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"...Shepherd the flock of God which is among
you, serving as overseers..." (1 Peter 5:2)
Elders
Morris Bass, Rick Holt , Joe
Price |
"...let them serve as deacons,
being found blameless..." (1 Tim. 3:10)
Deacons
Aaron Bass, Rich Brooks, Mike Finn
John Hague, Dan Head |
"And take...the sword of
the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Eph. 6:17)
In this issue:
When the Disciples Came Together
Joe R. Price
God seeks true worshipers who worship Him in
spirit and truth (Jno. 4:23-24). Christians in the New Testament set an
example of worship that pleases God. Their habit was to assemble together on
the first day of each week, not to forsake the assembling of themselves
together (Heb. 10:24-25). It was a part of their faith that they exercised
every first day of the week (Acts 2:42; 20:7).
Each first day of the
week the disciples of Jesus came together “in one place” to honor God
in worship and be edified as they ate the Lord’s supper to remember the
death of Jesus, to pray and sing together, to give as the Lord had prospered
them and to hear the word of God (1 Cor. 11:20; Acts 2:42; 20:7; 1 Cor.
14:12-16, 26; Eph. 5:19). It is notable that when these early Christians
came together “as a church” (1 Cor. 11:18) to worship God, their
assemblies were…
Simple.
The worship meetings of Christians in the New Testament were not accentuated
by frills and flourishes. No elaborate ceremonies are mentioned or
described; none were needed. God did not expect such of Christians then,
nor does Christ command such of us today. True worship is not defined by
pomp and circumstance devised by men.
Sincere.
Hearts are turned toward God in worship. It is not a time to try to impress
people. Worship is not entertainment. Humble reverence is a clear trait of
the one who worships God in “spirit and truth.” “God
is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be held in
reverence by all those around Him”
(Psa. 89:7). Every part of our worship assembly is to be done “decently
and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40).
Sufficient.
The worship assemblies of Christians in the New Testament satisfied the
purposes of God, and that was enough. That is the aim of our assemblies,
too. Some may think they must use gimmicks to entice folks to come and stay
interested. But for disciples of Christ, the interest in worship is already
present. Their faith is real, their service is genuine and their worship
honors God (Heb. 2:12).
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Life Is ...
J. S. Smith
Life is not making millions of dollars,
drifting on a golden parachute or crashing into a glass ceiling. It is not
bowling trophies, road construction or whiter, brighter teeth while you
sleep.
Life is not who makes the
dean’s list, an enemies list or a blacklist. It is not Congressional
District 24, nor is it trash collectors, metal detectors or meat inspectors.
Life is not Macs or Windows,
Longhorns or Aggies, Eagles or Cowboys. Neither is it Toyota or Lexus,
Lincoln or Ford, Corvette or Chevette. Life is not ring around the collar,
having it your way or grabbing gusto.
Life is not pork ribs, baby
bibs or stock tips. It is not the Marshall Plan, a southern man or Neil
Young. Life is not Mountain Dew, skies of blue or the number two.
Life is not DSL or dial-up,
dine-in or carry-out, picnic or pitch-in. Life is not wrinkles around the
eyes, gray around the temples or a spare tire around the waist. Life is not
59 ½, 62 or 65.
Life is not Timex, Memorex,
or Malcolm X. It is not cashews, padded pews or a blown fuse. Life is not
desperate housewives, x-men or dixie chicks.
Life is not dating the most
boys or dying with the most toys. It is not blue state/red state or another
morning and the paper’s late.
Life is not peace in the
Middle East or tornadoes in the Midwest. It is not dot-coms, o-rings or the
grassy knoll. Life is not red or yellow, black or white because they are all
precious in His sight.
Life is not beatles or wings,
dominoes or cream. It is not occluded fronts, cherry runts or helium punts.
Life is not a whole grain oat cereal, a board game from Milton Bradley or a
magazine ignored by 12 million people every Friday.
Life is walking by faith (2
Cor. 5:7), fearing God and keeping his commandments (Eccles. 12:13). It is
letting your light shine (Matt. 5:16), finding salvation by grace through
faith (Eph. 2:8) and doing unto others as you would have done unto you,
regardless of how others actually do unto you (Matt. 7:12) Life is abiding
in Christ (Gal. 3:27) and being found well pleasing to him when the final
trumpet sounds (2 Cor. 5:9).
This life is not about this
life. This life is about the next (2 Peter 3:11-13).
Woodmont Beacon,
Edition 295, July 2, 2006
http://www.woodmontchurch.org
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Life Is ... My Point
J. S. Smith
Forrest Gump says, “Life is like a box of chocolates” but
I see tee-shirts all the time that say life is something else and the rest
is just details.
I see an ever-present challenge to keep this life in
proper perspective. I think of Curly in City Slickers, holding up one finger
and implying that it was the purpose of life. “One thing.” To borrow a
phrase, it’s a matter of keeping the main thing, the main thing.
Everything in my earlier stream-of-consciousness rant
takes its place among all the little things that compete for our attention.
The biggest word my three-year-old son knows is “concentration.” Pleasing
God and finding our way to heaven depends upon our ability to concentrate
upon his will and keep everything else in perspective. From mundane daily
distractions to life-altering tragedies and triumphs, nothing should prove
sufficient to divert us from the eternal purpose of life. “For I am
persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor
powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any
other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:38-39).
There are so many occasions in life, however, in which we
find ourselves majoring in minors. Wednesday, the Diet Mountain Dew soda
fountain was out of order. My daughter wants uniform number nine and has to
settle for 54. The guy in the F-150 swerved in front of me on the freeway.
Some would answer, “That’s life” and I understand their point, but no,
that’s not life. If that’s all life is, life is not very much.
When we were children, we would spin around in circles
until we were dizzy almost to the point of nausea. We would stumble about,
looking at the world in a blur and have great fun. Grown-up life provides
its own dizziness, really from the onset of the teen years until someone
tosses a handful of dirt on your very own pine box. School, work, sports,
hobbies, relationships and rivalries get factored into the mundane, tragic
and triumphant and it is not hard to imagine that we become slaves to the
distractions, incapable of remembering what life is really about.
Consider the apostle Paul who seems to be single-minded in
his service to the Lord, counting loss the things that were gain to him,
reaching forward to the upward call and learning to be content in every
state (Phil. 3-4). Demas, though, forsook him, having loved this present
world a little too much (2 Tim. 4:10) -- things that perish with use or fall
prey to time, rust, moth or thief (Col. 2:22, Matt. 6:19). How much of our
anger, worry, discontentment and distress are truly rooted in things that
won’t matter in a week or a year or certainly in eternity? Life has to be
more than that, right?
Woodmont Beacon,
Edition 295, July 2, 2006
http://www.woodmontchurch.org
Top
NOTEWORTHY NEWS
(Current events in the
light of Scripture)
The Speed of Life
Joe R. Price
Last Monday 41 people were killed in a
subway train derailment in Valencia, Spain. Officials said Tuesday that
excessive speed may have been the cause of the tragedy. (“Speeding may have
caused Spanish derailment,” Ciaran Giles, AP, Toronto Star, thestar.com,
July 4, 2006)
Too often we speed through life. It’s
hard for many to “stop and smell the roses.” Speeding through life leaves us
exhausted and regretful. And what’s more, it can lead to eternal
consequences we never intended.
Some say they don’t have time for God.
They are too busy with work – and with play – to obey Him. To these folks,
Sunday is a “day off” for themselves. They have not learned that every day
belongs to God and that life itself is a gift He gives us all (Gen. 2:7;
Eccl. 12:7; Matt. 5:45). Time is the measurement of life “under the sun”
– it is not an inexhaustible resource (Eccl. 3:1-13).
The things God does should cause us to
“fear before Him” (Eccl. 3:14). But, some say they “don’t have time” to
do that. They live their life in denial, believing that by not thinking
about God, somehow, they are not responsible to God. This sort of thinking
is tragically wrong (Heb. 9:27; 2 Cor. 5:10). God calls all men everywhere
to repent. We had better slow down and take time to obey God – judgment day
is coming (Acts 17:30-31).
If your life is perpetually filled with
rushing about neglecting God, you must slow down (Lk. 10:38-42). Consider
your priorities and set God firmly in place at the top of the list (Matt.
6:33). Take a breath – find a quiet place – rest a bit (Mk. 6:31). Pray
often, love your family, be kind to your neighbor and try to save some. And,
work for the Master every day (Jno. 9:4).
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