Gospel Meeting March 31 - April 04, 2018

The Mt. Baker
Church of Christ

1860 Mt. Baker Highway • Bellingham WA

Invites you to our
GOSPEL MEETING
With Evangelist
Heath Rogers
(Beavercreek, OH)
March 31 - April 04, 2018

Sunday, April 1^st at 9:30 and 10:30 AM; 6:00 PM
Saturday, Monday-Wednesday at 7:00 PM

Hear these gospel lessons:

Bring your Bible and join us in learning God’s word and will for our lives!

(From I-5 take Exit # 255 and go East 4.2 miles)
For more information please call (360) 752-2692

Jesus issued His great invitation to every sinner who desires relief and freedom from sin’s burdensome load: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). His salvation blessings are offered; You must come to Him and put on His yoke for the yoke of sin to be lifted (Matt. 11:29-30).

Throughout God’s dealings with humanity, He called on men and women to come near to Him to receive His blessing, His guidance, or to do His will. The responses people gave God’s call instruct us on how we should respond to God’s will in our lives. Consider a few of these.

Then the LORD said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation” (Gen. 7:1). God called Noah to come into the ark he had built according to God’s command (Gen. 6:14-16, 22). Sinners are saved from sin in the same manner Noah was saved from the flood; by grace, through faith (Eph. 2:8-9; Heb. 11:7). When you come to Christ in obedient faith and are baptized, you are saved by God through water, like Noah (1 Pet. 3:20-21).

Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt (Exo. 3:10). When God called Moses to lead Israel out of Egyptian bondage, Moses responded with the excuse, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exo. 3:11). Like Moses, we are tempted to give God excuses when called to do the work He gives us. Whether an elder, a deacon, a preacher, a teacher, a parent, a young person, etc. – God calls Christians to meet our responsibilities with faithful diligence (see Rom. 12:3-8). Making excuses will not do (Lk. 14:18-24).

Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price (Isa. 55:1). And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely (Rev. 22:17). By the gospel, God calls sinners to come to salvation in His Son Jesus Christ (Acts 2:39; Rom. 1:16-17). The gospel is designed to cut to our heart and convict us of our sin and our need for salvation (Jno.  16:8; Acts 2:37). When God’s word convicts you of sin, heed God’s call and come to Him by repentance and conversion for the spiritual refreshment of salvation only He can give (see Acts 3:19; 2:38). Do not refuse His call to come and be saved.

Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions (Matt. 19:21–22). Some refuse Christ’s call to come follow Him, because the cost is too high a price to pay. How tragic to turn away from the One who paid the price of our redemption by giving His life on the cross.

After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he left all, rose up, and followed Him (Lk. 5:27–28). Some will leave everything to obey Christ’s call to come follow Him. We must make everything in our lives secondary to follow Jesus (Matt. 6:33).

In Christ, God calls us to come to Him for salvation and eternal blessings. He calls us to come and do His will and to live in His fellowship. Let us be among those who joyously say, “Come, and let us to up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His way, and we shall walk in His paths” (Isa. 2:3). 

Spiritual Religion (1)

Scripture Reading:  Colossians 2:20-23

1. Men have developed a contradiction between being spiritual and being religious.
2. The Bible defines being spiritual and being religious without contradiction. The conflict is between the principles of the world conflict with the truth of Jesus Christ, Col. 2:20-23; Eph. 1:3.

I. WHAT ARE SPIRITUAL THINGS?

  A. Understood by Contrasts:
    1. Spiritual / Material, 1 Cor. 9:11; Rom. 15:27.
    2. Spiritual / Natural, 1 Cor. 15:44, 46-49.
    3. Spiritual and immortal spirit, 2 Cor. 4:16-18; Gen. 1:26-27; 2:7.
    4. Spiritual, heavenly places, Eph. 1:3; 2:5-7.

II. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE SPIRITUAL?

  A. Loving God with All Your Being, Deut. 6:5; Matt. 22:37; Josh. 22:5; Lk. 6:46.
  B. Being Guided by Revelation. 1 Cor. 2:10-16.
    1. Natural man: Refuses revelation and lives by human reasoning alone (Jer. 10:23; Prov. 16:25), 1 Cor. 1:18, 23; Jno. 4:23-24; 14:6.
    2. Spiritual man, 1 Cor. 2:15-16: Accepts revelation from God and judges all things by it; Mind of Christ directs, 1 Cor. 1:18, 21, 24, 31; 3:18-21.
  C. Means being Submissive to God’s Law, Rom. 8:5-8; Gal. 5:16-24; Col. 3:2.
    1. Spiritually-minded sets mind on the things of the Spirit of God, Rom. 8:1-4, 6-7.
    2. Carnally-minded (fleshly) sets mind on the flesh and is hostile to the true God, leading to death, Rom. 8:6-8.

Conclusion
1. Spiritual person delights in the law of God, Psalm 1:1-3.
2. Set mind above – peace and joy, Col. 3:1-3.

Top

1. Part 1: Those who are spiritual shape their minds and lives into the image of Christ, Rom. 8:28-29; Gal. 4:19; Col. 3:10 (Lk. 6:40).
2. Human wisdom pits being spiritual against being religious.
3. Harmony exists when one’s heart is turned Godward, in submissive reverence and faithful obedience to God. [Zacharias, Lk. 1:5-6, 8-10; Simeon, Lk. 2:25; Anna, Lk. 2:36-38]

I. WHAT IS RELIGION?

  A. Words and Definitions.
    1. Religious (superstitious), Acts 17:22.
    2. Religion, Acts 25:19.
    3. Religious/religion, Jas. 1:26, 27.
  B. Religion is a System of Worship and Service to God, Acts 26:5 (Judaism, Gal. 1:13); Jas. 1:26.
    1. Religion is God-revealed, Gal. 1:14; Heb. 1:1.
    2. Religion is also man-invented (idolatry), Acts 17:22; Rom. 1:18-21, 22-32.
    3. Religion may be man-imposed, Col. 2:23.

II. WHAT IS TRUE RELIGION? James 1:26-27

  A. True Religion is not Hypocritical, Jas. 1:26.
  B. True Religion is Nullified by Sinful Conduct, Jas. 1:26; cf. Psa. 34:11-16; Jas. 1:22-25.
  C. True Religion is Pure and Undefiled, Jas. 1:27; Gal. 5:16-18, 22-25.
  D. True Religion is “Before” God, Jas. 1:27.
  E. True Religion is Defined by God’s Word (“is this”), Jas. 1:27.
    1. Not what men say, Matt. 7:22-23.
    2. Revealed in the faith, 1 Tim. 4:1-3.
  F. True Religion is Pure and Undefiled, Jas. 1:27; 2:15-16; 1 Jno. 3:16-17; Gal. 6:5.

Conclusion
Spiritually-minded is religious toward God. The religious person is spiritual, not carnal.