. ____________________________________________________ THE GOSPEL OBSERVER ____________________________________________________ "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20). ____________________________________________________ December 21, 2008 ____________________________________________________ Contents: 1) Certainty in Uncertain Times (W. Frank Walton) 2) Living Letters (Dan S. Shipley) 3) Thoughts on the Lord's Supper According to the Scriptures (Tim Mize) 4) Positive Isn't Always (J. S. Smith) 5) News & Notes ____________________________________________________ -1- Certainty in Uncertain Times by W. Frank Walton "Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand" (Isa 41:10). This is Isaiah's promise to the remnant returning from Babylonian captivity. Imagine the upheaval of the world's superpower falling in 539 BC and a new superpower (Persia) taking over the world. It would be a time of uncertainty. They would have to start over from scratch in the land of Palestine. Their "stock market" (economic infrastructure) would be at zero. Yet, for God's people, they could be certain that God is in control of history. He had named the Persian ruler "Cyrus" 150 years before he was born. Isaiah predicted that God would use him to rebuild the Temple and "shepherd" the Jews back to Israel (Isa 44:28, 45:1). This prophecy was dramatically fulfilled by God's providence (Ezra 1:1-11). A psychologist on TV said that people are fearful in a bad economy because they feel like they're not in control. Yet, believers in God can be certain that God is in control. In uncertain times, believers in the Bible can be certain of many things: God is (Gen 1:1), His Word is true (Jn 17:17), His promises are reliable (Heb 13:5-6), He rules the nations (Dan 4:17), this world is passing away (1 Jn 2:17), He can take care of us (Matt 6:33), He will not allow us to be tempted above our breaking point (1 Cor 10:13), our hope is laid up in heaven through Jesus Christ (Jn 14:1-3), all problems will disappear in heaven (Rev 21-22), and we can be secure that He will graciously reward our trusting obedience to Him (Jn 10:27-28). I am certain that a Bible that's falling apart belongs to someone who isn't! "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Rom 8:31). -- Via Focal Point (October 17, 2008) ____________________________________________________ -2- Living Letters by Dan S. Shipley The life of every person is a message. We say something by the way we live. The apostle Paul makes this very point in 2 Cor. 3. Apparently, Paul and his work had been greatly discredited by his enemies in Corinth. So much so, in fact, that he asks: "...or need we, as do some, epistles of commendation to you or from you?" (v. 1). It is not surprising that the false teachers would need letters of commendation. But Paul? The very one who had wrought the signs of an apostle among them: The one who had wronged no man; who had corrupted no man; who had taken advantage of no man? Why, "Ye are our epistle," he continues, "written in our hearts, known and read of all men..." (v. 2). The Christians at Corinth bespeak of Paul's great work; his influence can be seen in what they themselves have become (1 Cor. 6:9-I1). In 1 Cor. 9:2 he calls them "the seal of mine apostleship." That is, as a seal they attest to the genuineness of his claims. But, not only do their lives reflect the influence of Paul, they reflect the influence of Him who influences Paul. Accordingly, Paul writes: "...ye are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in tables that are hearts of flesh" (v. 3). All men are letters, but not all are letters of Christ. The life of every man says something, but it just doesn't read the same without the Lord. Those who imagine themselves as well off without Christ bear an effective, but discouraging message to all who know and read them. Even children can read such living letters, and worse, be immeasurably influenced by them. On the other hand, those who are epistles of Christ are "made manifest" as such, Paul says (v. 3). It is how we live more than what we claim that demonstrates a Christ-controlled life. Such living is but the expression of what has been "written" on the heart. It is one thing to have the word of God in hand, that is, written in ink or on stone. But to have God's word in the heart is far better! Many have Bibles who have not taken God's word to heart. A prophecy from Jeremiah referred to in Heb. 8 says, "I will put my laws into their mind, And on their heart also will I write them... "(v.10). God's faithful are such as appropriate and apply His word to their every day living -- they are truly epistles of Christ, and others know it. For this reason Paul writes, ye are "known and read of all men." While men cannot read the heart, they can and do know the kind of life that issues forth from the heart. To put it in space terminology, the heart is man's guidance system. It directs and controls his every activity. When Christ controls the guidance system, men will "read" our good works and, hopefully, glorify God (Matt. 5:16). The apostle Paul was an impressive letter of Christ. "For me to live," he said, "is Christ" (Phil. 1:21). None could deny the remarkable influence of Christ in his life. Now, as the Corinthians and others saw Christ in Paul, so ought the world to read the same in all Christians. " ...among whom ye are seen as lights in the world..." (Phil. 2:15). -- Via Plain Talk, October 1978 ____________________________________________________ -3- Thoughts on the Lord's Supper According to the Scriptures by Tim Mize Let us think for a moment about this truth and its significance, that Christ died for our sins "according to the scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3). This stress on scriptural backing goes back to the earliest gospel preaching. Those early audiences were skeptical. As they saw it, this Jesus was a nobody, a peasant man from a peasant town. He had wandered about as a popular preacher and healer, and had raised the hopes of some, but he had died a failure, executed by the Romans on a cross. One might wonder how the apostles were able to persuade anyone. And yet they were, and with great success. They were able to show that a humiliated, dying Christ was actually the will of God. This they did by pointing to two things, that God had raised him from the dead, and that the scriptures themselves teach that the Christ must suffer. Those first hearers accepted the authority of scripture. And they believed already in its promises of a blessed hope for Israel. More surprising would have been this suggestion that according to the scriptures, these hopes are fulfilled through so humbled a Christ as this. The apostles encouraged them to search the scriptures to see that it is so (Acts 17:2f, lOf). To what scriptures did they point in their support? They pointed to those that depict the righteous in their sufferings (such as Pss. 22 and 69). If such things are true of the righteous, how much more of Christ, the Righteous One? They pointed to those that foretell specific episodes surrounding his life and death (for example, Zech. 11:12-13; 12:10; Ps. 69:21; Isa. 53:9). They held up Isaiah 53, which prophesies clearly of the suffering and dying of the Servant of God. And they cited those that speak of the resurrection of Christ (Ps. 16:10). Truly, Christ died "according to the scriptures." Let's understand not only the fact, but the significance of this. If Christ died according to the scriptures, then God must have a plan that he has been working out through the ages. God does have a plan. It involves a blessed destiny for us, his people. It is a plan that is often hidden in its workings, but that he has always had, has always been working out, and even now pursues. From time to time God has uncovered it and allowed humanity to see it at work. The death and resurrection of Christ, foretold and testified of in scripture, stands as the supreme and climactic exhibition of God's on-going, redemptive work for us (Acts 2:23; 4:28; Gal. 4:4f). In a world of whirlwind change and unrelenting trouble, we need to hear this gospel. We need to hear that God has a plan that overarches and overrules all things. And we need to be reassured that this same divine plan that displayed itself in the cross is governing all things toward our happy end. The death of our Savior was no accident, no mistake, and no afterthought. It was planned and worked out by God to demonstrate his love and work for our redemption. We can only wonder at what further demonstrations lie ahead. -- Via Guardian of Truth XXXVIII: 5,p. 7, March 3, 1994 ____________________________________________________ -4- Positive Isn't Always by J. S. Smith The other day I heard someone pray that another person would receive positive medical test results. However, when we are looking for cancer we don't want a positive result -- that would mean we have cancer. You see, sometimes positive isn't good. The Zig Ziglar, Dale Carnegie, and Norman Vincent Peale crowd has yet to grasp this reality. We hear about "positive preaching" and "positive mental attitude," as if perception can trump reality. Pleas for balanced preaching are generally nothing more than a cry to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative. What is positive and what is negative? Positive is supposed to build people up while negative tears them down. Perpetually 'happy' preaching, however, works a most evil result upon its audience. People who need to hear rebuke (not want hear, but need hear) never do. Would Peter's Pentecost audience have been cut to the heart if he had blasted them with happy talk instead of telling them, "You are the men" (to paraphrase with help from another negativist, the prophet Nathan). Positive preaching refrains from rocking the boat, which is, of course, perceived to be the greatest risk to church growth. A sinking boat, however, does not always rock before its plunges. Could it be that all this positive preaching is like the band playing on the deck of the Titanic? -- Via The Beacon, December 12, 2008 ____________________________________________________ -5- News & Notes I would like to solicit prayer for my mother (Marian Edwards) who recently tripped over a curb, hitting her head on the pavement. It had caused bleeding in the head, and she was briefly in two hospitals; but then spent a couple weeks in a third hospital that deals with therapy treatments. She is now back home, but is weak and needs to use a walker to get about. She had been on a blood thinner for more than a year, but had to be temporarily taken off of this, due to this recent accident. I would appreciate your prayers for her. ____________________________________________________ CHURCH OF CHRIST 201 Rushing Road (at the Hampton Inn) Denham Springs, LA 70726 Sunday: 9:15 AM, 10:00 AM, 4:00 PM evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (225) 667-4520 tedwards@onemain.com http://home.onemain.com/~tedwards/go DIRECTIONS: Take the Denham Springs exit (exit 10) off of I-12. At the end of the exit ramp, turn north. Go about a stone's throw to Rushing Road. (You'll see a Starbucks, Circle K, and two other gas stations; with each on each corner.) Turn left on Rushing Road, and go less then 0.3 of a mile. Hampton Inn will be on the right. We assemble in its meeting room, which is very close to the reception counter. ____________________________________________________