Fall is in the Air up in the Country

     I can feel it.  Can you?  Fall is in the air.  I know that we have another few weeks of warm summer weather left, but it certainly is exciting to know that cooler weather is on the horizon.  Boy, do we need rain here in the country.  There is a little bit of green in the fields and round about, but brown is our primary color presently.  We are very thankful for the rain we have been receiving here and there.  God is good and knows our needs and will provide in His time and according to His.  We pray.  We hope.  We wait patiently for the Lord’s blessings.

     We are now trying to adjust our lives to the back-to-school routine; up earlier, traffic, waiting for school buses on the way to wherever we might be going, and busier evenings with homework, fall sporting events, and trying to get enough rest for the day’s responsibilities.  We must remember who we are in the busy times.  We are Christians first.  May we always remember our place in the Lord’s church.  Jesus spoke about having proper priorities in His sermon on the mountain in Matthew 5-7.  In Chapter 6, verse 33 Jesus said, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you.”  When we put first things first, all the other things in life will fall in line without much difficulty.  In addition to Christ’s expectations of His people we need to remember our Christian brothers and sisters who are depending on us when the church meets.  Our elders (Larry Arnett, Eddie Hawkins, and Andrew Shock) at the Enola Church of Christ have scheduled our Bible study and worship times late enough on Sunday for each of us to get a little extra sleep and still be present for Bible study at 10:00 and worship at 11:00 every Sunday.  Our Sunday evening assembly begins at 5:00 and concludes at 6:00, which gives us plenty of time to attend then be home early enough to prepare for Monday morning.  Our service on Wednesday evening is a little bit later (7:00), I know, but we end our Bible study classes promptly at 8:00.  I always look forward to our meetings together.

     This Sunday morning we will conclude our series entitled “Avoiding Foolish Behavior – Four Things People Do To Mess Up Their Lives.”  We must not allow fleshly desires to overrule the word of God.  We must not listen and take advice from someone who is unfamiliar with the word of God.  We must not blame someone else for something we bring on ourselves.  We must not shirk our own responsibilities for the sake of keeping the peace.  Abram and Sarai in Genesis 16 made all four of these foolish decisions when they followed a plan that was not from God.  What about us?  May we make wise decisions.  Our happiness, our peace, our prosperity, our life, and our eternal destiny depends on it.

     Our Sunday evening series is going very well.  We are studying about “The Seven Wonders of God’s Love.”  We have considered the source, the objective, and the dimensions of God’s love.  This week we will take a look at the superiority of the love of God.  Paul wrote to the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 13:13; “Now abides faith, hope, and love, these three, but the greatest of these is love.”  I hope you will be present on Sunday evenings for some really great lessons from God’s word.