As we are nearing Christmas time and all of the celebrations that people are involved in with this time of year, it is always interesting to me to see the differences in how and what people celebrate. Since we are never commanded to celebrate Christ's birth (only his death) we should allow others their liberty in Christ to celebrate a day or not to celebrate as they see fit as long as they do not violate any of God's other commands in the process(Romans 14:4-6). One of the most ironic and hypocritical things that I have ever noticed will occur again this year all over this country since Christmas day is on Sunday this year. Many "Christian" people talk about how Christmas is a celebration of Jesus' birth and that is what they are supposedly celebrating on December 25th. So how will many of these individuals celebrate "Jesus' Birthday"? By giving Him gifts? By singing Him songs? By teaching others about Him? No the vast majority of people who believe they are celebrating Jesus' birth will do so by skipping church and not worshiping Him so that they can have more time for themselves and their family to feast and give each other presents. What a way to say happy birthday!
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You have a "Churches of Christ in the United States" book, but when you are going to Hot Coffee, MS or Slap Out, AL or Smackover, AR and there isn't a church there and you don't remember the nearest town, but you do know the zip code and you want to go to church, what do you do? Check out churchzip.com it is a national internet directory of churches of Christ according to their distance from a zip code. We used it a couple of months ago on a trip and it helped us locate a church that had moved locations and was less than a mile from where we were staying. It is also just fun to find out about churches in an area.
Find churches of Christ near any zip in the U.S. As I was getting ready to go to ladies Bible class this morning, I was thinking about things to encourage younger (or less experienced) teachers. I have been in positions to encourage others to teach and was running through some tips in my mind. I am not a very experienced teacher yet, but I have learned a few things the hard way. I've tried to make these general enough that you can use these tips for teaching your kiddos at home too! Please, use the comments to add your own tips! 1. Be prepared. I am ashamed to admit how many times I've shown up still with things to cut out or various other things undone. It really puts you in a better frame of mind if everything is laid out and ready. 2. Know your lesson. Again, too many times I've walked in and stumbled through a lesson. Did I make it? Yes. Did the students learn? Yes. But how much more could I have been able to teach them had I been better prepared and knew my information! 3. It is okay to say, "I don't know, let me get back with you." Even the best prepared teachers will have questions come up that they don't know the answers to. Be sure to write the question down and do follow through. At home with my kids I might say, let's go look that up right now. Tools such as e-sword and Strong's have been used around my house. (And for non-Bible topics, Google is such a valuable tool!) 4. Build up your students, don't tear down. I love the motto: The only stupid question is the one that is not asked. I tend to be very inquisitive, so I try to have patience with others that ask many questions. Try to respond to every question with variations of, "That's a good question." This helps to build confidence in the one asking. A good student will ask questions. These are just a few things. Please, add your own in the comments! Let's learn from each other!
“Commit thy way unto Jehovah; Trust also in him, and he will bring it to pass.” (Psalms 37:5) It seems to me that each child I give birth to, is a learning experience in trusting my God. With my firstborn child, I learned that I trusted too much in an earthly caretaker. She betrayed my trust in her and things went badly. My second pregnancy, I had to lean more on the Lord to trust that things would go better that time. They did. My third pregnancy was a surprise and I wasn't taking the proper nutrition to have a healthy baby...or so worldly wisdom told me. Again, I had to trust in God for a healthy baby.
So, here we find ourselves again with a surprise pregnancy, but this time I had been taking good vitamins. However, surprise, the ultrasound shows not one, but two babies. Do I need the Lord again? Oh, yes, more than ever! Does trust mean that God will answer every prayer in the manner in which we want? I'd have to say no because I see so many wonderful, Christian people who suffer with loss of loved ones. I know of a dear couple – he being an elder in the Lord's church – who raised 4 faithful children. The youngest happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and took a bullet to the brain. He wasn't a soldier, just a college student caught in the middle of a shootout at a gas station. If we look at the example of Job, we see that the righteous will suffer. Job had a life full of blessings. Was God the source of the sufferings? No, God allowed it, yes, but the being behind the calamity in Job's life was Satan. Why does God allow Satan to do what he does? In the case of Job, God said to Satan, “Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?” (Job 1:8) God called him 'perfect'. What wonderful praise from God! May we all strive to have our Father give us this honor! To me, it seems as though God was teaching Satan a lesson. God said, here's my servant, and he's a great servant. But Satan said, “Aw, he's just righteous because you bless him so. If you took that away, he wouldn't be so righteous.” Satan didn't believe a word God said! So, God told Satan, “Go ahead, take away whatever you wish, but don't touch Job.” As the situation progressed, Satan eventually had to attack Job's health as well. Through it all, Job remained faithful to God. So what is the lesson we can learn? Nothing in this world is as important as our soul. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36-37) We pray that our loved ones will be obedient and we do what we can to teach them, but ultimately we can only be responsible for our own soul. So, no matter what happens around me, it is just me and my God, forever and ever and I will remain faithful to Him. "In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." (Philippians 4:6)
As we continue to look at the father of Luke 15, I believe one of the things
that we should notice is his desire for peace in the home. It has been said that peace is not just the absence of fighting, but the presence of justice. In the home peace is as important as it is internationally. As fathers we are in a position to be peacemakers and not just peacekeepers. The father in Jesus’ story loves peace and wants it to the point that when each of his boys does things to disrupt the peace he deals with it. He allows the younger to leave so there will be peace in the home. A preacher recently told me about how a family left the church where he is preaching and although they were all sorry to lose them, since they have gone things have been more peaceful. As hard as it is, sometimes that is best for the whole family’s peace and sanity. When the younger son was ready to come back, the father ran to meet him and made peace with him and welcomed him back to the family. Unfortunately, his act of love and attempt to make peace caused strife with the older brother. The father was not in the wrong, but he was still the one who went to try to reconcile with this son when the son would have been glad to just sit and pout about it. Are we like this good father that Jesus tells of or are we the kind that will sit back and let a grudge fester until it infects all of the lives of the whole family. |