"Please judge me" by Bryan Gibson

http://insearchoftruth.org/articles/please_judge_me.html

“Please Judge Me”

That’s right, it’s time we flipped the script on the overused and misused slogan of so many — “don’t judge me.” Me personally, I want to know when I’m wrong — in any area of my spiritual life. I do “examine (my) own work” (Galatians 6:2); I do “judge” myself (1 Corinthians 11:31), but I may be blind to what others can clearly see.

Just to be clear, I’m not talking about the “command fire to come down from heaven” spirit of judgment displayed by James and John (Luke 9:51-56). Final judgment belongs to the Lord, but you can help me get ready for that judgment by judging me now — by pointing out my sins.

I would urge you to not judge me too hastily, to “not judge according to appearance, but…with righteous judgment” (John 7:24). But if you know the facts, and the facts point to my guilt, please love me enough to rebuke me (Revelation 3:19), because “open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed” (Proverbs 27:5). “Faithful are the wounds of a friend” (Proverbs 27:6), so don’t be afraid to wound me.

I would also prefer that you not judge me hypocritically, that you not be guilty of the same things of which you accuse me (Matthew 7:1-5; Romans 2:1-3). Not for my sake, because your hypocrisy doesn’t change my innocence or guilt, but for your sake. Make sure you humbly apply the same standard (the gospel) to yourself that you apply to me, and let’s both be willing to repent.

And yes, it would be easier on me (and you) if you come to me, at least initially, “in a spirit of gentleness” (Galatians 6:1). Circumstances may call for a sharper rebuke (Titus 1:13), and if that’s the case, it’s on me to respond with a “broken and a contrite heart” (Psalms 51:17). Bottom line — be careful in your approach, but from my standpoint, how you speak to me doesn’t change the facts. If I’m guilty of sin, that’s my biggest concern, not the manner in which you spoke.

It could be that my actions call for a public rebuke, much like Peter received at the hands of Paul (Galatians 2:13-14). And though I have no intention to do so, if I publicly teach false doctrine, I shouldn’t be surprised when you feel the need to warn others about me. Public teaching invites public scrutiny, and if necessary, public rebuke — I understand that, and I also understand that if I listen to correction along the way, it should never come to that.

“Don’t judge me” — here’s what God says about that approach: “He who refuses correction goes astray” (Proverbs 10:17). “He who hates corrections is stupid” (Proverbs 12:1). “He who hates correction will die”(Proverbs 15:10). “He who disdains instruction despises his own soul…” (Proverbs 15:32).

“Please judge me” — here’s what God says about that approach: “He who regards a rebuke will be honored” (Proverbs 13:18). “He who receives correction is prudent” (Proverbs 15:5). “The ear that hears the rebukes of life will abide among the wise…he who heeds rebuke gets understanding” (Proverbs 15:31-32).

So, which is the better approach? You be the judge.

Source: Prattmont Church of Christ

Author: Bryan Gibson

Grow Up! by Ben Fronczek

http://granvillenychurchofchrist.org/?p=1155

Grow Up!

Grow Up!

Most people like babies including baby animals, like kittens, puppies, baby lambs, goats and even baby cows. There is just something about them that’s adorable and cute. But something would not be right if babies stayed babies, if puppies stayed puppies, and if baby cows just stayed calves. All living things are meant to grow and mature into something God meant them to be as they grow older.

The same is true for each of us spiritually. After we are born again, after we exit the waters of Baptism we are referred to as a babe in Christ. Not only is our slate wiped clean of all past sin, we know little about being a Christian. Something is expected to happen as time goes on, it is only natural for us to grow and mature into something very special, something God designed us to be.

As I thought about this, I thought about my role here as a teacher and preacher. What is my job here? Is it my job to entertain you each week with a good sermon and Bible study? Is it my job to intrigue you or tickle your ears with something you do not know or have not heard before? Am I just a point man, someone to lead the pack or in this case this congregation?  As I thought about it I realized it, it’s not my job to entertain you or tickle your ears with new trivia, or intrigue you, and I am definitely not the leader or kingpin of this church; that’s Jesus’ role.

So what’s my job here? Yes it is to preach, yes it is to teach, but not to entertain you or tickle your ears, but rather to feed you up to a point, and to encourage you grow and mature and do that which our Lord has so designed you to do as an individual in His Kingdom..

Just like there comes a point in it life where a berry bush brings forth berries and an apple tree bears apples, and a cows produces milk, Christians are meant to grow and mature to a point where they bear some kind of fruit.

Napoleon once pointed to a map of China and said, “There lies a sleeping giant. If it ever wakes up, it will be unstoppable.”  Likewise I could say, “The church in the United States is a sleeping giant. If it ever wakes up, it will be unstoppable.”  Million attend their different  churches each Sunday, and that is about as far as their faith takes them. There is simply no doubt that if all church members were as active as Christ calls them to be, the church could reshape our world and our culture. Oh how wonderful it would be!

According to a Gallup survey only 10% of American church members are active in any kind of ministry. That’s why I consider the church a sleeping giant. World-wide too many members are sitting on their hands.

Even sadder is the fact that the Gallup survey said that 50% of church members have no interest in serving in any ministry at all. Think about that! Half of all church members say that they simply want to remain spectators. When asked to serve in a ministry, they say, “I just don’t feel led to get involved.”

After I heard those statistics I could not help but consider or think of a couple of possible reasons why this is so – a couple of reasons why Christians don’t want get involved in any way or form. Here is a couple of thoughts I came up with…

#1. These members simply don’t know and love Jesus enough. They want Him as a personal savior, but do not act like He is their Lord. They want what He is willing give, but aren’t moved serve Him and give back in return.

#2. Another reason why Christians may not want to get involved is because many preachers, teachers, and elders or shepherds aren’t doing a good job at what they should be doing. In other words these members aren’t being fed what they need in order to grow and mature in the faith. And even if members are being properly taught, maybe church leaders aren’t encourage their more mature members enough to get out there and do something!!  Like a mama bird pushes it’s baby out of it’s nest to encourages it to fly on its own, over and over the New Testament instructs members to get out and get involved in some kind of ministry.

Read 1 Peter 4:7-11 “7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. 8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”

Peter tells these early Christians to pray, Love each other deeply, offer hospitality. He said, use whatever gift you have to serve others. In doing so you  administer God’s grace to others. In other words, God uses members of the church to personally bless others when we use the abilities He gave us.

Each of us have God given abilities. You may not be able to teach or preach, but maybe you can cook, maybe you can make or fix things, maybe you entertain, or visit, or maybe you like to talk on the phone, or maybe you are good at listening. Everybody can’t do what you can do. God gave you those abilities for a reason. And not only that, God gave us the ability to learn new talents. Many of those talent and abilities were given to you not only for your own benefit, but also for the benefit of others, and to glorify our God.

Now I want to read to you from Romans 12:3-11   “3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us] 4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.  6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. 7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. 9 Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. 10 Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. 11 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.”

Strong word here from Paul! Don’t get a big head because we are all part of the body, the church, and we belong to one another. Just like a family should depend on one another when in need, so too we have a responsibility to help one another if the need arises. Like Peter, Paul said we are to use our abilities, or talents or gifts to serve others. If it is teaching, teach, if it is encouraging, encourage, if it is leading, lead etc.. He ends this sections by saying what? That we should not be lazy but work hard and serve our self and make lots of money? No! He told Christians to work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. God has so ordained that each Christian should us those talent He has give us to His glory  Special note: Don’t judge others because they can’t do something as well as you ro what you consider easy. That just may be your gift and not theirs.

I would like to read to you another verse from Ephesians 4:11-16   “11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors(or shepherds)  and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.

15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”

So from this verse do you see what my job, and what our responsibility as Elders are? Very specifically, to equip you for works of service.

The Amplified Bible puts it this way: “11 And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers. 12 His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ’s body (the church),”

I believe that beyond God’s intention to save us by the blood of His one and only Son, He wanted to bring us into a nurturing body of believers to be trained and equipped so that we could in turn grow up and mature.  Then as Peter puts it in chapter 2 of his first letter, we are then to become a “holy priesthood, offering up spiritual sacrifices and service acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (Each of us are to become one of His ministers.)

I feel like I’ve done my best over the years to teach what I feel is some of the most important things I’ve learned in scripture in addition to the Saving work of Jesus. And that is to trust in our Lord with all your heart, to trust in His love for you, and to believe that God has promised that He will work all things out for our best interest. And also the fact that we have no need to be afraid, because God is so near to us, watching over us, ready to guide us. He wants to commune with us.   The Christian religion is not just about feeling like you have to go to church and do this or that, rather, the Christian religion is all about the close relationship you can have and enjoy  with our God, as we walk together and serve one another.

So my challenge for you this day as a teacher and preacher of God’s word, and as an elder, is to look at yourself and consider how God has blessed you. Consider what talent or abilities you have and then consider how you can start serving Him. Don’t be part of that 90% who choose not to get involved and serve in any way or form. I guarantee, if you look for the open doors of opportunity God will show them to you.  I just hope that you love Him enough to serve Him. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to jump out of the nest little bird and see what it is like to fly and soar with Him.

For more lessons click on the following link: http://granvillenychurchofchrist.org/?page_id=566

GO BY THE BOOK by Alfred Shannon Jr.

https://biblicalproof.wordpress.com/2011/06/

GO BY THE BOOK

If God didn’t command it, then why are we doing it? If God commanded it, then why aren’t we obeying it? If God spoke nothing of it, why are we speaking it? If God spoke it, then why aren’t we preaching it? If God condemned it, then why don’t we? If God didn’t condemn it, why should we? When we do the which God commanded, and no more, shall we not be rewarded?  And if we do that which God didn’t command, shall we not be punished? Then why would we dare, to do less or more, than that which God commanded us? When we learn to not go beyond that which was written in the scriptures, then, and only then, do we begin to understand the knowledge of God. Go by the Book, and stick to the strait and narrow.

Deut 4:2; Deut 5:32; Deut 12:32; Deut 28:14; Prov 4:27; Prov 30:6; Eccl 3:14; Act 4:19,20; Act 5:29; 1 Pet 4:11; Rev 22:18,19; 1 Cor 4:6; Rom 11:22; Mt 7:13,14

Listen to the Silence by Richard Mansel

http://www.oldpaths.com/Archive/Mansel/Richard/Dale/1964/silence.html

Listen to the Silence

Silence.

In the minds of many, the word conjures up images of loneliness and abandonment. Men fear the drumbeats of silence and will go to great lengths to protect themselves from it. Department stores, doctor's offices and the like pipe in soft music to ensure that their patrons are not awash in silence. Likewise, homes are often so filled with sounds emanating from the radio or the television that the voice of silence cannot be heard.
In this busy world of noise and chaos men have seemingly lost the ability to sit still and be quiet. Men have lost interest in the teeming sounds of the forest and the rustle of tall grass. Have you listened to the wind or the bushes lately? In their feeble voices they speak of God and His wonderful works. In their song is the praise of the Creator (Psalm 19:1).
Christians who wish to find peace in their lives can begin by discovering the power of silence. Thomas Carlyle said, "Speech is great, but silence is greater." For it is in the latter that we find the recipe for reverence.
Psalm 46:10 says, "Be still and know that I am God." Perceptively, Don Henley writes, "We are like sheep without a shepherd and we don't know how to be alone so we wander 'round this desert and end up following the wrong gods home."
Prayer is the foundation for a life of reverence. Bowing our hearts and minds to God is how we can come humbly before His throne (James 4:10). Prayer is the avenue men can use to speak to the Father. But do we ever hear what He has to say? Do we pray and then rush off to other activities? Or, do we follow our "amen" with a period of thoughtful meditation on the word of God? How can we hear the voice of God unless we take the time to listen? His majesty is everywhere, to be seen by those perceptive enough to recognize the evidence of His power.
"Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still" (Psalm 4:4).
Richard Mansel


Published in The Old Paths Archive
(http://www.oldpaths.com)

The size of the needle by Gary Rose

This farmer actually found “the needle in a haystack”! Why? Because it was big enough to see, that’s why!! I Wonder, would he have found it if it wasn’t quite so BIG? What if it were very small and made out of some worthless “white metal”? Would he still bother to look for it?

Truth is: we will seek for that which is important to us and ignore the rest.

Which leads us to a series of three parables which Jesus taught to the Pharisees and Scribes…

Luke 15 (World English Bible)

  ¹ Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming close to him to hear him.  ² The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.” 

  ³  He told them this parable.  ⁴  “Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it?   ⁵  When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing.   ⁶  When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’   ⁷  I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.   ⁸  Or what woman, if she had ten drachma coins, if she lost one drachma coin, wouldn’t light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek diligently until she found it?   ⁹  When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost.’   ¹⁰  Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting.” 

  ¹¹  He said, “A certain man had two sons.   ¹²  The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of your property.’ He divided his livelihood between them.   ¹³  Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living.   ¹⁴ When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need.   ¹⁵  He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs.   ¹⁶  He wanted to fill his belly with the husks that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any.   ¹⁷  But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare, and I’m dying with hunger!   ¹⁸  I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight.   ¹⁹  I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.”’ 

  ²⁰  “He arose, and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.   ²¹  The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 

  ²²  “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.   ²³ Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat, and celebrate;   ²⁴  for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’ They began to celebrate. 

  ²⁵  “Now his elder son was in the field. As he came near to the house, he heard music and dancing.   ²⁶  He called one of the servants to him, and asked what was going on.   ²⁷  He said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and healthy.’   ²⁸  But he was angry, and would not go in. Therefore his father came out, and begged him.   ²⁹  But he answered his father, ‘Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.   ³⁰  But when this, your son, came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’ 

  ³¹  “He said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.   ³²  But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’” 

Sheep were important in Israel because they meant wealth. Therefore, they were to be cared for and protected. And if you lost some money, you would look everywhere until you found it, because money has always been hard to come by and is therefore of great importance. And what about someone who decides to go his own way, do his own thing- even if that means living an ungodly life, totally devoted to self-indulgence and sin and then decides to seek God and obey HIM?

Possessions are important, but not as important as people. And a person who decides to change their life by repenting of sin is blessed and we should be happy for them!!!

The Pharisees and Scribes needed to see the importance of seemingly unimportant people and realize that Jesus was with them to help them get right with God!!!

How important is all this? Well, Jesus actually used three parables to teach the value of “worthless people”- so, the answer is VERY IMPORTANT!!!

So, the next time we see a “worthless” person- What will we do?

Good question, isn’t it???

Finally, remember this one thing: every person is my superior in that I might learn to appreciate the possibility of what that person may BECOME; with God, anything is possible!!!