Home Worship Services Sermons and Classes Location Contacts Bulletins Links |
FAMILY NEWSSENIOR DEVO RETURNS: This coming Tuesday at 7:00 P.M. the monthly devotional for seniors will take place again at the Claytons'. Anyone is welcome; we have people from all over the area who come together to study and fellowship. Just bring your Bible and join us. We will have popcorn and soft drinks, and people many times bring finger food but we mostly need you. LOOK AROUND: Bill and Patty Gibson have been involved in a lot of work on the building. That dark spot in the fellowship room where the roof leaked many years ago has been fixed and repainted. We had a flood in the basement that had to be taken care of. The baptistry had gotten into bad shape and had to be sanded and refinished and then painted. That work is ongoing and needs some volunteers. The sanding of the baptistry generated a lot of dust and that needs to be cleaned up. There is a lot of work coming up. We will be doing the road clean up in April and the youth program with Willy Franklin Memorial Day weekend will need a lot of work. See Samantha Wheeler for details on that and how you can get involved. We also need to restock our coat supply with spring sale items. See Lana Fox or Tracey Brewer. TODAY'S LESSON
INTRODUCTION
A. Olympic competitors devote their lives to winning.
I. PAUL USES OLYMPICS TO DESCRIBE CHRISTIANS.
1. When does a gymnast start?
B. All of their work can be destroyed in one mistake.2. How many hours a day — what family cost? C. Jesus calls us to be spiritual Olympians — Matthew 5:48 1. Perfection in spiritual Olympics is completeness — 2 Timothy 3:16-17
A. Hebrews 12:1 — “Run with patience”
II. THE ANALOGY BREAKS DOWN WITH GOD AS JUDGE.
B. 2 Timothy 4:7 1. Our judge looks for the good, not the mistakes.
C. Paul gave all to run the race — Philippians 3:7-8.
2. Matthew 25:34-40. 1. Notice “Faith of Christ” (Verse 9)
2. “Knowledge of Christ” (verse 8) 3. Philippians 3:12 — Do you strain to win? — You cannot look back, put the past behind you. A. In physical races there is one winner — 1 Corinthians 9:24.
III. WHAT RACE ARE YOU RUNNING — THE RAT RACE?
B. 1 Corinthians 9:25 — Discipline IN ALL THINGS 1. Our race is more important.
C. Commitment to the race is important — 1 Corinthians 9:26.2. We cannot let distractions take us out of the race. D. In our race the Judge helps us. 1. Acts 2:38
2. Our Judge is infallible — Olympic judges are not 3. 2 Timothy 4:8 — All participants are winners. A. God calls us to run the Spiritual Olympics.
B. What will the Rat Race win you? C. What effect will the Spiritual Olympics have on you? D. Become a Christian — A spiritual runner — You will win! THE BACK PAGETHE BIBLE’S WORTH“WANTED: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over 18. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred. Wages $25.00 a week.” That is a posted ad by the Pony Express in the mid-1800s. The Pony Express ran from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California — a distance of 1,900 miles. Forty riders would cover the distance in 10 days. Everything had to be light. Saddles were small. Mail pouches were flat. No guns were carried. Letters were written on small paper. In spite of that, when a rider first signed on, he was given what was considered standard equipment — a full-sized Bible which was to be taken on every trip. We recently were on a boat trip with a wide variety of people from all over the country. One evening we ate dinner with a surgeon and his wife, who was a radiologist, both of them coming from Baltimore. In the discussion we learned that he was an agnostic and his wife tended to be an atheist. He voiced the opinion that the Bible was a great moral book, but that it was full of mistakes. When I asked him to give me an example he said that the gospel accounts contradicted each other. I asked him to give an example and he said that one gospel said that Mary came alone to the tomb in the dark (John 20:1-18) and the other gospel account said Mary came when it was light with other women early in the morning (Matthew 28:1 and Mark 16:1-2). I asked him if they were all the same Mary? He said he had not investigated that. The fact of the matter is that there are several Marys in the story and they are not the same Mary. He seemed to be amazed at that. This is typical of people who feel the Bible is wrong and full of mistakes. The fact of the matter is that there are no mistakes in the Bible that are not easily explained. Superficial readings, and especially believing what the so called experts say, have caused many people to buy into the fact that the Bible is “just another religious book.” The Bible is God's Word, and we need to treasure it as much as the Pony Express did. — John Clayton Our sign by the street!
Scripture links/references are from BibleGateway.com. |
