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Tolland
County Church of Christ
Theme for 2004
Opening
our Eyes to Jesus:
Becoming Spiritually minded
Disciples
February
8, 2004
Each
year we provide a theme for the church to live by, to model, apply,
and aspire to. I believe the above theme is appropriate as we consider
the spiritual condition of our community, our nation, and even
ourselves. Let’s give this theme our attention and dedicate
ourselves to Jesus. In so doing, we will become more spiritually
minded and.
“He
has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the
captives, And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed…” (Luke
4:18).
Among
the things our Lord did was to give “recovery
of sight to the blind.” He did this in the physical sense
but more importantly, Jesus opened the eyes of those who were
spiritually blind!
We
rightly understand that the world is without Christ and because they
are, they are without hope! Unfortunately, even Christians sometimes
lose sight of Jesus. We become enamored with worldly things, which
distract and lead us away from that which is far more important –
the spiritual!
Let’s challenge ourselves to become more spiritually minded in 2004,
striving to put the spiritual things of the kingdom first (Matt.6:33).
May we become more committed, improve our spiritual character,
better understand our calling – sacrifice our lives to Jesus! Lord
Jesus, open our eyes! [Doug Post]
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The
Foolishness of Worldly Wisdom
By
Doug Post
Some important lessons can be learned
from Paul's words recorded
in 1 Corinthians 1:28-2:16.
Paul declared that the message of the
cross of Christ is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the
power of God to all who are being saved.
The philosophers known to the Corinthians had been unable,through
their wisdom, to deliver men from enslavement to moral and spiritual
darkness. Human thought and
wisdom has its limitations!
Had human philosophy been able to deliver
men from darkness to
light, surely the Greeks would have supplied that “bridge.” After all, they could
boast of some of the greatest thinkers ever to walk the earth. Yet their
intellectual wisdom had utterly
failed to provide mankind with
the
truth that sets them free.
In the scripture cited above, Paul declared that the cross of
Christ is God's wisdom, the wisdom which the wise of this world think is
foolishness. The apostle's statement is by no means limited to the first
century world. Many today rejoice when our faith is attacked, slandered,
or ridiculed. Yet Paul declared that it is these very people who are themselves acting foolishly.
What should we learn from the above passage? One obvious lesson
is that when the gospel is rejected, nothing
can be gained either for God or for men by turning to human wisdom for a
substitute message. Another
is that worldly wisdom and heavenly wisdom do not equal each other.
It is a dangerous thing to assume that worldly learning, within itself,
will better equip one to either proclaim the gospel or to lead the
church. Worldly philosophy, which is a result of “worldliness,”
is at odds with the sufficiency of the cross of Christ.
At Corinth, the gospel made its greatest appeal to those
captivated by their own wisdom, power, and riches. Paul said, "For
you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the
flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called" (1
Cor.1:26). Experience teaches us that biased worldly wisdom, power, and wealth do
not equip many for reception of the gospel of Christ. God's ways are
not worldly man's way, and it still remains true that the cross of Christ is foolishness to those who
think more highly of their own wisdom than they do of God's wisdom.
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HEAVEN
HOLDS ALL TO ME
By
Doug Post
John Newton, an ex slave trader, penned the hymn "Amazing
Grace," Like Paul, he could never get over God's grace. His own
sin, in relation to God's forgiveness, never ceased to astonish him.
Newton once said the following concerning heaven:
If
I ever reach heaven I expect to find three wonders:
First,
to meet some I had not thought to see there;
Second,
to miss some I had expected to see there;
And
third, the greatest wonder of all, to find myself there.
Heaven will be about eternal fellowship with God and each other. The
love and fellowship we share here is but a foretaste of heaven. Heaven
will be an unending, extravagant fellowship around God's banquet
table. No more squabbles, no more slander, no more tears, no more
death, only eternal peace and harmony, unity and love, joy and praise.
Does heaven hold all for you?
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