____________________________________________________ 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). ____________________________________________________ March 8, 1998 ____________________________________________________ Praise the Pluggers by Dan S. Shipley To some, the word ``plugger'' may seem a little coarse and undignified when applied to people. It shouldn't. Not even when applied to God's people. As defined by Webster in its colloquial sense, the plugger is ``one who keeps steadily and doggedly at work.'' When that work is the Lord's work the pluggers are the faithful. So, even if the word seems common, the people it describes are certainly not. They are the unsung heroes of the Lord's army. They are the backbone of the church. They are worthy of honor (Rom. 13:7). Praise the pluggers. Not for their extraordinary talents, but for making good use of whatever talents they do have. They don't let their inability to do ``great'' things hinder them from doing ``little'' things. They are content just to do the best they can at what they can (Eccl. 9:10). That may mean cleaning the building or mowing the lawn. It may involve helping the sick or cheering the fainthearted. It may mean nothing more than giving a tract or an invitation, but they just keep right on, doing all ``as unto the Lord.'' Praise the pluggers for their dependability. When the doors to the meeting house are open, they are there. Even when company comes, even when they don't feel so good, even when the weather is bad, even when others in their own family can't join them, and even when the preacher has to be away, they are there to worship the Lord. They don't quit when the preaching gets hard, when the preacher gets fired or when brethren get disagreeable. It's not that pluggers don't have their feelings, their personal problems, and their ``druthers.'' They do. It's just that serving the Lord is most important with them. That's why you won't have to go looking for the plugger. He'll be there. You can count on it! Praise the pluggers because their faithfulness is not limited by a certain church building or a ``home-town'' God. Though mindful of their special obligations to their ``home'' church, they know their obligations to the Lord don't end there. That's why you will find pluggers worshiping God wherever their travels may carry them. And when they move to a new town, you won't have to look them up--they'll look you up! Even amid strangers in a strange city, even with all the adjusting and getting settled, you may as well move over and make room, because the pluggers will be there! It may mean driving thirty or forty miles; it may mean missing supper or getting home late, but if it involves serving the Lord, they'll be there. Praise the pluggers who keep on working to save lost souls. Though often discouraged, they never give up on trying to restore wayward brethren. They continually seek opportunities for discussing the Scriptures and teaching their friends. They ever stand ready to ``give answer'' (l Pet. 3:15) and to give help with the gospel. Praise the pluggers because we too often take them for granted. We hear the sinners ``skinned'' and those reputed to be somewhat are lauded but the pluggers are forgotten. Thank you for pluggers, Lord! -- Via Plain Talk, vol. 13, no. 11, p. 3, January, 1977 ___________________________________________ OH YES, YOU WILL! by Joe Fitch A cynical sage muses, ``Nothing is sure but death and taxes. We all nod and smile wisely, but is that true? Well, even certain death seems distant and unreal--at least for me. Not even a host of funerals have changed it. It is other folk who die. I just cannot visualize myself as guest of honor instead of guest speaker at a funeral. Yet, ''...it is appointed unto men once to die'' (Heb. 9:27). Only two men in all history have been excepted--Enoch and Elijah. I will join ranks with the dying. Oh yes, I will! ``There is nothing after death. At death, everything will be finished. I will never return from the grave.'' Oh yes, you will! ``The hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation'' (Jno. 5:28). The empty tomb of Jesus guarantees his power and promise. You may not believe it nor understand it. You may wish it were not so. Resurrection offers no consolation to the wicked but alas, you will return--yes, you will! Resurrection is as sure as dying! ``You will not convince me. I will never believe that stuff about God and the Bible.'' Oh yes, you will! No atheist will stand at the last day. All will be confirmed believers. You have taunted and ridiculed asking for a tangible demonstration of God. You will get it. On that day you will behold the majesty of His presence and hear His voice. Oh yes, you will believe then, sadly, if He says depart! ``I will never believe a man will be lost just because he does not believe in Jesus and do exactly as the Bible says.'' Oh yes, you will! You should already know it. Jesus plainly said, ``If ye believe not that I am he ye shall die in your sins'' and ``whither I go ye cannot come'' (Jn. 8:21). He also said, ``Not everyone...but he that doeth the will of my Father'' will believe it at the judgment. Oh yes, you will! It will be too late then. ``Listen! Nobody tells me what to do. I will bow to none.'' Oh yes, you will! God seeks by persuasion and by incentive to get you willingly to submit to him (Phil. 2:13). You can rebel and defy him today, but you will eventually submit. Every knee will bow and every tongue confess Jesus as Lord (Phil. 2:9-11). That includes you! When he calls you to judgment, you will come. When he says, ``Depart into everlasting fire,'' you will surely obey. Oh yes, you will!'' ``Nobody will ever know.'' You are wrong. ''...be sure you sin will find you out'' (Num. 32:23). ''...all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do'' (Heb. 4:13). Every word, every deed, even the most private though must be accounted for. Oh yes, you will face them! God does not forget the righteous nor their labor of love (Heb. 6:10). The ``exceeding great and precious promises'' will be kept (2 Pet. 1:4). When he comes again we will receive our crown (2 Tim. 4:8). Oh yes, we will! -- Via Plain Talk, vol. 19, no. 12, p. 6, February, 1983 ___________________________________________ THE ``PERSONS'' OF DEITY by Robert F. Turner When you think of God the Father do you think of an elderly gentleman, perhaps with a well-dressed beard and a stately, yet kindly bearing? Many do use a sort of composite ``father'' image for reference, even though they know God is Spirit. I suppose no great harm is done in this--if we leave it right there--a ``crutch'' for earth-bound creatures. But this is not what is meant by the ``person'' of God, and is not what one ``counts'' in considering the ``trinity.'' God the Son did not come into existence by a birth process. His glory is ``as of an only-begotten'' (Jn. 1:14--the expression is qualitative, with out the article) and He existed and functioned co-eternal with the Father (Jn. 1:1 Heb. 1:2). He has ``person''--apart from His earthly sojourn--but there is far more involved than a number to add to the first paragraph. And God the Spirit (Acts 5:3-4) is no less ``person'' because He is Spirit. I would not presume to ``explain'' DEITY to you, but we should learn something about the person of God, if only to recognize the ridiculous treatment given the ``trinity'' by JWs and ``Jesus Only'' advocates. The Divine personality could only be conceived after the analogy of the human, as far as it could be conceived at all; but God transcends the whole of nature and all that is human ``Person'' simply means that deity is revealed as something more than an impersonal ``force.'' God evidences the characteristics of person, such as ``conscious apprehension, rationality, and a moral sense'' (Webster). Nor can we expect it to be otherwise. God must be superior to His creatures. Man is both conscious and self-conscious. He thinks, acts, and is antecedent to his actions as an intelligent being. Surely God--also. These characteristics of God are expressed in the Bible by ``God purposed--knew--was grieved--loved--forgave--etc.'' Multiples of such qualities attributed to God the Father show ``person.'' And such characteristics are also attributed to the Son, even while the personality of the Father continues to be acknowledged. He is exalted at the right hand of God, and ``having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost. He hath shed forth this'' (Acts 2:33). God's Son was with the Father before His incarnation, creating all things (Jn. 1:1-3); and He said that following His death he would return to the Father (Jn. 14:28). There are two ``persons'' here. But the Holy Spirit is also given personality by the scriptures. He is ``grieved'' (Eph. 4:30), ``insulted'' (Heb. 10:29). He ``knows'' (1 Cor. 2:11) and can be lied to (Acts 5: 3-4). He is a ``person'' on exactly the same basis as the Father and Son are ``persons.'' He joins with the Son to say ``Come.'' In Jn. 14:16 the Son says, ``I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter...even the Spirit of truth.'' (Three ``persons''-- one praying, one heeding and sending, and the third being sent--to ``teach'' and ``comfort'' the Apostles. v. 26) You'll find this kind of ``trinity'' in the book of God's revelation. -- Via Plain Talk, vol. 8, no. 12, February, 1972 ___________________________________________ NEWS & NOTES People to be remembering in prayer: 1) The friends and family of Hazel Rice who recently passed away. (Her daughter is a friend of Debbie Frazier.) 2) Irene Cash (Rita Greer's grandmother in Huntington). She is 90 years old and in very poor health at this time. 3) Mrs. Ernest Hamm (Carol Music's mother) had been making great progress in her recuperation, but suffered a relapse recently. 4) Dorothy Vandergrif (Carol Music's cousin) who is undergoing treatment for cancer. 5) Greg Frazier's mother who continues to improve. 6) John Pitman (Angie's grandfather) has also requested prayer. He had been having some trouble with both eyes. 7) Greg Frazier. His surgery is scheduled for March 19. "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17). We welcome all who are visiting with us this day. Come again soon! We are thankful for the brethren at the church of Christ in Louisa, Kentucky, where John Pitman preaches, to allow us (the church) to freely store some of our pews and other things we are not able to use at this time in the building they've been using for only storage behind their meeting house. (Our new accommodations are nicer, but smaller than what we formerly had.) ___________________________________________ MUSING ABOUT TIME by Joe Fitch Time has no character of its own. It is neither good nor evil. It is simply the medium in which both good and evil work. Time relentlessly aims to change all things. Time covers the gnarled oak tree with lichens; the brick wall with ivy. Time lays a carpet of green grass and multicolored flowers over the ugly scar of a grave. It dulls the pain of life's losses. It closes wounds and heals infirmity. It diminishes the magnitude of an insult; the significance of an oversight. It gradually veils ugliness. Time--and God's word at work in man--transforms the new Christian. We first see him weak and flawed of character. Day by day, little by little, from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18), he is transformed into beauty of God's own character (image). Time brings the wisdom of experience to replace the foolishness of youth. Time dispels silliness, and reason prevails. BUT be not deceived. Time is not all benevolent. It has a black side. Time eventually ages and rots the old oak, and crumbles the wall covered with ivy. Time brings us again to the grave site covered with flowers to open another grave, and water the grass with our tears. Time softens yesterday's hurt but swiftly transports us to the next crisis with its own sorrow. As time brings wisdom to youth, it also mars youth's beauty with the decay of old age. Time etches the face with wrinkles, streaks the hair with gray, and bends the back. Time saps the strength of youth; time blunts youth's ardor, zeal, and idealism. Time hardens the heart. As the sun turns clay into brick, so time makes man immune to appeals which once, ``almost persuaded'' him. Time allows him to do freely things his conscience at one time would not permit. The same ``day by day'' that saw a man transformed into God's image, witnesses another weak man grow ever weaker. In time he must be taught again what he once knew (Heb. 5:12). Time leads him to ``crucify afresh'' his Lord, and stand where it is not possible to repent (Heb. 6:6). Nevertheless remember, time is limited in power. Time cannot cover sin. A thousand years later, sin is as real, as ugly, as eternally damning as the moment it was committed. Time does not touch it. And time does not make obedience easier. A ``convenient season''--an easy time--is a deceptive illusion. It will never be easy to deny self and bear your cross (Mt. 16:24). Time does not change the truth. The terms of salvation are the same today as on Pentecost. Refuse to listen, but time will not change the demands of truth. That timeless truth will meet you in the judgment. Redeem the time (Eph. 5:16; Col. 4:5). Buy it up. Make good use of it. It is time to wake up (Rom. 13:11) and work in an accepted time (2 Cor. 6:2). -- Via Plain Talk, vol. 18, no. 9, November, 1981 ________________________________________ 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 ________________________________________