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The Gospel Observer
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the
nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you,
and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age"
(Matt. 28:19,20).
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September 25, 2016
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Contents:
1) When Joy Follows Weeping (R.J. Evans)
2) Does God Hear All Prayers? (Roger D. Campbell)
3) Simplifying Cubit Conversions to Yards or Feet (Tom Edwards)
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-1-
When Joy Follows Weeping
R.J. Evans
"Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning" (Psa.
30:5).
Even the most faithful of God's people experience affliction and
sorrow. The Psalmist stated, "Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all" (Psa.
34:19). Paul and Barnabas told the new disciples in Lystra,
Iconium, and Antioch that "We must through many tribulations enter
the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22). While this might be somewhat
disturbing and alarming, it may look different when we realize that
joy often follows periods of sorrow. And it is most certainly
encouraging to realize that the ultimate eternal joy of heaven will
follow whatever afflictions, persecutions or sufferings we may have
to endure while here on earth. Our text is not the only
Scripture which says that joy follows weeping. In this
article, let us notice a few examples of this principle.
Just a few verses below our text, we find the Psalmist saying, "You
have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my
sackcloth and clothed me with gladness" (Psa. 30:11). Job
spent many long nights of weeping, but finally joy came in the
morning (Job 42). In the days of Esther, wicked Haman sought
to destroy the Jews. They, no doubt, had many long nights of
weeping. But they were delivered through the efforts of
Esther, resulting in Haman being hanged instead of Mordecai.
The Bible referred to this as "the month which was turned from
sorrow to joy for them, and from mourning to a holiday" (Esther
9:22). Looking toward the cross and the empty tomb, Jesus said
to His disciples, "you will weep and lament, but the world will
rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned
into joy" (Jn. 16:20).
Surely no one ever experiences joy following weeping more than the
sinner who comes to Jesus in gospel obedience and is forgiven of all
his sins (Matt. 11:28). We may never, in this life, fully
understand why Christians often experience joy after weeping.
One reason, however, may be found in Ecclesiastes 7:3 -- "Sorrow is
better than laughter, For by a sad countenance the heart is made
better." Perhaps weeping helps get our heart in a condition
for a blessing. Weeping has a way of releasing us from our
sorrows. Also, I feel confident that joy so often follows weeping
because our Lord is touched by our tears and responds to our
needs. We close with this wonderful assurance: "For we do not
have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but
was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us
therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain
mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:15-16).
-- Via the bulletin of the Southside church of Christ, Gonzales,
Louisiana (January 4, 2015)
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"But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the "greatest of
these is love" (1 Cor. 13:13, NASB).
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-2-
Does God Hear All Prayers?
Roger D. Campbell
God communicates the thoughts and desires of His mind (that is, His
will) to you and me through His word, the Bible. The way that
we, as humans, communicate or speak the message of our mind to God
is through what the Bible calls prayer. In both the Old
Testament and the New Testament, we often read about prayer.
The truth is, it is only through the teaching of the Bible that we
can know the Lord's will concerning prayer. Thus, for any
question about prayer, we must turn to the word of God and see what
it says. Doesn't that make sense to you?
Does the God of heaven hear the prayers of humans? If you
mean, "Does God know when people are praying to Him?" then the
answer is "yes." God knows all that is taking place on the
earth at all times. He knows our every thought, every action,
and every word spoken, including our prayers. How can we be
sure about this? Because the Bible says, "God is greater than
our heart, and knows all things" (1 John 3:20). All the
affairs of mankind are "naked and open unto the eyes" of the Lord
(Hebrews 4:13). So, yes, God knows when humans are praying.
Does the God of heaven hear prayers that are offered to Him in
different languages of the world at the same time? Because He
is the "Almighty God" (Genesis 17:1), there is nothing that is too
hard for Him (Genesis 18:14). He understands all languages of
men. And, yes, He can handle all the prayers that might be
coming His way all at the same time, regardless of the language!
Should we conclude, though, that every prayer is acceptable to the
Lord? To say that He can hear and understand when people speak
to Him is one thing. To say that every prayer is acceptable to
Him, well, that is another matter entirely. In Proverb 28:9 it
is written, "He who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even
his prayer shall be abomination." This verse makes it clear
that if a person refuses to heed or obey the message of God's law,
then he should not expect the Lord to receive his prayer.
Why? Because God counts it as an abomination when men refuse
to obey Him, and all the praying in the world cannot change
that. Prayer cannot take the place of obedience. The
Lord rejects the prayer or cry of a disobedient person.
What does the New Testament say? In 1 Peter 3:12 we read, "For
the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ear is open to
their prayers...." According to this verse, which prayers does
the Lord receive? The prayers of "the righteous." A
righteous person is one who does righteousness (1 John 3:7).
Since all of God's commands are righteousness (Psalm 119:172), then
a righteous person is one who keeps the commandments of the
Lord. The Lord promises to receive the prayers of such a
person, but not the prayers of the unrighteous.
One final consideration. What about praying for
salvation? Never in the Bible do we read that the Lord or any
of His inspired spokesmen told a person that had never been saved
something like this: "To be saved from your past sins, you need to
pray to God, and He will forgive you." The so-called "sinner's
prayer" is not to be found in the Bible at all. It is true
that there are New Testament passages in which we read that people
were told to pray in order to receive forgiveness, but when we
closely examine the contexts of those verses, what do we find?
They were addressed or spoken to those who were already Christians
and had committed sin after being saved. Thus, as Christians
or children of God, in order to get back into the right relationship
with God, what they needed to do was pray. Simon, who had
already believed and been baptized (saved -- Acts 2:38-41, 47), was
told to pray for forgiveness (Acts 8:13, 21-23). We also read
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John
1:9). Again, however, this was not spoken to non-Christians,
but to those who were already God's children (compare 1 John 2:12).
Does God want men to pray? The Bible says He does. But
does He accept all prayers? Not according to the Bible.
Let us all search the Scriptures and accept the instruction that we
find therein concerning prayer.
-- via Seek The Old Paths, January 2015)
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"and whatever we ask we receive from
Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are
pleasing in His sight" (1 John 3:22, NASB).
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Pray "...on behalf of all men" (1 Timothy
2:1, NASB).
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"pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17,
NASB).
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Simplifying Cubit Conversions to Yards or Feet
Tom Edwards
This is very simple, but maybe something often overlooked and not
used: As pointed out back in April, we don't have to convert
Hebrew cubits to yards by multiplying the number of cubits by 18
(the length of a Hebrew cubit in inches) and then dividing by
36. Rather, we can simplify that by dividing the number of
cubits by 2 (just by glancing at it). So 50 cubits equals 25
yards.
Of course, we could then also easily multiply the 25 yards by 3 to
convert it to feet; but here, too, is another way, which wasn't
mentioned last time: Simply add to the number of cubits 1/2 of
that number. So you can think of 50 cubits, for example, as
"50 cubits + 25 cubits = 75 feet."
This was helpful in a recent daily Bible reading that ended with
Esther 5:14. In that passage, Haman, who was filled with much
anger toward Mordecai for never bowing down to him and giving
homage, was advised by his wife and friends to "Have a gallows
fifty cubits high made and in the morning ask the king
to have Mordecai hanged on it...." If
you're like me, then you find it much easier to
visualize seventy-five feet rather than 50 cubits; and
of which it appears (by that extraordinary height for
a gallows) that Haman wanted to make sure that this
display would be observable from anywhere in the
city! Of course, little did Haman know at the
time that it would actually be him -- and not Mordecai
-- that would end up on the gallows! (Esther 7:10).
The word "cubit" comes from the Latin "cubitum," the
"elbow." The length of a cubit is the distance
between the elbow and the tip of the middle finger,
which is usually about 18 inches (or 45.72 cm).
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-4-
News & Notes
Raylee Metts, who is in only first grade, has been in
much pain with brain cancer. Her family has requested prayer
for her comfort and for her family.
Lexi Crawford is only fifteen years old and has a type of
muscle cancer that has metastasized and is also giving her much pain
and fatigue.
Though Camp Tatum's MRI showed "clear" September 22, a
lumbar puncture revealed on the following day that there are still
some cancer cells; but they have decreased from 23% to 16%, and
there are still more treatments to go.
Cedell Fletcher (Jim Lively's brother-in-law) has had
trouble with his blood for a few years, which a transfusion about
every 6 weeks will normally improve; but this last recent time it
did not work; and he has been weak and dizzy.
Shirley Davis' toe-surgery will be October 5.
Ray Richards' open heart surgery turned out to be a
triple bypass. All went well.
Bennie Medlock has been receiving treatment for his
recent surgery on his lower back that had been infected.
We are glad to have Jim Lively back with us, following his
open heart surgery. He is also doing well.
The WordPress version of this week's bulletin:
https://thegospelobserver.wordpress.com/2016/10/01/the-gospel-observer-september-25-2016/
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The Steps That Lead to Eternal Salvation
1) Hear the gospel, for that is how faith comes (Rom.
10:17; John 20:30,31).
2) Believe in the deity of Christ (John 8:24; John
3:18).
3) Repent of sins (Luke 13:5; Acts 17:30).
4) Confess faith in Christ (Rom. 10:9,10; Acts
8:36-38).
5) Be baptized in water for the remission of sins (Mark
16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Rom. 6:3,4; Gal. 3:26,27; 1 Pet. 3:21).
6) Continue in the faith, living for the Lord; for, if
not, salvation can be lost (Heb. 10:36-39; Rev. 2:10; 2 Pet.
2:20-22).
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Tebeau Street
CHURCH OF CHRIST
1402 Tebeau Street, Waycross, GA 31501
Sunday services: 9:00 AM (Bible class); 10
AM & 5 PM (worship)
Tuesday: 7 p.m. (Ladies' Bible class)
Wednesday: 7 PM (Bible class)
evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (912) 614-8593
Tom@ThomasTEdwards.com
http://thegospelobserver.wordpress.com
(Gospel Observer website with pictures in WordPress)
http://thomastedwards.com/go
(Older version of Gospel Observer website without pictures, but
back to March 1990)
http://tebeaustreetchurchofchrist.org/
http://ThomasTEdwards.com/audioser.html
(audio sermons)