____________________________________________________ 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). ____________________________________________________ October 16, 1994 ____________________________________________________ I Just Squawk by Ernest A. Finley A while back I read an interesting little story on a unique and thought provoking method a candidate for public office used to encourage people to vote. He secured a goose, had a sign painted to hang on the goose, then led the goose down the street of the city where all the people could see it. The sign read: ``I don't vote; I just squawk.'' Maybe this little story will help all of us to realize that we do not use our privileges to the full with regard to our government--and then complain because things don't move along to suit us. But I believe I see a spiritual application in this incident too. We have many responsibilities and opportunities for service in the Lord's vineyard. Too frequently, however, we fail to notice the opportunities or shoulder our responsibilities. We stand back and refuse to work and demand that others not only do their share of the work, but ours as well. Sometimes they will do our job, which we neglect to do, because they love the cause of Christ and they know that if they don't do it, it probably won't be done. Then after they do the job as well as they can with such a heavy load on them, we criticize because things don't move along to suit us. Why don't ``they'' visit me when I'm sick? Why don't ``they'' try to get more folks to attend our services? Why don't ``they'' give more? Why don't ``they'' do more benevolence? Why don't ``they'' have a fuller program of work? It is never ``we'' or ``us'' but always ``they.'' You know--a lot of people take such an attitude. I do not know but what it might be a good idea to have a few signs painted to hang about the necks of those who refuse to do their part and then criticize others. Perhaps the sign should be patterned after the one which hung on the goose. Maybe it ought to say: ``I don't work; I just squawk.'' But these poor souls would be a lot happier, and so would everybody else, if they would quit their squawking and go to work. -- Via The Old Path II ___________________________________________ Write Today For Our FREE BIBLE COURSE We would be happy to enroll you right away for lesson one! ___________________________________________ ARCHEOLOGY--2241 A.D. by Robert F. Turner A professor of Archeology led his class into the crumbling remains of a once magnificent church building. ``This is Late-American,'' he said, ``Ante-Hydro-War perhaps. The building was probably a place of worship in that period and may have been destroyed by one of the bomb blasts that have brought the Americo-Russian era to a close.'' One of the students pointed to a hooded metal table, half buried beneath the rubbish, and asked, ``And what is that, Sir?'' ``We are not certain,'' the archeologist replied. ``We think it may have been a type of food warmer known as a steam-table. In other ruins similar tables have been found next to large urns, thought to have contained a liquid called coffee.'' ``You see,'' the professor continued, ``although little is known for certain of the religion of the Americans, we deduce from the evidence found in their temples that they worshipped a God called `Fellowship.' An important ritual, related to this worship, was called `Coffee and Doughnuts.''' Then the professor concluded his lecture: ``There is little evidence that the people of that period thought seriously of the soul.'' ___________________________________________ YOU CAN--BUT YOU CAN'T by Grover Stevens You can ignore God's warnings; you can refuse his blessings; you can reject all his wondrous love, but you can't go to heaven doing so. You can believe any doctrine you choose; you can belong to the church of your choice; you can worship God as you please, but you can't please God doing so (2 Jno. 9; Mt. 15:9,13; Rom. 10:1). It seems that Satan has done a remarkable job of convincing the people that their religion is a matter of their choice, not God's; that it is a matter of their being pleased, not God. ___________________________________________ ``REMEMBER GRANDMA'' She used to get up on Sunday morning, cook a big breakfast for her large family, milk the cows, churn, clean the house, kill and dress the chickens for dinner, dress the children, then drive with the family in a buggy (or wagon) five miles to services and get there early. But today, when breakfast comes in a cereal box, the milk, butter, chickens, etc. come from the grocery store and the distance to the meeting place is covered in minutes in an automobile, it is almost impossible for some folks to ``make it'' in time for Bible study. -- Adapted and Selected via The Old Path II ___________________________________________ A Duck Is A Rabbit [CUTE PICTURE WAS HERE OF WHAT APPEARS AS A DUCK, BUT WHEN YOU TURN IT SLIGHTLY TO THE RIGHT, IT TURNS INTO A PICTURE OF A RABBIT.] Thus many people will turn the plain teaching of God's Word this way or that in order to make the divine pattern suit their own "picture" of religion. For instance, Jesus said, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:16). Yet these folks who had discovered that a duck is a rabbit will turn John 3:16, which reads: "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" and say that we are saved by faith without baptism. Yet the same God is the author of both statements and He is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33). To be saved by faith is to submit to baptism for the remission of sins. Thus a duck remains a duck and a rabbit a rabbit, and you can't duck that by trying to split hares. -- selected ___________________________________________ ``MIND NOT HIGH THINGS'' by Connie W. Adams ``Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate'' (Romans 12:16). Whenever we become so lifted up with pride that we elevate our noses in the presence of humble people while catering to the whims of those with considerable means, we fail to remember what inspiration reveals concerning such matters. Jesus said, ``For a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.'' James wrote, ``God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.'' Jesus went to the poor and lowly. He did not refuse those of means who came to him, but the lowly received him more readily. Many, the country over, have become obsessed with the accumulations of ``status symbols.'' They must have this or that because somebody else does, and you are nobody without it. Never mind the fact that they cannot afford it. ``Mind not high things.'' ________________________________________ Tri-State CHURCH OF CHRIST 1314 Montgomery Avenue, Ashland, Kentucky 41101 Sunday: 10:00 A.M. Bible class 10:50 A.M. Worship 6:30 P.M. Worship Wednesday: 7:30 P.M. Bible study evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (606) 325-9742 e-mail: tedwards@zoomnet.net Gospel Observer web site: http://www.zoomnet.net/~tedwards/go ________________________________________