And take…the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 6:17
THE
SPIRIT’S
SWORD
Volume 16, Number
48
04/27/2014
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:
Mt.
Baker
church
of Christ
Gospel
Meeting
April 27 - May 2, 2014
Evangelist
Micky Galloway
(Lancaster, California)
Bible
lessons nightly, Mon-Fri at 7:00 PM
Sunday, April 27th at 9:30
and 10:30 AM; 6:00 PM
"Strengthening Faith"
Sunday Bible Class: Faith Learned Early
Sunday AM: Faith, Success or Failure
Sunday PM: Faith Under Fire
Monday: Faith In A Faithless Nation
Tuesday: Lacking In Your Faith
Wednesday: Lord Increase Our Faith
Thursday: Dangers To Our Faith
Friday: If Any Man Be In Christ He Is A New Creature
(From I-5 take Exit # 255 and go East 4.2 miles)
For more information please call (360) 752-2692
Micky Galloway
“One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple” (Psalms 27:4).
I can think of no greater goal in life than the one which David mentioned. From time to time it becomes necessary to evaluate our priorities in life. We can learn much from this statement from David.
“One thing have I desired of the Lord.” Man’s heart needs to be single, set on one thing. Divided allegiance with reference to one’s service to God is fatal. Jesus taught that a man cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24) and where one’s treasure is, there will his heart be also (Matthew 6:19-21). Not only does man’s heart need to be single, it needs to be set on spiritual things. Many are only concerned about temporal things. David had learned that the pleasures of the world are fleeting. The world and all that is in it is passing away (I John 2:15-17). Having his heart set on spiritual things, David recognized that only the Lord can fulfill this one thing. Therefore, he turns to God to find lasting satisfaction (cf. Ecclesiastes 12:13). Yet, in this, he realizes that his desire will not be fulfilled by empty yearning left alone.
“That will I seek after.” David realized that he must seek after the things which his heart desired if he ever expected to have them. Man’s energies are usually consumed in pursing the things which his heart desires. We do what we want to do. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). If a man’s life is characterized by habits such as forsaking the assembling, neglect of prayer, failure to study God’s word, his heart is not set on spiritual things (cf. Colossians 3:1-2). The things which his heart desires are the things he has time for doing. The parables of the merchant who found the goodly pearl and the man who stumbled upon a treasure which was hidden in the field illustrate that a man should be willing to part with everything he has in order to obtain the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 13:44-45). The Lord must have first place (Matthew 6:33).
“That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.” His ONE desire of the Lord and the thing after which he sought was to be able to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life. David had appreciation for the house of the Lord under the Old Covenant (Psalms 63:1-2; 26:8). David said, “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord” (Psalms 122:1 KJV). This physical structure was the place of God’s presence, the divinely revealed place of worship and the place where God revealed His will to man. Even so should Christians appreciate, adore, and long to dwell in the house of the Lord under the New Covenant, His church (I Timothy 3:15). We should be content with the Lord’s church and have no desire to flirt with man-made denominations and innovations of men. Further, it was David’s desire to “dwell” there “all the days of my life.” He wanted the constant association with the Lord. So likewise, we should want our association with the Lord to be so close that when we are in trouble, we are not turning to a stranger for help.
“To behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.” We too must be impressed with the balance of his character. God is a God of love, yet a God of vengeance and wrath. “Behold then the goodness and severity of God” (Romans 11:22). God in His holiness makes provision for sinful men to draw near to Him (Hebrews 10:22). David wanted to be in the house of the Lord that he might continue to have access to the word of the Lord. Even as David wanted to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life in order that he might learn more about God’s will for his life, so also should Christians want to be in the Lord’s house, the church, the spiritual body of Christ (Ephesians 1:22-23) with other saints to learn the will of God in this life.
How would you finish the sentence, “One thing have I desired …”? Would this change your priorities?
-Fifth Street East church bulletin
Top
A
Gathering to hear God’s word, Acts 10:33
Opportunity to grow in Christ, 1 Pet. 2:1-2
Saving power of the gospel, Rom. 1:16
Preaching the word, 2 Tim. 4:2
Edifying the saints with the gospel, Acts 20:32
Looking unto Jesus, Heb. 12:1-2
Minding the things of the Spirit, Rom. 8:5
Exposing the works of darkness, Eph. 5:11
Enduring faith, Heb. 10:36-39
Taking time to be holy, 1 Pet. 1:13-17
Interceding in prayer, 1 Tim. 2:1
Now is the day of salvation, 2 Cor. 6:2
Go and teach all nations, Matt. 28:19
The Mt. Baker church of Christ welcomes you to our gospel meeting and invites you to join us this week for periods of Bible study and personal examination in light of God’s word (2 Tim. 2:15; 2 Cor. 13:5). One goal of our gospel meeting is for each person to hear the word of God. Personal faith can be produced and salvation received by hearing the Bible if we will believe it and obey God’s will (Rom. 10:17; Matt. 7:21; Heb. 5:8-9).
We welcome your Bible questions and we will gladly study more of God’s word with you if you wish. We want to live by faith and we want that for you, too. We live by faith and are saved in Christ by following God’s word in all we say and do (Jas. 1:21-25; Col. 3:17; Acts 4:12; Gal. 3:26-27). Thank you for visiting our gospel meeting. -Full outline available at Bible Answers
NOTEWORTHY NEWS
(Current events in the light of Scripture)
Four Blood Moons
Joe R. Price
The eclipse of the moon on April 15, 2014 was a “blood moon” because of the reddish color of the moon when totally eclipsed by the earth’s shadow. Three more blood moons will complete a series of four, October 8, 2014, April 4 and September 28, 2015 (“A Tetrad of Lunar Eclipses”, science.nasa.gov). John Hagee has authored Four Blood Moons in which he speculates about God-directed future events of terrifying proportions. (We have seen these prophetic charlatans before, who abuse Biblical prophecies to prop up their false doctrines about the kingdom, Israel and the “end-times”.) Hagee says,
“The sun, moon, and stars are unmistakably connected to Israel and biblical prophecy—and that connection inspired this book. God will use them to light up the heavens with an urgent, top-priority message for all mankind. What is God saying to us? How does the past hold the secret to the future? What is about to happen on planet earth? Everything is about to change … forever! Keep reading, because this message from God is so urgent to Him that He sovereignly arranged the sun and the moon to perfectly align themselves to create a Tetrad—four consecutive blood moons” (“Review of Four Blood Moons”, Tim Challies,
challies.com).
Bible prophets did use solar and lunar eclipses to symbolize divine judgment
upon nations, including Israel (Isa. 13:9-10; Ezek. 32:7-10; Joel 2:30; Acts
2:19-20; Matt. 24:29). Hagee believes the nation of Israel is still the
chosen people of God (they are not, Matt. 23:38; Rom. 2:28-29; Gal. 3:28).
This error corrupts all his predictions. Hagee says the present-day blood
moons are a sign that God has a “top-priority message for all mankind”.
Really? God has had a “top-priority message” for the past 2,000 years; it is
called the gospel of Jesus Christ (Mk. 16:15; Rom. 1:16-17)! Hagee is a
false prophet who profits off people’s ignorance of the Scriptures and
desire to know the future. The Bible tells us what we need to know about the
future: We will die, Jesus will return and we will be raised from the dead.
The world will be destroyed, we will be judged and receive either heaven or
hell (Heb. 9:27; Jno. 5:28-29; 2 Pet. 3:10-13). Are you ready?
Created by Chuck Sibbing, last updated. 04/24/2014
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