A Challenge – Choose Just One

Every now and then you run across an article which is so simple, yet so profound, it changes how you look at life. Neal Pollard, who spoke on our lectureship two years ago, recently took a look at resolutions Christians should consider for the new year. Look at his suggestions.

  • Bring just one non-Christian to church services with you.
  • Focus on one quality in the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control—Gal. 5:22-23) where you most need to grow and work on it throughout the year.
  • Focus on one quality among the beatitudes (Matt. 5:3-12) that you need to incorporate to be more like Jesus.
  • Mend fences and build bridges with one person with whom you are at odds.
  • Find at least one way to be involved in the church’s work (options include visiting those who come to our services, those hospitalized, those in nursing homes, shut-ins, transporting those in need to services, assisting in Bible studies, teaching a class, volunteer with the youth, serving at dinners, etc.).
  • Spend time this year trying to master just one Old Testament book and one New Testament book.
  • Share your home by inviting just one new family every month.
  • Increase the amount you give to God this year by at least one percent.
  • Help your family “adopt” just one shut-in and make their life happy in 2008.
  • Spend at least one more hour each day with your family—choose board games over TV, plan activities that allow quality time with them.
  • Go on at least one date with your spouse each month, more if you don’t have children.
  • Enrich your prayer life by expressing more gratitude to God, and praying specifically for certain people—the lost, elders, deacons, enemies, etc.
  • Find a way to offer heartfelt, helpful encouragement to at least one person a week.
  • I challenge you to look at his list and then choose just one of them and make it a reality!
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A Common Expression

What do the following words have in common? Dankie, faleminderit, merci, chokrane, saha, chnorakaloutioun, eskerrik asko, hvala, blagoudaria, gracies, salamat, sunsalamat, zikomo, grazie, tak, tashakor, dankon, vinaka, kiitos, merci, dankewol mahalo, toda, dhanvavad, takk, taiku, tanemirt, akun, murakoze, sobodi, tenki, spas, aciu, blagodaram, paldies, dhanvavadaqalu, mesi, asbhar?

These forty words are forty different ways to say “Thank you” around the world. The list could be expanded, but the point I want to make is that because of you, people around the world will be thanking God for your generous gifts last Sunday. God deserves all the glory for what happened this past Sunday, and the glory will extend into eternity. The money you gave could have been spent in many ways, but those “purchases” will be destroyed with the return of the Lord.

We probably don’t meditate on the practical application of the words of Jesus. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matt. 6:19-20). If what I earn is devoted to accumulating things that wear out, rust, or can be stolen, I have not listened to Jesus. So many gave so liberally last Sunday and their sacrifices were treasures laid up in heaven. Think about your own life as you read these words.

I am not sure what will happen on that final day, but my soul feasts on the thought that standing beside me will be someone from a distant place who was taught by missionaries we support, or learned the truth from a Bible course mailed out from Palm Beach Lakes, or whose faith was built by literature we printed or who learned the truth via the internet we support. I imagine what it will be like for that person to turn to me and express his gratitude in whatever language he knew. I imagine what it will be like to feel his embrace when he says, “Thank you, if it were not for you I would not be entering heaven. You are the reason my family became Christians!”

Palm Beach Lakes is such a special place. The compassion and love means so much. Thank you, dankie, faleminderit, merci, chokrane, saha,  etc., etc., etc.!

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UPS and PBL

I was exiting I-95 at the Blue Heron exit and waiting for the light to change when I saw it. There were 17 UPS trucks heading west with packages to be delivered all over town. Their day was just beginning and I am confident that many other trucks had left the facilities at that same time going in other directions. It happens day after day, week after week—it’s why UPS exists.

As I arrived at the church building I thought of a similar thing that happens at Palm Beach Lakes. We arrive to worship together and then drive from this place throughout this area to deliver an even greater “package.” It happens week after week—it’s why PBL exists!

Some may see our assemblies as the end of our Christian life.  Such is not the case. Workers at UPS do not assemble just to learn of how great the company is. They do not assemble to just learn the rules governing delivery of packages. They do not assemble just to study the maps of the city. They do not assemble just to eat together and enjoy the social life. They assemble to prepare to do the work before them.

The same is true of worship. We do not assemble just to learn of the greatness of the church, to learn the rules which govern us, just to learn the paths that we should travel, nor just to enjoy the social time we spend with each other. Worship is designed as a time to learn, to be edified, and to grow. It is simply the place we assemble to prepare to do the work before us.

Worship is not an end within itself. When we finish worship we leave to begin manifesting the real reason we exist. Just as those men in the brown trucks leave the terminal, we leave the building to do His work. May we never forget this!

Had I seen just one UPS truck I might have been reminded of that company, but when I saw so many of them I could not help but think of all that they do. They bring joy as they deliver presents and bring life as they deliver medication. Now think of what can happen every week as hundreds of Christians leave worship to bring joy to the downtrodden and life to the dying.

When you arrive at worship this Sunday and begin to sing. Think of it as the beginning of the end of worship which is the beginning of our real purpose. It is the beginning of the end of the beginning!

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Don’t Tell me “The Day of the Gospel Meeting is Over!”

The beginning of our gospel meeting is just two weeks away and it will provide so many opportunities for us to serve the Lord. Let me remind you that this effort is the primary tool of outreach we have. Every program we have is tied to evangelism, but the entire focus of this one is to reach the lost and bring them to Jesus.

We are counting on each of you to step forward to insure that this effort surpasses any we have had in the past. Sometimes, when we are involved in an effort we have tried before, there is a tendency to pull back and not to put our heart and soul into what we are doing. Just being aware of this tendency can help us avoid this pitfall.

Over the next several days you will be challenged in many ways. It may seem that what you do is insignificant, but when all these small contributions are added together they have a tremendous impact. The strongest ropes are made up of thousands of tiny threads working together for a common purpose. The same is true of the work of the church. Success comes because so many are working for a common cause.

Don’t think that the day of the gospel meeting is over. This past weekend I conducted a meeting in a small Tennessee town where there are about fifty members of the church. In the three weeks before the meeting they had baptized six. During the three days of the meeting there were two others baptized and a brother was restored who had been away from the Lord for 45 years. One of the ladies baptized was someone who had never had an organized study with anyone before the meeting. She learned the truth and responded to it during the meeting. The day of the gospel meeting is not over!

The other lady baptized was someone whose husband had been a member of the church for years, but she had never made the commitment. There were so many tears of joy when they saw her respond. The day of the gospel meeting is not over!

The brother who was restored pointed to the baptistry and recalled his baptism 45 years ago. You should have seen the joy he now has.

Are there individuals like these we know who could be touched just two weeks from now? Think about it. Pray about it. The day of the gospel meeting is not over!

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His Plan is So Simple

Paul so vividly described the process of salvation when he wrote his letter to Rome. “For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher” (Rom. 10:13-14)? The plan is so simple that it is amazing how complex men have made it.

You cannot be saved without calling on the Lord. This is far more than simply acknowledging Him as Lord and praying to Him. Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven . . .” (Matt. 7:21). It is obvious that though Paul had seen the Lord on the road to Damascus, had submitted to His will, and had been praying to the Lord (Acts 9:6, 11) that he had not been saved by this. He had not called on the Lord (Acts 22:16).

You cannot be saved without believing. Far too many say that at the moment one believes in Jesus he is saved, yet this verse shows that they are two separate actions. After one has believed he can call on the Lord.

You cannot believe without hearing. This simple  affirmation by Paul shows that God does not operate directly on the heart of a sinner, convict him of his sins, and turn him to God. His simple plan is for everyone who believes to have had that faith produced by hearing. It is foolish for one to sit, waiting for God to tell him when it is time to turn to God. He’s already told us when that time is in His word (2 Cor. 6:2)!

You cannot hear without a preacher. That “preacher” might be Peter, Paul, Matthew, John or some other writer of the New Testament. When the church at Jerusalem was scattered by persecution, those “preachers” were men and women who taught the lost and produced faith in the hearts of lost mankind (Acts 8:4).

You cannot preach without being sent. The primary “sender” is Jesus who has told every Christian to teach the lost around them (Matt. 28:19-20; Mark 16:15). The early church, unlike so many Christians today, understood they were part of that simple plan.

Think about it. If men are not calling on the Lord, is it because you have not heeded the words of the Sender?

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