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Birdwell Lane Church of Christ Big Spring, TX |
Weekly Thoughts - May 2009
| <---- April 2009 | -- | June 2009 ----> |
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03 - NON-NEGOTIABLE TRUTH 10 - GOD DOESN’T PLAY GAMES 17 - WHY YOU SHOULD ATTEND BIBLE CLASS 24 - HEADING FORWARD BY GOING BACKWARD 31 - HEAVEN AND HELL |
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NON-NEGOTIABLE TRUTH Change may not be bad, but each Christian must realize that basic biblical doctrine cannot be compromised. Today’s buzz word in religion is change. Our brotherhood is filled with calls for change. “Horse and buggy” methods are ineffective in our Space Age world, we are told. Depression era terminology will not get it in our computer-age nomenclature. “Change or die” is the cry.
See ya Sunday, Ralph |
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GOD DOESN’T PLAY GAMES Sometimes the Lord tells us in His Word to do things that may frighten is. For example, we read we should “Love our Neighbor (who may be hard to get along with) as our self” (Matthew 22:39). “Love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44). “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1-2). “Keep yourself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27). “Be doers of the Word and not hearers only” (James 1:27). “Be baptized for the remission of sin” (Matthew 28:19). When we come face to face with such commands, we may have a tendency to want to run and hide. Jonah experienced these feelings. In the book of Jonah we read that when God told Jonah to “go” to Nineveh and warn the city that God would utterly destroy the city, he was afraid. One can almost see the dust that Jonah kicked up as he ran. He went down to the sea, got into a boat, and tried to hide inside the darkness of the boat. He became so comfortable in his hidden position that he went to sleep. Jonah was trying to play games with God. But God doesn’t play games! Jonah became aware of this fact when he was cast overboard and swallowed by a great fish. In darkness of the fish’s belly, he finally repented and decided to do the will of God. As a result, a whole city was saved. God doesn’t play games. When we try to ignore the commands of God, and hide in the darkness of our little “excuse boats” we are deceiving ourselves. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked!” (Galatians 6:7). GOD DOESN’T PLAY GAMES with us! God will not play games with that neighbor or friend or relative who has never been baptized into Christ. If he or she dies outside of Christ, there will be no hope and that precious soul will spend eternity in Hell!!! (Revelation 20:15). If we have been running and hiding from God, we need to repent, and do His will. WHEN WE DO, WHO KNOWS? – perhaps enough souls will be saved, as a result, to fill this building. No – to fill, a whole city! See ya Sunday, Ralph |
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WHY YOU SHOULD ATTEND BIBLE CLASS
See ya Sunday, Ralph |
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HEADING FORWARD BY GOING BACKWARD Has the church become apathetic, complacent, and secular? Instead of being not of this world are we finding ourselves like the world? When looking at attendance and participation of the brethren not only here but across our great brotherhood one has to wonder what is going on. Consider the words of George Grant: “Recovery seems to have replaced repentance; dysfunction seems to have replaced instruction; drama have replaced dogma; positive thinking seems to have replaced passionate preaching; subjective experience seems to have replaced propositional truth; a practical regimen seems to have replaced a providential redemption; psychotherapy seems to have replaced discipleship; encounter groups seem to have replaced evangelistic teams; the “don’t-worry-be-happy” jingle seems to have replaced the “prepare-to-meet-thy-God” refrain; and the Twelve Steps seem to have replaced the one way. The only way to get where we are going, and find who we are, is to go backward. Jeremiah said to the people of his day: “Seek the old paths wherein is life.” (Jeremiah 6:16). We need to go back to the word and give an answer from it for the hope that lies within us (1 Peter 3:15). In order to give hope to the next generation we must proclaim the word of God and not sinful man’s deductions. See ya Sunday, Ralph |
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HEAVEN AND HELL Hell. Is it a real place, or only a figurative word to illustrate an ideal? Hell is a place that the lost will go after the Day of Judgment. Christ is the judge of the quick and the dead. For “the Father judges no man; but hath committed all judgment unto the Son” (John 5:22). What will Christ use to judge humanity? He will not use Himself, but the word that God gave to Him and Christ gave to us. John 12:48 – He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him – the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.” Judgment comes after death, “and as it is appointed for men to die once but after that the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27). In that day, a sentence will be pronounced from which there is no appeal and that goes into effect at once and forever. “And he shall separate one from another as the shepherd separated the sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand but the goats on his left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, “come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand. “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matthew 25:32). Hence, Hell and Heaven are both real locations and conditions for the eternal souls of men. See ya Sunday, Ralph |
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