From Gary... Precious little additions

When I first saw Walter Vogt's picture, frankly, I was very impressed by it.  The sharp contrast of the colors is very striking indeed.  And as I looked at the raindrops on this beautiful flower (if anyone knows what it is- please e-mail me) I thought about the preceding storm and that after the tumult, something wonderful was left behind. Small drops of nourishment and beauty that almost make you rejoice for the disturbance.  It is to those drops that I would like to focus my attention today and reflect a bit on their importance.  First though, please be kind enough to read the Scripture I chose today for a companion to Walt's picture...

2 Peter, Chapter 1

2 Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,  3 seeing that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue;  4 by which he has granted to us his precious and exceedingly great promises; that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust.  5 Yes, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence; and in moral excellence, knowledge;  6 and in knowledge, self-control; and in self-control patience; and in patience godliness;  7 and in godliness brotherly affection; and in brotherly affection, love.  8 For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful to the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  

God wants you. God loves you. God is pleased when you obey his Gospel and are added to HIS family.  Now, its time for the newborn spiritual child to grow. Grow, by the power of his word and absorbing the perfect spiritual principles therein to advance toward perfection.  An ever increasing closeness that we understand as we practice things like moral excellence, self-control, patience and love.  These and more are like the nourishing raindrops on that yellow bloom above.  In fact, they come from above- and not from any raindrop either.  This passage from Peter is important- read and read it again- several times; reflect and grow!!!  You will never think about rain quite the same way ever again!!!  Once again, NICE PICTURE - Walt!!!  

From Bill Dayton... “We Do Church Differently!”

Words to Live By...

 

“We Do Church Differently!”

In the last several years it has become the practice of some churches to use “message” sign boards. To be honest, some of the sayings used are thought-provoking for those who feel a devotion to God. However, some of the more recent “messages” appear more of an effort to compete with other churches to see who can be the “cutest”. As a result, some of the most inane things we could ever read attack our vision. A local one read. You can’t have Christmas without Christ. Truthfully, you can’t have any day without Christ...Amen?

 I heard of another one that read, “We Do Church Differently”. Two thoughts came to my mind about a “church” who would come up with such a message for their sign:

First, “doing church”? What in the world does that mean? What purpose does it serve to drag worship down to such a level? It’s not only disrespectful of the purpose God intends for worship, but also is just downright “silly”.

Secondly, to claim to “do” differently carries with it the idea that this church seeks to approach worship of God in a way different from “mainstream” religion – that even the denominational perversions of the Bible aren’t enough. But no departure from God’s truth is acceptable even when it’s an effort to attract greater numbers of “worshippers”. Gal.1:6-9

Basically, this church has missed the point of why we worship God – not to “do” as we please, but to please God, as he prescribes in His Word. It is not to entertain us, but to praise Him – It is not to make a church more acceptable to the world, but to conform the world to His standard.

This church may be “cute” – and without a doubt it lives up to its message and “does church differently – but different from the first century church of the New Testament is not better – it’s condemning . Our sign says, The Owenton church of Christ. This tells the community WHERE we are and WHO we belong to….Christ! There are too many “churches “that wear the name of their founder. We wear the name Christian …”In Christ.” If that was good enough for the first century Christians, it better be good enough for 21st Century Christians..

Till He Comes….Bill. 

From Jim McGuiggan... TOYOHIKO KAGAWA

TOYOHIKO KAGAWA

In 1923 one of the greatest earthquake disasters in history hit Japan and reduced Tokyo and Yokohama to smoking ruins. Millions were homeless, starvation, disease and anarchy were the only things flourishing and the government and military could do nothing about it. They knew a man who could reorganize and restructure things but he was in prison. The common people almost worshiped him but the government, the capitalists, the radical nationalists and the military people hated and feared him. He was in prison for orchestrating a vast non-violent strike in the docks and even though the workers got all that he had demanded for them he himself was thrown into prison for his leadership in the strike action. His name was Toyohiko Kagawa. They let him out of prison and he began the work of rebuilding the nation. The government offered him a huge wage and all the privileges that went with such a role but he turned it all down saying, “To work with the poor I must be poor.”

He was born in 1888, the illegitimate son of a wealthy and high-ranking politician and a geisha. The father took a liking to the child and adopted him but before the boy was five both his parents had died and although he was officially a samurai and head of nearly twenty villages he went to live with his grandmother and a stepmother. The stepmother hated him and his life was one of unrelieved misery until when he was eleven a rich uncle adopted him and planned great things for him. If his stepmother’s house was the frying pan his boarding school was the fire.

But he met and learned English from Henry Myers a Presbyterian minister. He learned more than that—he learned about Christ and Myers baptized Kagawa unto Christ. 

Horace Shipp said, “Young Kagawa became a Christian. He did a rarer thing: he began to practice Christianity.” He was a pacifist to the core, at times he literally turned the other cheek and he insisted on giving away all his possessions and often his food. In 1904 Japan without warning attacked the Russian ships at Port Arthur and destroyed their whole Baltic fleet. Japan as a nation hailed this as a great triumph and justified it on the basis of less obvious but threatening developments in Russian foreign affairs. 

At the seminary where he now attended Kagawa dared to speak against Japan’s act of war and the students would take turns to beat him up. Finally he was expelled, he fell ill (tuberculosis) and went away to die in a little fishing village. But a boat was wrecked on the coast and Kagawa worked until he was absolutely exhausted helping to rescue people. With this experience he determined to live and later his stated aim was: “The salvation of 100,000 poor, the emancipation of 9,430,000 laborers and the liberation of twenty million tenant-farmers.”

He took a header into the infamous slums at Shinkawa and for nineteen years he lived in a cubicle six feet by six feet, with one side open to act as door and windows. As one of the lowest of the low even by Shinkawa standards he shared his living quarters and for four years he held the hand of a murderer that couldn’t sleep alone. 

He got a little income from a Training school and he doubled it by working as a chimney sweep and gave it away or gave away all the food and clothes it bought. It was from one of his ceaseless stream of visitors that he contracted a fierce eye disease that moved him closer and closer to blindness. 

The slum bullies robbed him with violence, burned down his shack, knocked his teeth out and challenged his faith by demanding that he give away his clothes. He did that on more than one occasion and had to wear a woman’s robe until he could replace them. Once he was on the verge of taking on a jeering and threatening bully who was going to stop his preaching but instead he turned and ran. The crowd roared with laughter but he was back the next day in the same place preaching Christ.

It’s no surprise then that when the earthquake hit and Japan was in awful need that they let him out of prison and asked him to be Chief of Social Welfare. Once when he visited an American University two students went to hear him speak but when he was done, unimpressed one said to the other, “He didn’t have a lot to say, did he?” A woman behind them leaned over and said, “When you’re hanging on a cross you don’t need to say a lot.” He died in 1960.

Toyohiko Kagawa is one face of God’s love for the human family.

©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.

Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.

From Mark Copeland... The Truth Shall Make You Free (Jn.8:31-36)

                          "THE GOSPEL OF JOHN"

                The Truth Shall Make You Free (8:31-36)

INTRODUCTION

1. One of the better known statements of Jesus is this:  "And you shall
   know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (Jn 8:32)

2. Today this popular statement is often used in a political context...
   a. Referring to freedom from political oppression
   b. Extolling the value of the free press, and freedom of expression

3. While such are notable virtues, Jesus had something else in mind...
   a. Freedom from something more serious than political oppression
   b. Truth that comes from only one source

[Let's examine the context in which Jesus' statement is found (i.e., Jn
8:31-36).  From a careful reading of it we first note...]

I. THE FREEDOM OF WHICH JESUS SPEAKS

   A. FREEDOM FROM SIN...
      1. The Jews misconstrued Jesus - Jn 8:33
         a. They claimed to have never been in bondage (i.e., political
            oppression)
         b. An odd claim in view of the present Roman occupation, and
            past Egyptian, Assyrian and Babylonian captivities!
      2. Jesus explains the context of His statement - Jn 8:34-36
         a. He is talking about the slavery of sin
         b. He offers freedom from the bondage of sin

   B. THE BONDAGE OF SIN...
      1. There is the guilt of sin
         a. A guilt shared by everyone - Ro 3:23; 1Jn 1:8
         b. Even if one has committed only one sin (if such were
            possible!) - Jm 2:10-11
      2. There is the power of sin
         a. Jesus describes how committing sin makes one a slave to sin
            - Jn 8:34
         b. Paul illustrated the dilemma of one in bondage to the power
            of sin - Ro 7:14-24

[More oppressive than any kind physical slavery is the spiritual slavery
that comes from being a sinner!  While man may legislate political
freedom, only Jesus provides freedom from the bondage of sin.  How He
does this can be seen as we now examine...]

II. THE TRUTH OF WHICH JESUS SPEAKS

   A. HIS DOCTRINE...
      1. The truth of which Jesus speaks is His own word or doctrine
         - Jn 8:31-32
      2. Which offers freedom from the bondage of sin
         a. From the guilt of sin through the blood of Christ - cf. 

            Mt 26:28; Ep 1:7
         b. From the power of sin through the Spirit of God - cf. Ro 8:
            1-2,12-13

   B. WHICH WE MUST OBEY...
      1. To be His disciples indeed - Jn 8:31; cf. Lk 6:46
      2. To be set free from sin - Ro 6:17-18; cf. He 5:9

   C. BEGINNING WITH BAPTISM INTO CHRIST...
      1. In which we are crucified with Christ - Ro 6:3-4a,6a
      2. In which we die to sin, thus freed from sin - Ro 6:6b,7,11a
         a. Its guilt removed by the blood of Jesus - Ac 2:38; 22:16
         b. Its power weakened by the gift of the Holy Spirit - Ac 2:38;
            Ep 3:16
      3. In which we rise to newness of life, free now to serve God - 

         Ro 6:4c,11b-14,17-18
         a. With the aid of the continual cleansing of Jesus' blood
            - 1Jn 1:9
         b. With the aid of the Spirit in putting to death the deeds of
            the body - Ro 8:12-13

   D. CONTINUING WITH ABIDING IN HIS WORD...
      1. As stated by Jesus - Jn 8:31
      2. As reiterated by John - 2Jn 9

CONCLUSION

1. Perhaps we can now better appreciate the significance of the Great
   Commission...
   a. To make disciples by baptizing them - Mt 28:19
   b. To make disciples by teaching them to observe all that Christ
      commanded them - Mt 28:20

2. For in carrying out the Great Commission into all the world...
   a. We offer the truth that really makes one free!
   b. Freedom from sin, the burden which truly oppresses mankind!

Are you under the heavy burden of sin, both it's guilt and it's power?
Then respond to the Savior's tender invitation:

   "Come to Me, all [you] who labor and are heavy laden, and I will
   give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am
   gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
   For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." (Mt 11:28-30)

Accept His call to discipleship ("take My yoke...learn from Me"),
remembering His promise in our text:

   "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."
                                                      (Jn 8:36)

Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011

 

From Gary... The Last Laugh

Red Skelton on the Ed Sullivan Show

This man was funny- and without dirty jokes.  A humble man, with a sense of humor unequalled in its originality.  When I thought his humor for awhile, I wondered- Does God have a sense of humor?  Well, of course he does!  Just think of all those funny looking animals out there- Kangaroos, Anteaters, Snails, Giraffes, to name just a few.  And not just with animals- remember the episode with Sarah- how she laughed at the prospect of having a child at her advanced age and a year later God had here name her son "Issac", which means he who laughs. Today, some people think they are too smart, or sophisticated to believe in the Bible and those who do are stupid and funny; ridiculous creatures to be pitied. But, like Issac, God has the last laugh on those who think they are above all that "religious stuff".  I remember a passage from the book of 1st Corinthians that fits right in here...

1 Corinthians, Chapter 1

  4  I always thank my God concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus; 5 that in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge;  6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:  7 so that you come behind in no gift; waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ;  8 who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.  10 Now I beg you, brothers, through the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.  11 For it has been reported to me concerning you, my brothers, by those who are from Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. 12 Now I mean this, that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” “I follow Cephas,” and, “I follow Christ.”  13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?  14 I thank God that I baptized none of you, except Crispus and Gaius,  15 so that no one should say that I had baptized you into my own name.  16 (I also baptized the household of Stephanas; besides them, I don’t know whether I baptized any other.)  17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Good News—not in wisdom of words, so that the cross of Christ wouldn’t be made void.  18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are saved it is the power of God.  19 For it is written, 

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing.”

  20  Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the lawyer of this world? Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of this world?  21 For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn’t know God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe.  22 For Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom,  23 but we preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to Jews, and foolishness to Greeks,  24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.  25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.  26 For you see your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble; 27 but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong;  28 and God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that are not, that he might bring to nothing the things that are:  29 that no flesh should boast before God.  30 But of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:  31 that, according as it is written, “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.”

Don't make a million dollars a year? Be happy!  Don't have a Rolls Royce sitting in your driveway?  Smile !! Don't have fancy parties with the rich and famous knocking on your door? Be content!!! Why? Because God has chosen the lowly of this world- those who have little in the way of "things" to be open to understand the riches that are in heaven.  And some people will always laugh at you for your beliefs, but God doesn't. Christians may be a joke to some people, but the fact that Jesus died for us is no joke.  Let people laugh - God always wins in the end.  And I can't wait to get to heaven to answer just one more thing that is on my mind- I wonder if God tells jokes???  If so, I bet that they will be funnier than anything Red Skelton could ever dream up!!!!!

From Laura Dayton... RESTORE ONCE MORE LOVING GOD WITH A WHOLE HEART

RESTORE ONCE MORE LOVING GOD WITH A WHOLE HEART

How do we please God? In the previous two articles we looked at two duties of man necessary in order to please our God and be blessed in our walk with Him. Understanding the importance of fearing the Lord is the beginning of gaining wisdom for life. (Proverbs 9:4) The second directive is dedicating ourselves to walking in God’s ways so as to ensure entrance into eternal life with our Father in heaven.

Deuteronomy 10:12-13 reveals yet another aspect of pleasing God – LOVING Him with all our hearts. How then do we accomplish this in real life? To answer this question we can look to Scripture to help us. Covenant love with God and others is more a matter of will and decision than it is about how we feel. Faithfulness to those attitudes and actions revealed in Scripture is a key to success.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 outlines how to love God evidenced by how we love others. In fact, scripture says that if we do not know how to love, “we are nothing!” (vs. 2) How do we love? We are to be long-suffering, kind, not envious, not proud and needing to be the center of attention. Love is not rude, isn’t self-seeking, is not easily provoked and does not gossip. Love is not happy to see others fall. Love acts truthfully and bears up, believes, hopes, and endures to the end! Scripture says in 1 John 4:20 a truth concerning loving God. He who loves God, must love his brother! This week, let’s pursue love!

From Bill Dayton... A GIFT FOR OUR SAVIOR

A GIFT FOR OUR SAVIOR

This is a special season in America. It is a time of remembrance, family love, reacquainting ourselves with friends and the giving of gifts. It is a time when the world remembers the birth of the Savior, the greatest gift ever given mankind! As we remember, let’s not forget to praise and thank our God.

As children, we were taught to express appreciation upon receiving a gift or special treat? We were trained to: write a note, give a verbal thank you, show affection, or share our blessings with others. Today, many show little gratitude but rather possess a sense of “entitlement.” This has become a sickness in America’s heart.

The Psalmist David wrote a beautiful reminder for us in the 103^rd Psalm concerning this perspective. Here he encourages us to express to God our appreciation for all His gifts. In verses 1-2 David admonishes us to: “… bless the lord” with our whole being and never forget all His benefits. To bless the Lord is to call Him holy, to state our love and gratitude, to worship, praise and celebrate His utter perfection. To bless the Lord is to speak well of Him and tell others of His mercy and goodness.

 In verses 3-5 David enumerates God glorious benefits: He heals, redeems, crowns, and satisfies His people. As we remember Jesus during this lovely time of year, let’s not forget to BLESS THE LORD make a new resolution toNEVER FORGET all His benefit!