Getting a gun and going on a shooting rampage has made the news quite a bit in the last decade. A mind of evil or mental sickness are the causes. The mental condition must be taken care of by those in the medical field, and we also hope that those who know people that need mental help will see that those people get help before they do something bad. On the other hand, evil people who think they can use a gun to do what they want need to repent (Acts 17:30). The message of the Bible offers a new way for any person who will obey its words (Acts 3:17-20).
Respecting human life has been taught by God from the beginning because human life is the image of God, and the penalty of death is imposed on anyone who refuses to accept that (Genesis 9:4-6). A man cannot give life, so he sure has no busniess taking it. No matter what makes a man angry, he should never restort to murder (Matthew 5:21-22). Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. There is an issue going on which shouldn’t be an issue, and people are jumping on the band wagon giving approval like never before. The advocates have coined a phrase which they use to pressure the hold outs to join them. “You’re gonna be on the wrong side of history” they say.
The hold outs, might end up on the wrong side of history, but since they are following God’s word; they won’t end up on the wrong side of eternity (Psalm 9:17). When a person obeys the word of God, he won’t be changed by what is going on in the world. The person will continue to stand on God’s word while the world rushes into destruction doing what they ought not (Matthew 7:13-14, 25:41-46). So let the follower of God end up on the wrong side of history—at least he will be standing on the Word of God which lasts forever (Matthew 24:35, 7:21-27). Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. “I don’t judge,” a person may say. Well, it is good that one doesn’t, because the word of God teaches men not to judge (Matthew 7:1-2; Romans 14:10). Judging is a person giving their own opinion about a matter and passing those thoughts off as the law of the land. On the other hand, a person reading something that the word of God teaches and showing an offender where he is wrong, is not judging.
Instead that is correction by the word of God (2 Timothy 3:14-17; Hebrews 4:12-13). For example, one is not judging by showing a thief that the word of God condemns stealing (Ephesians 4:28). Nor is one judging a gay person by showing that the scripture condemns homosexually (Romans 1:26-32). So, it is not correction by the person who showed the scripture to the offender, but rather the scripture showing the offender where he is in error. So remember, a person giving his personal thoughts as law, is judging. And showing one what the Bible teaches is correction. Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. I want you to read this phrase and consider it with the religous people that you meet. “Let us speak where the Bible speaks. Let us remain silent where the Bible is silent. :et us call things by Bible names and to do things in Bible ways.”
This is the way every God-fearing person is supposed to be. So the next time you attend a church service, tell your host what you have learned here and ask them for Bible authority for they what do (Matthew 21:23; Acts 17:11; 1 John 4:1; Revelation 2:2). Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. Mary was chosen by God to be the earthly mother of our Lord (Matthew 1:18-21; Luke 1:26-33). While this certainly was a special honor bestowed upon her, such a gesture did not mean that Mary was worthy of worship, instead worship is to be rendered to God and Him alone (Matt. 4:10; John 4:24; Acts 10:24-26). No one should be saying “Hail Mary,” instead men should be saying “Hail Jesus” (Acts 4:12; Romans 12:11; Acts 2:47, 3:8-9, 9:15-16,20-21; Hebrews 13:15; Romans 10:13; John 9:24; 1 Peter 4:11; Epheshians 1:3; Luke 2:13-14, 24:52-53; Romans 15:11; Acts 16:25; Eph. 5:19).
Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. In Matthew 17:8, we read “when the disciples open their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.” So guess what? Man needs to see the same today. We don’t need anything else but the One who died for our sins and that is the Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:21; Acts 4:12).
There is so much out there trying to get our attention, and many are asking that we pay them money. For example, we have a lot of authors writing so called self development books and promoting these books on television, radio, and book signings, etc. But you don’t need their books, instead you need information from the One who will save you at the end of your life (John 5:24, 6:63,68, 8:51, 12:47). The words of a famous person on television is simply his words and those words have no saving power because chances are the words weren’t created by him. Also if you read his book, you will see that he took much from the words of the Bible. So all those books telling us how to be happy or how to have a great marriage are nothing new. Such information has already been spoken centuries ago by the Lord (Psalm 146:3-5). Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. There may be someone trying to get away from association with no good persons, and if you are such a one, consider these Bible verses and act upon them quickly.
So get control of your life by dumping dead beats, and your first step should be toward the Lord. If you want to get your life right, and if you are willing to let the word of God show you how, we want to hear from you. Hope you make the effort to savage your life and save your soul (Acts 2:40). It would be wonderful if one could praise all religious leaders and worship at any church; but false doctrine makes that impossible! By giving approval to a church teaching error, one places himself in agreement with unlawful deeds (2 John 8-10; Ephesians 5:11). False teachers don’t help people, they mislead (2 Peter 3:17; Matthew 15:13-14; 2 Peter 2:1-3; Acts 20:29-30; 2 Timothy 4:3-4). Preachers, have people entrusting their souls to the doctrine, so they need to study the Bible and teach only what is in it (1 Tim. 4:16).
A good pilot knows that the passengers of an aircraft are trusting their lives to his skill of flying the plane. With that being the case, he must know his job and do it 100 percent. The same should work with all who claim to be religious leaders. Hey preacher; question for you! Do you study the Bible, or do you study creed books? Do you know how to study the scriptures the right way or do you take it out of context? Have you been exposed as a false teacher, but are you too proud to admit that you have been teaching error? If so, what have you been teaching the people? Preachers, know truth so you can teach truth! (John 8:31-32). Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. The lesson we can take from the heat of summer is “uncomfortable” The sun torches the skin, and the thick air makes us sweat. All is still, and there is no breeze to cool us off, etc. Yes, the hot heat of summer is very mean and really unfriendly toward us. So, what are we getting at with all this? We are getting to the subject of Hell fire (Mark 9:43-48). Many claim they don’t believe in Hell. I have no idea how they came about believing that; and they couldn’t prove it to you either.
But despite all that, we can be assured there is a Hell just as there is a Heaven because there is God (Psalm 90:1-2). But what I want to focus upon is Hell’s misery (Matthew 13:40-43). Hell is no joke, nor a few minutes in a frying pan—Hell is forever. It is not nice, and it is punishment for what we have done in life (Matt. 25:41). If we cannot stand the Pennsylvania summers, how will we be able to stand the eternal punishment of everlasting Hell? (Matt. 25:46, 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:7-10). Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. This world is morally falling apart right before our eyes (2 Timothy 3:13). Most people are doing what they want to do and could care less about the authority that comes from the word of God (2 Tim. 3:1-4). From the President of the United States right down to the regular Joe, people are saying what they think(Proverbs 14:12; Jeremiah 16:12).
But you know what? We at the Mt. Airy church of Christ will continue to stand up and teach the word of God (2 Tim. 4:2-4). You won’t hear us saying what we think or what we feel because we are going to give it to you straight from the book and if the book doesn’t authorize it, we won’t teach it (1 Peter 4:11; 1 Tim. 4:16, 6:3-4). Men and the world will pass away, but he who stands on the word of God lasts forever (1 John 2:17). Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. |