave His Son
Jesus to die on the cross for our sins so that we might have forgiveness of
our sins and have access to the Way to eternal life in heaven (John 3:16).
Jesus is that Way (John 14:6).

The Bible gives us the following directions to reach our proper Destination
(Heaven): place your faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), repent of sin
(Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized
(immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).

Then we must continue to follow Heaven's Road Map for the rest of our lives,
being careful not to "veer off course" (1 John 1:7). We must continue to
follow that narrow and difficult way which leads to life everlasting
(Matthew 7:13-14).

"Your Word is a LAMP to my feet And a LIGHT to my path." - Psalm 119:105

Yes, Avery, God has given us a Map (His Word) so that we will never be
lost - IF we will read and heed His instructions.

Won't YOU?

David A. Sargent

Prayer Just Makes You Feel Better

When our country was at war with itself, a preacher from the North went to
visit with the sixteenth President of the United States--Abraham Lincoln.

When the preacher arrived at the White House, it wasn't to make a request,
but rather an observation and to offer a word of encouragement. He said that
we from the North are convinced that God is on our side in this war, and we
will win. Further, he stated that he wanted the President to know that a day
did not pass without every soldier's family constantly remembering their
President in prayer. The preacher wanted his President to know that he and
many others were praying that Lincoln might have wisdom and strength to lead
them to victory.

As the story goes, at this point President Lincoln was in tears and said
that he surely would have given up had it not been for all the prayers.
Further, he said that it was the custom of his people to ask the preacher to
lead a prayer in the presence of the host before leaving the residence. So,
the preacher led a prayer on President Lincoln's behalf.

At the conclusion of the prayer, the President grabbed the hand of the
preacher and said, "I feel better."

The Bible says, when someone uses you, pray (Lk. 6:28).

The Bible says, when you're stressed about how much work there is to do, and
how few workers there are to do it, pray (Lk. 10:2).

The Bible says, when you've sinned and need forgiveness, pray (Act 8:22).

The Bible says, when you're troubled and don't know what to say or how to
say it, just pray (Rm. 8:26).

The Bible says, when you're concerned about one another, pray (1 Thes.
5:23).

The point is, if you want to feel better about a situation, pause and talk
to the Lord about it. Then, let it go and let God work it out.

I hope you're having a great Thursday!

For previous devotionals, visit www.NeilRichey.com.

Daniel Larsen

In 1999, Daniel Larsen was convicted of a crime in California and put in
prison. Ten years later, new witnesses came forward, stacking the evidence
in Larsen's favor. As a result, a federal magistrate ruled that Larsen had
been denied rights to a fair trial and ordered his immediate release.
Unfortunately, because of some complicated rules and technical jargon, the
state of California has kept Larsen in prison for the past two years. Even
though Daniel had a shaky past and is to blame for some of his troubles, he
should still be a free man according to the evidence. However, he is
continuing to live his life behind bars.

It would be quite sad to know that we could and should be free, but still
find ourselves imprisoned. Yes, this would be terrible, but this situation
happens much more often then we might think. It even happens to people you
know!

Romans 6 discusses this very point, "What shall we say then? Are we to
continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we
who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have
been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore
we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ
was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might
walk in newness of life... Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal
body so that you obey its lusts... For when you were slaves of sin, you were
free in regard to righteousness...But now having been freed from sin and
enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and
the outcome, eternal life" (1-4, 12, 20, 22).

The idea behind Romans 6 is simply that those of us who have been freed from
sin through baptism should not continue to live life imprisoned by sin! The
problem is, spiritually free Christians choose to continue living behind the
prison bars of sin.

It's sad that Daniel Larsen is forced to stay in prison when he should be
free, but it is much more depressing when free people, Christians, choose to
live life enslaved to sin. Have we been freed from sin through baptism
(Romans 6:3-4; Acts 2:38; 1 Peter 3:21)? If so, let's never take our freedom
for granted and continue to live a life free from sin.

Brett Petrillo

Psalm 139:14

                    "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous

                      are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well." Psalm 139:14

I'm quite sure that David wasn't watching the Olympic Games when he made the above statement, but had they been around in his time, he could certainly have been inspired to say it after seeing some of the things our bodies are able to do. And, yes I know, this is two weeks in a row that I'm using the Olympics as my inspiration for an editorial, but I just can't help myself, they provide a wealth of commentary fodder for an itinerant editorialist like me.

I mean, just look at the things the Olympic athletes are able to physically do with their bodies. Even though I'm tired of watching the girls fly, jump, twist and otherwise contort their tiny little bodies on bars, vaults, mats and the balance beam (is there no end to the number of events in this sport?) one has to admit that the things they can do is incredible.

David said a mouthful when he praised God for making mankind in the form that He did - "fearfully and wonderfully." A few years back some scientists were reporting that they were trying to create life in a test tube. Actually they were attempting to get some minute particles of various forms of matter to somehow fuse together which they thought would be an acid that our bodies basically consist of. Sort of like the theory of a molecule of slime bumping into another bit of slime in the ocean and VOILA!, life started.

To my knowledge, they haven't succeeded in "creating life" in their test tubes yet, but reading about their efforts conjured up some questions in my feeble little mind. First, how about trying to figure out where the oceans came from. Or the little bits of matter (slime)? And if they did ever get some sort of "life acid" in a test tube, how do they get it to the human bodies we're watching perform at the Olympics?

Personally I prefer the easier-to-believe version found in Gen. 1:27 where it says that I was made "in the image of God" and in 2:7 He tells me what He made me out of - "the dust of the ground" and then He "breathed the breath of life" into me. But, if you want to believe that you got here in the form that you're in by the "slime-bumping theory" nobody's going to stop you. Just recognize that a lot more faith is required to believe that theory than "In the beginning God...."

But, let's return to our discussion of the human body that God "fearfully and wonderfully" made. There are many, many interesting things about the make-up of our bodies and the first thing I'll mention is the scientific finding that our physical body contains about all the elements found on the earth. Doesn't that seem to verify what Gen. 2:7 said? I'll take a leap of faith here and say - yes it does.

If you looked at our human body as a machine, it has to be the most amazing and complicated piece of machinery ever built. No human engineer could ever come close to making something that will do what the human body will do. Oh, they can make robotic type machines that can do a few specific things, but really, what robot could ever be able to run, jump, swim or perform the way the Olympic athletes do? Or even us, for that matter. No robot can even do the everyday activities that we ordinary people are able to perform, regardless of the level of our performance.

In the last paragraph I mentioned the complexity of the body and here's a few examples of that complexity. There are some things about our bodies that almost stagger our imagination. Let me just mention it's circulatory system with it's pump and all of it's blood vessels. Did you know that the average body has about 60,000 miles of blood vessels? And that the pump that runs this system pumps 10 pints of blood EVERY MINUTE? Since our entire blood supply consists of from 8-10 pints of blood, every bit of our blood is circulated through the pump and body EVERY MINUTE! Don't know about you, but I find that literally amazing.

Here's some more information about our circulatory system that I find mind-blowing: the capillaries, which are the smallest blood vessels in the body and reach into their particular areas, if laid out surface-wise would cover an area of about 1 ½ acres. And, they are constantly opening and closing and that requires a control system to keep them from all opening at the same time. If they did, all of our blood would drain into them in a matter of seconds. Plus, it's the capillaries in the lungs that do the exchanging of oxygen for the carbon dioxide in the blood. How does that work? Amazing, isn't it?

Well, how about the body as a whole? It contains about 208 bones, 650 muscles and has more than 100 joints. I've been moving all this past week and I have at least that many aching right now. The things that hold the muscles to the bones are called tendons and do you know that they can take stress up to 8 tons per square inch? Almost unbelievable.

We have around 9,000 taste buds (I think I have more, at least that's going to be my excuse for being overweight), millions of nerve cells with about 4 million little sensors in our skin that let's us know when something is hot or cold or is painful.

How about the covering of our body? Have you ever considered what an amazing thing our skin is? To me, it's just about the most remarkable part created by God. The average body has about 20 square feet of covering material (I've stretched mine a bit further), it wears away and is replaced every few weeks. But here's where it really gets mind-boggling: it's a barrier that keeps out dirt and germs, and also moisture (it's waterproof) all the while it's keeping the moisture inside the body from drying out. It also has about 5 million hairs on it. (Probably a bit less for some of us)

But really, the greatest part of the human body, put there by God, is it's operating system, it's computer - the brain. Here's a lump of material that weighs about 3 pounds and controls everything we do, consciously and unconsciously. Consciously: how we think, talk and act, and unconsciously: breathing and well, how about those little capillaries opening and closing, do you have to think about that? Yeah, man can build computers that do amazing calculations, but always remember this - it's man's internal, God-given, computer that devises the ones he makes.

In wrapping up my thoughts here today let me just opine that no scientist, playing with his test tubes, could ever produce anything that remotely resembles life as we know it. That our magnificently created bodies did not get here by an accidental bumping together of slime in the ocean. (Even Sounds sorta slimy to me) It would be the height of man's arrogance to think that they could somehow duplicate the system that we're watching perform in the Olympic games.

No, I prefer to echo the words of David and praise God "for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well."

Ron Covey

　

　

Excuses for missing #church

Through the years I have heard lots of excuses as to why folks have missed
attending the worship assembly of their church. Understand, they don't need
to make excuses to me, I'm only the preacher, and it is God to whom they
really need to explain themselves (if any explanation is needed).

Personally I've always thought that one excuse is as good as another if you
didn't want to do something. However I may have been wrong! I just heard an
imaginative and humorous excuse I thought was worth sharing.

A preacher met a habitually absent church member at the local grocery and
the church member immediately began to make excuses for not being in
services. The preacher responded, "You really don't have to explain yourself
to me," but the absent member insisted that they really had a good excuse.
The minister said, "OK, what is your excuse for not meeting with the church
yesterday?" To which the member replied, "Well, you see it was like this. I
was abducted by aliens and the implant they put in the back of my head
caused an infection that required me to be held longer than usual."

If you are done laughing, like I said, "one excuse is as good as another if
you didn't want to do something." The funny thing about an excuse is that if
you feel like you need one; it really may be saying something about the
condition of your spirit.

I thought you might find it interesting what the Apostle Paul writes in 2
Corinthians 13:5 regarding our spiritual condition. He says we are to:
"Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely
you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of
genuine faith." (NLT)

Now the word translated as "examine" in the original Greek carries this
meaning, " to try, make trial of, test: for the purpose of ascertaining his
quality, or what he thinks, or how he will behave himself."

When is the last time you really stopped and "examined" yourself? We get
into habits which sometime are not the best for us, such as being frequently
absent for the meetings of the church. The writer of the book of Hebrews
reminds us: "Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for
God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one
another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting
together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that
the day of his return is drawing near." (Hebrews 10:23-25)

Some say, that they have just gotten into a rut, but then I'm reminded that
the only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth! So. what's your
excuse?

Russ Lawson