THE TRENTON BULLETIN

THE TRENTON BULLETIN

Trenton Church of Christ, Trenton, Florida

Welcome to our services! We are so pleased that you have come to be a part of this special series of lessons. If this is your first time to visit the Trenton Church of Christ, please allow us to introduce ourselves and to tell you what we’re about.

We’re about the Bible. We believe that it is the inspired word of God; that every word on its pages is from the mind of God Himself. The Lord did not put man on the earth to figure everything out on his own. He revealed His will to us that we may know what He expects from us, that we may know how to please Him. “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). All Scripture is important to us. It is what we teach in our Bible classes. It is what we preach from our pulpit. We’re about the Bible. All of it. Every word.

We’re about worship. It is the Bible that instructs man how to worship and Whom to worship. We have not come together to entertain ourselves with some concert or theatrical production. God is the center of our assembly, a service that is not just about feeling but following His will for worship. “All things must be done properly and in an orderly manner” (1 Corinthians 14:40). We’re just a group of Christians who assemble in this house of worship for the purpose of praising God. It is not our intention to impress people but to be impressed by all that He has done for us.

We’re about service. When we shake your hand and say, “Thanks for visiting with us today,” we genuinely mean that. We’re not just doing it because we feel like we have to, we see service as our privilege. It is why we are here. It’s how we serve the Lord. “So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith” (Galatians 6:10). God is good to us. What better way to express that than to share it with someone else? Let us serve you today. It would be our pleasure.

We are Christians. We are unashamed to wear the name of our Lord. We are a “church of Christ,” not because we are affiliated with some denomination or creed, but because we belong to Him. Your presence here indicates your own interest in God. That’s what we’re about, too. After all, it’s all about Him.

The most important person who ever walked across the stage of human events was Jesus of Nazareth. No person ever had the effect on mankind; no one ever made the difference He did. He was unique in every sense of that word. He was, and remains, the illustration of goodness and the personification of hope. No man ever spoke as He did, no one ever said more pertinent things than did He.

We have no information about how he looked. Was He tall or short? Was He ruddy complexion or fair? Was His hair thick or thin? Was His personality extraverted or guardedly restrained? How did He walk? Did He stride confidently or slowly and deliberately? What about his vocal characteristics? Was His voice low and slightly raspy or mellow and middle-pitched? And how about tempo? Was His speech of a rapid, staccato sort, or was His manner slow and calculated? And how were His gesticulations? Did He point deliberately and often, or did He just allow His speech to speak for itself without much gesturing?

The fact is, we don’t know much about Jesus’ personality, His visage, or His style of speech. But we do know some things about Him.

He was compassionate. In Luke 15, He is criticized for eating with publicans and sinners. His defense is a triptych of parables—the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin and the parable of the lost son—each of which is saying primarily the same thing: “I came to seek and save the lost.” He was compassionate to what were considered the undeserving, just as He was to the religious hierarchy of His day. He saw men’s hearts, not their pocketbooks. He saw their motives, not their public displays. He saw what they needed, not what they wanted. He provided what would otherwise have been impossible—salvation for all men.

He was devoted. Over and again, Jesus is brought under extreme pressure by those who were either envious of Him or who were brought under the condemnation of His teachings. Never once did He back down. “I came not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me,” (John 6:38), was His oft-repeated response to His critics. In His model prayer, He taught His disciples to pray, “not my will, but thine be done” (Matthew 6:10). Even in the passion of the garden, He sought relief from the terrible fate which awaited Him, but prayed, “nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done” (Luke 22:42).

He loved without restraint. No one ever loved like He did. In the midst of intense persecution, in the midst of disdain by those whom He created and to whom He had given life, He never lost His affection or the sense of mission which that affection had demanded of Him. He loved when no one would listen. He loved when His own people rejected Him. He loved when everyone who had respected Him and professed their love for Him, turned and ran. He loved when He was beaten. He loved when He was scorned and despised. He loved when He looked down from the cross. Hear Him: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” What kind of love is that? What kind of undeserved, indefatigable, never- lapsing love! Who can fathom it? Who can explain it? Certainly not me.

He did what He came to do. He came to seek and save the lost. And He did it. He came to bring an example of holiness and piety. And He did it. He came to identify truth and illustrate how it works. And He did it. He came to show us His Father’s love. And He did it. He came to make possible a way for man to be resurrected. And He did it. Oh, what a Savior!

Many are the trials borne upon the shoulders of the people of God. The path is long and the way is difficult when serving the King of Kings. Life brings its sorrows, its burdens, it turmoil. The hands grow tired and the knees weak from the heat of the day. As the war rages furiously for the heart of man, the promise of our Father leads us forth as a banner of hope and victory. As thirst in a dry land we long for relief and help in our time of trouble. The trumpet calls forth the message, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (James 4:10).

What greater joy can the child of God have than to know the mighty hand of the Father will lift us up (1 Peter 5:6)! Do you grow tired? Are you weary? Can you see the Father coming to lift you up? Our Father is not unaware of our burdens. He pleads with us to let Him be the center of our lives to allow Him to lift us up.

We stumble and fall through our weakness but He has promised to lift us up. Sin does not have dominion over us (Romans 6:14) yet we fail Him. The Beloved apostle John reminds us of God’s love for us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). From the filth of our sin He lifts us from the mire. Through our confession He lifts us up anew with the cleansing of His wonderful grace. David knew all too well this lesson. His sin with Bathsheba wrought a host of misery bringing the man of God to a “broken and contrite heart” (Psalm 51:17). In his shame he declared to Nathan the prophet, “I have sinned against the Lord” (2 Samuel 12:13). Jehovah God reached down and lifted David up and restored his soul. David writes, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” (Psalms 32:1). The king of Israel humbled himself and the Lord lifted him up.

The trials of life bring us down and burden us. With age come more burdens that almost overwhelm us in our challenges faced daily. Friends forsake and disappoint us and we fail them. Loved ones are taken. Hopes and dreams are dashed. Our faith is challenged on every level and we cry out for help. In our cries we humble ourselves before the Lord and He lifts us like a weeping child and comforts us in the bosom of His love. “Casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). Imagine the Maker of the world cares for me. He knows my every need (Matthew 6:8). He fills my cup to overflowing (Psalm 23:5). He lifts me up when I humble myself to Him.

The Lord will lift us up when we bow before Him. We cannot receive these blessings if we refuse to fall before Him. He will not lift up those who lift themselves up before Him. God seeks those who hearts are humbled by the majesty of a Father’s love. The Father lifted up His Son on a cross to draw all men to Him (John 12:42). William Law wrote, “Humility is nothing else but a right judgment of ourselves” (Christian Perfection, 1726). At the height of our pride we are but infinitesimal dust before the Creator. And yet on this small blue marble of a world called Earth He cares for me. He knows when I fall and through the vast reaches of the void between my heart and His love; He reaches down and picks me up.

Thank you Father for your hand of mercy, your strength of love and your promise to abide with me as I abide with you (John 14:23). Lift me up when I fall. Let me humble myself before you that you may show your power in my life.

The word “gospel” means “good news.” It was originally godspel in Old English and was thought to mean “sayings that are good” or “God’s sayings,” one or the other. Either definition fits perfectly the word from which the English “gospel” is translated. In the Greek it is euangelion, “good news.”

The gospel is the single most important piece of news in the history of mankind. It contains not only the fact that God has provided for man’s salvation, but the means necessary to make that salvation possible. It denotes the grace of God (John 3:16), then tells how man’s partaking of that grace through his obedience to the dictates of the gospel (Romans 1:16) can bring about the salvation of his soul.

For many years, preachers of the gospel have divided the gospel into three distinct areas: facts to be believed; commands to be obeyed; and promises to be received. While this definition may appear to be somewhat simplistic, it is actually very accurate. Let’s look at it for a minute.

Facts to be believed. The gospel message introduces one to Jesus Christ. It begins with the creation by God and ends with the salvation by God. Everything in the Old Testament points, in some way or the other to Jesus’ coming, His provisions for man’s salvation in the New Testament. The facts of His birth, life, and teachings are comprised in the so-called “gospel accounts,” Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The facts to be believed concern not only his life and teachings, but more importantly, His death, burial, and resurrection. Before any salvation is possible for a man, he must believe sincerely the facts of the gospel message.

Commands to be obeyed. God’s salvation is—and always has been—conditional. While Christ died for all men’s sins (again, John 3:16), all men must meet the conditions He has stipulated in order to obtain that salvation. “Except ye believe that I am He, ye shall die in your sins” is a condition which must be met before there is salvation in the gospel. But that’s not the end of the matter: repentance, confession, and baptism or also commanded by Christ and are necessary conditions for salvation from sin (see Luke 13:3; Romans 10:10-17; Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Acts 22:16; Romans 6:3-5). Even after achieving what Jesus refers to as being “born again” (John 3:3-5), there must be an effort to grow into the kind of person He has described as fit for His salvation. Peter says, “but grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:8); and he warns, furthermore, that diligence be taken to make sure of the salvation, for, says he, “the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). And so the commands for initial salvation must be met and then care taken so that one does not lose that which Jesus has made possible.

Promises to be received. The promises in the gospel are certainly good news. First, there is the assurance that forgiveness of sins and salvation. Next, there is the assurance of being begotten to a “living hope,” to “an inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heave” (1 Peter 1:3-5). The promise of our eternal redemption is further enhanced by the assurance of the resurrected body, the final act of God’s redemption. This corruptible body will put on incorruptibility and then “death will be swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:54). Truly “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

How wonderful is that gospel. How phenomenal the facts we believe, how effective the commands to be obeyed, and how marvelous the promises to be received. How dare man tamper with it or change it in any way!