Year: 2020 (Page 6 of 6)

“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” (Matthew 28:19-20, NASB).
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Contents:

1) Proclaim His Excellence (Colby Junkin)
2) Right Attitudes for Faithfulness (Warren Berkley)
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Proclaim His Excellence

Colby Junkin

The greatest blessing ever bestowed upon mankind was salvation from the dreadful sickness of sin. It was sin that drove man away from the precious and intimate relationship that they had with God (Genesis 3:6-8). It was sin that took the greatest characters of the Bible and humiliated them for their weaknesses (2 Samuel 12:13; 16:5-14). It was sin, man’s complete abandonment of God’s will, that led entire nations into utter ruin and captivity (2 Kings 17:7-19; 21:10-15). It was sin and its selfish pride that motivated the Pharisees to hate a lowly Nazarene (John 11:57; Philippians 2:7). It was sin that placed the Son of God upon the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21). It was sin that I have committed that caused my Jesus to die.

When we think about these things and the consequences of our sins, we should be motivated to better worship, praise, and honor of our King. The forgiveness that we obtain through God’s grace and the blood of Christ should move us to greater service and devotion to God. Our entire lives should be surrounded with constant reminders of the blessings that God has freely bestowed. We should be eternally thankful to our Creator.

In the second chapter of first Peter, Peter opened with similar ideas (2:1-3). If we have tasted the kindness of the Lord and understood the richness of His Word, then we should be stimulated to put off the life of this world by putting on Jesus Christ. Our lives on earth are temporary and but a vapor, but those who do the will of the Father will live forever (James 4:14; 1 John 2:17). Our weaknesses and sins that once controlled our hearts and minds should be repented of and driven completely out of our lives. We should not only raise our children “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord,” but we ourselves should be trained by the glories revealed in the Bible.

Peter continued to strengthen his readers by compelling them to see the greater glories revealed in the church of our Lord. Peter instructed the Christians to remember that they “are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (2:4). These tasks, as spiritual priests, take us from the realm of this earth and exalt us to a greater and higher plane. Paul spoke of this place in the book of Ephesians and called it “the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:3, 20; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12). It is as if our entire lives are elevated from the physical pressures of this life, and we are given the opportunity to see heaven in the distance as we press onward to making our goal. We must learn to imitate the faith and heart of Abraham who confessed to be a stranger and pilgrim on this earth and by faith searched for the better country above (Hebrews 11:13-16).

Peter would ultimately conclude his thoughts with giving Old Testament descriptions to the New Testament Christian. Every individual Christian has been called to be a part of “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession” (2:9a). A Christian has been called by the gospel to live a life pleasing to God (2 Thessalonians 2:14; Ephesians 5:10). A calling that went forth from Jerusalem and can now be found in every part of the earth. This calling is not limited to nationality, race, sex, or culture, but rather it is open to all who will listen and obey. As Peter continued to say, “for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (2:10). Is there any greater blessing extended to mankind?

Finally, it is when we understand all of these great blessings that our hearts cannot contain our joy, but rather in praise we “proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called us out darkness into His marvelous light” (2:9b). We pour out our hearts in praise and exaltation to our Lord. As Peter said, “and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1:8). Our lives have completely evolved from living day-to-day and being filled with selfish desires, to living for eternity and giving all praise to our God. Is your life given to proclaiming the excellencies of God, or are you still living in the darkness of sin?

— Via articles from the River Bend church of Christ, May 12, 2019
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Right Attitudes for Faithfulness

Warren Berkley

It is clear to every Bible student, you cannot be faithful to the Lord if your attitude is not in keeping with the teachings of Christ (Phil. 2:5; Col. 3:17). Attitude has to do with the content of your mind, your disposition and the control you exercise over your emotions.

The simple truth is, the New Testament is loaded with teaching, examples, prohibitions and warnings about attitude. This spiritually healthy instruction should be the basis of our discipline over our mind. Your attitude toward God is basic. All other phases of attitude are rooted in your attitude toward God. We must hold Him in the highest esteem, revere Him, worship Him and obey Him with wholehearted love and trust (Eccl. 5:1,2; Matt. 22:37; Rom. 12:1,2; Prov. 1:7).

Once your attitude toward God begins to weaken, all other phases of attitude will likely deteriorate. Let us be aware of this and constantly monitor our attitude toward God, seeking to enrich our relationship with Him. Your attitude toward Christ is a component of your attitude toward God. If God is your father, you will love His Son (Jno. 8:42). If you love God and want to obey Him, you will have a favorable and grateful acceptance of His Son, Jesus Christ. You will regard Him as the perfect expression of Deity and humanity, the spotless Son of God who died in order for you to be free from sin and enjoy eternal life. Likewise, you will read and study about His attitude with the highest esteem, seeking to imitate Him in all your behavior.

Your attitude toward others develops out of your reverence for Deity. If you believe in God and follow His Son, your behavior toward others will be based on that. You will seek to do all God has said about how to treat people. You will study and follow the compassion of Christ, as well as His boldness in seeking to save the lost. His relationship to others becomes your pattern (see 1 Pet. 2:18-25).

Your attitude toward other members of God’s family will be suitable, in keeping with all that is written about such relationships. Peter teaches God’s people to “love one another fervently with a pure heart” (1 Pet. 1:22), and John taught extensively that “we should love one another” (1 John 3:11). “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you” (Eph. 4:32).

Our attitude must endeavor to follow the pattern of unselfish humility demonstrated by our Lord (Phil. 2:1-5). Your attitude toward sin will be fitting. To remain right with God, it is necessary to maintain an abhorrence of sin (Rom. 12:9). If you court the favor of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God (Jas. 4:4). It is essential to arm yourself with “the same mind” or attitude Jesus had against sin and error (1 Pet. 4:10).

Your attitude toward life should be realistic and godly, not bitter and angry. If you murmur and complain about your life, and this becomes your habitual attitude – you cannot be what you should be! And when you get to this low state, you need to stop and recognize that the devil has seduced and maneuvered you into this state of constant anger and resentment. While you remain in this mood you cannot develop the love described in 1 Cor. 13:4-7, and you cannot grow and taste the kindness of the Lord (1 Pet. 2:1-3).

In the “beatitudes” (Matt. 5:3-12), the Lord addresses every phase or direction of attitude: Your attitude toward God (poor in spirit & hungering and thirsting after righteousness), your attitude toward yourself (meek), your attitude toward others (merciful), your attitude toward those who oppose you (vss. 10-13), and your attitude toward sin (mourn and purity in heart). Growth and faithfulness depends upon the constant development of these qualities.

— Via The Beacon, January 5, 2020
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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 a.m. (Bible class); 10 a.m. & 5 p.m. (worship)
Wednesday: 7 p.m. (Bible class)
evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (912) 281-9917
Tom@ThomasTEdwards.com
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)

“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” (Matthew 28:19-20, NASB).
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Contents:

1) Written Revelation (Irvin Himmel)
2) Start the New Year with Daily Bible Reading
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Written Revelation

Irvin Himmel

God revealed Himself to man in the age of the patriarchs. Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were not left without a disclosure of the divine will. However, there was no written revelation in those days. With the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai, God began the utilization of writing to make known and preserve His revelation. The Ten Commandments were given on tables of stone, “written with the finger of God” (Ex. 31:18; 34:1). Moses wrote the words of the law in a book (Deut. 31:24). He wrote “all the words of the Lord” (Ex. 24:4). He wrote Israel’s journeys “by the commandment of the Lord” (Num. 33:2).

The Book of Moses

The writings of Moses have been copied, translated, and read through the centuries. Nehemiah lived about a thousand years after Moses. In the time of Nehemiah, “the book of Moses” was read in the ears of the people (Neh. 3:1). More than four hundred years later, the book of Moses was still being used. Jesus asked the Sadducees if they had not read certain things “in the book of Moses” (Mk. 12:26). On another occasion, Jesus said to some of the unbelieving Jews, “For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?” (John 5:46, 47). After the Law of Moses was fulfilled and therefore no longer in force, some continued to read the writings of Moses and were trying to follow the Old Law. Several years after the establishment of the church, the apostles acknowledged in Acts 15:21, “For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.” Today we have the writings of Moses in the first five books of the Old Testament.

The Writing Prophets

God used many other servants to write His words during the Mosaic age. Samuel the prophet told the people the manner of the kingdom and “wrote it in a book” (1 Sam. 10:25). Isaiah was charged, “Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever” (Isa. 30:8). Jehovah said to Jeremiah, “Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book” (Jer. 30:2). Habakkuk was told, “Write the vision, and make it plain upon the tables, that he may run that readeth it” (Hab. 2:2). Jesus Christ respected the Old Testament writings. He said to the disciples following His resurrection, “These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me” (Lk. 24:44). The apostles honored the Old Testament writings. For example, Paul said, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (Rom. 15:4).

Apostolic Writings

God used the New Testament writers to reveal the Messiahship of Jesus, the plan of redemption, and the blessings of the kingdom. John said, “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (John 20:30, 31). John wrote to produce saving faith in the hearts of honest readers. Through the study of the apostolic writings we learn our duties to God. Paul said, “If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord” (1 Cor. 14:37). New Testament writings give assurance to the faithful in Christ Jesus. “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:13). “And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full” (1 John 1:4).

These sacred writings can be understood. Paul told the Ephesians that he wrote, “Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ” (Eph. 3:3,4). He said to the church at Corinth, “For we write nothing else to you than what you read and understand, and I hope you will understand until the end” (2 Cor. 1:13, New American Standard Bible). The Lord told John on the island of Patmos, “What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia” (Rev. 1:11). “Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter” (Rev. 1:19). John did write those things, and he warned that we are not to add to, nor to take from, “the words of the book” (Rev. 22:18, 19).

Advantages

Written revelation has distinct advantages over oral communication. That which is put in written form is conducive to preservation. Written words can be read, studied, re-read, copied, translated, and analyzed with ease. No communication is more important than that which comes from God. Wisely, God has made known through the Scriptures all that we need for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16, 17). We thank God that He has unveiled His will in a manner that will stand the test of time, and a form that makes it readily accessible.

— Via Truth Magazine XIX: 32, p. 498, June 19, 1975
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Start the New Year with Daily Bible Reading!

A good way to start the new year is with daily Bible reading!  And various schedules are made available on the Internet, which can help you to also keep track of your progress.

Pick out the schedule of your choosing: Read from Genesis through Revelation, or from the Old and the New Testaments each day, or read through the Bible chronologically, or how about reading from four different books of the Bible daily with the M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan?  This is the one I have chosen for 2020, and here is a sample of the readings:

January 1: Genesis 1, Matthew 1, Ezra 1, and Acts 1
January 2: Genesis 2, Matthew 2, Ezra 2, and Acts 2
January 3: Genesis 3, Matthew 3, Ezra 3, and Acts 3
January 4: Genesis 4, Matthew 4, Ezra 4, and Acts 4

“And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32, NASB).

— Tom
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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 a.m. (Bible class); 10 a.m. & 5 p.m. (worship)
Wednesday: 7 p.m. (Bible class)
evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (912) 281-9917
Tom@ThomasTEdwards.com
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)