Gospel Meeting September 22 - 26, 2018

The Mt. Baker
Church of Christ

1860 Mt. Baker Highway • Bellingham WA

Invites you to our
GOSPEL MEETING
With Evangelist
Micky Galloway
(Lancaster, California)
SEPTEMBER 22 - 26, 2018

Saturday at 6:00 PM; Monday-Wednesday at 7:00 PM
(Sunday, Sept. 23 at 9:30, 10:30 AM and 6:00 PM)

Attitudes Toward…

Bring your Bible and join us in learning God’s word and will for our lives!

(From I-5 take Exit # 255 and go East 4.2 miles)
For more information please call (360) 752-2692

The church is God’s house, God’s family (Heb. 3:6; 1 Tim. 3:15).  What a blessing that is! As God’s house, we bear a responsibility of service. Hebrews 3:6 continues by saying we are God’s house “if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.” Christians need to continue in steadfast faithfulness to God in order to be finally blessed. To emphasize this, the writer used Israel in the wilderness to teach us about maintaining a diligent faith (Heb. 3:7-19).  He teaches us how to avoid hardening our hearts against God. Otherwise, we are in danger of falling away from God. Consider four things that will harden our hearts:

Delay (Heb. 3:7-8). “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion....” Israel was slow to trust and obey God.  Over and over, Israel made trial of God by failing to trust in His power to save and sustain them.  They said, “is the Lord among us or not?” (Exo. 17:7)  Shall we also harden ourselves against God by failing to see the power and presence of God within His house, the church (Eph. 3:14-21)? Let us seize the moment to yield our stubborn will to His. Otherwise, our heart will surely grow tired of the call to faithfulness, and we will be lost. God is always present to save.

Doubt (Heb. 3:8-9). Israel doubted God’s power in the wilderness (Heb. 3:8-9). They had seen it in Egypt and in their flight from the Egyptians, yet they hesitated to fully trust Him. Their hearts became unresponsive to God’s call to believe and obey. We must not doubt God, His love, His power, His truth, or anything else that emanates from Him. Build your faith on the unfailing faithfulness of God.

Deceitfulness of sin (Heb. 3:13). Sin promises so much, but delivers pain, turmoil and spiritual death. Israel thought the golden calf would help them, and that going back to Egypt would be a blessing. We also can be deceived into thinking the world holds much better things than Christ has to offer. It is a lie. Do not believe it. Sin will not lead you to the promised land.

Disobedience (Heb. 3:15-19). Hearing and knowing God’s word does us no good unless we obey it. In fact, when we hear and know the truth, yet persistently refuse to obey it, we are guilty of provoking God. Plus, we are making it harder on ourselves to obey Him in the future. That is the seriousness of hardening our hearts. We can come to a point where we are no longer reached by God and His word (Heb. 6:4-6).

Remember, God has promised you rest. Do not harden your heart. 

(Reprint, The Spirit’s Sword, March 3, 2002)

Scripture Reading:  Matthew 11:25-30

1. The Bible contains God’s call to the world to come to Him and find forgiveness, peace, joy, and sure hope.
2. Explore a few of the times when God called people to do something to learn how to respond when God tells us to “come.”

I. COME INTO THE ARK, Gen. 7:1. (cf. heaven)

  A. God’s Call to be Saved from Wrath, Gen. 6:13; 1 Pet. 3:20; 1 Tim. 2:3-4; Lk. 13:23-24; Matt. 7:13-14.
  B. “Because I Have Seen You Righteous,” cf. 6:22; 7:5; Heb. 11:7; Jas. 2:21-24; 1 Pet. 3:21; Rom. 6:16; 1 Jno. 2:29; 3:7.

II. COME AND I WILL SEND YOU, Exo. 3:10.

  A. God’s Call to Serve His People through Leadership, cf. Micah 6:3-4; Acts 20:28.
  B. So You Want to Lead? Isa. 6:8; Num. 12:3; Titus 2:14; Jas. 3:1; Heb. 13:17; Lk. 21:12-19; Rom. 12:8.

III. COME AND BE REVIVED, Isa. 55:1-4; Rev. 22:17.

  A. God’s Call to Receive the Gift of Salvation, Spiritual Refreshing, Renewal, and Life Eternal, cf. Isa. 41:17-20; 12:2; Jno. 4:10-14; Acts 13:34, 38; Heb. 10:15-18.

IV. COME FOLLOW ME, Lk. 5:27-28; Matt. 19:21.

  A. Christ’s Call to Complete Surrender, Matt. 6:33, 19-21; Gal. 2:20.
  B. Faith Requires Us to Restructure Our Values, Goals and Conduct, Phil. 3:7-11.

Conclusion
1. Will you answer God’s call? Matt. 11:28-30; Acts 2:38-39
2. Will you bring someone with you? Isa. 2:2-3

Top

You need a manual these days to decipher all the social acronyms in use. Then there are the new designations of gender that are totally confusing and beyond reason. Facebook offers over 55 custom gender options for its U.S. users, and 71 choices in the U.K. (When I was growing up we only had two genders. Somehow, I do not think biology has changed that much in the past sixty years!)

Occasionally we meet those who are unfamiliar with the more frequent acronyms of self-designation currently in use. Here are some along with their meanings:

LGBT: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender

LGBTQ: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer or Questioning

LGBTQI: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, and Intersex

LGBTQIA: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, and Allies

1. No matter how one self-identifies, God knows who you really are. The character of one’s heart drives one’s conduct. (See in Romans 1:20-32 how unthankful, proud hearts led to denying God, to idolatry and to all manner of immoral conduct.)

2. It is prideful for humans (the created ones) to subjectively assign their gender and proclivities instead of acknowledging their Creator’s objective decision. “But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’” (Rom. 9:20) God created “male and female” (Gen. 1:27). We will not presume to be otherwise.

3. Sin remains a choice, not an inherited trait. You do not choose your gender, but you do choose whether you will honor God according to your gender. You choose whether to glorify God with your body or to defile it with sinful actions (1 Cor. 6:16-20; 1 Thess. 4:3-8; Eph. 5:3-7).