Burns Church of Christ

I Corinthians 15:58

      Earthly treasure is a passing thing.  Jesus said that it is like fabric attacked by moths or metal that is oxidized by the elements and rusted to the core.   Both fall apart when one attempts to make use of them.

      Our world is full of people who attach too much to the passing things of life.  Things that really matter are placed on the back burner and things of lesser importance are given our main energy.  When the day is over we live in dissatisfaction and life turns sour.  Nights are long and days are full of distress.  As we grow older we look to regain something of worth but many times it is too late.

      Recently I came across a statement by a Vernon Brewer that pointed out a salient truth.  “Every day, I try to do at least one thing that will outlive me and last for eternity.”

      We spend too much energy attending to the things that will not last.  Day by day we are engrossed in things that seem to make us happy and we are less happy day by day.  We work and slave for things that won’t matter in 100 years much less in eternity.

      Has not God made us for greater things?  Has not our creator a greater design for human lives?  When life is completed and our bodies return to the dust from which they came, what is left?  Our spiritual nature is important and can live with God in glory, but are we giving it proper attention?

      But what I want to focus on in this article is simply “What will I leave behind?”  Have I done anything that will outlive me and last for eternity?  Well?

II Timothy 2:15 KJV

In 1971 Southern Baptist had 1,434, 892 children in Southern Baptists Sunday Schools.  By 2007 this number dropped by 455,000. At the same time the US population increased by 46%.  The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest protestant conference in the USA.

While they have been loosing people in their Sunday Schools most other religious groups have done the same. We once were know for our dynamic Bible school but now we are among those who are wondering if we can sustain our Bible classes with enough students to merit the time we spend. 

Sunday Bible classes are still one of the best ways I know to teach the Bible to our youth and adults.  We try to have good teachers and prepared teachers to lead our Bible classes and we are constantly looking to make them better.  There are many of our people who vote for the close of our Bible classes by not showing any interest in them by not attending.  Although a number of our people are making a more conscious effort to be in class, we need more who will see that Bible classes are part of a good religious education program that will help our youth and adults be faithful to Jesus and his goals for our world.

What is more important to you this Sunday at 9:00 than to be in a Bible class and bring a friend with you?  We can make a difference in our community by faithful study of the word in Bible class.

Enjoy these notes from our class discussion on Sunday night, January 4th. As we consider how to share our faith, we begin by studying the biblical example of those who did it well.

The Church in Antioch – Acts 11

•      Scattered b/c persecution
•      Telling the message
•      They only told the Jews
•      They began to speak to the Greeks
•      They preached good news: Jesus
•      The Lord’s hand was with them.
•      Many people believed the good news.
•      They believed & turned.
•      News about the new church reached Jerusalem.
•      They sent Barnabas to Antioch.
•      He saw evidence of God’s grace: people were saved, growing, changing, sharing…
•      Barnabas went to Tarsus and got Paul.
•      Disciples were first called Christians here.

Why Grow?

1.               It’s God’s redemptive plan.

2.               It is God’s will to seek to draw all men unto Himself.

3.               God works through men.

4.               God works through His Son.

5.               God works through His Church.

What is the church?

False Ideas:

•      God will take care of it all.
•      Drift into religious relativism.
•      Exclusivism.
•      Institutionalism

Biblical Ideas

1.               The church is an outpost for God.
Eph 3:10

2.               The church is a fellowship with eternal implications. 1 Cor. 15:24

3.               The church is a place where God is active, and he testifies to his redemptive works.

4.               The church is a place where hope abides.

5.               The church is a place of spiritual people in fleshly garb.

6.               The church is an organism for action and reproduction.

II Timothy 2:19

During the time of Moses leading the people from Egypt to Canaan there were many times problems would have become insurmountable without the intervention of YAHWEH. In Numbers 16 Korah and a group of about 250 men challenged the leadership of Moses and Aaron.

Moses was very upset with this development and showed some restraint but the Lord would be the one who decided. In the morning the Lord will show who belongs to him. (16:5) The Lord made that decision and the earth opened up and swallowed those who rebelled.

Sometimes there is such closeness to the truth that it is difficult to distinguish between the real and the almost real.  It is during this time that we are to exercise restraint and let the Lord make the decision.

Jesus told two parables that allow us some insight into his thinking about making decisions about others before the judgment.  Both of these are found in Matthew 13.  The first is the parable of the Tares.  In this parable the tares (Darnel) are so much like the real wheat that more harm will be done if one attempts to separate them.  Jesus says wait until judgment. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.

The second is the Parable of the Dragnet (47, 48). Fishermen were casting their nets and caught all manner of fish.  Some were not good, others were good for selling and eating.  The fishermen sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. Judgmen! 49This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous.

We are not to worry about whether or not we are known by the Lord.  He knows those who are his. Revelation 21:27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.  

Jeremiah 5:1

Jeremiah expresses the sentiment that many of us have in our day.  Can we find a man who is trustworthy?  Can we live above the frailties of our peers?  Are we able to be faithful in the midst of a people whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways? (Proverbs 2:15)

It might do us better to worry about what we can change.  It is not within our realm of possibility to effect change in others.  We can encourage it but we can’t change for another human being. 

Where can we effect change? In ourselves!  We can change who we are and how we act and think.  It is amazing to see the changes that some are able to bring about in their own lives.  Men have stopped lying, cheating, fornicating even terrorism.  God is in the people changing business and when we give ourselves to Him good things can happen.

If God is looking for a man, or woman, who does right, He can find one right there in our mirror.    He is not looking for a perfect man but one who really wants to live the godly life and works at it on a regular bases.

14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe (Philippians 2)

The year has just begun. Where will I be at the end of the year?  Will Jesus find faith on the earth when he returns?  For me and my house we will serve the Lord.

Thanks to Keith and Donna for hosting a great New Year’s Party! Welcome to 2009!

What would a man give?  What would you give? What would anyone give?  But, alas, we can’t have it back.  The past is gone and the future is now.

The real valuable things are things that last a lifetime and beyond.  It always seemed ironic to me that a man who plays sports would give so much time to it that his family is neglected.  He can play sports for a few years and then he becomes a spectator.   Fantasy football is his passion.

When we really consider it, our work life is only about 30 years and by reason of strength we may get in forty.  (This is my forty-eighth year in preaching.)  Our work takes a large chunk of our time and energy.  But who gets married without the hope of celebrating that Golden Anniversary? 

We can spend a lifetime doing our thing and neglect the weightier matters of life.  I want to encourage all of us to change the word lifetime to wifetime and make our homes more of what God intends for us.  Spending more time with the wife of our youth can pay great dividends for a long and successful existence on the earth.

      Work that last for 40 years is nothing compared to 50+ years with a wife and family.  The end of a year brings together families and most are happy occasions.  For some there is regret at the failure of families to enjoy get-togethers and share in the wholesomeness of families.

For those of us who still have time to make the best of family life, we will need to get back to fundamentals. The advice that Jesus gave to the Church in Ephesus is appropriate for us to regain our family and our faith: Repent and do the things you did at first. (Revelation 2:5)   Go back to spending wifetime and you might see some really major changes in your life for the New Year.