The Bulletin
of the
Church of Christ at New Georgia

Tim Johnson, editor

June 14, 2009

 
In This Issue:
God's Facebook
by Steve Klein

Walking in Christ
by Johnnie Edwards

BACK TO INDEX

God's Facebook

   For those who are not familiar with it, Facebook is a very popular website.  Through Facebook, users can keep up with what is going on in the lives of friends and acquaintances.  Each person's Facebook page typically contains a photo of the person and the latest news in that person's life.  Facebook is now the largest social networking site on the internet and has more than 200 million members worldwide.  It's really just a way of keeping in touch with a lot of people.

  God already knows what is going on in our lives.  He keeps up with us every moment. As David said, "You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether" (Psalms 139:2-4).  If we are doing things we shouldn't, God knows that as well.   As He said of sinners long ago, "I remember all their wickedness; now their own deeds have surrounded them; they are before My face" (Hosea 7:2).

  God wants us to keep up in touch with Him.  He wants to communicate with us about it what is going on in our lives, and He wants us to communicate to Him about it.  If our hearts are right, we will want to stay in contact with the Lord.  David put it this way in Psalm 27:8, "When You said, 'Seek My face,' My heart said to You, 'Your face, LORD, I will seek'".

  We can allow God to stay in contact with us by learning His word; in this way we come to know Him face to face!  In 1 Corinthians 13, the apostle Paul informs us that when God's perfect word had been completely revealed, He would stop using temporary means of revealing Himself (such as prophecy and miraculous tongue-speaking).  Paul says, "When that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away." (1 Corinthians 13:10).  Through God's perfect word we can come to fully know Him. "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known" (1 Corinthians 13:12).  It is in learning God's will for us that we can experience His presence daily in our lives.  The Psalmist says, "Make Your face shine upon Your servant, and teach me Your statutes" (Psalms 119:135).

  We can keep in touch with God through prayer. The Lord calls upon His people to "humble themselves, and pray and seek My face" (2 Chronicles 7:14).  Daniel said, "I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications . . . (Daniel 9:3)

  One of the great privileges of being a Christian is the ability that we have to keep in touch with God every moment.  Many men living in other times and places have not enjoyed such a privilege.  But the Lord made this promise concerning us: "I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,' says the Lord GOD" (Ezekiel 39:29).

 -- Steve Klein

Walking in Christ

 The apostle told the Colossians, "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him" (Col. 2:6).  After we obey the Lord in primary obedience, it is essential that we continue to walk in Him in order to inherit eternal life.  Let's take a look at some reasons why we should walk in Jesus Christ:

  1. Salvation is in Christ. "Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory" (2 Tim. 2:10).  If we expect to find salvation we must walk in Christ, for that's where it is!

  2. All spiritual blessings are in Christ.  Paul said, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. 1:3).  The person who does not walk in the Lord does not have the right to a single spiritual blessing.

  3. All of God's promises are in Christ.  Paul told the Corinthians, "For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us" (2 Cor. 1:20).  Do you want God's promises?  Then, you must walk in Christ.

  4. Christ is man's only hope.  "To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col.  1:27). Just as Paul assured Timothy that Jesus "is our hope" (I Tim.  1:1), we must walk in him to realize this hope.

  5. We can be complete in Christ.  "And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power" (Col. 2:10).   Since we can be complete in Christ, we only need to walk in him.

  6. There is no other way.  Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (Jn. 14:6).  If you miss this way, you just miss out!  Jesus is the door by which we enter in. "I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved... Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber" (Jn.  10:9, 1).   When some of the disciples walked no more with Jesus "Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life" (Jn. 6:68).

-- Johnnie Edwards

Via Ellettsville church bulletin, Vol. 5, No. 24, December 22, 1988, Ellettsville, IN