Saturday once stood for “the Sabbath”—a day of rest that was commanded by God. In Genesis 2:1-3, the Lord took a personal Sabbath, resting from His work of creating the world. When the Israelites left Egypt, God taught them to keep the Sabbath, and they did so until Christ took it away by His death on the cross (Exodus 20:8-11, 31:12-17; Colossians 2:13-17).
However, we are writing about the first day of the week which is Sunday. In the Bible, this day is called the “Lord’s Day” (Revelation 1:10). It is the day when the saints come together to observe the communion and give into the treasury of the local church (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:1-4). It is to be a day when men do what God expects and not use it exclusively for selfish pursuits. Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. This time last year, we wrote about hit and run drivers, and we now look back to see if things have gotten better. But unfortunately the answer is no! Hit and run events have been in the news from South Jersey to Northern Montgomery county. People just seem intent to continue this evil. So here is the article we printed last year and it is still correct today.
Why has Philadelphia had so many hit and run car accidents recently? Two young girls ran over and were left lying in the streets like trash! Is human life worth the same as road kill? A hit and run driver will go to Hell if no repentance is done (Luke 13:3; Matthew 25:41-46). Burning in hell forever is horrible, and the driver will regret it (Revelation 20:10, 21:8; Mark 9:42-48; Matt. 13:49-50). In order to repent, a driver must turn himself in and accept whatever consequences await him. And people shouldn’t be doing foolish things like not paying attention to the road, driving drunk, eating, texting, or talking on phones, and driving at high speeds, which make stopping impossible. People need to wise up and not put themselves in situations that they will be wrong—thus resulting in flight trying to escape punishment that is due them (Proverbs 11:5; Galatians 6:7-8; Colossians 3:25). Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. The knock out game is a ungodly action taking place in our cities where a creep walks up to someone and punches them to the point that it knocks them out cold. How anyone can do this type of evil and find enjoyment, is beyond anything that a room of scholars can figure out.
But in 2 Timothy 3:1-4 we read, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.” So now we have the reason why this evil exist. It exists because the word of God said that it would. Next time you are walking down the street, just remember that you are probably walking beside, in front of, or behind a person that the word of God has just described. So watch out! Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. About two weeks ago, this region was rocked by a loud thunder clap. Even the local news stations spoke of the thunder during their weather segments.
It is nothing new for man to be frighten by loud thunder. However, thunder booms are only regional in sound. For example, people in Arkansas didn’t hear the thunder boom which shook Philadelphia. So as we said, the sound of thunder is only regional. But according to the word of God; when the world comes to a end, there will be a loud trumpet blast which will be heard around the world. Yes, on Judgment Day, the sound of that trumpet will be a million times louder then a clap of thunder which cause many to jump. The trumpet blast of the Judgment Day is loud because it will be a world wide announcement of the end of time (1 Thessalonians 4:16). So, if a thunder clap causes people to jump, imagine what the end of time trumpet will do. Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. Neither Catholic, Protestant, nor Jew. Such were the Christians in the book of Acts, and you can be too. In the book of Acts you can read of the beginning of the church of Jesus in Jerusalem (Acts 2:14,47). You can see Jesus giving the power of the Spirit to the twelve Apostles so they can work miracles to confirm the message (Acts 2:1-4). The members were called Christians (Acts 11:26). They met on the first day of the week to take communion (Acts 20:7). They taught that men must repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). They taught that baptism required a body of water that was large enough to immerse the subjects (Acts 8:35-39). They showed that when a person requests baptism, it is to be done ASAP (Acts 16:33). They shunned man-made doctrines and spoke only the word of God (Acts 15:1-2,24-31).
Today, men must become like the church in the book of Acts because it is how the church should be today. By looking into the history of the church in the book of Acts, you can see God’s pattern for the church. So let us go to the New Testament and see what is within its pages, thereby using the New Testament as our authority. Let us speak where the Bible speaks and remain silent where the Bible is silent. Let us do things in Bible ways and call things by Bible names (1 Timothy 4:16). Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. |