Your Preacher

Click here: The Gratitude Campaign#

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 07:52:12 -0500

A special thank you to Patty Berkey for forwarding the above video to this church blog. Click on the above and spend a few minutes being thankful to our military. Get some tissues, you will need them.

The next time you see a soldier, tell him/her thank you and God bless. Better yet, buy him lunch.

Greensburg Church of Christ - ch

Holy Perfection

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 14:41:28 -0500

"Holy Perfection"
By Lance Parrish
I sometimes wonder what it's like to be perfect. I am certainly not perfect by any means; there are always ways to improve. I realize this, so over time I have come to live my life with complacency, knowing that perfection is unattainable. I often settle for mediocrity instead of putting forth the effort to achieve perfection.
            Perfection requires work and discipline - a 100% initiation effort on my part because perfection is a choice. If I expect to be better at basketball, then I have to put in hours at the gym practicing free throws, lay-ups, and dribbling just so that I can improve and get better. When I am sitting on my couch watching TV, it is a lot easier for me to stay there instead of getting up and going to practice because getting up requires discipline and effort.
            Let's say though that I do go to the gym and practice. I practice shooting my free throws, lay-ups, and three pointers. I work on my post-up moves and build up my stamina by running line drills, but unless I'm giving my 100% concentration and effort I'm just simply going through the motions. To everyone else watching me, I may look like I'm disciplined and like I desire perfection, but because of my lack of mental effort, I'm only going through the motions.
            God calls his people to holiness. He does not just say, "Be holy," but he goes on to say, "Be holy, because I am holy." God is perfect. He's been perfect for all of time, and He will continue to be perfect for all of eternity. He also calls us to the same expectation. He expects us to be holy like He is holy. How can we possibly achieve that? We go to church, we sing the songs, we bow our heads in prayer, we take communion, we smile and tell people, "We're great," we don't stir the pot, we do what we're told...yet we still feel like we're imperfect.
God doesn't call us to church. Yes, church is important, and without it we would be extremely immature in our faith, but God calls us to perfect holiness. 1 Peter 1:13-16 says,
"Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
We're not called to go through the motions; we're called to give our absolute 100% to be like our heavenly Father. Going to church and going through the church motions are not ways of becoming holy like our Father. We must put forth 100% effort 100% of the time. Reading the Bible with 100% concentration. Praying with 100% concentration. Singing with 100% concentration. We must give God our 100% so that we might obtain the holiness to which and from which we are called.

God and the Spider

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 08:16:55 -0400

During World War II, a US marine was separated from his unit on a Pacific island. The fighting had been intense, and in the smoke and  the crossfire he had lost touch with his comrades.

Alone in the jungle, he could hear enemy soldiers coming in his  direction. Scrambling for cover, he found his way up a high ridge to several small caves in the rock. Quickly he crawled inside one of the caves. Although safe for the moment, he realized that once the enemy soldiers looking for him swept up the ridge, they would quickly search all the caves and he would be killed.
As he waited, he prayed, "Lord, if it be your will, please protect me. Whatever your will though, I love you and trust you. Amen."
After praying, he lay quietly listening to the enemy begin to draw  close. He thought, "Well, I guess the Lord isn't going to help me out of this one." Then he saw a spider begin to build a web over the front of his cave.

As he watched, listening to the enemy searching for him all the while, the spider layered strand after strand of web across the opening of the cave.
"Hah, he thought. "What I need is a brick wall and what the Lord has sent me is a spider web. God does have a sense of humor."
As the enemy drew closer he watched from the darkness of his hideout and could see them searching one cave after another. As they came to his, he got ready to make his last stand. To his amazement, however, after glancing in the direction of his cave, they moved on. Suddenly, he realized that with the spider web over the entrance, his cave looked as if no one had entered for quite a while.

"Lord, forgive me," prayed the young man. "I had forgotten that in you a spider's web is stronger than a brick wall."
We all face times of great trouble. When we do, it is so easy to  forget what God can work in our lives, sometimes in the most  surprising ways. And remember with God, a mere spider's web becomes a brick wall of protection.  
 Lord, I thank you for all our  Military, and their families.  I Pray for your Brick wall of protection, to protect them everyday!!! Amen   
                         

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He Was A “Yes” Face

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 08:34:54 -0400

During his days as president, Thomas Jefferson and a group of companions were traveling across the country on horseback. They came to a river which had left its banks because of a recent downpour. The swollen river had washed the bridge away. Each rider was forced to ford the river on horseback, fighting for his life against the rapid currents. The very real possibility of death threatened each rider, which caused a traveler who was not part of their group to step aside and watch. After several had plunged in and made it to the other side, the stranger asked President Jefferson if he would ferry him across the river. The president agreed without hesitation. The man climbed on, and shortly thereafter the two of them made it safely to the other side. As the stranger slid off the back of the saddle onto dry ground, one in the group asked him, "Tell me, why did you select the president to ask this favor of?" The man was shocked, admitting he had no idea it was the president who had helped him. "All I know," he said, "Is that on some of your faces was written the answer 'No,' and on some of them was the answer 'yes.' His was a 'Yes' face."
The Grace Awakening, Word, 1990, p. 6.
When people look at you, do they see a No or a Yes face? - ch

As Long As We Have The Pattern

Mon, 6 Aug 2007 19:11:28 -0400

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When God wanted the Hebrews to build him a house of worship, he provided them specific
instructions on how it should be built. He specified even the kinds of materials to be used. The
exact dimensions were given for the tent, and the furnishings thereof. Nothing was left to the
creative minds of the craftsmen.
The wood was to be acacia, the cloth was to be linen. The metals used were gold, silver and
brass, each used in the object specified. The details were written down for the workers and are
preserved to this day in the Book of Exodus chapters 35-38. God straitly instructed Moses, and
he those who did the work, that they make the tent and its fixtures "after their pattern, which hath
been showed thee in the mount" (Ex. 25:40). They wrought according to the pattern and God
blessed and accepted their efforts. He placed his glorious shekinah in the most holy place of the
tabernacle (Ex. 40:34).
Ponder the question, what if the tabernacle had been destroyed, by fire, storm or war? What
would the Hebrews have done? The answer is simple, so long as they had the Book of Exodus in
their possession they had the pattern and could have rebuilt it just as it was in the beginning.
Christ built his church and recorded his will for us in his New Testament (Matt. 28:20). He
specifically tells us it is to be regarded as his pattern for his disciples and his church (II Tim. 1:13).
Borrowing the very words God spoke to Moses, the Holy Spirit led the writer of Hebrews to say,
"See that thou make all things according to the pattern that was showed thee..." (Heb. 8:5).
By the third century men were openly ignoring the divine pattern for the church. One by one, over
a period of time, virtually every doctrine and practice ordained by the Master was changed.
Eventually the Bible itself was effectively removed from the reach of the common man. It was
locked in a dead language (Latin) which none but clerics spoke. It was declared to be the
exclusive property of the priesthood of the corrupted church of Rome. Penalties were attached for
possessing a Bible. Men were forbidden to translate it into the vernacular of the people.
The great gift of the Protestant Reformation was that the power of the pope to keep the Bible from
the masses of humanity was broken. In virtually every country of Europe brave men set about to
put the sacred book into the language of the people. Gutenberg's printing press made it possible
to produce Bibles in large numbers and at prices many people could afford. Although the church
that Christ built had long be corrupted and obscured, the people now had the divine pattern in
hand. By carefully studying it, they were able to rebuild that which had been lost. Using a slightly
different figure, the author of The Revelation was given "a reed like unto a rod: and one said,
Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar and them that worship therein..." (Rev. 11:1).
The divine measuring rod was the Scripture. To be acceptable to God the church must meet the
divine standard given in God's Word.
Two centuries ago, with the heavenly pattern in hand, our fathers set about to restore the church,
her faith and worship, as they were in the beginning.
Today we still possess the pattern. Those who want God's acceptance and blessing will be
diligent to see that all things are done according to the pattern.
One last question: How do you think God would have dealt with Bezalel and Oholiab, if the
master craftsmen had taken it upon themselves to change various aspects of the tabernacle to
make them more pleasing to themselves and the people?
JHW

From: Bible Studies from CTN
http://www.christianity-then-and-now.com/html/index_biblical_studies.html