The Importance of Those Short Verses in the Bible

There was that time in my life where I sought to find the shortest verses in the Bible to memorize. I became an expert and somewhat of a scholar because the West Huntsville congregation, where I grew up, had a class for all young people every Sunday afternoon before our evening service. We began every class with every person quoting a memory verse. I was the youngest member of that class. Since you could not quote a verse someone else had quoted I was constantly on the lookout for those short verses. I may be the only person on earth who knows where the Bible says, “There was great joy in that city.” At least I was the only person at West Huntsville who knew it! I still remember most of the other short verses!

Over the years one of those verses has taken on a special meaning for me. Paul said, “Brethren, pray for us” (1 Thess. 5:25). At one time I may have seen no value in it, other than that I would be the “champion of short verses,” but all that has changed. As an older Christian I have a deep appreciation for the importance of having others pray for you.

I was reminded of this last week when I phoned Henry Dawson to express my sympathy to him at the passing of his wife, Louise. Henry was an elder at Shades Mountain where I preached for the seven years before moving to Florida. Henry, Louise and I spent thousands of hours writing the Engraving Heavenly Truths Bible flashcard literature. How I treasure those truths we learned together.

Near the end of our conversation Henry said, “Dan, I want you to know that I have prayed for you every day for the last forty years.” As I think about all that has happened over those forty years, I know emphatically that if I have made any difference it is because of the “effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man” named Henry.

He is not the only one who has told me that they are praying for me. There are several at Palm Beach Lakes who have told me they pray for me, and my life is blessed because of them. The same is true of people I have met in the past who have gone on to their reward. Oh, what a debt I owe to people like Willette, Evelyn, Ruby, Ludell and a host of others who have made a difference in my life because they talked to God about me.

At one time it was nothing more than a short memory verse. Now I see it as the avenue of greater doors of service and strength to accomplish more. I understand Paul’s request to those Christians in Thessalonica. I make the same request of all who read this bulletin, “Brethren, pray for me.”

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For Such a Time as This

Whenever the ancient Persians passed a law, it was impossible to revoke it. This law was seized upon by Haman, who attempted to use it to destroy every Jew and especially Mordecai. Mordecai was the cousin of Queen Esther, who had used his wise counsel to become queen of the vast Medo-Persian Empire. The only visible hope for the salvation of the Jews was for Esther to intervene. Mordecai motivated his younger cousin, telling her that perhaps God had placed her on the throne for this very action. His precise words were, “Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

These words sum up the extent of our precise knowledge that whatever is happening in our lives is a precise event in which God has placed us. There are those specific times and specific people who were raised up by God, and because of Divine revelation, we know emphatically that that person was at that place at that precise time to accomplish a precise action. However, without such specific revelation, we find ourselves in the same situation as did Mordecai and Esther. We can know that perhaps God has placed a door of opportunity before us that we might be the avenue for Him to accomplish His purpose. This concept makes life amazingly exciting.

How often have you sung the song, Lead Me to Some Soul Today? Do you believe that He heard that prayer? Do you really believe that He will answer that prayer? If so, then think of the words of Mordecai every time you meet someone today. How do you know if that person is not an answer to your prayers? How do you know, even if he has in the past told you he was not interested, what is happening in his life right now which would make him receptive to your interest in his soul? How do you know whether you have been brought to that person for such a time as this? This concept makes life so exciting!

Our Friends and Family Day is just a few days away. Have you been praying that God would help you find someone to invite? Even if you have not been praying this specific prayer, are you aware that others have been praying for you? Do you believe He is hearing those prayers? Do you really believe that He will answer those prayers? Think about it! God may be trying to use you to lead another person to the Lord!

Let me appeal to every member of this congregation to join with others to pray that God will lead us to receptive people who are needing the Lord and just haven’t found their way. Isaiah’s response to the call of God was, “Here am I, Lord, send me.” Our response should be, “Here we are, Lord, use us.” Wow—for such a time as this—it makes life so exciting!

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I Have Tried to Teach Others, But They Will Not Listen

How many Christians do you know who grieve because they cannot seem to reach others, especially their relatives? We long for all the world to be saved, but have special grief for those who are closest to us. Paul longed for the salvation of the nation of Israel and expressed it so vividly when he said, “I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh” (Rom. 9:3-4).

I got to thinking the other day about how Noah must have felt as he tried to reach the lost. The Bible describes Noah as “a preacher of righteousness” (2 Pet. 2:5). God decided 120 years before the actual flood that He would send it (Gen. 6:3). We do not know when Noah began preaching, but we often think of him preaching during that entire period. It is possible that he had been preaching long before this as he saw the wickedness of his world.

Now here’s a thought. How many uncles, aunts, cousins, brothers, sisters and other relatives did he have? Since people lived for hundreds of years, they likely would have had far more children than we often think they did. Josephus was a Jewish historian of the first century and he gives insight into what was commonly believed by the Jews of his day. “The number of Adam’s children, as says the old tradition, was thirty-three sons and twenty-three daughters.” While noting that these numbers are uninspired, they certainly change our perception of the ancient world. Consider the second generation after Adam and then how many people there would be in each succeeding generation. Noah was ten generations after the creation. Pause and think of how many ungodly relatives he had, but that did not change his attempts to teach them.

As he sought to teach them, they all rejected him. Jesus described Noah’s world when He said,  “In the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away” (Matt. 24:37-38). They did not know! They could have, for their own relative was trying to teach them.

So the next time you get frustrated about the fact that those you love so much are not receptive to love you are showing toward them, think about Noah, the preacher of righteousness. Even his own grandfather, Methuselah, died the year of the flood.

We are called to teach others. This is our mission and we must not lose sight of His commission to us. The fact that people are not receptive does not change our responsibility. There is another judgment day coming! Think about Noah!

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Are You Running Out of Ergs?

Maybe you need to know the following. “An erg is the unit of energy and mechanical work in the centimeter-gram-second (CGS) system of units, symbol ‘erg.’ Its name is derived from the Greek ergon, meaning ‘work’. . . .An erg is the amount of work done by a force of one dyne exerted for a distance of one centimeter. In the CGS base units, it is equal to one gram centimeter-squared per second squared (g·cm2/s2). It is thus equal to 1 × 10−7 joules or 100 nanojoules (nJ) in SI units.”

What? Sometimes the scientific description of matters really complicates matters. Another way of looking at the information above is to simply affirm that you only have enough energy (measured in ergs) to accomplish what you need to do. We do not have an infinite supply of energy, so we must make conscious choices as to how to use the “ergs” we have.

Take any period of your life. You only have so much energy to devote to the time being considered. You can only accomplish so much in a month, a week, a day or an hour. After a while you either have no more time or no more “ergs” to keep going. Understanding this is part of what Jesus had in mind when He said, “Take no thought for the morrow . . .”

Figuring out how to expend our energies is the problem we all face. How much time is devoted to work, to the family, to the church, to recreation or to private time? We begin every day with the fact that we only have so many minutes and so many “ergs” to use.

The problem is priority. We are limited. We cannot do all that society, family, employers, friends and others want us to do. We make this choice every day. Some things must be neglected each day! Even when we think we are not choosing to make a decision and just take life as it comes, we have decided to let others make that decision for us. We all have made choices as to the prioritization of the use of our “ergs.”

So what’s the point? Jesus described the conflict between the use of our energies in spiritual and secular matters. The word that was sown in the thorny ground is soon choked out “with cares, riches and pleasures of life and bring no fruit to maturity” (Luke 8:14). The gravest danger members at Palm Beach Lakes face is their over commitment to others and to activities in their lives in the use of their limited supply of “ergs.”

Will you take a serious look at the priorities you have placed in the use of the limited supply of time and energy you have? “Ergs” for God must be the top priority!

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A Sermon Everyone Should Hear

This past Sunday I was able to hear the most outstanding sermon I ever hope to hear on one of the most difficult topics which can be addressed. The world has rejected purity, godliness and holiness. Because of the world’s influence many Christians have lost sight of how clearly God has revealed His will regarding sexual immorality, lasciviousness, lust, dancing, inappropriate touching, co-habitation, immodesty and pornography. How blessed this church is to have David Sproule who addressed these matters. He did not just “knock it out of the park,” he “knocked it out of the parking lot.”

There is a need for this sermon. The need is worldwide. What congregation has not been impacted by the dress of those in our worship assemblies? What congregation has not had to deal with illegitimate children and promiscuity? What congregation has not seen a drastic swing in perversion of sex in all forms?

There is a need for this sermon with the right attitude. The content of David’s sermon was a call to the sanctification God wants us to manifest. I have never heard a finer use of the Scriptures. However, another vital factor of this sermon was David’s compassionate attitude and fervent appeals for purity. He touched our hearts because God had touched his!

There is a need for this sermon with a fresh approach. How many lessons have been preached about this over the years and how many Christians have “tuned out” and “switched channels” when they saw the direction of the sermon. There was no “switching channels” as David pointed out how we, like the ancient Greeks, still worship at pagan temples—we have just changed the names of those gods. You may not remember the four modern Greek “gods,” but you will never forget how those “gods” are now worshiped.

There is a need for this sermon to change lives. The closing moments of the sermon were the best. The beginning of the sermon, “This is the will of God, even your sanctification” (1 Thess. 4:3), and how it was used at the conclusion was masterful. It spoke to the heart of those who are serious about their personal relationship with God.

There is a need for this sermon in the lives of those who read these words. If you missed it, that sermon is on our website with the accompanying slides. If you know of others who need this lesson, contact the church and we have both CDs and DVDs of the lesson. How I wish that every Christian would listen to this lesson, prayerfully. How I wish that families would listen to it and talk about it together. How I wish that this same lesson could be practiced by Christians around the world. His will is for us to be sanctified!

[ http://www.pblcoc.org/media/text/93 – Sermon Link added by Admin]

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