And take…the sword of the Spirit, which  is the word of God.   Ephesians 6:17

THE
SPIRIT’S
SWORD

Volume 15, Number 12
05/06/2012

Published by
Mt. Baker
church of Christ

Location:
  
1860 Mt. Baker HWY
Mailing Address:

       P.O. Box 30821
 
Bellingham, WA 98228
       (360) 752-2692

Sunday:
Bible Classes..........9:30 AM
Worship..10:30AM; 6:00PM

Wednesday:
Bible Classes.........7:00 PM
All sing last Wednesday

Web sites:
Mt. Baker church
Bible Answers

Editor......Joe R. Price


Elders
Morris Bass
Rick Holt

Deacons
Aaron Bass
Rich Brooks
Mike Finn
Dan Head



 

In this issue:


"You thought that I was altogether like you"
Joe R. Price

Elsewhere in this bulletin is a sermon outline entitled “The God I Know...”; a study of some false concepts of God conceived in the human heart. This article is a supplement to that study.

The 50th Psalm depicts God as the mighty Lord and righteous Judge of both His people and of the wicked. There, God first implores His people to “call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me” (Psa. 50:15). In contrast, in the face of the sins of the wicked who “hate instruction and cast My words behind you”, God admits that He “kept silent” for a time (Psa. 50:21). Mostly likely, the wicked complacently concluded that since God did not immediately speak or act, He does not care what they did (Zeph. 1:12). God’s longsuffering did not mean that at all, and God corrects their false view of Him: “You thought that I was altogether like you; but I will rebuke you, and set them (their sins, jrp) in order before your eyes” (Psa. 50:21). God remembered every one of their sins and would hold each one of them accountable for every sin committed. The Psalm ends with a warning not to forget God. To do so brings one into sure judgment. On the other hand, God’s salvation is assured to those who faithfully praise and follow Him (Psa. 50:22-23).

Every man and woman should learn and remember that:

God does not think like us. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:8-9). We are not the standard of right and wrong. This is why we cannot rely on our thoughts and feelings to guide us in matters of truth and morality: Our own thoughts and emotions often deceive us (Prov. 14:12; Jer. 17:9).  You see, God does not think like you think!

God is not limited in knowledge like us. “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!” (Rom. 11:33) Those who love this world and the things in it are tempted to forget that God sees and knows their prideful conduct: “They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walks through the earth...and they say, ‘How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?” (Psa. 73:9, 11)

Oh yes, there is “knowledge in the Most High”. We must hear and follow the counsel of God rather than the counsel of men. “The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor. 1:25). He knows us far better than we know ourselves: “O Lord, You have searched me and known me, You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it” (Psa. 139:1-6). You see, God knows more than you know!

God is not limited by time like us. A most important warning is uttered by God through His prophet Isaiah to the idolatrous transgressors: “Remember this, and show yourselves men; Recall to mind, O you transgressors. Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure’” (Isa. 46:8-10). “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God” (Psa. 90:2). The true God is timeless and eternal, and that bears upon the enduring justice and truthfulness of His word. His word is as true today as when it was first uttered and penned by His prophets; God’s word lives forever (1 Pet. 1:23-25). You see, God has lived longer than you and His word is more enduring than yours!

God is not limited in power like us. The truth Job acknowledged must be on our hearts and tongues: “Then Job answered the Lord and said: ‘I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You’” (Job 42:1-2). We cannot resist God’s power and purposes; we must yield to them in faithful obedience (Acts 5:39; Jas. 4:7-10). You see, God has more power than you have!

God does not sin like us. All of us have sinned (Rom. 3:23). God has not sinned, He will not sin and He does not condone sin. “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor the son of man, that He should repent” (Num. 23:19). Many people believe that on the Judgment Day God will overlook their sins, redefine their sins or by some means (not yet revealed) mercifully forgive their unrepented sins. No, God’s redemptive plan exists now and will not change. The Judgment Day will be a day of accounting (giving answer for our lives on earth) and of reward according to our deeds. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). God will not reward sinners with heaven, nor will He punish those who have been faithful to Him (Matt. 7:21-23). You see, God will judge your sins and punish you unless you repent and obey the gospel of His Son!

Which God do you serve? Do you serve the god designed by the will and wisdom of men? Do you serve the god you have created in your own mind? Or, do you serve the true and living God, the God of the Bible? 

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You can find the complete outline of this sermon plus PowerPoint and MP3 Audio files at BIBLE ANSWERS

"The God I Know…"

Scripture Reading:   Psalm 50:16-23

1. We are masters of rationalization; especially is this true when it comes to spiritual topics, cf. Jas. 1:26.
2. One way we deceive ourselves is to remake God into our own image, Rom. 1:28-32. We hear, “The God I know...” / “My God...”
3. The God of the Bible debunks the false hope of the false god men conjure up in their minds! We had better listen to and obey the word of the true God – not the God we make in our image!

I    “THE GOD I KNOW...”

  A. “...Wouldn’t Expect Me to be Baptized to be Saved.” (Jno. 3:16)
    -The God of the Bible does! Mk. 16:15-16; Acts 2:37-38; 1 Pet. 3:21

  B. “...Would Want Me to Play Instruments to Worship Him.”
    -The God of the Bible said “sing”, Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16; Rev. 22:18-19; Jno. 4:23-24.

  C. “...Wouldn’t Expect Me to Give Up All the ‘Fun’ things of Life.” Gal. 5:19-21
    -The God of the Bible does! Col. 3:5-10

  D. “...Wouldn’t Send Good People to Hell”, Heb. 13:20-21; Rom. 3:9-12, 23; 6:23
    -The God of the Bible sent His Son to save “good people”, too! Mk. 10:17-22; Acts 10:1-6, 22; 11:14-18.

  E. “...Will Save Me Even with Sin.”
    -The God of the Bible will not save you in spite of your sins, Rom. 6:1-2, 15; Jno. 7:16-17; Rom. 6:17-18; 2 Jno. 9-11; Jno. 14:1-3.

  F. “...Wouldn’t Expect Me to End My Marriage to be Right with Him.”
    -The God of the Bible does, Ezra 9:1-2, 13-15; 10:1-4, 10-12; Matt. 19:9, 10-12.

Conclusion “The God you/I know” must be the God of the Bible.

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You can find the complete outline of this sermon plus PowerPoint and MP3 Audio files at BIBLE ANSWERS

Good Eyes

Scripture Reading:   Matthew 6:19-23

1. Sight is used to speak of man’s spiritual perception, Matt. 13:14-15.
2. An eye is likened to a lamp which shows the body which way to move and turn..., Lk. 11:34.
3. Eye: “metaph. the eyes of the mind, the faculty of knowing” (Thayer, Online Bible).

I. OUR EYES MUST BE FOCUSED ON HEAVENLY TREASURES, Matt. 6:19-23.

  A. We must Open our Eyes, Jno. 9:35-41; Acts 26:18; 1 Cor. 2:14-16; Eph. 1:17-19.
  B. We must have Spiritual Perception in Order to Know… Matt. 6:19-22 (13:44).
  C. Our Eyes (Spiritual Perception) must be Focused on Heavenly Treasures, Matt. 6:19-23. [Single: “1) simple, single....2) whole...3) good fulfilling its office, sound...3a) of the eye”, Thayer, Online Bible]; Lk. 11:34-36.

II.  LET US RAISE THE LEVEL OF OUR SPIRITUAL PERCEPTION SO THAT WE HAVE EYES THAT SEE (know) VALUE OF:

  A. Lost Souls, Lk. 15:8-10; Jno. 4:35; Jas. 5:19-20.
  B. The Truth of the Gospel, Prov. 23:23; Psa. 19:8, 10-11; 119:127-128.
  C. Gospel Preaching, 1 Cor. 1:18-25; Rom. 10:8-17; 2 Tim. 4:2-5.
  D. The Church of Christ, 1 Tim. 3:15; Eph. 1:22-23; 3:21; 5:25-27; 4:16.
  E. Heaven, Rev. 21:1; Heb. 11:13-16.

Conclusion

1.  Keep your eyes on Jesus, Heb. 12:1-2.
2. “If your eye is good (single, clear), your whole body will be full of light” (Matt. 6:22).

“I have made a covenant with my eyes” (Job 31:1)

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NOTEWORTHY NEWS
(Current events in the light of Scripture)

Hidden Treasure
Joe R. Price

A piece of pottery donated to Goodwill in New York may be an artifact from Native American burial ground in Oklahoma. “The Buffalo News reports that the 7.5-inch vessel, which turned up last month in the warehouse of Goodwill Industries of Western New York, features a fluted opening and wartlike protrusions” (“Pottery reportedly given to Goodwill may well be prehistoric”, FoxNews.com). The Buffalo News article said of the artifact, “Found in a burial mound near Spiro Oklahoma in 1970," said the note written in pencil on a faded strip of lined paper. If that’s true -- and there's no reason to believe it’s not -- the piece could be more than 1,000 years old, maybe even thousands. And soon it should be on its way back to Oklahoma” (). Someone possessed an item of considerable value and, without recognizing that value, gave it away. BuffaloNews.com

     Jesus likened the kingdom of heaven to “treasure hidden in a field” which a man found and hid until he joyfully sold all he had to purchase that field (Matt. 13:44). The man found the treasure and knew its value. Similarly, we must know the value of the kingdom of heaven. Its value exceeds earthly treasure, having worth that reaches into eternity (Matt. 6:19-21). Knowing the value of the kingdom of heaven compels a person to sacrifice all he or she has in order to obtain its blessing. Having counted the cost one pays the price to be saved and follow Christ (Lk. 14:25-33). Are you?

     Jesus also likened the kingdom to “a merchant seeking beautiful pearls” who found “one pearl of great price” and sold all to obtain it (Matt. 13:45-46). The kingdom of heaven is so valuable we must earnestly seek it. We must desire the kingdom of heaven more than anything else. Nothing is more important than the kingdom of heaven; it is our first priority (Matt. 6:33). One possesses the kingdom’s eternal blessings by knowing its value, desiring its blessings and obeying its King (Matt. 7:21). Are you? 

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Created by Chuck Sibbing.  05/07/2012

The Spirit's Sword is a free, weekly publication of the Mt. Baker church of Christ, Bellingham, WA
Send all questions, comments and subscriptions to the editor at: ssword@bibleanswer.com