Date: 2012-01-08
Message Title: What Is The Church
by Norman Gipson
Like Jesus, for it belongs to Him.
Instant in season and out of season.
Given to hospitality.
Hopeful at all times.
Truly dedicated to Christ.
Outgoing and friendly.
Fervent in spirit.
Telling the gospel to all.
Helping the good, hindering the evil.
Each one finding his place to serve.
Willing to sacrifice for Christ.
Obstinate in opposing error.
Righteous in character.
Loving in demeanor.
Disciplined and zealous.
according to the apostle Paul
Romans 12:1-2 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
2 Corinthians 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Philippians 1:27 Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel
1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Date: 2011-12-11
Message Title: Depictions Of Jesus
Jesus is depicted in numerous ways both within Scripture and outside of Scripture. This should come as no surprise because Jesus depicted Himself in numerous ways; from the phrase “son of man” to numerous images, like the bread of life (John 6:35) and the sheep pen (Jn. 10:7). Throughout history a number of images of Jesus have been coined that highlight an aspect of Jesus’ ministry to the exclusion of others, but some, like magician or revolutionary leader, seem to distort the Jesus of the canonical Gospels. Other images, such as mystic, moral leader, social reformer, motivational speaker, entrepreneur or salesman, are drawn from or applied to His ministry in ways that narrow and distort His person. Still other depictions (such as lunatic, fraud, deceiver, opportunist, cult leader) are intentionally derogatory and without foundation in the Gospels and historical investigation.
No single master image of Jesus suffices to integrate the kaleidoscope of images offered in the biblical literature. The multifaceted images of Jesus find strength in their variety and the light they shed on each other. These images, some originating with Jesus Himself and others crafted by the early church (like “pathfinder” – Acts 3:15; 5:31) have proven their worth as a powerful means of comprehending the ministry and person of Jesus.
I am preaching on a few of the depictions of Jesus in Scripture during the Sunday morning assemblies this month. Last week we looked at Jesus as King from the Gospel according to Matthew. This morning we are investigating Jesus as Savior from Luke’s Gospel account. Then on Sunday, December 18, I will be preaching on Jesus as the Lamb of God. I pray that these studies will deepen our understanding and devotion to our Lord. What is your favorite way of thinking of Jesus?
Date: 2011-11-27
Message Title: Biblical Acronyms
Our world is filled with acronyms. The military loves to use them and so do those who are into text messaging. Numerous acronyms have also been developed concerning the Christian faith. In an “acronym crazy” world, it might be that some of the acronyms below will help you communicate the faith to others. Before we get to the acronyms, please be aware that some truth is usually compromised (or at least “pushed” around a little) when one attempts to use acronyms for biblical concepts.
FROG Fully Relying On God
PUSH Pray Until Something Happens
SPIN Serving People In Need
GOSPEL God’s Only Son Provides Everlasting Life
TGIF Thank God I’m Forgiven (or Thank God I’m Free)
FISH Forever I’ll Serve Him
GAP God Answers Prayer
EGO Edging God Out
LIFE Living in Faith Everyday
PRAY Praise, Repent, Ask (pray for others), You (pray for yourself)
CROSS Christ Relieves Our Shame and Sin
CARE Christ’s Arms Reach Everyone
AAA Approved, Atoned for, and Appointed
GPS God’s Priority System
PEACE Positive, Evidence, Acknowledging, Celestial, Eternity
GLORY Grow, Love, Offer, Reach, Yearn
Probably the three best acronyms that I know of are:
SIN Self-Inflicted Nonsense
BIBLE Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth
GRACE God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense
The people of God are truly rich today because of the price that was paid by Christ at Calvary (Eph. 1:3, 7; Tit. 2:11-14; Heb. 2:9; 1 Pet. 1:18-19). Please take some time to consider the great price that was paid so that you and I can experience the grace of God.
Date: 2011-11-20
Message Title: Marks Remarks
Last Sunday was a good Sunday. We truly worship and serve an awesome God. We had a great meal and time of reflection concerning how good God has been to us this past year. Attendance has been on the rise and our fellowship has been good. I do not know how many of you noticed, but we used a different software program for the worship assembly. It is a program that is still under development by Logos and under evaluation and consideration by us. It is a program that has the capability of sending some calendar items and Scripture references to our smart phones (which is a much better use of this technology during the assembly than texting someone).
I am excited that the Lads To Leaders program has restarted! We still have some kinks to work out, but we are making progress. If you signed up for a L2L event, I hope your coordinator has contacted you or you have contacted your coordinator. If you would like to sign up for an L2L event, it is not too late; contact Steve Williams, Vincente Huerta, or Paul Portley and they will help get you to the correct coordinator for the event. Everyone involved in L2L convention events needs to be actively progressing on meeting event requirements.
Please do not think of the L2L events as just another “program” or a “program for the young people.” The way we are approaching L2L is that it is something that can help facilitate various practices of godliness that we need to be doing. For example, most of us would affirm that knowing our Bible is important for a disciple of Jesus and L2L helps with knowing the book. It is hoped that the L2L processes will help to incorporate godly practices into our congregational DNA (our identity, who we are).
As I closed the sermon last Sunday morning, I referenced Isa. 55:6. This is a rich passage and I am closing this article with a longer reading from this great chapter:
Seek the LORD while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the LORD, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it” (Isa. 55:6-11).
Date: 2011-11-13
Message Title: Welcome
We are thankful that you have chosen to worship God with us. Today is “Harvest Sunday,” which means that we have a BIG dinner planned for everyone after the worship assembly this morning and we will be highlighting some of the good things that transpired in this congregation this past year. We hope that you will stay and enjoy this meal with us.
You may be wondering “who is the church of Christ?” and “what does the church of Christ believe?” Our purpose is not to be another denomination but to be nothing more or less than followers of Jesus the Christ. Rather than forming a formal denomination, members of churches of Christ yearn to be “simple Christians.” We are an independent community of believers who answer to Jesus, because the church belongs to him (Matt. 16:18; Acts 20:28). We are simply striving to be... the church of Christ. The church that is bought by Christ (Acts 20:28) and manifests His character (2 Cor. 3:18).
Our aim is to restore the purity and simplicity of Christianity! Hopefully that is what you are longing for. There are too many religions and churches and not enough truth. We believe Jesus when He said, “you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32). So, we aim to proclaim “the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation (Eph. 1:13).
We believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God (2 Tim. 3:16-17) and that it contains all that we need to know about how to live godly lives (2 Pet. 1:3).
We are simply Christians who are dedicated to following God’s Word.
Our worship assembly is simple and devout. We practice the things we read about in the New Testament: pray, sing, have biblically based lessons, give of our means, and observe the Lord’s Supper every first day of the week (Acts 2:42; 20:7; 1 Cor. 14:15; 16:1-2; Heb. 2:12).
Thank you again for worshipping with us today. I hope you will stay for dinner. If you have any questions about what we believe and practice, please ask.
Date: 2011-11-06
Message Title: What About Gluttony
The focus on alcohol this past Sunday brought forth numerous comments. One comment that came up several times was a comparison of drunkenness to gluttony. There are indeed a couple of similarities between gluttony and drunkenness. First, both drunkenness and gluttony deal with excess. Second, the parent encouraging the son about living wisely does warn about alcohol (Prov. 23:20, 29-35) and gluttony (Prov. 23:20). Please note however that Prov. 23:2-3 is not a warning against gluttony, it is a warning about feasting with the rich and powerful because they do not give any of their favors away for free (the NIV is misleading here). It should also be noted that drinking and gluttony are not the only things warned against in Proverbs 23, there are also warnings against greed (Prov. 23:4-5) and adultery (Prov. 23:27-28).
There are also several differences between drunkenness and gluttony. First, whereas one has to have food to survive, one does not have to have alcohol to survive. Second, alcohol is a poison and no one recommends ingesting poisonous food in any quantity. Third, F.F. Bruce made the following comment, “As gluttony is excessive indulgence in food, so drunkenness is excessive indulgence in wine (and strong drink): both forms of excess are vices, but drunkenness is the more perilous because it weakens people’s rational and moral control over their words and actions.” Fourth, there is no warning to “not look at food” like there is to “not look on the wine” (Prov. 23:31). In other words, attempting to compare gluttony to consumption of alcohol is not an “apples to apples” comparison. Selling food to people is different than selling poison to people.
“Gluttony” is one of the “seven deadly sins” in Roman Catholicism. However, when one looks at the biblical “sin lists” (for example: Prov. 6:16-19; 1 Cor. 6:9-10; Gal. 5:19-21; Col. 3:5-9; 1 Pet. 4:3), gluttony is not there. In fact, “glutton” and its cognates do not occur often in the biblical text. “Gluttons” occurs twice (Prov. 28:7; Tit. 1:12), “glutton” occurs twice (Deut. 21:20; Prov. 23:21), and “gluttonness” three time (Prov. 23:20; Mt. 11:19; Lk. 7:34) in the 1995 New American Standard Bible.
Attempting to define “gluttony” is somewhat problematic. I think most people have the association of “glutton” = “overeating.” This understanding is partially correct, but it leaves the wrong impression. When one checks out the definition of “gluttony” on Wikipedia you find: “Gluttony, derived from the Latin gluttire meaning to gulp down or swallow, means over-indulgence and over-consumption of food, drink, intoxicants or wealth items to the point of waste.” If you want a more scholarly source, the article on “gluttony” in the New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, states “gluttony, a practice that squanders food because the glutton does not appreciate its value.” “Squander” and “not appreciate” the value of food, are those the things we think of with “gluttony”? Now add to this the biblical image of a glutton (used figuratively in reference to the way Nebuchadnezzar treated Jerusalem) in Jeremiah 51:34-35 of someone who eats so much he vomits it up and then returns to eating. This is a very different picture than how I hear most people use the word “gluttony.” This should give all of us some “food” for thought
Date: 2011-10-30
Message Title: Initiative 1183 - One Preachers Perspective
I normally attempt to publicly stay out of political rhetoric, particularly when it is voting time. However, I am throwing caution to the wind and weighing in on I-1183. This initiative is designed to privatize liquor sales and take the state out of the liquor business. What is a saint to do about this initiative? My first observation is that it is an initiative that does not give the people of God a good option. Do I like the state selling liquor? No, not at all. Do I like the idea of liquor being sold in more locations than it currently is? No, absolutely not. Do I want a business that I have a membership in (like Costco) selling liquor? No, I do not like them selling any alcohol. I grew up in conservative southwest Kansas (and this was before I was a Christian) and the grocery stores did not sell wine. To get anything stronger than 3.2 beer, one had to go to a state licensed liquor store. From my perspective, alcohol is already much too easy to obtain in this state and we certainly do not need to pass an initiative that increases the liquor outlets. I am not in favor of Initiative I-1183.
Voting against I-1183 is one thing, but it barely touches the larger issue of the Christian and alcohol. It is strange to me that so-called “social drinking” is accepted by many who name the name of Christ. It seems that almost everyone knows that drunkenness is a sin (Rom. 13:13-14; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:18; 1 Thess. 5:7-8; 1 Pet. 4:3), yet many champion the practice of the consumption of alcohol in moderation. Some point to the fact that Timothy was told to drink wine (1 Tim. 5:23) or that Jesus turned water into wine (Jn. 2:7-10). Others know enough about the ancient world to be dangerous and point out that wine was the normal table drink in the ancient world [one really needs to read Everett Ferguson’s article, “Wine As Table Drink in the Ancient World,” Restoration Quarterly 13 (1970): 141-153]. Others tell us about how widely alcohol is consumed by Christians outside of the United States (does practice constitute biblical teaching?). Therefore, those who support Christian drinking of alcohol seem to be advocating the idea that the consumption of alcohol by a saint is a harmless pastime.
The arguments for the consumption of alcohol by Christians are weak (at best) and the practice of drinking alcohol is detrimental. The way of wisdom has an interesting and important perspective on consuming alcohol: Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? 30 Those who linger long over wine, those who go to taste mixed wine. 31 Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly; 32 at the last it bites like a serpent and stings like a viper. 33 Your eyes will see strange things and your mind will utter perverse things. 34 And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, or like one who lies down on the top of a mast. 35 "They struck me, but I did not become ill; they beat me, but I did not know it. When shall I awake? I will seek another drink" (Proverbs 23:29-35).
Date: 2011-10-23
Message Title: Preference Or Commitment
At certain times in life, people are asked to name a “religious preference.” This happens, for example, when entering the hospital or being inducted into the army. It is also usually true that when a person dies the obituary indicates a religious “preference.”
I have known many who indicated a particular “preference” without ever making a genuine commitment to Christ! They are not members of His church, do not support His work, and seldom, if ever attend the assemblies of His people. Though they claim a “preference” for Christ, they do not have enough “commitment” to live for Him. They lean toward Christ, but do not really stand for Him!
1) Some Are For Jesus As Long As It Is Easy
Some in Bible times followed Jesus for the loaves and fishes. But when the way grew difficult and the teachings of Jesus became demanding, they dropped out (John 6:66-68).
2) Some Are For Jesus As Long As It Is Popular
Some will tell you they believe God’s way, but when it comes right down to it they are unwilling to risk the disapproval of the world. They don’t want to be perceived as being narrow-minded or religious fanatics. They care more for the good opinion of other people then the good opinion of God.
3) Some Are For Jesus As Long As There Is Nothing Else To Do
In the parable of the Sower, Jesus warned that many are not really committed to Him because their hearts are choked by the cares, riches, and pleasures of the world (Luke 8:14). Many have a kind of allegiance to Christ which takes a back seat to ball games, or TV programs, or unexpected company.
Preference does little good without commitment. True commitment runs deeper than any inconvenience, firmer than any opposition, and stronger than any temptation. Jesus demands servants who will be faithful “unto death” (Revelation 2:10).
Bobby Dockery
Date: 2011-10-16
Message Title: Marks Remarks
The “Lookin’ For God In All The Wrong Places” was a powerful time for us. Gregg Strawn did a marvelous job powerfully presenting God’s word with great conviction and clarity. I hope you found at least one or two things during the seminar that you plan to develop or become more consistent in doing. I appreciate the support that so many of you gave to the Seminar. The attendance for the Friday evening sessions was impressive. The attendance was down a little on Saturday morning, but we still had solid participation. I know Gregg and Pam were encouraged by your attendance and interest and that God was glorified during the seminar.
We have two opportunities for inviting friends and neighbors to join us coming up in the next few weeks. Next Saturday, October 22, is the hayride and bonfire at the Jones’. This annual event is an enjoyable family event and provides a non-threatening atmosphere to invite others to. Then, on Sunday, November 13, we will have our annual Harvest Dinner. This annual event is designed to celebrate the wonderful things God has done in this congregation this past year in the context of a great feast and good fellowship.
There is a congregational calendar meeting on Thursday evening October 27. This meeting is open to everyone. This meeting is for the purpose of tentatively planning the congregational activities for 2012 (the calendar that results from the meeting will still approval from the eldership). The importance of this is two-fold. First, it allows us to avoid scheduling conflicts with our activities. Second, it allows us to know when congregational activities are planned far enough in advance so that we can schedule our other personal activities (for example, when you know the dates for a seminar, you do not plan a vacation on those dates). So, if you have any interest in what activities take place next year and when those activities take place, then the calendar meeting is for you. Everyone who is planning on directing an activity next year, whether it is a weekly activity or an event that occurs just once during the year, needs to plan on being at this meeting or e-mailing your activity to Mark before October 27.
I have had a couple of people inform me of their interest in participating in a Let’s Start Talking team next year. It would be good if we had enough people from this congregation to send out one or two teams. If you have any interest (at this point, one’s interest in going does not mean commitment to go) in being on a LST team for 2012, please let me know this week. If we have our own team, then we can do the training here (instead of needing to go Bellevue). LST is not only a good tool for reaching out to others, but it also is a faith building activity for those who participate. If you cannot go on an LST team or do not want to go, I hope you will start planning on financially helping those who do want to go.
Date: 2011-09-11
Message Title: Jesus Did Not Quit
Jesus did quit not meeting with His disciples because Judas was thief, or because Peter was fickle at times. He did not quit preaching and living right because some of His brethren were unforgiving and unkind. He did not quit His post of leadership because He had in His presence the adulterous woman, a gang of Pharisees, or narrow-minded demon-worshippers. Jesus did not quit.
Have you been tempted to quit? Have you quit? What was the reason for it? Any reason you might name, Jesus could have given the same. He had every reason to be discouraged. His own disciples were so slow to learn. His enemies were bent on His destruction. But He did not quit. He said, “Did you not know that I had to be in My Father's business?" (Luke 2:49). And when the end of His earthly life was in sight, Jesus said to His Father, “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4). He did not quit. He finished His task.
When you come to the end of life, will you be able to say, “I have finished the work God has given me to do?” Or, will you be compelled to say, “I started, but quit.” Will you stand before the judgment bar of God and admit that you were a quitter?
Eternal life is promised to those who endure to the end (Matthew 10:22). There will be no consolation on judgment day to point back to your baptism, unless you can also point back to a life of faithful endurance.
Let’s never use excuses to try to justify our failure to work and worship as we should. It’s time for all of us to resolve in our heart that we are going to be faithful to the Lord and His church. That we will never quit – no matter what. Make that decision today, stick with it and you will never have to make it again!
