Show yourself friendly

Get Out Of Your Circle

Greetings and salutations were a standard part of Christianity in the first-century church.  It is still seen centuries later as an avenue of good will - a universal way of showing friendliness or expressing best wishes.

"Hello" or "How are you" are common greetings today that open up conversations; that provide opportunities to question people, express feelings, develop acquaintances, or find out needs; that let people know we are interested in them.  Among brethren the ultimate goal is to create a bond of affection among all - from the richest to the poorest, the youngest to the oldest, males to the females, and the noblest to the commonest.

All of this brings me to the point of this writing.  Brethren, "get out of your circle!" It is so easy before and immediately after services to drift or slide into comfortable relationships and spend all our time visiting and bonding with people we already know, appreciate, and love dearly.  It is a prevalent practice everywhere I've had opportunity to visit.

I see, for example, the same old groups visiting together at every service.  I see the young folks congregate at the same location in the auditorium; I see older couples standing around together as though they had an appointed place; and I see certain families at their same spots week after week.

Now you understand, of course, that nothing is wrong with this.  We all need those close, intimate friends with whom we can relax, laugh, and exchange pleasantries. But, my point here is that we have plenty of time to do this after lesser known brethren are gone.  Get around to brethren who are less involved, who will be gone within a few minutes, who do not feel a connection, who are gone so soon because they feel no bond among us.

Now I also understand that with some this is not possible.  Many are gone before you could possibly get around to them.  But there are still a good many brethren who are there but have no strong sense of belonging.  Make it your goal to get around to as many as you can in the short time they are there.  When you have done that, then return to your "circles." The greater number of brethren who can make less involved brethren feel welcome, feel attachment to the body, feel a sense of belonging, feel a bond of love - the greater becomes our oneness and their encouragement to serve the Lord faithfully.

Greeting one another is a great work and an important act of usefulness.  Show yourself friendly!

- by L. A. Stauffer

 

Difficult Bible truths

-And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery (Mat. 19:9). -Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). -For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error (Rom. 1:26-27). -And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all...There is one body (Eph.1:22-23; 4:4). -And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord (Eph. 5:18-19). -A woman is not allowed to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet (1 Tim. 2:11-14).     Passages like these are hotly debated, denied, and derided by those who either cast them against other Scripture or subjugate them to current cultural expectations. Those who desire to accept verses like those above as simple truth are often thought to be ignorant or, worse, dangerous.   The same book reveals the person and sacrifice of Jesus. It reveals the nature and attributes of God. It tells us where we came from and where we are going. It speaks of grace and faith. We accept these truths at face value. But when we come to passages that go against the grain of popular opinion (in or out of religion), cultural mores, or religious orthodoxy, we somehow attempt to say they do not say what they say they say. Jehoiakim's scribe's knife and his brazier fire did not eliminate truth (Jer. 36:23). It actually intensified the message against him (36:29ff). The number of academic degrees, religious followers, or oratorical skill will not change the truth of Scripture. It is what it is. Our role is to humbly submit to it or forever beat ourselves against it. May we love and revere God enough to always do the former.   --Neal Pollard

 

 

Isaac's Storm: A Man, A Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History

Have you ever been absolutely sure about something, only to find out you were wrong? Maybe, it was the name of the band that sang your favorite song or the name of the third baseman on your favorite team when you were in elementary school. Sometimes, the stakes are higher and being wrong more costly than that.

 

Erik Larson's book, Isaac's Storm: A Man, A Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History, is about a man and an entire bureau's certainty that cost probably 6,000 their lives. And because they were so certain that a hurricane could not strike Galveston, Texas, a lot of people made fatal choices based on their own certainty-they were certain of houses that would stand, trains and tracks that would get them to their destinations, and that the slope of the coast would deter tidal waves and storm surges. Yet, in September, 1900, on Saturday and Sunday, probably the worst hurricane in modern history struck the exposed, helpless booming Texas city.

 

Some have been so certain about spiritual matters, but were wrong. They have been certain about what to bring God to worship (Gen. 4:2-3), about how to be saved from death (2 Kings 5:11-12), and about how to carry out God's command (1 Sam. 15:13ff).

 

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks of some who seemed certain, but were certainly wrong. Depicting the Judgment scene, Jesus preaches, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness'" (Mat. 7:21-23). These folks will have done religious acts in Jesus' name. They will haven been certain they were on the right path, but Jesus says they will have been mistaken. They will not have done the will of the Father.

 

How many people will this ultimately describe? They have confidence in a preacher, a teaching, a tradition, a feeling, or a belief. Sadly, they have not even questioned whether or not it might not be what the Bible says on the matter. Jesus ends His sermon by talking about storms. This storm is more powerful than the one Larson writes about. It determines destiny (Mat. 7:24-27). We must base our certainty on the Rock!

 

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect

"Long-time actress and comedienne Gracie Allen once received a small, live alligator as a gag. Not
knowing what to do with it, Gracie placed it in the bathtub and then left for an appointment. When
she returned home, she found this note from her maid: 'Dear Miss Allen: Sorry, but I have quit. I
don't work in houses where there is an alligator. I would have told you this when I took on, but I
never thought it would come up'" (SermonIllustrations.com).
 
It likely won't be in the form of an alligator in the bathtub, but life is full of things we didn't
expect. Probably at the top of the list of surprises is in observing where we are as a culture
today. Who what have predicted that Donald Trump would now be president? Who could have foreseen
that the Cubs would win the World Series this year? On a serious note, who would have known how our
world's opinions on abortion, homosexuality, and premarital sex would have shaped? It's also
shocking to see how technology and its uses have morphed.
 
Like the maid, there are things in life we probably thought would never have happened.  Issues we
thought we would never face. And yet here we are, standing in the midst of them.  Our world is
changing at lightning speed and sometimes it feels overwhelming to try and keep up. Thankfully, we
have a very simple guide to help us.
 
Romans 12:2 explains, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of
your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and
perfect."
 
We are living in this ever-changing world, but we are by no means to conform and shape ourselves to
it.  No matter how our culture is forming, we are to be confirmed only to the Lord and his
teachings.  We are to be ones who have our minds renewed and set on the Lord no matter what is
happening around us.
 
There's nothing wrong with being current. But as new issues arise, let's be aware of them, adapt to
them as we can, but still keep our minds focused on God.  No matter what shape our culture takes,
let's always conform to God's likeness.

Brett Petrillo

Nazi concentration camps

Broken Pottery

I've only interacted a few times with Ken Stegall, but I love him. Do you know why? He makes me
think. Think with me as Ken writes about a recent experience:

I was watching a fascinating documentary recently which interviewed four Jewish men who had suffered
and survived four years in a Nazi concentration camp.

A number of things struck me as I listened to all four of them tell about their experiences. One of
them was a lack of bitterness. They had been given the opportunity to revisit the site of their
horrific experience. This visit provided the bulk of footage for the documentary. They walked
around the site and pointed out places where certain things had happened. You can imagine the
emotion as one of them pointed to an exact spot where his mother and sister had stood waving - just
before they were put on a train headed for the gas chambers.

But almost as fascinating were the comments from each man's wife and/or children. One of the wives'
comments stuck with me. She said, "He is like a piece of pottery that was broken and glued back
together."

That thought keeps returning to my mind. My first reaction was, maybe we're all like that to some
degree. We try to mold our lives the way we want them, and life comes along and shatters us. We
try to pick up the pieces and put our lives back together. Maybe we lost some pieces in the process
and had to find something different to fill in the holes. Maybe we feel like we don't look as good
as we did before.

Or maybe . . . we never did look as good as we thought we did and God needed us to know that so He
could, not just glue the pieces back together, but remake us - into a vessel that He could use.

God sent Jeremiah to the potter's house where he watched the potter reshaping a marred pot: "... so
the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as it seemed best to him" (Jeremiah 18:4).

The truth is: all of our "pots" are broken because we all struggle with sin (Romans 3:23).

But God still loves us and wants to remake us into something beautiful: a recreation in the likeness
of Jesus, His Son (Ephesians 2:8-10; Galatians 4:19).

In order to accomplish this metamorphosis, God gave His Son to die on the cross for our sins, so
that we can be forgiven, receive the gift of His Spirit, and enjoy the hope of eternal life with Him
in heaven.

God will save and remake those who will place their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn
from their sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are
baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). He will continue to
transform us into the likeness of His Son as we walk in the light of His Word (1 John 1:7).

Something beautiful, something good
All my confusion He understood
All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife But he made something beautiful of my life.
-- Songwriters: Guy Chambers and Robert Peter Williams

Ken's prayer is my own; I hope it's yours, too. Lord, make us into the vessel you want us to be . .
. even if we must be broken.

Won't YOU place yourself in the hands of the Wonderful Potter and entrust your life to Him through
your trusting obedience?

-- David A. Sargent

* "Broken Pottery" by Ken Stegall.

The Christian and the Local Church

         Anyone who has shared the Lord with a friend or a relative knows that there are many today who think they are Christians, but who want to have nothing to do with His church. These people seldom, if ever, attend a worship service or a Bible class, and they have never been involved in any activity or work of the church. Even more tragically, they never feel any guilt toward their lack of involvement with the church.

         This AM I want to give some thought about our attitudes toward the church. What are some things the Bible says about the church and how vital it is that I be involved in a local congregation of the Lord’s people?

         Let’s begin with the basics. The first time that Jesus used the word “church” was in Matthew 16:18 where He promised, And on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

         The “rock” Jesus had reference to was the truth that Peter had just confessed that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. To confess Jesus as the Son of God is to confess His deity — that He and His Father are one. This is the foundational faith upon which Jesus builds His church. This was also the faith that the majority of Jews totally rejected. When Jesus said I and My Father are one, the Jews took up stones to stone Him because they said that You, being a Man, make Yourself God (Jn. 10:31-33).

         Jesus invested His personal ministry into proving He was one with the Father and that to reject Him was to reject His Father Who sent Him. He declared that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him (Jn. 5:23. 

         The world’s population is divided into believers and non-believers in Jesus. When the gospel of Jesus’ Death, Burial and Resurrection is preached, some believe and some refuse to believe. Jesus declared: he who believes and is baptized will be are saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned (Mk. 16:16).

         Anyone who sincerely believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, will submit in the obedience of faith to Jesus as Lord. Whenever an individual obeys the gospel, Jesus adds another living stone to the temple of His church.

         In view of these Biblical facts when we speak of “the church”, we speak of “the saved of God”; those who have been washed of their sins by the precious blood of Jesus. Paul spoke of “the church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28).

There is no question as to the importance of the church in the sight of our Lord, for His church is the only blood-bought property that He claims on earth! Only those who believe in Him as Almighty God and Everlasting Father (Isa. 9:6) are redeemed by His precious blood.

         When Jesus spoke of building His church, He had reference to the universal church throughout the world. Anytime that an individual believes and obeys the gospel he is added to the universal church of our Lord which is populated by God’s saved on earth, and the saved in heaven who are washed in the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7:14).

         The glorified church in heaven personally witnesses the glory of our Lord Jesus so that she no longer lives by faith as the church on earth does. The church in heaven joins God’s angels in singing a “new song” to Jesus: You were slain and have redeemed us to God by Your blood… (Rev. 5:9)  The only act of worship we read of in heaven is praise to the Father (Rev. 4) and His Son (Rev. 5). The saved in heaven no longer observe the Lord’s Supper, give of their means, pray, or read the Word for they are in the presence of the Lord. The heavenly hosts praise Jesus through “the new song” and “in word” as they proclaim, “Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing” (Rev. 5:12).

John concludes His glorious vision of the Son: And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: "Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!" Then the four living creatures said, "Amen!" And the 24 elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever. (Rev. 5:13-14)

         The Bible not only uses the word “church” in the universal sense of all the saved of earth and heaven, it also uses the word in a local sense. Paul addressed his letter “To the church of God which is at Corinth…” (1 Cor. 1:2), and John addressed his letters “to the seven churches in Asia” (Rev. 1:4). While the church is a universal body, she also exists in the local sense of each community where obedient believers have been saved by the blood of the Lamb and “set apart” by the Holy Spirit. In this sense we are the church of God in Danville, Arkansas.

         This AM I want us to give some brief thought as to what I owe my local church family as a faithful member of the body of Christ. Such a question is vital to my spiritual health and well-being because the attitude that I have toward the local church, as the blood bought property of our Lord, reflects the attitude that I have toward the Lord Jesus Himself. In Acts 8, Saul of Tarsus was making havoc of the church by persecuting Christians. In the next chapter Jesus miraculously appeared to him and asked him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4)  In persecuting the church of Christ, Saul was persecuting the Christ of the church! This is true because the church is the body of Christ and the way we treat His body (in attitude and action) is the way we treat the Lord Jesus Himself. Therefore, it is impossible to be faithful to Jesus while remaining lukewarm or negative toward His church. This AM let’s look at 3 things that I owe the local church if I am going to be a faithful Christian:

         1) I Owe the Local Church My Presence. The Lord expects every Christian to assemble faithfully and regularly with other believers if at all physically possible. We need the attitude of Psa. 122:1 that, I was glad (not “sad” but “glad”) when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the Lord”.

         The church in Danville is the spiritual family in which your spirit and my spirit are joined to the Spirit of the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17). Jesus promised “where 2 or 3 are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20). When we gather with the saints, we each bring the Spirit of Jesus into the assembly so that as we gather Jesus is in our midst. Surely that is sufficient motivation for any true lover of God to never willfully forsake the assembly (Heb. 10:25).

         Brother John Gibson once mentioned in a bulletin article that as they were driving home from worship one Sunday, his little 4 year old grand-daughter said, “Look at those people outside playing golf when they ought to be inside worshiping God. I guess they just want to mind the devil.” Out of the mouths of innocent babes, huh?

         Brother Gibson went on to mention a national survey among regular church attenders and what gave them gratification in church attendance. 77% said it was the experience of feeling closer to God; 60% said it was the experience of worshiping God and 54% said it was the companionship or fellowship with other believers. All are excellent reasons for faithfully attending worship services. Such reasons may reflect why the Lord has commanded us to take church attendance seriously. He knows we need time together to stir one another to love and good works. The bottom line is, there is no way I can please God if I fail to take the local church seriously.

         2) In The 2^nd Place I Owe The Local Church My Involvement. As His spiritual body, the Lord wants us to do the same work He Himself did while on this earth as a Man which was to seek and save the lost (Lk 19:10).

         The early church reached out to the lost and less fortunate through evangelism and benevolence. Just as Jesus reached out in love to the poor and suffering of His day, so the church (as His spiritual body) must do the same. And just as Jesus preached the gospel to save the lost, we are to do the same today.

         Jesus taught that in reaching out to others we are reaching up to Him. In His prophecy concerning the judgment day, Jesus said that those who ministered to the hungry, the thirsty, the homeless, the naked, the sick and those in prison actually ministered to Him: “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” (Matt. 25:40).

         How much easier our yoke and how much lighter our burden for Christ if we would only remember that as we minister to others we minister to Jesus Himself. Such an attitude makes our efforts a work of faith and love toward our Lord Jesus Himself.

         In The 3^rd Place I Owe the Local Church My Giving. The most precious gift I can give is my heart to the Father and Son Who gave all. When I give my heart, I am returning to the Lord what He has already given me. This is true of every financial gift I may give as “where (my) treasure is there will (my) heart be also (Matt. 6:21).

Our “receiving” and “giving” is like a mother who gives her little girl a piece of cake, and she offers to share some of it with her. Don’t you know the mother values the gift, not because she needs or wants the cake, but because she sees her precious daughter learning to overcome selfishness!

Every good and every perfect gift… comes down from the Father of lights

(Jms.1:17). Our Father longs for us to learn to give back to Him of what He has shared with us. This is far from the demand of a hard taskmaster, but the loving call of a Father and Savior who knows that every gift we bring to Him will draw us ever closer to His Spirit. Every sacrifice we make will but open our hearts even wider to the heavenly flow of His Spirit of love, joy & peace.

 

Submitted by: Ralph Weinhold

Was Paul the greatest apostle?

Wonder of Amazement

Paul was the greatest of the Apostles.  That is if you judge him by the number of books bearing his name in the New Testament canon.  He was a champion of grace.  Several times he pointed out that, it is not works that saves you (Romans 11:6; Ephesians 2:8-9), but grace.  However, he also wrote that Christians ought to be about the work of God (1 Corinthians 15:58). He “abounded” in God’s work.

 

You cannot read much from the writings of Paul before you realize that he was a sacrificial offering to God Almighty!  If you have not read 1 Corinthians 11:23-27 lately, please do!  Imprisoned, flogged, exposed to death, whipped with almost 200 lashes, beaten with rods, stoned, involved in three ship wrecks, spent a night and day in the open sea, constantly moving, subjected to all kinds of danger from rivers, from bandits, from his own countrymen, from Gentiles, and false brothers.  He “labored and toiled and often went without sleep.” He knew what it is like to be hungry and thirsty and to be cold and naked.   Even after all of this, he wrote in the Philippians 3, “Not that I have already obtained all this or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” He was not depending on his works for salvation.

 

Paul said, “We carry around in our body the death of Jesus…”  What a testimony! What was Paul’s secret? Why did he suffer such harm and sacrifice?  He wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.  And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”  From his Damascus road experience until his death Paul was filled with wonder and amazement when he considered Jesus of Nazareth.   He was motivated by his personal experience with the Christ who was raised from the dead, and the fact that others needed to know what he knew.  Others need to experience the same relationship with Christ that he was experiencing.

 

Paul gave up religion for a relationship with Jesus (Philippians 3:1-11). Am I missing something? I am challenged by this one man’s sacrificial life. Do I have religion or a relationship with Christ? What about those that I fellowship with today? What’s missing? Could it be the wonder of amazement?

 

Jim Woodell