Hello. We are so happy to be together every Sunday to worship God in spirit and in truth. I hope you are encouraged and challenged by what you see, hear, speak, and do today and always. Even though Autumn has arrived, summer just doesn’t seem to want to go away. We are still warm and dry, 100 degrees one day last week. We really need a good rain. And cooler temps would be very nice. God knows what He is doing. I’m glad. He has everything under control.
The Harding Street Church of Christ is doing well, continuing in the Way of Jesus Christ in word and deed. It seems that the world around us moves further and further away from the three solid principles we read about in Micah 6: justice, mercy, and humility. Is “trust and obey” so difficult to understand these days? Is faith in God through His only Son, Jesus Christ, repentance, confession, baptism, and true Christian living just too complicated? What does Hebrews 11:1 tell us about faith? “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The very reason life seems hopeless to many people can be found is this simple verse of Scripture? Faith is the very substance of hope. Though we may not “see” God, His Son, the Holy Spirit, or heaven yet, our faith is the evidence and confidence in their reality. When we “mess up,” make a mistake, do something wrong, fail to meet expectations, or commit sin, saying “I’m sorry” and changing our hearts, minds, and actions is common sense and exactly the right thing to do. Either Jesus IS the Christ, the Savior or He isn’t. There is no in-between. To deny Him is to reject the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Jesus is the One and Only way to the Father (John 14:6). No matter what people say or believe or teach, baptism is required for salvation because Jesus declared it to be. To His disciples He said, “Go, teach, BAPTIZE, and teach and He would be right there with them” (Matthew 28:18-20). Why do some feel as though these basic principles are from some “bygone era” and should be discounted as “old-fashioned” and irrelevant in this, our modern-day society? It is true, that the Bible is a very old book. And it is also true that the Bible is still relevant, vibrant, alive, convicting, needed, and true yesterday, today, tomorrow, and forever.
Our sermon this past Sunday focused on Jesus’ invitation; “Come to Me.” In this new series we will answer four questions: #1 – Why should I come to Jesus, #2 – What are the obstacles to my coming to Jesus, #3 – How can I come to Jesus, and #4 – What should I do now? I should and must come to Jesus because only then can I realize my true purpose in life. I should and must come to Jesus because He promises to reward my commitment to Him here, later, and forever. On the evening we focused our attention on wisdom and how wisdom comes from having a better appreciation of God’s word. “God has not said…God has said…” Have a terrific week. MB
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