Messiah
Luke 2:1-7
The Jewish people of old waited for the Messiah to come to earth. From the time that Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, you remember that story, God had a plan. For His only Son to be the perfect sacrifice for our sin. Many verses in the Old Testament talk about His Son being born to a virgin and even specifing the time period He would be born. The shepherds were not surprised to hear that God’s son had been born, Luke 2:11.The wise men were watching the stars and expecting the king of the Jews to be born, Luke 2;1-11. Each Jewish girl hoped that God would choose her to be the mother of His Son.
When the time was right for Jesus to be born, Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem. Mary had been chosen by God to be the mother of His child and Joseph had been borrowed to be the earthly father. By the way it is interesting to note that God was often borrowing things. He borrowed a father for Jesus. He borrowed a tomb for Jesus to be placed because He would not be there long. He borrowed people or things to use for a period of time throughout the Bible, then would allow them to return to their purpose. That’s the case here. Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem for the census used by the Roman government to count the people.

Mary gave birth, as the story records, and laid him in a manger, an animal feeding box. History tells us that when Jewish babies were born they were washed in water, then rubbed with salt usually, and wrapped in swaddling clothes very tightly. The Bible records this event happening to this very special baby.

This baby was named Jesus according to the message of the angel Gabriel given to Mary, and of course, it was repeated to Joseph and even saying to Joseph "You shall call his name Jesus, and He shall save his people," Luke 2:1-7, our scripture reading for today. The world had waited a long time for God’s son and now the waiting was over.

The waiting is over for us as well. Jesus was born, He grew up, and He died for you and me. This time of year when folks are thinking very much about God and going to church, I hope you will spend some time thinking about Jesus and worshiping God. Spend time learning about God, and what He would have you do to be saved. Be obedient, be faithful in your obedience to God’s will to be pleasing in His sight. God will give a son to us, the Bible predicted in Isaiah 9:6, and my son will be responsible for the people. And just so Jesus was born in that special way. I hope you will take some time to look again. At the birth of Jesus, his living a perfect life, and dying on the cross for all of us.

~Philip

God’s Miracle
Matthew 1:18-25
People often wonder why God sent His son Jesus to earth as a baby. Jesus became a man so He could live a life like people to experience temptation and even death. God could have sent Jesus to be rich and an earthly king. Instead Jesus was born to common people and lived a common life. It must have been very difficult for Jesus to leave heaven to live on earth, but even then He was willing to leave that clean and pure place to born in a barn, which was probably very dirty and smelly. Jesus owned everything in heaven, but when he was born there was nothing, not even a house there in Bethlehem. There was not room at the inn as we often say. Jesus was with God who spoke and created the world, but as a baby He would depend on his parents for warmth.

Because Jesus was a man, though, He knows how we feel when we are tempted or experience physical pain. Jesus also knows how it feels to be disappointed and rejected. So when you are facing a difficult time, when you are struggling in your life, remember that Jesus understands how you feel. Thank God today for sending Jesus to live as a man here on earth. In Philippians 2:7, it says, "He gave up His place with God and agreed to be like a servant. He was born to be a man and become like a servant."

Our scripture reading today comes from Matthew 1:18-25. You may want to go back and read some scriptures before that. We see there in Matthew 1 the genealogy of Christ given. It says this one is the father of this one, and so on until you get down to verse 16. There you get to the other side of the equation. It says Joseph, the husband of Mary, and then the angel of the Lord speaks to Mary and tells her the child she is going to have is from God. She will be blessed and bear a son she would call Jesus, for He will save His people. He will be the Messiah which means "God with us".

We believe God did a great miracle in sending His son in that very special way through the virgin birth. It is at this time of the year that many people celebrate His birth. Even though the Bible doesn’t give us a specific day and time Jesus was born. We kind of know, and experts, Biblical scholars, will say this is probably not the time of the year He was born, but we are going to take this time to especially focus in on the birth of Christ. What an amazing thing God did when He sent His son to come and live here among us and experience all those things we have to go through. You see we have a high priest who is separated from those experiences we have, but instead was tempted as we are, except He did it without sinning and then became the payment from our sins. What an amazing thing we celebrate when we celebrate the life, the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ to save us from our sins.

If you want to know more, check out our website at www.churchofchrist.com which has a link called "What to do to be saved".

~Philip

Pray for Others
Ephesians 3:14-21

It’s interesting at this time of the year what things are important to us. They might not be important at other times of the year–things like "I have to get this gift, or go to this event." There are some things in our life that are very important for us as Christians. For example, it is important that a Christian belong with fellow believers and be active in a church. Christians receive a lot of blessings from the set up that God planned in His church. It is important that we are actually engaged and involved in doing things within that group that we call the church that help us grow spiritually.

There are some things that we are responsible for as Christians in the church. This means that we as Christians must do some things. It is more than just dropping a check in the offering plate somewhere or coming to church just to be checked off the list. It is a matter of using our time, talents, and treasures. We use our time, in particular, to reach other Christians and to reach out to others who are not Christians and bring them to Christ.
One thing we need to do is to pray for our brothers in Christ. Jesus taught His followers how they ought to pray in Matthew 6:5-15. We should be kind and loving people to each other.

In Ephesians 4:32, by the way, our scripture reading today comes from the chapter before that, Ephesians 3:14-21.In chapter 4 verse 32 though, it says, " Be kind and loving to each other forgive each other the same as God forgave you in Christ."

Think about where you are spiritually. Do you forgive other folks, are you in the right relationship with God? Are you actively engaged in His body, actively working in His church. Do you do what God would have you to do? Do you pray for others of like faith, those who are our brothers and sisters in Christ? Do you forgive others, especially those who are other Christians?
If you are not today, I would encourage you to go to God in prayer, to see what it is He would have us to do, then apply God’s principals to our life. It is easy today to get distracted with all the stuff around us. But today I want to encourage you to pray for other people.

One of the best gifts you can give someone is the gift of care and concern for them, to pray for them. Examine yourself this day and see if you are involved in church and caring and praying for others.

Are you praying for our sins to be forgiven and putting God first in your life? If not, today is the day to begin doing that.

~Philip

Love
1 Cor. 13:4-13
This is the time of year that we think of people whom we love. We want to get together with those whom we love. We can use a lot of reasons at different times of the year for coming together, but this time of the year especially we want to show others that we love them and care about them. You might have a dinner and exchange gifts or go to a party somewhere and see people you don’t see every day. There you get the opportunity to say you love them and care about them.

Our Bible reading today comes from 1 Corinthians 13:4-13, and talks about love. God wants us to love other people the same way He loved us. In 1 John 4:4-8, it says, "Dear friends, we should love each other because love comes from God. The person who loves has become God’s child, so the person who loves knows God. The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love." It is not always easy to love other people. Maybe over the years someone has hurt your feelings or said something bad about you. Whatever it might be, it is hard for us to love that person, but God wants us to love them anyway. Jesus said in Matthew 5:44, "but I tell you, love your enemies. Pray for those who do bad things to you." This verse tells us we should love other people no matter how they treat us. In Luke 10:27, the Bible talks about love there too. It says you must love other people the same as you love yourself. I hope we will think about these verses today and we will love other people the same way God loved us.

You may remember in our text for today, verse 13 may be the most familiar verse of all. It says these three things continue, faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love. God even looks at our lives and says the key is this, Love God first, others second, and things will tend to fall into place. First, we have to love God with all of our being, with our heart, soul, mind and strength. We have to love those who are sometimes not very loveable. Let us think today of a way to show love to someone who is around us. It may be that your showing somebody love care it will change their life forever.

We are on facebook now, check us out!

~Philip

God’s Plan
Mark 10-35-45

From the time Adam and Eve sinned, God had a plan to save people from their sins. Sin became a part of life, a part of man’s being, and we know that all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But we know that part of God’s plan was to send His Son Jesus to earth as a baby, not just to send Him as a baby, but to have Him grow up and eventually die on the cross for you and me.

Our scripture reading today comes from Mark 10:35-45. There the Bible reminds us that our salvation does not come only from Jesus’ birth, because the fact that he was born does not finish the process, but our salvation happens because He died. We know from our scripture today that Jesus reminds his followers that He came to earth to be a servant. He also told them that he came to save people. We know that Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. He came to find us and to save us from our sins. Jesus came to earth to die. That was his purpose in living. It was God’s plan in the very beginning that Jesus would come and save us from our sins.

Why did God have this plan? It is very simple, because He loves us and wants every person to obey Him. God wants every person to spend eternity in Heaven with Him. This Christmas season is fine for us to celebrate the birth of Jesus. It is more important, though, that we celebrate Jesus’ death and resurrection each Lord’s Day throughout the year. When you share the Christmas story this year be sure to tell them about His death on the cross too, because we see in that God’s true love for us, giving us a hope of heaven when this live is over. In the same way, the Son of man came, not only to be serving people who would be serving Him, instead He came to serve other people. The son of man came to save many, Mark 10:45.

Spend some time to day reading your Bible and again I encourage you to read with 20/20 vision--twenty verses before and twenty verses after. Put God first with the way you are living your life today. Find a way of doing service, find a way of being pleasing to God this day by putting Him first in faithful obedience to His will. Nothing short of that will do. We need to hear the Word, believe it, repent of our sins, confess our faith, be baptized, and continue to live faithfully by giving of our time, talent, and treasures. We need to continue to study God’s Word. It is not a matter of being able to do enough to save ourselves, instead it is a matter of our faith being put into action to be pleasing in His sight. Let’s do it God’s way, and put Him first in our life, walking by faith and not by sight this day and every day.

One other thing, come be with us for our services which begin at 9am on Sunday morning for classes, 10am for Worship Services, and 5pm for evening service. Wednesday night Bible study is at 7pm.

~Philip

Christians Must be Faithful
Faithfulness Comes With Gospel Obedience
2 Timothy 4:6-8

As we have already mentioned, the greatest challenge for Christians is to stay faithful to God in daily living, but I want to encourage us today to take a step back and reevaluate where we are as Christians. Faithfulness begins with faithful obedience. That’s where it really starts. God says, "If you love me you will keep my commandments." He extended His invitation to everyone, not to just a certain group of people. In the beginning, I guess, it was to the Jewish people. He went to His own and His own received Him not. Then that invitation was opened up to all people everywhere.

God loves us all and wants us all to be saved–black and white, rich and poor are precious in His sight. This is a quote from the book of Matthew, which says, "Come unto me all you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28. You might want to take your Bible and mark that verse because Jesus is saying something really great there. He is saying, "Look, I want you to know that you can come to Me and find rest in Me."

Jesus sent His disciples out into the world to preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, he who does not believe shall be condemned." Mark 16:15-16. Those who are to be saved must obey the gospel. I tell our folks all the time that it is Faith + Obedience = Salvation. You see, without faith you won’t ever start in this process. Faith without obedience is dead. We are to faithfully obey God’s will.

In Hebrews 9 we are told that Christ is the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him. Those words are important to know that we must be obedient to His will. Those who are faithful to God have heard what He has to say. They have faith in Christ. They are willing to repent of their sins, confess their faith in Jesus Christ, the Lord, and to be obedient to the Lord in baptism. Those are Christians. Those who fail to do so, are not Christians. It is hard for us to even imagine because of the part of the world we live in. If you ask almost anybody in our part of the world, "Hey, are you a Christian?" Almost everyone will say "Yes". But then if you ask, have you heard the word, believed it, confessed your faith, and been baptized? Have you done those things necessary to become a Christian, and having done that have you been faithful in your service to God? Many will say, "Well, not really, but.....

We need to reevaluate don’t we? Christians must be faithful to God. Again, maybe it is the greatest challenge that Christians face–the challenge to be faithful. I hope we will evaluate today, and find ourselves right where we need to be. If we find ourselves some other place we will take the steps today, make the changes to make it to heaven. God has given us a blessing today. He has given us the time to make things right with Him. We can’t go back to yesterday and are not promised tomorrow, so we need to evaluate today.

Christians Must Be Faithful
Faithfulness is Anchored By True Worship
2 Timothy 4:6-8 John 4:24

Over this week and part of last week I’ve been giving you some things that will help us in the challenge of being faithful Christians. Christians face this challenge in being faithful to God in daily living. As we live our lives day to day we need to spend time focusing on God. We should do those things we’ve been talking about–-being obedient to the gospel, spending time with Christian living on a daily basis by following God’s example. We should be growing in God’s Word, praying to God, taking care of others and serving God.

Today I will give you one other area that we need to remember that is essential for faithful Christian living. Faithfulness is anchored by true worship. Christians should look upon worship as a privilege and a blessing. It is a part of the Christians life to be engaged in worship as a group.

The Bible teaches, and we should study and make sure we understand this, that Christians who serve the way God would have them serve will be involved in worship service as a group. Communion is a part of true worship to God. We commune with Him; we join with Him. 1 Corinthians 11, and Acts 20:7. Christians must not only worship, but be sure we are engaged in worship the right way. God is a spirit and we must worship Him in spirit and in truth. John 4:24. This is a key verse for us. Now what we see here is that we worship God in spirit. That means that our hearts are right, that we are engaged in worship. Worship is not an observer kind of thing, but participtory . We have to be engaged–we have to be singing, taking the Lord’s Supper, studying, giving, and doing those things that are involved in worship to God. The faithful worshipers will never forsake the assembly, will never forsake church because they just don’t want to go. Instead they will be looking forward to that time when they can be together. Hebrews 10:25. Christians gain strength from worshiping with other Godly people.

Never fail to be among those who gather together to praise and serve God in Christian worship each Sunday. Make sure you are there and make sure you are involved. We would even like for you come and be a part of our service. We have Bible classes at 9am on Sunday, 10am Worship service, and Evening service at 5pm.We have Bible classes at other times during the week. Make sure that wherever you are, you are involved in true worship, worshiping God the way the Bible teaches we should worship God. If we do that we are well pleasing to God.
~Philip

Christians Must be Faithful
Faithfulness Requires Service to God and Others
2 Timothy 4:6-8

For this week and part of last week we’ve been talking about Christians must be faithful to God in daily living. We talked about the fact that we have to be faithful to God even if our life is challenged. Rev. 2:10. We talked about our key passage, 2 Timothy 4:6-8--that we should be like Paul who said,"I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course I have kept the faith,." and because of that we have an assurance of heaven when this life is over. It begins with obedience and continues with daily Christian growth in God’s Word. It means that we pray to the Father in heaven.

Today I want to remind you that faithfulness means we have to serve God and others. A faithful Christian, those of us who are truly faithful to God, must be in service to God and our fellow man. We serve God by serving others, the least of mankind. Matthew 25:40 and following teaches. Opportunities come to do good, and when they come we must use those opportunities to honor God, Galatians 6:10 teaches.

Pure religion, faithfulness, this life of a Christian, involves service to others, James 1:27. Jesus says even a cup of cold water would be service to others. When we do small deeds of service, that remind us about the Lord. The greatest service we can do is to tell them how to serve Christ themselves--how to be in Christ. The greatest thing we can do is evangelism, and to go beyond evangelism in caring for others. This time of year, we spend a lot of time thinking about how to help others. We have requests to help others, and many of you are willing to help those people." It shouldn’t be just at this time of year, but it should happen year around. If we ar faithful as Christians we will be faithful to serve others as we serve God. So, look for opportunities today. Seek where it is that you can be used in God’s service. You might say, "I want to serve, but I just don’t know what to do." Maybe it is sending cards, maybe it is encouragement-- to talk just about good things and not be negative. Maybe it is, as we talked about this morning, just a cup of water to somebody. Whatever you can do, be busy doing it, not for your on good or glory, but so God can be glorified in our service to Him. Check out our website at www.elbachurchofchrist.com and come to one of our services.

~Philip

Christians Must Be Faithful
Faithfulness Means that We Pray
1 Thessalonians 5:17

As we face the challenge to continue to be faithful Christians, that great challenge each Christian face, we know that faithfulness involves daily Christian living, and faithfulness involves growth in God’s Word. Today I want to give you another area that is an essential part of Christian living, which is, faithfulness means that we pray to the Father which is in Heaven. It simply means that we have to be in prayer. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "In this manner, therefore, pray.. Our Father in heaven, hallowed it be thy name." Matthew 6:9

Our prayer is a great privilege. It is opportunity to communicate with God. God is near enough to hear our prayers. He hears those prayers, especially those who are faithful and strong. He has a special relationship with those children. Just like we would recognize the voices of our children, He recognizes the voices of His children. The Good News is that God is faithful and strong enough to answer those prayers. In the Bible we learn that we are commanded to pray.

One of the simple verses of the Bible, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, one that you have memorized over the years, says "Pray without ceasing.". It is the idea of being in the right place with God so that we can pray and talk to God, and He can hear our prayers and answer them. Prayer is a time to communicate with God, to pour out our hearts to God. Because prayer is our connection with God we should continue constantly.

We should continually pray and always be involved in prayer with God, Romans 12:12. Prayer is one of the areas of obedience to God. Proverbs 28:9, says "One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination." The Bible is simply saying that if we are going to be faithful and hear God’s law and really do what God says, then God hears our prayer as a sweet smelling aroma, something He likes to hear. If we are not right with God it is sickening for God to hear us coming to Him if we are not right. Someone might say, "Are we not to pray then?" The answer is, "No, not at all." It is a good place to start. Prayer is certainly needed when we need forgiveness. God wants to hear from us. God is like a friend who when we really communicate with Him, and hear what He has to say from the Bible, it’s kind of like that phone call from a friend, that when you hang up the phone, you say, "Why did I go so long without talking to that person?" I ought to call them more often." It is one of those relationship in which we want to be involved. So get involved with God!

~Philip

Christians Must be Faithful
Faithfulness Involves Faith in God’s Word

We began the month of December by discussing the fact that Christians must be faithful to God, and they must stay faithful to God in daily living. In Revelation 2:10, the Bible says "Don’t be afraid of the things you are about to suffer, but be faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life."The same would be true for us today. We should be faithful to God to the point of death, and if we have to die for the cause to be faithful to God we should do it. That is a challenge for us. We have been looking at another key text, 2 Timothy 4:6-8, where the Bible is talking about Paul’s life and he says, "I’m ready now to be offered, my departure is at hand." He wants to be able to say of his own life, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith."

We hope we can say the same thing. We talked about the fact that faithfulness begins with gospel obedience, and that faithfulness continues with daily Christian living. Today I want to mention to you that faithfulness also involves growth in God’s Word. The Bible is God’s inspired road map for us from earth to heaven. Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4) That, by the way, is another important verse today. You might want to mark it in your Bible and use it as a keynote. We cannot live by bread alone but we have to have spiritual food too, and study those words of God. It is the sincere milk of the word, you see, that nourishes the Christian and enables us to continue to proceed in this growth as a Christian . The righteousness that will come from the law of the Lord is that good part of life that we need.

As we become more righteous we need to spend more and more time with God’s law. The psalmist would challenge us to meditate on His Word both day and night. (Psalm 1:2) In other places in the Bible we learn that Bible study is a must. It is thought that our Bible study should be a progression. We need to learn about God; we need to learn about just the basic knowledge of God. We also study the Bible to learn of the greatness of God. We need to study our Bible to become familiar with God’s grace and His mercy. We then continue to study our Bible even beyond that to learn how to become a Christian and to worship. The teachings of the Bible are meant for our every need. Thy Word I have hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee. (Psalm 119:11) We need to be reading our Bibles daily. We need to be meditating on God’s Truth, those great lessons in life. We need to allow those truths to become part of our lives as we live each day for God.

~Philip

Christians Must Be Faithful
Faithfulness Continues With Daily Christian Living
2 Timothy 4:6-8 Philippians 1:21

As we continue to talk about the challenge to be a faithful Christian, a person who is faithful in their daily service to God, we continue to remember our key verse. I hope you have spent some time this week reading 2 Timothy 4:6-8. Maybe you would want to read that whole chapter. We see as Christians the challenge to be faithful, maybe it’s the greatest challenge that we face. We have been talking about it, we began by talking about faithful obedience, but faithfulness continues with daily Christian living.

It is important to become a Christian, but just as important as it is to become a Christian, it is important to live a Christian life each day. Without daily Christian living we are not holding up that name and be what God wants us to be. Those who live a Christian life, live like Christ lived, think like Christ thought, walk the walk that Christ walked. Paul said it this way in Philippians 1:21, and again this is one of those verses we should put a star by or highlight in our Bible and maybe even memorize it. Paul says, "For me to live is Christ."

Christians must spend their lives living for Jesus. Your days should be used in service to God, my days should be used in service to God. Faithfulness means that we find ways to make our life what Christ would have it to be. We remember those great examples that Christ has set of doing what the Father wanted Him to do. Jesus has said, "Look, I came not to do my own will but the will of Him who sent Me." What if our attitude was-- we came not to do my will but the will of Him who sent us? In John 17:18, the Bible says Jesus is there praying, and He says, "Just as you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world."

Because we have been sent to do His will, we should do that and not our own. Sometimes we are selfish aren’t we. Sometimes we want to do it our way. But if God says, "Do this," we should do it. We should be willing to do those things that every day it takes to be a Christian. It should not be that when our life here is over, people are surprised that we even went to church. It ought to be that we have lived our lives each day to the best of our abilities doing it God’s way.

I hope that is the case with you, and you will take time today to make sure if you need to make changes you will make them. Then if you have questions, follow up and make sure you have those answers. When you have God’s answers to life’s questions, then do it His way.
If you have questions you may e-mail us at office@elbachurchofchrist.com or minister@elbachurchofchrist.com. We also have a website at www.elbachurchofchrist.com. I hope you are faithfully living daily as a Christian.

~Philip

Christians Must be Faithful
Faithfulness Comes With Gospel Obedience

2 Timothy 4:6-8

As we have already mentioned, the greatest challenge for Christians is to stay faithful to God in daily living, but I want to encourage us today to take a step back and reevaluate where we are as Christians. Faithfulness begins with faithful obedience. That’s where it really starts. God says, "If you love me you will keep my commandments." He extended His invitation to everyone, not to just a certain group of people. In the beginning, I guess, it was to the Jewish people. He went to His own and His own received Him not. Then that invitation was opened up to all people everywhere.

God loves us all and wants us all to be saved–black and white, rich and poor are precious in His sight. This is a quote from the book of Matthew, which says, "Come unto me all you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28. You might want to take your Bible and mark that verse because Jesus is saying something really great there. He is saying, "Look, I want you to know that you can come to Me and find rest in Me."

Jesus sent His disciples out into the world to preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, he who does not believe shall be condemned." Mark 16:15-16. Those who are to be saved must obey the gospel. I tell our folks all the time that it is Faith + Obedience = Salvation. You see, without faith you won’t ever start in this process. Faith without obedience is dead. We are to faithfully obey God’s will.

In Hebrews 9 we are told that Christ is the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him. Those words are important to know that we must be obedient to His will. Those who are faithful to God have heard what He has to say. They have faith in Christ. They are willing to repent of their sins, confess their faith in Jesus Christ, the Lord, and to be obedient to the Lord in baptism. Those are Christians. Those who fail to do so, are not Christians. It is hard for us to even imagine because of the part of the world we live in. If you ask almost anybody in our part of the world, "Hey, are you a Christian?" Almost everyone will say "Yes". But then if you ask, have you heard the word, believed it, confessed your faith, and been baptized? Have you done those things necessary to become a Christian, and having done that have you been faithful in your service to God? Many will say, "Well, not really, but.....

We need to reevaluate don’t we? Christians must be faithful to God. Again, maybe it is the greatest challenge that Christians face–the challenge to be faithful. I hope we will evaluate today, and find ourselves right where we need to be. If we find ourselves some other place we will take the steps today, make the changes to make it to heaven. God has given us a blessing today. He has given us the time to make things right with Him. We can’t go back to yesterday and are not promised tomorrow, so we need to evaluate today.

~Philip

Christians Must Be Faithful

2 Timothy 4:6-8

Maybe the greatest challenge for a Christian to face is to stay faithful to God in daily living. In Revelation 2:10 we read, “Fear none of those things that you shall suffer: behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that you may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days, and, here is the part of the verse I really want you to notice, “ be thou faithful until death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” These words proved to be motivation for the godly when they were penned, but they also are challenging and inspirational for us today.

We should live a faithful life in whatever may come our way. Whatever the situation, it will encourage us to serve the Lord by telling each other, “Hey, I am going to be with you.” Even more important than that, God says, “I’m going to be with you. Even if you are at the point of death, I will be with you.” You will receive the crown of life.

Steven understood that importance of faithfulness to God. Stephen is one of those New Testament Bible characters who was in that group of people who were chosen as Deacons to serve in the early church. He was also a preacher who would go from place to place. He was willing to serve God and was faithful to God’s Word. He was willing to the point that he became the first Christian martyr. (Martyr means to die for a cause.) He was stoned to death after some folks he was talking to did not believe what he was preaching. Paul was another one who was faithful to the point of death. He would write, “For I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good

fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:8. This text, by the way, is our Bible reading for today. Paul is saying he is at the end of his life and realizes that he is at the point that he is going to be offered up to God, and he is still faithful.

I hope that each of us when we reach that point will be able to say, “I have stayed faithful to God.” I have done some things I’m not proud of, some sinful things and sometimes life has been hard and I’ve gone through some challenges, but even at that in the end we can say I have been faithful to God and done right to the best of my ability.

Over the next few days we are going to be looking at the importance of Christian faithfulness to God. I know some people might say, “Aren’t all Christians faithful?” The answer is, ”No, they are not.” Sometimes they get started well, but don’t finish well. We are going to talk about some things to help us finish well.

~Philip

God’s Riches

Romans 11:33-36

Well, yesterday was Thanksgiving which means today is the day you are looking for great opportunities and deals. Most of you are going shopping today and are going into the transition to Christmas and getting excited about all the things that are there. Someone says, “I’m just not rich enough to do all the things I would like to do.” I want to tell you today that God’s riches are really greater than all the things we have here. No matter what we have around us, the fact is, you can’t ever have it all. You can’t take it with you, but we do know this. There is something that is even more valuable and it is dealing with God’s riches--those areas that God is rich in instead of those areas we think we might be rich in. In Romans 11:33-36, our scripture reading today, we find out that God’s riches are truly great. His grace, his wisdom, and his knowledge are awesome.

We have a friend who has never seen the ocean, and we say this is what it’s like and try to describe the ocean--this is how big it is and how it looks, and how it tastes. We even mix up some salt water in a bucket and let them taste it and smell it, but they can’t really get an idea of all there is to know about it. Someone says, “That’s the same way it is with the cells today, there is still a lot we don’t know about it. We have to understand that we don’t know everything about God, but we can understand that He is wonderful. We can understand perfection because of Him. We can understand that He is Holy.

In the past few devotionals we have been studying about the fact that God hates sin, that all people have sinned. We have also talked about the fact that God’s grace is given to us and that we should be thankful for it. It doesn’t give us the license to sin, but it does give us the freedom to serve with God being in control of our lives. There is always some room for improvement because just like that turkey, none of us are exactly perfect. Over the next few days, we will learn about serving God and about how God saves us.

As we do this we will learn about this idea of getting ready to celebrate this time we call Christmas and be thankful for what God has done for us. I want you to take time to day to think again about how awesome God is, and about His power. Take time to thank Him for giving us the opportunity to know something about how to love each other, and even for the stuff that we have. All of it comes from God. Today is yet another day that we should be thanking Him for what He has done for us. We have these treasures from God , but we are only like clay jars that hold the treasure. This shows that this great power is from God not from us. (2 Corinthians 4:7)

~Philip

License to Sin
2 Peter 3:10-18

When you were about sixteen years old you probably went took a test to get your Driver’s License. That Driver’s License was a wonderful thing in our lives. After waiting so long, we finally had a license to drive. It gave us the freedom to drive a car, not only that, but we didn’t have to have someone in the seat next to us anymore. We were so excited about that and we were going to get to go and do all those things we had been wanting to do. We thought, “I’ve finally achieved the greatest goal ever.”

You may remember in yesterday’s devotional we talked about the fact that God hates sin. What a great lesson that is to finally learn. We must all know that there are essential things to be right with God. I hope we all know it is never okay to sin. Some people think that because we have been forgiven by God’s grace, it is still okay to keep sinning. They think that is their license to sin and do wrong. That simply is not the case. In Romans 6:1-2, the Bible says, “What do you think, that you can continue sinning and God will give you more and more grace. The answer in verse two is “No! We died to our old sinful life. How can we continue to live in our old sin?” God wants us to get out of sin. He did not give us a license to sin. What He did give us is the freedom to do all sorts of great things for Him.

Our Bible reading today tells us about a time when Jesus will return to get His people. That’s why we need to be ready when He returns. We need to be ready for the acceptance of the Savior if we have been in obedience to Him. Our Bible reading today is 2 Peter 3:10-18. Allow God’s grace to come into your life today and allow God to continue to bless us and have all the freedoms in God.

As we have Thanksgiving tomorrow, let us think of all the things we have to be thankful for. There is nothing better to be thankful for than God giving us freedom from sin, from which we have benefited in our obedience to God. You might want to read Jude 4, and you will see there a verse that explains to us how people and God can be united in Christ Jesus. Let’s be in Christ and be faithful to Him, and He will be pleased with us.

If you want to know more about the Bible and maybe have questions, check out our website.
www.elbachurchofchrist.com . You can e-mail us from there and we can address any question you might have.

~Philip

Broken Watches
Romans 2:1-11

A watch salesman tried to sell two watches, both of which were broken. One of these watches was a very beautiful watch, and assuming that it was intact and working it would be worth a lot. The other watch was rusty and ugly and dirty looking. The salesman tried to sell both of these watches even they weren’t working. He tried to sell the ugly watch to people but they didn’t want to buy it. Why? Because it wouldn’t work. He also tried to sell the beautiful watch, but still no one wanted to buy, again, why? Because it too was broken and wouldn’t work.

God looks at people in the world in a very similar way, probably. We are all sinners and like the broken watches in a lot of ways. Who would want to buy something broken? Well, the one who would come and buy both of those watches is the one who could fix them and restore them. God is like that with us. Who can fix a broken person? Like the skilled watch repairman, only the one who is skilled and can take us where we are in a world of sin to where we need to be in a life of faithful obedience to Him.

God hates sin, but he loves the sinner. He can take away our sin and make us right with Him. Just like that watch repairman can take the two watches and make them work again, so God can take us and make us whole again. Our Bible reading tells us in Romans 2:1-11, that God treats all people the same. It doesn’t matter if you are beautiful or ugly. It doesn’t matter if they are big sins or little sins. God will forgive all sin if you will come to Him.

One of the things this Thanksgiving to be thankful for is that God loves each of us. He loves you and wants to bring you close to Him and to be restored, to have a relationship with Him that only can be had through faithful obedience to God’s word. All people have sinned and are not good enough for the glory of God, but God loves us so much that He gave His Son to die for us. God says if we are willing to do what He says we can spend eternity in Heaven. I hope it will be the case with each of us. I hope we will hear the word, believe it, repent of our sins, confess our faith, and be baptized into Christ to live to serve Him the rest of our lives. We can then be together in Heaven with Him for all of eternity.

~Philip

Dirty Sand
Genesis 2:8-9; Genesis 2:15-17

I heard about a little boy and his mother who went to a park. The mother sat on the bench while the little boy made a sandcastle. He made it with a little shovel and pail. He worked for a very long time making a moat around the castle and all the rest, that we all have probably done as some time in our life. As this boy was playing in the sand he became more and more curious about how the sand would taste. You know what happened next…..he put some of the sand in his mouth. The next question doesn’t even need to be asked, but,…What do you think the mother did? Well, she went to him and said, “No, no, don’t eat the sand!” You see, the mother thought the sand was dirty and harmful for her son. Whether that is true or not is probably not important for our thought for today, but the mother thought the sand was harmful to her son. She wanted to take action.

That is sort of the way God acts with us and sin. When we get around sin, if we are not careful we will find ourselves playing in it and wondering what it would be like if we participate in some of those things. We start to do it ourselves and God is saying no, no! God hates sin, He hates all sin and wants us to get rid of all sin in our lives. None of us are perfect, but some of us are worse than others. I know I have done those things I had no business doing. It seems you can’t say enough times that you are sorry for what you have done when you realize you have done things you shouldn’t. You are truly penitent.

We know that God and sin cannot mix, but God is willing to forgive us. God and sin are like oil and water. They cannot work together, but God is willing to forgive those sins. Sin separates us from God’ but God will help us to overcome that temptation.

Our scripture reading today comes from a couple of different passages, Genesis 2:8-9, and verses 15-17. You might want to read the whole text . Here is the idea of sin, that temptation, coming, and man falling into it. But, what we should do is avoid it and stay close to God. In Romans 6, of the New Testament, verse 23 says, when people sin, they earn what sin pays….death. But God gives people a free gift, life forever in Christ Jesus, our Lord. God wants us to live eternally with Him. He doesn’t want us to be in that group that He has to punish, but in order to have that happen, we must be faithful in obedience to His will.

-Philip

Walking Where It's Uncomfortable
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Sometimes it's good for us to walk where we are not comfortable.

Comfort is, maybe, difficult to define. It is generally the feeling we have when we know the people around us, are familiar with the place we are, and know pretty well what's going to happen next.

On the other hand, discomfort is that feeling when we don't know the people, the place, or what to expect. We would all rather be comfortable.

As followers of Jesus we need to walk where it isn't so comfortable. It isn't comfortable to stand beside someone's hospital bed, but Jesus needs to be there. It isn't comfortable to go to the home of someone who has recently died, but Jesus needs to be there. It isn't comfortable to go to someone who is in distress because of a rocky marriage, a wayward child, or a moral violation, but Jesus needs to be in all these places. So He sends us.

We are the ones who go, not seeking comfort, but giving it. We are the ones who are to stand in the presence of difficulty so that God will be remembered there. We are the ones who are to be more concerned with the wellbeing of others than we are about our own comfort level.

And, truly, this is one of the ways He leads us to greater adventure. Because of Him we end up going places we would never have dreamed of going, doing things we would never have dreamed of doing, and changing the lives of people we would never have met. God has a way of providing what people need, and often, they need us.

Pat Peters, Custer Ave. church of Christ Clinton. OK via BULLETIN DIGEST

Hope you have a GREAT day!

We Meet All Kinds of People
A Compassionate, Loving Man
Luke 10:25-37

All this week we've been looking at the story in Luke 10:25-37, of a man whom we refer to as a good Samaritan. Jesus is asked a couple of questions by a lawyer: The questions were "How shall I inherit eternal life?" and "Who is my neighbor?". He answered the last question with a parable about the good Samaritan. We meet all kinds of people in this story: a man traveling alone, some evil, cruel men, two selfish and heartless men who were supposedly religious in this story. I was recently asked who I thought was-- worse the robbers in the story or the heartless religious men. Both were wrong and not doing what God wanted them to do, but in many ways, I think the religious men were worse than the robbers.

We meet one final man--the one I want to talk about today. This man was compassionate and loving. He is a certain Samaritan, as Jesus described. He was a man of a different race, but like Jesus he made this unfortunate man's life better, unlike the robbers who made him worse, or the religious men who didn't make him worse or better. This Samaritan was a kind person who made the world a better place. He knew he was the one who needed to do something to help the man. He helped...and this is where in the story we find the challenge for us to go and do likewise. This Samaritan was a good man who not only made the world a better place for the poor man, but for a lot of people. Our world needs more people like him, so let us imitate his example. Let us do what he did and never be cruel and selfish people, but compassionate like the Samaritan.

~Philip

We Meet All Kinds of People
Selfish, Heartless Men

Luke 10:25-37

Two questions were asked by that lawyer of Jesus. Jesus answered his question about "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?", and answered his question about "Who is my neighbor?" by teaching a great lesson from the story of the good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37. I hope you have already read that text. We are looking at it with 20/20 vision, and getting all that we can from that great story. We have been talking this week about the fact that we meet all kinds of people. We meet all kinds of people in this parable too. Maybe we have met this man traveling on the road alone, or the evil, cruel thieves who beat him.

Today I want to point out too, that we meet some very selfish, heartless people. These are some men who might surprise you. The Bible refers to them as the Priest and the Levite. These two men observed the outward form or religion but they were selfish, heartless and therefore, also godless. The focus of their lives was self. They did not want to get involved. What they had, they wanted to keep instead of sharing. They did not rob or beat the poor man beside the road, but they didn't make his life better either. People like them do nothing for the suffering and hurting.The Bible talks about this kind of person in Matthew 25:41-45.

There Jesus is telling of some events that happened. He says something like this "I was hungry and you didn't feed me. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not take Me in. I was naked and you did not clothe me.I was in prison and you didn't visit me." Their response was, "Lord, when were you ever that way?" Jesus answered, "Look around you. If others are that way then I am with them. If you are taking care of them you are taking care of me."

So let's get to the point that we are never Godless, but are involved in other people's lives. We are caring for the needs of those who are hurting. We are traveling with the lonely and alone. We are even concerned about the ones who are evil and have done wrong.

~Philip

We Meet All Kinds of People
Evil Men

Luke 10:25-37

Over the last couple of days we've been looking at Luke 10:25-37,and we see the story of the good Samaritan. We've been talking about the fact that we meet all kinds of people. Jesus is talking to a lawyer and he is answering a couple of questions: The first question was "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" and the second, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus answers both of them with one parable.

Yesterday we talked about the man traveling alone, and that we don't have to be alone. We can have God with us, and even our Christian family to support us through trials. We all the time tell folks, "we invite your family to join our family" here at the Elba Church of Christ.

The second group of people we have in this story is this evil group that comes and is involved in the story. We meet some evil men who were robbers. These men were evil and cruel. They were thieves and were heartless. They were under control of the devil who had deceived them. There is a verse over in Revelation 12:9 that says this about the devil."So the great demon or dragon was cast down, the serpent of old, called the devil and satan, who deceives the whole world." He was cast to the earth with his angels, as they were cast out with him. It would have been better for these men if they had never been born. They have taken from people. They have robbed and stolen. They have done terrible things and are those kind of folks that we don't want in the world.

Their presence makes the situation worse, not better. So, a couple of things we should remember. First of all let us resolve not to be in that number of people who are just simply doing wrong. Secondly let us also remember that even though we may have all tried not to be, we all have been in that group. We might say......"Now wait a minute I have never robbed anyone or left anyone for dead like they did when they robbed this man on the way to Jericho and left him for dead."

Really though, what they did is just sin. It goes against God's will. They were not treating others the way they would want to be treated. They were certainly not obeying the law of God that would say, "Let those who have stole, steal no more." They failed to follow God's will. The fact is we have all failed to follow God's will at one time or another. The Bible says, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." So we may all need to move from a position of being with the devil to being those who are following God's law. In order to do that we must faithfully obey God, by hearing his word, believing it, repenting of our sins, confessing our faith, and being baptized into Christ. Then we must live faithfully for God the rest of our lives.

~Philip

We Meet All Kinds of People
A Man Alone
Luke 10:25-37

Again with our Bibles open to Luke chapter 10, we are looking at the story of the good Samaritan. We are talking about all the different kinds of people we meet in this story, and that at some time or another we have been all these people, or could have been.

The first person we meet in this story is a certain man traveling alone on this rough, rugged road from Jerusalem to Jericho which covered about a twenty mile stretch. Why he traveled alone is not known, but he had a right to travel the road and to travel it alone. There are a lot of things in life we could do that might not be the smartest thing to do. That might have been the case here. Many traveled this road, and many travel the road of life alone. Sometimes we feel lonely and depressed because we are lonely and feel we are absolutely by ourselves. I think we should observe, and try to lift up those lonely travelers on life’s road alone, because the Bible teaches we should travel through life together. Maybe you are in this position today and feel like you’re alone.

The Bible doesn’t give us any details about this man’s journey…..maybe he was hearing every little thing going on around him and was nervous about the danger he was in. Maybe he was aware of these men approaching him. Maybe there are people like that in our lives that are by themselves and need us to be with them. Obviously we need not travel alone without God. If we are God’s children…if we faithfully follow Him, then He will be with us. He will be with us even until the end of the age, as Jesus would say to His disciples as he was about to ascend into heaven.

There is no reason why we should ever be alone. We might be alone physically for a while but God is always with us. Also, as Christians we have a great family, a Christian family, who will be there with us to help us and support us as we travel life’s road. Psalm 23, says “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me, Your rod and Your staff they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, You anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. “

~Philip

We Meet All Kinds of People
Luke 10:25-37

Two questions asked by a lawyer allowed Jesus to use a parable to introduce us to several kinds of people. The lawyer’s first question was just meant to trap Jesus. The question was: ”What shall I do to have eternal life?” Luke 10:25. The second question was asked to justify himself. “Who is my neighbor?” Luke 10:29. This text, Luke 10:25-37, is probably a familiar one to you and will be our text all week. ”. I hope you will read your text each day, and really study it.

We are looking at all kinds of people. The first one is known as “the Good Samaritan”. There are several kinds of people involved in this story. Maybe we can see some of ourselves reflected in one of these individuals. At least we should. Maybe we have at different times been different ones in the story. We can see ourselves in different positions in the story, and see how we would react. Whether we are the good Samaritan or one of the others involved in the story, we can get a good clear picture of how God wants us to behave. That is what it is all about in being a Christian, isn’t’ it? To understand what it is that God would have us to do and simply doing it. If we will do that God will be pleased with us. If we fail to do that He is not pleased.

As we begin reading the text , we see Jesus telling us a story that will help us to become more of what we should be. He starts out in Luke chapter 10 dealing with the questions asked by the lawyer. His answer is to tell the story of a man traveling on the road to Jericho, and the man fell among thieves on the road. These thieves were up to no good. They beat him up and stole his belongings. A religious guy passed by, then other folks whom we would think would be the ones to help passed by. The last guy though who passed by, was one we thought would not help, actually was the one who helped. It made a big difference in this man’s life and teaches us a great lesson.

We hope you can come be with us here at the Elba Church of Christ. Our schedule has changed a little bit. We are not having fellowship meals during the months of November and December. There is a lot going on during those two months. Our services are at 7pm on Wednesday nights, 9am for class on Sunday morning, 10am for worship, at 5pm for evening worship.

~Philip

Directions for Your Heart

Abstain from every form of evil

1 Thessalonians 5:16-22

All week we’ve been looking at God’s map for our lives. We come to understand that God really loves us and gave His only begotten Son to die for us and give us hope. He then gave us His Word as an instruction book to follow. Our text for this study is 1 Thessalonians 5:16:22. Here Paul gives us some short, but powerful directions for how to have a good heart and live in His service. First rejoice always, pray without ceasing, be thankful in all things, do not quench the spirit, do not despise prophecies, test all things.

There is one final one I want to share with you today. It is "abstain from every form of evil," 1 Thessalonians 5:22, Christians must be willing to do the will of God and to avoid all evil. We have to do both--follow God’s word and do it His way. (John 17:17) God will provide a way to escape when temptation comes. “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” (I Corinthians 10:13)

We don’t have to be guilty of sin. As a matter of fact, we should get better and better at avoiding it. We are not perfect on our own. We are justified by His blood and made perfect with Him, but we still mess up. We do foolish things, but a pure heart and a clean mind gives us strength to avoid all appearance of evil. A man will never begin to be good till he begins to avoid those occasions that have made Him bad. Paul said to avoid the very appearance of evil.

It is possible to live a life that is both holy and happy. Psalm 144:15 says, “…Happy are the people whose God is the LORD!” The Lord will grant you just such a life if you will follow His directions for your heart. Christians must leave no open doors for sin to enter. Strengthen your heart and be on guard at every point! “And you will be hated by all for My names sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:22)

Let us be in that number that obeys God faithfully until death, and it will make all the difference.

~Philip

Directions for the Heart
Test All Things
1 Thessalonians 5:16:22

I hope you have been growing from some of the things we have been talking about this week. These, you see are directions for our heart. We have been looking at a text--1 Thessalonians 5:16-22. There Paul gives us some short but very powerful directions on how to have a good heart and a good life for God. He begins with, “rejoice always, then pray without ceasing, then in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God through Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the spirit, do not despise prophesies, test all things, hold fast to all things that are good. Abstain from every evil thought.” We should learn from this great text. I hope we already have.

We’ve learned about rejoice always, pray without ceasing, giving thanks for everything, not quenching the spirit nor despising the prophesies , and today, since this verse builds on itself, we will talk about testing all things. Things taught by preachers and teachers must be tried by God’s law and testimony. We should be looking to make sure God’s law matches up to what the preacher says. 1 John 4:1 teaches us to do that very thing, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” When convinced from scripture that a thing is true, “hold fast what is good.”

Every Christian has the responsibility to grow in areas we are sometimes struggling with. We need to grow and grow as Christians and get better at discerning good and evil. “Everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:13-14) Earnest searching the scriptures will settle our minds so truth and error can be recognized. “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars.” (Revelations 2:2)

Let’s don’t be fooled any longer, test everything you hear by the Bible to see if it is so! If it is what the Bible teaches follow it with all your heart. Be serious about it. Don’t just kind of half way do it and say, “Yeah, I know that’s what the Bible says.” Instead read it for yourself, and say, “If the Bible says it, I am going to do it, and I’m going to do it to the very best of my ability.” That’s what God is looking for. He’s looking for people who are in His word , studying, rejoicing, and continuing to pray and give thanks We should be faithful in obedience to His will.

~Philip

Directions for Your Heart
Do Not Quench the Spirit
1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 19-20

This week we have been looking at directions for our heart, and we’ve already learned to rejoice always, and pray without ceasing. Added to that we are to be giving thanks in every situation of life. We are looking at the text, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22. You might want to read some of the verses before and after, or maybe even begin with verse one of the chapter, because Paul is saying to us, “Look these are the directions for your heart. This is what is going to make a difference in your life, rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks.

The fourth thing we should do is not quench the spirit. (1 Thessalonians 16:19) The spirit is quenched as faith, hope, and love are quenched with sin. Stephen accused some of resisting the spirit. (Acts 7:51) Paul said some grieve the spirit. (Ephesians 4:30) This is done by refusing the instructions of the spirit. Like raindrops quench fire, evil thoughts, idle words, sinful deeds quench the spirit of God. In many Christians the spiritual fire is quenched because they have never stoked that fire by Bible study, meditation, prayer, self-examination, good works, kindness, love or mercy. If we really are to become what God wants us to be we have to do all those things and grow our faith.

The fifth direction for our heart is to not despise prophecies (1 Thessalonians 5:20). God’s grace is received as His teachings are received-- that is where we need to study. Let us never despise prophecies or the preaching of the word. Christians must prize and value the study, interpretation , and application of scriptures. If we do don’t do that we fail to believe these prophecies and we have missed out on a great opportunity to grow as a Christian. “But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all. And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you.” (1 Corinthians 14:24-25) Do not despise the preaching of God’s word or the one who preaches it. “Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?” (Galatians 4:16) “May God bless us with ears ever open to hear His truths. Let these words sink down into your ears…” (Luke 9:44) These words need to sink deep into our hearts just like Luke says, and we will rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, not quench the spirit, and not despise prophecies. This will get us where we need to be to serve God.

~Philip

Directions for Your Heart

1 Thessalonians 5:16-22

Pray Without Ceasing

Yesterday we began talking about some directions for the heart. We talked about directions being all around us and we are to follow those directions in God’s Word to become what God wants us to be. We are still in the same text, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22. I hope you have already had the opportunity to read it. If you didn’t read it yesterday, and even if you did, go back and read it again today.

Yesterday we learned to “rejoice always”, and today we learn to “pray without ceasing”. Each exhortation connects with the ones before. “Then He spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.” (Luke 18:1) Sometimes we pray when things are hard, but we ought to also pray when things are good. The way to rejoice more is to pray more. Prayer will help in any right thing you are involved with. Prayer aids in using the “Sword of the Spirit”. It aids us in the work of God.” “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.” (Ephesians 6:17-18)

Christians pray always because prayer is the Christian’s way to have needed things. We get whatever we ask, John writes, because we “keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.” (1 John 3:22) We pray without ceasing, but it doesn’t stop there. In the next verse, 1 Thess. 5:18, it says “In everything we give thanks. Notice God’s order -- rejoice, pray, and give thanks. Thanksgiving is just a natural progression and accompanies prayer and supplication. The Bible says in Philippians 4:6-7, that this is the case. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Giving thanks is, “the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Whatever your state of life, be thankful. That is a hard concept to understand. But we should be thankful in the bad times as well as the good times. Thanksgiving is pleasing to God. “We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks! For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near.” (Psalm 75:1)

~Philip

Directions for Your Heart
Rejoice Always
1 Thessalonians 5:16-22

Directions are everywhere. There are directions for assembling things, for repairing things, for cooking, and even for taking care of your kids. They not only come in English now, but also in other languages. I remember a few years ago our children got a trampoline for Christmas. It came in about a million pieces. I called some of my friends to come over and help assemble this trampoline, which for some reason Santa Claus didn’t assemble before he left the yard. One of these guys was an engineer for Boeing and the other was a retired Air Force guy, both very educated guys, and then there was me. We spent hours and hours trying to put that trampoline together. After we got it together we realized that something was not right, so we started taking it back apart. One of the guys says “I guess we will just have to read the directions. He started looking at the directions (this was the engineer), and he said “Some engineer must have written it--you can’t understand them.”

God has directions for our life. God in His own words gives us directions for our heart. In our text for this week, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22, Paul gives us some directions, short directions but powerful directions on having a good heart. He says, for example, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.”

We need to learn some of these lessons for the heart:
The first one is Rejoice Always, (1 Thessalonians 5:16).

We may be having hard times but we can still rejoice. 2 Corinthians 6:10 says “As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.”

Christianity fills our cup to overflowing. Psalms23:5 says, ”You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.”

Christian life is a life of joy, peace and true contentment. “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27) Let’s enjoy this peace, and live the life of a Christian.

In God’s Hand
1 John 4:7-12
On one of our mission trips to Belize Central America I met a guy who had a bird for a pet. This bird would sit on your shoulder or your finger and talk and do tricks for you. I was at his house one day and it was interesting to see the dog was barking at the bird. The guy immediately ran the dog away, took the bird in his hand, and soothed his ruffled feathers and told him, “It’s okay, I will protect you.”

God takes care of us as well. You know when we are in God’s hand, just like the bird in that guy’s hand, God is going to protect us and take care of all of those needs. God takes care of us today. He continually watches over us. He protects and provides for us. We are safe in God’s hand.

In the Old Testament, Psalm 139:9-10, the Bible says, “Lord, if I go east where the sun rises, you are there, if I go west where the sun sets, you are there. Even there Your right hand holds me and you lead me by the hand. What a beautiful idea. He’s got the whole world in His hands is the song that we sang as children says, and it is certainly true. He has us, and all the world in our hands and wants to protect us and love us.

Our scripture reading today is 1 John 4:7-12. There, especially in verse nine, we see Gods love for us. God sent His only son into the world to give us life through Him. Because God loves us He is willing to take care of us. I hope God will show His love for us today, and I hope we will show Him our love for Him. God says , “If you love Me you will keep My commandments.”

We will do those things God wants us to do is we truly care about God. We are in God’s hands if we allow ourselves to be. I hope you will today, do God’s will, that you will hear His Word, believe it, repent of your sins, confess your faith, and be baptized into Christ, then live the rest of your life faithfully obeying His will.

~Philip

Heart and Soul
Deut 26:16-19
The very first verse of our Bible reading for today says, “Today the Lord your God commands you to obey all these laws and rules. Be careful to follow them with all your heart and your soul.” Deuteronomy 26:16-19 is our Bible reading today, by the way. When I first read this verse I thought it was a pretty tough thing to tell these folks of old. They had all those laws to keep. How could I possibly keep all His rules and all His laws, after all I am human. I make mistakes. For many of us we say, “Yeah, I make mistakes, many of them continually.” We are working on that and trying to get better and better, or at least we should be.

Then we read a few chapters later in that same book, chapter 31, verse 6, that God says to Joshua, “The Lord your God is with you. He will not fail you or leave you.” What a beautiful idea. God is always there to help me. He’s not going to leave me alone.” When I read this I realized that I could do my very best to obey God, and God would be pleased with that. He would take care of the rest. It is my responsibility to do the very best I can.

Then as an individual I look and say, “Is what I’m doing now right with God? Is there something that I need to change? Is there an area I need to work on? Then I realize as I’m working and getting better at doing this. God is there supporting me along the way. Of course, this takes some very honest looking at ourselves. Sometimes when we look at ourselves and think of all the things we have done--all those bad things, the wrong things we’ve done over and over again. We think to ourselves, “How is it that God can even forgive me and continue to love me?” Because He created you to love you and take care of you, and for you to love Him back. The question then becomes, “What about me--what about you?” Maybe you think that you can’t obey God. Maybe you think you can’t do it alone. You are right in thinking that you can’t do it alone, but with God’s help you can.

We should trust Him today to lead us in the way we need to go. We need to put ourselves in God’s hands and say, “God, I am here with You and I know You are with me.” The Lord has said, “You must obey my commandments.” Today, right in our scripture it says so.” But in all of that God will not fail you or leave you. Trust in God today by putting Him first, and walking by faith and not by sight.

~Philip

Be Humble
Philippians 2:5-11

A few years ago I was in an airport waiting with a mission group to go to South America. As we waited, this young, big guy came through a line where we were. He and his girlfriend pushed their way ahead of everyone else knocking people aside as they pushed. They acted as if they were entitled and expected everyone to cater to them without apology. He was very rude and very proud he was who he said he was. I guessed he was maybe a part of a professional football team. Everyone around us was asking, ”Do you know who that is?” His actions were very hurtful.

The Bible reading for today teaches us we are to be humble just like Jesus. Jesus is God’s Son and is more important than anyone on earth. He is more important than any celebrity. Jesus was humble and he obeyed God. He was willing to come to earth to be mocked, to be beaten, and to be killed on the cross for us. God wants us to be humble and obedient just like that.

Our Bible reading comes from Philippians 2:5-11. Again, I encourage you to read your Bible. I know, years ago at church sometimes they would ask everyone to raise their hand who had read their Bible every day that week. We should all become Bible readers. Our faith grows that way, and it helps us to grow more and more humble. That is what our scripture reading is about today--about the importance of living our lives so that we will be pleasing to God. God wants Him to be the most important thing in our lives. I know a man who won a “Humility Pin” in his church. They gave him this honor and he was exciting to have it. Then they took it back the very next Sunday because he wore it. We have to be careful to keep ourselves in check. Always remember that Jesus loves us and died for us. That he wants to be with us for all of eternity. In your lives you must think and act like Christ Jesus, Philippians 2:5 says. Let’s do that today. Let us try to be like Jesus Christ.
~Philip

Keep On Trying
Philippians 31:12-21

Our Bible reading today encourages us to keep on trying. By the way, I hope you are reading the verses every day. It will increase your faith--faith grows that way. The Bible tells us “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.”

The scripture comes from Philippians 3:12-21, and Paul is talking about reaching a goal. That goal is trying to be the kind of people God wants us to be. The question is, are we really trying to reach that goal? Revelation says if we are living faithfully we will be given a crown of life after this life is over. This means if we are faithful and trying to obey His will He will give us life forever with Him when this life is over. None of us are perfect the Bible teaches. “All of us have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.” With that in mind, sometimes with heavy hearts, we think “I don’t know that God can ever forgive,” but the fact is God can and wants to forgive us.

Others, if they are God like, will be what God wants us to be and will forgive and let us continue to grow even through bad experiences. We have to have a goal to stay focused on, Ephesians 3:12 suggests. It says I don’t mean that I am like God wants me to be. I have not reached that goal, but I have continued to try to reach the goal. When this day is over I can say I have tried. “

~Philip

It May Take Several Months

Acts 19:1-10 At 19:8

We have been talking about things that took several months to happen. In today’s scripture reading, Acts 19:1-10, Paul went into the city of Ephesus. There he found some people who loved and worshipped God. Paul helped these people to learn about Jesus, and he went into the synagogue there and tried to persuade the people to believe in Jesus. He preached there, the Bible says, for three months. Some of those Jewish people did accept, but others did not accept Paul’s message.

It didn’t stop Paul from preaching the word. Paul continued to tell people about Jesus. As a matter of fact in verse 10 of our scripture reading, the Bible says, “Because of this work every Jew and Greek (those folks of course were none Jewish people) heard the word of the Lord.” What a great thing to be said of you. It may take months for this to happen, but what about us. Could over the course of several months could you at least tell your family and friends the message of Jesus Christ?

Paul was willing to tell everyone about Jesus even the ones who did not accept the things he said. He was faithful, consistent and willing to persevere under all odds. He did not give up. Later many people did become Christians because Paul was will to stand up. Maybe you have tried telling your family and friends about Jesus but they didn’t accept what you said before. Let me encourage you again not to give up--just keep trying. Some will reject but others will be persuaded to become followers of Jesus because of your willingness to teach.

The Bible says Paul went into the synagogue and spoke very boldly, and he continued doing this for three months.( Acts 19-8) What if we did it for a little time, what if we did it for just three minutes or three days with somebody? Start somewhere and then keep going. Use the time God gives wisely. The Bible says we have a responsibility to redeem the time. In other words use the time and not waste it or discard it but to use that time to persuade others to believe in Jesus Christ. Tell them they have to hear Gods Word, believe it, confess their faith, and be baptized. Then they need to continue to live faithfully by coming to church, by studying the Bible for themselves, by giving of their time, talent and treasures each day.

Come be with us--our service times on Sunday are 9am for Bible Classes for all ages,10am for Worship Service, an 5pm for Evening Worship. Our Website is www.elbachurchofchrist.com . We have information there about the 10th Annual Wiregrass Area Wide Lectureship which we are hosting this year.

~Philip

Several Months

Luke 1:26-38

We’ve been talking about things that may take several months to happen. One of the great stories of the Bible is about a guy named Zacharias and his wife. They did not have any children. Our Bible reading comes from Luke 1:26-38. In verse seven the Bible says that Elizabeth could not have any babies and this made them very sad. God sent an angel to tell Zacharias that he would have a son. He even told him what that son’s name would be. Because of doubt Zacharias, who was a priest, was made mute--he couldn’t talk for all the months that Elizabeth was expecting her baby. Mary was her cousin and an angel came to her too and told her she would have a baby. Of course her son was Jesus the son of God. The angel also told her that her relative Elizabeth was going to have a baby, that she was old, but she was six months pregnant. Everybody thought it couldn’t happen but God made it possible. God blessed Elizabeth and Mary in a very special way.

Elizabeth’s son John grew up to be a great forerunner for Jesus. He went around preaching that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. Then Mary’s son Jesus would grow up to die on the cross for you and for me. This was part of God’s plan, his plan for our salvation. How can God make all this happen? Verse thirty-seven of our scripture reading says,”God can do anything.” That was certainly the case. He can use months to teach people a great lesson. In fact, when the baby was born he still could not talk and they asked him what the name of the baby should be. They wanted to name it after his father or some relative. Zacharias wrote “No” on a piece of paper-- that his name should be John. After that his tongue was loosened and he could talk again.

For all those months Mary waited to see what the Son of God would be. We know this -- that God uses time to develop people and to make them what He wants them to be if we will allow God to control our lives. Luke 1:25, says, “Look what God has done for me. He has helped me to have this baby.” Let’s look to God to encourage us to become one of His people.

Come be with us at the Elba Church of Christ.

~Philip

Sometimes It Takes Months
Exodus 2:1-10

Over the course of this year we have talked about several subjects. One of the subjects we talked about was “Days”. For example, Creation: On one day He created the heavens and the earth, and on one day He created all the animals. We looked at those ideas of days in the Bible.

Over the next few days I want to look at the idea of months , several months for things to happen. Sometimes God uses months for plans to develop. That is the case of our story today. If you are reading your Bible, as I hope you are, please turn to Exodus 2:1-10. In that reading Moses was a baby. In that story Moses’ mother hid him away. Why? Because the Egyptian king wanted to kill all the boy babies. He thought the Israelite population was growing too big. There were already many of them and he thought that soon they would have an army of their own and it would be bigger than the king’s army. His solution to stop the growth was to kill all the baby boys born at that time.

As baby Moses grew, his mother kept him hidden, but he became more and more difficult to hide. After about three months the Bible says Moses’ mother did what we famously know--she put the baby Moses in a basket in the river-- the King’s daughter found him and took him to raise as her own son. When Moses grew up he took the Israelites out of slavery and brought them to the new land, the promised land. God gave him the special law, and Moses did all the things a person does as a leader.

God was using a time period that many would consider a long time--three months for Moses to wind up in the right place where he could grow up around the greatest leader of his time and learn about leadership so that later on he could be a great leader himself, maybe the greatest leader of all time. He led God’s people. God helped Moses’ mother save him from the king.

God will help you grow and to have the best life possible now, and of course, for all of eternity. Maybe the challenge today would be to ask God to help you grow and become what you need to be,
even if it takes months for it to happen. Keep depending on God to help you. If you are taking time to find God and to see God, one good place to do that is coming to our Bible Classes at 7pm on Wednesday evening . There is also a Men’s Bible Class every Wednesday morning at 6:30am. Come and be with us.
Sunday Class is at 9am, Worship at 10am, Evening Worship at 5pm.

~Philip

God’s Plan
John 19:16-37

I have three children whom I love very much. God had only one Son whose name was Jesus whom He loved very much. But God was willing to send His Son to die on the cross. Why? So you and I could have our sins forgiven. That was really God’s plan wasn’t it. That was the plan of the Bible, really, from the beginning, where the Bible tells us how we got into this quagmire of sin. Then the rest of the Bible tells us how to get out of the mess that we got into. We see Jesus being the central theme of the Bible.

Our scripture reading today, John 19:16-37, tells us that Jesus died for us. That Bible reading tells us that Jesus suffered many things before he died. He was beaten, he was spit upon, he was nailed to a cross. These things he went through were terribly hard and must have been so sad for God to watch as Jesus suffered and took on the sins of all of us. Since God has nothing to do with sin He had to turn His face from His own son. Jesus said, “Why has thou forsaken me?”, knowing He was bearing the sins of the world for each of us.

The good news is that after Jesus died that was not the end of it. He didn’t stay dead He came alive. That could only happen, of course, from God’s power. Because Jesus rose from the dead we can live after we die. We can forever with God. What an amazing thing! God’s plan of salvation through Jesus is so wonderful for each of us. I hope you have already decided that Jesus is your Savior, and that you will do what God wants you to do. If not, let me encourage you to read God’s plan from His Word, the Bible. Don’t take my word for it, or anybody elses. Take God’s for it. As read we will see that God wants us to hear His Word, Romans 10:17, to believe it, Mark 16:15-16, to repent of our sins, Acts 2:38, confess our faith, Matthew 10:32, and finally he wants us to be baptized into Christ, a couple of verses we have already given you tell us that we should be baptized, Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38, There are many other places in our Bible that say we should put Him on in baptism, for example, in Acts 22:16, Here’s Paul, a guy who at the time was named Saul, was going through a big change in his life. He was already believing and had repented, and waiting to what God told him to do, and He said, “Arise, and be baptized, calling on the name of the Lord.” It is in that plan our hope can be secured. We need to make the decision to love Him, and to follow Him and do faithful obedience to His Will. The Good News of the gospel is in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, Paul says I have told you the important stuff. He was crucified, He was buried, and He rose again on the third day.

~Philip

Beyond the Sunset
Ecclesiastes 1:1-9

A man named Virgil P. Brock wrote a beautiful song entitled “ Beyond the Sunset.” This song encourages people who are facing death and it tells people who are still alive that there is hope after death or after the sunset. It tells of a place after death and that place is called heaven. A lot of people are sick and dying, and we’ve all heard it said that the death rate is 100%.

Other people think they have no hope after life, but that is not the case for Christians. We have great joy to come after this life. As a matter of fact, the Bible says we should look forward to a time when our life here on earth is finished and we can live forever with Jesus in heaven in God’s presence worshiping Him and praising Him. Our scripture reading today is Ecclesiastes 1:1-9, a text that would encourage us to look forward to heaven. But we are alive right now and we need to be trying every day to be like Jesus. That will give us confidence that God is still there when bad things happen to us. It will give us the strength that when temptation gets the best of us we can overcome despite our weaknesses if we can trust in God. We will then want to seek the joy that comes after death and when we see that sun going down we can be encouraged again to think about what will happen--that we will share eternity with Jesus in heaven.

I hope we are doing what it takes to go to heaven when this life is over, that we are doing what it takes to get that prize, the prize that is mentioned over and over again in the Bible that is ours because of God’s calling me through Christ Jesus and to this life above, Philippians 3:14. I hope that we are thinking about working towards that day when we will spend eternity there. The question really is for us beyond the sunset, after our death will we get to go to heaven? I hope we will and when we are there we will have gotten there because of our faithful obedience to God’s will. We will have heard what He said, believed in it, applied the things he taught us to do by repenting of our sins, confessing our faith, and being baptized into Christ. We will have been faithful to the very best of our abilities every day of our lives, giving of our time, talents, and treasures, by attending churches services regularly, by teaching other people, and studying the Bible for ourselves. What about you? Are you preparing for the sunset when your life on earth is over?

~Philip

HEROES
Ruth 1:6-17 Ruth 1:16

Today people have many heroes. Those heroes come from all sorts of places. Some are movie stars, or famous athletes, or we look up to some people who are around us on a daily basis. Many of the heroes from the Bible are great examples for us. Many of my heroes from the bible were powerful leaders. Some did great things, like David. Moses and Joshua who were great leaders led well. They had bad things in their life too but led well for the most part.

You should check out Hebrews 11, which is known as “the Hall of Fame of the Faithful”. It is a list of names who faithfully obeyed God-- they did it God’s way. They were honored as a result. One of those heroes, as a matter of fact, was a lady, Esther, whom I admire in some ways for standing up for what is right. Another lady in the Bible is Ruth. Ruth 1:6-17 is our scripture reading today. I admire Ruth for her faithfulness to her mother-in-law, Naomi. After her husband died she chose to stay with Naomi instead of going back to her homeland--the land where she was born. Later Ruth married a man named Boaz and their great grandson was King David. So, in her heritage there comes King David. Later Jesus was born into that same family. Ruth is a great example of someone who followed God by following someone they loved.

Another one of my heroes is my Mom, because she’s interested in going to heaven. We encourage you to look around you and pick out someone you love who follows Jesus, someone whom you respect and who would give you hope. I have great hope that your mother is your hero too. That she is guiding you to do the right thing. Take time out today to thank your Mom for the good example she is to you. If she is not a good example, you can at least decide that you are going to be a good example to your children and become their heroes. There are many heroes in our world. There are many heroes in the Bible.

Our greatest hero is Jesus Himself who died on the cross for us. He was willing to come and be our sacrifice for sins. Let’s do what it takes to be with Him and go where He goes. The most familiar verse in the book of Ruth is our scripture reading today. Ruth said to Naomi, “Where you go, I will go, where you sleep I will sleep, your people will be my people, your God my God. “ Let’s say that to others around us today. Let us be one people and go to heaven together when we die.

~Philip

Be a Good Steward

Gen. 1:24-28

Our Bible reading today reminds us that God made all the animals. Our scripture reading today comes from Genesis 1:24-28. I encourage you to read that whole chapter. I haven’t mentioned the 20/20 rule lately--to read 20 verses before and 20 verses after. In this case you might as well read the whole chapter. God had created all the stuff here on earth, and after he had created the land, the water, the birds, the animals, He made people. God said that people should rule over the animals-- take care of all the things. This is an example of stewardship.

Animals can be used for food. They can also be used for service. An example of that is a horse. It can carry people wherever they want to go. Sometimes animals become our special friends, even. Sometimes people don’t treat the animals like they should. Sometimes they are cruel to animals and they don’t take care of their animals and keep them safe. Proverbs 12:10 suggests that it is a good idea to do so. It is our duty to care for them. This extends to all of God’s creation and even to us as individuals.

God has given us the responsible of being good stewards of all the things He has given us. He tells us to take care of all the stuff. He gives us so many blessings it is hard to count them all. It is wonderful to see all the things God has created and see all the awesome things we have to enjoy in the world. Let me encourage you today to be a good steward. A steward is a caretaker over a particular area. God has entrusted each of us with certain areas to take care of, like our families, our homes, and the animals around us. He entrusts us with stewardship over our time talents and treasures. He expects us give those to Him. He expects us do what we are commanded to do and give as we have prospered. We should give back to Him, and in doing that He will reward us for our efforts. Let me encourage you today to be a good steward. It will make a difference in your life today and all eternity. We need to put God first. The way we put God first is to faithfully obey His will.

~Philip

Jesus, our Anchor
Hebrew 12:1-3 Heb 6:18-19

My wife and kids love the beach, and they love Disney World. Those are their two favorite spots. They love those places better than any place in the world, except maybe being at home. They enjoy our family time there. They love going to the beach. Before we moved to Elba we lived in Niceville Florida. My wife and kids went to the beach about once a week with some friends from church. I went with them sometimes.

Sometimes one person would be in the water and not paying attention to where they were and before long the current would have taken them far down the beach. We laughed and joked sometimes about the people on the beach kept moving, when really it was the other way around. When they discovered how far the current had taken them, they would have to fight the current- - sort of swim up-stream to get back to their spot. We all have experienced that same sort of thing. In order for everyone to stay together on the beach one person would have to keep focused on the people on the beach and keep everyone right where they were.

Today I think we learn a great lesson from that. We need to keep focused on Jesus. We can do that by reading our bible and praying. Jesus is our anchor. He is our help, and He helps us to stay close to Him, to God. If we do not have Jesus in our lives the current of the world can cause us to drift away from God. But if we have Jesus as our anchor, that anchor will hold no matter what the weather is or where we might be.

Take your Bibles and read Hebrews 12:1-3, our scripture reading today. By the way, in Hebrews 6:18-19, the Bibles says that God cannot lie when He says something. He cannot lie when He makes a vow. Those things give great comfort to us who come to God for safety. We know that God is there taking care of us. Those things give us comfort and strength and the hope that God gives us. It is like an anchor the Bible says. It is strong and sure and keeps our souls safe, Hebrews 6:18-19. Spend some time reading God’s Word and studying to know what God would have us to do, then apply those things in our life. If we do that God will be well pleased with us, and we will have a better life because we decided to have that anchor that we all need.

~Philip

Be Like Jesus
Col. 3:12-17

One day my wife and kids and I stopped by a park in Enterprise. We started watching these ducks. It was an amazing thing to watch--this duck and all the little ducklings. Of course, they were cute and my wife and daughter were oohing and aahing over them and the baby wanted to chase them. My oldest son and I were just talking about them, and we noticed that these ducklings were copying everything their mother did. If she pecked the grass, they pecked the grass. If she ran toward a piece of bread, they ran after her toward the bread. When the mother rested all the ducklings sat down close to where she was and rested too. When she started walking again, so did they. They eagerly followed her. They even went into the water with her, and even there they just followed along behind her as they swam. They were doing exactly what they naturally do. They followed their mother.

This reminded me that Christians should be the same way. We should be following Jesus every day of our life. The question is: Do we do that? Do we follow Jesus like the ducklings followed their mother? Our scripture reading today comes from Colossians 3:12-17. As we read that text we find that we as individuals should be copying Christ. We should be following Him. Many people follow other people who don’t follow God. We need to work on following Jesus today. Another text in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 11:1, says “Follow my example, as I follow my example of Christ.”

What a great lesson to learn. We should follow Christ, and other folks can follow Christ by following our example. That was the idea Paul was trying to get across to us. He said, “Look, follow me, as I am following Christ.” It will make all the difference in our lives. And it will give us an opportunity to go to heaven together when this life is over. Make sure that we are being like Jesus. Make sure we are following Him in those things that He said, that He did, the way He acted each day of His life, and if we do we will be blessed as a result.

We would like for you to come be with us on Sunday at our Bible Classes, which are age appropriate for all ages. So come worship with us in spirit and in truth. You cann also checkout our website www.elbachurchofchrist.com

~Philip