Hello from
Morrilton, Arkansas in view of Petit Jean Mountain beside the beautiful
Arkansas River. It seems that old winter
is fighting hard to stay with us.
Wednesday (27th) was a warm and sunny 65. They say that it will be 17 on Sunday evening. As we all know and take comfort in, spring is
just around the corner. I’m glad. It will be so good to see the flowers popping
up and the trees budding out again. God
has everything under control.
The Harding
Street church of Christ is doing just fine, continuing in the Way of Jesus Christ
in simplicity and steadfastness. It
seems that the world around us moves further and further away from three solid
Christian principles: continuance,
simplicity, and steadfastness. Is faith
in God through His only Son, Jesus Christ, repentance, confession, baptism, and
true Christian living so difficult to understand in these modern times? What does Hebrews 11:1 tell us about
faith? “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen.” Could it be that the very
reason life seems hopeless to too many people is found is this simple verse of
Scripture? Think about it. Faith is the very substance of hope. Though we may not “see” God, His Son, the
Holy Spirit, or heaven yet, our faith is the evidence and our confidence in
their reality. When we “mess up,” make a
mistake, do something wrong, fail to meet expectations, or commit sin, saying
“I’m sorry” and changing our hearts, minds, and actions is common sense and
exactly the right thing to do. Either
Jesus the Christ, the Savior or He isn’t.
There is no in between. He
is. To deny Him is to reject the Way,
the Truth, and the Life. Jesus is the
One and Only way to the Father (John 14:6).
No matter what people say or believe or teach, baptism is required for
salvation because Jesus declared it to be.
To His disciples He said, “Go, teach, baptize, and teach and He would be
right there with them” (Matthew 28:18-20).
Why do some feel as though these
basic principles are from some “bygone era” and should be discounted as
“old-fashioned” and irrelevant in this, our modern-day society? It is true.
The Bible is still relevant, still vibrant, still alive, still convicting,
still needed, still true yesterday, today, tomorrow, and forever. Count on it.
Sunday is
March 3rd and so we begin a new series of lessons entitled “A
Scripture Text for Life.” I am so
excited to share this series with you from Proverbs 3:1-6. Every Sunday morning sermon will be taken
from this simple text. Our first lesson
is taken from verses 1 and 2 “My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart
keep my commands; for length of day and long life and peace they will add to
you.” Simple and to the point! You would think so. After all, we all want good and happy days
and a long and peaceful life. But we
have a few problems that stand in the way of remembering and keeping what we
know to remember and keep; problems like deception (Eve), passion (David), fear
(Peter), greed (Judas Iscariot), and impatience (Probably you and me). What
was it that empowered Jesus to stay strong in the midst of these
temptations? He remembered. He kept.
We’ll consider these things and commit ourselves to remember and keep
God’s commands. Come and see.
No comments:
Post a Comment